__________________________________________________________________ Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 60: 1914 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 __________________________________________________________________ A New Year's Benediction (No. 3387) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1868. "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have, for He has said, I willnever leave you, nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5. OBSERVE the way in which the Apostles were accustomed to incite Believers in Christ to the performance of their duties. They did not tell them, "You must do this or that, or you will be punished. You must do this and then you shall obtain a reward for it." They never cracked the whip of the Law in the ears of the child of God. They knew the difference between the man who was actuated by sordid motives and the fear of punishment--and the newborn man who is moved by more sublime motives, namely, motives that touch his heart, that move his regenerated nature and that compel him, out of affection, to do the will of Him that sent him. Hence the address, here, is not, "Be content, or else God will take away what you have," but, "Be content and have nothing to do with covetousness, for He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." The promise is made the argument for the precept! Obedience is enforced by a Covenant blessing. He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." What then? Shall I be discontented and covetous? No! But for the very reason that He has made, by His promise, my very safety absolute and unconditional, assuring me, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you"--for that reason I will keep covetousness and every other evil thing out of my conversation and will seek to walk contentedly and happy in the Presence of my God! See, Brothers and Sisters, this Gospel motive. It is a Free Grace argument. It is not a weapon taken from the arsenal of Mount Sinai, but taken from the region of the Cross and from the council chamber of the Covenant of Love! Another thing in the text to which I would call your notice is this--that an Inspired Apostle who might very well have used his own original words, nevertheless, in this case, as indeed in many others, quotes the Old Testament. "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Behold, then, the value of Holy Scripture! If an Inspired man quotes the text as of Divine authority, much more should we so regard it, who are without such inspiration. We should be much in searching the Scriptures and when we want to clench an argument, or answer an opponent, it would always be well for us to take our weapon from the grand old Book and come down with, "He has said." Oh, there is nothing like this for force and power! We may think a thing, but what of that? Our opinions are but of little worth. General authority and universal opinion may sustain it, but what of that? The world has been more frequently wrong than right and public opinion is a fickle thing. But '"He has said," that is to say, God has said--Immutable Truth and eternal fidelity have said God, who made Heaven and earth, and who changes not, though nations melt like the hoar frost of the morning--God who always lives when hills, mountains and this round world and everything upon it shall have passed away--"He has said!" Oh, the power there is in this, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you"! So, then, let us be much in searching the Scriptures, much in feeding upon them, much in diving into their innermost depths--and then afterwards much in the habit of quoting them, using them as arguments for the defense of the Truths of God, as weapons against error and as reasons to call us to the path of duty and to pursue it! But now to come to the promise, itself, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." I shall call your attention, first of all, to-- I. THE REMARKABLE CHARACTER OF THIS PROMISE. Is it not an amazing fact that while others leave us and forsake us, that God never does? It is to each one of His own redeemed people that He says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." How often do men play false and forsake those whom they call their friends when those friends fall into poverty Ah, the tragedies of some of these cruel forsakings! May you never know them! These so-called friends knew their friends when that suit of black was new, but how sadly their eyesight fails them, now it is turned to a rusty brown! They knew them extremely well when once a week they sat with their legs under their table and shared their generous hospitality--but they know them not, now that they knock at their door and crave help in a time of need! Matters have changed altogether and friends that once were cherished are now forgotten. In fact, the man almost pities himself to think that he should have been so unfortunate to have a friend who has come down so and he has no pity for his friend because he is so much occupied in pitying himself! In hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of cases, as soon as the gold has gone, the pretended love has gone! And when the dwelling has been changed from the mansion to the cottage, the friendship, which once promised to last forever, has suddenly disappeared! But, Brothers and Sisters, God will never leave us on account of poverty! However low we may be brought, there it always stands--"I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Scant may be your board. You may have hard work to provide things honest in the sight of all men. You may sometimes have to look and look again--and wonder by what straits you will be enabled to escape out of your present difficulty. But when all friends have turned their backs and when acquaintances have fallen from you like leaves in autumn, He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Then beneath His bounty you shall find a shelter! And when these other hands are shut, His hands shall still be outstretched in loving kindness and tender mercy to help and deliver the soul of the needy! Sometimes, and very often, too, men lose all their friends if they fall into any temporary disgrace. They may really have done no wrong--they may even have done right-- but public opinion may condemn the course they took, or slander may be propagated which casts them into the shade! And then men suddenly grow forgetful. They do not know the man--how should they? He is not the same man--to them at any rate--and as the world gives him the cold shoulder, his friends serve him the same. The old proverb, "The devil take the hindmost," seems to be generally the custom with our friends when we get into seeming disgrace! They are all off, seeing who can run away first, for they fear that they shall be left to share in our dishonor. But it is never so with our God. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." You may be put into the dungeon, like Paul and Silas, but God will make you sing there, even at midnight! You may be set in the stocks, but even there God will cause you to greatly rejoice! You may be cast into the fiery furnace, but He will tread the flames with you! You may be so dishonored that men shall treat you as they did God's only Son--and lift you up upon the cross of shame and put you to death--but you shall never ask, "Why have You forsaken me?" Your Lord said it when He bore your guilt, but you shall never need to say it, for your guilt is put away forever and Jehovah will stand by you in all your dishonor! And let me say here that there is never a child in the family that is dearer to the great Father than the child that is suffering shame and contempt from others! He loves them dearest when they suffer reproach for His sake! These are nearer to His heart than any other and He bids them rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be their reward in Heaven if thus they bear and endure for His name! "I will never leave you, My persecuted one! I will pour such joy into your heart that you shall forget all the dishonor. I will send an angel to minister to you. Yes, I will, Myself, be with you and you shall rejoice in My salvation while your heart is glad and calm in the midst of the tumult and the strife around." Blessed be God, all the shame and spitting that men can put upon us can never put our God away, for, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Alas, sad is it for human nature that we must say it--how many have been forsaken when they have been no longer able to minister to the pleasure and comfort of those who admired them while they profited by them! Some are thus thrown aside just as men throw away household stuff that is worn out and is of no further use. Depend upon it, men will not forsake us while they can get anything out of us! But when there is no longer anything to profit by, when the poor woman becomes so decrepit that she can scarcely move from her bed to her chair, when the man becomes so laid aside by accident or is so weak that he cannot take his place in the great march of life--then he is like the soldiers in Napoleon's march--he drops out of the line to die and thousands either march over him, or if they are a little more merciful, march by and around him! But few are those who will stop to care for such and attend to them. How often are the incurable forsaken and left! But He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." If we should getso old that we cannot serve the Church of God, even by a single word. If we should become so sick that we are only a burden to those of our house who have to nurse us. If we should grow so feeble that we could not lift our hand to our lip, yet the eternal love of Jehovah would not have diminished, no, not so much as by a single jot towards the souls whom He had loved from before the foundation of the world! However low your condition, you shall find God's love is always underneath for your uplifting! However weak you are, His strength shall be revealed in the everlasting arms that will not permit you to sink into disaster and your soul into Hell. This, then, is a very precious text! Others may forsake us for different reasons--too many to be mentioned now--but He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Well, then, let the rest go! If the Lord Jehovah stands at our right hand, we can well afford to see the backs of all our friends, for we shall find Friends enough in the Triune God whom we delight to serve! Again, this is a very remarkable promise if we think of our own conduct towards God. "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." And have not we often said the same to Him? We were like Peter--we felt we did love our Savior--we were sure we did and we did not, could not believe that we could ever be so false or so faithless as to forsake Him. We almost longed for some temptation to prove how true we would be! We felt very vexed with other professors, that they should prove so untrue! We felt in our heart that we could not do like that and that we would stand firm under any imaginable pressure! But what became of us, my Brothers and Sisters? Charge your memories a moment. Did the rooster that accused Peter never accuse you? Did you never deny your Lord and Master and, at last, hearing the warning voice, go out and weep bitterly because you had forgotten Him--He whom you had declared so solemnly you would never forsake? Oh, yes, I fear we, many and many a time, have said, "I will never leave You, nor forsake You," and yet under some sarcasm, some ridicule, or some pressing trial, we have been like the children of Ephraim and, though armed and carrying bows, we have turned our back in the day of battle! If your voice has never denied Christ, has your heart ever done so? If your tongue has remained silent, has not your soul sometimes gone back to the old flesh-pots of Egypt and said, "I would gladly find comfort once again where I did find it with my old companions and in the old ways"? Ah, well, as you think of this--how unkindly and ungenerously you have treated your Lord--let this text stand out in bold relief, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Although you have often forgotten Him, yet, His loving kindness changes not! Though you have been fickle, He has been firm! Though you have sometimes believed Him not, yet He has remained faithful--glory be to His name! Again, this promise is a very remarkable one if we notice how it overrides all the suggestions that might arise from a mere view of strict and severe justice. It might be said, "Surely a child of God might justly be forsaken. He might so sin against God that it would only be just to leave him utterly to himself." Now, I am free to grant that a child of God might do so, no, that allthe children of God do do so and that God would be just if He acted upon the stern principle of His Law to forsake His children as soon as ever they were converted, for it is not long after their conversion that they sin! And that sin is a special kind of treason against God. He would be just even if He cast them away! But what I desire to enforce is this--that the promise is remarkable because it makes no kind of provision for this in any sort of degree and under no imaginable circumstances! It does not say, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you if--as certain brethren are prone to put it--"if--you do not forsake Me." Nor does it say, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you if you do such-and-such and such-and-such." It is an absolute promise without any perhapses, ifs, buts, conditions, or promises! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." He that believes in Jesus shall never be so left of God as to fall finally from Grace! He shall never be so deserted as to give up his God, for his God will never give him up so far as to let him give up his confidence, or his hope, or his love, or his trust! The Lord, even our God, holds us with His strong right hand and we shall not be moved! And even if we sin-- sweet thought!--"If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." Over the heads of all our sins and iniquities, this promise sounds like a sweet silver bell, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Now, there are some that would make licentiousness out of this and go into sin, but in doing so they prove themselves not to be the children of God! They show at once that they know nothing of the matter, for the genuine child of God, when he has a promise which is unconditional, finds holiness in it. Being moved by gratitude, he needs no buts, ifs, conditions, racks and scourges in order to do right. He is ruled by love, not by fear! He is governed by a holy gratitude which becomes a stronger bond to sacred obedience than any other bond that could be invented! Hence to the child of God, the knowledge that God will not leave nor forsake him, never suggests the thought of plunging into sin! He were an awful monster, indeed, if he did any such thing, but he hates it and he says-- "Loved of my God, for Him again With love intense I burn-- Chosen of Him ere time began I choose Him in return." Observe, then, how remarkable is the promise--so contrary to the manner of men, so contrary to our own conduct and so absolute and unconditional, that it is, indeed, marvelous that such a word should be on record. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." I cannot leave this part of the subject without remarking that such a promise as this seems to me that it makes a clean sweep of every suggestion to the child of God to be depressed in mind. You tell me you do not feel, just now, as you did some time ago--you are not anything like so earnest and lively in the Divine ways. When a Believer is in this state, it is sometimes suggested to him that doubtless he is not a Christian at all--and that he must go back altogether to Egypt in order to get Gospel liberty. This is foolishness! But this promise comes in and says to him, "God has not left you, nor forsaken you." Whatever may be your present state of thought and feeling, however low you may have fallen, the Eternal God is still faithful! He has not forgotten you! Go to Him now--ask for reviving and refreshing, for He will surely give them to you. Conscience will, perhaps, say to some child of God tonight-- indeed, I hope it will--"There has been much today in business that has not been what it should have been, and as you look back upon the day, you will see much to mourn over." And then, perhaps, conscience will add, "Therefore God will leave you." Now, if you come to believe that, you will live worse tomorrow than today! And the next day still worse! But if you can answer, "No, He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you,'" and can go with child-like confidence to your God and confess the sins of the day and begin again washing once more in the precious Fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, tomorrow there will be a better day! The joy of the Lord will be your strength against the sin and your confidence in your Father's Immutable Affection will inspire you with zeal to trample down your temptations! Perhaps the devil may be injecting into your soul tonight all sorts of strange things--that God has quite forsaken you and that He will be gracious no more to you and other lies of that kind. But He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," and if you can get hold of this, it will be a sufficient refutation of all the suggestions of your own fear and of the infernal power! No, Satan! I will cast myself upon the precious blood of Jesus! And if God should take all my property away, yet He has not left me, nor forsaken me! I am sure of that! And if my spirit sinks so low that I dare not look up, yet still He has said He has not left me, and He never will! If my sins should roll over me like a big billow and my conscience should cry out against me--and I should feel no rest and no peace--yet still I will hold on to Jesus, sink or swim, for He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." And let God be true and every man and every devil-- and even my own conscience--prove a liar sooner than God's Word should for a moment be placed in doubt! We now pass on to ponder upon-- II. THE REMARKABLE COMFORT CONTAINED IN THIS PROMISE. See how it abounds! I note, first, its constancy. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." That is, not for a day, not for an hour, not for a minute! There are no breaks in the Divine Love. God does not depart from His people to return to them, by-and-by, but He assures, "I will never, no never, leave you." Perhaps that dear child of yours that is sick is soon to die. Well, God will not leave you in the moment when she is taken from you. Possibly that dear one who is now your comfort and delight, your husband, may get sick and it will be a terrible stroke for you to be visited with, but, "I will never leave you, not even for an instant! Then in that trying time you shall prove the power and solace of My Presence." Perhaps, businessman, that great commercial project, that great transaction of yours may prove to be a losing one-- that bill may be dishonored, you may come to bankruptcy without any fault on your part but--"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Yes, you may have to go to Australia and you may greatly dread the leaving your native land, but even then, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It may be you may be so misrepresented as to become suspected by those whom you love best and you may be even put out of the Church of God without any fault but entirely through error. Well, but then, even then, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you " not even for a minute! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, what would be the consequences if the Lord left us for one quarter of an hour? I solemnly believe that if God were to leave His people even on their knees for twenty minutes, they would be brought to the deepest Hell! But He will not leave them, even there! And if it were dangerous to leave them on their knees alone, how much more so in the market or in business amidst enemies--seeking to catch them in their speech and deed! But He will never for a moment leave His people nor forsake them! He will be at all times, at all hours, at all seasons, in all days of emergency at their right hand and they shall not be moved! I notice in the promise, next to constancy, endurance. As there shall be no breaks in God's love for His own, so there shall be no end to it. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Yes it may not be desirable to live to extreme old age when infirmities may abound and all strength may decay, but if you should reach it, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It certainly is a painful thing--that last stroke to pass to the Throne of God--but, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." There shall never be a time when the Lord will cast away one of His people! He shall never grow weary of them. He has espoused them unto Himself--married them--taken them into eternal union with Himself! And let the ages revolve as they may and time change as it will, God will never leave or forsake His people! Comfort yourselves, therefore, with the confidence of the endurance as well as the constancy of this love! We are most pleased, however, with the fullness of the promise. The text means, manifestly means, from its connection, a great deal more than it says. We are told not to be covetous. Why? Why should we be covetous? God has said He will never leave us and if we have Him, we possess all things1 Who has need to be covetous when all things are his and God is his? We are told to be contented--not to seek to hoard up so much for the future--because God has provided for the future in the very promise, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." God guarantees to His servants that they shall have enough! Well, let that guarantee prevent both covetousness and discontent! How shall this promise apply to temporal things? "I will never leave you, nor forsake you " does not look, at first sight, as if it had anything to do with our ordinary expenses. But according to the text it has, for we are told not to be covetous, but to be content with such things as we have. So then, the text applies to the ordinary workingman, to the merchant, to every Christian even in his money matters as well as in his soul matters! "I will not leave you, even in these." He that does not let a sparrow fall to the ground without His permission, will not let His children want! If they should, for a little time, be in need, that shall work their lasting good--they shall dwell in the land and verily they shall be fed! The fullness that lies in the promise is perfectly unbounded. When God says He will be with His servants, He means this, "My wisdom shall be with them to guide them. My love shall be with them to cheer them. My Spirit shall be with them to sanctify them. My power shall be with them to defend them. My everlasting might shall be put forth on their behalf so that they may not fail nor be discouraged." To have God with you were better than to have an army of ten thousand men! And a host of friends were not equal to that one name--the name of Jehovah--for He is a host in Himself! When God is with a man, He is not there asleep, negligent, indifferent--regardless in his time of suffering--but He is there intensely sympathizing, bearing the trouble, helping and sustaining the sufferer and, in due time--His own good time--delivering him in triumph! Oh, precious word of heartening promise! Plunge into it, for it is a sea without a bottom! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Better still, perhaps, in the promise is the certain truth of it. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you " has been proven by God's saints in all the ages that are past. Turn to the pages of your Bibles and see if ever a man was ashamed that put his trust in Christ! See if he that wrestled with the invisible God was ever confounded. Has not the Lord stayed with His people at all hazards--broken the necks of kings and scattered empires like chaff before the wind sooner than that one of His faithful ones should come to ruin? It has been so even in your own experience. You, too, have found the text to be true. You have gone through fire and through water, but He has never left you nor forsaken you! Your vessel scarcely had enough water to stay off the bottom, but though she had almost grated on the gravel, yet she has kept afloat and though, perhaps, you have been wrecked, yet you have come safely to shore. You have lost much, you say, but you have been a gainer by your loss and where you are today you are by eternal mercy and Covenant Grace--and you could not well be in a better position than God has put you Goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life up till now and you are obliged to confess it and to say-- "Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise." So fear not, now that at this particular season God is about to alter His previous dispensation! Out with them, poor Little-Faith! Away with your doubts! Put away those black suspicions! He is a God that changes not and, having helped you until now, He will help you even to the end! Why how true this must be! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." How can God forsake that which has cost Him so much already? He has given His Son's blood to redeem us and His Spirit's power to renew us--and if He were to leave undone the work which He has begun--why a tower has been commenced and He has not been able to finish it! A man who has spent much money upon one enterprise will spend yet more to finish it because of what he has already spent. Now God will not lose the work of Christ and the precious blood of His Son--having begun, He will certainly carry on even to the end! Besides this--God cannot leave His people because He calls them His children--and how could He leave His child? "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, she may forget, yet will I not forget you." Even when the son has dishonored his father's name and lost his own character, that father's love still holds on and still follows that child with tears of sorrow, but still with faithfulness and truth. And God will not cast away His own begotten sons whom He has begotten again unto a living hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! Beloved, Christ is married to His people and, therefore, how can He leave them? He says, "As a young man rejoices over his bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." And will He leave them to whom He is knit by so near and dear, so tender and affectionate a union? It cannot be! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Now, if He did leave His people, what would it be? It would be giving up the whole quarrel between Himself and Satan! It is in His people's hearts that the great battle is being fought out between good and evil. To give them up would be to give up the battleground to His great enemy--and what laughter there would be in the vaults of Hell! What mockery in the halls of Pandemonium if it could be said, "God has forsaken His people! Given up His elect! Suffered His redeemed to perish! Cast away His regenerate and forsaken the souls that trusted Him!" The very thought of it is blasphemy! Far, far from us, let us put it away. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." I cannot enlarge further upon the promise and need not do so because it opens up itself, or rather God the Holy Spirit will open it up to you if you sit awhile in your chamber and meditate upon it. I do not know of a richer text or one more full of consolation. It is a long skein of the Truth of God--unwind it. It is a precious granary as full as Joseph crammed the granaries of Egypt! Open the door and feed to the fullest--there will be no fear of your ever exhausting it! "For He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Now the third thing to be noticed concerning this promise is-- III. THE REMARKABLE EFFECTS THAT SUCH A PROMISE SHOULD PRODUCE. Surely the first blessed fruit of such a glorious promise should be perfect contentment. It is said to be hard to be content. I have the pleasure of knowing some Brothers and Sisters who I am sure are perfectly content. They even say so and I think without the slightest mental reservation that they have not an unfulfilled wish or desire so far as this world goes. They have all that heart could wish. And yet these are not the richest people in the world and they are not persons who are much to be envied for their mere external circumstances--yet they are perfectly content. The fact is that the Grace of God makes the people of God to sing sweetly where other people would murmur! They are satisfied where others would find easy ground for discontent. But how easy it is--how easy it must be for a man to be content when he knows that God has promised to be with him in all circumstances and at all times! Surely if anything could be a kind of conservatory--a hot-house in which to grow the delicate plant of contentment to perfection--it must be this full belief that high or low, rich or poor, well or sick, God has said, "I will never leave, nor forsake you." Surely it was this that made Bunyan's Pilgrim sing in the Valley of Humiliation-- "He that is down need fear no fall. He that is low no pride-- He that is humble ever shall Have God to be his guide." Christian did thereby say that he was content whether he had little or much, and that he left everything in his lot to his God. Oh, get then, my Friends, my text fully into your souls and keep it there as marrow and fatness--and you will be content! Well, then, in the next place, it will cure your covetousness. A man does not need to go on scraping and to use that muck-rake forever when he knows, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It was not a bad argument which one usedwith Alexander when he said to him, "When are you going to enjoy yourself fully?" Alexander did not answer the question but the philosopher said, "What are you going to do next?" "First we shall conquer Greece." "Yes, and then will you rest?" "No, we shall then attack Asia Minor." "And when you have conquered that, I suppose you will rest?" "No, we shall then take Persia." "And when you have overcome Persia, what then?" "We shall march to India." "And when you have taken India, what then?" "Why, then we shall sit down and make ourselves merry." "Well " said the philosopher, "I think we had better begin before we go to Greece, or Persia, or Asia Minor, or any of them." And truly so it were as well for us to be content with that moderate income which God gives us. Let us enjoy what God bestows upon us now in gratitude to Him and give ourselves up to His service lest, perhaps, in seeking more, we become spiritually poorer while literally richer--and become less content with the great load on our back than we have today, when we have enough and no more. It is a sweet quietus to covetousness when God says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." And, Beloved, what a promise this is to make a man confident in his God. In his works, in his sufferings, in his enterprises--what a stay of soul is here! I know what it is to fall back upon this promise, sometimes, to keep from depression of spirit and to find reviving in it. Perhaps you may suppose that those of us who are always before the public and are speaking concerning the blessed promises of God, never have any moments of downcasting and never any times of heart-breaking, but you are quite mistaken! We may have passed through all this, perhaps, that we may know how to say a word in season to any who are now passing through similar experiences. With many enterprises upon my hands, far too great for my own unaided strength, I am often driven to fall flat upon the promise of my God, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." If I feel that any scheme has been of my own devising and that I seek my own honor in it, I know it must come to the ground and rightly so! But when I can prove that God has thrust it upon me and that I am moved by a Divine impulse and not by my own monitions and wishes, then how can my God forsake me? How can He lie, however weak I may be? How is it possible for Him to send His servant out to battle and not succor him with reinforcements in the day when the battle goes bad? God is not David when he put Uriah in the front and then left him that he might die. He will never put any of His servants forward and then desert them! Dear Brothers and Sisters, if the Lord shall call some of you even to things you cannot do, He will give you strength enough to do them! And if He should push you still forward till your difficulties increase and your burdens become heavy as your days, your strength shall be and you shall go on with the tramp of soldiers with the indomitable spirit of men who have tried and trusted the naked arm of the Eternal God! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Then what does it matter? Though all the world were against you, you could shake all the world as Samson shook the lion and tore him as a kid! If God is for you, who can be against you? Though earth and Hell and all their crew come against you and should combine together, yet if the God of Jacob stood at your back, you would thresh them as though they were but wheat and winnow them as though they were but chaff--and the wind would carry them away! Oh, roll this promise under your tongue as a sweet morsel! How I wish that it belonged to you all! Oh, that everyone of you had a share in it! But some of you, alas, have never fled to Jesus. Oh that you would do so! Whoever trusts Him for pardon by His atoning Sacrifice is saved! To look to the Great Substitute and depend upon Him for salvation--this gives salvation--and then come the promises that belong to the saved! The Lord in His infinite mercy bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Soul-threshing (No. 3388) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "For the black cummin are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin, but the black cummin are beaten out with a stick and the cummin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; therefore he does not thresh it forever, nor break it with his cartwheel, nor bruise it with his horsemen." Isaiah 28:27,28. The art of farming was taught to man by God. He would have starved while he was discovering it, so the Lord, when He sent him out of the Garden of Eden, gave him a measure of elementary instruction in agriculture, even as the Prophet puts it, "His God did instruct him to discretion and did teach him." God has taught man to plow, to break the clods, to sow the different kinds of grain and to thresh out the different orders of seeds. The Eastern farmer could not thresh by machinery as we do, but still, he was ingenious and discreet in that operation. Sometimes a heavy instrument was dragged over the corn to tear out the grain. This is what is intended in the first clause by the "threshing instrument," as also in that passage, "I have made you a sharp threshing instrument having teeth." When the corn-drag was not used, they often turned the heavy solid wheel of a country cart over the straw. This is alluded to in the next sentence--"Neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin." They also had flails not very unlike our own, and then for still smaller seeds, such as dill and cummin, they used a simple staff or a slender switch. "The black cummin are beaten out with a stick and the cummin with a rod." This is not the time or place to give a dissertation upon threshing. We find every information upon that subject in proper books, but the meaning of the illustration is this--that as God has taught farmers to distinguish between different kinds of grain in the threshing, so does He, in His Infinite Wisdom, deal discreetly with different sorts of men. He does not try us all alike, seeing we are differently constituted. He does not pass us all through the same agony of convic-tion--we are not all, to the same extent, threshed with terrors. He does not give us all to endure the same family or bodily affliction. One escapes with only being beaten with a rod, while another feels as it were the feet of horses in his heavy tribulations! Our subject is just this. Threshing. All kinds of seeds need it. All sorts of men need it Secondly, the threshing is done with discretion. And thirdly, the threshing will not last forever, for so the second verse of the text says, "Bread flour must be ground and, therefore, he does not thresh it forever, nor break it with the his cartwheel, nor bruise it with his horsemen." First then-- I. WE ALL NEED THRESHING. Some have a foolish conceit of themselves that they have no sin--but they deceive themselves and the Truth of God is not in them. The best of men are men at the best and, being men, they are not perfect but are still compassed about with infirmity. What is the object of threshing the grain? Is it not to separate it from the straw and the chaff? About the best of men there is still a measure of chaff. All is not grain that lies upon the threshing floor. All is not grain even in those golden sheaves which have so joyfully been brought into our garner. Even the wheat is joined to the straw which was necessary to it at one time. About the kernel of the wheat, the husk is wrapped and this still clings to it even when it lies upon the threshing floor. About the holiest of men there is something superfluous, something which must be removed. We either sin by omission or by trespass. Either in spirit, or motive, or lack of zeal, or want of discretion we are faulty. If we escape one error, we usually glide into its opposite. If before an action we are right, we err in the doing of it--or if not, we become proud after it is over. If sin is shut out at the front door, it tries the back gate, orclimbs in at the window, or comes down the chimney. Those who cannot perceive it in themselves are frequently blinded by its smoke. They are so thoroughly in the water that they do not know that is rains. So far as my own observation goes, I have found no man whom the old divines would have called perfectly perfect--the absolutely all-round man is a being whom I expect to see in Heaven, but not in this poor fallen world! We all need such cleansing and purging as the threshing floor is intended to work for us. Now, threshing is useful in loosening the connection between the good corn and the husk Of course, if it would slip out easily from its husk, the corn would only need to be shaken. There would be no necessity for a staff or a rod, much less for the feet of horses or the wheel of a cart to separate it. But there's the rub--our soul not only lies in the dust, but "cleaves" to it. There is a fearful intimacy between fallen human nature and the evil which is in the world--and this compact is not soon broken. In our hearts we hate every false way and yet we sorrowfully confess, "When I would do good, evil is present with me." Sometimes when our spirit cries out most ardently after God, a holy will is present with us, but how to perform that which is good we find not! Flesh and blood have tendencies and weaknesses which if not sinful in themselves, yet run in that direction. Appetites need but slight excitement to germinate into lusts. It is not easy for us to forget our own kindred and our father's house even when the king does most greatly desire our beauty. Our alien nature remembers Egypt and the flesh-pots while yet the manna is in our mouths! We were all born in the house of evil and some of us were nursed upon the lap of iniquity so that our first companionships were among the heirs of wrath! That which was bred in the bone is hard to get out of the flesh. Threshing is used to loosen our hold of earthly things and break us away from evil. This needs a Divine hand and nothing but the Grace of God can make the threshing effectual. Something is done by threshing when the soul ceases to be bound up with its sin and sin is no longer pleasurable or satisfactory. Still, as the work of threshing is never done till the corn is separated together from the husk, so chastening and discipline have never accomplished their design till God's people give up every form of evil and abhor all iniquity. When we shake right out of the straw and have nothing further to do with sin, then the flail will lie quiet. It has taken a good deal of threshing to bring some of us anywhere near that mark! And I am afraid many more heavy blows will be struck before we shall reach the total separation! From a certain sort of sins we are very easily separated by the Grace of God early in our spiritual life, but when those are gone, another layer of evils comes into sight and the work has to be repeated. The complete removal of our connection with sin is a work demanding the Divine skill and power of the Holy Spirit and by Him only will it be accomplished. Threshing becomes necessary for the sake of our usefulness, for the wheat must come out of the husk to be of service. We can only honor God and bless men by being holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. O corn of the Lord's threshing floor, you must be beaten and bruised, or perish as a worthless heap! Eminent usefulness usually necessitates eminent affliction. Unless thus severed from sin, we cannot be gathered into the garner. God's pure wheat must not be defiled by an admixture of chaff. There shall in no wise enter into Heaven anything that defiles, therefore every sort of imperfection must come away from us by some means or other before we can enter into the state of eternal blessedness and perfection. Yes, even here we cannot have true fellowship with the Father unless we are daily delivered from sin. Perhaps some of us today are lying up on the threshing floor suffering from the blows of chastisement. What then? Why, let us rejoice therein, for this testifies to our value in the sight of God. If the wheat were to cry out and say, "The great drag has gone over me and, therefore, the farmer has no care for me, " we should instantly reply, "The farmer does not pass the corn-drag over the darner or the nettles--it is only over the precious wheat that he turns his cartwheel or the feet of his oxen. Because he esteems the wheat, therefore he deals sternly with it and spares it not." Judge not, O Believer, that God hates you because He afflicts you! But interpret truly and see that He honors you by every stroke which He lays upon you. Thus says the Lord, "You only have I known of all the nations of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Because a full Atonement has been made by the Lord Jesus for all His people's sins, therefore He will not punish us as a judge--but because we are His dear children--therefore He will chastise us as a father! In love He corrects His own children that He may perfect them in His own image and make them partakers of His holiness. Is it not written, "I will bring them under the rod of the Covenant"? Has He not said, "I have refined you, but not with silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction"? Therefore do not judge according to the sight of the eyes or the feeling ofthe flesh, but judge according to faith--and understand that as threshing is a testimony to the value of the wheat, so affliction is a token of God's delight in His people! Remember, however, that as threshing is a sign of the impurity of the wheat, so is affliction an indication of the present imperfection of the Christian. If you were no more connected with evil, you would be no more corrected with sorrow. The sound of a flail is never heard in Heaven, for it is not the threshing floor of the imperfect, but the garner of the completely sanctified. The threshing instrument is, therefore, a humbling token and, as long as we feel it, we should humble ourselves under the hand of God, for it is clear that we are not yet free from the straw and the chaff of fallen nature. On the other hand, the threshing instrument is a prophecy of our future perfection. We are undergoing from the hand of God a discipline which will not fail--we shall, by His prudence and wisdom, be delivered from the husk of sin. We are feeling the blows of the staff, but we are being effectually separated from the evil which has so long surrounded us and, for certain we shall one day be pure and perfect! Every tendency to sin shall be beaten off. "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." If we, being evil, yet succeed with our children by our poor, imperfect chastening, how much more shall the Father of Spirits cause us to live unto Himself by His holy discipline? If the corn could know the necessary uses of the flail, it would invite the thresher to his work! And since we know whereunto tribulation tends, let us glory in it and yield ourselves with cheerfulness to its processes! We need threshing--the threshing proves our value in God's sight! And while it marks our imperfection, it secures our ultimate cleansing! In the next place I would remark that-- II. GOD'S THRESHING IS DONE WITH GREAT DISCRETION, "for the black cummin are not threshed with a threshing instrument." The poor little black cummin, a kind of small seed used for flavoring cakes, were not crushed out with a heavy drag, for by such rough usage they would have been broken up and spoiled. "Neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin." This little seed, perhaps the caraway, would have been ground by so great a weight--it would have been preposterous to treat it in that rough manner! The black cummin were soon removed from the stalks by being "beaten out with a staff." And the cummin needed nothing but a touch of a rod. For tender seeds, the farmer uses gentle means, but for the hardier grains he reserves the sterner processes. Let us think of this as it conveys a valuable spiritual lesson. Reflect, my Brothers and Sisters, that your threshing and mine are in God's hands. Our chastening is not left to servants. much less to enemies--"we're chastened by the Lord!" The Great Farmer, Himself, personally bids the laborers do this and that, for they know not the time or the way except as Divine Wisdom shall direct--they would turn the wheel upon the cummin, or attempt to thresh wheat with a stick! I have seen God's servants trying both these follies--they have crushed the weak and tender and they have dealt with partiality and softness with those who needed to be sternly rebuked! How roughly some ministers, some Elders, some good men and women will go to work with timid, tender souls! Yet we need not fear that they will destroy the true-hearted, for however much they may vex them, the Lord will not leave His chosen in their hands, but will overrule their mistaken severity and preserve His own from being destroyed thereby! How glad I am of this, for there are many, nowadays, who would grind the tender ones to powder if they could! As the Lord has not left us in the power of man, so also He has not left us in the power of the devil. Satan may sift us as wheat, but he shall not thresh us as black cummin. He may blow away the chaff from us even with his foul breath, but he shall not have the management of the Lord's corn--"the Lord preserves the righteous." Not a stroke in Providence is left to chance--the Lord ordains it and arranges the time, the force and the place of it. The Divine Decree leaves nothing uncertain! The jurisdiction of supreme love occupies itself with the smallest events of our daily lives! Whether we bear the teeth of the corn-drag, or men ride over our heads, or we endure the gentler touches of the Divine hand--everything is by appointment and the appointment is fixed by Infallible Wisdom! Let this be a mine of comfort to the afflicted. Next, remark that the instruments used for our threshing are also chosen by the Great Farmer The Eastern farmer, according to the text, has several instruments--and so has our God. No form of threshing is pleasant to the seed which bears it. Indeed, each one seems to the sufferer to be peculiarly objectionable. We say, "I think I could bear anything but this sad trouble." We cry, "It was not an enemy! Then I could have borne it, " and so on. Perhaps the tender cummin foolishly fancies that the horse hoofs would be a less terrible ordeal than the rod--and the black cummin might even prefer the wheel to the staff--but happily the matter is left to the choice of One who judges unerringly! What do you know about it, poor sufferer? How can you judge of what is good for you? "Ah," cries a mother, "I would not mind poverty, but to lose my darling child is too terrible!" Another laments, "I could have parted with all my wealth, but to be slandered cuts me to the quick." There is no pleasing us in the matter of chastisement. When I was at school with my uncle, for master, it often happened that he would send me out to find a cane for him. It was not a very pleasant task and I noticed that I never once succeeded in selecting a stick which was liked by the boy who had to feel it! Either it was too thin or too stout and, in consequence, I was threatened by the sufferers with punishment if I did not do better next time! I learned from that experience never to expect God's children to like the particular rod with which they are chastened. You smile at my simile but you may also smile at yourself when you find yourself crying, "Any trouble but this, Lord! Any affliction but this!" How idle it is to expect a pleasant trial, for it would then be no trial at all! Almost every really useful medicine is unpleasant. Almost all effectual surgery is painful. No trial for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous, yet it is the right trial and, none the less right because it is bitter! Notice, too, that God not only selects the instruments, but He chooses the place. Farmers in the East have large threshing floors upon which they throw the sheaves of corn or barley--and upon these they turn horses and drags--but near the house door I have often noticed in Italy a much smaller circle of hardened clay or cement--and here I have seen the peasants beating out their garden seeds in a more careful manner than would naturally be used towards the greater heaps upon the larger area. Some saints are not afflicted in the common affairs of life, but they have peculiar sorrow in their innermost spirits. They are beaten on the smaller and more private threshing floor, but the process is none the less effectual. How foolish are we when we rebel against our Lord's appointment and speak as if we had a right to choose our own afflictions! "Should it be according to your mind?" Should a child select the rod? Should the grain appoint its own thresher? Are not these things to be left to a higher wisdom? Some complain of the time of their trial--it is hard to be crippled in youth or to be poor in age or to be widowed when your children are young. Yet in all this there is wisdom! A part of the skill of the physician may lie not only in writing a prescription but in arranging the hours at which the medicine shall be taken. One draught may be most useful in the morning and another may be more beneficial in the evening-- and so the Lord knows when it is best for us to drink of the cup which He has prepared for us. I know a dear child of God who is enduring a severe trial in his old age and I would gladly screen him from it because of his feebleness, but our heavenly Father knows best and there we must leave it. The instrument of the threshing, the place, the measure, the time, the end are all appointed by Infallible Love! It is interesting to notice in the text the limit of this threshing. The farmer is zealous to beat out the seed, but he is careful not to break it in pieces by too severe a process. His wheel is not to grind, but to thresh. The horses' feet are not to break, but to separate. He intends to get the cummin out of its husk, but he will not turn a heavy drag upon it utterly to smash it up and destroy it. In the same way the Lord has a measure in all His chastening. Courage, tried Friend, you shall be afflicted as you need, but not as you deserve! Tribulation shall come as you are able to bear it. As is the strength, such shall the affliction be--the wheat may feel the wheel, but the black cummin shall bear nothing heavier than a staff. No saint shall be tempted beyond the proper measure--and the limit is fixed by a tenderness which never deals a needless stroke! It is very easy to talk like this in cool blood, but quite another thing to remember it when the flail is hammering you! Yet I have personally realized this Truth upon the bed of pain and in the furnace of mental distress. I thank God at every remembrance of my afflictions. I did not doubt His wisdom, then, nor have I had any reason to question it since. Our Great Farmer understands how to divide us from the husk and He goes about His work in a way for which He deserves to be adored forever! It is a pleasant thought that God's limit is one beyond which trials never go-- "If trials six are fixed for men They shall not suffer seven. If God appoints afflictions ten They never can be eleven." The old Law ordained forty stripes save one, and in all our scourges there always comes in that, "save one." When the Lord multiplies our sorrows up to a hundred, it is because 99 failed to effect His purpose, but all the powers of earth and Hell cannot give us one blow above the settled number! We shall never endure a superfluity of threshing. The Lordnever sports with the feelings of His saints. "He does not afflict willingly " and so we may be sure He never gives an unnecessary blow. The wisdom of the farmer in limiting his threshing is far exceeded in the wisdom of God by which He sets a limit to our griefs. Some escape with little trouble and, perhaps, it is because they are frail and sensitive. The little garden seeds must not be beaten too heavily lest they be injured--those saints who bear about with them a delicate body must not be roughly handled nor shall they be. Possibly they also have a feeble mind and that which others would laugh at would be death to them--they shall be kept as the apple of the eye! If you are free from tribulation, never ask for it! That would be a great folly. I met with a Brother a little while ago who said that he was much perplexed because he had no trouble. I said, "Do not worry about that, but be happy while you may." Only a very strange child would beg to be flogged! Certain sweet and shining saints are of such a gentle spirit that the Lord does not expose them to the same treatment as He metes out to others--they do not need it and they could not bear it--why should they wish for it? Others, again, are very heavily pressed, but what of that if they are a superior grain--a seed of larger usefulness intended for higher purposes? Let not such regret that they have to endure a heavier threshing since their use is greater. It is the bread corn that must go under the feet of the horseman and must feel the wheel of the cart--and so the most useful have to pass through the sternest processes. There is not one among us but what would say, "I could wish that I were Martin Luther, or that I could play as noble a part as he did." Yes, but in addition to the outward perils of his life, the inward experiences of that remarkable man were such as none of us would wish to feel! He was frequently tormented with Satanic temptations and driven to the verge of despair. At one hour he rode the whirlwind and the storm, master of all the world, and then after days of fighting with the pope and the devil, he would go home to his bed and lie there broken-down and trembling! You see God's heroes only in the pulpit or in other public places--you know not what they are before God in secret. You do not know their inner life, otherwise you might discover that the bread corn is bruised and that those who are most useful in comforting others have to endure frequent sorrow, themselves! Envy no man, for you do not know how he may have to be threshed to make him right and keep him so. Brothers and Sisters, we see that our God uses discretion in the chastisement of His people! Let us use a loving prudence when we have to deal with others in that way. Be gentle as well as firm with your children and if you have to rebuke your Brother or Sister in Christ, do it very tenderly. Do not drive your horses over the tender seed. Recollect that the cummin is beaten out with a stick and not crushed out with a wheel. Take a very light rod. Perhaps it would be as well if you had no rod at all, but left that work to wiser hands. Go and sow and leave your Elders to thresh! Next, let us firmly believe in God's discretion and be sure that He is doing the right thing by us. Let us not be anxious to be screened from affliction. When we ask that the cup may pass from us, let it be with a, "nevertheless not as I will." Best of all, let us freely part with our chaff. The likeliest way to escape the flail is to separate from the husk as quickly as possible. "Come you out from among them." Separate yourselves from sin and sinners, from the world and worldliness--and the process of threshing will all the sooner be completed! God make us wise in this matter! A word or two is all we can afford upon the third head, which is-- III. THE THRESHING WILL NOT LAST FOREVER. The threshing will not last all our days even here--"Bread flour must be ground, but He will not always be threshing it." Oh, no! "For a small moment have I forsaken you, but with great mercies will I gather you." "He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever." "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Rejoice, you daughters of sorrow! Be comforted, you sons of grief! Have hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him who is the health of your countenance! The rain does not always fall, nor will the clouds always return. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Threshing is not an operation which the corn requires all the year round--for the most part the flail is idle. Bless the Lord O my Soul! The Lord will yet bring home His banished ones. Above all, tribulation will not last forever, for we shall soon be gone to another and better world. We shall soon be carried to the land where there are neither threshing floors nor corn-drags. I sometimes think I hear the herald calling me. His trumpet sounds, "Up and away! Boot and saddle! Up and away! Leave the camp and the battle and return in triumph." The night is far spent with some of you, but the morning comes. The daylight breaks above yon hills. The day is coming--the day that shall go no more down forever! Come eat your bread with joy and march onward with a merry heart, for the land which flows with milk and honey is but a little distance before you. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, abide the Great Farmer's will, and may the Lord glorify Himself in you. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 90; 119:21-32. "The prayer of Moses, the man of God." I think this Psalm has been very much misunderstood because the title has been forgotten. It is not a Psalm for us in its entirety--it cannot be read by the Christian and taken as it stands. It is a Psalm of Moses as far as Moses can get. It goes a long way, but there was a Joshua that lead the people into the promised land--and there is a Jesus who has "brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel." That light shines through the gloomy haze of this dark Psalm. Please remember that Moses was a man peculiarly tried. We have never duly given weight to the afflictions of Moses. All the people that he brought out of Egypt, with two exceptions, died. And he saw most of them die--himself having the sentence of death in himself that he, like the rest, must not cross into the Land of Promise. So that with two millions or more of people round about him, that forty years he stood in the Valley of the Shadow of Death--and with all the mercies that surrounded him, yet still he must have had continual sorrow of heart--all his old friends and companions passing away, one by one. It is a brave Psalm if you read it in that light--it is a grand specimen of heroic faith! Verse 1. Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. All Your saints abide in You. Your fiery cloudy pillar covers and protects us. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Oh, that is grand to feel that there is something stable--there is a Rock that never crumbles--God from everlasting to everlasting the same! As for us, what are we? 3. You turn man to destruction and say, Return you children of men. A breath gave them life--a word makes themdie. 4-6. For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it ispast and as a watch in the night. You carry them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up. In the morning it flourishes and grows up. In the evening it is cut down and withers. We have seen this over and over again, as we shall see it yet again this year in the flourishing and the cutting down of the grass. But we forget it for ourselves. Too often we forget it for our companions--we think that they are immortal where all are mortal. Let us correct our estimate that we may somewhat correct our sorrows. 7. For we are consumed by Your anger and by Your wrath are we troublet. Which was true of that generation. They died because of God's anger, but we bless God--as many of us as have believed in Christ Jesus are not under the Divine anger--it is taken away. When it does fall upon us, it is as a father is angry with his children. It troubles and consumes us, but blessed be God, we usually walk in the light of His Countenance and joy and rejoice therein. Let us value His mercy as we see the misery of His wrath! 8. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your Countenance. That is true of you that know not God! Your sins are always before His face, but it is not true of Believers. You have cast all their sins behind Your back. God has forgotten the sins of His chosen according to His own promise, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more forever." O blessed Gospel! Moses cannot reach to that. 9. For all our days are passed away in Your wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. "For all our days are passed away in Your wrath." So it was with those that were round about Moses, but our days are passed in God's goodness! They shall pass away in Infinite Love! "We spend our years as a tale that is told." 10. The days of our years are three-score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they are fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly awaj. Speaking of the mass of men, this is all that can be said of them. But as for the godly, where do they fly? They fly into His bosom who has loved them with an everlasting love! What is death but an open cage to bid us fly and build our happy nests on high? Blessed be God that we do fly away! Have not we often wished for it and said, "O that I had the wings of a dove that I might fly away and be at rest"--that will come, by-and-by! 11. Who knows the power of Your anger? Even according to Your fear, so is Your wratt. As He is greatly to be reverenced, so is He greatly to be feared. But the Lord has said of His people, "As I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you." Blessed be His name. 12-14. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O LORD, how long? And let it repent You concerning Your servants. O satisfy us early with Your mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Poor Israel was greatly afflicted. Those deaths in the wilderness made her a perpetual mourner! But Moses asks that God will return to His people cheer and encourage them and let the few days they have to live be bright with His Presence. 15-17. Make us glad according to the days wherein You have afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let Your work appear unto Your servants and Your Glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: andestablish You the work ofourhands upon us;yes the work ofourhands establish it PSALM 119:21-32. 21. You have rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from Your commandments. Wherever there is pride in the heart, there is sure to be error in the life. A proud man is wrong to begin with and as long as he continues proud, he must be wrong. It is not possible for him to be right. God has rebuked him and God has cursed him. How wise it would be of him to be humble! Remember we shall have either to be humble or to be humbled--and it is much better to be humble than to have to come under the humbling dispensations of God's hand! 22. Remove from me reproach and contempt: for I have kept Your testimonies. O Lord, do not suffer men to believe lies and slanders against me, or if they do, let my conscience sustain my courage by the consciousness that I have kept Your testimonies. 23. Princes also did sit and speak against me. Had they nothing else to do but talk against God's servants? No, they sat down to do it with deliberation. "Princes also did sit and speak against me." 23. But Your servant did--"Go to law with them?" No, not so here. "But your servant got in the face and defended himself?" No, no! Look, you will not read those words. But, "Your servant was brokenhearted about it to have the great men of the earth speaking against him?" No, it is not so either. "But your servant did"-- 23. Meditate in Your statutes. Is not that a very blessed and admirable way of enduring slander--simply to take your Bible and read a little more than usual? You will cure it so. 24. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. Because I love them and delight in them. I submit my life to their guidance. I go to Your Book to ask what I shall do. I consult it as the Oracle of God. I take my doubts and difficulties and dilemmas there and I find that they are all met. "Your testimonies are my delight and my counselors." 25. My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken You me according to Your Wore. Ah, there is a note of sadness here. The Psalmist complains of himself. He found himself very sorrowful and he could not get out of the sorrow. Or he found himself very full of business cares and he could not get rid of them."My soul cleaves to the dust"--as though it was stuck to the dust and the dust to it and could not rise. Then how sweet the prayer, "Quicken You me." "Did You not first make me of dust and will You not, at the last, quicken my mortal body out of the dust? Then, now, my Lord, quicken You me according to Your Word." See, here is an evil complained of. He finds himself cleaving to the dust. Here is a remedy sought, "Quicken You me." And here is an argument pleaded with God--"according to Your Word." There is a promise for it. Lord, fulfill Your Word! 26. I have declared my ways and You heard me: teach me Your statutes. A confession had been made--"I have declared my ways." That confession had been accepted--"You heard me." Then a petition is offered--"Teach me Your statutes." "You see that I confess how wrong I was. Now give me Grace that I may not go wrong again." May that be our spirit always! 27. 28. Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of Your wondrous works. My soul melts for heaviness: strengthen You me according unto Your Wore. "I am poured out like water " says the Savior. "My heart is like wax. It is melted." It is the greatness of pain, the greatness of fear, the greatness of sorrow, till He seems to melt away in the fire like wax. "For heaviness " says He, "my soul melts. Then strengthen You, Me." Oh it is so sweet to turn to God when your soul is burdened--to look to Him and say--not, "deliver me." Observe that--the child of God is not so anxious to get rid of trouble as he is to know how to behave worthily under it! "Strengthen You, me, according to Your Word." How he harps on that, "according to Your Word." The child of God does not expect God to do otherwise than He has promised to do. And he is quite content if the Lord will act according to His Word, for well does our poet put it-- "What more can He say than to you He has said-- You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?' In this book dear Brothers and Sisters, whatever your trouble, there is a promise to meet it! If you lose a key and you send for the locksmith, as a general rule, somewhere in that bunch of keys, he has a key that will fit your lock. And so here is a bunch of keys and there is a key, here, that will exactly fit the lock of your trouble whatever it may be for God foresaw the circumstances of all His people and prepared a promise for every circumstance! 29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Your Law graciously. "Take away the evil, give me the good." "The way of lying." Oh it is a dreadful thing to get into that! There are some that have a way of doing it--some that do it naturally. Some that do it by implication. Some think it shrewd to deceive. "Remove from me the way of lying." If truth should be banished from all the world, it ought to find a shelter in the breasts of Christians! The Christian is forbidden to take an oath because there should never be any necessity for it. His word--his, "Yes yes"--his, "No no," should always be sufficient. Thank God it is where the Grace of God is! 30, 31. have chosen the way of truth: Your judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck into Your testimonies: O LORD put me not to shame. Here is, first, choice--"I have chosen the way of truth." Here is his practically carrying it out--"Your judgments have I laid before me." Here is his perseverance in it--"I have stuck into Your testimonies." And then there is his prayer about it, "O Lord, put me not to shame." And it is a prayer which is sure to be answered! "Truth may be blamed but it cannot be shamed." Truth is God's daughter and He will take care of her. If you have chosen the way of truth, it is a way in which though some may censure and slander, your righteousness shall come forth in due time as the noonday! 32. I will run the way of Your commandments when You shall enlarge my heart. "When I get liberty of heart, then will I take as my choice Your ways." The Christian is never so much at liberty as when he is under law to Christ. He knows the difference between license and liberty. He has a liberty to do as he wills because he wills to do as God wills him to do--and herein lies the only freedom which we desire! __________________________________________________________________ The Soul's Awakening (No. 3389) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE NEWINGTON. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." John 5:25. I suppose that when a pearl-fisher is at the bottom of the sea and has gathered his bag full of oysters, he will sometimes see other oysters lying about which he would be very very glad to take up if he could. And I can imagine that when he has been safely taken into his boat and has put away what he gathered the first time, he will be rather anxious to descend again somewhere near that same spot to bring up those which he left behind. This, at least, is much like my own case. While reading the Chapter and preparing the sermon for this morning, I thought there were so many pearls in the text I could not say much about this particular verse so I felt inclined to return to the same spot at once to see if we might not fetch up some fresh gems! Those of you who were present this morning will remember that we saw in the Chapter a three-fold gradation of life-giving in the Person of Christ. As here and there in the Old Testament dispensation, God had raised up some persons from the dead, so Christ, also, in the days of His flesh, had quickened whom He would--persons naturally dead He had restored to natural life. This is the first and, indeed, a very wonderful prerogative of live-giving for Christ to exercise to be able to raise Lazarus from the grave or to raise the young daughter of the ruler or to restore to the widow her departed son. The second form of life-giving is that described in the verse before us. He was constantly giving through His voice spiritual life to those who were spiritually dead. The third kind of life-giving we spoke of is that of the universal resurrection when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall rise to judgment. It is to the second that we propose to direct our attention this evening--a form of life-giving which is going on now--not a matter of the past as was the raising of a few in Christ's day. Not a matter of the future as the coming resurrection is, but a matter of the present--not so apparent to the eye and to the ear as either of those mysteries, in so much that it is to a great extent invisible except to the man who is a participator in it, but just as real, just as miraculous and, in many senses, even more marvelous and Divine! Christ is constantly raising the spiritually dead and giving them life. Oh that we may be enabled by God's Spirit to open up this Truth of God to your understanding and may it be applied to your hearts! Our first endeavor shall be to describe-- I. WHAT IT IS TO BE SPIRITUALLY DEAD. "The hour is coming," says the Savior, "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live." What is it to be spiritually dead? You all know what it is for the body to be physically dead. The soul has departed and has left the body incapable, insensible, unable to preserve itself. The soul was like salt to it--that being gone, it soon becomes putrid and obnoxious. Poor dead body! A most terrible and humiliating spectacle to see-- especially to look upon it after it has been lying for a while in the grave. We have, most of us, heard what it is to be morally dead. It does not happen, I hope, to very many, but there are some who seem to be dead to all moral feeling of right and wrong between their fellow men--that is what I mean just now by morality. They have been so inured to theft, un-cleanness, drunkenness and, some few even to murder, that when they have been arrested, convicted, imprisoned-- nothing seemed to move them to repentance! Even the dread of the last terrible penalty of the law has not sufficed to-bring from some of them any kind of emotion. Those who have been most earnest to arouse their conscience have felt the most painful conviction that their moral faculties were totally defunct. They have become callous, seared as with a hot iron. It is an awful spectacle to see a man morally dead--blind to reason, deaf to warning, numb to shame--thus morally dead. His passions raging without control, he becomes like some wild wolf of whom all the district is afraid! Like a raging lion going about in quest of prey whom every man dreads to encounter and whom some think it only right to slay. May none of us ever fall into such infamy! Alas, it might be! Step by step, little by little, men have become outcasts from society and found their lodging in the very lairs of corruption though they were born in better circumstances and trained with brighter prospects! May God grant we may never come to it ourselves! But to be spiritually dead--what is that? It is something like these two, but I think it is somewhat different. I must describe spiritual death not in its essence, for that I cannot do, but in its outward signs. Now observe a spiritually dead man. He is not dead in any other respect. He walks abroad and sees the fields full of abundant harvests. At night-fall he looks up to the skies and marks the glorious scenery of night. By day he climbs the mountains, beholds the valleys beneath in all their smiling beauty and gazes upward at the golden sun above. God is to be seen in all these--God manifestly the Creator, Preserver and Benefactor of mankind--but this man does not perceive Him. He sees no God. Perhaps he can stand like Byron under the shadow of Mont Blanc and write himself, "Atheos" without God where God is everywhere! Where God is in every breath of air, where God is in every flower beneath his feet, he sees not the footprints of the Almighty! He believes not in His secret Presence. Is the Great Eternal First Cause defunct, then, or is there no God? No, Sirs, the man's perception of God is all gone and that is all that is gone! His power to realize spiritual things has failed or else his ears would hear the voice of God in the sounding tops of the pines! His eyes would see the name of God written in golden letters in the midnight sky! His every sense would perceive God and his inmost soul drink deep of God--but he is dead and, therefore, he cannot! Watch that man in the common events of Providence. Many mercies have come to his store--there are happy children climbing his knee, his wife is in strong health and full of happiness--they have no need to look from where the next meal shall come. The stream of mercy flows hard by their door and this has been continued many years! They have long enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity! Now, all this comes from God, and health and strength are peculiarly His gifts. The power to get and the power to enjoy our earthly goods must both proceed from Him. But this man never sees God in it at all! He sometimes talks of luck and thinks himself a fortunate fellow. Luck, chance and fortune--these seem to be his deity! Though the hand of God, wide open and full of bounty, is so spread out that one might think a bat or an owl might see it, yet this man perceives it not! The man is dead to the perception of spiritual things that the great Master-Spirit, Himself, is not perceived when He comes near loaded with favors! As it is in Nature and as it is with the gifts of Providence, so especially it is in anything like outward religion. The man attends a place of worship--it may be he repeats his creed, joins in a form of prayer, or possibly he drops in where simpler worship is adopted and what does he do? He sings as others sing! He bows his head as others do in prayer. He listens as others do to the preaching of the Word, but it is a heavy dull monotonous service to him! He wishes it were over. He sees nothing in it. If he had his way and custom did not bind him at all, he would never he found wasting his time in such unprofitable proceedings as he thinks them to be! He is like the mouse in Church that thinks the Bibles and Prayer Books dry nibbling! He would rather be in the common ale-house, or at home reading novels, or walking out in the fields, or anywhere than in the place of worship! Yet others sitting by his side have found the most profound pleasure in those sacred engagements which have only brought weariness to him! Unlike him, they have been carried as on eagles' wings up to Heaven! Their souls have been filled with joy and peace and they have said as they have retired, "Surely God was in this place and it was good to be here." Why is this? The things ministered and the man who ministered them were the same. Ah, the one was dead while the others lived! How shall the dead derive comfort? How shall the dead be charmed? How shall the dead be fed and instructed? God was in the sermon but the carnally-minded man, being dead, perceived Him not! Nor, my dear Friends, is this spiritual death merely a failure to recognize the Being of God--it is equally seen in reference to the moral obligations it involves. Man, by nature, is dead to the right and to the true, to the commandments of the Lord which enlighten the eyes and to the testimony of the Lord which makes wise the simple. He is probably alive to his obligations to his fellow men because he has a clear understanding of their obligations to him. He generally keeps himself within the bounds of law and decency, but his greater obligations to his Creator--these cross not his mind--yet it is the very essence of rectitude and truth that He who made all things should be served by those He made and that He who sustains life in all His creatures should have honor from those creatures who owe their continued existence to Him! Why does the ungodly man not think of this? How is it he can live for 30 or 40 years sustained by God and yet never giveto God the service of his heart--scarcely thinking about his God at all? How is it? Why, because the man is dead to spiritual obligations! It must be so or else he would lament that he had not met those obligations and begin to repent that he had transgressed the bounds that his Maker set. The man is dead, Sirs--dead! Further the natural man is dead to eternal things. How quick-eared he is to the things of time--how swift to perceive their value and in what haste to grasp them if he can! But ah, the eternal realities which God has revealed in Scripture the man neither cares to hear about them nor, hearing them, do they excite any desires within his spirit! Alas, my Hearers, we have sometimes had to warn you of the judgment to come. We have had to take down the shrill-sounding trumpet and blow an alarm! We have had to tell you that there is a dreadful Hell into which the wicked, dying impenitent, must be cast! How is it that men are not stirred by a theme so truthful and so dreadful? Because they are dead! They would be awake enough if they were afraid that their house should be on fire and that they, themselves, might be burned with the natural element! Yet the spiritual danger far more to be apprehended arouses them not--because they are dead to it. At other times it has been our delight to speak of Heaven, to picture the pearly-gated city with all its azure brightness, with its bejeweled foundations and to talk of its inhabitants, all blessed forever, who walk in the light of their glorious King! And surely it were enough to make the cold marble heart glow with warmth! But no, the thing moved not men. Some little joy of earth would whet their appetite far more quickly! It is because to the spiritual Heaven revealed in Scripture men are altogether dead and care not for it! Oh Sirs, 'tis sad, 'tis sad, 'tis very sad that to the fleeting shadows we should be wide awake but to that substantial Truth of God we should be sound asleep--that after the poor gewgaws and child's bubbles of this mortal state, we should be all agog--but as to the solid joys and lasting pleasures of an eternal world, we show no desire! This again is a mark of spiritual death! I must hurry on to mark a few more indications of this spiritual death. Prayer is one of the most blessed engagements and occupations of men while they are out of Heaven--to ask of the All-Bountiful One the mercies which they need. But there are some here tonight who never pray--who never really ask of God what they require. They take the attitude of supplicants, perhaps as a matter of habit, but there they are like kneeling corpses! They do not pray--they are dead to prayer. Open this Book, this holy Bible, before them. There was never such another--no angel ever gazed upon a page more rich with glory than this! This Book it is that opens to us immortality and gives us the news of eternal love! Set the natural man down before it. It is to him a mere history or a dry book of dogmatic matters! He sees nothing in it that can charm him, nothing that can interest his spirit. The man is dead, Sir! To the sightless eyeballs, the brightest jewels flash back no radiance. He is dead! Yes, to Christ, Himself, the man is dead for when He is preached--Christ, the Father's Son, the virgin's Child, the condescending Savior, the ascending Conqueror, the exalted King crowned with Glory-- why the people of God delight to hear of Him! To them the savor of Jesus' name is like ointment poured forth! But exhibit this Savior to the natural man and he perceives nothing! How could he? He is dead--dead in trespasses and sins! All the outward phenomena that you will discern in the best natural man indicate that whatever kind of light there may be in him, the Light of God that deals with God, with the spirit-world, the world to come, is not there! He is unconscious of these! He has no fellowship with them. He is dead and a prey to corruption! When we have paused a minute we shall endeavor to describe-- II. THE WORD WHICH JESUS BRINGS TO THE DEAD. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." Our Lord Jesus Christ is, in Scripture, especially in the Gospel of John, called, "the Word." Here His voice is spoken of but what is a voice apart from the person that utters it? What is the Word which Jesus speaks by which dead men are quickened? Is not Jesus Christ, Himself, the Word of God to man? The distinct articulate manifestation of Deity is Jesus Christ! Now, let me show you this. Jesus Christ came, once upon a time, from Heaven. He condescended to become a Baby, to be nursed in a manger, to hang on a woman's breast. He was God! What did that say--that Child, that Baby--Human, yet Divine? Why, it said this, "God has pity upon man and has not left him. He is about to establish an intimate relationship between Himself, the great and the glorious, and man, the weak and the pitiable--a union not at first between God and fully developed man, but between God and the Baby, as if it should be said the weakest and feeblest of all that bear the name of manhood may take comfort, for God has come down and taken a Baby's form into union with Himself!" That meant pity! It meant mercy! It meant fellowship and it meant hope to the race of man! To this end Jesus passed a life in the midst of all our sorrows, infirmities and took upon Himself our sickness! And what did that mean? Why it meant compassion. A beautiful word, that--compassion--a united passion, a fellow-feeling, a kindred suffering! It seemed to say, "God is not indifferent to your woes. Oh, sons of men! You have fallen through your sins, but God pities you! God feels for you! He is no flinty-hearted Jupiter who sits serenely on his throne amidst the pains and agonies and eternal death of his creatures! No, but He has come down to you! He has taken upon Himself, Manhood, that He may suffer with man and let man see that He has not left him, but that He feels for him! And after He had lived a life of holiness which was, indeed, comparatively but a small part of His work, our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself up to die!Into the Garden He went and there the wrath of God was laid upon Him till that precious cluster was so crushed in the awful press of the Divine Wrath that great red drops of bloody sweat were distilled from every pore like the red juice from the cluster! He went to Pilate's Hall, to Herod's tribunal, to be mocked and scourged and spat upon and, at last, in extreme agony He offered up His life on the accursed tree! What did He say to us then? He said this--"God is just. I come down to you poor mortal men and, taking upon Myself your nature and taking also your sins as your Substitute, I have to suffer." Christ Jesus' suffering is a loud word from God to this effect, "I pity you men, but your sins I must punish. I cannot pass them by. If they are laid upon My Son, I must prostrate My Son beneath their load. I cannot wink at sin though it is laid upon the perfect Substitute, for even there I must hunt it to the death! It is an accursed thing and must not be tolerated. I must stamp it out of My universe." This is God's Word. He says, "Justice as well as compassion. Pity but pity consistent with severity." Moreover Jesus rose again from the dead and now He ever lives at the right hand of God and His Holy Spirit has come and animates, at this time, the preaching of the Word with Divine energy! Christ now declares to us God's Word after this fashion, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. Whoever will trust in the Incarnate Son of God and fully rely upon the merits of His wondrous suffering shall be saved. God wills not the death of the sinner, but had rather that he should turn unto Him and live! And everyone that will turn unto the living God and trust His Son to make propitiation, shall be saved from the damning power of sin and have everlasting life." Christ, the Living One, is God's Word to us that we shall be delivered from the wrath to come if we trust in Him, even as He, Himself, was delivered when He rose again from the dead and ascended into Glory! My dear Friends, the Gospel which I preach again, tonight, is that which I have always preached and always will preach until I have a fear lest I should preach till you are almost nauseated with the repetition! Yet if it were so, I could not help it, for no other name do I dare to preach, nor is there any other foundation that I dare to lay and bid you build on it but this! Jesus Christ, the Son of God has come! Here on earth He lived and died and suffered for the sake of mankind. God is a God of Love, but He is also a God of Justice. There is a way in which He can be just and yet tender to you. If you trust His dear Son, your sins shall not destroy you! Christ's sufferings shall stand instead of yours and you shall live! If you will now accept Christ. If you now will lean fully on Jesus. If you now will fling away both your love of sin and your love of your own righteousness and come and rest where God would have you rest, God shall be reconciled to you and you shall be His child and you shall live forever and ever! I must now close with third point-- III. THE MODE BY WHICH THIS WORD IS APPLIED. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear." I have told you what they will hear. They will hear the Word of God! But who will speak it? Who is it that alone can speak it to purpose? Why--"When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, they that hear shall live." Whenever any dead soul lives, it is through the Word, but it is not through the voice of the preacher. That is but an instrument and nothing more! The real voice that makes dead souls live is the voice of Christ Jesus! What, is it so? Does He actually speak to every soul that is saved? He does! I do not mean in fancy as though you heard voices in the air, but I mean that this Word which I have just now preached to you must come home to your heart and your conscience and be applied by the Holy Spirit so that you prove its power and feel its energy. Through the Holy Spirit, it is that the voice of Christ is heard in the soul! But while I speak to you thus, some will say, "What, then, can we do with sinners as we have not the voice that can raise them?" Why you can pluck your Master by the skirt and say to Him, "Good Lord, speak the Word! Speak the Word!" When I come into this pulpit, the prayer that rises to my heart always--I hope I can always say without guile--is this, "Lord be here to speak, Yourself, through me." I am persuaded that though I preach to dead sinners ten thousand years, never will one be saved by my voice. Why, then, do I preach to sinners knowing them to be dead? Because I am simply the instrument of Christ and He speaks through His voice with His own Spirit, which is as His voice, and the dead do hear and they are made to live--not without the instrumentality, not through the instrumentality, alone, but by the voice of Jesus Christ! I ask you, then, dear Brothers and Sisters who are alive to God, to pray that Jesus would speak while the preacher speaks. Be lifting up your hearts and silently crying-- "Oh, let the dead now hear Your voice! Bid, Lord Your banished ones rejoice! Their beauty this their glorious dress Jesus the Lord our righteousness.!' What encouragement there is in this for you, my Brothers and Sisters! However feeble you may be in yourselves, yet if it is the voice of Christ you have to rely upon, what power there is in that! You may go to your class and say, "I cannot teach these troublesome boys and these inattentive girls! How can I hope to see them saved?" Ah but your Master can speak through you and He can do what you cannot! Though it is true that old Adam is too strong for young Melancthon, he is not too strong for the mighty Savior whose voice does not merely speak to the living, but to the dead--and all who hear that voice shall live! Bend your ear, then, and bow down your heart! Attend to the voice of Christ seeing that thereby, alone, the dormant faculties can be quickened and a lively interest excited! Yet while Christ speaks to the dead, power is communicated to them that they may have it and use it, call it their own and exercise it. "The dead shall hear," and do notice, " They that hear shall live." You must not imagine that man is passive in the matter. What does it say, "Draw us, " and we will be drawn? No, but, "Draw us and we will run after You'" There comes an activity. I have heard some speak of faith and repentance as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Most truly so they are, but why speak of these gifts as though the sinner had nothing to do to repent and to believe? Always remember that it is youwho must repent and believe. The Holy Spirit will not repent for you! What would He repent about? He never did wrong. And the Holy Spirit will not believe for you. What would He believe for? He is God, Himself! The fact is that the Apostle has expressed it exactly when he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure." Christ gives the voice but the man hears. There is something done--there is a something to be received. It is no great act to hear a sound when it is made. It is no great act to receive mercy when it is presented. Yet the hearing is a miracle, for the dead hear! And the receiving by faith is a miracle, for none do this but those to whom it is given--yet it is done by man. Faith and repentance are gifts of God--the voice that saves is the voice of Christ but the point of personal salvation is reached when the man actively hears and receives the Truth of God! I pray you, then, my dear Hearers, if you would be saved, be diligent in hearing the Gospel! I would urge you to frequent those places of worship most where there is most of Christ preached. Do not seek after eloquence, oratory, gaudy periods or grotesque observations that might amuse you. You have something else to do on the Lord's Day besides being amused and having your ears tickled! There is a soul in you that will either be saved or lost--and this day is given you peculiarly that you may listen to the Gospel which saves you! Hunt out the Gospel in your locality! Follow it wherever you may hear it preached. I entreat you to hear it, but do not think that the mere hearing it with your outward ears will be enough! Alas, such a hearing may involve responsibility and bring you no blessing. I pray you ask the Lord as you go up to the House of Prayer to open your inward ears to quicken you from your spiritual death and give you to derive profit. I do believe, my dear Friends, that few will miss a blessing who hear a Gospel minister anxiously desiring to get a blessing. In these waters, men shall catch what they fish for! And if you seek earnestly after God's blessing, you shall find it! Thirst for it! Pant for it! Long for it! You already have the beginning of it, for to desire Grace is an evidence that you have Grace in a measure! And to earnestly seek Christ is already to have something from Christ--a foretaste of the feast they enjoy who find Him! Ah, my dear Friends, we keep on preaching and you keep on coming and going, Sunday after Sunday, but how is it with you? Are you saved or not? A man opens a shop for the sale of medicines and I will suppose them to have great medicinal virtue. There is a plague in the district and he asks himself, "Are these drugs, after all, what they profess to be?" If men keep on dying, he will, as an honest man, begin to get anxious and to enquire. And if he meets with persons who are talking of other things, he will say, "Nonsense! Put them aside a bit. I want to ask you about something of more importance. Are these drugs of mine true shots with which to do battle with the plague? Are these the weapons with which to chase away this horrible disease and avert the threat? Is the plague increasing in your street or is it dying out?" Oh I wantto push these questions home to you tonight! I know I preach the Word of Christ. I am sure I have told you the Gospel of His salvation. The voice of Christ I cannot imitate nor would I if I could. 'Tis His to use His own voice. His tongue and His tongue, only, is like a two-edged sword which can cut and cure, kill and heal at the same time! How is it with you? Are you saved? Are you awakened? Are you seeking? Are you finding? Or are you, after all, just hearing and hearing and hearing again and again to no purpose? Ah, I would to God that I were not the preacher to such as you and that you were not my hearers, for I cannot bear that I should be adding to your condemnation! That I should be hardening you-- for so it must be--hardening your hearts with the very Truth of God that ought to soften them! I pray the Master bring you into a different state and give you to lay hold on these things, for if they are not true, it is time I had done preaching them! But if they are true, it is time you had received them! If they are not true, it is time that these services were given over, for they are awful farces! But if this Book is true and Christ's Gospel is true, it is time that you did not make farces of them but that you turned unto God with full purpose of heart! The Lord save you for Jesus' sake. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: EPHESIANS2; MATTHEW 11:1-6. Verse 1. And you has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. What a great change, then, has taken place in the people of God! It is described as being similar to the resurrection of the dead. And do you suppose that this took place without a man's knowing it? Do you think that we are wrong in stating a wide difference between the quickened ones and the dead? I think not. In fact, those addresses made to congregations in which there is no distinction made between the living and the dead in Zion are deceptive. And prayers that are meant to suit congregations of mingled character--where some are dead in sin and others alive unto God--are, on the very face of them, an attempt at an impossibility! As great as is the distinction between the dead in their graves and living men that walk the streets, so great is the difference between the regenerate and unregenerate! Do you think that in reading this verse, dear Friends, you could apply it to yourself, "and you, and you, and you, has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins"? 2. Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Those who are not saved have a life of evil. They are dead towards God, but they are alive towards Satan. An unregenerate man's heart is Satan's workshop in which he forges divers devices of evil--the spirit that works in the children of disobedience! 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in timespast in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. No difference by nature between the brightest saint in the Church of God and the blackest sinner of the camp of Satan--all fallen, all desperately depraved at our very original! What wonders of Grace are those who are saved! Let them taken care that they never fail in praising that Grace of God! 4-7. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ (by Grace you are saved). And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. God's great objective is to display His Grace--to let all the universe know what a gracious God He is--therefore did He pitch upon us who were dead in sin even as others! Therefore does He quicken us and, therefore, having quickened us, does He go on to raise us up from one point to another until He makes us sit with Christ upon His Throne! Oh Beloved, if all the ages are to learn the Grace of God from His dealings towards us, let us learn it and let us talk much of it and exult much in it! Who is a gracious God like unto our God? 8. For by Grace are you savedNot by your own merits! Not by priestcraft! Not by your own free will. "By Grace are you saved." This is the great summary of the Gospel! Let this Doctrine be preached and we shall soon see the errors of Rome fly before it! "By Grace are you saved." 8. Through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Neither the faith nor the salvation are of ourselves. They are both the gifts of Divine Love--both worked in us by the Divine Spirit. It is the gift of God! 9, 10. Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. No good man can boast of his works because those works are the work of God. Without Him, we could not perform good works! So that even when we possess them, we are His workmanship. Shall the vessel on the wheel exalt itself as if it made itself? No, the potter must have the credit for all the skill of the making of the vessel. And if, therefore, there shall be in our character marks and lines of Grace and Truth--unto God be the glory for them, for we are His workmanship! 10-12. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that you, being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by those who are called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands. That at the time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants ofpromise having no hope and without God in the world This is where our fathers were. This is where we are by nature! We have not got even as far as the Jew who had a Covenant according to the flesh to plead and had received the sign of it while yet a child! But we--we were altogether foreigners and aliens from the Most High! 13. But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ. Oh, rejoice in this! You far-off ones made near, lift up your hearts in thankfulness for what the Lord Jesus has done for you by His blood-- made near by the blood of Christ! 14. For He is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Christ is peace between Jew and Gentile--peace between both of them and their God. I have heard of a poor bricklayer who when at work on a scaffold, fell from a great height and was taken up and was dying. They sent for a minister of the Gospel who began addressing him in such terms as this, "My dear man, you are evidently near to die and therefore I exhort you to make your peace with God." He knew but very little of it compared with what the poor bricklayer knew, for opening his eyes, he said, "Make my peace with God, Sir? That I could not do, but I thank God it was made for me in the Everlasting Covenant of Grace in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ 1,800 years ago! I have no peace to make!" It is peace already made! And we have but to accept it, for He is our peace who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us! 15. 16. Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of two, one new man so making peace. And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby. No enmity now should exist between Jew and Gentile. None does exist between the Believer and his God. The enmity is dead forever, for Christ has died. 17, 18. And came and preached peace to you which were afar of and to them that were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Fathe. In this verse you have the whole Trinity and all the Trinity in unity are necessary for prayer. "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." 19. Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. How blessedly Grace annihilates all national distinction! Cowper spoke of nations which, like kindred drops, would have melted into one if they had not been divided by a range of mountains or intersected by a narrower faith. But in the Gospel of Grace we do melt into one! Whoever loves the Lord is a co-patriot with all who love Him! Distinctions of nationality sweetly sink when we come to know the Savior. We are fellow citizens with the saints and of the householdof God! MATTHEW 11:1-6. Verses 1-5. And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison, the works of Christ, he sent two of hisdisciples. And they said unto Him, Are You He that should come or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. These were Christ's seals and proofs--John needed not to seek others. These were the very works of which prophecy had said would be the marks of the Messiah! If, then these marks were found in Him, He left John and his disciples to draw the inference that He was, indeed, the One who was to come! Christ is always best known by His works and, especially in His people, He is seen in their lives. There are two great precepts for the conquest of the world for Christ--the first is preach the Gospel--but the second is live the Gospel and if we do not live the Gospel, we shall not succeed in preaching the Gospel! In fact, those members of our churches who do not live the Gospel, undo through all the week what the preacher of the Gospel endeavors to do on the Lord's Day! It is a fine thing to preach with your mouth, but the best thing in the world is to preach with your feet and with your hands--in your walk and in your work! And if you are enabled to do this, the people will be able to say very little against the preaching of the Gospel when they see the result of it in those who accept it! God grant that we may be all preachers in some way or another! 6. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Mt. __________________________________________________________________ Hoping in God's Mercy (No. 3390) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16, 1868. "Behold, the eye of the Lordis on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy." Psalm 33:18. By the term, "the fear of God," we understand in Holy Scripture the whole of true religion. We do not mean by the fear of God, the slavish fear which trembles in God's Presence, as the poor slave trembles under his master's lash, but that child-like fear which fears to offend, which fears to be led into error--a reverential fear such as the angels have when they veil their faces with their wings and cast their crowns before the glorious Throne of God--to have such a fear of God before our eyes as to restrain our wandering passions, to keep our hands from doing evil and our tongues from speaking the thing which is not right--to have such a fear of God that we feel as though we were in God's Presence and act, and speak, and think as though we fully recognized the eye that reads the secrets of the heart. When we read, therefore, that the eye of the Lord is upon "them that fear Him," we are to understand that He has gracious regard towards those who delight in Him, who worship Him and are His children. But the part of the text to which I call your special attention now is that expression, "Those who hope in His mercy." This is intended to be of the same reach and compass as the first. Those who fear God are the same persons as those who hope in His mercy and this is very consoling, for to hope in God's mercy seems to be but a very small evidence of Divine Grace and yet it seems to be a very sure sign, for those who hope in God's mercy are the same persons who are said to fear Him. They are the same persons as are described as being His saved ones, His children--the truly godly ones. I hope there are many here who can say, "Well, I do hope in His mercy. If I cannot get farther, yet I can get as far as that--my hope is fixed in the mercy of God in Jesus Christ." Then, dear Friend, may the words we shall speak be comforting to you! And may you rejoice that the Lord considers you and has an eye of favor towards you, now, and will have forever! I am always very anxious about those who have the beginnings of Grace in them. I think I would go a long way out of my way to carry one of the lambs in my bosom and to try to cherish one that was ready to die with doubt. But, on the other hand, I am always fearful of giving any encouragement to those who are on a wrong foundation. Like the ancient mariner who was afraid of the whirlpool on the one hand and the rocks on the other, and found it difficult to steer along the middle of the channel, so may I find it tonight. I would not grieve a trembling soul. I would not bolster up a self-deceived one. Far be it from these lips to ever become a rod for the backs of God's weak ones! And equally far be it from this tongue to speak so as to put pillows under men' s arms and under their heads wherewith they may go to sleep and sleep themselves into Hell! In trying, therefore, to avoid two evils, I shall begin by speaking about a hope in God's mercy which is false--and then I shall say a little about a sound hope in God' s mercy. To begin, then, at the beginning-- I. THERE IS A FALSE HOPE IN GOD'S MERCY AGAINST WHICH WE EARNESTLY WARN YOU. "I do not believe," says a man, "that God will ever cast me into Hell, for God Almighty is very merciful." "What will become of you when you die?" said one man to another. "I do not know," was the answer, "and I do not think much about it because I know that God is a very good God--and I do not think that He will cast the souls of men into Hell, as bigots say, and cause them to be forever banished from His Presence." Now, Friend, if this is your hope, I beseech you to be rid of it, for it is a deadly viper and though you nurse and cherish it in your bosom, it will sting you to your destruction, for do you not know that the God of the Bible is a God of Justice, as well as a God of Mercy? Though He is infinitely good, yet He Himself has said, "I will by no means spare the guilty." What do you think of this text, "The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God"? Does that seem as if God would not punish sin? "The soul that sins, it shall die." What do you think of that? "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." Does that seem like an effeminate and sentimental kindness that will wink at sin? If you are to be saved by the general mercy of God, then let me tell you that this blessed Book of God is all a mistake and deception, for there are no such teachings here, as those of which you dream. Besides, you know better than this--I appeal to your own conscience, you know better than this! We tell people that if they allow filth to accumulate and sewage to become stagnant. If they deprive themselves of fresh air and neglect ventilation and cleanliness, when the fever comes it will be sure to make them its prey! And they might say, "Oh, we don't believe that! God is merciful and we do not believe that He will ever let the fever take people off by scores--we shall not think of clearing away the dung heaps, or cleaning out the sewers, or getting the windows made to open! We tell you it is all bigoted trash! God will not let the people die of fever!" But they do die of fever and the very people who neglect the laws of health are taken away, God's mercy notwithstanding! And so it will be with you. Sin is like a dung heap--your iniquities are like those fever-breeding drains and your soul will die of the disease which springs from the sin which you so much love. And all your talk about God's mercy you will find to be a dream! If a man shall go to sea tomorrow in a leaky ship which takes in the water while she is going down the Thames, they may keep the pumps always going, but yet the water gets ahead of the men. You say to the man, "Sir, if you go out into the sea--it is only a matter of time--your ship will go down. She is not seaworthy--she will never get down the Channel." "Oh," he says, "don' t tell me that--God Almighty is merciful and He will never let a poor fellow drown! I believe that my ship will float and I mean to run the risk of it, for I believe in God's mercy." Down the vessel goes--and the wretch on board of her and all her passengers are drowned! And what do we say? Do we say that God is not merciful? No! But we say that some men are insane--and so say we of you! If you trust in that general mercy of God, but will not obey the Gospel and put from you the way of salvation which God has ordained, you will perish! And on your own head will be your blood since you have foolishly perverted the goodness of God to your own destruction! In other persons, this belief in the mercy of God takes the shape of saying, " Well, I have always done my best. I have been a respectable person ever since I can recall--I bring up my children as well as I can--I send them to the Sunday school. I always pay my debts. I don't swear and I am not a gin drinker--I don't know that I have any particular vice. On the contrary, I am always ready and happy to help the poor and to say a good word for religion and so on. It is true that I am not all I ought to be--no doubt we are all sinners and there is a great deal that is wrong and imperfect about us--though I don' t know what it is in particular. But anyhow, God is merciful and what with what I have done and what I have not done--and God's mercy to make up for all the shortcomings--I do not doubt but what it will be all right with me at the last." Now this, again, is a deceit and a refuge of lies--a bowing wall and a tottering fence which will fall on those who take shelter behind it! You have read of Nebuchadnezzar's image which was part iron and part clay. Had it been all iron, it might have stood, but being part clay, by-and-by, the whole image was broken in pieces! Such is your religion! You trust in part to the mercy of God--I will call that the iron. But you trust in part to your own so-called good works--that is the clay and down your image will fall before long! Why, you are like the man in the proverb who tries to sit on two stools--and you know what becomes of him! Besides, how foolish you are to try to yoke yourselves to God to help Him! Go and yoke a gnat with an archangel, or find a worm and put it side by side with leviathan--and hope that they will plow the stormy deep together! Then think of Christ helping you and of you helping Christ. Absurd! If you are to be saved by works, then it must be all of works! But if by Grace, it must be all of Grace, for the two will no more mix than fire and water. They are two contrary principles! Therefore, give up the delusion! A hope in God's mercy which is twisted and inter-twisted with a hope in your own works is certainly vain! But we know others who say, "Well said, Mr. Preacher! I know better than that--I shall never fall into that snare. I trust in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ and in Him, alone! I expect the mercy of God to come to me through Christ and I depend upon only Him." Well, you talk very well. You talk very well. I must go home with you! But the man does not want me to go home with him. I do not know where he means to turn in--perhaps once or twice on the roadbefore he gets to his house! When he gets home, we shall ask his wife what sort of a man he is. She will then be compelled to say, "Well, Sir, he is a great saint on Sunday, but he is a great devil all the rest of the week! He can talk a horse's head off about religion, but, Sir, there is no genuine living in the matter--no real, righteous, godly action in him." Did you never read of Mr. Talkative in The Pilgrim's Progress?How he could tell out all the Doctrines! How he could prate about them! He had them all at his fingertips and at his tongue's tip, too, but they never operated on his life. They never affected and sweetened his character. He was just as big a rogue as though Christ had never lived--and just as graceless a villain as though he had never heard of the Savior at all! Now, Sirs--any kind of faith in Christ which does not change your life is the faith of devils! And it will take you where devils are, but will never take you to Heaven! Men are not saved by their works--we declare that plainly enough--but if faith does not produce good works, it is a dead faith and it leaves you a dead soul to become corrupt and to be cast out from the sight of the Most High. A genuine hope in God's mercy, according to the teaching of Scripture, purifies a man. "He that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure." If you have a hope in the mercy of God which lets you do as the ungodly do with impunity, then, Sir, you have about your neck a millstone that will sink you lower than the lowest Hell! God deliver you from such a delusion! I fear there are still others who have a bad hope--a hope which will not save them--because they trust in the mercy of God that they shall be all right at the last, though they have neglected all those things which make men right. For instance, the Word of God says, "You must be born-again." These men have never been born-again, but yet they trust in the mercy of God! Sir, what right have you to expect any mercy when God has no mercy, except that which He shows to men by giving them new hearts and right spirits? You say you trust in the mercy of God and yet you have no repen-tance--and do you think God will forgive the man who not only does not love, but refuses and despises His Son, the only Savior? I tell you there will have to be a new Bible written before this can be true! And there will have to be a new Gos-pel--yes--and a new God, too, for the God of the Bible never will, nor can wink at sin! Unless He makes you sick of sin, He must be sick of you! And until you hate your iniquities with a perfect hatred, there cannot be mercy in God's heart to you, for you go on in your iniquities! You tell me you trust in God, and yet there has been no change of life in you! Oh, Sirs! Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven! The first thing God's mercy will do for you will be to turn your face in the opposite direction. If mercy shall ever come to you, it will make you a new creation, give you new loves, new hates. But if you have not conversion, what have you to do with mercy? The mercy of God, wherever it comes, makes men pray. You never bend your knees and yet you say you trust in God' s mercy? Oh, Sir, you are deceiving your own soul! The mercy of God makes a man love Christ and makes him seek to be like Christ. You have no love to Christ and no desire to be like He. Then, Sir, I pray you give up that falsehood, which has been, up to now, as a soft pillow for your head, and believe me that the mercy of God cannot come in the way in which you expect it! I wish I might have torn away, from some now present, their false dependences, but I am afraid they are too dear to them for my hands to do it! May God's Holy Spirit deliver men from all false confidences in God's mercy! But now a much more pleasant part of my work comes before me, namely-- II. TO DESCRIBE A SOUND HOPE IN THE MERCY OF GOD. I shall say of it, first, that a soundly hopeful soul feels its need of mercy. It does not talk about sin, but it feels it. It does not talk about mercy, but it groans after it. Beware of superficial religion! I think if I might only say two things before I die, one out of the two would be--beware of surface godliness. Take care of the paint, the tinsel, the varnish, the oil! There must be in us a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness! There must be in us the broken heart and the contrite spirit. I like revivals--far be it from me to ever say a word against them--but I have seen scores of men jump into religion just as men jump into a bath--and then jump out, again, just as quickly because they have not felt their deep need of Christ. You may depend upon it, there is no sound bottom to a man's religion unless he begins with a broken heart. And that religion that does not begin with a deep sense of sin, and a thorough heartbreaking conviction, is a repentance that will have to be repented of before long. God save us from it! If you are to have a hope in mercy, you must know that it is mercy! You must know that you need it as mercy! You must be clean divorced from every confidence except in mercy! Youmust come to this, that it must be Grace first, last, and midst--Grace everywhere--otherwise it will never serve or save such a poor helpless castaway as you are. A sound hope, then, is one in which a man knows that he needs mercy! Another mark of a sound hope is that he clearly perceives that mercy can only come to him through the Mediator-- Christ Jesus. The Word of God tells us that there is but one door of Grace, and that is Christ! But one foundation for a genuine hope--and that foundation is Christ1 God's mercy is Infinite, but it always flows to men through the golden channel of Jesus Christ, His Son! Soul, it will be a good thing for you when you have done with the idea of hunting after mercy here, there and everywhere, and when you come to Christ, and Christ alone, for it! God swears by Himself that there shall be no hope for man out of Christ, but that there shall be hope for them there. "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid." Against all other confidences God thunders out that famous sentence, "He that believes not, in condemned already, because he has not believed on the Son of God." When you are tied up to Christ. When every other door is shut and barred, and fastened up with iron padlocks. When every cistern is broken. When every hope is shipwrecked and the last broken board has been swallowed up in the whirlpool of despair--if your soul then clings to Chr-ist--you have a sound hope, a hope that can never let you go! Yet again. That hope which leads a man to desire to be conformed to God's plan of mercyis a sound hope. I mean this. There may be someone here who says, "I fear I am not regenerated. You condemned me just now, Sir, but oh, I wish I were! I am afraid I am not converted, but oh, that God in His Grace would convert me! You spoke of repentance--I fear I do not repent as I should, but oh, I wish that I could repent! Oh, that my heart would break! I feel because I do not feel and I sigh because I cannot sigh!" Ah, poor Soul, if you are willing to be what God would make you to be, then is your hope, though not yet a perfect one, yet good so far as it goes! If you will now come and cast yourself on Christ, though you have no regeneration apparent to yourself, yet you shall be saved! If you will come as you are, with all your iniquities about you, without any repentance that you can discern. If you will come empty-handed and cast yourself on what Jesus did upon the Cross and is still doing in pleading before the Throne of God, you shall never perish, but you shall be saved! Oh, it is a precious Gospel which we have to preach to needy sinners! A full Christ for empty sinners! A free Christ for sinners that are enslaved! But you must be willing to be this--you must be willing to be renewed in the spirit of your mind--and if you can honestly say that you are so willing and that you will now close in with Christ, then yours is the hope upon which God looks with the kindest regard! I might thus continue to describe this hope, but I shall not detain you longer upon that point. I do hope and trust that I have many here who are beginning to have a little hope in Christ. Oh, it is a mercy to see the first streaks of daylight, for the sun is rising. It is pleasing to see that first dewdrop, the first tear that comes from a troubled heart. I think the Lord is about to bring water out of the flinty rock! I feel so grateful when I meet with some in distress. Sometimes after the service there is somebody that wants to see us. They are so distracted and depressed--and they think they are giving us so much trouble, but oh, it is blessed trouble! There is not one of us but would be glad to sit up all night, I am sure, to see many such troubled ones, if we might but speak a word to them by which they might find joy and peace! Now, I want to take the text like a very sweet and dainty morsel and just drop it into the mouths of you who are ready to faint for it--"The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him, upon those who hope in His mercy." Though you have got no further than that, yet you have God's eye upon you and you may be greatly comforted! But we must go to another point with great brevity. We have in this house of worship, here and now-- III. SOME WHO ARE AFRAID TO HOPE IN GOD. They unconsciously desire to trust Him in His own appointed way. They understand it, but they are afraid to do it. Now, my beloved fellow sinner, I beseech you to cast yourself upon Christ and to trust in Him! And remember that God cannot lie. It is blasphemy to suppose that God can say a thing that is not true. Now, He has promised, over and overagain, to save everyone that trusts in Christ. And if He does not save you, well, then_. You know what I mean. Oh,but God cannot lie! Therefore, come and cast yourself upon His faithful promise! Well do I remember when that text, "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," stayed my fainting soul for months together, before I actually had joy and peace. Do you call upon God in prayer? Do you trust in God, however little it may be? Then you shall be saved! Believe it. If any soul here feels himself to be as black as night--imagines himself to be out of the list of the hopeful--yet if he can but come and cast himself upon what Christ did when He died upon the Cross for sinners, God must cease to be God before that soul can perish! Hope then, hope then, Sinner, for God cannot lie! Then hope, again, because God has saved and is still saving others! We have not ceased to have conversions in this Church. I am sometimes afraid that they are not as many as they once were, but they do come and come frequently, too, to the praise of God's Grace! Now, if others are saved when they trust Christ, why should not you be? Who has clambered up into the secret chambers of Heaven and found that your name is not written in the roll of election? Who? Why, no one has done so! Then, since Christ bids you come and trust Him--come and trust Him! Oh, that you might come, tonight, and as He has accepted others, He will accept you, for He says, "He that comes unto Me, I will in no wise castout." I beseech you have hope, again, because it is to Gods honor to save sinners. If it were dishonoring to Christ to receive the ungodly, you might stand in doubt. But since it is one of the jewels in His crown which gladdens His heart and brings Him honor in the sight of glorified saints in Heaven, depend upon it, He is not hard to be persuaded! Christ is quite as willing to save as ever the most longing sinner can be to be saved! It is His delight to give of His liberality, to dispense of His bounty to those who need! Have hope then. The generous Character of Christ should encourage you! Have hope, I say, once more, because of what Christ endured upon the Cross. See Him dying in unutterable pains and pangs! See His hands and feet distilling founts of blood! See His body racked with agonies that cannot be described! His soul, meanwhile, ground and crushed beneath the wheels of Divine Wrath against the sin He bore for our sakes! His whole Being is a mass of suffering in our place! Now, why all this miraculous and sacrificial endurance? Surely that bearing all this, we might be spared and never know its anguish! Oh, when my soul looks to Christ, it seems to see that nothing is impossible with such an Atonement! No sin is too black for that blood to wash and cleanse away! It cannot be that beneath Heaven there can be a sinner so abominable that the blood of Christ cannot make a full atonement for all his sins! Come, then! Come, then--'tis the voice of Jesus that calls you! Come, you chief of sinners! Come now, before yet another sun shall dawn! Come and find in Jesus' wounds a refuge from the stormy blast that shall soon come to sweep the unconverted into condemnation! Yet must we still pass on and, only for a moment, linger upon-- IV. THE COMFORT WHICH THE TEXT AFFORDS TO THOSE WHO HAVE A HOPE IN GOD'S MERCY. It says that the eye of the Lord is upon them. There is a blessing for you. Nobody else's eye is upon you. You have got up to London, away from parents and friends, and nobody looks after you now. You have come into this big Tabernacle and I am sorry to find that there are still some of our members who do not look after strangers--do not look after souls as they ought to do--and you have been coming here and nobody has spoken to you. Now, let me read the text, and I need not say any more, " The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him, upon those who hope in His mercy." God sees you and you do not need anybody else! Be content that God knows all about it. You are up in the top gallery there, somewhere behind where my eye cannot reach you--and hardly my voice--but "the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him, upon those who hope in His mercy." And mark that eye, as well as being an eye of observation, is also an eye of pity! God has compassion on you! He stands side by side with you--that bleeding Son of God--and in your groans He groans, and in your griefs He takes a share. He has compassion on you--yes, and He will help you--and even now He loves you. The eye with which He looks upon you is a Father's eye and when a father sees his child broken-hearted, he says to himself, "I can stand anything but this. My child's tears overcome me, overmaster me. I cannot see him sick and sad and sobbing, without pitying him." Oh, some of you have sons and daughters of your own! And when you see that sick child of yours crying with pain, why, you would spend all you have, if you could but get some doctor that would make him well again."Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him." And that means all those who hope in His mercy, for they are put, as I told you, in the text in the same category as those who fear Him. Your Father's eye is upon you and He pities those tears, sighs and cries of yours--He loves you and He means to bless you! Now, I want to say to you Believers here, something similar to what I said at this morning's service. I wish that all the members of this Church were more on the alert after those who are beginning to hope in God's mercy. Some are. I cannot find much fault with you. You are my joy and crown--and sometimes I boast--I hope in no wrong way, of theearnestness of many in this Church! But make me not ashamed of this, my boasting, as some might well do, who are cold and careless about the souls of men. Do you know there are lost ones round about you, lost ones about whom you seem to have no concern, though, according to Christ's Law, they are your brethren, your neighbors? What a sad, sad story it is that we have lately been seeing in the newspapers every day--a gentleman lost, rewards offered, the police searching-- but he is lost! A hat found. Some sort of clue given. But he is lost! How must the parent hearts break! How must friends, day by day, feel life a burden till they know what has become of him! He is lost! He is lost! Ah, but the loss of a man for this life, though it is a very heavy blow, is nothing compared with the loss of a soul! Ah, Mother, you have got a child who is lost. Ah, Husband, you have got a wife who is lost! Ah, Wife, your husband is lost! And have you never advertised for him? Have you never sought him? God knows where he is! Have you never gone to God and said, "Seek him and find him"? Have you never enlisted the Great Soul-Finder's aid, who came into the world, "to seek and to save that which was lost"? Are you quite careless about it, whether your servants, your neighbors, your husbands, your wives, your children shall be lost forever or not? Then am I ashamed of you! And angels are ashamed of you! And God's living people are ashamed of you! And Christ Himself may well be ashamed of you, that you have no care for those whom you ought to love! I do trust that this is not the case with us, but that we do anxiously desire that lost ones should be saved. Come, then, I want you to look up those who are beginning to seek Christ! And when you have done that, and have found them out, then I want you to seek after those who are notseeking Christ. I do not think there ought to be a person come within these four walls, into these galleries, or on the area, but shall be attacked, for his good, by someone or other, before the whole assembly is scattered! Surely you might find a way of putting some question, kindly and affectionately--not rudely--but respectfully, so that if I have been the means in any way of making a little impression on their souls, you may follow it up by personal dealing! If I have put in the nail of the Truth of God a little way, you may give it a heavy blow and drive it in deeper--and God grant that the Holy Spirit may clinch the nail so that it may never be drawn out! Oh, my Hearers, we must have you saved! We cannot go on much longer with some of you as you are because you yourselves will not go on much longer as you are! We have been rather free for the last few weeks from deaths and departures, but do not think that we shall be free from them long! In the ordinary course of nature, as those who calculate the averages of human life will tell you, a certain proportion of a great multitude like this--some 6,000 and more--must soon die. There is no chance about whether we shall or not--we must. Now, who shall it be? Who shall stand before his God? To whose ears will the ringing trumpet of the archangel sound? For whom shall the funeral bell be tolled? Over whom shall it be said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"? Since we know not to whom the summons may come, may this be the command to all, "Consider your ways and prepare to meet your God." Oh, that you might prepare this very night, and seek unto the Lord with full purpose of heart! And this is the promise, "He that seeks, finds; he that asks, receives and to him that knocks, it shall be opened." EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM139. This is a Psalm we can never read too often. It will be to us one of the greatest safeguards against sin if we have its teaching constantly before our mind's eyes. The teaching of this Psalm is simply this, "You, God, see me." Verse 1. O Lord, You have searched me, and known me. You have looked into my most secret part. The most intricate labyrinths of my spirit are all observed by You. You have not searched and yet been unable to discover the secret of my nature, but You have searched me and known me. Your search has been an efficient one. You have read the secrets of my soul. 2. You know my sitting down andmy rising up, You understand my thoughts afar of. It is a common enough thing to sit down and to rise up and I, myself, oftentimes scarcely know why I do the one or the other, but You know and understand all. "You understand my thoughts afar off." My heart forms a thought that never comes to a word or an act, but You not only perceive it, but You translate it! You understand my thoughts. 3. You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. I am surrounded by You as by a ring of observers. 4. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, You know it altogether. Not only the words on my tongue, but those that slumber in my tongue, the unspoken words, You know them perfectly and altogether! 5. You have beset me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon mm. Your Presence amounts to actual contact. You not only see, but touch, like the physician who does not merely look at the wound, but by-and-by comes to probe it. So do You probe my wounds and see the deeps of my sins. 6. 7. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me! It is high, I cannot attain unto it. Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your Presence? It seems as if the first impulse was to fly away from a God whose attributes were so lofty. 'Twas but a transient impression, yet David words it so. 8, 10. If I ascend up into Heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in Hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold m. How swift he supposes his flight to be, as swift as the light, for he borrows the wings of the morning--and yet the hand of God was controlling his destiny even then! As Watts rhymes it-- "If mounted on the morning ray, I fly beyond the western sea, Your swifter hand should first arrive, And there arrest Your fugitive." 11, 12. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yes, the darkness hides not from You, but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to You. For, mystery of mysteries, and more wondrous still, You not only observe, but You always have observed! And You have not only observed my well-formed being and my visible life, but before I had a being, You did observe what I should be, and when I was yet in embryo, Your all-observing eyes watched me. 13-16. For You have possessed my reins: You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Your works: and that my soul knows right well My substance was not hid from You when I was made in secret and curiously worked in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being not perfect, and in Your Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.In so vivid a manner does our holy poet sing of the Omniscience of God with regard to our creation. Before we had breath He formed and fashioned us. 17. How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!How many thoughts has God towards us! We cannot count them! And how kind are those thoughts--we cannot estimate them--how precious, how great! 18. IfIshould count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. I suppose I had finished the tale, had counted up all Your thoughts to me and then fell asleep. I should then but begin to count again, for You continue to thrust out mercies from Your hands. My God, my numeration shall never overtake You, much less my gratitude, and the service that is Your due! 19. Surely You will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, you bloody men. "Surely"--here is a solemn inference from the Omniscience of God--"surely You will slay the wicked, O God." You have seen their wickedness. They have committed their wickedness in Your Presence. You will need no witnesses, no jury! You are all in one! Are You not the Judge of all the earth, and shall You not do right? "Surely You will destroy the wicked, O God." Then I desire not to have those in my company who are condemned criminals and are soon to be executed. "Depart from me, therefore, you bloody men." See how this sets David upon purging his company and keeping himself clean in his associations, since God, who sees all, and will surely punish, would hold it to be evil on the part of His servant to be found associating with rebellious men? 20-22. For they speak against You wickedly, and Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate You? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them my enemies. We are bound to love our own enemies, but not God's enemies, since they are haters of all that isgood and all that is true--and the essentially Good One, Himself. We love them as our fellow beings, but we hate them as haters of God. 23, 24. Search me, O God, andknow my heart: try me, and knnowmy thoughts. Andsee if there are any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. __________________________________________________________________ Preparation for the Lord's Supper (No. 3391) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink ofthat cup." 1 Corinthians 11:28. "Let a man examine himself." That is, any man--every man who intends to eat of that bread and drink of that cup. The word is indefinite that it may be understood to be universal. No man is to come to that Table, no woman is to draw near without the previous self-examination. No age will excuse us, for there have been aged hypocrites, as well as young deceivers. No office will exonerate us from this examination, for there was a Judas even among the Apostles. The highest degree in the Church of God may consist with the most rotten formality. We are to examine ourselves each time we come. Each man is to do so. No one is to shirk the personal duty. Everyone is to undertake it as in the sight of God. Brothers and Sisters, you members of the Church about to come around this Table, give heed to the mandate of the Holy Spirit, by the inspired Apostle! "Let each one here examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread." "Let a man examine himself." The word is forcible. Let him make inquisition into his own soul as to whether all is right or not. Let him search diligently, tracing out every symptom that looks unfavorable, if, perhaps, that symptom may reveal the truth. Let him dwell upon every dark side or ill-looking spot, if, perhaps, those dark signs should mean more than is apparent on the surface. We are not to trifle with ourselves by making a superficial survey. Let a man examine himself as does the dealer in precious metals when he thrusts the ore into the fire, knowing that only the gold will come out, while the dross will be consumed. Put yourself into a crucible! Heat the furnace of examination seven times hotter than before, for since your heart will, if possible, escape from knowing the truth, be resolved that it shall know it, and the worst of it, too! Let a man review, test, prove, search, try! In all the strongest words that I could find that mean the fullest scrutiny, would I put the language of the Apostle, "Let a man examine himself." "Let a man examine himself" He need not be so particular to examine those that surround him. If there should be unworthy communicants at the Table, his communing will not thereby be damaged. Though some may have intruded where they ought not to be, yet if your heart and mind shall come near to Christ in actual fellowship, we shall not have the less indulgence from our Lord because a Judas happened to be there. "Let a man examine himself." Let it be personal work. I know there is an examination through which the Church member among us passes, when such as are experienced in the faith ask, "What do you know of these things? What is your faith touching this and that? Have you believed? Have you repented?" Such an examination, however, must never content you. I pray you never feel that it is any certificate of genuine discipleship to have been seen by the Elders, or to have had the pastor satisfied of your conversion. We are poor, fallible creatures--we cannot profess to search the heart--no, we never did profess it! It is but your outward life and your profession that we are called upon to judge at all. You must not go by our examination, but, "Let a man examine himself." You are to look into your own heart, with your own eyes and ask to have them enlightened by the Holy Spirit! You are to hold the balance, yourselves, and weigh your soul therein. You are not to be satisfied with a second-hand judgment, or with another man's search! Take the candle yourself, Man! Go through every corner and every crevice. Sweep out the old leaven and so keep the feast in simplicity of heart. "Let a man examine himself." '"Andso," says the Apostle, "let him eat of that bread." That is to say, the examination is to be seasonable. It is to come always at the time of the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine. It should always be the prelude to communion. Examination should preface enjoyment. You should see whether you ought to be there and have a right to be there and, that ascertained, then you should come--but not till then! Is it not a very significant circumstance that the very first time our Lord took the bread and broke it, and instituted this Supper, there was at that very time a selfexamination going on--and they then made an appeal to the Lord, Himself, at the conclusion, for each one said, when the question was asked as to who it was that would betray Him, "Lord, is it I?" "Lord, is it I?"--not at all an unsuitable question to be passed round tonight, when we shall break bread, and hear it said, "One of you will betray Me." Ah, Brothers and Sisters, I fear there are many more than one here among professors who will betray Him! Perhaps there are scores, if not hundreds, among so large a mass of professing Christians who will not prove, after all, to be genuine! Then let the question, though it stirs the anguish of your souls, pass round among you, "Lord, is it I?" "Lord, is it I?" Nor let any man eat of this bread, or drink of this cup till he has humbly in his soul sought to put it to his conscience, that he may investigate this matter whether he is Christ's or not! Now, dear Brothers and Sisters, for a few minutes we shall look at the matter about which we are to examine ourselves. And then we shall press upon you this examination, by giving you a few reasons for it May God grant us a blessing in this searching business! I. CONCERNING WHAT WE ARE TO EXAMINE. You will observe that the text does not tell us, "Let a man examine himself as to this or that particular, and so let him eat." He is to examine himself, but the Apostle does not say about what. The inference is that he is to examine himself about this Supper. He is to examine himself as to whether he has a right to eat of this bread and to drink of this wine. The Supper gives us the clue, then, as to what we are to examine ourselves upon. I shall see before me, presently, broken bread and the wine cup filled with the red wine. These two things are the emblems--the bread of the body of Christ, which was bruised and made to suffer for our sake--the wine of that precious blood of Christ by which sin is pardoned and souls are redeemed. I have no right to touch these emblems unless in my soul I believe the facts that they represent Shall I not begin to question myself, then? Do I accept, as a certain fact that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us? Do I believe that God descended from the highest Throne of Glory and became a Man born of woman? Do I believe that He suffered in human flesh, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God? Do I believe that in His blood, which was "shed for many," there is a virtue for the putting away of sin and making Atonement to Almighty God, and that so sinners may be accepted in the Beloved? Unless I believe these things, I am clearly a hypocrite, a terrible hypocrite, if I dare to come to this Table at all! I am perverse among the perverse to thrust myself in to touch the emblems when I do not accept the facts which those emblems set forth! Now, every man here can easily examine himself by that test, but I hope the most of us here would say, "We do believe those facts." Yes, but do you believe them as facts that are forcible in themselves and fraught with consequences? Do you apprehend them in their amazing weight and their stupendous bearing upon the judgment of God and the destiny of men? God made flesh--God Incarnate--Jesus, Immanuel, suffering to put away the sins of His people--The Christ of God presenting salvation to every soul that trusts in Him! Why, this is news such as never stirred even Paradise, itself, before! It is the best, highest and most wondrous news that angels ever heard! We ought to so hear and accept these facts in that same spirit that characterized them when they transpired, in order to duly discern their importance, or we have no right to come here! Furthermore, Brothers and Sisters. Every man who eats of the bread and drinks of the wine sets forth in emblem by the eating of the bread that the flesh of Christ is his, and by the drinking of the wine that the blood of Christ is his. Because he has possession of these things, he, therefore, comes to eat as men eat their own bread, or to drink as men drink their own wine. Now, dear Hearer, the question asked of you is this--Have you an interest in the body and the blood of Christ? "How can I know my interest therein?" asks one. You may know it thus--Do you fully and alone rely upon Jesus Christ for your salvation? Do you implicitly trust the merits of His agonies? Do you, without any other confidence, cast yourself fully upon the great atoning Sacrifice and transactions of Calvary? If so, that faith gives you Christ! It is the evidence that Christ is yours--you need not be afraid to come and take the wine when you so manifestly have the thing that is signified thereby. You may come--you are invited to come--you cannot stay away without sin if Christ, indeed, is yours! The question may assume another form. This Supper was instituted that we might remember Christ in it. A question, then, for each one--Can you remember Christ? Will coming here help you to remember Jesus Christ? If not, you must not come. How can you remember what you do not know? And how shall you remember at all aright, One in whom you have no part nor lot? To remember Christ as a mere person in history is of no more use than to remember Julius Cesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte! To remember Christ, who loved you and gave Himself for you--this is the choice remembrance that will be beneficial to your spirits. Beloved, I am quite certain that sometimes in what is called, "the Sacrament," there is little or no recollection of Christ. Men and women come to it with no idea of remembering Him. They think that there is something in the thing, itself--some holiness in eating the bread and drinking the wine--some Grace bestowed by the priestly hands that administer the emblems of the Passion. But oh, it is not so! This is not to receive the Lord's Supper--this is but Popish idolatry! This is not the true worship of the child of God! You come to the Table to remember Him! And only as far as those signs help you to remember Him--to trust Him, to love Him--only so far do they become a means of Grace to you! There is no latent moral virtue in material substances! No regeneration lurks in water! No confirmation in Grace streams from prelatic hands! There is no sanctity in lawn sleeves! There is no holiness in bread and nothing devout in wine! These are just outward and visible signs. The holiness, the sanctity, the Grace must lie in your own hearts as you lovingly receive these symbols and draw near with true spirits to the Lord who bought you with His blood! Ask yourselves, then--do you remember Him? Would these things help you to remember Him? If not, you have no business here. It may be that some child of God here tonight is not fit to come to the Table. You may be startled, perhaps, at that remark, but I venture to suppose such a thing possible! And if it should happen to turn out to be the case, I pray that Brother or Sister to take the admonition home! Is there any Brother whom you have offended, whose forgiveness you have not sought, or is there anyone who has offended you, to whom you have not rendered forgiveness? I think that what our Lord said about coming to the altar and leaving the gift before the altar until first we have been reconciled to our brother--though this is no altar at all--may be with all righteousness supposed concerning this Table! How can you expect fellowship with Christ with an unforgiving heart? How can you love God, whom you have not seen, if you do not love your brother, whom you have seen? If it is so hard for you to forgive, how hard will it be for you to be forgiven? An unforgiving spirit shuts you out of Heaven. Why, Man, you cannot even perform the lowliest act--you cannot pray! You, cannot say, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." And if you cannot pray, much less can you commune! Oh, see to that, and let each man and woman examine themselves upon that! In pressing this subject upon you, may I be permitted to say, very earnestly, that the right way to examine ourselves before coming to this Table is by the rule which is laid down in Scripture. Examine yourselves by the tests and proofs of the Spirit which are spoken of in God's Word. Just as you would examine another, impartially-- "Nothing extenuate, Nor anything set down in malice"-- so must you examine yourselves. Alas, we have one rule for others and another rule for ourselves! How mistakenly quick-sighted are we to discover the imperfections and infirmities of others of God's people, while our own glaring sins scarcely give our conscience a twinge! We go about with great beams in our eyes, all the while wondering why our Brothers and Sisters cannot see the mote that is in theirs! Judge yourselves! Judge yourselves and let the severity of your judgment upon your fellow Christians be now turned upon yourselves! It will be much more to your profit and much more according to the rules of Christian charity. God grant we may, none of us, be afraid of the strictest rules of Scripture in their sternest form. Alas, Brothers and Sisters, we often stop short in our self-examinations just when they might be of use to us, like the patient who tears off the plaster just when it begins to work, or ceases to receive the medicine precisely when it has reached a point in which it would be useful! Press home, press home, the grave questions and anxieties that lurk within you! Never be afraid to be probed to the quick and to be cut to the core. Make no provision for self-deception! Ask the Lord to lay bare your hearts, right bare, before His Omniscient eyes. And as you are thus examining, do not flinch, do not mince matters, do not trifle, do not be partial, but judge yourselves truly and thoroughly, lest, after all, you should be mistaken! And lest, after coming to this Table, you should be banished from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! Thus much upon the points which are in debate--about which we are to examine our fitness to come to this Table. Allow me now, as best I can-- II. TO PRESS THIS VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT UPON YOU, WITH SOME REASONS WHY THERE SHOULD BE SUCH A SELF-EXAMINATION. I might say, Brothers and Sisters, that such an examination should be used because self-knowledge is always valuable. The old Greeks, whose wonderful sayings often verged upon Inspiration, used to say, "Man, know yourself!" It is ill for a man to be acquainted with foreign countries and to know nothing of his own--to understand other men's farms and to let his own run to waste--to be conversant with other men's health and to be dying of a secret disease! To study other men's characters, but to allow his own character to be obnoxious in the sight of God. Know yourselves! Nothing will pay you better than to search your own hearts and to know yourselves. Of all stock-taking, this is one of the most beneficial. It will often be the death of pride when a man finds out what he really is. Self-righteousness will fly before such a searching, as owls fly before the rising sun! Know yourself and you are on the road to knowing Christ, for the knowledge of self will humble you, will make you feel your need of Jesus and may, in the hands of God the Holy Spirit, lead you to the finding of the Savior! Oh, Men and Women, how is it that you have so many acquaintances, such a large circle of friends and yet do not make acquaintance with yourselves? While you will read much of literature, you read not your own hearts! You commune with others, yet you commune not with yourselves and do not know yourselves. I pray you examine yourselves, if for no other reason than because such lore is among the most precious that a man can gain! Examine yourselves, again, you professed Christians, because it is a marvelously easy thing for us to be deceived and to continue to be deceived. Of course, every man likes to be flattered. Whether he believes it is so or not, this is a universal truth, and any man--I care not who he may be--is very easily to be persuaded that all is right with him. Satan, too, will help your natural tendencies, your partiality to yourselves. He only wishes to lull you to sleep and to rock you in the cradle of delusion. All things around a man conspire to help him to delude himself. The notion of Grace which is commonly entertained, the popularity of religion, the ease with which a man can join a church, the littleness of persecution in these days--all these things help to make it a very easy passage by which a man may glide along, until even when he dies he may still believe that he is on the road to Heaven, while all the while he has been going post-haste to Hell! Oh, since it is so easy to be deceived, and it is your soul that is in jeopardy, I beseech you examine yourselves! Besides, my dear Friends, you know how some are deceived. Charge your memories a minute. Do you not know some among your own acquaintance that are deceived? Ah, you readily remember them! But do you know that there were persons sitting in other parts of the Tabernacle who were thinking ofyouwhile you were thinking of them! You said of such a one, "Ah, I have watched her at home. I know that noisy tongue of hers, she is no Christian." And that very woman was just whispering to herself, "Ah, I know him. I have traded at his shop. I know those short weights of his--he is no Christian." Ah, you do not want God to condemn you--if you were only allowed to speak, you would condemn yourselves! But if such is the case, that we so readily can find out that others are deceived, is not the question one that is worth the asking, "May we not be deceived, ourselves?" Oh, let it come home. May not the preacher be deceived? May not Elders and deacons, who have been in honor these many years, be, nevertheless, rotten at heart? May not members of this Church who have been at this Table from the very beginning, almost from their childhood have, after all, had but a superficial godliness that will not stand the fire, that shall try every man's work, of what sort it is? Therefore, I beseech you, since many are deceived, examine yourselves and so come to this Table. Further, remember that it is important for professing Christians to do this, beyond all others, because, perhaps, there is no greater bar to the reception of Grace in all this world than the belief that you have Grace already. It were a mercy if some here present had never joined the Church. Sad that I should say it, but it is so. It were a mercy to themselves that they had never professed to be Christians, because now, if we preach repentance, they say, "I repented years ago." If we talk of faith in the Savior, they say, "I have faith--I joined the Church and avowed my faith." If we speak of Christian knowledge--they have Christian knowledge--though it is the knowledge that puffs up. They have the imitation of all the Graces and, as it is sometimes very difficult to know which is the real gem and which is the paste gem that imitates it, so these people live so much like Christians, in many respects, that it is hard even for themselves to discover that they are not rich and increased in goods, but are naked, and poor, and miserable! If I were out of Christ, I would wish to be out of the Church. If I had no faith in Him, would that I had no profession of Him! If there is any soul in any place that is least likely to be saved, it is an unregenerate soul inside the Church, participating in Christian ordinances and dead while it lives! Search yourselves, then on this account. And let me add another solemn word. Search yourselves because within a short time, at the very longest, you wiil be upon the bed of death and there, if not before, there wiil be deep searching of heart. When the outward man decays andthe flesh is melting away, you will need something more than profession to lean on. Sacraments, and going to places of worship will prove but poor things to bear you up in the midst of the billows of death! How must a man feel when he puts out on that dread sea with his lifebelt and finds it will not bear his weight! When he leaps into his lifeboat that he had hoped would bear him safely to the haven, and finds that every timber is strained and that it leaks--and he sinks into the flood. Oh, find out your mistakes while yet there is time to rectify them! I beseech you by the living God, whose face of fire you shall soon see, prepare yourselves for His judgment as well as for the judgment of your own conscience in the hour of death, for every man must be weighed in the balance! No mere pretender shall pass the gates of bliss. Destitute of faith, it matters not how bright your profession--you shall be banished from His Presence! If it is not Grace-work and heart-work, you may have eaten or drunk in His Presence and He may have taught in your streets, but He will never know you! If you have never confessed your sins in secret to the great High Priest. If you have never laid your hand upon that precious head that bore the sin of His elect. If you have never seen in solemn transfer your iniquities passed over to Him--and if your faith has never recognized that transaction and rejoiced in it--oh, beware, beware, beware, for in the last tremendous day your professions shall be but a painted pageantry for you to go to Hell in! Yes, worse than that, among the firewood of your burning that shall flash most furiously with devouring fire, will be the hollow sticks of your base profession, your bastard godliness, your counterfeit graces, your glitter that was not golden, your profession that was not based upon possession! Oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, for these reasons let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread. But now, supposing this to be all done and we have come to this answer, "I am not in Christ. I am not a Christian. I have not believed"? Then, away, away, away from this Table! But where shall I send you? I will send you to the Cross. Though you may not come to the Table, you may come to Jesus! But suppose your answer should be, "I am very unworthy and sinful, but still, I have believed in Jesus, though I yet see much in myself that is evil." Dear Brothers and Sisters, that is not the question! Preparation for the Lord's Supper does not lie in perfect sanctification, but in true faith in Jesus! If, then, you have made sure of this, have done with the examination--I mean for tonight--because after you have examined yourself, it does not then say, "Keep on," but, "So let him eat," and I do not like that examination to stick in the throat so that you cannot digest the dainty morsels of the Savior's precious body. It is done! You have examined and you know Him! You have believed in Him and trusted that He is able to keep you. Now, then, take care that you eat! I mean not merely eat with the mouth and drink with the throat, but now take care to pray that you may have real fellowship with the Incarnate God, gratefully magnifying the Grace that has made you to differ and cheerfully accepting the precious Person who is the ground of your reliance, of the life of your soul! God grant you now, having passed the door and shown your entrance ticket as true Christians, to sit and eat bread in the Kingdom of God! EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 6:1-24; 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-16. Verse 1. Take heed that you do not do your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in Heavei.. The motive which leads a man to give will form the true estimate of what he does. If he gives to be seen of men, then when he is seen of men he has the reward he sought for--and he will never have any other. Let us never do our alms or good works before men, to be seen of them. 2-5. Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, that your alms may be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret, shall Himself reward you openly. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward I have heard very great commendation given to certain Easterns, because at the hour of the rising of the sun, or the hour when the sound is heard from the summit of the mosque, wherever they may be, they put themselves in the posture of prayer. God forbid I should rob them of any credit they deserve, but far be it from us ever to imitate them! We are not to be ashamed of our prayers, but they are not things for the public street! They are intended for God's eyes and God's ears, only. 6, 7. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly. But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. It is not very easy to repeat the same words often without it becoming a vain repetition. A repetition, however, is not forbidden, but a "vain" repetition. And how greatly do they err who measure prayers by the yard! They think they have prayed so much because they have prayed so long, whereas it is the work of the heart--the true pouring out of the desire before God--that is the thing to be looked at. Quality not quantity! Truth, not length. Oftentimes the shortest prayers have the most prayer in them. 8, 9. Be not you, therefore, like they: for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him. After this manner therefore pray you.And then He gives us a model of prayer which never can be excelled--containing all the parts of devotion. They do well who model their prayers upon this. 9-13 OurFather which are in Heaven, Hallowedbe Yourname. Yourkingdom come. Your willbe done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. Our Savior now makes a remark upon this prayer and on one particular part of it which has stumbled a great many. 14, 15. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. There are some who have altered this and pray in this fashion, "Forgive us our debts as we desire to forgive our debtors." It will not do! You will have to desire God to forgive you, and desire in vain if you pray in that fashion! It must come to this point of literal, immediate, completed forgiveness of every offense committed against you if you expect God to forgive you. There is no wriggling out of it. The man who refuses to forgive, refuses to be forgiven! God grant that we may, none of us, tolerate malice in our hearts. Anger glances in the bosom of wise men--it only burns in the heart of the foolish. May we quench it and feel that we do freely, fully and heartily forgive, knowing that we are forgiven! 16. Moreover when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.Simpletons praise them--think much of them--and they plume themselves thereon and think themselves the very best of men. They have their reward. 17, 18. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret, and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly. Yet have I heard persons speak of certain emaciated ecclesiastics as being such wonderfully holy men. "How they must have fasted! They look like it. You can see it in their faces." Probably much more likely produced by a fault in their digestion, than by anything else! And if not--if we are to suppose that the skinniness of a man, his person, is to be the token of his holiness--then the living skeleton was a saint to perfection! But we are not beguiled by such follies as these. The Christian fasts but he takes care that no one shall know it. He wears no ring or token even when his heart is heavy. Full often he puts on a cheerful air, lest by any means he should communicate unnecessary sorrow to others! And he will be cheerful and happy in the midst of company, to prevent their being sad, for it is enough for him to be sad, himself, and sad before his Father's face. 19-21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. There is many a way of sending your treasure before you to Heaven. God's poor are His money-boxes--His bankers. You can pass your treasure over to Heaven by their means. And the work of evangelizing the world by the labors of God's servants in the ministry of the Gospel--you can help this, also. There is much need for your plenty. Thus also you can pass your treasure over into the King's bank and your heart will follow it! I have heard of one who said his religion did not cost him a shilling a year-- and it was remarked that very probably it would have been expensive at the price. You will find people form a pretty accurate estimate of the value of their own religion by the proportion which they are prepared to sacrifice for it. 22. The light of the body is the eye. If, therefore, your eye is single. If your motive is single--if you have only one motive--and that a right one--the master one of glorifying God--if your eye is single. 22, 23. Your whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness/When a man's highest motive is himself, what a dark and selfish nature he has! But when his highest motive is his God, what brightness of light will shine upon all. 24. No man can serve two masters. He can serve two persons very readily. For that matter, he can serve twenty, but not two masters. There cannot be two master principles in a man's heart, or master passions in a man's soul. "No man can serve two masters." 24. For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammoi.. Though some men's lives are a long experiment of how far they can serve the two. 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-16 Verse 1. AndI, brethren, couldnot speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ The Church at Corinth consisted of persons of large education and great abilities. It was one of those churches that had given up the one-man system, where everybody talked as he liked--a very knowing Church, and a Church of Christians, too. But for all that, Christian babies! And though they thought themselves to be so great, yet the Apostle says that he never spoke to them as to spiritual men--he kept to the simple elements--regarding the carnal part as being too much in them as yet to be able to drink down spiritual things. 2. Ihave fed you with milk, andnot with meat: for up to nowyou were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you abl. How grateful we ought to be that there is milk and that this milk does feed the soul--that the simplest Truths of Christianity contain in them all that the soul needs--just as milk is a diet upon which the body could be sustained without anything else. Yet how we ought to desire to grow that we may not always be upon a milk diet but that we may be able to digest the strong meat--the high Doctrine of the deep things of God. These are for men, not for babes. Let the babes be thankful for the milk, but let us aspire to be strong men that we may feed on meat. 3. For you are yet carnal: for where as there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? A united Church, you may conclude, is a growing Church--perhaps a grown Church! But a disunited Church, split up into factions where every man is seeking position and trying to be noted--such a Church is a Church of babes. They are carnal and walk as men. 4. For while one says, I am of Paul: and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnalllnstead of that, they should all have striven together for the defense of the common faith of Jesus Christ. No greater symptom of mere infancy in true religion than the setting up of the names of leaders or the preference for this or that peculiar form of Doctrine, instead of endeavoring to grasp the whole of the Truth of God wherever one can find it. 5. 6. Who, then, is Paul? And who is Apollos but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lordgave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered: but God gave the increase. Let God, then, have all the glory! Be grateful for the planter and grateful for the waterer, yes, and grateful to them as well. But still, let the stress of your gratitude be given to Him without whom watering and planting would be in vain! 7, 8. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters, but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that waters are one.They are pursuing the same design! And Apollos and Paul were one in heart. They were true servants of one Master. 8, 9. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God: you are God's husbandry, you are God's building. The Church is built up. God is He who builds it up--the Master of the work, but He employs His ministers under Him to be builders. 10-13. According to the Grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, Ihave laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every mans work, of what sort it isIt is very easy to build up a Church quickly. It is very easy to make a great excitement in religion and become very famous as a soul-winner. Very easy. But time tries everything! If there were no other fire than the mere fire of time, it would suffice to test a man's work. And when a church crumbles away almost as soon as it is got together--when a church declines from the Doctrines which it professed to hold, when the teaching of the eminent teacher is proved, after all, to have been fallacious and to have been erroneous in practical results, then what he has built comes to nothing! Oh, dear Friends, what little we do, we ought to aspire to do for eternity. If you shall never lay the brush to the canvas but once, make an indelible stroke with it! If only one work of sort shall come from the statuary's workshop, let it be something that will live all down the ages! But we are in such a mighty hurry--we make a lot of things that die with us--transient results. We are not careful enough as to what we build with. May God grant that this truth may sink into our minds! Let us remember that if it is hard building with gold and silver, and harder still building with precious stones, yet what is built will stand the fire! It is easy building with wood--and still easier with hay and stubble--but then there will be only a handful of ashes left of a whole lifework if we build with these. 14-15. If any man's work abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. If he meant right--if he endeavored to serve God as a worker, though he may have uttered many errors and have been mistaken--(and which of us has not been?)-- he shall be saved, though his work must be burnt. 16. Know you not that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?Do you know it? He says, "Know you not?" but I might leave out the, "not," and say, "Know you that you are the Temple of God?" What a wonderful fact it is! Within the body of the saint, God dwells, as in a Temple. How some men injure their bodies or utterly despise them, though they would not so do if they understood that they are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in them. __________________________________________________________________ Justification by Faith (No. 3392) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1867. "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1. WE desire this evening not to preach upon this text as a mere matter of Doctrine. You all believe and understand the Gospel of Justification by Faith, but we want to preach upon it tonight as a matter of experience, as a thing realized, felt, enjoyed and understood in the soul. I trust there are many here who not only know that men may be saved and justified by faith, but who can say in their own experience, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and who are now, at the present moment, walking and living in the actual enjoyment of that peace! Wishing to speak of the text, then, in this sense, I shall ask you to accompany me not only with your ears and with the attention which you usually give so generously, but also with the eyes of your self-examination, asking yourselves, as we proceed, step by step, "Do I know that? Have I received that? Have I been taught of God in this matter? Have I been led into that Truth of God?" And our hope will be that some person to whom these things have hitherto been merely external and, therefore, valueless, may be led by God to get hold of them, so that they may be matters of soul, heart and conscience--so that they may enjoy them and find themselves where once they feared they would never be, namely, in a state of reconciliation with God--happily enjoying peace with the Most High. Our first thought shall be some plain, earnest talk concerning-- I. A FEW PRELIMINARY DISCOVERIES WHICH A MAN MAKES BEFORE HE GETS PEACE WITH GOD. These, I do not think, are by any means foreign to the text, or merely imported to it, but belong rightfully to it. You see that Paul, before he came to this justification by faith, had been speaking about sin. It would not have been possible for him to have given an intelligent definition ofjustification without mentioning that men are sinners, without informing them that they had broken God's holy Law and that the Law, by and of itself, could never restore them to the favor of God. Now, some of these things of which I am going to speak are absolutely necessary, if not to my sermon, yet certainly to your spiritually understanding even so much as one jot or tittle of what it is to be justified by faith! Well, then, what are these things? The first discovery that a man is led by the Spirit of God to make before he is justified is that it is important to be justified in the sight of God. Many people do not know this. You shall step into a shop this evening and find a man at the counter, and you say to him, "Well, do you never go to a place of worship?" "No," he would say, "but I am quite as good as those who do." "How so?" "Well, I am a great deal better than some of them." "How is that?" "Well, I never failed in business. I never duped people in a limited liability company. I never told lies. I am no thief. I am not a drunk--I am as honest as the days are long in the middle of June--and that is more than you can say of some of your religious, people." Now, that man has got a hold of one part of a good man's character. There are two parts, but he can only see one, namely, that man is to be just to man. He sees that, but he does not see that man is to be also just to God. And yet if that man were really to think a little while, he would see that the highest obligations of a creature must be not to his fellow creatures, but to his Creator--and that however just a man may be to another man, yet if he is altogether unjust to God, he cannot escape without the severest penalty! But oh, the most of men think that so long as they keep the laws of the land, so long as they give to their fellow men their due, it matters not though God's day should be a subject of scorn, God's will be used as men will and God's Law trodden under their feet! Now, I think that everyone here who will but put his fingers to his brow for a moment and think, that he will see that even though a manmay go before the bar of his country and say before any judge or jury, "I have in nothing injured my fellow man. I am just before men," yet it does not make the man's character perfect. Unless he is also able to say, "And I am also just before the Presence of the God who made me and whose servant I am," he has only kept one half--and that the less important of God's Law for him. It cannot help being--it must be important to the highest degree that you and I should stand on good terms with the great God unto whom we shall so soon return in the Great Day when He shall say, "Return you children of men." We must then render up our souls to Him who created us. Well, you can surely go as far as that with me--that it is necessary. You do feel, do you not, a desire in your heart to be just before your Maker? I am thankful that you can go so far. The next thing is this. A man, when the Spirit of God is bringing him to Christ, discovers that his past life has been marred badly by serious offenses against the Law of God. Before the Spirit of God comes into our soul, we are like being in a room in the dark--we cannot see in it. We cannot discover the cobwebs, the spiders, the foul and loathsome things that may be lurking there. But when the Spirit of God comes streaming into the soul, the man is astonished to find that he is what he is! And especially if he sits down and opens the Book of the Law and, in the light of the Divine Spirit, reads that perfect Law and compares it with his own imperfect heart and life! He will then grow sick of himself, even to loathing and, sometimes, despair! Take but one command. Perhaps there are some here who will say, "I know I have been very chaste all my life, for the command says, 'You shall not commit adultery,' and I have never broken it--I am clean there." Yes, but now hear Christ explain the command, "He that looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." Now, then, who among us can say that we have not done that? Who is there upon earth, if that is the meaning of the command, who can say, "I am innocent"? If the Law of God, as we are told by Scripture, has to deal not with our outward actions, alone, but with our words, and with our thoughts and with our imaginations--if it is so exceedingly broad that it applies to the most secret part of a man--then who of us can plead guiltless before the Throne of God? No, dear Brothers and Sisters, this must be understood by you and by me, before we can be justified, that we are full of sin! What if I say that we are as full of sin as an egg is full of meat? We are all sin! The imagination and the thought of our heart is evil and only evil, and that continually. If some of you plume yourselves with the notion that you are righteous, I pray God to pluck those fine feathers off you and make you see yourselves, for if you never see your own nothingness, you will never understand Christ's All-Sufficiency! Unless you are pulled down, Christ will never lift you up! Unless you know yourselves to be lost, you will never care for that Savior who came "to seek and to save the lost." That is a second discovery, then, that it is important to be just before God, but that on account of the spirituality of God's moral Law and our consequent inability to keep it perfectly, we are very far from standing in that position. Then there comes another discovery, namely, that consequently it is utterly impossible for us to hope that we ever can be just before God on the footing of our own doing. We must give it up, now, as an utterly lost case. The past is past--that can never be blotted out by us! And the present, inasmuch as we are weak through the flesh, is not much better than the past. And the future, notwithstanding all our fond hopes of improvement, will probably be none the better! And so, salvation by the works of the Law becomes to us a dreary impossibility! The Law said, "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law, to do them." I was conversing on one occasion with one of our most illustrious Jewish noblemen. And when I put to him the question--he believed himself to be perfectly righteous, and I believe if any man could be so by his moral conduct, he might have fairly laid claim to it--but when I said to him, "Now, there is your own Law for it, 'Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law, to do them'--have you continued in all things?" He said, "I have not." "Then," and I found that to be a question for which he, at any rate, had no answer--and it is a question, which, when properly understood, no man can answer except by pointing to the Cross of Christ and saying, "He was made a curse for us that we might be made a blessing." Unless you and I keep the Law of God perfectly, it matters little how near we get to perfection! It is as though God had committed to our trust a perfect crystal vase and had said, "If you keep that whole, and present it to me, you shall have a reward." But we have cracked it, chipped it--ah, my Brothers and Sisters, the most of us have broken it and smashed it to pieces! But we will suppose that we have only cracked it a little. Yes, but even then we have lost the reward, for the condition was that it should be perfectly whole--and the slightest chip is a violation of the condition upon which the reward would have been given! But you say that you will not break it farther. But you have broken it! You have thrown yourselves outof the list. It sometimes seems hard when you tell people that if they have violated the Law in one point, they have broken the whole of it--but it is not so hard as it looks to be, for if I tell a man who is going down a coal mine on a long chain that if he breaks one link of the chain, it does not matter though all the other hundreds or thousands of links may be sound--if there is only one link that is broken--down will descend the basket and the poor miner will be dashed to pieces! Nobody thinks that is difficult. Everybody recognizes that as being a matter of mechanical law that the strength of a chain must be measured by its weakest part. And so, the strength of our obedience must be gauged by the very point in which it fails. Alas, our obedience has failed and, through it, no one of us can ever be just before God! Now, I want to stop a minute and put the question round the galleries and below stairs. Have you all got as far as that? It is important to be just before God--we see that we are not so--do we see that we cannot be so? Are we quite convinced that by our own obedience to the Law of God, it is hopeless for us to think of standing accepted before the Most High? I pray the Eternal Spirit to convince you all of this, or you will keep on knocking at the door until you are quite sure that God has nailed it up forever! And you will go scrambling over that Alp and tumbling down this precipice until you are convinced that it is impossible for you to climb it--and then you will give up your desperate endeavor and come to God in God's way--which is quite another way from your own! I trust that we are all convinced of this. Let us notice one more preliminary discovery. A man, having found out all this, suddenly discovers that inasmuch as he is not just before God and cannot be, he is at the present moment under condemnation! God is never indifferent towards sin. If, therefore, a man is not in a state in which God can justify him, he is in a state in which God must condemn him! If you are not just before God, you are condemned at this very moment! You are not executed, it is true, but the condemnation has gone forth against you and the sign that it is so is your unbelief, for, "He that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the Son of God." How some of you would spring up from your seats tonight if all of a sudden you got the information that you had been condemned by the courts of your country! But when I say that you have been condemned by the Court of Heaven, this glides across your conscience like drops of water, or oil over a marble slab! And yet, my Hearers, if you did but know the meaning of what I am saying--and I pray God the Holy Spirit to make you know it, it would make your very bones quiver! God has condemned you! You are out of Christ! You have broken His Law! God has lifted His hand to smite you! And though His mercy tarries for awhile, yet days and hours will soon be gone--and then the condemnation shall take the shape of execution--and where will your soul be, then? Now, you must have the sentence of condemnation passed in your own soul, or else you will never be justified, for until we are condemned by ourselves, we are not acquitted by God! Again I pause and say, Do you feel this, my dear Hearer? If you do, instead of despairing, be hopeful! If you have the sentence of death within you, be thankful for it, for now shall life be given you from the hand of God's Grace! Having occupied, perhaps, too much time over that, we now come more immediately into the text to-- II. SHOW THE GOSPEL LEARNING WHICH IS TAUGHT TO US BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. That Gospel learning I may give you in a few sentences, namely, these, that inasmuch as through man's sin, the way of obedience is forever closed, so that we--none of us--can ever pass by it to a true righteousness, God has now determined to deal with men in a way of mercy, to forgive them all their offenses, to bestow upon them His love, to receive them graciously and to love them freely! He has been pleased, in His Infinite Wisdom, to devise a way by which, without injury to His Justice, He can yet receive the most undeserving sons of men into His heart and make them His children-- and can bless them with all the blessings which would have been theirs had they perfectly kept His Law, but which now shall come to them as a matter of gift and undeserved Grace from Himself. I trust we have learned that that there is a plan of salvation by Grace and, by Grace alone--and it is a great thing to know that where Grace is, there are no works! It is a blessed thing to never muddle in your head the Doctrine of working and the Doctrine of receiving by Grace, for there is an essential and eternal difference between the two. I hope you all know that there can be no mixing of the two. If we are saved by Grace, it cannot be by our own merits! But if we depend upon our own merits, then we cannot appeal to the Grace of God, since the two things can never be mingled together. It must be all works or else all Grace. Now, God's plan of salvation excludes all our works. "Not of works, lest any man should boast." It comes to us upon the footing of Divine Grace, pure Grace alone. And this is God's plan, namely that inasmuch as we cannot be saved by our own obedience, we should be saved by Christ's obedience! Jesus, the Son of God, has appeared in the flesh, has lived a life of obedience to God's Law and, in consequence of that obedience, being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross! And our Savior's life and death make up a complete keeping and honoring of that Law of God which we have broken and dishonored. And God's plan is this--"I cannot bless you for your own sakes, but I will bless you for His sake. Looking at you, I must curse you, but I have laid the curse on Him and now, looking at you through Him, I can bless you though you deserve it not. I can pass by your undeserving. I can blot out your sins like a cloud and cast your iniquities into the depths of the sea through what He has done. You have no merits, but He has boundless merits! You are full of sin and must be punished, but He has been punished instead of you--and now I can deal with you." This is the language of God put into human words, "I can deal with you upon terms of mercy through the merits of My dear Son." This is the way in which the Gospel comes to you, then. If you believe in Jesus--that is to say if you trust Him--all the merits of Jesus are your merits and are imputed to you. All the sufferings of Jesus are your sufferings. Every one of His merits is imputed to you. You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you--He in your place, you in His place. Substitution! That is the word! Christ, the Substitute for sinners! Christ standing for men and bearing the thunderbolts of the Divine opposition to all sin! He "who knew no sin, being made sin for us." Man standing in Christ's place and receiving the sunlight of Divine favor, instead of Christ. And this, I say, is through trusting, or believing! God's way of your getting connection with Christ is through your reliance upon Him. "Therefore, being justified"--how? Not by works! That is not the link, but--"being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ offers to God the substitution--through faith we accept it--and from that moment God accepts us! Now, I want to come to this, dear Friends. Do you know this? Have you been taught this by the Spirit of God? Perhaps you learned it in the Assembly's Catechism when you were but children. You have learned it in the various classes since then, but do you know it in your own soul and do you know that God's way of salvation is through a simple dependence upon His dear Son? Do you so know it that you have accepted it and that you are now resting upon Jesus? If so, then thrice happy are you! But, going further, I have now to dwell for a minute or two upon-- III. THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE OF THE TEXT. We have led you, and I hope the Spirit of God has led you, too, through the preliminary discoveries and through the great discovery that God can save us through the merits of Another! Now let us notice this glorious privilege word by word. "Being justified." The text tells us that every believing man is at the present moment perfectly justified before God. You know what Adam was in naked innocence in Paradise. Such is every Believer. Yes, and more than that. Adam could talk with God because he was pure from sin and we, also, have access with boldness unto God our Father because, through Jesus' blood, we are clean. Now, I do not say that this is the privilege of a few eminent saints, but here I look around these pews and see my Brothers and Sisters--scores and hundreds of them--all of whom are tonight just before God--perfectly so! Completely so--so just that they never can be otherwise than just--so just that even in Heaven they will be no more acceptable to God than they are here tonight! That is the state into which faith brings a poor, lost, guilty, helpless, good-for-nothing sinner! The man may have been everything that was bad before he believed in Jesus, but as soon as he trusted Christ, the merits of Christ became his merits and he stands before God as though he were perfect, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," through the righteousness of Christ! Note, however, as we have noticed the state of justification, the means whereby we reach it. "Being justified by faith." The way of reaching this state ofjustification is not by tears, nor prayers, nor humbling, nor working, nor Bible-reading, nor Church-going, nor Chapel-going, nor sacraments, nor priestly absolution, but by faith--which faith is a simple and utter dependence and believing in the faithfulness of God--a dependence upon the promise of God because it is God's promise--and is worthy of dependence. It is a reliance with all our might upon what God has said! This is faith--and every man or woman who possesses this faith is perfectly justified tonight! I know what the devil will say to you. He will say to you, "You are a sinner!" Tell him you know you are, but that for all that, you are justified. He will tell you of the greatness of your sin. Tell him of the greatness of Christ's righteousness. He will tell you of all your mishaps and your backslidings, of your offenses and your wanderings. Tell him and tellyour own conscience, that you know all that, but that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that although your sin is great, Christ is quite able to put it all away. Some of you, it seems to me, do not trust in Christ as sinners. You get a mingle-mangle kind of faith. You trust in Christ as though you thought Christ could do something for you--and you could do the rest. I tell you that while you look to yourselves, you do not know what faith means! You must be convinced that there is nothing good in yourselves--you must know that you are sinners and that in your hearts you are as big and as black a sinner as the very worst and vilest--and you must come to Jesus and leave your fancied righteousnesses, and your pretended goodnesses behind you! And you must take Him for everything and trust in Him. Oh, to feel your sin, and yet to know your righteousness--to have the two together--repentance on account of sin, and yet a glorious confidence in the all-atoning Sacrifice! Oh, if you could understand that saying of the spouse, "I am black, but comely"--for that is where we must come--black in myself, as black as Hell, and yet comely, fair, lovely, inexpressibly glorious through the righteousness of Jesus! My dear Brothers and Sisters, can you feel this? If you cannot feel it, do you believe it? And do you sing in the words of Joseph Hart-- "In your Surety you are free, His dear hands were pierced for thee! With your Savior's vesture on, Holy as the Holy One." For so it is--you stand before God as accepted as Christ is accepted and, notwithstanding the inbred sin and corruption of your heart, you are as dear to God as Christ is dear and as accepted in the righteousness of Christ as Christ is accepted in His own obedience! Have we got so far? That is the point on which I want to enquire this evening. Have you got as far as to know at this moment that it is through faith we are justified? If so, I shall conduct you just one step farther, namely to observe--and this is coming back, while it is also going forward--that "we are justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ." There is the foundation! There is the mainspring! There is the tree that bears the fruit! We are justified by faith, but not by faith in itself. Faith in itself is a precious Grace, but it cannot in itselfjustify us. It is " through our Lord Jesus Christ." Simple as the observation is, I must venture to repeat it tonight because it is hard for us to keep it in mind. Remember that faith is not the work of the Spirit within, but the work of Christ upon the tree! That upon which I must rest as my meritorious hope is not the blessed fact that I am now an heir of Heaven, but the still more blessed fact that the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me! My dear Brothers and Sisters, when all is fair weather within, there is such a temptation to say, "Well, now, it is all right with me, for I feel this and I feel that." Very good, these evidences are in their places, but oh, when it grows dark and when, instead of these gracious evidences, you get equally clear evidences that you are not perfect--when you have to say, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You will find that instead of your beautiful evidences, you will have to fly to the Cross! There was a time when I, too, could take a great deal of comfort in what I believe is the Spirit of God's work in my soul. I do thank God for it, and bless Him for it now, but I trust I have learned to walk where poor Jack the huckster, walked-- "Im a poor sinner, and nothing at all! But Jesus Christ is my All-in-All." Brothers and Sisters, it is down on the ground that we must live! We must build upon the Rock, itself! On the top of some mountains men sometimes build heaps of timber, so as to get a little higher. Well, now, some of these rickety platforms, you know, get shaky, but when you get right down on the mountain, itself, it never shakes and you are perfectly secure there! So sometimes we get to building up our rickety platforms of our experience and our good works--all very well in their way, but then they shake in the storm! Depend upon it, that the soul that clings to the Rock, notwithstanding all that the Holy Spirit has done for it, and having nothing, then, to depend upon, more than the poor dying thief had when, without a single good work, he had to hang on the dying Christ, alone--oh, believe me, that soul is in the safest place to live in--and the most blessed place to die in! None but Jesus! None but Jesus for a poor sinner when he is torn from his cups and his sins! And none but Jesus for the aged saint when he stays himself upon his bed to bear his last testimony-- "Nothing in my hands I bring-- Simply to Your Cross I cling." "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And now, to crown all, there is here the precious, precious privilege which such men enjoy--"we have peace with God." I know that this may seem a trifle to thoughtless people, but not to those who think! I cannot say that I sympathize with those people who shut their eyes to the beauties of Nature. I have heard of good men travelling through fine scenery and shutting their eyes for fear they should see! I always open mine as wide as ever I can because I think I can see God in all the works of His hands--and what God has taken the trouble to make, I think I ought to take the trouble to look at! Surely there must be something to see in a man's works if he is a wise man--and there must be something worth seeing in the works of God who is All-Wise! Now, it is a delightful thing to say, when you look upon a landscape lit up with sunlight and shaded with clouds, "Well, my Father made all this. I never saw Him, but I do delight in the work of His hands--He made all this and I am perfectly at peace with Him." Then as you are standing there, a storm comes on. Big drops begin to fall. There is thunder in the distance. It begins to peal louder and louder. Presently there comes a flash of lightning. Now, those who are not at peace with God may go and flee away, but those who are perfectly at peace with Him may stand there and say, "Well, it is my Father who is doing all this. That is His voice, the voice of the Lord which is full of majesty." I love to hear my Father's voice. I am never as happy as in a tremendous storm--and when the lightning flash comes, I think--well, it is only the flashing of my Father's eyes! Now, God is abroad--He seemed as if He had left the world before, but now He comes riding on the wings of the wind! Let me go and meet Him. I am not afraid! Suppose you are out at sea in a storm. You are justified by faith, and you say, "Well, let the waves roar! Let them clap their hands! My Father holds the waters in the hollow of His hand, why should I be afraid?" Let me say to you that it is worth something to believe that God can put us in a calm state of mind when "earth is all in arms abroad." It is just so with the Believer when temporal troubles come. There comes crash after crash until it seems as though every house of business would come down. Nothing is certain. Man has lost confidence and reliance in his fellow man. Everything is going bad. But the Christian says, "God is at the helm. The whole business of business is managed by the great King--let the sons of earth do as they will, but-- "He everywhere has sway, And all things serve His might." It is something to feel that my Father cannot do me a bad turn. Even if He should use His rod upon me, it will do me good, and I will thank Him for it, for I am at perfect peace with Him. And then to come to die and to feel, "I am going to God and I am glad to go, for I am not going like a prisoner to a judge, but like a wife espoused goes to her husband--like a child home from school to the parents' arms. Oh, it is something to die with a sense of peace with God! Surely every thoughtful man will feel that! Now, if you trust Christ, you shall be justified by faith. Being justified, your heart shall feel that perfect peace is brought into it, so that you shall meet your Father' s will with perfect equanimity, let it be what it may! Come life, come death, it shall not matter to you, for all is right between God and your soul! Oh, I wish it were so with all present! It may be so if God the Spirit brings you to rest in Jesus. No, it shallbe so, my dear Friend! It shall be so with you tonight! Though you never thought it would be when you came in here, yet you see it all now. It is simply believing, simply trusting! Oh, believe Him! Trust Him and it shall be the joy of your soul to have a peace with God which as the world did not give you--so the world shall never take away! But you shall have it forever and ever! God grant it to each one of us! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE15:25-32. Most of us recognize the beauty of this parable as it concerns the prodigal and his boundless forgiveness by the father, but few of us probably have seen how the elder brother has his portrait also painted by our Lord and how He sets forth the self-righteous professor who hates to have prodigals made much of. 25. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. This was the better one of the two. I have heard him often greatly blamed and so he deserves to be. But for all that, he was a true son. He was not at home. He was out at work. There are some Christians that are all for work and never seem to have any fellowship and communion. They are always active, but they are not always contemplative. He was in the field. 26. And he called one of the servants and asked him what these things meant He was a gloomy spirit--good, solid, regular, constant--but not very joyful. He took things rather severely, so he did not understand what this amusement could mean. "Some of the Salvation Army got in here," he said. "Some of those boisterous Methodist people got here and I do not like it. I am more regular than that. I do not like these rows and uproars. He asked of the servant what these things meant. 27. 28. And he said unto him, Your brother is come: and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in. No, I dare say he was glad his brother was back, but he did not like such a fuss made over him. He was glad to see a wandering one restored, but why, why, why should there be all this extravagance of joy concerning this wandering young fellow who had been no better than he should be? Why all this delight? And there are some kinds of Christians who always feel that when there is a sinner introduced into the Church, "Well, I hope that it will turn out a genuine case," and always that is the first thought! They are afraid that it cannot be. They have never sinned in that way. They have been kept by the Grace of God from outward transgression and they are half afraid to hear of these outrageous sinners being brought in and so much joy made over them. "He was angry, and would not go in." 28. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. He was worth fetching in. There was a good deal of solid worth in his character and his father kindly came to ask him to come in and share the joy. 29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years have I served you. You may read it, "slaved for you." 29. Neither transgressed I at any time your commandment: and yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. Here have I been constant in the House of Prayer, regular at my Sunday school class--and yet I get little or no joy from it. I go on just in the regular path of duty but I have no music and dancing! I have a great many doubts and fears, but very little exhilaration, very little delight. 30. But as soon as this, your son, was come, which has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf He has been a great sinner and he is newly converted--and he has got all the joy! He has been running, anyhow, and yet he is full of assurance, full of delight, full of confidence. How can this be? I am a staid Christian having but slight joy, and he is but newly converted, but confident and full of delight. You have killed the fatted calf for him! But even one of the little kid goats you have never given me. You have given him the fatted calf. 31. And he said unto him, Son, you are always with me, and all thatIhave is yours. Why did not this son wake up to his privileges? Instead of not having a kid, he might have had whatever he liked! "All that I have is yours." He had been put into such a position as that, instead of being badly treated as he, perhaps, would half accuse his father of treating him. "Son, you are always with me. You live at my table. My house is your house. I love you and delight in you. All that I have is yours." 32. It was meet--It was right, it was proper, it was fitting-- 32. That we should make merry, and be glad, for this, your brother. "You call him my son, but he is your brother, and I remind you of it--this, your brother." 32. Was dead, and is alive again: and was lost, and is found. So if there are any here that do not take the joy which they ought in the conversion of great sinners, let them hear the gentle persuasive voice of God. You, as Believers, have everything! Christ is yours. Heaven is yours. You are always with God and all that He has belongs to you. But it is proper and fit that when a sinner returns from the error of his ways, they should ring the bells of Heaven and make a fuss over him, for he was dead and is alive again! I hope that you and I will never catch the spirit of the elder brother. Yet I remember that Krummacher says that he sometimes found that same spirit in himself. There was a man in the village where Krummacher lived, who was a great drunkard and everything that was bad. But all of a sudden he came into a very large sum of money and became a wealthy man. Krummacher felt, "Well, this hardly looks like the right thing--so many good, honest, hard-working people in the parish still remaining poor, and this worthless man has suddenly become wealthy and well-to-do." It seemed a strange way in the order of Providence. Oh, we ought to rejoice and be glad when another person prospers! And we ought to wish that his prosperity may be blessed to him. I remember a minister years ago, when first Mr. Moody came, saying that he did not believe that Mr. Moody was sent of God, "Because," he said, "I find that many of the people who are converted under him never went to a place of worship before. It is only the riffraff that are brought in." There is a nasty elder brother spirit! The riffraff were just the people that we wanted to bring in and if they had never been to a place of worship before, it was time that they should go! It was a mercy that they were brought in! Oh, instead of ever sniffing at sinners as if we were better than they, let us welcome them with all our heart and praise the heavenly Father that He so lovingly takes them in! __________________________________________________________________ Wheat in the Barn (No. 3393) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "But gather the wheat into My bairn." Matthew 13:30. "GATHER the wheat into My barn." Then the purpose of the Son of Man will be accomplished. He sowed good seed and He shall have His barn filled with it at the last. Be not dispirited, Christ will not be disappointed. "He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied." He went forth weeping, bearing precious seed, but He shall come again rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him. "Gather the wheat into My barn." Then Satan's policy will be unsuccessful. The enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, hopeful that the false wheat would destroy or materially injure the true--but he failed in the end, for the wheat ripened and was ready to be gathered. Christ's garner shall be filled--the tares shall not choke the wheat. The Evil One will be put to shame! In gathering in the wheat, good angels will be employed--"the angels are the reapers." This casts special scorn upon the great evil angel. He sows the tares and tries to destroy the harvest and, therefore, the good angels are brought in to celebrate his defeat and to rejoice together with their Lord in the success of the Divine Husbandry. Satan will make a poor profit out of his meddling--he shall be defeated in all his efforts and so the threat shall be fulfilled, "Upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat." By giving the angels work to do, all intelligent creatures, of whose existence we have information, are made to take an interest in the work of Grace--whether for malice or for adoration, redemption excites them all. The wonderful works of God are made manifest to all, for these things were not done in a corner. We too much forget the angels. Let us not overlook their tender sympathy with us--they behold the Lord rejoicing over our repentance--and they rejoice with Him1 They are our watchers and the Lord's messengers of mercy. They bear us up in their hands lest we dash our foot against a stone. And when we come to die, they carry us to the bosom of our Lord. It is one of our joys that we have come to an innumerable company of angels--let us think of them with affection. At this time I will keep to my text and preach from it almost word by word. It begins with, "but," and that is-- I. A WORD OF SEPARATION. Here note that the tares and the wheat will grow together until the time of harvest shall come. It is a great sorrow of heart to some of the wheat to be growing side by side with tares. The ungodly are as thorns and briars to those who fear the Lord. How frequently is the sigh forced forth from the godly heart, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" A man's foes are often found within his own household. Those who should have been his best helpers are often his worst hinderers. Their conversation vexes and torments him. It is of little use to try to escape from them, for the tares are permitted, in God's Providence, to grow with the wheat--and they will do so until the end. Good men have emigrated to distant lands to found communities in which there should be none but saints, but, alas, sinners have sprung up in their own families! The attempt to weed the ungodly and heretical out of the settlement has led to persecution and other evils--and the whole plan has proven a failure. Others have shut themselves away in hermitages to avoid the temptations of the world, and so have hoped to win the victory by running away--this is not the way of wisdom! The word for this present is, "Let both grow together." But there will come a time when a final separation will be made. Then, dear Christian woman, your husband will never persecute you again! Godly sister, your brother will heap no more ridicule upon you! Pious workman, there will be no more jesting and taunting from the ungodly! That, "but,"will be an iron gate between the God-fearing and the godless! Then will the tares be cast into the fire, but the Lord of the harvest will say, "Gather the wheat into My barn." This separation must be made, for the growing of the wheat and the tares together on earth has caused much pain and injury and, therefore, it will not be continued in a happier world. We can very well suppose that godly men and women might be willing that their unconverted children should dwell with them in Heaven, but it cannot be, for God will not have His cleansed ones defiled, nor His glorified ones tried by the presence of the unbelieving. The tares must be taken away in order to the perfectness and usefulness of the wheat. Would you have the tares and the wheat heaped up together in the granary in one mass? That would be bad husbandry with a vengeance! They can neither of them be put to appropriate use till thoroughly separated. Even so, mark you, the saved and the unsaved may live together here, but they will not live together in another world! The command is absolute--"Gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn." Sinner, can you hope to enter Heaven? You never loved your mother's God and is He to endure you in His heavenly courts? You never trusted your father's Savior and yet are you to behold His Glory forever? Are you to go swaggering down the streets of Heaven, letting fall an oath, or singing a loose song? Why, you know you get tired of the worship of God on the Lord's Day--do you think that the Lord will endure unwilling worshippers in the Temple above? The Sabbath is a wearisome day to you--how can you hope to enter into the Sabbath of God? You have no taste for heavenly pursuits and these things would be profaned if you were permitted to partake in them! Therefore that word, "but," must come in and you must part from the Lord's people, never to meet again! Can you bear to think of being divided from godly friends forever and ever? That separation involves an awful difference of destiny. "Gather the tares in bundles to burn them." I do not dare to draw the picture, but when the bundle is bound up, there is no place for it except the fire. God grant that you may never know all the anguish which burning must mean, but may you escape from it at once. It is no trifle which the Lord of Love compares to being consumed with fire. I am quite certain that no words of mine can ever set forth its terror. They say that we speak dreadful things about the wrath to come, but I am sure that we understate the case. What must the tender, loving, gracious Jesus have meant by the words, "Gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them"? See what a wide distinction there is between the lot of the Lord's people and Satan's people! Burn the wheat? Oh, no--"Gather the wheat into My barn." There let them be happily, safely housed forever! Oh, the infinite distance between Heaven and Hell!--the harps and the angels, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth! Who can ever measure the width of that gulf which divides the glorified saint, robed in white and crowned with immortality, from the soul which is driven forever away from the Presence of God and from the Glory of His power? It is a dreadful, "but"--that, "but" of separation! I pray you, remember that it will interpose between brother and brother--between mother and child--between husband and wife. "One shall be taken and the other left." And when that sword shall descend to divide, there shall never be any union later! The separation is eternal. There is no hope or possibility of change in the world to come. "But," says one, "that dreadful ' but'! Why must there be such a difference? The answer is because there always was a difference! The wheat was sown by the Son of Man--the false wheat was sown by the enemy. There was always a difference in character--the wheat was good, the tares were evil. This difference did not appear at first, but it became more and more apparent as the wheat ripened and as the tares ripened, too. They were totally different plants--and so a regenerate person and an unregene-rate person are altogether different beings. I have heard an unregenerate man say that he is quite as good as the godly man, but in so boasting he betrayed his pride. Surely there is as great a difference in God' s sight between the unsaved and the Believer as between darkness and light, or between the dead and the living! There is in the one a life which there is not in the other--and the difference is vital and radical. Oh, that you may never trifle with this essential matter, but really be the wheat of the Lord! It is vain to have the name of wheat--we must have the nature of wheat! God will not be mocked--He will not be pleased by our calling ourselves Christians while we are not! Be not satisfied with Church membership, but seek after membership with Christ! Do not talk about faith, but exercise it! Do not boast of experience, but possess it. Be not like the wheat, but be the wheat! No shams and imitations will stand in the Last Great Day! That terrible, "but," will roll as a sea of fire between the true and the false! Oh, Holy Spirit, let each of us be found transformed by Your power! The next word of our text is, "gather,"--that is-- II. A WORD OF CONGREGATION. What a blessed thing this gathering is! I feel it a great pleasure to gather multitudes together to hear the Gospel! And is it not a joy to see a house full of people on weekdays and Sundays who are willing to leave their homes and to come considerable distances to listen to the Gospel? It is a great thing to gather people together for that, but the gathering of the wheat into the barn is a far more wonderful business. Gathering is, in itself, better than scattering, and I pray that the Lord Jesus may always exercise His attracting power in this place, for He is no Divider, but, "unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." Has He not said, "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"? Observe that the congregation mentioned in our text is selected and assembled by skiiled gatherers.' 'The angels are the reapers." Ministers could not do it, for they do not know all the Lord's wheat and they are apt to make mistakes-- some by too great leniency and others by excessive severity. Our poor judgments occasionally shut out saints and often shut in sinners. The angels will know their Master' s property. They know each saint, for they were present at his birthday. Angels know when sinners repent and they never forget the persons of the penitents. They have witnessed the lives of those who have believed and have helped them in their spiritual battles, and so they know them. Yes, angels by a holy instinct discern the Father' s children and are not to be deceived. They will not fail to gather all the wheat and to leave out every tare! But they are gathered under a very stringent regulation, for, first of all, according to the parable, the tares--the false wheat--have been taken out and then the angelic reapers gather nothing but the wheat. The seed of the serpent, fathered by Satan, is thus separated from the seed of the Kingdom, owned by Jesus, the promised Deliverer. This is the one distinction and no other is taken into consideration. If the most amiable unconverted persons could stand in the ranks with the saints, the angels would not bear them to Heaven, for the mandate is, "Gather the wheat." Could the most honest man be found standing in the center of the Church, with all the members round about him and with all the ministers entreating that he might be spared, yet if he were not a Believer, he could not be carried into the Divine garner! There is no help for it. The angels have no choice in the matter--the peremptory command is, "Gather the wheat," and they must gather none else! It will be a gathering from very great distances. Some of the wheat ripens in the South Sea Islands, in China, and in Japan. Some flourishes in France, broad acres grow in the United States--there is scarcely a land without a portion of the good grain! Where all God's wheat grows, I cannot tell. There is a remnant, according to the election of Grace, among every nation and people, but the angels will gather all the good grain to the same garner. "Gather the wheat." The saints will be found in all ranks of society. The angels will bring in a few ears from palaces and great armfuls from cottages! Many will be collected from the lowly cottages of our villages and hamlets, and others will be raised up from the back slums of our great cities to the metropolis of God! From the darkest places angels will bring those children of sweetness and light who seldom beheld the sun, and yet were pure in heart and saw their God! The hidden and obscure shall be brought into the Light of God, for the Lord knows them that are His--and His harvest-men will not miss them. To me, it is a charming thought that they will come from all the ages. Let us hope that our first father, Adam, will be there. And mother Eve, following in the footsteps of their dear son, Abel, and trusting in the same Sacrifice. We shall meet Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Daniel, and all the saints made perfect! What a joy to see the Apostles, martyrs, and Reformers! I long to see Luther, and Calvin, and Bunyan, and Whitfield. I like the rhyme of good old father Ryland-- "They all shall be there, the great and the small! Poor I shall shake hands with the blessed St. Paul." I do not know how that will be, but I have not much doubt that we shall have fellowship with all the saints of every age in the general assembly and Church of the First-Born, whose names are written in Heaven! No matter when or where the wheat grew, it shall be gathered into the one barn--gathered never to be scattered-- gathered out of all divisions of the visible Church, never to be divided again! They grew in different fields. Some flourished on the hillside where Episcopalians grow in all their glory! And others in the lowlier soil, where Baptists multiply, and Methodists flourish! But once the wheat is in the barn, none can tell in which field the ears grew. Then, indeed, shall the Master' s prayer have a glorious answer--"That they all may be one." All our errors removed and our mistakes corrected and forgiven, the one Lord, the one faith and the one Baptism will be known of us all--and there will be no more displeasure and envying! What a blessed gathering it will be! What a meeting! The elect of God, the elite of all the centuries, of whom the world was not worthy! I should not like to be away. If there were no Hell, it would be Hell enough to me to be shut out of such heavenly society! If there were no weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, it would be dreadful enough to miss the Presence of the Lord, and the joy of praising Him forever, and the bliss of meeting with all the noblest beings that ever lived! Amid the necessary controversies of the age, I, who have been doomed to seem a man of strife, sigh for the blessed rest wherein all spiritual minds shall blend in eternal accord before the Throne of God and of the Lamb. Oh, that we were all right, that we might be all happily united in one spirit! In the text there is next-- III. A WORD OF DESIGNATION. I have already trespassed upon that domain. "Gather the wheat" Nothing but "the wheat" will be placed in the Lord's homestead. Lend me your hearts while I urge you to a searching examination for a minute or two. The wheat was sown of the Lord. Are you sown of the Lord? Friend, if you have any religion, how did you get it? Was it self-sown? If so, it is good for nothing! The true wheat was sown by the Son of Man. Are you sown of the Lord? Did the Spirit of God drop eternal life into your bosom? Did it come from that dear hand which was nailed to the Cross? Is Jesus your life? Does your life begin and end with Him? If so, it is well! The wheat was sown of the Lord--it is also the object of the Lord's care. Wheat needs a deal of attention. The farmer would get nothing from it if he did not watch it carefully. Are you under the Lord's care? Does He keep you? Is that word true of your soul, "I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day"? Do you experience such keeping? Give an honest answer, as you love your soul. Next, wheat is a useful thing, a gift from God for the life of men. The false wheat was of no good to anybody--it could only be eaten of swine--and then it made them stagger like drunken men! Are you one of those who are wholesome in society, who are like bread to the world, so that if men receive you, your example and your teaching, they will be blessed thereby? Judge yourselves whether you are good or evil in life and influence. "Gather the wheat." You know that God must put the goodness, the Grace, the solidity and the usefulness into you, or else you will never be wheat fit for angelic gathering. One thing is true of the wheat--that it is the most dependent of all plants. I have never heard of a field of wheat which sprang up and grew and ripened without a farmer's care. Some ears may appear after a harvest when the corn has shaled out, but I have never heard of plains in America or elsewhere covered with unsown wheat. No, no. There is no wheat where there is no man, and there is no Grace where there is no Christ! We owe our very existence to the Father, who is the Farmer. Yet, dependent as it is, wheat stands in the front rank of honor and esteem--and so do the godly in the judgment of all who are of an understanding heart. We are nothing without Christ--but with Him we are full of honor. Oh, to be among those by whom the world is preserved, the excellent of the earth in whom the saints delight! God forbid we should be among the base and worthless tares! Our last head, upon which also I will speak briefly, is-- IV. A WORD OF DESTINATION. "Gather the wheat into My barn.''" The process of gathering in the wheat will be completed at the Day of Judgment, but it is going on every day. From hour to hour saints are gathered--they are going heavenward even now. I am so glad to hear as a regular thing that the departed ones from my own dear Church have such joy in being harvested. Glory be to God, our people die well! The best thing is to live well, but we are greatly gladdened to hear that the brethren die well, for, full often, that is the most telling witness for vital godliness. Men of the world feel the power of triumphant deaths! Every hour the saints are being gathered into the barn. That is where they want to be. We feel no pain at the news of ingathering, for we wish to be safely stored up by our Lord. If the wheat that is in the field could speak, every grain would say, "The ultimatum for which we are living and growing is the barn, the granary." For this the frosty night! For this the sunny days! For this the dew and the rain--and for this everything! Every process with the wheat is tending towards the granary. So is it with us--everything is working towards Heaven--towards the gathering place--towards the congregation of the righteous--towards the vision of our Redeemer's face! Our death will cause no jar in our life-music! It will involve no pause, or even discord--it is part of a program--the crowning of our whole history! To the wheat the barn is the place of security. It dreads no mildew there. It fears no frost, no heat, no drought, no wet when once in the barn. All its growth-perils are past. It has reached its perfection. It has rewarded the labor of the Farmer and it is housed. Oh, long-expected day, begin! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, what a blessing it will be when you and I shall have come to our maturity and Christ shall see in us the travail of His soul! I delight to think of Heaven as His barn! His barn, what must that be? It is but the poverty of language that such an expression has to be used at all concerning the home of our Father, the dwelling of Jesus! Heaven is the palace of the King, but so far to us a barn because it is the place of security, the place of rest forever! It is the homestead of Christ to which we shall be carried and for this we are ripening. It is to be thought of with ecstatic joy, for the gathering into the barn involves a harvest home and I have never heard of men sitting down to cry over an earthly harvest home, nor of their following the sheaves with tears! No, they clap their hands, they dance for joy and shout right lustily! Let us do something like that, concerning those who are already housed. With grave, sweet melodies let us sing around their tombs. Let us feel that, surely, the bitterness of death is passed. When we remember their glory, we may rejoice like the travailing woman when her child is born, who "remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." Another soul begins to sing in Heaven--why do you weep, O heirs of immortality? Is the eternal happiness of the righteous, the birth which comes of their death-pangs? Then happy are they who die! Is Glory the end and outcome of that which fills our home with mourning? If so, thank God for bereavements! Thank God for sad severing! He has promoted our dear ones to the skies! He has blessed them beyond all that we could ask or even think! He has taken them out of this weary world to lie in His bosom forever! Blessed be His name if it were for nothing else but this! Would you keep your old father here, full of pain and broken down with feebleness? Would you shut him out of Glory? Would you detain your dear wife here with all her suffering? Would you hold back your husband from the immortal crown? Could you wish your child to descend to earth again from the bliss which now surrounds her? No, no! We wish to be going Home ourselves, to the heavenly Father's house and its many mansions! But concerning the departed, we rejoice before the Lord as with the joy of harvest! "Therefore comfort one another with these words." EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 13:1-23; 15:13-28; 1 CORINTHIANS 3:17-23. Verses 1, 2. The same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a boat, and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. He had thus a little breathing space between Him and the people--a better opportunity for His being both heard and seen. A noble instance of open-air preaching. And if our climate would permit, what a blessing it would be if we could turn out of these houses and sit in a boat or stand on the seashore! 3-9. And He spoke many things unto them in parables saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched: and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up and choked them; but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who has ears to hear, let him hear. Upon the very surface of it, this parable teaches those of us who have to sow that we must not expect to have our choice of the ground--and that we are not even to make a choice of the matter, but we are bound to go, as this sower did, and cast a handful there upon the hard trodden road and a handful there among the thorns and nettles, and a handful here again where there is no deepness of earth and God be thanked if a handful shall fall on good ground. Still, for us to suppose that we are to sort out the characters and to select the ground is a very great mistake! "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." A distinction will soon come! The seed will be the grand detective of the soil. It will show what the soil is. Just as Christ on the Cross is the discerner of men's thoughts, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed, so is the preaching of Christ Crucified the test of human condition! You shall see now who it is that has the honest and good ground, and who has not. Not by a geological inspection, but simply by throwing a handful of seed on it. That will soon discern between the precious and the vile. 10-16. And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why do You speak unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given. For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whoever has not, from him shall be taken away even what he has. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear A judicial blindness and deafness of heart had come over the nation of Israel, so that even when the sun shone in its strength in the Person and teaching of Christ, they could not see. And when God spoke more plainly than He ever spoke before, by His Son, yet they could not hear so as to understand. And I sometimes fear that some measure of this judicial blindness has happened unto many in our land. Those who take the metaphors of Scripture and interpret them literally and dare to take out of the old Law excuses for ritualistic observance-- what can we say of them, but that this people's hearts have waxed gross? God has done very much for our country. He has seeded it with the blood of martyrs. The scars of martyrdom have hardly passed away and, after all this, if men will go back to the fooleries of popish ceremony--if they will put from them the blessed light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ-- depend upon it, God will give them up to some kind of hardness of heart, so that they will plunge from one superstition to another, and their last end shall be worse than the first! But blessed are they who, being taught of God, can perceive the spirit beneath the letter, and do not confound the emblems which the Savior used, but suck out the meaning from them as bees do the honey from the flowers! 17-19. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them. Hear you, therefore the parable of the sower When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and understands it not, then comes the Wicked One and catches away that which was sown in his heart This is he which received seed by the way side. Do you notice here the importance of the Word of God? But when it is heard, but not understood, you would suppose that the devil might as well let it stay where it was, for what hurt could it do to his kingdom for the man to hear it and not to understand it? But he is so frightened at the Word of God that he comes, like an evil bird, and takes it away for fear lest lying even in the dull heart without understanding, yet, somehow, it should breed an understanding in the heart! And so he takes it away from the thoughts and the memory, so fearful is he of it. "Nothing makes the devil tremble like the Gospel," said Martin Luther, and I do not doubt that all the churches in the world, with all their ceremonies, are less feared by the devil than one single Doctrine or text out of the Word of God! So he comes, like an evil bird, and catches away that which was sown in the heart. You must expect to lose a good deal of your teaching. As farmers drop several beans in the hole and say, "That one is for the worm; this one is for the crow--then there is another which they hope will spring up--so must we expect it to be with our teaching--much of which will be lost. 20, 21. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and with joy receives it Yet has he not root in himself, but endures for a while: but when tribulation or persecution arises, because of the word, by-and-by he is offended. A straw fire blazes fiercely, but lasts not long. And so there are some who we hope are converts who show an extraordinary zeal, and you would fancy that, surely, they would outrun all Christians! But they have not breath. They are not good stayers. They soon cease in the race. They are soon hot--soon cold. And we may expect to have many disappointments from persons of this character, and all the more so among children--readily impressed, but easily do they lose the impression. 22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the cares of this world, and the deceit-fulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.Dear Friends who have to teach the young, you have, in their case, less danger in this respect. They have not yet come to the time when the cares of this world and the deceitful-ness of riches will choke the Word. You have some advantage over us, though even the little things of a child's play may make nettles and thorns. Things which we could not consider to be cares--that seem too trivial--are cares to them. It may be that our heavenly Father thinks of our cares very much as we think of our children's cares--and as we should smile to see them distrustful, so it may be that He smiles and grieves whenever He finds us so. For, mark you, even among God's own people, God's Word cannot grow in our hearts at the rate it should, for we have the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. We must cry to be lifted above these--delivered from the evil influences of the world in whichwe dwell--or else our good Lord and Master will waste many a handful of good seed upon us, though, I trust, that out of us He will get some harvest. 23. But he that received seed into good ground is he that hears the word, and understands which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. For all Christians are not alike fruitful. Would God they all reached to the hundredfold and went beyond it! Such seed, and such a sower, and such fruitful seasons as He has given to some of us, and such plowing and such tilling, and such feeding, and such watering, and such sunshine, and such dew--oh, we ought to bring forth a hundredfold! Let us chide ourselves and whenever we have to complain that we do not get a harvest from our sowing, or as much as we could desire, let us look within and say, "My heart, you are like the field I have to sow. My Master, I fear, gets as little out of you as I get when I go unsuccessfully to my work." MATTHEW 15:13-15; 21-28. 13. But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. He had not any peculiar tenderness towards them, they were not plants of his Father's planting--they deserved to be rooted up and their teaching was so utterly false that if He had offended against it, He was glad to have done so. 14. Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. The bad teacher and he that is badly taught, for they are both responsible, shall both fall into the ditch. No man can lay the sin of his being misdirected entirely upon his priest or his teacher. He had no business to have submitted to him. At the same time, it is a very serious responsibility for a man who knows not God to attempt to teach the things of God. I know a man who, in a certain place of worship was deeply convinced of sin--the arrows of God stuck in him and, being in great distress, he went to the minister and told him how he felt the burden of his guilt. The minister said to him, "My dear Friend, I really had no intention of making you uneasy--what was it I said?--I will get the sermon--I am very sorry, but really I do not know anything about it." The man said, "You told us we must be born-again." "Oh," said the minister, "that was done for you when a child--your parents did it." "You know, Sir, we must be converted." "Well, really I do not understand it. I am afraid I have disturbed you unnecessarily." Our friend, however, was not to be put off, so he sought and found the Savior. But how dreadful a thing it is when the blind lead the blind--they shall both fall into the ditch! 15. Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do not you yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the beely, and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man. There is no defilement about that. Cleanliness is to be observed, but not the mere act of washing just for the sake of it, every time you eat bread, which defiles not a man! But oh, what defilement there is in evil thought! In anger, which breeds murder! In lust, which leads to adultery and fornication! In covetousness which begets theft! And in a false heart which leads to false witness, and in a profane mind which leads to blasphemy! Oh, that God would cleanse our secret thoughts, the very center of our hearts, for until the fountain is made clean, the stream that comes from it cannot be pure! 21, 22. Then Jesus went from there and departed to the coasts of Tyre andSidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, You Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil "But He answered her not a word." How painful that silence must have been! In what suspense she was. 23. But He answeredher not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away: for she cries after us. They were mistaken. She did not cry after them--she knew better than that! She cried after the Lord, after the great Son of David, not after them, but, however, she disturbed them. 24. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house ofIsraei Christ's personal ministry was confined to the Jews. He came as a Savior to redeem all mankind, but as a Preacher, He was a minister to the Circumcision and He came to speak only to Israel. 25. Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me!Her prayer got shorter and she grew more intense, more energetic, more determined to win the blessing. "Lord help me!" 26-28. But He answered and said, It is not rightt to take thee children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith: be it unto you even as you will. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Oh, can you exercise a like faith in Christ? If so, you shall get a like blessing! Only believe in Him! Only make up your mind and however great the mercy, it cannot be too great for Him to give! And believe that He will give it, rest on Him to bestow it and you shall have it! God grant that many may receive it at this very hour! 1 CORINTHIANS 3:17-23. 17-18. If any man defiles the Temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple you are. Let no man deceive himself If any man amongyou seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Do not let him seek to be reckoned wise by the philosophers of the period who are always against the Truth of God. Let him consent to be thought to be a fool--yes, let him know in his own heart that he is not wise--and then let him yield himself up to the wisdom of God. Consciousness of ignorance is the vestibule of knowledge! And he that knows right well that he is a fool is on the way to becoming a wise man! He that would pass into the Temple of Wisdom must first of all confess his ignorance. 19, 20. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. What a wonderfully small difference there is, after all, between the very cultured man, who thinks himself so, and the man who makes no pretense to it whatever! The knowledge which the wisest man has is about equal, in the Presence of God, to the knowledge which one child of three years old has over a child of two years old! To God we must all seem masses of ignorance! And if you could put the whole British Association, all the doctors of divinity, and all the LL.D.'s and all the men of high degrees together, the things they did not know would make a great many volumes--and the things they didknow would not go very far. "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are vain." 21. Therefore let no man glory in men. There really is not anything to glory in, in men! "The best of men are men at the best." Never need we exalt ourselves or extol others. "Lord, what is man that You are mindful of him?" "Let no man glory in men." 21 For all things are yours. Children of God, all men are yours, to serve your highest benefit! All ministers and leaders in Christ are yours to seek your souls' good! Treat them as bees do flowers, and gather honey from them all. "All things are yours." 22-23, Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come-- all are yours. And you are Christ's; and Christ is God's. __________________________________________________________________ "Who Is This?" (No. 3394) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1869. "When He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, 'Who is this?'" Matthew 21:10. THIS was not the first time that question had been asked, or asked concerning the same Person. "Who is this?" is a common question in reference to our Lord. "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" "Who is this king of glory?" and so on. Doubtless, the angels who are represented as standing on the Mercy Seat gazing down upon its golden brightness, desired to look into this very question in the olden times, and often said to one another, "Who is this?" We hear the Prophet speak of One who is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, and is therefore Man, but He is called by the same Prophet equal with God, Fellow of the Eternal! How can this be? "Who is this?" The subject of the Incarnation of a pure Spirit such as God is, in human flesh, must have been staggering even to the intellect of seraphs--and again and again they must have said, one to another, "Who is this?" I can conceive that on that memorable night when the first Christmas carol made glad both Heaven and earth, the angels came to Bethlehem's manger and looked upon the new-born Child, and said, "Who is this?" Knowing that He was the same Person to whom they had been obedient for many an age, the ever-glorious Son of God, they must have marvelled to find Him an Infant sleeping there where the horned oxen fed, or hanging on a woman's breast! And they said to each other, "Who is this?" And I can conceive that they followed Him through those 12 years of His childhood, or during the years in which He remained in solitude and obscurity, unknown to the sons of men, and though they knew Him as the Son of Mary, and the reputed Son of Joseph, yet as watchful spirits they must have seen the pure beams of Deity in His Character! And so the marvelous and supernal excellence of His secret life must often have compelled them to ask, one of another, "Who is this?" He is in the carpenter's workshop, using the axe and the plane, and yet this is He who is to deliver Israel! How is this, and who is this? And I can imagine them following Him through the three years of His public ministry in the wilderness beholding Him tempted of the devil, though Lord of All and Prince and King! When they watched Him in His hunger, and cold, and nakedness, and saw Him in His sleepless nights upon the bare mountainside--when they beheld Him and strengthened Him in His agony and bloody sweat--when they gathered around the Cross, with all its terrors, could their eyes have known a tear, they would have wept it there and would have said, "Who is this?" When He was buried and after three days, rose again from the grave, there must have been amazement through all the angelic host! They came, some of them, and sat, the one at the head and the other at the foot, where the body of Jesus had lain, still wondering much at the great mystery. We can well gather that they asked such questions onward through His life, since when that life had come to a close, and the issues of it had begun to be developed, when our Lord ascended up on high and led captivity captive, clothed with Glory--when they came to meet Him, joined in the triumphal procession and approached the golden gates--when the songs went up, "Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be you lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in!" there was a wonder lingering among the watchers at the portals of Heaven, for they said, "Who is the King of Glory?" And again, a second time they said, "Who is the Lord of Hosts? Who is the King of Glory?" and they had to receive the two answers--they had to be told who He was that was mighty in battle and the Lord of Hosts who was the King of Glory! Do they not even now marvel, as they cast their crowns upon the glassy sea and mingle with the white-robed band--do they not now marvel that such as He should be born of a woman, that such as He should be tempted by the devil, that such as He should have known poverty, and nakedness, and death itself? Thosewounds, those scars still visible, must still be a theme for holy admiration and adoring questioning! And as they worship Him, recognizing in Him the Wisdom that was with God in the beginning, and without whom was not anything made that was made--as they adore Him as the Eternal Word, the Preserver as well as the Creator of all things--they must still, as they look to His Manhood taken into such union with His Godhead, think of Him with holy amazement, with joyous astonishment and ask, "Who is this?" But we have not to do with the angels at this time! Rather our business is with the sons of men. And among them there ought to be more of the asking of this question, and there ought to be less. There ought to be more of it, the asking in holy wonder! There ought to be less of the asking of it in ignorance or in derision. The question, I take it, can be asked in both ways. Endeavoring to understand the mystery, he that knows it best may still say, "Who is this?" Caring not to know Him, but scornfully turning aside from this great mystery of godliness, there are tens of thousands who will continue to say, "Who is this? And why make this noise about Him, and all this stir and hubbub about the Man of Nazareth?" This question is still asked among the sons of men because in one sense it ought to be more common, but because in another sense it ought never to be raised, I speak upon it tonight. And first we shall take-- I. THE QUESTION AS IT STOOD IN REFERENCE TO THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM. I suppose there was a pretty common knowledge of our Lord in Jerusalem. He spoke openly in the Temple. He was no teacher in secret conventicles, hidden away in the dark. He had been seen in their streets. His miracles had been the subjects of admiring wonder and observation by tens of thousands. They knew who He was. Many of them rather delighted to remember His lowly origin. "His brothers, are they not all with us?" They knew His mother. They said they knew His father. "Is not this the carpenter' s Son?" A knowledge of Christ was pretty general. They did not ask the question out of ignorance, but it was asked for this reason, among others--by some it was asked because now He came under quite a different aspect from that in which He had ever appeared before. He never rode, that I know of, upon the land but that once. He never rode in anything like pomp or state. He had come into Jerusalem and He had gone out of it, a simple private individual, claiming no office except that of preacher. But on this occasion He comes as a King! Riding in pomp as one who claims to be honored among men, and even claims to be King, for He says, "Behold, your King comes, meek and lowly." They, therefore, said, "Who is this?" What a change has come over the scene!-- "The lowly Man before His foes, The weary Man and full of woes." Does He ride, and ride amidst shouts of popular acclaim, He that did not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets? He? Does He come in this guise? Therefore greatly struck and amazed by the change, they said, "Who is this?" Yes, and we may learn from this that when Christ, who is still among the sons of men as the meek and lowly Savior, bearing with their bad behavior, and saying, "Come you weary, take My yoke and bear it, and you shall find rest"--when He comes before long as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the whole earth will then cry out, "Who is this?" Is this the Man that bled at Calvary? Is this the Man that died praying for His enemies? And does He come with a rod of iron in His hand to break the nations and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel? Oh, what astonishment will seize the sons of men when they see the King in His Glory, whom they would not understand nor serve when He came in the meekness and gentleness of love! Part of the reason why the people of Jerusalem asked the question was, no doubt, this--they were struck with the remarkable enthusiasm with which the people received Him. People had been enthusiastic at other times, but then it had been immediately after they had been fed with the loaves and fishes and, therefore, their enthusiasm was very easily accounted for. But on this occasion there had been no feeding with loaves and fishes, and yet here He was received by a most enthusiastic crowd. They could not, if they had all been sure that He was the very Messiah, have received Him outwardly with greater delight. There were their garments for Him to sit upon. There were their garments in the road to carpet the ground which was thought too coarse for Him to tread upon. There were the trees, denuded of their branches, and the palm branches borne in front amidst general acclamations of, "Hosanna, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!" Yes, and the world may say whenever it sees an enthusiastic Church, whenever it beholds a company of people treating Christ as He ought to be treated, "Who is this?" The Church, as we generally see it, never excites any wonderment among men. They quite understand what it is--a compact of people who have got enough religion to make themselves comfortable and form an association for mutual admiration. But a genuine Church is a company formed for the admiration of Christ Jesus! A company of people who are melted into one because they are all red-hot and flow like streams of molten metal into one mold--all united, loving Christ after such a sort that they would not merely put their garments in the road, but would themselves make a road--who would wish, themselves, that their blood could be shed if Christ might be glorious! When the world sees such a Church as this, then they begin to cry, one to another, "Who is this? Who is this around whom such enthusiasm gathers?" Glory be to God, Your day shall yet come to this world when the Church shall wake from her slumbers! Then shall she be ashamed of herself, to have treated her Bridegroom in such a scurvy manner! When she once loves Him as she ought and puts the crown upon His head as she should--then will the whole earth say, "Who is this?" I have no doubt, also, that part of the question of the people of Jerusalem arose from the singular nature of the pomp with which the enthusiastic multitude surrounded our Lord. There was a great deal of beauty about it, but how very simple it was, how altogether opposed to the usual array, to the usual order of pomp! Why, my Brothers and Sisters, if you could see the pomp in which great priests--say, at Rome--are carried through the streets, with men all clad in liveries, with attendants in blue and scarlet, and fine linen and peacocks' feathers, and the high elevated throne on which the man is carried who claims to be, "His Holiness," you would see how artificial it all is! And it is all the same if there is nobody there that cares about it! True, some may, but if they did not, it would be all the same. It would all be gone through and the admiration that is poured on any of these kings and princes--well, it all comes as a matter of course! It is natural that we poor worms of the dust should clap our hands when we see a king. Of course, it is the bounden duty of such ordinary mortals as we are to pay wonderful respect to all those who happen to have a peculiar kind of blood in their veins. That is the order of things and, as long as people are conventional fools, it always will be! And the men of the world will always remain so. We shall always reverence rank, whether it has any worthy character about it or not--and priests will always like such reverence as that! But here was a different style of pomp altogether. Here was a plain, common Man, whose garment was merely the smock-frock of an ordinary peasant--a garment "without seam, woven from the top throughout"--a Man who made no professions to rank, did not separate Himself at all from the people! And here they have extemporized for Him a pomp in which every jot and tittle is true and real! There was not a shout raised here because it was the custom to raise shouts to Jesus of Nazareth. There was not a garment strewed in the way because His office required Him to be esteemed. It was all genuine, true, real and, mark you, Brothers and Sisters, there is no pomp like it! What a distinction there is between the honor given to a monarch who is beloved, such as we would give to ours-- and the honor that is given to a monarch such as the one I spoke ofjust now--who is honored merely because he is a monarch, but whom men would honor just as heartily or even more heartily if he were gone! Now, the honor given to our Lord Jesus Christ was all given because of His Person and the work that He had really done in the raising of Lazarus, out of--I will not say true spiritual affection, for the multitude did not understand Him in His deeper Character, so as to receive Him spiritually--but out of a real feeling of reverence for this wonderful Being. There was a natural pomp about the whole thing that quite distinguished it from anything that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had ever seen before. Some of them might have seen a Caesar or a Pompey come home from the wars. Some of them might have seen the conquerors and their pageants, and their triumphal return into the capital and all the imposing preparations that were made that everyone might join in the welcome. They hailed him as Rome's greatest man, who trod Rome's enemies beneath his heels. But they had never seen anything like this--when the very children in the streets took up the cry and said, "Hosannah! Ho-sannah! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." And so they said, "Who is this?" Now, mark you, this is always one of the points which should distinguish the triumphs of Christ. It is not the victory of officialism. It is not the splendor of outward dress, and form, and show. There is a real force over men's hearts so that they come to love Jesus for what He truthfully is to them. It is not a mock homage which they pay, which consists of genuflections and of pompous ceremonies, but it is that they exult at the very thought of Him! The heart invents, without being taught, its own method of praising Him, seeking out and straining after new songs with which to sing unto the Lord who has gloriously triumphed! I do believe that the very beauty of the Christian religion is its simplicity. And the beauty of the Church of God is its having simple worship--all its joys and all its pomp being that which comes out of thesimple heart--which has no form, no ceremony and needs no directorium, no rule by which to guide it but just does what it feels to be the natural expression of that which is felt within. And wherever this is, the world cries, "Who is this?" Still, there were some in that crowd who did not ask the question for that reason at all, but merely that they might say, "Who is this? What is He? What's in it? It is all an imposture! He is not the Messiah! He comes not in the name of the Lord." They looked down upon the crowd who followed Christ, and they said, "It is a vulgar herd--have any of the rulers believed in Him? Did the Rabbis follow at His heels? Do the Scribes and chief priests accept Him? Who is this?" Well, and this, too, is a part of the proof of the true Christ. Wherever He is fully preached and His power is known, there is sure to be stirred up a company of men who, knowing nothing of the real power of the Gospel, will be quite sure to sneer at it! They will say it is only the poor who come to it, as though that were not said of old, "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." They will say it is only the illiterate, as though they had not known that the Apostle Paul, himself, blessed God that He "had chosen the foolish things of this world, and things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are." There will always be those who, not caring to enjoy, themselves, the blessings of the Great Shepherd's reign, will sneer at all those who would. Let us accept their sneers as the only tribute they can render to Christ, and as true a proof of His excellence and His Glory as the admiration of His followers! I will not detain you further about the people of Jerusalem, but now just observe that-- II. THIS QUESTION WILL ALWAYS BE ASKED WHENEVER JESUS CHRIST COMES INTO ANY PLACE THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, I am not about to criticize that which is called the preaching of the Gospel, so as to condemn it in any wholesale way, but I will say this, that wherever the Gospel has been preached simply, not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but with the plain words of the common tongue. Wherever Christ has been preached affectionately. Wherever the whole Gospel has been delivered with fervor and with impartiality, it has never failed in any place, or in any time, to draw attention to itself, to excite enquiry and to compel men to take sides about it, one way or the other! We need never be afraid that the Gospel is not suitable to any village, that the inhabitants are too degraded. Take it there and they must and shall receive it, or else, at their peril shall they reject it! But they will hear it! It shall attract them! They shall be found, if not willing acceptors of it, yet at least willing hearers of it, willing critics of it and that is something! We need not, on the other hand, be afraid to take the Gospel among the most enlightened classes. Whatever they may know, they know nothing superior to the Word of Jesus Christ--and it shall command even their attention. They shall be compelled to examine it and if it is not a savor of life unto life to them, still it shall be a savor of death--and to God in either case--a sweet savor of Jesus Christ! Let us never think that the Gospel needs to be rendered attractive by some additions of our own! It is like a sword that cuts just as well without the diamonds in the hilt, for the cut of it lies not in the handle, but in the sword itself. The Gospel will cut and clear its own way. I scarcely think we shall need to come down to the use of so-called popular lectures on Sundays. I think we shall never need to come down to catchwords for sermons. The Gospel will, after all, if it is but drawn out of its scabbard and lifted up as the bare and naked sword of the Lord, be pretty sure to cut its own way. And, ah, how have we learned in the past, when the Gospel has come to a place and it has begun to be the means of the conversion of sinners, what a stir it has made! The little village was snug enough in the darkness that had gathered around the old tower and there it lay all asleep and in the death, but some Methodists came and preached upon the Green. A few were converted and gathered into a little room--and what a noise there was about it! The squires would put it down. How there were threats against those poor cottagers and others! They must lose their work--certainly their Christmas gifts--but all that only proved that the Gospel still had power, a power, at any rate, to irritate the ungodly, which is something, and to bless the simple men and women that were willing to receive it! Before long we have sometimes seen those very persons who were the most determined opponents of the Gospel, sit at its feet! Some of them have become its preachers! More and more the Kingdom of Christ has spread and grown! From village to village, from town to town the sacred ardor has spread! In the days of Whitfield and Wesley the whole nation was awakened--as from a long sleep our land started up! Then there were found a multitude whom God had chosen, who began to sing glad hymns and to chant the praises of God in every town and street! And this land, which seemed fast going down in sin and wickedness to the very gates of Hell, took a start on the road to Heaven, which, thank God, has never been altogether lost, nor shall be, for still will God raise up others who will preach Jesus Christ and the leaven shallcontinue to permeate! The salt shall still work for Christ among the putrefying mass until He comes, who shall end the battle in a glorious victory! But I hasten from that to notice that the same wonderful effect in another form is produced-- III. WHEN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST COMES INTO A SINGLE HEART. Do not some of you remember when Jesus Christ first came to your heart? Oh, I remember when Moses came into mine, with the Law and the great Commandments. When I saw myself a sinner in the light of the Law of God! When the fiery light of Sinai made me see my multitude of spots--yes, discover that I was covered all over with filthiness and blackness! Then the minister came to my gate and I heard the Word preached, preached affectionately, too. Then parents taught me the Word with tears and prayers, but I got no comfort and my soul continued in bondage under a sense of sin. But what a mercy it is when Jesus Christ, Himself, comes! When it is no longer the coming of the minister or of the preacher, but the coming of Jesus Christ, Himself, when Jesus passes by! I know some of you can remember right well the time when He passed by you and came into your heart. You believed Him--it was but a small action--you believed in Jesus! You gave up all trying to save yourselves by your works--you renounced once and for all your reliance upon ceremonies, past or future, and you cast yourselves down before that Cross whereon the Master shed His atoning blood! You remember that. Now, do you not remember what peace there was that came into your spirit, a peace that passes all understanding? The promises of God could not comfort you until Jesus came with them and applied them to your soul. They were full of power when He brought them in His hands, but they were nothing until He brought them! Do you remember, too, how your doubts and fears all fled? They had been hooting in your soul, but when that Light of God shone in, full upon you, they soon took to their wings and there was not one of them left! You could then rejoice where so lately you had been mourning--and you now had songs instead of groans! And do you remember those sinful habits of yours which you could not break off? You had struggled against them, but you were like a man who is bound fast in iron--you could not snap the fetters by any means! You tried, and tried, and tried again, but always in vain. But when Jesus came, how free you were, how delivered you were! [Here someone shouted, "Hallelujah! Glory be to God! Jesus is passing by!"] I wish our friends would not be at all troubled with our Brother who simply spoke out of the affection of his heart. We are not Methodists and do not quite like it, but when a Brother does it, it does not disconcert me and it ought not to trouble you! I wish sometimes that there were interruptions like that which came at Pentecost, "What must I do to be saved?" I wish sometimes that we did feel that we must tell all that Jesus was passing by and was entering into our hearts, as our Brother told us just now. Well, you remember the moment when Christ came to those bad habits of yours--when you had strived against them but could not overcome them--but when He came, they dropped off as though they were cloth! Those great ropes of sin were snapped and were gone--and you recollect the joy you felt within when you could say, "I'm forgiven! I'm, forgiven!" Later when you sat down in holy wonder, you could not help it, but the tears came fast and thick, one after the other, as you said, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, that ever I was led to receive Christ and to find peace in Him!" Oh, Beloved, I know that you said to yourselves, "Who is this? What a matchless Christ is this? Who is this that could have worked such a wonderful change in me, that could have made my dead heart live, could have thawed the iceberg, could have made the mountain of snow that is in my soul dissolve, could have brought me up from the Valley of the Shadow of Death into the land of light and exceeding brightness and glory?" I know you said, "Who is this?" And, let me add, your wonder at Christ has not ceased since then! It is not long ago since you had sore trouble in business and your heart was very heavy. But you got alone with God in prayer and you saw Christ as suffering with you, standing in the furnace with you--and how happy and quiet your mind was! You could not help saying to yourself, "What manner of Man is this that He made me to rejoice, even in tribulation, and to be calm in the midst of my afflictions?" You lost a child not long ago and you thought your heart would break under that trial, but you took the case to Jesus and you were resigned to it, and you said, "What manner of Man is this, again, that could so have comforted me?" Or it may be you are like some of us watching day by day the slow but steady progress of disease in one dear to you as your life. And the only comfort you have is by feeling that Jesus Christ being with you, it is still easy to bear and to be resigned. And, perhaps, you have been slandered for Christ's sake and misrepresented in all you have tried to do. But when you have told it to Him, you have said, "I'll hail reproach and welcome shame for Jesus' sake." And the calm you have had has made you say, "Who is this?" I can only say tonight, though I hope I have known my Lord these 21 years, that I do marvel more and more at Him, that ever He could do such marvels for me, a poor worthless worm. And I think the more you know of yourselves, and the deeper you sink in self-abasement, the more will the question rise in your soul, "What a glorious Christ must this be! What power there must be in His blood! What prevalence in His plea! What tenderness in His heart! What might in His arm! What immutability in His Nature, that ever He should continue to look down on me and bless me as He does!" "Who is this?" your soul will say! Now, I must not detain you on that and, therefore, again with great brevity, remark that-- IV. THE TIME IS COMING WHEN THIS QUESTION MAY BE ASKED BY SOME HERE WITH GREAT FEAR AND ALARM. Unless we ask it now in loving wonder, we shall soon have to ask it in most fearful terror! We know not when the time shall be, for times and seasons are not committed to us. But it is certain that within a short time, Christ will come upon the clouds of Heaven. When the time appointed by the Father shall arrive, that very Man who was crucified on Calvary, and, who was taken up from among His disciples upon the Mount of Olives, shall so come in like manner as He went up to Heaven. Now, He went up in Person, and He will come in Person, too, and when He comes, it will not be alone, as first He came, but in the Glory of His Father and all His holy angels with Him! What astonishment and confusion will seize the minds of those who doubted His very existence, who denied His Godhead, who stood out against His power! What will the Jew say when he looks on Him whom he pierced? What will the Gentile say when he looks on Him whom he despised? What will the great men of the earth say as they rise from their graves and find themselves so little and Him, whom they thought so little, to be so great? What will the rich men of the earth say as they find themselves naked and poor as beggars and the King, whom they thought nothing of, clothed with the Glory of God? Oh, what then will the pleasure-seeker say, who said, "As for Christianity, I care not the snap of my finger for it"? What will the blasphemer say who even poured contempt and curses upon Christ's name? There He sits in majesty that out blazes the sun! There He is surrounded by immortals, each one of them shining forth like the sun, for so the promise is to all the righteous! There rings the trumpet that every ear must hear, and all the dead start up from sea and land--a countless multitude! There are the books, they are opened amidst a blaze of light and there is the voice that reads out the doom of the sons of men! Jesus! Jesus it is, who says, "Depart, you cursed," as well as, "Come, you blessed." Oh, how the multitude will wring their hands in amazement when they discover that the Man of Nazareth and the Son of Mary is the Everlasting Son of the Father--and those, His enemies who would not that He should reign over them, shall be utterly destroyed by the Glory of His Presence when He comes in His power! Oh, how will the question be asked and how terrible will be the answer, "Who is this?" I would rather that you should ask tonight, humbly and enquiringly, "Who is this?" And if you do so ask, these few words shall tell you and may God tell you to your heart what I can only tell to your ears. Who is this? It is Jesus Christ, God over all, blessed forever! He so loved the sons of men that He would rather die than they should die! He came into the world, took our flesh and became Emmanuel, God With Us and, being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross-- "He bore that we might never bear, The Father's righteous ire." And whoever trusts in this Man--this God, the appointed Substitute for man--shall be saved! But if you trust Him, you must take Him to be your Monarch. You must henceforth, by His Grace, yield Him service! And His service is pleasure. His service is holiness and holiness shall to you be a delight! Oh, that you would, finding that He is such a Savior, Divine and Human blended in one--a dying Savior risen from the dead and living at the right hand of God--oh, that you would say, "I know who He is," and then, "I will accept Him! He shall be mine forever." God grant to you the willing mind to do this, and yours shall be the blessing--and His shall be the Glory, forever and ever. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 TIMOTHY 2:15-26. 15. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word off truth. This is a metaphor taken from the action of the priest at the sacrifice. The priest cut up the bullock and then laid it in its different pieces according to order. Or, as some think, it is taken from the part of the father at the table, when he carves the meat and gives to every child its portion. Old Master Trapp said that "there are some ministers who are only fit to be Gibeonites--and certainly not to be Levites, for they hardly understand the cutting of wood, much less the art of cutting up the sacrifice of God." Brothers, it is well so to handle the Word of God as to be able to give rebuke when rebuke is needed, exhortation when it is needed, and comfort when consolation is required, for otherwise we do mischief. As it is said in the old fable of the simpleton, that he gave to the ass a bone and to the dog hay, so there are some who give wrong exhortations, not because they are wrong in themselves, but because they are wrong in their application. 16, 17. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word wiil eat as does a camkei. Now, there are some people who can never be content except they make their religion a sort of wrangling match. They get hold of a Word in Scripture, and away they go with it! Here shall be another opportunity for finding fault with all the Church of God. Here shall be another occasion for railing against all the preachers of the Truth of God. How delighted they are when they can do this! Shun profane and vain babblings! Martin Luther said that there were some in his day so nice and precise about the letter of Scripture, that when one of them had delivered an exposition upon the Book of Job, Luther said that by the time the man had got to the 10th Chapter, Job had been a thousand times more plagued by the expositors than he had ever been by the losses which he suffered upon the dunghill! And doubtless there are many Truths of Scripture which are turned to mischief because men will be forever making them opportunities for strife--not bonds of love! Brothers, hold the five points of the Calvinistic Doctrine, but mind you do not hold them as babbling questions! What you have received of God, do not learn in order to fight with it, and to make contention and strife and to divide the Church of God, and rail against the people of the Most High as some do! But on the contrary, love one another as Brothers and Sisters, and hold the Truth of God in love, and seek after the unity of the Spirit and the perfect bond of charity. The word of those who raise these questions will eat as does a cancer, which eats till it gets to the bones, and turns the sound flesh into rottenness. Oh, there are many contentions which have done this mischief in the Church of Christ! 17-19. Hymenaeus andPhiletus are of this sort. Who concerning the truth, have erred, saying that the resurrection is already past; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His. How careful the Apostle is lest we should think that any have turned aside, who were the Lord's people. He says the faith of some was overthrown, but nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Oh Brothers and Sisters, whenever we see apparent apostasy, let us not therefore think that any of God's people have perished! Oh, no, for the Lord knows them who are His! 19-21. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 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 When Mr. Philpot, the martyr, was addressing a young man about to die for Christ, he said to him, "Brother, you are a vessel in the great house of your Master, and this day He will scour you, scour you hard, but remember, you shall soon stand upon the shelf, shining bright and glorious." Well, sometimes pains and troubles, and tribulations do have this effect of scouring the vessels of God to make them bright for Heaven. We must all be purged and scoured from sinful lusts, from all the contamination of the flesh and of the creature--and then we shall be fit for the Master's use! 22. Flee also youthful lusts. Run away from them! It is no use contending with them. Fight with the devil. Resist the devil and make him flee, but never fight with the flesh. Run away from that. The only way to avoid the lust of the flesh is to stay out of its way. If you subject yourself to carnal temptations and fleshly lusts, remember it is almost certain that you will be overcome by them!"Flee youthful lusts," and as you must keep going and have something after which to follow-- 22, 23. But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart But foolish and unlearned questions, avoid, knowing that they do cause strifes. It is generally a good thing to avoid all questions that breed strife, unless they are upon vital and important matters. For, oh, Brothers and Sisters, it is so important tokeep the unity of the Spirit! It is such a blessed thing to preserve love among Christians and there are some who in order to create disunion, go about the land and tear and rend the body of Christ as much as they can! Beware of such! Seek not their company! Come not near them, lest their cancer pollute you also! 24-26. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient In meekness instructing those who are in opposition, if God, perhaps, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him to do his will We have here laid down, then, the duty of the Christian minister and the duty of each Christian, too! And let us seek, in the Holy Spirit' s Grace, to carry it out, being at once firm, and gentle, and loving of heart, and yet honest for the Truth of God as it is in Jesus. __________________________________________________________________ The Savior's Precious Blood (No. 3395) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Theprecious blood of Christ." 1 Peter 1:19. We have come in our theological conversation to use that word, "blood," somewhat lightly. I think it should scarcely ever be pronounced without a shudder. "The blood is the life thereof." When shed, it indicates suffering--suffering more intense than that of chastisement or bruising. Wounds are inflicted which make the lifeblood to flow out. In the case of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the term, "blood," brings before us all His griefs and anguish and where the crown of thorns pierced Him. Behold the Man! Think of Gethsemane, where He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground! Think of Gabbatha, the pavement, where they scourged Him with rods, and with the scourge of the Roman lictors where the crown of thorns pierced Him. Behold the Man! Think, lastly, of Golgotha! There they pierced His hands and His feet and, at last, pierced by the spear, out of His side there came blood and water. Pass not lightly, therefore, over such a word as this--blood--the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son! And when you read of its being "precious," remember that the word never had such a wealth of meaning in it, before, in any of its applications. Precious metals--gold and silver. Precious stones--sardonyx, agate and diamond--these are but gaudy toys compared with Christ's precious blood! Precious, for He is God as well as Man. Precious, for He is Jehovah's Darling, the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish! Precious, when you think of God's design. Precious, when you see the effects which it produces. Precious, certainly, to the heart of every pardoned sinner and precious in the song of every glorified spirit before the Throne of God! It is not, however, my objective, this evening, to pursue the sacred history, so much as to set forth the saving Doctrine, while I remind you of some of the uses of this precious blood. For, after all, the standard of preciousness, when we come to the very essence of it, is not scarcity, but usefulness, for there are things in this world exceedingly scarce and, therefore, precious among the sons of men, which will be left out and treated with contempt when we get into the land where the true standards of value are in use. That is the most precious which is the most serviceable. So in truth, the precious blood of Christ is beyond all estimation! I want to conduct you, step by step, through the application of this blood and its effects upon the heart and conscience. And I shall pause at each step to ask you, dear Hearer, and to ask myself this question--Do you know the blood, the precious blood, in this respect? Have you felt it in this peculiar form of its efficacy? Beginning thus at the first-- I. THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE BLOOD OF THE ATONEMENT. We read of the blood of the Atonement under the old Law. Christ, now under the Gospel, is the Propitiation for our sins. It is through the blood that God, infinitely just, without the violation of His Character, can pass by the transgression of the guilty. It is not possible that any one attribute of God should ever shadow another. He is perfect. He is infinitely merciful, but He will not be merciful at the expense of justice! Justice shall never triumph against mercy! Mercy, on the other hand, shall never cut off the skirts of the flowing robe of justice. It is in the Person of Jesus and especially in the blood of Jesus, that the great riddle of the ages is solved! God can be just and yet the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus. We have sinned. God must punish sin. According to the inexorable laws which God has stamped upon the universe, the sinner cannot go unpunished. His sin is, in fact, its own punishment and becomes the mother of unnumbered griefs. The Mediator steps in--the Son of God and the Son of Man, eternal, and yet as Man, born of Mary and slumbering in Bethlehem' s manger--He comes as the Substitute for the guilty. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." And "now in Christ Jesus, we who some time were afar off, are made near by the blood of Christ." God can be gracious without the violation of the severity of His judgment. His moral government remains untarnished in all the majesty of its purity, and yet He puts out the right hand of reconciliation and love to all who approach Him making mention of the blood of the Atonement of His dear Son! Are you, then, thus reconciled to God by the death of His Son, or are you still an enemy? Have you ever seen the distance between you and God bridged by the Cross? Have you seen at once how God, the infinitely Just, can commune with you without consuming you, because He poured His wrath upon Christ, instead of you? And then, accepted in Him and for His merits, you live because Jesus lives! Ah, dear Hearer, if you have not seen this, may the Lord open those blind eyes of yours and by His eternal Spirit bring you, with your burden of sin upon your back, to the foot of the Master's Cross, where you may look up and sing-- "Oh, how sweet to view the flowing, Of His sin-atoning blood! With Divine assurance knowing, That it made my peace with God." The blood of Jesus Christ has another effect upon us, namely-- II. IT CLEANSES FROM SIN. Surely we can never fail to remember that choicest of all Scriptural texts, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." There is such music in it that when the spirits before the Throne of God desire to have a song of which they might never grow weary, they select that sentiment, and they sing before the Throne that they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Their purity before God is due to the fountain filled with blood wherein their stained garments, all soiled with sin, have been made clean! When the soul comes to Jesus Christ by faith and relies upon Him, then the sentence of the perfect pardon goes forth from God and the soul is purged from all the stains of accumulated years! In a single moment those who were black as Hell become white as Heaven through the application of the blood of sprinkling--for all sin disappears as soon as the blood falls on the conscience! That which the blood of bulls and of goats could not do, the blood of Jesus effectually accomplishes--cleansing from all sin! Now, dear Hearer, have you ever been thus cleansed? Say not you had never need of cleansing, else you know not your natural condition and your actual transgressions. Man, you can never have seen yourself in the mirror of the Word of God, or you would perceive yourself to be totally defiled and altogether as an unclean thing! You would have bowed yourself before the Lord and joined in the confession, "We have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done. And there is no health in us." Well, if you have ever thus felt your guilt, have you ever realized your pardon? If not, give yourself no sleep till you have! Can you bear to live unpardoned, or in doubt whether or not God has absolved you? Can you ever take any kind of rest, much less indulge your soul with mirth, until the word, "Absolvo," has come from God, Himself, the eternal Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are born of God? Happy are they who have been washed! They have need to come each night (even as Peter the Apostle had need) to wash their feet, but they need not except to wash their feet, for they are clean every whit. Jesus has made them clean through His blood! The third step is that-- III. THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE GREAT PRICE OF OUR REDEMPTION. Redemption sometimes in Scripture is spoken of as being the same thing as pardon, and I shall not at all dogmatically attempt tonight to draw any nice distinction between the two. "We have redemption through His blood--to wit, the forgiveness of sin--according to the riches of His Grace." But redemption seems rather to be in some sense the effect produced by a pardon than the actual pardon, itself. Man is a slave. As long as guilt is written in God's book against us, we are in bondage. We feel for the present that we are slaves to sin and that for the future, the punishment of sin will inevitably come upon us to our eternal destruction. But the moment we are purged from the guilt of sin, we are set free from the slavery of it! Jesus Christ takes us from being slaves and makes us to be children! He gives us no longer "the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father!" He was slain and He has redeemed us unto God by His blood! And in the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, we rejoice to see that it was the blood which was the price, thereof, and because He suffered, therefore our chains have dropped off from us. We arefree--the Lord' s freemen--free henceforth to serve Him with renewed love and renewed hearts because of the abundance of the Grace which He has manifested towards us! Now, Beloved, have you ever been redeemed by the blood of Jesus? I am not talking to you now about a redemption effected upon the Cross, but have you ever felt redemption in your own spirit from the curse of the Law, from the thrall-dom of a guilty conscience and from the power of sin? Let me ask you, are you the Lord's freeman tonight? Oh, happy are you, then, for you can say, "Lord, You have loosed my bonds and, therefore, I am Your servant." "We are not our own because we are bought with a price." And inasmuch as we are no more slaves to the Law from henceforth, for the love we bear His name who has redeemed us with such a price, we reckon ourselves to be His servants and we bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus! Ah, Friends, if you were never redeemed by the precious blood, then you are still slaves--slaves to sin and Satan--slaves under the vengeance of God and slaves to the Law of God. But may you never be content in slavery! May you pine after freedom, and may Jesus give it to you--give it to you tonight if it is His blessed will! In the fourth place, the blood of Jesus is spoken of in Scripture as-- IV. INTERCEDING. "The blood of sprinkling speaks better things than that of Abel." It is said to be sprinkled within the veil, so that where the high priest could only go once a year, we may now go at all times, for the blood is there, interceding for us perpetually! Well, in fact, says one of our poets-- "The wounds of Christ for us, Incessantly do plead." Even after His death, remember, His heart for us poured out its flood. After death that heart was pierced and blood and water came. So, after His voice was silent and He could no longer say, "Father, forgive them," the wounds were still elo-quent--and even when the suffering passed, they still continued to plead with God. Now, Soul, have you ever come to God through the intercession of the blood? You have said prayers, you have repeated forms of devotion, you have gone to Church or to Meeting Houses. This is all well enough, but have you gone farther? For if not, all outward forms of devotion are but frivolous endeavors that may allure, but will deceive you! Did you ever come to God by the blood and did you ever, by faith, fix your eye upon "the High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us," who with our names upon His bosom, still offering the blood, stands at this moment before the Father, God, pleading for us who love Him and trust Him? Happy they who look to the interceding Savior and who feel that His blood speaks not revenge, but cries at every vein, "Mercy, mercy for the chief of sinners!" This leads me to remark that the blood of Jesus-- V. BECOMES THE MODE AND WAY OF ACCESS TO GOD. We have boldness to enter into the holiest through the blood of Christ. After first cleansing the man and making him fit to come as a priest and a king unto God, then the blood, as it were, takes away the veil and opens up the pathway to God, Himself, for the forgiven and redeemed soul! Never let us attempt to come to God by anything but the blood! All other ways to God, except through the blood of Jesus, are presumptuous. All other fire that we may put upon the altar, except this, is strange fire, and the Lord's anger will go forth against us. May I never plead when on my knees before God anything but the precious merits and the dear wounds of the Man of Sorrows who is now exalted at the right hand of God. How close to God we should come if we did but always bring Christ with us! But what are our prayers when we leave Him behind? What are our devotions when we are met together, or when we are in secret, and we go to the Mercy Seat, but forget the blood that was sprinkled on it, oblivious of the new and living way through the rent body of Imma-nuel? Come, Brothers and Sisters, let us chide ourselves for sometimes having forgotten our Lord! And henceforth, be it ours never to think of drawing near to God except by this way of access--the crimson road which the blood has paved for us! To advance farther, the blood of Jesus Christ, according to the Word, is-- VI. SANCTIFYING. Jesus sanctified His people by His own blood and, therefore, suffered outside the gate. By sanctification is usually meant in Scripture the setting apart of anything for the service of God and so making it holy. Now, the blood separates the saints from all others. It was the blood that was the distinguishing mark of Israel in Egypt. Every Egyptian house was without the blood, but every house of the seed of Abraham had the blood mark upon the lintel and the two side posts, and when God saw the blood He passed over them and spared them in the night of His furious anger. The blood, then, Beloved, if you have ever had it on your soul, is to be the distinguishing mark between you and the ungodly in the Day of Wrath and it should distinguish you now. You should, by your life and your conversation, make yourself to appear to be as the blood has made you--to really be a separated one! We are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. We have heard the mandate--"Come you out from among them; be you separate; touch not the unclean thing." We have left the world's sin and we have left the world's religion, too! We have separated ourselves at once from the world's goodness, as well as from the world's vileness, to walk in the path of nonconformity to the world, that we may tread in the footsteps of our crucified Redeemer! And the more the blood is applied, the more the obedience of Jesus is trusted in-- and the sprinkling of the blood is relied upon--the more shall we become sanctified in spirit, soul and body by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us never forget the purifying power of Jesus in the heart. Wherever He is trusted to take away the guiltof sin, we must next seek the water which flowed with the blood to take away the powerof sin! And we must ask to see Him sit as a refiner to purify, yes, it must be our prayer that He would take His fan in His hand and purge our hearts as He does His floor! Refining Fire, go through my soul! Oh, sweet love of Jesus, burn up the love of the world! Oh, death of Jesus, be the death of sin! Oh, life of Christ, be the life of everything that is gracious, God-like, heavenly, eternal! So shall it be in proportion as we partake of the power and the efficacy of that blood! The blood, furthermore, is-- VII. CONFIRMATORY. We must not forget this one effect of it. It is called the Blood of the Covenant--the Blood of the Testament--the Blood of the New Testament. The Covenant was not in force in the olden times until there had been a sacrifice to confirm it. And a will stands not until the death of the testator has been proved to make it valid. The heart's blood of Jesus is, as it were, the establishment of His last will and testament. Jesus, the great Testator, has died, has made an end of sin and His blood is the great seal of His testament and makes it valid to us. If He had never died! Oh, dreadful, "if," only equaled in horror by that other, "if"--if He had never risen again from the dead! But now is Christ risen from the dead! Now has Christ slept and awoke as the first fruits of them that slept! Never doubt the promise of God, for the blood confirms it! Never doubt the love of God, for He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all! How shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things? If you need evidence as to the eternal goodness of God, His willingness to pardon, His power to save and to bless--look to the Cross of Calvary and see the bleeding Savior--and never doubt again! Dear Hearer, did the blood so come to you as to confirm your hope, or is your hope a fancy, a delusion? Do you think it needs no confirmation? Have you ever in your moments of questioning and anxiety gone over, again, to the altar where is the Great Victim? Have you said once more-- "Just as I am, without one plea, But that Your blood was shed for me! And that You bid me come to Thee, Oh, Lamb of God, I come!" Have you, then, got your consolation back? Have you received the witness of God? Have you heard the voice which bears witness both in Heaven and earth, the voice of the Spirit, and the water and the blood? And have you been satisfied because you needed no better confirmation than the witness of the blood of Jesus applied with power to your soul? The blood of Jesus has another effect of which we ought to think more than we do--that of-- VIII. NOURISHING, CHEERING AND SUSTAINING THE BELIEVER. To this end the ordinance of communion with Christ in the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup of blessing has been instituted. When we come to the Lord's Table, we have set before us in the broken bread, of which we eat, and in the wine of which we drink, this present fact--that the sufferings of our Master are now at this moment for our nourishment, sustenance, consolation and exhilaration. We have been washed in the blood--we are now to receive, after a spiritual sort, the precious blood of Jesus to nourish our faith, to comfort our hope, to excite in us the liveliest joy and to make us sing and be merry with holy confidence in Him who has redeemed us from all iniquity and made us unto God priests and kings, to reign with Christ forever and ever! There is no cordial for the heart like the blood of Jesus. To think of the atoning Sacrifice is the readiest way to consolation. Our sorrows are not worth a thought when once compared with His! Sit down under the shadow of the Cross and you will find a cooler shade than that of a great rock in a weary land. There is no pasturage for the sheep of Christ like that which grows on Calvary! There is nowhere to be found suchwine that makes glad the heart of God and man, as that which comes from the sacred cup of His heart, of which Believers drink by faith when they have fellowship with Him and come into near and dear communion with Him! Although we do sometimes enjoy this without any emblems--without the bread and without the wine--these are still great assistants, blessed exponents, and they graciously help our forgetfulness! We are yet in the body and we need something that shall aid this lagging flesh to see something of the Lord. Oh, feed then on Christ and do not be content unless day by day He is your daily bread! He who has given you life must sustain that life. He who has taught you how to rejoice must still supply you with power to continue in your daily rejoicing! The blood without cleanses. The blood within cheers, yes, sacredly inebriates the soul till the sinner drinks and forgets his sorrow and remembers his misery no more! And in the fullness of his delight he becomes sweetly oblivious, whether in the body or out of the body, as he rises into almost celestial communion with his unseen, but ever-present Lord! Once again, the blood of Jesus Christ has the effect of-- IX. UNITING CHRISTIANS TOGETHER. Paul, speaking of Jew and Gentile, says that He "has made both one, through the blood of Christ," and surely there is nothing that unites different denominations of Christians together like the precious blood of Jesus! Brothers and Sisters, we may dispute--I think we do well to dispute over important ordinances and doctrines, for wherein men err we are not to wink at their errors--and neither ask them to wink at ours. I have sometimes heard it said, "Spare such a Brother." Yes, as a Brother--but who am I that I should be spared if I err, or who is he that he should be spared? What are we, or what are our feelings compared with the Truth of God? No, let questions be fought out as kindly, as lovingly, as valo-rously, as honorably as they possibly can! Truth fears not the shock of arms. Let the controversies go on. I believe that, after all, there is ten times more Truth in this world, now, with all the apparent divisions of Christians, than there would have been if we had been united in a nominal union into some one great church which might, perhaps, have rotted as thoroughly as the old Church of Rome did before the days of Luther! But when we come to the foot of the Cross, what union there is! If the saints in prayer appear as one. If in the praise of the Infinite Jehovah they are one--much more and much more tenderly are they one when they behold Jesus bleeding and dying for them! My heart melts and breaks when I hear Christ preached. He who lifted up Christ would have offended me had he preached some other part of his creed. Had he talked over some Doctrine which I hold to be erroneous, he and I had differed, but when it comes to this, "HE loved me and gave Himself for me--He is the chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely--His blood is precious"--I feel inclined to cry, "Brother, keep to that! Praise Him louder! Give Him all the honor!-- "Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all!" While we keep to that, we are none of us heretics over that! There shall be no schisms and divisions over the matter. Son of God and Son of Man, Redeemer of our souls from death and misery, all Your mother's children praise You! Every sheaf bows before Your sheaf! Sun and moon, and every star do obeisance unto You, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Head over all things unto your Church, which is Your dwelling place, the fullness of Him that fills all in all! Since here we are one, when we get together as Believers, I wish we more often struck that key--the precious blood of Christ--and in our walks and talks with those Christians who differ from us in many points, let us sometimes try to turn those points aside and say, "We do agree to speak well of that dear name which is above every name, that name which charms all our fears and bids all our sorrows cease! That name which is the joy of the Believer on earth and the bliss of the saints in Heaven! I close now when I have noticed that the blood of Jesus Christ may be looked upon by us every day as-- X. THE GREAT INSTRUCTOR AND THE CARDINAL WITNESS OF DIVINE TRUTH. God is to be seen in Nature and seen vividly there, but not as He is to be seen in Christ Jesus. Instruction as to the eternal power of the Godhead, some find in the skies above, in the fields around and in the sea beneath. But in the Cross there is more of God than in all the world besides! I have often felt, when I have been rambling in the Alps, that Nature was too small to set forth God. The mirror is not large enough to reflect the face of the Eternal. You stand in the Alps and hear the avalanche, like claps and peals of thunder resounding in the air. You gaze afar off and there it is, and it looks to you like the falling of a few flakes of snow. It is so inconsiderable that the grandeur seems to be destroyed. Though every one of those flakes may be a block of ice weighing a hundred tons, at such a distance the thing grows small. The water leaps down hundreds of feet from the crags, but up in the mountains it appears to be a little trickling creek scarcely worth notice. The very Alpine summits seem to dwindle down to small heaps of stones when one grows used to the scenery. God is too great for this earth to bear Him. The axles of this world's chariot would snap beneath the weight of Deity. We talk of going from Nature up to Nature's God, but the top of the highest Alps is far below His footstool! We do not get any conceptions of God out of Nature worthy of His august Majesty. But in contemplating the Cross, in discerning, there, how God can forgive, how willing He is to save the guilty, how His justice is magnified at the same time as His Grace, I am persuaded that those who have tried both forms of contemplation will tell you that this last is the better by far! You see God through the wounds of Christ as through windows of agate and gates of carbuncle--and you cry, "My Lord, and my God!" In winding up this poor discourse of mine, let me say to you, Beloved, be more in meditation upon Jesus. I say to myself--Preacher, preach your Master more! Preach Him more after His own sort and endeavor to be yourself more like He! Dear Hearer, live nearer to the Cross. With all your study of Doctrine--and you do well to study it thoroughly-- make Jesus Christ the first. Believe in Him. Let Him be your creed. Speak of a body of divinity--there never was in this world but one body of divinity and that is Jesus Christ! And he that understands Jesus Christ has got the only system of theology that is worth knowing! Get right into Him. Some of the early Fathers used to study every wound. They would write a treatise on almost every different spot where He was scourged! They had some tears to let fall and some sweet songs to sing for every step along the Via Dolorosa. Let us not treat lightly what those nearer to the Light of God treated so solemnly, but regarding the Master and thinking much of even the littles that concern Him (for the leaves of this Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations), let us study to understand Him and ask to be conformed to Him-- even in His sufferings to be like He--and when we suffer, to see Him in our pangs! Let every grief be a glass through which to look into His life and love, and understand His Grace. I wish you all knew this, and more than this. Oh, that I could hope that all this assembled company did trust in my Master! Poor Sinner, why not trust Him? You will never be saved unless you do! There is no other door of mercy for you than Jesus! Come, come, come, even though you think He will cast you away. If Christ had a drawn sword in His hand, yet I would bid you come! It were better to fall on the point of His sword than to live without Him! Come and rest upon Him. He never rejected a sinner yet, and He never can! The vilest of the vile can find mercy in Him! And all He asks--and that He gives--is that you rely on Him with all your heart and you shall be saved! God grant that you may! "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Obey the second precept as you have attained to the first. When you have believed in Christ crucified, dead and buried for you, then be dead and buried with Him in Baptism! Take the outward symbol of His death, burial and resurrection, and ask to have the inward spiritual Grace that you, being dead to the world, and dead with Christ, and buried with Him, may rise again to newness of life through His quickening Spirit. The Lord thus bless you, for Jesus' sake! EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 1:1-16; MATTHEW10:37-40. Verses 1, 2. Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctifcation of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. The first Christians were not so afraid of the Doctrine of Election as some are now-a-days. Peter was not ashamed to address the saints as the elect of God, for so, indeed, they are, if they are saints at all. It is He that chose them, not because they were sanctified, but that they might besanctified--chose them to eternal life through sanctification. Oh, happy are they who, by Divine Grace have made their calling and election sure, and now ascribe all the glory of their salvation to the Sovereign choice of God! "Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied." 3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance, incorruptible and unde-filed, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. How full of Grace every sentence is! He blesses God because God has so freely blessed us! And he abounds in thanksgiving because he sees that abundant mercy by which Believers have been begottenagain--born-again--made, therefore, children after a new sort and so made heirs of an inheritance very different from that upon which we enter by nature--"an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away." Brothers and Sisters, if you have, indeed, been born by Divine Grace, to what estates are you born--to what high dignities and sacred privileges! Rejoice and bless the Lord! But, perhaps the dark fear crossed your mind that, perhaps, after all, you may perish and miss the inheritance. Now notice the double consolation of a double keeping. The inheritance is kept. It is reserved in Heaven for you and you are kept, too. It is kept for you and you are kept for it, "For you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." 6. Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. This is your life. This is like a rainbow made up of the drops of earth's sorrow in the beams of Heaven's love--a happy combination, after all. 7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ Gilt looks very much like gold but it will not stand the fire. It curls and disappears. Oh, to be solid gold through and through! If so, you need not mind the trials of today, since they will only prepare you for the eternal glories at the appearing of Jesus Christ! 8-10 Whom having not seen, you love in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory--receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you. Prophets knew about you. They did not taste of the Grace you know, but through the vista of the future they foresaw it and they almost envied you in this Gospel dispensation that you should live in so clear a light and should be fed upon such rare mercies. Oh, what Prophets and kings longed for, do not let us despise! And we shall despise these mercies if we do not make the most of them by entering into the fullness of the joy which they are meant to bring to us. These Prophets searched diligently. 11-12. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you, with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. See you not your privilege, then? You have what Prophets had not! You enjoy what angels desire to see! They cannot enjoy what you do. Rightly does our hymn put it-- "Never did angels taste above, Redeeming Grace and dying love." And you have, this very day! 13. Therefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be ready to depart to your inheritance. Do not let your garments flow carelessly and loosely, as though you had no journey before you, but, "gird up the loins of your mind." 13. Be sober, and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is a very blessed subject. There is a Grace that was brought to you when Christ first came. There is another Grace and a higher Grace that is to be brought to you when Christ shall come the second time! Until that Second Coming of Christ, the Church on earth and in Heaven cannot be perfected. The bodies of the saints wait in the grave till He comes to give them resurrection-- "O long expected day, begin! Dawn on these realms of woe and sin." For we wait for Your appearing, O Christ! 14-16. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as He which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation: Because it its written. Be you holy, for I am hol. See your Model. See the Copy to which you are to write. You are far short of it. Try again. May the power of Jesus rest upon you and may He who has worked us to the same thing to which we have attained continue to work in us till we are like our Lord Himself! MATTHEW10:37-40. Verse 37. He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. What a wonderful sight, then, the Church is, as it passes through this world. The Head of it is Christ, the Cross bearer, and following in the train are all His faithful disciples, all carrying crosses still--the very picture of a Church. You know how Simon carried the Cross after Christ--he is the type of all His disciples-- "Did Simon bear the Cross alone, And all the rest go free? No, there's a cross for everyone, And there's a cross for me." 38, 39. And he that takes not his cross and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that finds his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it You gain life by dying for Christ, but if you saved life by denying the faith you would in the worst sense lose all that makes existence to be life! There is an existence which is nothing but eternal death--and this is the doom of those who depart from Christ. But blessed are they who can give up this temporary mortal life for the sake of an eternal one! I have heard of one who used to often boast of what he would do if it came to his being burnt--but just before the day on which he was to be burnt alive for the faith, he recanted. He was allowed to go home. In a few months it happened that he was burnt alive in his house. Unhappy man that could not burn for Christ, but had to burn after all! "He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it." 40. He that receives you receives Me, and he that receives Me receives Him who sent MM. Think of that, you that have received Christ! You have received God, Himself, and He has come to dwell and reign with your soul! __________________________________________________________________ Experiencing Confirming Testimony (No. 3396) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 27, 1869. "As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our God." Psalm 48:8. "As we have heard, so have we seen." This is not always the case, but frequently it is the very reverse. Things are exaggerated. The imagination is largely drawn upon and we hear great things, but when we come to look at them, or try to practically enjoy them, the great things have become very small! It is so in the world generally. We have heard and were told in our youthful days by those who have been before us, that the paths of sin are pleasant, that there are great enjoyments to be found in the indulgences of evil passions, and that if we will give ourselves up to the general run and current, we shall find ourselves very smoothly floating along on a stream of happiness! Ah, how many who have sown their wild oats and looked for a happy harvest, have discovered that nothing but mischief comes of this! Jaded by the satiety of their lusts, and at last utterly destroyed by their own wickedness, they have sat down and wrung their hands in despair at finding out that things are not what they heard they were. As they have heard, so do they not see, but the very opposite--for pleasure, pain, for happiness, misery--even here, remorse--and afterwards an anguish that shall know no end! Nor is it any better with the teachers of false doctrine. As we have heard, so have we not seen. We have sometimes been told that philosophy will civilize a nation--that the spread of education will most certainly cure the human heart and that the bias and propensity to sin will be put down by an increase of mental light. But as we have heard, so have we not seen, for philosophy has thrown many burdens upon men--but it has not touched those burdens to remove them with so much as its little finger! We hear a great deal of what is to be done for society by this scheme and by that, but nothing is done! Theories are propounded--windbags are blown out and brought forth--bubbles are blown, but we do not see much that is solid and valuable, produced! One after another of these eminent theorizers have arisen who were about to revolutionize and reconstruct society! Instead of making the causes of evil in the world to increase, they were to uproot them and turn the desert into the Garden of the Lord! But so it has not been--our eyes have never seen it. Rather has the bad been made worse and the good has been impeded by those who were so pretentious and loud in their professed benevolence! Take any of the false doctrines which are often affiliated to our holy faith and you will find that when you come to examine them and put them to the test, they do not hold water! How often have we heard about "the dignity of human nature." How congenial the heart of man is to that which is noble, and to that which is Christ-like! We are told that we have only to hold up Christ and there is such a beauty in Him that all the world will be sure to love Him! But as we have heard, so have we not seen, but we have seen men to be as God saw them--corrupt! There is none that does good, no, not one, and in the perfect light of Calvary, we have seen that even the perfections of Jesus will not be seen by a blind world, nor will they attract a corrupt world. "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" will be the verdict of humanity even upon the perfections of the Incarnate God. We have heard a great deal about the power of free will. We have heard sometimes that men come to Christ by themselves. That there is no power of Irresistible Grace which turns them from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan unto God. Ah, we have heard this, but we have never seen it! To this moment, though we have mingled with all classes of Christians, we did never yet meet with a single Believer who declared that his conversion was the result of his own efforts and that his coming to Christ was entirely through the power of his own free will! We have been told, too, that God forsakes His people, that real saints, after all, turn back and perish! But we bless God that, though we have often heard this, we have never, never seen it-- "If ever it should come to pass, One of His sheep should fall away! My fickle, feeble soul, alas, Would fall a thousand times a day!" But being kept in safety by another and greater power than our own, and preserved in the midst of appalling temptations, we still hold to it that He does keep His people! We have heard it, and we have seen it, but the other doctrine we have heard, but, thank God, we have never seen! And so there are many other things that pass current in certain sections of Christendom as being true, which, if they were brought to a practical test, might be seen not to be so. We have heard them--heard them delivered with a glowing eloquence that might have convinced us, if we were to be convinced, but we have referred to the Old Book--and the Old Book has been more to us than all the siren-songs that sweetest oratory could raise! We have nailed our colors to the mast and could not take them down! We have found all here in this blessed Bible to be true, but man's word, when it has come into conflict or even competition with God's Word, we have found to be light as chaff and as easily consumed as the fat of rams upon the altar's fire! Now, just for a little time I thought we would illustrate this general Truth of God that in the things of God, and in the Church of God," as we have heard, so have we seen. "Now, mark-- I. IT HAS BEEN SO ALL DOWN THE LINE OF REVELATION. Could a man have lived a sevenfold Methuselah life and have stood at the gates of Paradise, and listened to the first promise that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. If he could have beheld Noah shut in in the ark and marked the Covenant rainbow when for the first time it spanned the clouds. If he could have lived in Abraham's day and have seen the father of that seed in which all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Could he have marked all the types and ceremonies which Israel saw in the wilderness, all pointing onwards to a coming Savior. If he could have listened to the prophetic utterances of David in some of those matchless Psalms which are full of the Messiah. Could he have heard the notes of Isaiah when he spoke of Him who was despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yes, could he have heard every prophecy and beheld every symbol, and listened to every sacred portent-- when he came to behold the Person of Christ, to see Him living, dying, rising, ascending and to mark the Pentecost, and to see the history of the Church right down until now--such a grave and revered man--revered and venerable above all other men through the long lapse of years that had passed over his snowy head, would say, "As I heard during the first portion of my life, so have I seen in the latter days thereof--God has always kept His promise--as was the shadow, so was the substance! As the type, so was the antitype! As the word that flowed from prophetic lips, so was the Christ who, in the fullness of time, came into this world to bless and redeem mankind!" This is not merely a great general Truth of God, but, mark you, it is true in every jot and tittle! We do not expect men, when they speak frequently, so to speak that every particle of what they say may be correct. We admit them to be fallible--we always make some allowance for some slips of the tongue. But all through these thousands of years in which God spoke of Christ and of the Gospel Kingdom, there never was a single trifling word that was not fulfilled! There have been no slips of the tongue, no drops that blot the page. Everything has been accurately, minutely, precisely--what if I say, microscopically--fulfilled in Christ! As the casket key exactly fits the wards of the lock, so the life of Christ and the history of the Church exactly fits all the types and all the prophecies! Sometimes it has been said that if anybody doubts the Inspiration of the four Gospels, it would be a very pretty puzzle for him to try to write a fifth gospel which should have in it some new details that would be congruous to the rest and that would fit in with the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. That is a task we give to those wits who seem to need something to do in these days, since they are impugning everything that is held sacred by us! Let them attempt that. If this problem could have been put to the wise in all ages--here is the Old Testament and, whether it is true or not, construct the life of a Man who shall fit all that. Use your poetic powers, or whatever other abilities you choose to employ. Imagine a Man that shall fit the lamb, the scapegoat, the Passover, Noah's ark, the Psalms of David, the prophecies of Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel--why the puzzle would have been given up in despair! It would not have been possible for the united abilities of men and angels to have discovered an ideal Messiah that would have exactly met all this! But our Lord did in every jot and in every tittle, so that as we read some parts of the Old Testament, we often say to ourselves, "This looks as if it were written after the event." We read the 22nd Psalm and if we did not know that it had been composed many, many years before our Lord came, we would look at it as history, rather than as prophecy! One can only comprehend this by admitting Inspiration, and by rejoicing in the wondrous truthfulness of God! Even such little points as the casting of lots for the vesture of Christ--things which seem insignificant--God took care should be fulfilled. And though our Lord died, and as yet He had not been pierced as to His heart, at any rate, yet after death there must be a piercing of Him that they "may look on Him whom they have pierced," and weep and wail because of Him. "As we have heard, so have we seen." The life of our Lordand Savior, Jesus Christ, certainly carry out the prophecies which God had uttered before concerning Him! But now, we shall go on to speak of-- II. THE CHURCH OF GOD--CHRISTWARD AND GODWARD--AS TO OUR OWN EXPERIENCE. Some of you have thoughts of Christ--but as dead or as far away. We have come to deal with Him as a living Savior. Now the question is, whether in so dealing with Him, we have found all true that we were told concerning Him? Now, when we first enlisted in the Christian army, we were told from Christ's own Word that we must count the cost and we would have to suffer a degree of persecution. We were warned not to take upon ourselves, hastily, to carry out that for which we should have no power unless we sought it from above. We were warned, "In the world you shall have tribulation." Have we found it so? "Oh," says one, "that has been abundantly true to me! From those of my own household I first met with opposition! The Gospel has set those against me that were once my fondest friends." Just so, but now that it has come to pass, you will see how sincerely He dealt with you, that He would not entrap you into His service as though it would be altogether a thing of pleasure, but He warned you that it was a conflict, that it was a pilgrimage. You have found it so and now that it has come to pass, let this help you to trust Him for the future! But you were also told that if you trusted Him, you who were burdened with many sins, you would have them all forgiven and that this forgiveness would bring about a solid peace of mind. Have you found it so? Can you not stand up and add your name to the long roll of witnesses who say, "We looked unto Him and were lightened, and our faces were not ashamed! This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and delivered him from all his fears"? I bless the Lord I can say that the joy of the pardoned sinner is a sweeter and a better thing than I ever dreamed it to be. And the peace of conscience, which reflection upon the Atonement always brings, is better and more enduring than one could have fancied have fallen to the lot of so unworthy an one as he whom Christ had called! Our Lord Jesus told us, too, that if we came and trusted Him, He would give us the victory over our sins. Now, has He done that? I know you will sometimes confess that you have not conquered your sins as you would desire. The battle is still raging--there is still a need for yonder watchtower. But, Brothers and Sisters, if a sin has not been conquered, has that ever been Christ's fault? Has it not been ours? "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb," is true of all the saints with regard to their struggles with sin. There is no sin that we cannot pray down and weep down if we live at the foot of the Cross. The worst temper that ever a soul was plagued with is to be controlled and softened if one looks to the griefs of Christ and becomes like He in temper. It matters not how constitutional the sin may be, though you may say, "It is my easily-besetting sin"--you may be delivered from it! Christ Jesus, when He comes into the island of our nature, can drive out all the cruel and deadly reptiles that are there. Or if they remain there, He can give us abundant Grace so that they can make no headway and we shall be kept as "holiness unto the Lord." Now, you and I have read and heard from the saints of God that our Lord Jesus, when He is really known and understood, is inexpressible sweetness itself. They have told us, some of them--writing like Rutherford of his wonderful Master--that the joy of Heaven is to be possessed, in a measure, even here below! That in contemplation on and communion with Christ, the heart can be made to dance with eternal joy and full of glory! Now, Brothers and Sisters, have we found it so? Oh, some of us can set to our seal that in this thing the saints of God have been true! He has ravished our souls with His Presence and made our hearts to melt while He spoke into our ears the marvelous story of His love! Perhaps in our unbelief we think that this is fancy, or fanaticism, or some high-strained sentimentalism, but it is not so! It is a sober fact that when a man gets to lean upon the arm of Christ, he laughs at trouble, defies persecution--he passes through temptation all unhurt. He walks here below, but his conversation is in Heaven! He sits down with the sons of men and yet he is "raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." I would say to you saints who have not proceeded far in the College of Christ, who have only just begun to study His precious Character and the Divine Virtues that flow out of Him, never be content until you have! As you have heard from the song of the Canticles. As you have heard from the saints who out of their experience have told you of Christ's love, so will you find it! Do not harbor the idea that the further you go, the less will you have of enjoyment in religion. Oh, no! It has deep draughts of great bliss! The shallow draughts will sustain, but oh, it is sacred intoxication with the love of Christ which brings the highest joy and the most Divine mirth! To go in up to the ankles in the sea of Christ's love is well, but oh, to pass up to the loins and to get still further until you find it "a river to swim in"--this is to know the true delights of godliness! As you have heard of these things, though they seem to be too high for you and you tremble at them, yet if you will but ask for more Grace that you may press forward, so you shall! There are no exceptions about Christ! He offers nothingin the market that has been proffered to catch the eye, but is not worth the purchase. His diamonds are never trashy paste. His gold is not mere gilt. You may buy bread from Him and put it in the scales and find it ounce for ounce. The water that He gives turns neither stale nor sour--it is always fresh and cool--the further you shall go in the enjoyment of it, the more shall you prize the well of water springing up in your souls unto everlasting life! Now, I might just turn this same point around in another form and say that, as we have heard of Christ in His life upon earth, so have we found it in dealing with Him. When Christ was here on earth, He was all tenderness and love-- and so we have found Him. We went to Him covered with the leprosy of our sin and ready to die of our iniquities. But one touch of His hand was freely given and that touch healed us! When He was on earth He was holiness, itself, and so He is now, for He will not walk with us if we fall in love with sin. He is quick to see our faults and He gently chides us till conscience awakens us and we turn from the evil with abhorrence. Christ was in this world as a very faithful friend. Having loved His own, He loved them unto the end. And we have found Him just such until now. There was never an hour in which He left us naked to our enemies. When we have been tempted, His intercession has always been like a bronze wall around us to keep us from being devoured by the foe. When we have been bewildered, He has, like a good shepherd, led us by ways that we knew not, but that He well understood. In the days of famine we have been fed. In the times of need we have been satisfied. We can speak well of His name. If any of His saints have anything to say of Him that is high and comely, that will exalt Him and set Him on high, and we, after our measure, can endorse it all! So far as our experience has gone, He is a better Christ than we thought Him to be! Oh, He is altogether precious, altogether lovely! Up to this day we have never discovered a spot in Him. We have tried Him--oh how, sadly, and our sins have tried Him--oh, how heavily! But He is always true--the same yesterday, today, and forever! We can only bless Him and praise Him, for "as we have heard, so have we seen." How my heart desires that some of you who are here would just now, at this very moment, come to my Lord and try Him! Oh, I so remember when I first came to Him. They told me He was ready to pardon and that a look at Him would move the crushing burden from my weary heart. I could not think it true, but-- "I came to Jesus as I was, Weary, and worn, and sad." And did He disappoint me? Ah, no! I can happily join in with the rest of that verse-- "I found in Him a resting place, And He has made me glad!" If any of you think that Christ will cast you out when you come, I wish you would come and try Him. It would be the beginning of a new method with Him--the turning over of a new black leaf. "Him that comes unto Me," He says, "I will in no wise cast out." He never did find it in His heart to do so to any sinner that has sought His mercy! And I will not believe it, though all the angels in Heaven swear it, that He ever cast away a soul! I'd call them liars! It cannot be! It never shall be! While the heavens are above the earth and God is true, and Christ is God, no sinner that comes and puts His trust in Him, shall find Him unable or unwilling to save Him! Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! And as you have heard, so shall you see! Now, in the next place, I think-- III. THIS ALL STANDS GOOD WITH REGARD TO THE CHURCH OF GOD ITSELF. Some have been apt to find fault with the Church and some Christians seem to act on the principle of getting to Heaven, one by one. "Sheep," God's people are called, and I suppose one reason is because sheep are gregarious and go in flocks. But there are Christian professors who seem to like the one by one principle. Well now, speaking of the Church of God as we have seen her, she has many faults--many faults--but Jesus Christ loves her and she is His Bride. And I dare not find fault with her! If she is the Princess Royal, if she is His Imperial Highness's own betrothed one, I would rather see her with His eyes than with my own! And while it may be very striking to rail about ministers and their defects, to sneer at Church members and all sorts of other things--and there may be sometimes good reason for it--yet we may say much on the other side, too. "As we have heard, so have we seen." When we first joined the Christian Church, we were told very plainly in the Scripture that there would be tares among the wheat. That there would be some among us who would go out from us, because they were not of us. Christ taught us that among His 12 disciples, there was one Judas, and if some hypocrites intrude among us, it need not astonish us! We knew it would be so. He forewarned us and admonished us of it. We have heard it and so have we seen--and if the seeing of it has been painful--we can at least say that God was truthful and frank in warning us that so it would be. Well, there were good things spoken of the Church of God and we have found them true, too. I expected to find in the Christian Church some holy, prayerful, devout Christian men and women--and I have found them. And I have rejoiced to be among them, to mingle with them, and to be of their company, joining with them in holy worship, the washing in the blood that has washed them! I can truly say that I have found a Peter--many a bold earnest Brother like Peter. Many a loving John! Many a busy Martha and some communing Marys. The Church of God always seems to me, as I have seen it, to be a vast deal too good for me to be a member of it, if I did but judge myself. And, instead of finding fault, I would join with David and say, "You are my Lord: my goodness extends not to You, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight." I know the world will often find fault and rail and tell us there are no such things as ancient Christians. I have seen as glorious Christianity as even the Apostles saw, and as good works of the Holy Spirit in members of this Church as ever gladdened the eyes of those Apostles! I have seen suffering endured with an astonishing patience, labor done with a perseverance that was most commendable, liberality evinced with a freedom that showed that the love of Christ constrained, prayer kept up with a fervency that marked the indwelling Spirit and souls cared for, sought after and won, too, with an indefatigable love that only the love of Christ could inspire! I know we always think we live in the worst times, but we do not! There were worse times than these and there will be again. These may not be the best, but they are a long way off from being the worst. I think it was when Dr. Newton died that the good divine who preached the funeral sermon took some such text as this, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof," and he deplored that now this eminent saint was gone, they had no great divines left like the great preachers of the olden time. That went on very prettily for some time, but it was too much--for an old Methodist woman, who stood in the aisle cried out--"Glory to God, that's a lie!" And oftentimes when I hear people crying down the times and saying there are no good people left, and that Christianity is at a low ebb, and that there remains no true zeal, I can say from what I, myself, see in the people among whom I dwell, "Glory be to God, that is a lie! It is a slander upon the Church of God!" For as we have heard, so have we seen--we have seen the gracious, fair fruits of the Spirit--and we honor God by testifying to that fact! I would, however, dear Brothers and Sisters, that we were always conscientiously concerned never to give the lie in any degree to statements made in Scripture concerning the holy living of the saints. Alas, there are some professors who, if you could track them to their business, are so much given to loose trading that as we have heard--so can we cannot see! If you go into their houses--their maidservants, their children and their wives are obliged to say, "We have heard what Christian fathers, and mothers, and masters ought to be, but as we have heard so, we do not see." It all ends in talk, in profession. Now, while I stand up for it that there are many that do adorn the Doctrine of God their Savior in all things and so prove that they are God's true people, yet do we sorrowfully confess that many walk "of whom" we would say with the Apostle, "We have told you often, and now tell you even with weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ." Though they are professed members of the Church of Christ, their lips honor God, but their inconsistent lives degrade the Church and bring upon it much loss of spiritual power. "As we have heard, so have we seen." I think some of us can say that we have heard of the Church's glorious assemblies. We have heard that they said they were glad when they went up to the House of the Lord. We have heard that the people of God are happy in their assemblies and that they long for the place where God's honor dwells. Well, and so have we seen, for our Sabbaths have been our happiest days and we have often said-- "My willing soul would stay, In such a frame as this, And sit, and sing herself away To everlasting bliss." It has been so. We have heard that the preaching of the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation and the great means of comfort and edification to the saints. And "as we have heard, so have we seen," for oftentimes when the Truth of God has been preached in our hearing, it has been as marrow and fatness--and other times a rebuke has come just as we needed it to quicken us from our spiritual sloth! We have heard that the ordinances of God's House have a blessing connected with them. Baptism and the Lord's Supper--that in the keeping of His commandments there is great reward--and as we have heard, so have we seen. I am sure that the blessed Supper of the Lord, though many of His people come to the Table every week, never seems to grow stale. There is always a freshness in it. Oh, that blessed ordinance! Some, I know, make a god of it and an idolatrous mystery of it, but because they misuse it, we dare not depreciate it! It is to us none other than the very gate of Heaven full often. "As we have heard, so have we seen." Let us press on in our Church fellowship and increase in our love and earnestness--and then as we have heard of the Zion that travails and becomes like the mother of children--so shall we see! As we have heard that they who sow in tears shall reap in joy--so shall we see! As we have heard that there is great pleasure connected with the winning of souls for Christ--so shall we see. In a word, all the glorious things that are spoken of Zion, we shall have fulfilled to ourselves! Brothers and Sisters, before I close, I want to say that there is a dreadful side to this Truth of God. As we have heard, so have we seen. There are some of you here who are not saved. You have hitherto loved your sins and have not repented. You have heard of Christ, but you have put off all thoughts of Him. Now you have heard oftentimes that He that believes not shall be condemned--and from this Book you have heard that condemnation is something terrible and overwhelming, for there are words like these, "Beware, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver." And these, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." And these, "Where their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched." Now as you have heard, so will you see! Depend upon it, you shall not find the pit of Hell to be less awful than this Book describes! God sets up no bugbear to frighten souls! They are all realities of which He speaks--and that they are realities, many dying sinners have been made to know before they have been dead, for their horror, their alarms their fears have been premonitions of that wrath to which they were drawing near! I have seen some death scenes which I dare not try to picture before you--and the memory of which would unman me if I were to continue to contemplate them--hearers of the Gospel who had neglected Christ and who died conscious of their sins, unable, however, to seek mercy. And while we prayed with them, telling us that our prayers would never be heard, for they were given over and now they were cursing God, even while they were feeling the anguish of lost souls! Yes, and though there are some that become the advocates for evil by trying to make out the punishment of sin to be little--settle it in your souls that as it took the blood of the dying Son of God to wash out the sin of those who were pardoned--it will take an anguish such as no heart can conceive before the sinner shall have suffered for his sin what God will certainly pour upon him! Think not lightly of the doom of the lost, lest you think lightly of sin, and lightly of Christ, for as you have heard and infinitely more than you have heard, shall you see, oh, unhappy spirit, unless you will turn to Christ and believe on Him and live! Oh, that you may do so tonight, for another night may never come to you--but one long, endless night may be your portion. But there is a bright side to it, too. The saints in Heaven might all say, "As we have heard, so have we seen," only that I think they would make a great improvement in our text! 'Tis true, you heard that Heaven was full ofjoy and mercy and so have you seen. You heard of its pearly gates and its streets of shining gold. You heard of its foundations ofjasper and its walls of chrysolite and all manner of precious stones. You heard of its eternal rest and of the Presence of God and the glory of the overflowing bliss--and all you heard you have seen! But I say they would make an improvement upon this, for, like the Queen of Sheba, I think their glorified spirits would say, "The half has not been told." Yes, Brothers and Sisters, we have heard things, but, "what must it be to be there"--to be there?! The enjoyments transcend description and though the words of Scripture portray the bliss that remains, we, alas, are dull of understanding and cannot find out all the meaning of the golden sentences! But we shall soon be there and once there we shall, as I have said before, declare, "As we have heard, so have we seen, only that the half was not told us of the splendor and the glory of the court of our heavenly Solomon." May we be there to find all true and join in the everlasting song of, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood, unto Him be glory forever and ever. Amen." EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM451-9. The Lily Psalm--a Psalm of loves. Oh, that our hearts might be full of love, tonight, and while we read, may our hearts be singing to the praise of the Well-Beloved! Verse 1. My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer Sometimes the heart could speak if it could move the tongue, but it is a blessed time with us when, first of all, the heart is fully warmed with love and then the fire within burns the strings that tie the tongue--and the tongue begins to move right joyously in expressing the heart's love! May it be so with us tonight who have to preach! May it be so with all our Brothers who have, in public, either to preach or to pray! 2. You are fairer than the children of men: Grace is poured into Your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever No sooner does he begin to write about Christ than he sees Him! A warm heart soon kindles the imagination. The eye of faith is soon opened when once the heart is right. We feel the Presence of Christ. We begin to speak of Him and to Him. "Youare fairer than the children of men." Oh, I would, tonight, that Christ would but lift the corner of His veil and show you but one of His eyes! Your hearts would be ravished with His infinite beauty! "You are fairer than the children of men." Would God He would but speak half a word into our weary ear, and we should say, "Grace is poured into Your lips." Oh, for some sense and sight of Him! Do not our hearts hunger after this tonight? 3, 4. Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Most Mighty with Your glory and Your majesty. And in Your majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. The heart never glows with love to Christ unless, in consequence, there is a longing that His Kingdom may be extended. It is an instinct of a loving heart, that it desires the honor of its object. We long for Christ to rule and reign simply because we love Him. Oh, that He would lay His right hand to His work in these slow times! How little is being done comparatively! Oh, for an hour of the right arm of Jesus! If He would but come Himself to the battle, and the shout of a King were heard in our camps, what victories would be won! Cry unto Him, O you that love Him. He will come to your call! 5. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies, whereby the people fall under You. Christ has not only power near at hand with his right hand, but far off He darts the arrows of His bow and heathens are made to feel that the Gospel is mighty! Would God it were so now! Cry for it! 6. Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of Your Kingdom is a right scepter. And this we know to be spoken concerning Jesus Christ for this was quoted by the Apostle, "Your Throne, O God." Let those who will, deny His Deity. It shall be the joy of our heart to worship Him and, in express terms, to address Him who is our Brother as "very God of very God." "Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your Kingdom is a right scepter." 7. You love righteousness and hate wickedness: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. Fellow with us and yet equal with God! Man anointed, the Christ, yet still the reigning God! Glory be to His name! 8. All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made You glat. Not only is Christ precious, but everything that touches Him! There is not a garment that hangs upon His shoulder but becomes sweet by contact with Him. "All Your garments smell of myrrh." There is myrrh about the priestly robe that falls down to His feet, and about the golden belt of His faithfulness that is girt about His waist. There are myrrh, and aloes, and cassia about His crown, though it is of thorns! About every garment that He puts on, there is a sweet perfume. 9. King's daughters were among Your honorable women: at Your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Blessed queen of Christ--His Church. Let us never think little of her. There are some that are always crying up "the church," "the church," "the church"--but that is not the true Church, that tries to take the place of Christ. It is anti-Christ! The true Church has her place, however, and that is at her Husband's own right hand, where she sits in the best of the best--in gold--and that the gold of Ophir, for He spares nothing for her beauty and her glory. __________________________________________________________________ A Timely Expostulation (No. 3397) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Why seek you the living among the dead" Luke 24:5. This question was addressed to certain holy women who came early to the sepulcher, bringing with them the spices which they had prepared for embalming the body of our Lord. They were met by angels who reminded them that their Lord had promised to rise again, that He had so risen and that it was in vain for them to seek in the sepulcher the living, the Immortal Christ. "Why seek you the living among the dead?" The mistake they made was that of seeking for the living Savior where He could not be found. We have, all of us, made the same mistake. Some of us are making it now. We are seeking good things in the midst of evil--hoping to find satisfaction where it was never yet discovered and never will be! Seeking, but seeking in the wrong place--seeking for the living among the dead. To illustrate this, I shall first address myself to the people of God who sometimes fall into this error. And then I shall have to expostulate with the unconverted, as well as with those who are somewhat awakened to spiritual Truth. Say, now-- I. YOU CHILDREN OF GOD, CALLED OUT FROM THE WORLD, do you not sometimes set your affections upon things on the earth and seek for satisfaction here below? Have I not observed how some of you have tried to find comfort in your wealthand how others, in the midst of your successful efforts to extend your business, have thought to find solace on that bed of thorns, the cares of this world and the merchandise thereof? Ah, how grievous it is when the Christian becomes an idolater! Yet just as the Israelites of old--who, though they knew the true God, were found in an emergency setting up the golden calf and saying, "These are your gods, O Israel"--so, in one form or another, we may be making some created good the object of our search, setting our heart upon it and indulging expectations of solace from it--forgetting that comfort can only be found in our Lord Jesus Christ! "Why seek you"--why do you who know so much better--"why seek YOU the living among the dead?" Why do you come to the broken cistern which can hold no water, when the well springing up with crystal streams is always at your feet? Why will you go to drink of the muddy river, the Sihor, when the clear sparkling rill of the Water of Life is always accessible to you? You did once try to fill your belly with the husks which the swine eat, but you failed to appease the hunger that consumed you. Why return to that unprofitable employment? Oh, Christian, you have sometimes said to your fellow man, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?" I may say the same to you, if you think an immortal mind can be satisfied with mortal joys, or imagine that one who has been born from on high can ever find contentment in this poor wilderness world! The pursuit itself is a folly which is sure to bring you a strong rebuke whenever you thus fall into the error of seeking the living among the dead. Your solid comfort, your real happiness and the only joy worth having--you must find in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit--and not in the things of time. It is sadder, still, and this sometimes occurs when the professor tries to cheer his heart by the silly vanities of worldly amusement. There are a thousand inlets to happiness which you may look upon as free to your use--you are as welcome to enjoy them as other men. Whatever it is that is pure and lovely and uncorrupted with sin is as much yours as it is the portion of any other people under the sun. Yours are the beauties of Nature, the wonders of God's handiwork and the vast domain of Creation wherein are things innumerable to please the eye, to charm the ear and make the heart to heave with joy! Learn to use without abusing the bounties which Providence has placed within your reach! And pray that the delights they are capable of yielding may be sanctified to your good. But there are sundry amusements, so frivolous andtrifling, that if they are not, in themselves sinful, they verge upon that border where diversion is separated from dissipation by only a faint line. And as the border is always the most infested by thieves and robbers, it is well to beware of it. If the Christian wants to be clear from open transgression, let him eschew the place of temptation and avoid the appearance of evil--for whatever is not of faith is sin. What you cannot do with a clear conscience that it is right, let that alone with a wholesome fear of offense. You can peril no mistake by leaving it! You may cause yourself a thousand sorrows by entering upon it. Oh, shall you that have once leaned your heads upon the bosom of Christ profane your hearts with this wanton wicked world? Shall you that have once eaten angels' food hanker after the diet of fools and drink the intoxicating wine cup of their pleasures? Shall you be seen in the assembly where none congregate but the lightest of the light, and the gayest of the gay? Shame upon you, Christian! You have disgraced your profession. You have disgraced yourself. You are seeking the living, not only among the dead, but among the rotten and corrupt! Do you expect cheer for your passions? You shall find a scourge for your soul! If you are a child of God, you shall be driven back to the way you have strayed from with many a smarting sore and many a broken bone! If you are not a child of God, likely enough you will go from bad to worse, give up the profession which was but a vapor, and turn as a dog to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire! Thus, Christian, while I say to you, do not seek lasting comfort in earthly things, I am compelled to say to some who bear the name and wear the profession of Christians--do not seek your joy at all among the unprofitable sports and gambols in which some men delight! It is seeking the living among the dead! Further, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is an evil very common to the most conscientious of those who avoid all forms of outward sin. It is the insidious evil of seeking comfort when they are full of doubts and fears, by looking within yourselves. I should think that experience might have cured us of this, for when we look into our own hearts--although I trust the Grace of God is there--so much of imperfection, of infirmity, yes, and what is worse, of real iniquity is apparent, that a sight of the inner man is anything but likely to inspire us with consolation. What a fool is he who tries to fetch fire out of ice! But he is not much more foolish than those who try to soothe their anxieties by parleying with their feelings. Brothers and Sisters, the Christian's comfort is on the Cross. There hangs his hope! His hope must not be based or bottomed on anything he feels. It is pleasant to know that Grace reigns in one's breast. Be thankful for it. But, alas, if that is your confidence, the next day you may doubt whether there is any Grace within! And where, then, is your confidence? It is gone! It flees as a shadow. If, however, you live depending upon the Cross of Jesus, you can walk with equable comfort at all times, for the Cross never shifts its place, the Atonement never fluctuates, it never rises or falls in value! Our union with Christ is not subject to degrees. We are always in Him accepted in the Beloved. Happy is the man who builds on that solid Rock and not upon the treacherous quicksands of his own personal emotions! If you endeavor to draw comfort from your fickle, changeable feelings, you seek for the living among the dead. You are looking for joy where it can never be found. You will gather the thorn, but not the rose. You will endure the labor, but not receive the reward. You will suffer the burning of the fire, but not be enlivened by its cheerful warmth. "Why seek you the living among the dead?" When the Believer feels that Grace is at a very low ebb with him, let him take care that he does not resort to Sinai for the refreshment of his evidences. Have you not heard of some Believers whose mournful sonnet has been-- " Tis a point Ilong to know, Oft it causes anxious thought Do Ilove the Lord or no, Am I His, or am I not?" And in order to get out of that state they have said, "Now I will make a Covenant with God. I will chasten myself with fasting and much prayer." Or they have had recourse to vows of their own devising, instead of going straight away to Christ as sinners--with some such language on their lips as our hymn suggests-- "Just as I am, though tossed about, With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fighting within, and fears without, Oh, Lamb of God. I come!" Instead of thus going to Christ, they set to work to be their own Savior! If Paul were here, he would say to them, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the Truth? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh?" Beloved Brothers and Sisters, make your Covenant if you like, and fast if you please, and prayif you can without ceasing--the more you pray the better. But when a soul is hungry, it will not recover itself by bodily exercises, but by feeding! So what you need is not so much to give out something from yourselves as to get something into yourselves through Christ! And therefore, turn your eyes, as you did at the first, to the wounds, the glorious wounds, of your Substitute, and say to Him, "My Lord, if I am not a saint, I am a sinner. If I am not saved, yet will I trust in You, now, even though I never did before. I now cast myself on You." This will revive you, this will comfort you! You may set to work as you please after that, but do not seek for the living among the dead! Do not go to Moses, who is dead and was buried years ago! Do not bring yourself under the spirit of bondage, but come as a child who is not under the Law, but under Grace--and rest at the foot of the Cross! So shall you have your spiritual vigor restored and rejoice in the Lord your God! Once more to the Believer. I do think, dear Friends, we seek for the living among the dead when we look to our fellow men to find in them some succor or support t o depend upon, or when, as the case may vary, we look to our dear children or relatives and think to find a perpetuity of comfort there. Ah, and it is very easy for some of you to think too highly of the minister. It is possible when you have received spiritual quickening and have come to be fed under some godly pastor, that you may look no higher than the man, instead of looking to his Master! If so, if your faith stands in the wisdom of man, or in man's earnestness--you are looking for the living among the dead! Oh, beware of anything like that! Let us be held in respect by you for our office's sake, but nothing beyond this do we crave or counsel. To the Lord Jesus we bid you look, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake! A more common evil, however, is for the wife to feel as if her husband could never be taken from her side. But he is mortal. I would not distress you with dreary forebodings, but I would have you remember that the living God is the only living One on whom your trust can be fixed. And you, Mother, do you think that your child can never be removed? Know, then, that you are in the land of the dying, and who are you, and what are you, that they should be beyond the reach of the arrows that fly abroad, and the diseases that work insidiously, any more than the children and the friends of others? Oh, if you begin to build your nest in these trees, which have, every one of them, been marked by the woodman's axe--and must all come down--you are a silly bird, and your nest will be lost, and yourself suffer grievous damage! There is one Immortal Lover who shall never die! There is one Eternal Friend who shall never depart! There is a Father who always lives! There is a Brother who sticks close forever! Earthly kinships--value them, but hold them loosely. Thank God for them, but think not that they are your freeholds. Your tenure is but on lease and a word shall suffice to terminate it! Walking through the fields, you might see most of them still yellow with the king-cups and blushing with all the flowers of this sweet summer month of June, but do not think these flowers shall long abide, for already I hear the sound of the sharpening scythe and I know the mowers will soon be at their task--the flowers will be cut down and the green grass shall be dry. Set not, then, your love on the fleeting bounties of kindly Providence as though you could embalm them and make them last for years! "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." Fix your love on that which is constant--not on these transient things! I leave you, my Brothers and Sisters, with the general maxim--having applied it in various ways, you can apply it to many more in your meditations--take heed lest you seek for the living among the dead, and so spend your strength for nothing and reap the bitter fruits of weariness and disappointment! Are there not, however, among you, my Hearers, full many of-- II. THOSE WHO ARE NOT THE CHILDREN OF GOD? As the Apostle said in that 10th Chapter of Romans which we just now read to you, "They have not all obeyed the Gospel." I do not know whether the reading of that Chapter touched any of your hearts. It did mine. I could scarcely help weeping as I thought of some of you. "They have not all obeyed the Gospel"--I mean not all those who sit in these seats regularly, to whom we preach that Gospel so frequently. Those who come into our classes are earnestly taught, but they have not all obeyed the Gospel. No, there is a very large proportion who have not. Oh, grievous fact--fact which some of you will have to grieve over with terrible remorse in the Day of Judgment, unless the mercy of God prevents it! It is with you I want to expostulate. Some of you are seeking for joy in sin and you are seeking for the living among the dead, indeed! Be thoughtful for a moment. God who made you has made certain laws, the observance of which is essential to your well-being. Suppose God had ordained that the violation of His law should make men happy, would that be wise? It is too unwise a thought for us to entertain, much less for God to design! You are disobeying God's command--then depend upon it that is the way of unhappiness! It must be so. "Oh," you say, "but it gives me present gratification." That may be. It is quite consistent with what I have said because the enchantment that allures you is the very snare that beguiles you--and then for every ounce of joy which sin can yield to a sinful spirit, there will be a ton of sorrow inflicted! I forbear in this place to mention the sins of the flesh but who does not know that for every snap of pleasure derived from indulgence of the passions, there are racks, tortures and agonies which the physician could better explain than myself. Such a measure of retribution is common in this life, but as for the life to come--could you lift for a moment the thick veil that hides the unseen world from our gaze, or could a sound pierce through the partition that Infinite Mercy has made too stout for the wailing and gnashing of teeth to penetrate--I think the groans, the execrations, the shrieks of madness of those who lived as votaries and died as victims of the so-called pleasure of sin would fill you with horror and wild amazement! The transgressor who eats the fruit of his own ways, fruit that once tempted his appetite--and drinks the dregs of that wine cup, the first sip of which was so sweet to his taste--is an appalling spectacle! And this is merely the awakening of a man's conscience to his folly. The punishment of avenging Justice is in reserve! Disobedience of God must be punished by God with indignation that does not relent and pain that knows no abatement! Why seek you, then, the living among the dead? A moment's reflection might convince a man that this final scene inevitably awaits the profligate. Who would think of making his child happy in the way of constant disobedience, or of encouraging his waywardness by rewarding it? You take care, as judicious parents, that your children shall know you govern the house. And if your laws are constantly broken, you exact the penalty and the rod is put into use--or at least the chastisement is not spared. And shall not God stand up for His Sovereign prerogative, enforce His own Law and make men feel that they cannot violate that Law without suffering the retribution He has threatened? You shall find it so to your cost if you will not credit it to your escape! I tell you that if you seek your pleasure in the theater, or in the saloon of gaiety, or in what is infinitely worse, though too often in close association--in the house of shame. If you go to the chamber of the strange woman, or spend your evenings in the tavern, inflaming yourselves with strong drink, you court misery while you try to avoid melancholy! You render yourselves incapable of happiness while you strive to be merry! But ah, you might as well deliberately make a pilgrimage to the depths of Hell in quest of the joys of Heaven as to seek true enjoyment in the haunts of vice! The Lord, the Lord of Hosts will make men see that beneath the fair skin of the world's pleasures there is a loathsome leprosy that would make them heart-sick were the latent corruption exposed! Oh, go not after such pleasures! Remember that God will require these things at your hands. Seek true pleasure, mental pleasure that never sours! Seek pure joy which will retain its fragrance, refresh others besides yourself, haunt you with no hideous ghosts, but bear sweet reflection when you come to die! Cheer your hearts with draughts from that goblet which will invigorate you when your soul's pulse is beating--the cup which flows clear to the last, whereof you may be grateful to sip when your immortal spirit is about to wing its fight to worlds unknown! Seek not for living pleasure amidst the graves and charnel houses of sin! Let me change my tone again, for now I come to address a part of this company of people-- III. THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUSLY CONCERNED TO BE FOUND RIGHT WITH GOD. Some of you, dear Friends, have known the evil of sin and have turned from its evil ways. But though you are desirous of being saved from the wrath to come, you are very likely seeking salvation where it is not to be obtained. A few counsels and cautions may, therefore, be welcome to you. Do not seek salvation by rites and ceremonies, for if you do, you are seeking for the living among the dead! The old Jewish religion was full of types--hence the forms and ceremonials that abounded in its observance--but it did not save multitudes who in the wilderness perished in their sins! And hundreds of thousands more, who had seen it all their lifetime, but never seen through its externals the realities it prefigured, died rejecting the Lord Jesus, to whose mediation it bears witness. Outward pomp and ceremony are of no avail to save the soul! Would those who are as fond of vestments and rituals try the experiment of endeavoring to heal a man who was sick by such means, they would find their medicines have no effect upon the body to restore its health. And were they to bring in a man who was sick in soul, they would soon find that all their gaudy trappings and rhythmical intonations were incapable of supplying balm to a wounded conscience! They are dead, Sirs. They are dead, every one of them! The whole thing is death! It is nothing in all its beauty but the festering fungus that grows upon corruption. The whole system is trickery--a gewgaw to deceive. It is nothing but imposture, an artifice of Satan to lead the world astray! Were you baptized with water from the river Jordan, confirmedwith never so much pomp and took the sacrament, or, as they say, "went to celebration" on every holy day and every unholy day likewise--and were you to expire with unction on your face and with the priest's lying absolution in your ears--you would go down to Hell despite it all, if you had no truer faith, no brighter hope than these things could inspire! For other salvation is there none but that which you can find in Christ, without any priest to mediate, or any minister to intervene between you and Him. You are a priest, yourself, if you believe in Jesus. Christ is the one only Priest, the Great High Priest of our profession! Get pardon from Him and let other men buckle about their priesthood and vaunt their succession as they may. Beware of them! To resort to these men for help is to seek the living among the dead! Or, perhaps, you will go about to work out your own salvation apart from Christ. You have got the idea that you must pass through so much experience, weep so many tears, get into such-and-such a state of heart--and then that you must reform this habit and perform that service--and after awhile you will be saved and obtain peace. The top and bottom of it is, you think you can save yourself! You would be your own Savior! Do you not know that every man, according to God's own Word, every man is accursed who does not keep the whole Law, "Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them." Now, as you have not kept all things, you must be accursed! And as long as you abide under the Law, you are accursed in all that you do! If you can be delivered from the Law through Christ, then, and only then, may you escape from the curse, for Christ was made a curse for us by hanging upon the Cross for us--and so the curse is put away and so we are redeemed there from. But so long as you are trying to be saved by your own works, you are under the Law. And so long as you are under the Law, you are under the curse. To try to find a blessing where everything is under God's Law, is seeking for the living among the dead! I know not to whom these remarks may pointedly apply, but I dare say I am speaking to some of you who pant for salvation and you would give anything to be assured of your soul's acceptance! You have been praying, it may be, night and day for mercy till your knees seem as though they would grow to the floor. In your earnest pleadings your heart has been vehement till the flesh has grown faint. I am glad that you are pleading and agonizing in prayer, but there is no necessity for these long delays and for these protracted prayers. Trust Christ, who hangs on yonder Cross, and you are saved! The moment you depend upon Jesus, past sin is blotted out, you are a new man as in the sight of God, your iniquity is forgiven, your transgression is covered and you are accepted in the Beloved! Hundreds of times have I tried to bring forward this theme till I sometimes fear lest it should sound flat and fail to awaken you! Yet some of you have not believed it or received it! Yet I bear you witness that if you receive not this cardinal Truth of God, you must perish in your sin! Our Lord did not mince matters. He offered no three courses, but He said, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." What about those that believe not? He said, "He that believes not shall be damned." What if the man always goes to Church, or always comes to a meeting? There is no exemption--if he believe not, he shall be damned. But what if he always pays twenty shillings in the pound and is scrupulously honest? "He that believes not shall be damned." The gentle lips of the Savior spoke these words! They are not of my coining, they are not my construction. He said it and will prove it true. Oh, that you might trust Him, for if you trust Him, you cannot be condemned! But if you go about anywhere else to find hope and comfort for your soul, you are seeking for the living among the dead! Why continue this foolish search? Why persevere in this bootless toil? Yet it is very possible you are seeking for some good thing in yourselfby way of feeling and emotion. "If I felt a more broken heart," says one, "I could trust Christ." "If," says another, "I felt the terrors of the Law, I could trust Christ." If! Yes, indeed! Why multiply your useless "ifs"? They are vain excuses. Do you mean you cannot trust Christ? That is a sad, though, perhaps, it is an honest confession. Do you not believe Him to be true? "Ah," says one, "I do believe that." Is it difficult, then, to trust an honest man? But you do not believe in the integrity and faithfulness of Christ! "Oh," you say, "but I do." Well, then, trust Him as the necessary consequence! Jesus Christ says that He came into the world to save sinners. And God's witness is that if we trust Christ, we shall be saved. If you believe that to be true, trust Him! Commit your soul and your soul's salvation to Him! "Oh, but I am not fit." Is there a word about fitness in the whole Gospel? As you may have come fresh from the commission of some new sin, the Gospel does not say to you, "Stand by a while, till you are prepared." But it says, "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." I do not find the Gospel telling you that you must first be better, but it is said that you are nowto turn to Him. "Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Oh, I wish you could take my Master at His word! I wish, poor guilty One, you would have done with disputing, cling to the promises and just drop into the arms of the Promiser! Can you venture thus? You shall never chide yourself for temerity, or repent of your courage! It may seem a daring thing to do, but come, and welcome! Jesus casts out none that come! When I came--and it seems fresh in my memory tonight as I mention it to you--I came all trembling in my sin. I knew I had not one good thing that could recommend me to Christ. I thought He would have said, "Go your way, I have not loved you, nor given Myself for you." But I did look to Him. I knew I had no other confidence. I did cast myself upon Him and He has not cast me away. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." I cannot lead you to Christ--oh, that I could! There is One far mightier who can and I hope that He will do it tonight! We spoke this morning about the Holy Spirit. Oh, that the Holy Spirit might prove His own power to you now! At any rate, this I can say and this I do say--Give up that seeking your own righteousness! Give up that struggling after emotions and feeling! It is all seeking the living among the dead! The idea of your helping Christ to save you is preposterous! What could you do? As well yoke a snail with a racehorse, that they might win a prize, as for you to help Christ! You, help Christ? You, with your rags and Christ with His white linen? You, with your pollution and Christ with His holiness? You, with your deep condemnation and Christ with His free forgiveness? He needs no help from you! He wants your emptiness, not your fullness--your weakness, not your power-- your death, not your life! When a tree is loaded, it needs baskets, but it does not need full baskets--it needs empty baskets to hold the fruit. And Jesus Christ wants sinners--not sinners having merits--a foolish pretense--but sinners who are destitute! There is a full Christ for empty sinners, an all-bountiful Christ for you, famished Sinner, now! Ah, some of you poor people drop in here, sometimes, on an evening, and I am glad to see you. Never be ashamed to come in your working clothes. I know you think I am not talking to you, but you are the very people I am speaking to! Jesus Christ always had a kind word for the laboring man--"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now, it is likely enough some of you are no better than you should be, though you have stepped in here in the crowd to hear a word. Well, it is such as you are, Christ came to save. "Not the righteous. Sinners, Jesus came to save." Oh, you chief of sinners! Come to Jesus Christ! This night He will receive every soul that comes to Him. Eternal Spirit draw them! Eternal Father, now call them by Your power and let us meet at Your right hand, everyone of us, to see Your face and rejoice in Your mighty love! EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 9:1-5; ROMANS 10. Verses 1-3. I tell the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish that I, myself, were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. The Apostle is evidently about to make an extraordinary statement--a statement which would probably not be believed and, therefore, he gives as a preface the most solemn assertions that are permitted to Christian men declaring that he is speaking the truth, and also that the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with his conscience that it is so--that he so loves the souls of his fellow countrymen that, though the thing could never be, yet in a sort of ecstasy of love, he could devote himself to anything so long as his countrymen might but be saved. "My kinsmen according to the flesh." 4, 5. Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises: Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God forever Amen. The Apostle never omits an opportunity of magnifying his Master! Though it did not seem to be called for by the immediate subject in hand, yet he must put in a doxology to the name of Jesus. "Who is over all the eternally blessed God forever. Amen." How any Believers in Scripture ever get to be disbelievers in the Deity of Christ is altogether astounding! If there is anything taught in the Word of God, it is assuredly that Paul comforts himself, in a measure, by the Doctrine of Election which is fully spoken to in this Chapter. My subject leads me to read again at the 10th Chapter. ROMANS 10. Verse 1. Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. The same thing over again--his deep concern for his countrymen. 2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Zeal is a good thing, but like the horse without a bit, it becomes useless and even dangerous. Knowledge is the bridle in the mouth of zeal. Zeal is like fire which may burn the house which it was intended to warm unless it is carefully governed. There must be knowledge in zeal. 3. For they being ignorant ofGod's righteousness, andgoing about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. This is a great evil in the present day. There are many persons who are evidently zealous for God, but they make a mistake in supposing that they are to be saved by their own works, their prayers, their Church attendance, their Chapel attendance, or something of the sort, instead of accepting the finished righteousness of Christ, which is the righteousness of God! They are insulting Christ. They are insulting God by thinking that He would have given His Son to be our Righteousness if we could have made a righteousness of our own, or given Him up to die, if we could save ourselves. 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. There is the point--to believe--to have faith. It is that which gives us the righteousness of which Christ is the sum total. 5. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. That the man which does those things shall live by them. And if any man did, or could keep the Law of God, he would live by it--but no man has ever done so, or ever will. There is no hope of life by the Law. 6-9. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not, in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (That is, to bring Christ down from above). Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what says it? The word is near you, even in your mouth, andin your heart that is, the word offaith which we preach: That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. What a wondrous way of salvation--so near--so close to us! What an expression that is--"in your mouth." We must absolutely take it out of our mouths. God has put the Bread of Life so near to us that it is in our mouth! We must reject it as a man would reject food, if we perish! But, oh, for Grace to receive it, to live upon it, to believe Christ, to trust Him and so to be saved! 10, 11. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed. If, then, I base my eternal salvation upon Christ, and am trusting in Him--not in my works, or prayers, or tears, or alms, or feelings, or even in my own repentance or faith--but wholly in Him, I shall never be ashamed! 12, 13. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved What a comforting text for some of you! You want salvation, but you are afraid you cannot find it. "Whoever"--what a grand word--"whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord"--that is to say in prayer, but that prayer the prayer of faith--he "shall be saved." 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?That is the point--the believing is the vital matter! 14, 15. And howshall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without apreach-er? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You see all the machinery of salvation here. God provides a Gospel, He sends a preacher to proclaim it, men hear it--by the Holy Spirit they believe it and they are saved. It is all in a nutshell, but oh, how blessedly suited to poor, unworthy sinners like ourselves! 16, 17. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It does not ever come by seeing. Faith does not come by looking upon ceremonies--by gazing upon processions and pompous rituals! It come by the simple hearing of the Word of God. It is a matter of the understanding and the work of the Holy Spirit upon that understanding. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." 18, 19. But I say, have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know?Were they not taught that God would reject them if they were disbelievers? And that He would call in the heathen? Yes, they knew it, for-- 19, First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people and by a foolish nation I will anger you.And the heathen thus, like ourselves, were accounted dogs by the Jews, but the Lord has brought us in and made us to believe in Christ because they rejected Him! What a wonderful passage that is about the great supper which the King made, when we read, because the invited guests did not come, the King, being angry, said unto His servants, "Go you out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Even the anger of God, you see, works good to some! He was angry with the guests that did not come, but then He called us in! His anger against the Jewish people has turned to the salvation of the Gentiles, for which may God be praised! But, may Israel be gathered, too! 20, 21 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought Me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But to Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. __________________________________________________________________ Love's Great Reason (No. 3398) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 27, 1868. "We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19. This is the point where all genuine Christians meet. They can all say, without exception, "We love Him." They do not agree in doctrine--it is a pity, but I suppose that as long as we are in this body, we shall, none of us, see all the Truths of God at once, and each man, seeing only a portion of the Truth, is most likely to think that what he does not see is not true--whereas it may be just as important as that which he is able to perceive. Well, well, amidst a thousand controversies between Calvinism and Arminianism, and all the forms that various systems have taken with regard to this, and that, and the other, still, all the elect of God, being quickened by Divine Grace, unite in this one declaration, "Whatever we do not believe, we do love Him." There are great diversities of experience, as well as of doctrine. Some are down in the gloom and some never seem to leave the cellars of the Lord's house--they have deep spiritual exercises, they doubt, they fear, they tremble and are afraid. Others climb up to the very roof of the Palace Beautiful and look abroad upon the fair scene around. Their feet are used to dancing with spiritual delight and their hearts sing sweetly before the Lord. Theirs is an experience of communion rather than of corruption. They have been with Jesus and their faces are made to shine with His company. Perhaps if I told my experience, it might differ from yours from an experimental point of view--in that we might stand wide as the poles asunder--but if we are in Christ, we can, each of us, say with equal truth and intensity, "We love Him." There we join hands! Whatever we have not felt, tasted, or known, we do love Him! And you will notice, too, in this short expression that there is a force, a power in it, principally derived from the fact of the Personality of this love. "We love Hm." You know, to love an, "it," is hard work. It seems contrary to the nature and all the instincts of love. Love always seeks a living person to grasp. But when it is put, "we love Him," it reads so naturally that we feel that we can love, through the force of the Divine Nature within us, with all the vitality and intensity of our godliness! We can love Him--that blessed Son of God, that condescending One, that sacrificing, dying Lamb--that ascended, reigning, coming Savior, towards whom our hearts are drawn out. "We love Him." Depend upon it, we must have more preaching about the Person of Christ and our hearts must assume more and more a trustfulness and affection towards Him. A merely doctrinal religion is pretty sure to degenerate into bigotry. An experimental religion will sooner or later sink into gloom. Understand what I mean. I am not speaking either against doctrine or experience. On the contrary, I would say all I could in favor of both--and they do enter into all men's lives who live near to Christ--but still make either the one or the other the great master-thought, brood over either of them, contend for them, live for them, throw your whole force into them and you may degenerate! But when you live as unto Him. When He is the Truth that you believe in. When He is the Way that you tread. When He is the Life that you experience and when the doctrine and practice and experience all meet in Him as lines in a center--then you shall not be degraded, you shall not degenerate--but you shall rise! You shall go from glory to glory, being changed by the Presence of the Lord. "We love Him," then. But I must make one observation before I plunge into the text, namely, that in order to love this blessed Person, being a Person, it is clear to everyone who thinks, that there must, first of all, have been some acquaintance with Him and then some deep conviction concerning His excellency. We cannot love whom we do not know or esteem. If we know nothing about Christ, have no understanding of Him, have not in any degree occupied our minds with Him, we may talk about love to Him, but it will be mere talk. And after we have known Christ, by the reading or hearing of the Word, blessed to us by His Holy Spirit, it will be necessary for us to be brought into an admiring confidence in Him, believingthat He is the altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand, worthy of all our reliance, worthy of all our adoration and service! Then it is, when knowledge has produced faith, that faith gives birth to love! I make this remark because I have sometimes noticed that in addressing Sunday school children, it is not uncommon to tell them that the way to be saved is to love Jesus, which is not true. The way to be saved for man, woman, or child is to trust Jesus for the pardon of sin--and then, trusting Jesus, love comes as a fruit! Love is by no means the root. Faith, alone, occupies that place. And I think I have heard young persons, too, talking always about the question, "Do I love the Lord or no?"--a very proper question, but it is not the first, but the second! The question that should always come first is, "Do I trust the Lord or no? Do I rest entirely in what He has done for me? Am I depending upon Him for eternal life and salvation?" If that first question is answered, the second will not long remain a matter of doubt! But if you begin with the second, and neglect the first, you may involve yourselves in very serious consequences. The great Gospel precept is not, "Love Christ," but, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved"--not that love is less than faith, but that love, though, perhaps, first in point of excellence in some respects, comes second in point of order--and that faith is first to be looked to in the soul and then love will inevitably and necessarily follow. But now to come to the text. I shall treat the first part of the sentence as the great general confession of the whole Church--"We love Him." And the second first part of the sentence as the most glorious reason for that love--"because He first loved us." I am not going to preach this evening, but only to stir you up about these points. I. THE GREAT GENERAL CONFESSION, "WE LOVE HIM." Now, if you are a child of God, you will say, or if you do not say it, it will be true, "We love Him." As sure as ever you have passed from darkness to light, whether you are an Episcopalian, or a Presbyterian, or a Baptist, or whatever you may be, you will agree with this utterance of the one mouth of the one Church! We all, without exception, who have believed in Him, love Him. But how do we love Him? We love Him, first, not at all as we ought to love Him. We confess that much with shame--and not at all as we wish to love Him. Our conception of what is due to Christ is, no doubt, very short of what is due to Him, but we fall short even of our own conception! I am afraid that many of us are like the children at school who have a good, fair copy set them at the top of the page, and the next line is written to imitate the copy, and the next imitates the imitation of the copy and as it gets to the bottom of the page--alas, poor writing--how unlike it is to the perfect copy at the top! So what is due to Christ stands at the top--what I believe about Christ in my best moments stands next. What I actually give to Christ comes next to that--and then far down the page, how badly do I write and how far do I fall short of what my love knows I ought to give Him!-- "Yes, I love You and adore, Oh, for Grace to love You more!" Now, remember, we never make ourselves love Christ more by flogging ourselves for not loving Him more. We come to love those better whom we love by knowingthem better, not by talking to ourselves about the duty of loving them, for love and duty, somehow or other, do not work well together. I mean that to talk of love being squeezed and pressed out by duty is not at all congruous. Love is like the generous first drops of the honeycomb--the virgin honey which drips spontaneously because the comb is full to bursting. Such is true, genuine love. If you want to love Christ more, think more of Him, think more of what you have received from Him. Study His Character more in the Word of God. Draw more often near to Him in prayer. Live more in holy fellowship with Him. These are the logs that shall make that oven blaze. This is the secret fuel that shall make our soul on fire with love to Jesus! We do not love Him as we ought, nor as we wish. But for all that, in the next place, we do really love Him. The devil tells us we do not, but when it comes to close quarters, we can turn to One who knows better than the devil, and we can say, "Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You." What a mercy it is that Jesus Christ does not believe our actions, for they very often say, "Jesus, we do not love You." But He reads our hearts, and our hearts still beat with this, "Oh, my God! In my very soul I do love Christ, and if it were possible I would never sin against Him! Oh, wretched man that I am, that I should live so contrary to my true life and that the thing that I would, I do not, and what I would not, that I do, for I find this law in my members, bringing me into captivity. For I have tasted of freedom and am, indeed, free, and will not be the servant of any, but will be the espoused one, the free espoused one of Christ Jesus my Lord." Yes, we do really love Him! And we also, if we are saints at all, love Him practically. We delight and that is the true standard and gauge of the man--in that in which he delights. We delight in His service, in His company, in His friends. There is nothing--I feelsure some of us can say this without egotism--there is nothing that makes our soul feel so full of bliss as when we have opportunities of glorifying the name of Jesus Christ! And if we had the offer of all the kingdoms of the world, and but a grain of glory put into our hand that we might give to Christ--we would sooner have it than all the wealth of the Indies and all the royalties of all the empires! To glorify Christ is a lasting treasure which shall abide with us when the world is on a-blaze. To teach one little child the name of Jesus. To bring the tear into its little eyes about the dying Lord is better and sweeter work to us than statesmanship, itself, could be if it were dissociated from Him-- "Is there a lamb among Your flock, I would disdain to feed? Is there a foe before whose face, I'd fear Your cause to plead?" Some of you are very busy preaching for my Lord and I know that when you are preaching, your main desire is that He may be extolled in your hearers' hearts. Do you not pine and sigh after this? Would you not give up all the graces of oratory, and talk in the most vulgar style, if necessary, if you could win one soul for Him? I know you would, my Brothers, for this is every true minister's desire! And you, too, who have been standing in the streets today, preaching at the corners, I hope--no, I feel it must be so with you if you are His at all--that you spoke out of love to His dear name and when you would have preferred to have been silent, it was love that unloosened that tongue of yours! Do you not wish you could speak better? Do you not wish you could command attention better? And it is all for Him, for His dear sake that you might paint Him better before the eyes of men! And you, dear teachers in the classes, you who have been engaged in the Sunday school, if you are right at all, and I trust you are, you have been teaching because you wanted to make Him famous and to let Him see of the travail of His soul. And you who cannot come to the school, but have been praying for your children and talking with them, you who have been dropping your pence into the box and have each been trying to do your share of something for the Master--well, if His life is in your hearts and His blood is sprinkled on you, you can say that you desire to do all this as a practical evidence that you so love Him! All the works that you have done today, done in His Spirit, have been a repetition of this verse, "We love Him." Now, will you do the same in your ordinary lives, for in this I fear we sometimes fail? As a servant, live as one who loves Jesus! As a master, as a workman, as a merchant, as a man of retirement and property, still let this be the guide of your steps, the order of your life, the model by which you shape your conversation, "We love Him." Let every breath prove it! Let every heaving of the lungs, every motion of the tongue and of the hand, prove the great and blessed reality of the fact that we love Him! Brothers and Sisters, we can go a step further. I trust we love Jesus Christ not only really and practically, but we love Him supremely. That point has often vexed good hearts. They have said, "I cannot say that I love Jesus Christ better than father, or mother, or husband, or wife, or child." No, you cannot say it, and there are a great many things we cannot say, which it were better not for us to say, which would be immodest for us to say, but they may be true for all that! They who are beautiful, talk not of their beauty, and those who love most are usually the most diffident about their love. Now, you cannot contrast loves, the one to another, as you can contrast five to eight and say which may be the greater. It is not an arithmetical problem, but I will put it to the proof with you in this way--if you had to lose that dear husband, or else lose Jesus Christ, what would you do? Why, it does not take two minutes to consider! You would not put them in the scale together for a single second! He stands out of sight, above all husbands and dearest wives! We cannot consider Him in such a relation as that. Or, put it thus--if you had to give up your hope of Heaven and your interest in Christ tonight, or to lose all that you have--what would you do? Why, I think you would not need to go into that little chamber to calculate. "No," you say, "all that I have, why it is so little! It is a thing of care to me, and if it were not, if I had more, as I would be very glad to have that I might give up more, I would put it all away and say, 'Lord, I have left all that I might follow You. But in leaving it, I did but gain a greater consciousness of Your love to me and a far greater and deeper enjoyment of that love.'" Sometimes, however, some of you young people get an opportunity of showing which you love best--whether you do love Jesus better than all things else, or not. In the case of marriage, that test often comes. And ah, how lamentable is the fact that many a young Sister, and many a Brother, too, will break through Christ's law, "Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." I know this is a perplexing and solemn point, mark you. You do, in fact, give Christ up when you take that ungodly man! And you, young man, when you seek after that Christless woman, you deny your Lord and Master--as far as you can do it, you deny Him and give Him up for the sake of earthly pleasures! For such an act as that, your conscience may well prick you, and if you are, indeed, the Lord's servant, the rod will follow you, and in your household the Lord's hand will go out against you as long as you live. You there came to the test and could not stand it! But I hope there are many, many here who could say, "Yes, with everything that beauty could present to attract my heart, and all that wealth could lay at my feet to win my regard. With all that honor could put before me to dazzle my desires, I feel that I must obey my Lord and Master. I must be a chaste virgin unto Him, and give myself to Christ and to Him alone." We love Christ, Brothers and Sisters--I trust we do supremely! "We love Him," also, always. The love of a Believer to Christ is not a thing of Sundays, nor of public meetings and Prayer Meetings. "We love Him"--it is the utterance of the man sitting at the desk penning a letter, or standing in the market selling his corn, or on the exchange, dealing in his shares and stocks. "We love Him." Our love is not a spasm. It is not a mere emotion, a thing of excitement. It does not, like the Salamander, live in the fire, but then die when the fire dies out. "We love Him," soberly, steadily, constantly, persistently, after a real and serious, and business-like spirit. "We love Him"--it is intertwisted with our daily life! It is part of our inmost being! It flows in the blood, it breathes in the lungs, it is everywhere about us and we could as soon cease to exist as to cease to be lovers of Christ. I mean, of course, if we are, indeed, the saved sons of God. We love Him, then, constantly. And yet another thing, dearly Beloved--we love Him increasingly. We do not always think so, but it is true, if we are right with God. We love Him more than ever. When we are first converted we think we shall love Jesus Christ a great deal more than we really prove to do, and much of that love, afterwards, departs, but it is only the superficial and half-fictitious love that vanishes. Look! Mary is lighting the fire and as the straw or paper takes light at the bottom, what a great blaze there is! No sooner is the match put to it than the flames rush up the chimney. But come again in half an hour--why, there is not half the blaze, nor any crackling, nor noise! But is there less heat? Why, see, the coals have caught and the whole grate has become one glowing mass of fire! There is not half the blaze and the crackling, but there is more real, solid heat. And so is it with the growing Believer! At the first, there is much of excitement, much of novelty, but afterwards there is the steady, calm warmth of a glowing soul! I can only say, Brothers and Sisters, that if we do not love Christ, growingly, we ought to do so. He is One that grows upon Believers. The more they know Him, the better they must love Him. The longer is their experience of His faithfulness, His fullness, His freeness, His goodness and greatness, the deeper, and firmer, and broader, and higher ought to be their love of Him! And I trust that it is so. And another thing--we love Him and we are not ashamed to love Him--and we are not ashamed to confess it and we do not blush to bear the shame which may come to us after the avowal. Ah, perhaps I am addressing some here--I do not know where they are--who love my Lord, but they have never said so. Oh, you that are on the rock, in the secret places of the stair, come forth and let Him hear your voice, for that voice is sweet to Him, and your face is comely in His eyes. Oh, be not ashamed to confess that you love Him! There is nothing in it of which to be ashamed. It might make an angel proud to be permitted to love Christ and to declare His love. Ashamed of saying that I love Him? No! Let the earth hear it and let it rage! Let Hell hear it and let it boil over with fury! Yet is He such an One that as I cry, "I love Him," I feel it to be the grandest, greatest statement that Divine Grace can enable us to make! Yes, never, in any circumstances make this a thing to be shy about, but avow it in your actions and declare it by your public profession, "We love Him!" Brothers and Sisters, we bless God that the day is coming when we shall love Him best of all This tenement of our body is falling away by degrees. These fetters of the flesh are rusting off. We shall soon be free and when the emancipated spirit shall see Him without a veil to hide Him, then shall our love to Him be perfected! Or if He comes before our death arrives, we shall see Him as He is and shall be like He--and then, too, shall our love rise to its transcendent maturity! It is a mercy that while other loves die like lilies, broken at the stalk, or fall like rosebuds when they burst and are fullblown, our love to Christ shall go on forever and forever increasing! And when Heaven and earth shall pass away, immortal love, eternal love, shall still abide! As long as God exists, the love of God shall be shed abroad in us and our hearts shall continually love Him in return. I might pause here to say--if it is true that you love Him, dear Brothers and Sisters--love His people better, love His poor better, love His cause better, love His Truth better, love poor blood-bought sinners better, love the assemblies of His saints better, love His Word better, keep His commandments better, draw nearer to Him, aim to be more like He! May these practical Truths, though unspoken by me, yet be lived out in your conversation. But now for the second head. We can only afford a few minutes upon it, but it is a subject which might well occupy eternity in our meditation-- II. THE GLORIOUS REASON FOR OUR LOVE. "We love Him--because He first loved us." It is personal, again, you see, personal again. "We"--"Him"--two persons--and here is the reason for it--"because He first loved us"--persons again! We do not love Christ because the minister preached, or we received his doctrines, or because we can understand that such-and-such things are in our Lord's teachings. The reason for the love springs from Himself, as it goes out after Himself. It is because of something that He did and something that He said, prior to anything that He did. "We love Him because He first l oved us." Love is the cause of love! He loves--we love. We love second and after Him because He loves first and before us. He first. Now, that is an experimental Truth of God. We know that He loved us before we loved Him. Just look back on your life before conversion. He loved you then. What made you love Him at all? It was because you were told that He loved you and you believed it. Law and terrors never made you love Him--they hardened you. It was a sense of blood-bought pardon that dissolved you and you saw the love of Christ in that pardon! And so, you could not help loving Him in return. This is no novelty--this is no mere theory--it is a great Truth of God! I pray you turn it over. Jesus loved you when you lived carelessly, when you neglected His Word, when the knee was unbent in prayer. Ah, He loved some of you when you were in the dancing saloon, when you were in the playhouse--yes, even when you were in the brothel! He loved you when you stood at Hell's gate and drank damnation at every draught! He loved you when you could not have been worse or further from Him than you were! Marvelous, O Christ, is Your strange love! What love is this that shone on us when we were the serfs and slaves of Satan, the dishwashers in the kitchen of iniquity? When nothing was too hard for some of us to do if we might but sin--and yet He loved us! And others there were of us who were as bad as this--proud, hypocritical, rotten-hearted professors who were boasting of our own self-righteousness, as proud as Lucifer, when there was not even a good thing in us--and yet we were loved with His great love, wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in trespass and in sins! Blessed be His name! Now, that is a matter of experience, and it is also a matter of our firm belief and joyous confidence that Jesus loved us beforethat--in that tremendous day, the center of the two eternities, the end of one dispensation and the beginning of the next--that day in which the sun was darkened and yet for the first time began to shine, that day in which the earth did shake and Heaven was established--that day in which the dead arose and the thoughts of men were discovered--in that day when He, the appointed Substitute, went up to Calvary with all the sins of all His people upon Him, piled like a tremendous world--when, like another Atlas, He bore that overwhelming load upon His shoulders and afterwards heaved the whole infinite weight into forgetfulness! In that day He gave the supreme proof of His love to us. Look at those eyes red with weeping--see how He loves! Look at those cheeks defiled with the filthy spit and bruised where the fists of the scoffers struck Him! See how He loved! Look to that dear head still scarred with the jagged wounds of the crown of thorns! Look to that matchless mouth and that tongue so parched. Look to the whole face, so marred as to be sorrow's dwelling place. Look to the whole body so utterly agonized, tortured and languishing. Look to the tender gracious hands--those crimson fountains tell the tale! Look at the feet--those scarlet rivulets declare how deep is His love! Yes, look to His side, sliced open by the soldier's spear--that precious stream of blood and water declares with double and indisputable force that Jesus loves! And we were not born then--we were not here! He loved us first. But this grand old Book bids us go farther back than that day! He loved us when, in the Garden, our first parents spoiled us all and a promise was given that He should come to bruise the serpent's head. Yes, when yonder mountains were infants, when the gray old world and its ruins that speak of ages were as yet but newly formed, yes, and before that--before the sun's great flame was lit by the Divine torch, before stars began to whirl in their all but boundless revo-lutions--when time was not, when there was no day but the Ancient of Days and He dwelt alone, the Infinite Jehovah-- even then, Jesus loved His people! His prescient eyes had seen them. His Sovereign choice had separated them. His distinguishing Grace had discriminated them and His eternal purpose had decreed them to be His forever and ever! He loved us first. Well, if this is not a good reason for loving Him, where could such reason be found? He first loved us. Oh, cold hearts! Oh, slabs of marble! Oh, blocks of granite! Oh, icebergs! If we melt not now, when will we melt? He loved us first! That glorious thought like fire rushes through and through and through our very deepest nature and refines it, and sets us all on a glow. We must love Him because He first loved us! Words fail me to speak about that love of His. It was a love so condescending that He stooped from Heaven to reach us, laid aside the royalties of Glory and took upon Himself the infirmities of earth! It was a love so lasting that the ageshave never dimmed it, nor lessened it by so much as a single atom. It was a love so enduring that the ten thousand provocations of our unbelief and of our sin have never quenched it! Many waters could not quench it, neither could the floods drown it. It was a love so generous that Jesus gave us all! He gave us even His Father and His God, for did He not say, "My Father and your Father, My God and your God"? He gave us and He gives us this day Himself! He gives us communion with Himself. He gives us His blood to wash us. He gives us His righteousness to clothe us. He gives us His life for our example, His Throne for our rest at the last. Oh, generous Love, nothing do You withhold! You reserve nothing for Yourself! You give all to the beloved object. It was a love that was quite disinterested. Jesus had nothing to gain. The gain was ours. It was a love most self-sacrificing. His sufferings, how intense! His griefs, how terrible! And all for His sweet love of us who were His enemies! I would I had a seraph's tongue but for one moment--a tongue of flame with which to speak of my Master! As I cannot have this, I must be content to say that this ocean of Christ's love is one that is not to be measured. Plunge into it! Ask that you may be swallowed up in it! Pray that it may baptize you, that you may be lost in its overwhelming floods and that henceforth for you to live may be Christ and to die may be gain! Brothers and Sisters, the Lord's love is over you, and in you, and in the power of His quickening Spirit may you live through another week! And when we come together again, may our hearts retain some of the glow of the affection which I trust we have felt burning within our hearts tonight. To His name be praise! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS8:26-39. Verse 26. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. Our weaknesses, our insufficiencies, our inabilities--the Spirit of God comes to be a Helper to the children of God! 26. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought We do not know our own infirmities. Perhaps we think that we are strong while we are exceedingly weak. The Spirit of God spies out the infirmities and puts the help where the strength is required. "We know not what we should pray for as we ought." 26. But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered Those great things in prayer that we cannot ask for, which can never be expressed in human language, the Holy Spirit translates into groans. And so we are made to groan when we cannot speak--and those groans bring us blessings which words cannot compass. Have you been into your prayer chamber lately, pleading with God, and have you felt as if you could not pray? We often pray best when we think that we are praying worst! When there is the most anguish, sighing and crying in prayer, there is most of the very essence of prayer. 27. And He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God The Spirit knows what we need. God knows what the Spirit is asking for--and so our prayer makes the complete round and God sends us the blessing! 28. And we know--We know--we are sure of it. 28. That all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We know this for we have proved it in our own experience. "All things work." There is nothing inactive in the Providence of God. "All things work together." There is a unity in Providence. God sets one thing over against another. Blessed be the name of God, all things work together for good! The purpose of God to His people is good and only good--and though this or that might be injurious--yet, all put together, they work for good to those who love God. Come, my Soul, do you love God? Can you say tonight, "You know all things. You know that I love You"? All things work together for your good! Not only shall they work, but they are working--they work for your good now! And learn another sweet lesson. You are one of those whom God calls according to the sweet purpose of His electing love, for so it stands--they that love God are the same as those who are called according to His purpose! If you love God, God loves you. Your love to God, poor and faint though it is, is the assured token that He loves you with an everlasting love and, therefore, with bands of loving kindness has He drawn you. 29. For whom He did foreknow. That is, look upon with pleasure and delight from before all worlds. Whom He did love and call to be His own. Christ is the Man, the archetype. He is not to be a lone Man. It is not good for man to be alone, not even for the Man! And there are to be other men called by God's Grace who are to be made like He, who are tobe His Brothers and Sisters. These, whom God foreknew, with fore-love He has ordained, determined and predestinated to be made like His Son. 29-30. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-Born among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called. Not with the common call with which He calls other men, but with the special call! The hen, when she is about in the yard, keeps on calling, but when she wants her own little ones to come and run beneath her wings, then she has a special cluck for them and they know it--and they come and run and hide beneath her. 30. And whom He called, them He also justified. He regarded them as just. He made them just through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. 30. And whom He justified, them He also glorified. There is no break in this chain. The foreknown are predestinated, the predestinated are called, the called are justified, the justified are glorified. It is a wondrous chain! He that gets a hold of it anywhere has a hold of the whole of it, for this Scripture cannot be broken! If you are called by Grace into the fellowship of eternal life, you shall be justified and glorified! 31. What shall we then say to these things?! do not know what we can say. Wonders of Grace, mountains of mercy, mercy without limit--what shall we say to these things? This, at least we, can say-- 31. If God is for us, who can be against us? A great many can be against us, but we reckon them as nothing at all if God is for us! 32. 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?There can be no end to the bounty of God after He has given His Son. He that has given the jewel of the universe, the very eye of Heaven--will He not give to us all else really needed--and give freely, too? 33-35. 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 who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Dear children of God, feed on these words! They are like wafers made with honey, like cold waters from the Rock! Eat, drink and be filled. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" 35. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?Well, these things have been tried. As it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." In Paul's day they were being hunted to the death by the thousands and tens of thousands. Were they separated from Christ's love? The enemy grew tired of persecution before the saints were wearied by it! You remember how, in the days of the Roman Empire, the Christians came to the judgment seat and confessed Christ even when they were not sought after--as if tempting their enemies to throw them to the lions, or put them to death! They were destitute of all fear and though Emperors were worse than brutes, these Christians defied them, outbraved them, vanquished them! They could not put down the Christians. 36-39. As it is written, For Your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. __________________________________________________________________ Good Talk (No. 3399) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Talk you of all His wondrous works." 1 Chronicles 16:9. This sentence stands in connection with exhortations to offer thanksgiving unto the Lord and to make known His deeds among the people. Thus it runs, "Sing unto Him; sing Psalms unto Him; talk you of all His wondrous works." The old typical religion of the Jews and the perverse superstition of the heathen made some places sacred and some places unclean--some actions holy and other actions, performed however well they might be--common and not to be connected in any degree with holiness. But the religion of Jesus Christ has once and for all swept away all holy places-- wherever man is holy, every place is hallowed! Jesus Christ has consecrated the world by His Presence and wherever man chooses to worship, there is a house for God. The religion of Jesus Christ has also swept away those distinctions which men make as to actions being necessarily religious or irreligious. Some will have it that to sing a Psalm is to worship God--a sacred thing--but to feed the sparrows is, according to them, a secular matter. To come up to a place that shall be set apart for worship and there to bow the knee in prayer is adoration of the Most High--but, according to them, to perform acts of mercy and righteousness is not a tribute of homage to God! Now, the very essence of the Christian religion is just this--that it is not a thing confined to hours, times and places, but it is a thing of spirit It lies not in outward garbs or in mere words, but pervades the whole spirit of man and makes him turn his entire life into worship! Then every action he performs in its spirit and under its influence is holiness unto the Lord! God is worshipped by servants who fulfill the duties of their station. By judges who decree righteousness. By merchants who deal justly. By children who obey their parents, and by parents who train up their children in the fear of the Lord. There is not a line to be drawn anywhere, so that you can say, "Outside of that you go beyond the sanctuary of religion and get into the outer courts frequented by the multitude." Here has been the great mistake which some Christians have made with regard to politics. They have supposed that a man could not be a Christian and a politician, too. Hence much injustice has been done. The fact is, when a man feels, "There is nothing that belongs to man but what may be consecrated to God," and when he says, "I, being God's servant, may take all that belongs to man and devote it as holiness unto the Lord," he reaches the highest order of manhood and illustrates the highest style of Christianity. We cannot fully exhibit the spirit of Jesus Christ till we have learned that we must carry out in every place--and in every sphere--the spirit of His religion. I make these remarks because while we are first bid to sing unto God's praise, we are next told to talk about His wondrous works. There is a praising for the assembly. There is a talking for the fireside--and both are to be holy! The praise is to be hearty, sincere, unanimous, full of animation--the talk is to be equally sincere, equally earnest, equally sacred. You are not to say, "I have done with praising God," when the hymn is over and you begin to open your mouths upon ordinary topics! But in your ordinary conversation, in the fields, by the wayside, in the streets and in your chambers, you are still to go on praising God and talking of all His wondrous works. Shall there be a connection established between such a common word as, "talk," and such grand swelling words as "the wondrous works of God"? We wonder to find the little monosyllable in such a place! "Preach you of all His wondrous works," would seem well enough. "Show them," would seem sound theology, but talk you, talk you--in your ordinary, common, everyday conversation--make the wondrous works of God to be your conversation, your familiar talk! We must talk. We seem born to talk! We were, wretched, indeed, if we were forbidden to speak to our fellow creatures! Why, the world seems to be enlivened by continuous, not to say, incessant, talking--from the first blush of morning, on through all the bustling day and far into the shades of drowsy night--how our tongues are occupied! They run morequickly than our feet and carry less, though much mischief, sometimes, comes from their babble. They are sharper than razors, some of them, and cut deeper than swords, and kindle fire enough to set the world in a blaze! Now, this talking to which women are proverbially disposed and in which men indulge as freely as inclination prompts them--to be heard in every street, in every house and in every workshop--this it is which is to be consecrated unto God! The streams of conversation are everywhere to be drawn off from the gutters and channels in which they gather defilement--to be strained, cleansed and purified till they become fresh, clear and sparkling! Then the speech of humans--man with man, saint with saint, redeemed from the beggarly elements of common slander, envy, foolishness and vanity shall be lifted up as on eagles' wings till it is like the fellowship of the angels realizing the prediction of the Psalmist to the praise of the Lord-- "They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom and talk of Your power." Now, first-- I. THE SUBJECT HERE SUGGESTED FOR OUR COMMONPLACE TALK--HIS WONDROUS WORKS-- invites notice! Brothers and Sisters, we ought to talk more about God's wondrous works as we find them in Holy Scripture. Do you read them? Alas, in how many a case the Bible is the least read book in the house! I am inclined to think that although there may be more Bibles in England than any other book, there is less of Bible reading than anything else in literature! The sacred volume seems to be scarcely known to many, except from Chapters read in the public services, and the quotations of the minister, while alas, alas, for us, our conversation has very little in it of the records of the mighty acts of the Lord! But the old saints were known to speak to one another about the historical parts of Scripture. They dwelt full often, and never seemed happier than when they were dwelling upon it--on that story of the Red Sea, when the Lord smote Rahab and broke the head of the dragon. How they would stand together and speak of the Books of the wars of the Lord, of what He did by the brook Arnon, and how He led His servants through Jordan and brought them into the Promised Land, cast out the Canaanites and slew their kings! They talked of these things, not merely as historical events, but as seeing the Lord in them all! And they so spoke and so read of them as to see in them subjects worthy of their study. I do not know how it is, but we do not get at the history of our own country in anything like the way in which one might desire, for really, the wondrous works of God which He has done here in this land are such as we ought to speak of at our firesides! We should look upon the events of history and the chronicles of each day in this light. And if, as we scanned the ample pages of history, rich with the spoils of time, we saw God's hand fashioning its contingencies and molding them into destiny--and the impress of His footsteps upon all its stupendous revolutions--we should not lack for topics of conversation, but our memories would be stored, our interest excited, our minds elevated with noble passions and our social conversation ennobled by the inexhaustible resources of wisdom as we talked of all the wondrous works of the Lord! But, Brothers and Sisters, our own history will enable us to relate such a multitude of tender mercies as may well become incentives to gratitude and praise. How much might we tell of what the Lord has done for us personally! Here is a subject that shall never be exhausted. Talk to one another--especially to those who can understand you because they have felt the same--of the long-suffering of God when you were in your ungodly estate--the wonders of that love which tracked you with its many warnings while you were still strangers to yourselves and to God. Talk of that Almighty Power which, when the predestinated hour had come, laid hold upon you and made you yield! Speak of what the Lord did for you when you were in the low dungeon of your own self-abhorrence--how He met with you when you were brought to death's door--how Jesus appeared for you and clothed you with His Righteousness--and your spirit revived and your heart was glad. Shall the slave ever forget the music of his chains when they dropped from his wrists? And will you ever cease to speak of that happy day, the happiest of all days, when all the chains of your transgression were forever broken off at the love touch of your Redeemer? Oh, no! Talk still of the wondrous works of God as connected with your conversion. And since that time, however quiet your life may have been, I am sure there has been much in it that has tenderly illustrated the Lord's Providence, the Lord's guidance, the Lord's deliverance, the Lord's upholding and sustaining you! You have been, perhaps, in poverty--and just when the barrel of meal was empty--then you were supplied. Talk of His wondrous works! You have been in great temptation and when you were reeling under it, or when you were slandered and no name was thought bad enough for you, His sweet love has appeared to you and helped you to rejoice in this, also, for Christ's name sake. Talk of this! You have gone, perhaps, Christian, through fire and through water--yours has been a very checkered life. You have fought with lions, or have stood in the Valley of the Shadow of Death--but in it all God's aid has been very wonderful! There have been miracles, heaped upon miracles along your pathway! Perhaps you are like the Welsh woman who said that the Ebenezers which she had set up at the places where God had helped her were so thick that they made a wall from the very spot she began with Christ to that she had then reached! Is it so with you? Then talk--talk you of all His wondrous works! I am sure you would find such talk most interesting, most impressive, and most instructive, for the things we have seen and experienced, ourselves, generally wear a novelty and abound in interest beyond any narrative we get from books, or any unauthenticated story we pick up secondhand. Tell them how God has led you, fed you and brought you to this day--and would not let you go! There is a topic for you--and you never shall know how large it is. II. THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS SUBJECT IS BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE. Were we to talk more of God's wondrous works, there would be this negative good, that we should talk less about our own works. A man never lowers himself more than when he tries to lift himself up. There are some whose propensity is to use vain swelling words about their own doings--and they seem to be never better pleased than when they are bragging and saying, "I did this. I did that. I did the other." "Talk you of all His wondrous works." As for your puny actions, if you judge and estimate them properly, you will find more to mourn over than to boast of! Give to the Lord the glory that is due unto His name and your discretion shall not be periled. If we talked more of God's wondrous works, we would be free from talking of other people's works. It is easy to criticize those we cannot rival, and carp at those we cannot emulate. He who could not carve a statue, or make a single stroke of the chisel correctly, is quick to point out where the handicraft of the greatest sculptor might have been improved. It is a poor, pitiful occupation, that of picking holes in other people's coats--and yet some people seem so pleased when they can perceive a fault that they roll it under their tongue as a sweet morsel! Why should this be? Why should you find fault with God's servants in this way? They are not your servants, but His servants--He will call them to account. He does not ask you to be thus officious. Talk you of His wondrous works and you will not speak so unkindly of His servants! Did we talk more of God's wondrous works, it would keep us from the ordinary frivolities of conversation. In the olden times they that feared the Lord spoke often, one to another, and the Lord listened and heard--and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. Suppose for a moment that our ordinary conversation were taken down by an eavesdropper, as in the case mentioned by Malachi? I do not know what your conversation was about at tea-time this evening, but supposing that somebody had been listening and hearing--and that you knew for certain that it was going to be put into a book and printed--would you feel quite easy? Suppose we could have put down in a book the talk of all our people during the day--and could have it all read out? I am afraid we would find that our talk is not always such as edifies and not always seasoned with salt! In fact, some Christian people never thoroughly talk good Gospel talk unless somebody is present in whose esteem it is likely to raise them, or until they get into such company as they suppose will relish it--and then they feel compelled to accommodate themselves to the occasion. The habit of thoroughly good godly talk is not common among professors. I wish it were. I wish that not only sometimes our talk were what God would have it to be, but that it were alwaysso, that our common conversation were like salt ministering Divine Grace unto the hearers. As there is a negative excellence about this subject of conversation, so there is also a positive excellence. Supposing we were to talk more of God's wondrous works--when the habit was acquired, it would necessitate stricter habits of observation and of discrimination in watching the Providence of God. Memory, the treasure house of the mind, must have its goods assorted and its records indexed so that the things of which we hear and read might not only be well retained, but easily referred to. As Cowper says-- "But conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow like waters after summer showers, Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers." Alas, the mercies of God flow by us like a river! We forget to count their multitudinous waves. We receive the mercies fresh every day and take but slight account of them! Too often they are-- "Forgotten in unthankfulness, And without mention, die." The spirit of observing God in all things was prevalent among our Puritan ancestors. They saw God in every single drop of rain and in every ray of sunlight. They were known to talk about the most common changes of the atmosphere as coming from the hand of God! They speak of incidents which we might account trivial as connected with the decrees of Him who orders all things after the counsel of His own will. Oh, that we, too, amidst the various maze of life, could thus learn to track the course "of boundless wisdom and of boundless love"! Such conversation, Brothers and Sisters, would be very ennobling. Why, it would liken us to the ancient saints and the spirits before the Throne of God! What is their conversation there? How they talk of God's wondrous works, God's works in Creation, God's works in Providence, God's works in Grace! They are too taken up with the splendor of the Divine Presence to suffer their pure conversation to degenerate into any meaner theme. Yes, and living as we do in the Presence of God, professing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and to have been lifted up from the world into communion with Jesus Christ, it ought to be our holy ambition to let our conversation be of things that are like our standing--things that are worthy of our high calling and profession--things that have to do with our election and will help us onward to our eternal portion! We would not be so groveling, as we are, if we talked more of the wondrous things of God. And Beloved, while holding this lofty fellowship of heart and tongue, how would our gratitude glow and what an impulse would be given to our entire life!I do not know how you find it, but with me it is no easy matter to maintain spiritual life in the fullness of its vigor. To go week after week, month after month, and year after year, plodding on in the pilgrimage is hard work! It needs no small degree of strength, resolve and skill. If it were one tremendous leap, we could soon perform it. If it were but a spurt in the race, we might soon win the prize--but to go on, on, on--and still to keep up our zeal, still to be awake, still to be earnest--here it is one feels the need of the mercies of God to be means of Grace to us, to refresh our gratitude and put fresh fuel upon the altar. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, we have not lived yet! We do not seem to recognize what the Christian life really means! When I instanced our conversation just now as being poor, and mean, and barren, I did but cull one mildewed leaf out of the whole field, for I fear our whole life is much alike. Lord, revive us! What means is He likely to use except He employs the rod of chastisement as the renewal of our memory of His great loving kindness, that we may be constrained to dedicate ourselves more fully unto Him? But times flies. Let me proceed, therefore-- III. TO URGE THIS TALKING, ORDINARILY AND COMMONLY, ABOUT GOD'S WONDROUS WORKS. I have already said that it would prevent much evil and do us much good. May I not safely add that it would be the means of doing much good to others? If we spoke often of God's wondrous works, we might impress the sinner. We might enlighten the ignorant. We might comfort the desponding. You say, "But how are we to do it?" I reply, "How is it you have notdone it before?" If we began early in our Christian course to make Jesus Christ our companion in the family and everywhere we went--and to take Him always with us--we would never leave off! It would become the business of our life! I have noticed that many Christian people delay in this matter for years. They cultivate habits of retirement and reticence more upon this subject than upon any other! Perhaps it is a long time after they have believed that they come forward to obey the second great command of Baptism--and the same shyness happens with regard to their talking about Christ in all companies. They do love Him--at least in the judgment of charity, we trust they do. We acknowledge them, but having never began at the first to acknowledge Him openly, they cannot break the ice now. If they had then had the courage to say, "I have given Christ my tongue and mean to use it for Him. I am His servant and I mean to serve Him wherever I go," they would still have continued the profession and the practice! Brothers and Sisters, is it shyness that restrains you? Take care it is shyness and not cowardice! Say to yourselves, each one of you-- "Am I a soldier of the Cross, A follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?" What? In the presence of the noble army of martyrs who feared not to die, do you fear to speak? What? If they stood on the burning firewood for Christ, cannot you bear, if so it must be, a jeer or sarcasm? Must you be wickedly dumb when you might do so much for Christ in the circle where His Providence has cast you? Oh, be ashamed of having been ashamed! Ask the Master that whatever fear you have, you may be delivered from the fear of man which brings a snare! "Talk you of all His wondrous works." But some will object, "I have no gifts or ability." No, my Brother, my Sister--it does not need any ability to talk, or else there would not be so much talk in the world as there is--talk in the ordinary strain, the commonplace prattle which breaks the silence of the world. It is what everybody is doing. There is no gifted tongue requisite. There are no powers of eloquence invoked. Neither laws of rhetoric nor rules of grammar are pronounced indispensable in the simple talk that my text inculcates, " Talk you of all His wondrous works." I beg your pardon when you say you cannot do this. You cannot because you will not! If you would, you could speak well of His name. Because there is no need of ability in anyone to say something for Jesus after an ordinary sort, I press it upon you! Are you a nursemaid? Talk of His name to the little prattlers with whom you are entrusted. Or are you a crossing-sweeper? Friend, there are some you can get at that I could not! I will be bound to say the crossing-sweeper has a friend who would be frightened if I were to speak to him. "But I am so poor," you reply. "I work in the midst of such a ribald, blaspheming set." Ah, Friend, but you can talk! I know you can! There are times when you can talk even to those blasphemers! It is little use talking to a drunk--it is like casting pearls before swine. But he is not always drunk! There is a time of sobriety--and then it is that you are to go to work. You are not so to talk of Christ as to stop the mill, or to interpose your religion in the way of business. That were indiscreet. But there are leisure times, there are hours for dinner, there are times when they talk to you--and then is your time to talk to them. As the profane take the liberty to force their irreligion upon you, so you take the liberty to force your religion upon them! Use your wits. Find out the proper times and then turn them to the best account. "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand, for you know not which shall prosper, this or that." I have only one aim tonight--if I can succeed in it, I shall be very thankful--that Christian people shall talk more of the love of God at the table! At the breakfast table, at the tea table, at the dinner table--that domestic companionship and social hospitalities may be hallowed! And this without depriving them of their genial conviviality, but rather infusing into them a higherentertainment. That we who are masters shall talk of the things of God so that our servants shall hear of them and that servants shall so speak of Christ that their fellows shall hear about Him. The great weapon of the Christian religion has been the public preaching of the Word, nor would I disparage it, but it will never evangelize the nations unless there is attendant with it a constant reiteration of the preached Truth of God till it flows through innumerable little conduits into every circle of society! Wycliffe was but one man, but he taught others to read. One page of Matthew's Gospel and the Epistle to the Romans was given to each. They went out and read it in the streets. And so was the Truth of God spread until it was said that you could not meet two men on the roadside, but one of them would be a Lollard! In Luther's day it was not merely the preaching of Luther, it was the singing of the hymns and the Psalms at the spinning-wheel! It was the occupation of the solitary colporteur--it was the general chit-chatting with everybody at the blacksmith fire, in the farmyard, on the Exchange! Curiosity was excited, enquiry was prompted, the popular conversation was inoculated! The fever of that healthful sickness--repentance toward God--was spread abroad and communicated from one to another! "Have you heard the news? Have you heard that Luther has proclaimed that men are justified by faith and not by works?" It was this that shook Rome! It is this which will shake her yet again. The waking up of Christian life throughout the entire body of the Church of God--and the enlisting of the entire life of the Christian Church in the cause of Christ is an enterprise to be consummated by the individual agency of each--and the general action of all who seek the Glory of God and the welfare of man! Talk you, therefore, of all His wondrous works! Oh, that there should be any here who never thought of God, much less talked of His wondrous works! Wondrous, indeed, is God's patience that has kept you alive! Marvelous His long-suffering that, after having neglected Him all these years, He has not cut you down! The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib, but you have not known God! You would not keep a dog that would not follow you. You would soon dispose of an ox that was of no service to you. Oh, why has God kept you? It is a wonder! Here is another wonder--He bids us entreat you, allure you, encourage you with a saving promise, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Take heed of this Gospel! May the Holy Spirit make you yield to it. Trust Christ! Obey Him by avowing your faith in Him, and you shall be saved! The Lord grant it, for Jesus' sake. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 142; 143. "MaschilofDavid."An instructive Psalm of David, for we speak to one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and they are a means of instruction as well as a means of utterance of praise. "A prayer when he was in the cave" and, therefore, likely to suit any of you who are in trouble--a prayer when he hid away from Saul and was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains--"A prayer when he was in the cave." Verse 1. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. Of course, the essence of his prayer was in his heart, but it often helps the heart to use the voice! It is much better to pray in silence if you will be heard by others, for we are not to pray to be heard of men, but if you have opportunity to pray aloud, I am sure you will feel it very helpful to devotion to do so. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication." 2. I poured out my complaint before Him. As if it were in a vessel and he turned the vessel upside down and poured it all out. That is true prayer--it is the pouring out of what is really in--not an utterance of words which may, perhaps, go no farther than the mere lips. But the pouring out of whatever is within, whether it is praise or complaint."I poured out my complaint before Him"--realized His Presence and then told Him my complaint. 2. I showed my trouble before Him. We must believe that God is, and that He is the hearer of prayer. We must be conscious that we are not only using proper words and feeling proper thoughts, but that we are doing it before Him. "I showed my trouble before Him." 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path I did not know it. I was so puzzled--so in a maze, like a man at his wits' end. My spirit seemed turned bottom upward, like a thing that is overwhelmed. 3. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I could not find out where the snare was, but "You knew my path." I knew the trap was cunningly laid, but I could not see it. "You knew my path." We are not ignorant of Satan's devices, but sometimes we are completely ignorant as to what devices he is using just now, but "then You knew my path." 4. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.It is always a bad time when friendship seems to have died out when those who we rely upon turn their backs upon us and refuse to sympathize with us in any degree. It is a sad case to be in. "No man cared for my soul." 5. I cried unto You, O LORD.Ah, that is the thing to do! When no man will know you, God will know you! When no man cares for you, God will care for you! Prayer is an unfailing resort! "I cried unto You, O Lord." 5. I said, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. See how he clings to his God? We never cling to God as well as when everything else fails us! To a greater or less extent, all those who yield us comfort do, in some little measure, take our heart off our God. But when it comes to being lonely, friendless, helpless, forgotten, despised, rejected and outcast, oh, then it is a blessed thing, with a two-handed faith, to lay hold on God and say, "You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living." 6. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low. What a blessed argument! Nothing can move God's pity like it! "I am brought very low." It is not your height that God will respect--it is your lowliness. O Soul, it is not your excellence that God regards--it is your need! Not your goodness, but your lack of His goodness that He looks at! Not your fullness, but your emptiness--not your strength, but your weakness! Nothing that you have--it is your lack of everything that moves His heart! "Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low." 6, 7. Deliver me from my persecutors: for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name.He asks for deliverance so that he may praise God in it! So ought we always to desire mercies with this in view--that we may praise God the better for them! 7. The righteous shall compass me about; for You shall deal bountifully with me. Lord, if You are kind to me, all Your people will hear of it. When I get out of prison, they will say, one to another, "Such-and-such a Brother has been cheered and comforted. His face has changed. He is no more sad." And they will come round me. They will begin to ask me how it came about. Thus I shall tell out Your praises--encourage others and get to You a great and glorious name, if You shall deal bountifully with me. Now, the next Psalm, much after the same fashion. PSALM143. "A Psalm of David." Verse 1. Hear myprayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in Your faithfulness answer me, andin Yourrigh-teousness.It is a theory held by some persons of skeptical minds that the only benefit of prayer is the good it does to us. That was not David's theory. Here, three times he begs to be heard and to be answered! Oh, do they think us such idiots that we would go on speaking in a keyhole with nobody to hear us? Do they think us brought so low--so destitute of wit--that we think it worth our while to speak out what is in our heart if God does not hear and does not answer? I reckon prayer to be the most idiotic of all occupations unless there is really a God to hear and a God to answer! And the benefit of prayer is not in itself so much as in the full confidence that it is a real thing--and an effective thing--that God does hear and does interpose on our behalf! 2. And enter not into judgment with Your servant "I am Your servant. I am not one of the ungodly whom You will judge and cast away, but still, even though I am Your servant, enter not into judgment with me. I know You will not judge me now as a rebel and condemn me, for You have put away my sin, but even as Your servant I fear Your chastising rod if You enter into judgment with me." 2. For in Your sight shall no man living be justified. I have heard some living that think they would! They have said that the very root and branch of sin have been cut up in them and that they walk in the fear of God perfectly well! Ah, but I think they have not, but that these are mistaken, for still it is very true concerning the very best of men that they have need to pray, "Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight shall no man living be justified." 3, 4 For the enemy has persecuted my soul: he has smitten my life down to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is deso-late.Children of God, do not expect to be always happy, or else you will be disappointed! You will have more troubles, if nobody else does. Depend upon it, that adversity is one of the Covenant promises--"In the world you shall have tribulation," is your Master's own words to you, and you must not expect to find it untrue. You will find it true to the letter! And sometimes the troubles of life will penetrate even to your heart and make you feel desolate. When you are so, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial as though yours were a new path in which nobody ever walked before you. Ah, no! David was there! Many others have been there! 5, 6. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all Your works. I muse on the work of Your hands. I stretch forth my hands unto You: my soul thirsts after You, as a thirsty land. Selah. As a child puts out its hand to its mother, so did he stretch out his hands to his God. As a thirsty land chaps--becomes dry--turns to dust in its longing after rain, so did his whole being thirst for his God! 7. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit fails: hide not Your face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into a pit "Lest I swoon away--lest I die--lest my hope should utterly expire! Come, Lord! Come, Lord and rescue me!" 8. Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning; for in You do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto You. Very heavy, but I lift it up. With all my might, as though it were a dead lift, I seek to raise it out of its doubt, and out of its sorrow. 9. 10. Deliver me, O Lord from my enemies: I flee unto You to hide me. Teach me to do Your will; for You are my God: Your Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Or, "lead me in a straight path." So it is rendered by the best scholars. 11. Quicken me, O LORD, for Your name's sake. He felt as if he would die and, therefore, he says, "Quicken me: put new life into me." To whom should we go for life, but to the living God? And who can communicate with us but the same God who first made us live in His name? 11, 12. For Your righteousness 'sake bring my soul out oftrouble. And of Your mercy cut offmy enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am Your servant. __________________________________________________________________ The Day of Atonement (No. 3400) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING MAY 9, 1869. "And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year." Leviticus 16:34. WE have taken these words for our text. The whole Chapter, however, will have our attention. I must be allowed to say at this time, though I seldom say anything in the way of an apology, that this is not the place, nor would time serve us to go into a full exposition of the very wonderful teaching of this Chapter. If we may ever set any portion of Scripture before another, this is one of the most precious Chapters in the whole compass of Revelation and, in some respects, the most remarkable of all. It is so full of wonderfully deep teaching that, instead of a sermon, it might require a volume! And then, perhaps, we would scarcely have done more than skimmed the surface. And there are difficulties, I may also add, connected with the interpretation--very great difficulties--which have puzzled the most learned of the Reformed and of the Puritan divines. I do not at all attempt to solve those difficulties, nor profess that all I say might be able to support and carry out. I desire to give, instead of any attempt at criticism or deep explanation, a simple exposition of this Chapter, bringing out of it, I hope, some Truths of God which, if they do not belong to the Chapter, are, nevertheless, exceedingly precious ones and will, I hope, be useful to us all. In a remarkable way God dealt with Israel in the wilderness. There were special tokens of His peculiar Presence, as in the cloudy and fiery pillars which were the emblems of His Presence, and in the bright light called the Shekinah, which shone between the wings of the cherubim which overshadowed the Ark. But God cannot dwell where there is sin. He is a holy Being. "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts," is the song which continually rises into His ears. In order, then, that He might dwell in the midst of Israel without compromising His Character, He was pleased to appoint one day in the year which was called "the Day of Atonement," which should be considered to purify the camp and make it fit to be the dwelling place of Jehovah. Now, God has promised that He will dwell among men, and He does dwell among His own people at this very time. He dwells with them in a remarkable way. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul. God is the heritage, the Friend, the Companion of all His people, but because of their sin He cannot dwell with these believing men unless an Atonement is made. The annual atonement among the Jews was the picture of the great Atonement--but the real Atonement, the effectual Expiation which, not once a year, but once and for all, the Lord Jesus Christ has offered--now renders it possible for God to walk with men and dwell among them! In the ceremony of the atonement, in the Chapter before us, there are four things that struck me. The first is-- I. THE WAY IN WHICH THAT REMARKABLE CEREMONY SET FORTH THE SACRIFICE MADE TO GOD'S HONOR. My Brothers and Sisters, the offense of man against God was, so to speak, a stain upon God's honor. Man set himself up in rebellion against the Most High! He stood out, therefore, against Divine Sovereignty! He impugned the Divine Love. His offense blasphemed the Divine Wisdom. Every human sin is an attack upon the whole Character and life of God--and sin, itself, is a dishonor done to the glorious attributes of Jehovah. Before God can be reconciled to man and deal with Him at all, except by way of retribution, there must be something done to restore the Divine Honor. Now, we have it declared in this Revelation which comes to us from Heaven, that Christ has fully restored the Divine Glory and that since He suffered on the tree, the Just for the unjust, God can be gracious without a violation of His Justice and Hecan dwell with us--with us poor fallen creatures--without the marring of the luster of any single one of His attributes! The model man has honored God more fully than sinful man ever dishonored Him! And if God was angry with the race for our sins, He is now towards the race full of tenderness and pity because of the transcendent goodness of the new Head of the race, Christ Jesus our Lord, who has magnified God's Law and made it honorable! Now, this is the Truth of God that was taught in the first part of the ceremony on the Day of Atonement. It was taught thus. Two goats were brought to the door of the Tabernacle. Lots were cast and the first goat was selected to teach this lesson. The goat was brought by the people. It was their common property. It would not have sufficed--it would not have been of any use at all if it had not been so. Read the Chapter and you will see. Learn from this that the compensation to God's honor for man's sin must come from men. I t was a man in the Garden who dared to rebel--it must be a man, another man, who shall honor God's Law so as to set the race in a fresh relationship towards God. The goat is given by all Israel--the Atonement to God's honor must come out of our race, and hence it is that our Lord is the son of Mary, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh--qualified, being a Man, to perform the obedience required of man and to right, as a Man for men, the wrongs which man had done to God. Note that first. The goat which was brought was given up to the appointed priest. God will have everything done according to order. The sacrifice must not be left to the whims and fancies of men. So the man who shall offer up the sacrifice to the Divine Honor must be appointed of God, as Aaron was. And so our Lord Jesus Christ was God's chosen One, appointed by God to stand in the gap, and for us to vindicate the Divine Glory which we had tarnished by our iniquities. This goat, being thus offered, must be presented to God, but there must be something with it Sweet perfume must be cast upon the live coals and the sweet smell must go up before the Mercy Seat. So before God can ever be satisfied for the wrong done to Him by the Fall and by our common sin, there must be an offering of sweet merits unto Him which, let me say, Jesus Christ has most abundantly offered. He took His hands full of the, most blessed compound of all the graces and all the virtues beaten small, for there was an exact obedience to every jot and tittle of the Divine Law. Christ's obedience was perfect in its kind in the most minute respects--and this merit has been brought before our God, who is a consuming fire, and burns up every evil work. And as He lays hold upon this work of Christ, He makes a sweet smell of it--which is poured out throughout Heaven and earth--"the savor of a sweet odor" in the nostrils of the Most High Do not let me cover up, however, what I mean, under the cloak of allegory. I mean this--that if God is to accept our race of men and all that we have done against Him and still deal with us on the footing of mercy--somebody must be found who can be so obedient, so delighting in God's will, that there shall be a sweet offering made, as morally and spiritually acceptable to God's Spirit as sweet perfume is to the nostril of man. And that has been done. When they talk in Heaven of man's sin--if they ever there speak of it and wonder how God can bear with man, some bright seraph speaks of man's perfect obedience, even unto death, and they say to one another, "What man, what man is this?" and they clap their hands with joy as they say, It's He that sat at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of David." One man threw down the race, but another Man has lifted us up! One man brought ruin by the Fall--another Man restored it and made the race acceptable to God. If man dishonored God, yet man has more honored Him than he dishonored Him, now that Christ has become the great representative Man! All the glory of Redemption is greater than ever there could have been of dishonor to God by sin! I believe that God is more honored by the world having sinned, and having been restored by Christ, than He could have been if there had never been sin upon this planet and if a perfectly sinless race had tenanted its bounds! After this burning of perfume, the goat must die. Nothing could permit the Justice of God to look upon man at all until there had been something more than merit. There must be a penalty. "Die he, or Justice must." Man must die, or God's Justice must die. There must be blood--life poured out for sin. Now, when that goat was put to death and the blood flowed forth into the golden bowl, then, Brothers and Sisters, you saw before your eyes of faith, Jesus Christ put to death upon Calvary. He who needed not to have died, the Perfect One, voluntarily offered Himself up as the Victim to Justice, suffering in His own Person, so as to compensate the Justice of God. Do not imagine that Christ died to placate Divine Vengeance--not at all--but that it is sternly necessary if God is to govern this universe at all, that sin must be punished. The very pillars and the foundations of moral government would, not to say, be shaken, but actually be tornup if sin should be permitted to go unpunished! Now, to vindicate the Justice of God, the sword is drawn and who suffers? Not the human race. Behold, myriads of the race go streaming up to everlasting felicity. Who suffers, then? Why, a Man so marvelously perfect, and withal, so majestically glorious, that His sufferings are a recompense to God for all that sin had done--and so made an effectual Atonement for all the transgressions that had dishonored God! You will observe that I am speaking in very popular, comprehensive and general terms--and designedly so because I believe I am speaking the Infallible Truth of the mind of God! So far as God is concerned, the Atonement that Christ made was universal in its worth and efficacy! So far as the vindication of the Justice of God and all His other attributes are to be considered, that vindication was absolutely complete. And whether one man had been saved, or 50 men saved, or all saved, or none saved, it would have made no difference. The work was done! God's honor was clear! God's attributes were glorified--and this was perfectly done by the putting away of Christ. Once more. The blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat seven times. That was typical of Christ, who goes up into Heaven in His own proper Person and there displays before God, the holy angels and elect spirits, the tokens of His passion, the ensign of His suffering, taking the blood up to God that henceforth when the Eternal Mind thinks of sin and the dishonor done to God by sin, it might think of the sufferings of the blessed Man, Christ Jesus, and see how all dishonor is forever put away! You know, when you are reading Scripture, dear Friends, you find a great many passages which speak about Christ's dying for all men, and about God's having reconciled the world unto Himself. And I know you are apt to say to me, "You teach us Particular Redemption--that Christ only died as a Substitute for some men." That I always say, and stand to--and believe to be a Biblical Doctrine! But do I, therefore, clip away other texts? No, not in any degree! I believe them as they stand. I count it treason to try and clip a text, or to make it say the contrary of what it does say! So far as God's honor was concerned, the death of Christ for men so obliterated human sin as such that God could, without dishonor to Himself, deal with mankind. Hence it is that the wicked live! Hence it is that they enjoy innumerable mercies! Hence it is that there is a good, strong, substantial ground for offering the Gospel to every man--and a righteous reason for commanding every man to believe in Jesus Christ that he may be saved! This was the first teaching of the Day of Atonement and every Jew, when he saw, ought to have understood the presentation of that blood within the veil, that now God no longer looked on the race as being a race that He must curse and must destroy, but looked upon it with mercy and was prepared to treat it on the footing of tenderness. And that now there was a Gospel presented to the sons of men. Oh, I do so love this thought, that my sin, which did dishonor to God, which did as much as say that He was not a good God, that it was better for me to hate Him than to love Him, better for me to be His enemy than to be His friend, made out as though His Commandments were grievous and that it gave me pleasure to break them--all the mischief towards God that my sin could ever do is all put away by the holy life and the blessed death of Christ Jesus my Lord--and put away forever, forever, forever--so that God can now deal with me on the terms of Divine Grace! But my time flies and, therefore, I come to the next point-- II. SIN IS NOW UTTERLY DRIVEN AWAY. There was another goat--and this goat was to live and not to die--which set forth quite another Truth of God. I do not think the common explanation of this is at all correct. And all the expositors I have met with are clear that it is not correct. Some have said that the scapegoat typifies our Lord Jesus bearing our sins away in His Resurrection and ascending into Heaven. The incongruity of the metaphor has always struck me, but there are reasons in the Hebrew text which prevent our believing that thatcould have been the meaning of it. The living goat was taken by a fit man right away into the wilderness and there it was left. What became of it afterwards, we do not know. Painters have depicted it as expiring in the midst of desolation, in the agonies of famine--a mere fancy picture! The scapegoat did not, very probably, die sooner than any other goat--and it is not at all necessary that it should. We never need enlarge a topic beyond what Scripture says. Indeed, there is often as much teaching in a type's stopping short as there is in its going on! These two goats had each its name. One was said to be for Jehovah--that represents Christ, I say, as making recompense to God's honor! The other is said to be for Azazel, which, if I understand it at all, means, "for evil." What? Then was that other goat offered to the Devil? By no means! He is not evil, but one of the ministering spirits in the service of evil. Evil made Satan what he is. He is its slave, its chief plotter and schemer, but still not evil, itself! Did you ever notice--you must have noticed--that the wrong of evil, the sinfulness of sin, even if it were forgiven, works nothing but evil, so that if God were to forgive us all, but leave the evil in us, we should be in Hell for all that because evil of itself holds Hell and works towards its being realized by us. Evil is, in itself, essentially misery--it has only to work itself out and it will be so. Now, how am I to get rid of this sin that is in me as to the evil consequences inherent in the evil? Suppose God to be perfectly reconciled to me so far, yet still there is an evil that mischief brings upon me in itself, apart from God--and how do I get rid of that? Why, through the scapegoat! The sin of the people was, first of all, transferred to this scapegoat--all confessed and all laid on the scapegoat. Then, by Divine appointment, the scapegoat, being chosen by lot and the lot being guided by God, it was accepted as being the substitute for the people. The scapegoat was then taken away. And what was done with it? Why, nothing was done with it but this--it was relinquished--it was given up! Now, can I get out what I mean? I am very much afraid I cannot. Our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sin of His people. And He was given up to evil, that is to say, to all the power that evil could put out against Him--first in the wilderness, tempted from all quarters, tempted by the temptations of Satan. And then in the Garden, tempted in such a way as you and I never were--the powers of evil let loose upon Him as they never were upon us! Did He not say, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness"? And so dreadful was the assault of evil upon Him, the devil going forth as the type and incarnation of evil, that He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground! And while especially on the tree, where the conflict reached its climax, was He given up. That cry, "My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?" is like the cry of the goat when it is given up, quite given up, and led away. Evil was permitted to work out in Him all its own dread hatefulness and havoc, to which it must bring our spirits, unless God interposes to stop evil from making the soul become unutterably wretched, even unto death. I do not know how to get out the thought which seems to be in my soul, but I do rejoice to think that all the evil I have ever done shall not go on to plague and vex me because it has vexed and plagued Him. That all the essential misery that lies in my past sin--which must, even if God forgave it, still come back to sting and torment me throughout all my existence--was so laid on Him and so spent all its force and venom on Him who was given up to it, that it will never touch me again! You know, Brothers and Sisters, there was no other man who could have borne all that power of evil but our Lord. And it all fell on Him and yet it never stained His matchless purity and perfection of Character. The misery of it came to Him, but the guilt of it could never defile Him! The misery of sin spent itself on the lonely One who was given up to its awful force, but it could do no more. The type says nothing about the scapegoat, whether it died or not, and Christ did not die because of the misery of His spirit--He died for quite another reason and in another sense--laying down His life for His people! There is something, I think, interesting in this if we can carry it out, but there is this to be said--by that scapegoat being thus given up, the sin of the congregation was taken away--all taken away and all gone. And so, through Jesus Christ having borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, the whole force and power of evil to do damning mischief against a saint has been taken away forever from everyone of us who have laid our hands, by faith, upon His dear and blessed head. It is gone! The sin is gone, gone into the wilderness, where it shall never be found against us any more forever. I must hasten on, however, for time flies. There was yet a third part of this expiation. Did you notice it? It is a grand thing when we can see God's honor clear. It is a grand thing, next, when we can see ourselves clear as to the effects of evil by Christ's taking evil quite away. The third grand thing is to see-- III. SIN, ITSELF, MADE THE SUBJECT OF CONTEMPT. God cannot dwell with us if sin is petted and loved. Sin must be detested and loathed. Now, read on in the Chapter and you will find that the bullock and the goat which were there, and whose blood was taken into the Holy Place, were afterwards burned outside the camp--see the 27th verse. They were burned, and burned with ignominy, burned outside the camp in the common sewer, the kennel of the camp--and burned, too, under circumstances that imply disgust. "They shall burn in the fire, their skins and their flesh, and their dung"--put in purposely to show what a contempt was to be put upon the beasts that had been, for a while, made to take and to typify sin! That burning outside the camp looked to a stranger like the burning of a heap of rubbish. There was a foul smell of the burning flesh and refuse. Persons, as they passed turned their heads away to avoid the terrible odor. They would say, "What is all this?" "Why, this was a sin-offering, and when the blood, which God accepted, had gone, this was what was left--the filth of sin--and the people were just being taught how they should hate, loathe and destroy it! Every man that touched it washed himself! And no man could touch any of these things that day without bathing again and again, the thing was so detestable! Now, in the Person of our blessed Lord, sin is made most detestable. Did you ever really hate sin until you learned to love Christ? I will ask you when do you hate sin the most? Why, when you love Christ the most! I believe you shall always find that in proportion as you understand and see the work of Christ, you will see in that work, as in a glass, that Christ has made sin to be the most loathsome and disgusting thing that was ever heard of, for what do the angels say--"Man sinned, did he? Oh, foolish man, to sin against his God and his Maker!" "Ah," says one of the angels, "but he did worse than that--he sinned against the God that loved him so, that He would sooner let His Only-Begotten Son die than poor man should perish!" "Oh," they say, "what a shameful thing to sin against so dear and kind a God!" If God were a tyrant, it might not seem atrocious to rebel against Him. But when He becomes so dear and tender a Father as to give His Only-Begotten Son--away with you, Sin! Talk of the Devil! He is not black compared with you, O Sin--you are the Devil's tempter, the Devil's ruin! You make him black. It is sin, sin that is so foul a thing that I can liken it unto nothing! There is nothing on earth, there is nothing anywhere in Hell that can be likened unto it! Sin is made to appear exceedingly sinful and loathsome to the uttermost degree through the Expiatory Sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Now, these are three grand things for God to have done in this world--after man sinned to have made His name as glorious as ever. After man's sin, to have set pardoned man straight, as straight as ever from his sin. And after that, to have made sin which came with the apple in its hand and which comes every day, now, with painted face, and with the cup in its hand, filled to the brim with sweet wine, seem hateful and to be really so! Oh, it is a grand work, that which Christ has done! Blessed be His name! Now, the last point--and I shall need your earnest consideration for a minute or two--is this. I must call your attention to-- IV. THE BEHAVIOR OF THE PEOPLE DURING THE WHOLE OF THAT DAY in which this wonderful panorama was made to pass before them. During that day they were to afflict their souls. Do you want to have your sin forgiven? Put away your jollity and your mirth. A repenting sinner had need to be a mourner and, Brothers and Sisters, when sin is put away, how the forgiven sinner afflicts his soul! He is happy! He was never more happy! Never so happy, but how grieved he is to think he ever sinned!-- "My sins, my sins my Savior! How sad on You they fall! Seen through Your gentle patience, I tenfold feel them all. I know they are forgiven, But still their pain to me, Is all the grief and anguish, They laid, my Lord, on Thee. My sins, my sins, my Savior! Their guilt Inever knew, Till, with You, in the desert, I near Your passion drew. Till with You, in the Garden, I heard Your pleading prayer, And saw the bloody sweat drops, That told Your sorrow there." Oh, there is never, never such affliction of soul for sin as when you see the great Atonement! Let me invite you to hate sin, tonight, you pardoned ones. Take care to do it. And you unpardoned ones, rend your hearts, but not your garments! And turn unto God with afflicted spirits and say, "Lord, through the precious Atonement of which I have heard so much tonight, blot out my sins!" The next thing concerning the people that day was that they were to do no servile work on that day. There was to be no hewing of wood, no drawing of water--nothing was to be done throughout all the camp by way of labor. So, when a soul comes to the Atonement of Christ, it has done with all its works of righteousness and all its deeds of human merit! You can never have the Atonement of Christ while you are working out your own works and trying to be saved by them. And the Believer that has once come to take Christ to be his Savior will never try to get any merits of his own. Oh, he has thrown away forever the fooleries of self-righteousness! He sees the absurdity of hoping that foul, black hands can ever present a fair, white sacrifice to God. He takes his lord and he has done with his own doings! Once more--it was to be to the people a Sabbath unto the Lord. That day was not the seventh day of the week, but still it was to be a kind of Sabbath. And what a glorious Sabbath the Atonement always makes! Why, I feel a Sabbath, tonight, apart from the Sabbath Day. I have a Sabbath in my soul, to think that the sin of man has not, after all, done lasting damage to the Throne of God. I feel so happy to think, next, that there is a special sacrifice made for the elect, by the scapegoat's having taken away their sin, so that the evil of their sin will never come on them. I feel so thankful, tonight, to think that God has made sin to appear to be exceedingly sinful. These three grand things ring a peal of bells in my soul, for now I feel content--for God is satisfied to come to God--and I can see why He should let me come to Him. I can understand now how it is that He should let a fallen creature hold converse with His thrice holy Self after His great work is done! And it is better for me, and better for you, that we should come to God by so good and reasonable, and proper, and glorious a way--rather than that we should have been permitted, had it been possible, to come by any breach of the Law, or by any setting aside of the Divine Command. I do not think I would have been happy had it been possible for me to go to Heaven, and God's honor had thereby been sullied, for God's honor is the very happiness of a reconciled creature! And if that had suffered any loss through me, I would have been miserable. But it shall suffer no loss or stain! Christ has completely undone the mischief of the Fall! Glory be to His blessed name for this! And now, Beloved in the Lord, I wish that I could speak in the name of you all and accept the Man, Christ Jesus, tonight, as our representative. Remember, though He has done this much for us all, that God can dwell with us, yet He has not taken the sin of us all upon Himself, but only of so many as stand and confess their sin and trust it with Him. Come, will you do it? Poor Sinner, will you do it for the first time tonight? Backslider, will you do it again? You Believers that have lost some of your evidences, will you do it anew tonight? Oh, I wish I could now say these words and you could all say, "Amen," from your hearts-- "My faith does lay her hand On that dear head of Thine, While, like a penitent I stand, And here confess my sin." Well, if you won't have Christ for your Savior, I will have Him for mine! And there are thousands of you here who will say, "Yes, and He shall be mine, too!" The longer I live, the more I love to rest upon Him. I did try to rest somewhere else, once, but the dream is over and now the more I think of my Lord, the more firm I feel the conviction that He is a rock that will bear the weight of my salvation! The more I think of what that glorious Man, that blessed Son of God, who is as much God as He is Man, has done for me, the more do I feel that if I had fifty thousand times the sin I have, I would rest on Him! And if I were as wicked as all men put together, I would rest on Him, still, believing that no amount of sin could outweigh His merit and that no extent of iniquity could ever surpass the infinite bounds of His eternal Grace. He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him! Come to God by Him, poor Sinner, and may God the Holy Spirit lead you, and He shall have the glory! Amen, and Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 6:1-19. Paul finishes the last Chapter by saying, "That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." "What shall we say, then?" What inference shall we draw from the superabounding of Grace over sin? Verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound?'"Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound?" That were a very horrible inference! It is one great instance of the shocking depravity of man that the inference has sometimes been drawn! I hope not often, for surely Satan, himself, might scarcely draw an inference of licentiousness from love. Still, some have drawn it. 2. God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?Now he goes on by an argument to prove that those in whom the Grace of God has worked the wondrous change cannot possibly choose sin, nor live in it. 3. Knowyou not that so many of us as were baptizedinto Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?That is the very hinge of our religion! His death, not into His example, merely, nor primarily into His life, but, "into His death." In this we have believed--we are linked with a dying Savior and our baptism sets this forth. We "were baptized into His death." 4. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. The operations, therefore, of the Spirit of God forbid that a saved man should live in sin. He is dead. He is raised into newness of life. At the very entrance into the Church, in the very act of Baptism, he declares that he cannot live as he once did, for he is dead! He declares that he must live after another fashion, for has he not been raised again in the type and raised again in very deed from the dead? 5. 6. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. A death has taken place in us and though there are relics of corruption still alive, yet they are crucified--they will have to die, they must die--they are nailed fast to the Cross to die in union with the death of Christ! 7. For he that is dead is freed from sin. The man is dead. The law cannot ask more of a criminal than to yield his life. If, therefore, he should live again after death, he would not be one who could suffer for his past offenses. They were committed in another life and, "he that is dead is freed from sin." 8, 9. Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him. Or death will have dominion over Him no more-- He will never come a second time under death, and neither shall His people. "For in that He died, He died unto sin once." There was an end of it in the sense of once and for all--no second death for Christ. 10-12. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives unto God. Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof'Perhaps there were some who would say that in their spirits, truth and righteousness were supreme, but that in their bodies sin had the mastery. Yes, but that will not do. There must be left no lurking piece for sin within the complete system of our manhood--it must be hunted out and hunted down thoroughly--out of the body as well as out of the mind! 13. Neither yield you your members as instrument of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God We do not, I think, make enough of the passive part of our religion. We are often for doing and quite right, too, and the more active we can be the better! Still, before the doing there must come a yielding because we remember who it is that works in us, "both to will and to do of His own good pleasure," and our activities, after all are not so much our own as we deem, if they are right. They are the activities of the Divine Life within us--of the Spirit of God, Himself, working in us to the Glory of the Father! One great point, therefore, is to yield ourselves up--our members to be weapons in God's hands for the fighting of the spiritual war. 14. For sin shall not have domination over you: for you are not under the Law, but under Grace. The reigning, ruling principle, now, is not, "You must, you shall," for reward or under fear of punishment! But God has loved you and now you love Him in return and what you do springs from no mercenary or self-serving motive! You are not under Law, but under Grace. Yet in another sense you never were so much under Law as you are now, for Grace puts about you a blessedly sweet, delightful Law which has power over us as the word of command never had. "I will write My Law intheir hearts, in their inward parts will I write them." Yes, that is the glory of the new life, the delight of him who has passed from death unto life! 15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the Law, but under Grace? Oh, this old question keeps coming up! Somebody wants to sin. Well, if he wants to sin, why does he not leave this business alone and go and sin? What has he to do with these theological questions at all? But still, he wants, if he can, to make a coverlet for his wickedness! He wants to enjoy the sweets of the child of God and yet live like an enemy of God--and so he pops in his head over and over again--"May we not sin because of this, or that?" To which the Apostle answers again, "God forbid!" Oh, may God always forbid it to you and to me! May the question never be tolerated among us! 15, 16. God forbid! Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?If you are doing the deeds of sin, you are the servants of sin and only as you are doing the will of God can you claim to be the servant of God! "Hereby we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." That becomes the index of our condition. The man, then, that lives in sin and loves it, need not talk about the Grace of God--he is a stranger to it, for the mark of those that come under Grace is this--that they serve God and no longer serve sin! 17, 18. But God be thanked, thatyou were the servants ofsin, butyou have obeyed from the heart that form ofDoc-trine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. "Bondservants," you have got in our new translation, for so it was, and the Apostle seems to excuse himself for using such a word by saying-- 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holi-ness.As you submitted yourselves to sin most cheerfully and voluntarily, and yet were slaves under it, so now come and be slaves under Christ with most blessed cheerfulness and delight! Endeavor to lose your very wills in His will, for no man's slavery is so complete as his who even yields his will. Now, yield everything to Christ! You shall never be so free as when you do that--never so blessedly delivered from all bondage as when you absolutely and completely yield yourselves up to the power and supremacy of your Lord! __________________________________________________________________ Sharing Christ's Life (No. 3401) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, DECEMBER 1, 1867. "Yet a little while, and the world will see Me no more; but you will see Me. Because I live, you shall live also." John 14:19. THIS was and is the mark of the true Believer--that he sees Jesus. When Jesus was here among men, the world saw Him in a certain sense, but yet in truth it did not see Him at all. The world's eyes saw the outside of Christ--the flesh of the Man, Christ, but the true Christ the ungodly eyes could not discern. They could not perceive those wonderful attributes of Character, those delightful graces and charms which made up the true spiritual Christ. They saw but the husk, and not the kernel. They saw the quartz of the golden nugget, but not the pure gold which that quartz contained. They saw but the external Man--the real, spiritual Christ they could not see. But unto as many as God had chosen, Christ manifested Himself as He did not unto the world! There were some to whom He said, "The world sees Me not, but you see Me." Some there were whose eyes were anointed with the heavenly salve, so that they saw in "the Man, Christ Jesus," the God, the glorious Savior, the King-of-kings, The Wonderful, The Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! The blind world said of Him that He was a root out of a dry ground. And when they saw Him there was no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. He was despised and rejected of men. But God's elect were men who saw Him as God over all, blessed forever, descending to tabernacle among men and to take upon Himself man's imperfect nature, so that He might redeem him from all iniquity and save him. Now, to this hour, this is the mark of the true Christian. This is to be of the elect! This is the very badge and symbol of the faithful--they see Jesus. They look beyond the clouds. Other men see the cloud and the darkness and they know not what it is. But these men with more than eagle eyes, pierce through the clouds of mere sensual impressions and see the Glory that was always His, even the Glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and truth. Beloved, have you ever seen Jesus with the eyes of faith? Have you ever perceived the glory of His Person and the beauty of His Character? Have you so perceived Jesus as to trust in Him? Have you been so enamored of Him as to have yielded yourselves to be His servants forever? Do you take up His Cross? Do you avow yourselves to be His followers, come what may? If so, then you are saved! But if you see not Christ with your spirit, neither do you know Him, nor shall you enjoy a portion with Him. Blessed be God, there is this to be said--that he who has once seen Christ, shall always see Him! The eyes may sometimes gather dimness, but the Light of God shall yet return. Where Christ has opened blind eyes, blindness comes not back again! He takes the cataract totally away. He does not give a transient gleam of spiritual sight and then permit the soul to go back into the darkness of its grave--the sight which He gives is the sight of things eternal--a sight which shall strengthen and grow until at the last, when death shall take away every barrier which parts us from the unseen world. We shall know even as we are known and see even as we are seen! To see Jesus is Heaven begun! And Heaven consummated is but to see Jesus no longer through a glass darkly, but face to face--still it is to see Jesus, to behold the King in His beauty! This, I say, is the sum and substance of life eternal--and it is true life here below. And now our Lord, speaking to those who had seen Him, truly seen Him and in spiritual recognition, talks to them concerning life. Sometimes it is ours to speak to you of death, not necessarily with gloom, for it is illuminated with rays of heavenly light to the Christian, but here and now we desire to speak of life, the best and most divine life! We will forget the raven with its dusky wings and see only the tender, gentle dove, bearing for each one of us the olive branch of peace and victory. We shall speak of life--life of the highest possible degree--not the life which gladdens our eyes in the sunlight when we behold the flowers of the field opening their cups. This is vegetable life. Nor the life of the young lambs as they frisk and caper and dance for very gladness in the spring sunbeams. This is but animal life. Nor even the life that enables men to think and speak upon common themes of interest and perform the ordinary duties of their different callings--this is but mental and social life. We reach to something still higher--spirituallife--life in Christ Jesus! A life twice-created, a life which is grafted and is an advance upon the first life which we have when we are born--far surpassing the life of the flesh because that shall, by-and-by, expire--this is a life which springs from incorruptible seed and which lives forever! The text, in talking to us about life, gives us, first, the assurance that Jesus lives. It then promises us that Hispeople shall live. And it clearly states that there is a link of connection between the two things--that because Jesus lives--His people shall live also First, then-- I. JESUS LIVES. He always lived. There never was a time when He was not. "Before the hills were brought forth I was there," He says. The eternal Wisdom of God is from everlasting. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. The same was in the beginning with God." The life, however, which we think is intended in the text, is not His Divine life--His life as Deity--but His life as Man, His life as Mediator between God and man. In that life He lives! We needed not to be assured of His Divine life, but seeing that as a Mediator, He died, it was necessary to assure us that as a Mediator He descended into the tomb. It is well for us to be assured that as a Mediator He rose again from His grave and now lives at the right hand of the Father, no more to bleed and die. Jesus Christ at this time lives in His proper Manhood. He lives as to His soul--His human soul is as it was on earth. He lives as to His human body. He is a Man before the Throne of God and I have no doubt that He wears the symbol, of course, mightily glorified, of His sufferings-- "Looks like a Lamb that had been slain. And wears His priesthood still." That very Christ, who did once as a Baby lie upon His mother's breast and who, afterwards, trod the waves of Gen-nesaret--who, after His resurrection ate a piece of broiled fish and of honeycomb--that very Christ is now before the eternal Throne of God! In very soul and body the Man, Christ Jesus, is there! He lives! He lives a real life. We are so very apt to mystify and becloud everything and to suppose that Christ lives by His influence only, or lives by His Spirit. Brothers and Sisters, He l ives--the very Man that died, as surely as He bled upon the tree, and in His own proper Person, from five actual wounds poured out the warm life-torrents of His heart, so surely does He actually live at this present moment in the midst of unnumbered hearts that sound His praise--the delightful Object of the vision of the myriads of spirits who continually adore Him! He actually lives! He really and truly lives as He lived here below! He lives, also, actively--not in some wondrous sleep of quiet and sacred repose. He is as busy, now, as He was when here. He proposed to Himself, when He went away, a certain work. "I go to prepare a place for you," He said. He is still preparing that place for us. He also daily intercedes for His people. Oh, if your faith is strong enough, even now you can see Him standing before the Throne of God, pleading His glorious merits! I think I see Him now as clearly as ever the Jews saw Aaron when he stood with his breastplate on before the Mercy Seat, for remember, the Jew never did see Aaron at all there, for the curtain was dropped and Aaron was behind the veil. And, therefore, the Jew could only see him in his fancy. But I say I see Him as clearly as that, for I see my Lord, not by fancy, but by faith! There, where the veil is torn in two, so that He is not hidden from my soul's gaze, I see Him with my name and yours upon His breast, pleading before God! Why, gaze awhile and you may think you see Him now! Just as the Jew saw Aaron waving the censer, standing between the living and the dead and stopping the plague, even so is Christ standing at this hour between the living and the dead--and so moving the whole Deity to spare the guilty yet a little longer--while He makes intercession for them that they may live! And then comes His higher intercession for His elect, of whom He says, "I pray for them. I pray not for the world." He lives, then, an actual life of which you and I reap the daily fruits! Not a life of slumber and stillness, but an active, busy life by which He continually dispenses gifts to us! For this reason it is well to remind you that, therefore, Jesus can only live as a Man in one place. When we speak of Christ being found in every assembly of His people, we understand that of His Presence in His Godhead and by His Holy Spirit, who rules on earth in this dispensation of the Spirit. But the Man, Christ, can be but in one place. And He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It is absurd, it is horrible both to faith and to reason to say that Christ's body is eaten and that His blood is drunk in tens of thousands of places wherever priests choose to offer what they call, "the mass!" It is a "mass" of profanity, indeed! Our Lord Jesus Christ, as to His real, positive, corporeal Presence, is not here. As to His flesh and His blood, He is not and cannot be here! He will be here one day--when He shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the trumpet of the archangel and the voice of God! But in His real Person, He is now where His saints are--before the Throne of God, from where, by-and-by, He will descend. Meanwhile, His spiritual Presence is our joy and our gladness, but His corporeal Presence--a Doctrine which our faith grasps and lays hold of--His corporeal presence is before the Throne of God and there He lives in proper flesh and blood as the Son of Man. Brothers and Sisters, listen to a brief sketch of the biography of Christ's life in Glory. When the holy women and godly men wrapped Him in spices and laid Him in the tomb, Jesus was dead. There for parts of three days and nights He tarried. He saw no corruption, but yet He was in the place of corruption. No worm could assail that Holy Thing which no sin had tainted--and yet He laid in the place where death seemed sovereign. A while He slept, and the Church mourned, but blessed was the day when, at the first rosy dawn of light, the Savior rose! Then could He say, "I live." His body, instinct with life, rose from its slumber and began at once to put off the grave clothes. He unwound the winding-sheets and the fine white linen and laid them carefully down. And He left them there for you and me, that we might have our bed well sheeted when we come to lie in it at the last. As for the napkin, He unwound it and laid it by itself, as though that were for us who are living, to wipe our eyes when our dear ones are taken away--since we have no cause to sorrow as they do who have no hope. And when this was done, an angel rolled away the stone and forth came the Savior--glorious, no doubt, but so much like other men that Mary "supposed Him to have been the gardener," so that there could have been no very supernatural splendor surrounding His Person! He revealed Himself to many of His disciples--sometimes to as many as 500 at once. He ate with them. He drank with them. He was a Man among men with them, till, when 40 days had passed, He gathered them all at Olivet, the mountain from which He had so often addressed them, and took His final leave. While He was blessing them, His hands outstretched in benediction, a cloud received Him out of their sight. And since then He has sat down at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. He is tarrying there yet a little while longer. When the fullness of time shall come--if I may go on with His biography--He will come again. "This same Jesus," said the angels, "which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in a like manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven." He will, therefore, come in proper Person a second time, without a sin-offering unto salvation. Then will He gather His saints together who have made a Covenant with Him by sacrifice. Then shall they reign with Him. Then shall the earth be covered with His Glory. All nations shall bow before Him and all people shall call Him blessed! And then shall come the end, when He shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, and God shall be All-in-All. But Christ shall still live, for He has received a priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, without beginning of days, or end of years--a priest forever. When suns and moons shall grow dim with age and the round world shall all dissolve like the morning hoar-frost, and time shall be rolled up like a vesture, and all the ages shall have been trodden out like sparks beneath the foot of the Eternal God, then shall Jesus Christ still live on, world without end! Thus have we spoken concerning Christ as living. But now, in the next place-- II. LIFE IS PROMISED TO CHRIST'S PEOPLE. This does not mean their natural existence. They have received that from Adam and, through their sin, it has become a curse to them rather than a blessing. Should they remain unpardoned, the fact of continued existence will become to them the most dreadful of calamities since it must be an existence in God's holy abhorrence of sin forever--driven from every glimpse or hope of forgiveness! The life which comes to us through Christ is of this sort--I trust you know it in your own hearts--it is spirituallife, given to us in regeneration. When the Holy Spirit quickens a dead soul, that dead soul then receives the life of Christ! No man is alive unto God, spiritually, except through Christ. Because Christ lives, we live. When a dead soul gets into living contact with the living Savior by the power of the Spirit, then it is, that spiritual life begins. The very first evidence of spiritual life is trusting in Jesus, which shows that as the first symptom is alliance to Christ, the cause of the life must be somewhere here, namely--union with Christ! One of the very first outward signs is prayer--prayer to Christ and that, again, rises from the fact that Christ gives us of His life--and then that life goes back again to Him. Brothers, if you seek the life of other souls and desire to see them brought to God, preach Christ to them! Do you not see, "Because I live, you shall live"? Then no sinner will ever live spiritually apart from Christ! Though you and I cannot quicken them, yet we can preach the Gospel to them--and faith comes by hearing! And where faith is, there is life. It is no use trying to raise the dead by preaching the Law of God to them. That is only covering them up fairly with a lie in their right hand--but to preach of dying love and of rising power, to tell of pardons bought with blood and to declare that Christ died a Substitute for sinners--this is the hopeful way of bringing life to the dead! It is by such instrumentality that souls are brought to eternal life. Because Christ is alive, His elect, in due time, receive spiritual life by the power of the Holy Spirit and, although once they were dead in sin, they begin to live unto righteousness! Further, this spiritual life is preserved in us by Christ still living. "Because I continue to live, you shall continue to live also." The text clearly means that--it bears that paraphrase. Oh, dear Friends, when we once get spiritual life into us, what a thousand enemies there are who try to put it out! Many and many a time has it seemed to go hard with my soul as to whether I really had a spark of life within my spirit. Temptation after temptation have I endured until it appeared as if I must yield my hold on Christ and give up my hope! There has been conflict upon conflict, and struggle upon struggle until, at last, the enemy has got his foot upon my neck and my whole being has trembled! And had it not been for Christ's promise, "Because I live, you shall live also," it might have gone harder with me and I might have despaired and given up all hope--and laid down to die. The assurance, then, that the spiritual life of the Christian must be maintained because Christ lives, was the only power to get me the victory! Let it teach us, then, this practical lesson. Whenever our spiritual life is very weak and we need it to grow stronger, let us get to the living Christ for the supply of His strength! When you feel you are ready to die, spiritually, go to the Savior for revived life. The text is like a hand that points us to the storehouse. You who are in the desert, there is a secret spring under your feet, and you know not where it is--this is the mysterious finger which points you to the spot! Contemplate Christ! Believe in Christ! Draw yourselves by faith nearer and nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ and so shall your life receive a Divine impetus which it has not known for many a day."Because I live, you shall live also." And further, Brothers and Sisters, we get from Christ an educated life. Any man may be spiritually alive and yet he may not know much about the higher life. There is, in spiritual life, a scale of degrees. One man is just alive unto God. Another man may be active and vigorous. Another may be rapturously consecrated. I hope you and I will anxiously desire to get the highest form of spiritual life that is known! We do not wish to be beggars in the Kingdom of Christ, but if we can, to take our place in the House of Peers--to be princes through Jesus Christ. We need not be poor--Christ is willing to enrich us. We are not straitened in Him--we are straitened in ourselves. Now, Christ gives the promise, "Because I live," He says, "the highest life, far above all principalities and powers--you shall also live this higher life with Me." You may have it! You may obtain it, but Brothers and Sisters, if you want to get it, never go to Moses for it! Never go to yourselves for it. Do not seek to school yourselves by rules, regulations and resolutions, or by a morbid asceticism such as some men delight in! But go to the living Savior and in the living liberty which you will enjoy in communion with Him, your soul will take unto itself, wings, and mount into a clearer atmosphere! Your spirit will be braced to a higher degree of robust devotion! You will draw nearer to Heaven because you have got nearer to Christ, who is the Lord of Heaven! "Because I live, you shall have life: you shall have that life continued and you shall have that life yet more abundantly. I am come not only that you may have life, but more abundantly." These are your Master's words! Plead them before your Master's Throne! And now, Brothers and Sisters, we will go a little further. We will suppose that you are well acquainted with these forms of life, but now there comes a jerk, as it were. You are travelling along the iron road of the railway and there comes a sudden jerk and you stop. What is it? It is the thought of death! Well, but Jesus tells us, here, that that is of no consequence! It is an item in the great world of life that to you who are in Him is scarcely worth consideration because the text overrides that and swallows it up! As it is written "death is swallowed up in victory"--it is made as though it did not exist! "Because I live, you shall live also." Your continued life of happiness, of holiness, of spirituality, of consecration and of obedience--which, indeed, is your only life worth having--is guaranteed to you in the text! Death cannotinterfere with it, not even by the space of a single second! No, I tell you not even by the space of the ticking of a clock! What? A Christian die? "Because I live, you shall live also," is never suspended! There is no time for it to be suspended. Do you know what death really is? Does it take long to die? I have heard of men who have been said to be weeks in dying. Not so! They were weeks living--the dying occupied no space--that was done at once and immediately. And so with the Believer. To him death is so slight a jerk that he still keeps on upon the same line! He still lives, only there is this difference, that it is as though the railway had been running through a tunnel and he now comes out of it into the open plain. His life below was the train in the tunnel, but when he dies, as we call it, there is a jerk and then it comes right out of the tunnel into the fair, open, plain country of Heaven where all is clear and bright! Where all the birds are singing and the darkness is over, the mist and fogs are gone and his soul is forever blessed! "Because I live a life that cannot be suspended," Christ seems to say, "you shall live also." At the bottom of every man's heart there is, I suppose, a fear of ceasing to be. Some infidels seem to find comfort in the thought of being annihilated, but that thought is, perhaps, the most abhorrent that ever crossed the human mind! There is a something within us that tells us we are immortal, or there is, at any rate, something which makes us hope we are, but we shrink with loathing from the idea of being annihilated! Now, at that point comes in our text and it says, "What? Annihilated? You who believe in Jesus cannot be! You shall live also, live with that higher life which you have received--a life of beauty, a life of excellence, of holiness and of God-likeness! That new life implanted within you shall never be suspended." No, never by the space of a single tick, for, "Because I live, you shall live also." Further, Brothers and Sisters, our text is such a wide one that we have a hold of the fact that we are to continue to live as to our spirits and our souls. The text, beneath its sheltering wings, like a hen gathering her brood, gathers many precious Truths of God. The next one is that this very body of ours is to live, too. It must take its time for that. It must abide in the earth, whereon it has dwelt. It is so decreed that there it should lie unless Christ should come before that time. But concerning this very body, there is no decree of annihilation. It will smolder away. It may be taken up by the spade of the careless sexton and all the atoms of the body be scattered to the winds of Heaven! But there is a life-germ within it which no human power can destroy, and over which the Divine eyes perpetually watch--and when that mysterious and long-expected sound of the angelic trumpet shall ring over land and sea, through Heaven and earth, and the graves shall all be opened, then shall my soul find my body yet again--fashioned after a more beautiful form, more fit for the spirit than before! More elastic, altogether free from weakness, no longer such as shall be subject to pain, sickness, accident, decay, to ultimate corruption--but a spiritual body, raised in power, in glory and in immortality! Not raised in the likeness of the first Adam in the Garden, but in the likeness of the Second Adam in the everlasting Paradise of God! Courage my eyes, courage! You shall be closed for a while, but you shall see the Redeemer when He stands a second time upon the earth. Courage, my fingers and my hands! You must, for a time, lie still and motionless, but you shall not be so forever, for you, even you, shall strike the strings of those celestial harps that pour forth His praise! Courage, all you members of my body which have been sanctified to be members of Christ and made to be parts of the Holy Spirit's Temple--you shall all take your part in the grand triumphal entry of Christ when He shall descend to take possession of His Kingdom! "Though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall behold for myself and not another." So go to your bed in the earth, poor body, and sleep there awhile. Bathe yourself like her who bathed herself in spices to make herself ready for the King--so go and get yourself prepared to meet your Lord! Take off your workday dress and put on your Sabbath garments, your bridal array and then shall you come to the King and see Him in His beauty, and crown Him with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him in the days of His espousals. Yes, because He lives in the body which He bore, this body shall live again also. And so, Beloved, the text amounts to this, that in body and soul the Christian shall be immortal like his Master! When our reign on earth--whether it shall last a thousand years, or a thousand ages--(we know not what the Word of God intends)--but when that glorified state on earth which I do most assuredly believe in, shall be over, and it shall be said-- "Now Jehovah's banner's furled, Sheathed His sword because 'tis done"--when the drama of the mediatorial reign shall all be closed and we shall dwell under the immediate Sovereignty of God once again, then, Beloved, every Believer shall be with Christ, eternally glorified, for here stands the irrevocable decreeand the Divine mandate of Creation's Lord, who is also the redeeming Lamb, "Because I live, you shall live also." Reel, you pillars of earth! Be shaken, you arches of the starry heavens! Pass away, O Time, and you, you rolling worlds, dissolve into your native nothingness! But the Believer must live on because Jesus lives! And until the Lord's Christ can bow His head. Until He who only has immortality can expire. Until God, Himself, can cease to be, no soul that believed in Jesus can lose the incorruptible Life which God's own Spirit has put within it! I want to sing, Brothers and Sisters, rather than to talk with you. These are words and thoughts fit for some ancient bard, or for the spirit of some Inspired Prophet sent from Heaven! I do but lisp where even seraphs might find their loudest songs fail in the theme. Let your hearts mount! Let your souls exult! Let your spirits be glad! Do you "Long for evening to undress, That you may rest with God,"and enter into His Heaven? Do you long for the evening of death when your toil shall be over and the hour of your bliss shall have come? I shall have no time, I fear, for the third and last point, and, therefore, must only give a few hints of what I would have said. III. THIS LIFE IS LINKED WITH CHRIST'S LIFE. Immortal, all glorious, promised to true Believers, it is bound up with the life of our immortal Lord. Why is this? First, because Christ leads a justified life. I scarcely know how to express my meaning. You understand that so long as Jesus was here, He lay under the charge of our sins. While He was in the world, His Father had made to meet upon Him the iniquity of us all. But when He died, His death discharged all the liabilities of His elect. The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, was then taken away. When He went to Calvary as our Surety, the sins of all His people were His debts--He had taken them upon Himself. But when He rose from the dead in the garden that first Easter morning He had no debts of ours! He had no longer any substitutional engagement or liability! All the debts which He had taken upon Himself as our Redeemer, He had fully and completely discharged. No officer can arrest a man for debt who has none, and Christ now lives, therefore, as a justified Person. And Brothers and Sisters, no officer of Justice can arrest any of the people for whom Christ paid their debts! How, then, shall death have any dominion over those whose debts are all discharged? How shall they be laid in prison for whom Christ was laid in prison? How shall they suffer death, which is the penalty of sin, for whom Christ has already suffered all the penalties which Justice could have demanded? Because He lives the life of One who has discharged the debts of His people, they must, in Justice, live! Secondly, Christ lives a representative life. He is no longer Christ for Himself. As the Member of Parliament represents a town, so Jesus Christ represents all the people who are in Him. And as long as He lives, they live. He is their Covenant Head. As long as Adam stands, his race shall stand. When Adam falls, the human race falls. While, therefore, Christ lives, the Christly ones who are in Him, live through His representation. In the next place, Christ lives a perfect life. Perhaps you do not see how this is a link between His living and your living, but it is, because we are a part of Christ. According to the Word of Scripture, every Believer is a member of Christ's body. Now, a man who lives perfectly has not lost his finger, or his arm, or his hand. A man may be alive with many of his limbs taken away, but you can scarcely call him a perfect living man. But I cannot imagine a maimed Christ. I have never been able to conceive in my soul, of Christ lacking any of His members! Such a thing was never seen on earth. The barbarous cruelty of the Jews could not effect that and, by the Providence of God, Pilate's officers were not permitted to cause such a thing. "Not a bone of Him shall be broken," was the ancient prophecy. They broke the legs of the first and second thief, but when they came to the matchless Lord, they saw He was already dead, so they broke not His legs. Even in His earthly body, which was the type of His spiritual body, He must suffer no maiming injury! Therefore, my Brothers and Sisters, because Christ lives as a perfect Christ, everyone that is one with Him must live also! Then, fourthly, Christ lives a blessed life--a life of perfect blessedness and, therefore, we must live also. "Why?" you say. Why, look--there is a mother here. She is alive. She is in good health, but she is not perfectly happy, for she is a Rachel weeping for her children and will not be comforted because they are not! Time will heal her wounds, it is true, for the most affectionate heart cannot be always mourning, but our Lord Jesus Christ, in that Infinitely affectionate heart of His, would not only mourn over one of His children, if lost, but He would mourn forever over it! I cannot conceive of Christ being happy and losing one of His dear children! I cannot conceive Christ to be personally blessed and yet one of the members of His own Person cast into the "outer darkness." Because He lives in perfect happiness, I conceive that allwho are dear to Him will be round about Him! It shall not be said that He lost one of them, nor shall one of the family be missing, but-- "All the chosen seed Shall meet around the Throne To bless the conduct of His Grace And make His wonders known!" And lastly, Christ leads a triumphant life and, therefore, you shall live also! You say again, "How is that?" Why, Brothers and Sisters, the triumph of Christ concerns us! This is the triumph of Christ, "Of all those whom You have given Me, I have lost none." Now, suppose there to be heard a whisper from the infernal Pit, "Aha! Aha! You lie! There is one here whom the Father gave You, but whom You did lose"? Why, Christ would never be able to speak again by way of triumph! He could never boast anymore! Then might He put down His crown! If it were but to happen in that one case, at any rate, the enemy would have got the advantage over Him and He would not have been the Conqueror all along the line. But, glory be to God! He who trod the winepress with none for His assistant, came forth out of the crimson conflict, having smitten all His foes and won a complete victory! There shall not be in the whole campaign a single point over which Satan shall be able to boast! Christ has brought many sons to glory as the Captain of their salvation and never yet has He failed! And He never shall in any point, neither the least nor the greatest, neither the strongest nor the weakest. This is essential, dear Friends. It is essential to the acclamations of Heaven that every soul that believes in Jesus should live forever. It is essential to the everlasting harmony and to the joy of Christ throughout eternity, that all who trust in Him should be preserved and kept safe, even until the end. Therefore, says the text, "Because I live, you shall live also." So I leave this Truth of God with you, only praying that those who have no part in this matter may seek Christ at this very time--and be led by the Spirit to cry mightily to Him--and His promise is, "They that seek Me early shall find Me." Seek you the Lord while He may be found. Call you upon Him while He is near." God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Nail in a Sure Place (No. 3402) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord has spoken it." Isaiah 22:23-25. WE have read, in your hearing, the occasion of these words. Shebna the scribe, having become proud and vainglorious, was to be put away and his place to be occupied by a better man on whom God promised to establish His favor. When Shebna the scribe was put away, it was like the drawing out of a nail which, apparently, had been well fastened, and all that had been hanging upon it came down with its fall. Thus did Shebna's family suffer for his sin. It is just so in the world at this day. It were well if some men who have gone into evil ways had considered this. It is not they, alone, who suffer. Such is the order and constitution of the commonwealth of manhood, that when the husband sins, the household must feel much of the smart. Oftentimes, for wife and children, there has been wrung out a cup of bitterness, of which they have been made to drink, not through their own fault, but through the fault of the head of the family. Should there be any men here who have strayed into this house, tonight, who contemplate putting forth his hand to that which is not good, though he might dare to risk the consequences for his own sake, yet, for the sake of the children of his loins and the wife of his bosom, let him pause lest, perhaps, he fill their lives with bitterness, or send them to their graves prematurely in poverty and shame. That is not, however the subject upon which I shall talk at this time. When Shebna was removed, there was room for Eliakim. Let this furnish the key to a spiritual lesson. It has been generally propounded and admitted by commentators and expositors that Eliakim is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. While this passage literally refers to Eliakim, himself, it may, with very great instructiveness, be used as applicable to the Lord Jesus--and so I use it. The first point will be this-- I. IN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS CHRIST, THERE MUST BE AN OVERTHROW OF SOMEBODY ELSE, just as in order to make room for Eliakim, Shebna, who seemed to be like a nail fastened in a sure place, must be pulled out and there must be a downfall of his glory. Beloved, whenever Jesus Christ comes into the heart, before He rides in state into the Castle of Mansoul, there is a battle, a strife, a struggle, a casting down of the image of sin, and a setting up of the Cross in its place. All men, by nature, have some kind of righteousness. There is no man so vile but he still wraps himself up in his rags and cajoles himself into the belief that he has some degree of excellence, spiritual or moral. Before Christ can come into the heart, all this natural excellence must be torn to shreds. Every single stone of the wall upon which we have built before, must come down, and the foundations must be utterly destroyed before we shall ever build right and for eternity upon the Cornerstone of Christ Jesus. All our conceit about our past righteousnesses must be completely overthrown. Perhaps we flatter ourselves that all is well because we have been baptized or have come to the Communion, like one who was visited, a few days ago, by an Elder. Seeing that she was sick and ,near to die, he asked her, "Have you a good hope?" "Oh, Sir, yes! A good and blessed hope." "And pray," he asked, "what is it?" "Well," she said, "I have taken the Sacrament regularly for 50 years." What do you think of that in a Christian country, from the lips of one who had attended a Gospel ministry? Her confidence was built upon the mere fact of her having attended to an outward ceremony to which, probably, she had no right whatever! There are hundreds and thousands who are thus resting upon mere ceremonies! They have been Church-goers or Chapel-goers from their youth up. They have never been absent, except under sickness, from their regular place of worship. Good easy souls! Are these the boats upon which they hope to swim in eternity? They will surely sink to their everlasting destruction! Some base their confidence on the fact that they have never indulged in the grosser vices. Others that they have been scrupulously honest in their commercial transactions. Some that they have been good husbands. Others that they have been charitable neighbors. I know not of what poor flimsy tissue men will not make a covering to hide their natural nakedness! But all this must be unraveled--every stitch of it! No man can put on the robes of Christ's righteousness till he has taken off his own. Christ will never go shares in our salvation. God will not have it said that He partly made the heavens, but that some other spirit came in to conclude the gigantic work of Creation, much less will He divide the work of our salvation with any other! He must be the only Savior as He was the only Creator! In the winepress of His sufferings, Jesus stood alone--of the people, none were with Him--no angel could assist Him in the mighty work. In the fight He stood alone--the solitary Champion, the sole Victor! So, too, you must be saved by Him, alone, resting entirely on Him and counting your own righteousness to be dross and dung, or else you can never be saved at all! It must be down with Shebna, or else it cannot be up with Eliakim! It must be down with self, or it can never be up with Christ! Self-righteousness must be set aside to make room for the righteousness of Jesus--otherwise it can never be ours. We must, with equal thoroughness, be ready to give up all confidence in our own resolutions, or vows, or endeavors for the future and come to rest the future where we rest the past--on Christ, and Christ alone. I know it is the idea of many that albeit they have slipped and fallen in the past, yet they shall be able to stand upright in the future. Have they not resolved it? Can they not do it? Are they not able to do as they will? As they have had much ability for evil, have they not an equal ability for good? So self-sufficiency talks. But when a man comes to know himself, and to know Christ, he sings another note. "Ah," said an aged saint, as he heard of men that were taken to the police station, and of some that were condemned to die, and others that were transported--"Ah," said he, "he today, I tomorrow if the Grace of God did not prevent." So every truly humbled man will say, when he hears of the great offenses of others, "They today, and I tomorrow, unless Grace shall intervene to keep me from following their evil example." Brothers and Sisters, our only hope for the future lies in this--that those who trust Jesus are in Jesus Christ's hands and that He is able to keep that which they commit to Him. Those who trust in Jesus have this promise that the Holy Spirit shall dwell in them and walk in them--writing a law upon their hearts making their hearts new--molding their natures into the nature of Christ, causing them to hate evil and to choose that which is good. You will never kill a single evil passion through your own strivings apart from the precious blood of Christ! Those vipers within our bosom will never die till they are sprinkled with the blood of the Great Sacrifice--and then they all depart. Jesus comes and fills the heart and then evil is crushed beneath His foot and is utterly slain, so that Christ becomes fully formed in us the hope of Glory! Now, it is hard for a man to give up these two things--all glorying in the past and all hope for the future in himself. It is hard to be a pauper and to knock at Mercy's door and ask for alms, and yet only as paupers can we come. I do not allude exclusively to you that have been great sinners, outwardly only, but I mean you moral men and women, you that are good and excellent in a thousand ways. You must still come, just as the poor publican came, with, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." These are God's terms and He will accept you on no other. Oh, be not proud enough to kick at them, but submit yourself to the dictates of Eternal Love and let your vanity and self-opinion be abased that Jesus Christ may be All-in-All to you! Before I leave this point, let me remark that as this is to be done before we come to Christ, so all our life long it is one of the things about which we must always be vigilant, for the tendency of human nature, as long as we are in this world, is to get something to rest upon in ourselves. We can hardly be indulged with the light of Jehovah's Countenance before we begin to make a confidence of it--and if our graces for a little while bud and bloom like seeming flowers, we very soon begin to compliment ourselves upon our imaginary goodness! Though every excellence is borrowed, we begin to be proud of it and to forget that in Him is all our salvation, and all confidence. This knocking down has to be persevered in, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and yet as fast as we can, in our pride build up anything in which we can glory, the Lord sends a terrible blast of some kind or other against the wall, and sweeps it all down, that Jesus Christ may alone be exalted in our experience. Thus much upon the first point. There must be a down-throwing, a pulling out of one nail before there can be another for us to hang upon. Now, let us turn to a second thought, which is this-- II. THE NATURE OF OUR TRUE DEPENDENCE, as set forth in the words of the 23rd and 24th verses. The reliance of a really saved soul is upon the Person, the work and righteousness of Jesus Christ only. This dependence is warranted by God's appointment. Turn to the 23rd verse--"Iwill fasten him as a nail in a sure place." That other nail, in the 25th verse, God never fastened, but this is one that God fastens and what God does, lasts forever! Do you, dear Hearer, rest your soul's salvation alone upon Jesus? Then, mark you, He can never fail you, for if He did, then would it be true that God had been mistaken. It were blasphemy to think it! If the Lord appoints Jesus Christ to be a Propitiation for sin, and yet He does not make that Propitiation, then there is a mistake somewhere. If God bids me lean my whole weight upon His Son, and I do so lean, and yet am not sustained, then is there a great mistake, not on my part only, but on the part of Infinite Wisdom! But we cannot suppose that. The Lord knew what He was doing when He appointed the Only-Begotten to be the sinner's pillar of strength, upon which he might lean. He knew that Jesus could not fail--that as God, He was all-sufficient. That as perfect Man He would not turn aside. That as a bleeding Surety, having paid all the debt of our sin upon Calvary, He was able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him. I come into this pulpit so continually that it is a place to which I am more accustomed than any other in the world! And this is the one cry I am always uttering in various shapes and ways--it is this one Truth of God I present with unwea-ryingly interest--Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the Cross of Calvary, bearing upon Himself the sin of all that trust Him, and for all that trust Him, He has made a full Atonement, so that their sins are forgiven! Christ has paid their debts, they are free! He was punished for them! They cannot be punished. God cannot punish the same sin twice! If He punishes Christ, He will not punish any for whom Christ died! Now, if these statements were my own invention. Did I promulgate it as coming out of my own thoughts, it were worthy of no acceptance--but inasmuch as God reveals it in His Word--oh, this is the soul and marrow of the Christian religion! Rest on it and if you are deceived, were such a thing possible, what a consolation would you have in appealing to the proclamation of Divine Mercy as an answer to all the terrors that menaced you! But that can never be! Impossible! It is the Truth of God, O Sinner! However guilty you may be, believe this Truth--that Christ is able to save you--and go and cast yourself on Him! Rest on His finished work, and as God is true, He will not, He cannot, turn aside from His solemn oath and promise--"He that believes in Christ is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already because he has not believed on the Son of God." The Christian's dependence, then, is of Divine appointing. Moreover, the Believer's dependence is of God's sustaining, for note, "I will fasten Him as a nail in a sure place, and He shall be for a glorious throne to His father's house." God ensures the future--that Christ shall always be to His people their glory and their defense. You know how we like good names to be attached to great compacts. In all commercial dealing, especially in large transactions, we like good and safe men to trust in, though, indeed, where are they to be found now-a-days--since the best of them are sharper than a thorn-edge? Oh, Honesty, you are fled, perished, buried years ago, and the very rags you once did wear are rotten! But, here, if nowhere else, here in the Gospel, we have a name in which we may trust the name of the thrice-holy God that cannot lie! And He declares that He will sustain His Son as the Savior of His people. Need I urge any rational spirit to depend where God pledges His Word? "Let God be true, and every man a liar," and if you have God's Word for it, cast yourselves unreservedly upon His Word! You shall not find Him fail you! You shall rejoice as in Heaven you sing of the faithfulness of the God that spoke and the everlasting righteousness with which He fulfils every Word He has spoken! Further still, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Believer's great foundation and confidence, is also the Christian's fountain of glory. "He shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house." All his father's house was to be ennobled through the ennobling of Eliakim and so is the Christian ennobled through the ennobling of the Lord Jesus Christ. By nature what are we but despicable? If we consider the heavens, the work of God's fingers, we are so minute as not to be worthy to be called specks in Creation! If we look at our sinfulness, we are reduced still lower in the scale. And if we see our continued tendency to fresh sin, we are obliged to say, "Lord, what is man, that You are mindful of him at all?" But yet man is an honorable creature when he lays hold on Christ! Then he is lifted up and made to have dominion over all the works of God's hands. All things are put under his feet in the Person of Christ Jesus. There is no honor in the whole universe--no, not the honor of the angels, themselves--that can exceed the honor that is put upon the man who believes in Jesus Christ. I wish we always thought so, for indeed, it is so. In the olden times, when one was brought before the magistrate to be accused and adjudged to death for his Christianity, he blushed not to avow his soul's attachment to his Savior with open face. When they asked him what he was, he said, "A Christian." "And what is your name?" He said, "My name is Christian." "And what is your occupation?" "My occupation is a Christian." "And what is your wealth, whatare your degree and rank?" He said, "I am a Christian." And to every question they put, he gave but this one answer, "I am a Christian. I am a Christian." All the wealth and all the glory of this world are nothing compared with the glory that comes to the very meanest man who is really allied to Christ and can truly be called a Christian! Lift up your heads, you poor and needy! Rejoice, you downtrodden and oppressed, you toiling workers, you forgotten ones among the sons of men, for if your destiny is linked with the Person of the once crucified, but now exalted Savior, you shall partake of His Glory in the day of His appearing and forever be sharers of the splendor which eternally shall surround your Lord! Here, then, is much to comfort us. He upon whom we depend is divinely appointed, divinely sustained, and all His Glory He sheds on us! But now, pass on and note that-- III. THE CHRISTIAN'S WHOLE DEPENDENCE IS PLACED UPON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST as declared in the 24th verse. The metaphor is this--There is a pin in a palace and upon this there may be hung up suits of armor, or whatever else the owner of the palace chooses to put there. But instead of that, there are hung golden wine cups and goblets. Some of them are small vessels of not much capacity. Others of them are great flagons adapted to hold large quantities, but they are all hanging upon this bracket--all suspended there as trophies. If the nail is taken out, the smaller vessels fall, and so do the larger ones, too, for they all equally and alike hang on that nail. Their only support from falling and being bruised upon the floor is that one pin which holds them all. Such is Christ to all His people! All Christians are not alike capacious vessels of Grace. Some can receive much--they are full of knowledge, zeal, hope, joy, faith. Others will never be anything but little vessels. They have believed, but their faith is mixed with unbelief. They "can do but little, they have but few talents, their knowledge is obscured, their progress in the Divine Life is but small. Still, for all that, they rest on nothing less than Christ. They need not rest on anything more and the great ones depend on nothing less than Christ, nor can they rest on anything more. The little cup is quite as safe, for it hangs on the nail as the flagon does. Truly, one might be ambitious to be a flagon, to hold a deeper draught for its Lord's pleasure, but the littleness of the tiniest vessel does not affect its safety. The safety of all that hang there lies in the fastness of the pin, the strength and security of the nail. Not in the littleness of the one, nor the greatness of the other is there either safety or danger, but all rest on that pin. So is it with the whole Church of God. We are all hanging upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. If we have served Him well and served Him long, yet we have nothing whereof to glory, but we cast all aside, and rest, as helpless sinners upon the blessed Savior! If we have but just begun to serve Him, and so are babes in Grace, we rest entirely upon Him. If we have fallen into sin and have been backsliders, yet still we come again and look to His merits that we may be restored. Or if we have lived a blameless life through His abundant Grace, yet still, for all that, we have no other dependence than the rest of the saints, but entirely, solely rest in Jesus! This is very simple Doctrine, expressed in very simple talk, but I do wish that somebody had told me this years before I heard it, for I always had the notion that I was to be saved by something I did, and something I felt. I supposed it was a great mystery, a matter that took months and years to solve, and that even then, it was attended with imminent risk and that the dreary search for this inestimable prize might end in disappointment. Oh, I wish I had been told earlier that there was nothing whatever for me to do of myself, but simply to come, just as I was, and cast myself upon what Christ had done for me, and for sinners like me, and that if I rested wholly upon Him, I would be saved from my sins and from the tendency to sin--and be made holy in Christ Jesus! Now I feel inclined to state, whenever I am talking of it, into the simplest language and the shortest sentences, in order that if there should be a lad here, a child here, that is seeking salvation, he may not be kept in darkness, as I was, month after month, and year after year, trying to know what to do to be saved! Man, woman--whoever you may be--what is to save you is done! Christ has done it all! The robe you have got to wear in Heaven is already spun--you have not got to sit at the loom, working away and making a garment with which to cover your sins! The fountain in which you have to be washed you have not got to fill, nor even to drop a tear into it to make it perfect! There it is--filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, and all you have to do is but to step into it by simply trusting it. Trust Christ! Rely on Christ! Depend on Christ and it is done! And you are saved! The flagons and the cups put on the nail are safe there. You that put on Jesus Christ now are safe, now, safe tonight, safe all your life and safe in Glory everlasting! Now, I should like to ask a question of two or three classes, and then send you home. There are a great many of us here tonight who are teachers of others. Some of you are deacons, Elders, Sunday school teachers, street preachers. I thank God that you are a busy people and you are doing much for Christ. There is a question I want to ask of you, and of myself--Are we who teach others sure that we have believed in Christ, ourselves? Are we quite, quite sure that we are saved? It is well to ask that question! It is a very dangerous thing, indeed, for an unsaved man to begin to work for Christ, for the probabilities are that he will take for granted what he ought diligently to have proved. In many cases he neverwill seek to be saved, but go on, on, on, never pausing to examine himself and so, while professing to work for God, he may be a stranger to the work of God on himself! There is an old story I recollect reading somewhere of a lunatic in an asylum, who one day saw a very lean cook. Accosting him, he said, "Cook, do you make good food?" "Yes," said the cook. "Are you sure?" "Yes." "And does anybody get fat on it?" "Yes," again was the reply. "Then," said the man, "you had better mind what you are after, or else when the governor comes round, he will put you in along with me, for if you make good food, and yet are so thin yourself, you must be mad, for you do not eat it, or else you would get fat, too!" There is some sense in that. You teach others, you say you give them spiritual food, but why not feed on it yourselves? Master, what right have you to teach if you will not first learn? Physician, physician, heal yourself! Brother, it will go hard with you and with me if we are lost. What will become of us teachers of others if, after having led others to the river, we never drink--after bringing others the heavenly food, we perish of spiritual famine ourselves? I cannot go round to all the members of this Church and all the workers, and take them by the hand and say, "My dear Brother or Sister, be not deceived and do not go on deceiving us." But I sometimes wish I could do that, and I wish you would take it as done tonight, for there are some awful hypocrites among us! There are some who come in and apparently behave right well, who are nothing better than abominable hypocrites, rotten through and through! And yet in our charity we never suspect them, and if we occasionally discover one, we stand amazed and say, "Lord, shall I be the next to be a Judas and betray my Master?" There never was a Church in which such hypocrites have not at all times been exposed to view unless they were all in the gall of bitterness together, dead in an empty profession. And then it is no marvel that there should be little inclination to exercise discipline. Christ's twelve had a Judas, and all churches must expect to find the chaff that must be driven away into the fire when the wheat is purged by the great Master's fan. I do beseech you, my dear Brothers and Sisters, let not membership with this Church, or any other Church, assist you in self-delusion, but do--oh, how shall I put it, how shall I put it?--do, before you think about the conversion of other people, see to it that your own conversion is accomplished! Count yourself no way safe till you hang on that nail! You need not talk to others about trusting in Christ till you have first trusted yourselves! Out of the many hearers who have listened to me so long, may there not be a great number who though taught in the Doctrine of the Word have never yet been obedient to it? For a man to perish before knowing the Gospel will be a dreary thing. But for him to die when he knows the Gospel is something horrible--to be drowned with the life belt within reach! To perish in the dark, when the light is to be had! To die of famine, like Tantalus, with the golden apples close to one's lips! To perish of thirst with the water gurgling at one's throat! Oh, it will forever be a sound of horror in the lost ones' ears when they shall hear the echo of the Sabbath bells--if such sounds can penetrate the murky regions where lost spirits dwell--the sound, I say, of the Sabbath bells reminding them of Lord's-Days wasted and neglected! The sound familiar to them when on earth of the preacher's voice as he pleaded, entreated, thundered, threatened, wept, begged men to be saved! If there could be silence, there, and all could be forgotten, there might be a lull in the fierce hail-storm of Almighty Wrath! But they can never forget, for it is said, "Son, remember. Son, remember"--and they shall remember that they were called, but would not come, that they were invited, but declined the feast, that they were instructed, but shut their eyes--that they were wooed, but they hardened their necks and chose their own delusions! Oh, by the mercy of the blessed God, write not your names, my Hearers, among the guilty and terrible multitude! And may there not be some who come merely as casual hearers now and then, who, instead of gleaning anything that is good out of what we have tried to say, only remember our mistakes, our mannerisms, our faults of gesture or of style? It may be sport to some of you to sit and hear, but it is awful as death for us to stand and preach. I mean, it is no child's play for a man to feel, "I stand in God's place to that people this night, and as though God did beseech them by me, I am to pray them, as in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God." He that can toy with his ministry and count it to be like a trade, or like any other profession, was never called of God! But he that has a charge pressing on his heart and a woe ringing in his ears, and preaches as though he heard the cries of Hell behind him, and saw his God looking down upon him--oh, how that man entreats the Lord that his hearers may not hear in vain! Yet, alas, alas, by how many who come to hear, all that is good is forgotten, and only some worthless thing is treasured up? As among those who go to the goldsmith's shop, while one is looking at a pearl, and another admires a ruby, and another would gladly purchase a diamond, there may be an idiot who picks up a coal from the floor and thinks that shall be his--takes it home with him and blackens his fingers with it, and then goes his way and finds fault with the jeweler who dropped it--so are you foolish people and unwise who are attracted by nothing that is precious in the Gospel, but are diligent to collect any refusethat drops in the pulpit! Oh, Sirs, if you must find fault with us, do so, and welcome, as much as ever you will, but do not forget that there is the Truth of God in the sentence that if you are to be saved, you must rest alone upon the work of Jesus! You need saving! You need it tonight! There may never be another occasion on which you may have an opportunity of finding salvation! The opportunity is given to you now. May the Holy Spirit give you the will as well as the occasion, and may you now say-- "I'll go to Jesus though my sins, Have like a mountain rose! I know His courts, I'll enter in Whatever may oppose. Prostrate I'll lie before His Throne And there my sins confess. I'll tell Him I'm a wretch undone Without His Sovereign Grace." God bless these words for Jesus' sake. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH 41:1-18. God enters into a controversy with those who had fallen into the worship of idols. Verse 1. Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. He challenges them to a debate. He gives them breathing time--bids them prepare themselves and come with the best arguments that their minds could find. 2, 3. Who raised up the righteous man from the east? Who called him to his feet, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow? He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet Who was it that raised up Cyrus and who made him strong to defeat the foe? Did the false gods do it? Could they claim any share therein? He puts it to them. 4. Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am He. Long before Cyrus was born, God thus spoke of him! It is declared what work he should do. What better proof could there be that God is God? Do the false gods foretell the future? Are their oracles to be depended upon? Yet the Lord's Word is true and stands fast forever. "I Jehovah, the first, and with the last, I am He." 5, 6. The isles saw it, and feared: the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near and came. They helped, everyone, his neighbor; and everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage. When men fight against God, they get united. What a very sad thing it is that God's children should ever fall out. There is one sin that I never heard charged upon the devils-- the sin of disunity. Of all the evil things we have heard, I have never heard that among the principalities of the Pit there has ever been any division into sects and parties. Oh, sad that in this respect we should fall short of them! The enemies of God helped everyone, his neighbor, "and everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage." 7. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smoothes with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering. And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved. What a sarcastic description of god-making this is! There is the carpenter and then the goldsmith to spread the plates of gold over the wood. And then it is soldered and it has to be fastened with nails. The simple facts about the making of gods are sufficient to pour ridicule upon idolatry! God deliver us from idolatry of any shape or form, whether it comes from Rome or Canterbury! May we have no symbol--no visible object of worship, whatever--but get rid of all that and before the great invisible Spirit let us bow, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth! For the least touch of the symbolic soon lends on to the idolatrous! And what at the first seemed harmless, soon comes to be so harmful that well does the Law say, "You shall not make unto you any graven image for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." Oh, to keep clear of this great and heinous sin! 8, 9. But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen. The seed of Abraham, My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from the chief men thereof, and said unto you, You are My servant I have chosen you, and not cast you away. The people of Israel were reserved by God that they might worship Him. While other nations went to their idols, the Israelites were to be His servants, chaste in heart towards Him. It is so with the Lord's believing people. You are elected and selected, chosen and ordained, and set apart. You may fear the Lord and notgive your hearts to any other. May God grant that we may be true to this, our sacred trust. Notice how very sweetly in this text the Lord alludes to His friendship to Abraham, "The seed of Abraham, My friend'" When the Lord makes a friend of a man, He means it, and He keeps up that friendship to His children and His children's children! Happy are they who have a father who is a friend of God! Just as David did good to Mephibosheth for the sake of Jonathan, so, doubtless, many blessings come to the children for the sake of their parents. The Lord keeps mercy to the third and fourth generation, yes, and throughout all generations to them that keep His Covenant. 10. Fear you not, for I am with you. What cause for fear now? If I am with You, you need not fear all the men on earth, nor all the demons of the Pit! Fear you not, for I am with you." 10. Be not dismayed: for I am your God. " YourGod." Lay the stress there if you will, or, "your God, therefore your All-Sufficient Helper--your Immutable, Faithful, everlasting Friend." 10-12. I will strengthen you: yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. Behold all they that were incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and shall not find them, even them that contended with you. They that war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing. Go on, then, child of God! All your foes that resist your salvation shall disappear before your onward march. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Advance to meet your cares and God shall take your cares away. Only be you strong and of a good courage, and rest in the everlasting arm, and you shall be more than a conqueror! 13. 14. For I, the Lord, your God, will hold your right hand, saying unto you, Fear not: I will help you. Fear not, you worm, Jacob. Poor worm! How can it take care of itself? Even a bird can destroy it. "Fear not, you worm, Jacob." You know what a worm does for its defense. It is all that it can do--it hides itself in the earth. Hide yourself in your God! Get you into the rock and there be hidden till the danger is past. "Fear not, you worm, Jacob." 14. And you men of Israel: I will help you, says the Lord and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel How many times the Lord puts it, "I will help you"! How again and again He says, "Fear not"! For despondency is deeply engraved in some spirits. There are some minds that seem to gravitate that way, again and again, and again--and even the Divine assurances have to be given repeatedly before they feel comfort! Have any of you been troubled because your children do not learn the first time you teach them? See how you are towards your heavenly Father! How many times He has to teach you, line upon line, precept upon precept--here a little and there a little--and if He has patience with our infirmities, we may very readily have patience with the infirmities of our little ones! 15. Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. He will make poor feeble worms to be like that great corn-drag which they were accustomed to draw over the straw to bruise out the wheat. 15, 16. You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff You shall fan them and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel. Truly, when mountains are beaten into chaff and blown away with the winnowing fan, there is room for rejoicing and magnifying God! If there were no difficulties, there would be no victories! If we had no trials, we should have no tests of Jehovah's strength! But out of our afflictions we get our joys. The deeper our sorrows, the higher our exultations when God helps us through them. 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I, the LORD, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. What a blessed promise that is! God thinks of poor and needy men. When they are in their greatest extremity, with nothing to quench their thirst, and they are ready to die, then He is pleased to make the rocks run with rivers in order that they may be supplied. 18. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. __________________________________________________________________ The Multitude Before the Throne (No. 3403) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "After this Ibeheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of allnations, tribes, people and tongues stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb." Revelation 7:9,10. IT seems as though a dash of wonderment thrilled through his soul and a flame of admiration burst from his tongue, when John exclaims, "After this I beheld, and lor He had already seen much. His attention was fixed. His thoughts were strained. All of a sudden, then, a fresh scene breaks on his view and he betrays his surprise. At what, you say? Evidently he was astonished that the vision was not yet complete. Ah, Brothers and Sisters! In order to understand the deep things of God, we need to be patient in our contemplation. Had John turned away his eyes, relaxed his study, or withdrawn his gaze from the marvelous panorama, he would not have seen the better part of his vision! As a Jew, when he had seen the twelve tribes pass before him, he might have been tempted to say, "It is enough! There is a remnant according to the election of Grace in Israel! Lord, Your servant is content! I would now open my eyes again to earth and forget these mysteries." This is what many have done practically when they have been looking at a Gospel Truth. They have not been desirous to see it all, though glad enough to see some part of the Truth of God which seemed to suit their prejudice--they have taken their eyes away from the excellent glory before they have seen the whole of the Truth, as though they were afraid of discovering too much, as though they were always glad not to learn anything beyond, for fear it would not square with what they had learned before! John, however, being patient and taught of God, continued to look--and when the august assembly of the 144,000 had passed before him, he saw a far greater multitude of the Gentile race and he heard from them a louder song than he had heard from the chosen multitude before, as they said, "Salvation to our God who sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb." Be steadfast, then, you searchers into the Truths of God. Look long! Look earnest! Ask the Lord to let you see as much as you may. Then that petition being granted, comfort yourselves with this reflection, "What you know not now you shall know hereafter." Some things He will not tell you because you cannot bear them now, but let there be nothing hid from you because your interest flags and you do not wish to see it! Be willing to learn and let your eyes be open to see the whole of the Truth which Jesus would reveal. Turning, then, to the vision described in our text, the first thing in it that we ought to meditate upon is-- I. THE GREAT CENTER OF THE HEAVENLY WORLD. It seems that all the saints and angels that John saw surrounded one common rallying place--the Throne of God and of the Lamb. They were not broken up into groups, some of them considering this subject, and others investigating that. They were not divided into parties, some calling themselves by one name, and some by another. All in one group they stood, though their number was beyond all human count, and every eye was directed to one common object--yes, and every heart went with every eye--and every tongue sounded the same song, and that a song of adoration to the same One who was the center of all! Does not this teach us that God is the very center of Heaven We might have guessed this, for He is center of all the new creation. Even now all those that are born-again live in Him, inheriting all the blessings of eternal life in their union to Christ, and their fellowship with Him. From Him they derive all their light--to Him and upon Him they reflect all the light, again, giving all the glory unto Him from whom they received all the Grace. He who built Heaven, He who supports Heaven, He who chose every inhabitant in Heaven, He who fashioned every inhabitant for Heaven, He who bought every inhabitant of Heaven with His precious blood, He who is the Father of all and the Friend of all, may well be the center of all joy, of all observation, and of all worship in the eternal world! Note, however, particularly, that the center of the heavenly worship is not God in the act of Creation, but God upon the Throne. Divine Sovereignty is the very center of Heaven! John saw God on the Throne. Here, below, if we speak upon Divine Sovereignty too plainly, we have to encounter the objections of many who pronounce it a hard saying and ask "Who can bear it?" That the Potter shall have power over the clay to do as He wills with each lump, that He should have mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and do as He wills with His own, grates harshly on their ears! I know it is because hearts are hard upon earth, for in that place where every heart is right with God, they are all too glad to let Him sway the scepter. This is the very crown of their song--"The Lord God Omnipotent reigns." His will is their supreme delight. They understand that His will, despotic as it may seem, and unquestioned by any creature, is a will of mercy, of tenderness, of wisdom, of holiness, and of truth! Therefore, they pay their adorations to Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is a peculiar subject of their joy--that God has a Throne, that He sits upon it and that He rules over all things, and all things do His bidding. The central thought of Heaven, then, is Divine Sovereignty. You will remark that we are told there was also the Lamb upon the Throne--as if to teach us that even in Heaven, the glory of the reigning God, working all things according to the counsels of His will, were a sight all too bright even for those pure spirits, unless they saw side by side with Him the Substitute, the Lamb of God! They see Jesus still under the form of a Sin-Bearer, Jesus represented by the symbolic emblem of a Lamb, a Lamb that had been slain, Jesus the Sufferer, Jesus the Crucified, Jesus who once died for sin and has forever put it away by His blood. Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, how I love these two doctrines as I see them side by side--God, a Sovereign, makes me tremble--Christ, the Lamb, makes me rejoice with trembling! God, a Sovereign, overawes me! I take off my shoes, like Moses at the burning bush, but the Lamb has a voice that bids me draw near and have fellowship even with the God who is a consuming fire! Oh, how much this ought to be the object of our thoughts on earth, seeing that it is the main object of their thoughts in Heaven! We have often heard statements made by persons of what they mean to do in Heaven. I read in a biography the other day of one who had not told another person certain feelings of his, as he meant to tell them in the other world. Believe me, we shall have something better to do than discourse of trifles in that upper sphere! We may even dismiss that stanza of Dr. Watts-- "And with transporting joy, recount The labors of our feet" It is but a poetic fiction! What are "the labors of our feet" that they should engross our attention? The reigning God will absorb our thoughts! How we can serve Him, the Supreme, will occupy our minds! The Lamb who once upon the Cross was slain, but now upon His Throne does reign--how we can make the universe resound with His praises, how we can fly at His bidding, if He wills, from world to world, and proclaim the matchless story of His love! How we may be able to make known to angels, principalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God--this, it seems to me, will engross our attention far more than any of the trifling circumstances of time, or any of the occurrences that were connected with our pilgrimage here below! Oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, let us, while we are sojourning on earth, keep God upon the Throne uppermost in our hearts and so school ourselves in heavenly contemplation. Let us keep Christ uppermost with us in our meditations, in our conversations and in our actions. Let us be God's men! Let us be Christ's men! God upon the Throne, Christ the Lamb upon the Throne--let this be our central attraction. Let us count it to be our pleasure to live here, as it will be our superlative pleasure to live forever hereafter, as worshippers who do homage before the Throne of God and the Lamb! We have seen the Divine Center, now, let us carefully mark-- II. THE DIVINE CIRCLE--the living throng that surrounded the Throne of God. They are mentioned as "a multitude that no man can number." This leads me to remark--although I cannot find words to fitly express the thought--that I will call it the sociality of God. He was God over all, blessed forever, self-existent, independent, needing no creature to assist Him, or to add to His Glory or His happiness. But He chose to create worlds--how many we can never guess. The revelations of astronomy seem to tell us that He made them as lavishly as men might cast seed when they sow it broadcast over many acres. There they glitter in the expanse of space, and for all we know, every one of them filled with happy beings! We cannot tell. But God would not be alone. He willed not to be alone. He delighted in the habitable parts of the worlds that He chose to make. If you confine your view but to this world, you may discern that He would not be alone. He made this planet. He fitted it up to be the abode of living creatures. The Divine Being has been pleased to create all sorts and forms of beauty and of life--from the tiny animalcule that finds an ocean in a drop of water, up to the leviathan that makes the very deep to boil like a pot and causes the waves thereof to be hoary with his mighty lashings. God was pleased to make the eagle to fly aloft in the heavens and the fish to cut the deep. All these creatures He has fed for many generations. Upon all these He looks with interest and compassion. He hears the young ravens when they cry. What a boundless Creation! If every separate world that He has made has such an amazing catalog of life, what multitudes of creatures now cluster round about the great Eternal One! He dwelt alone,but He chose not to be alone. And now He has built His house and filled His mighty chambers with many mansions into which He has been pleased to put a thousand forms of life. And then He said within Himself, "I will make a creature different from all the rest I have made as yet--it shall be a spirit that can converse with me--intelligent, immortal." And He created those first-born sons of light. I know not how many they may be, but our Covenant God, Father, Son, and Spirit formed servants suitable for the higher will and loftier behests in the cherubim and seraphim whom He made to be like flames of fire and who cheerfully flash to do His bidding. And then, last of all, He said--and here, the Divine Unity comes into counsel with itself--"Let Us make man after Our own image," and He made a strange creature, matchless and altogether unique--part of which was taken from the ground and kindred with the soil, which might die if it sinned, but another part of which was immaterial, fitted to tenant any of the spheres in the great universe and should exist forever-- a spirit made in the image of God! So He made us and at this day, despite sin which seemed to rob God of all His newborn servants and sons, whom He had created in the loins of Adam, He has a multitude that no man can number, who are nearer to Him than even angels are, associates and friends with Christ, His Son, brought into union with Christ, married to Him. Is it not a marvelous subject if one could dive into it, this social Character of the Divine Being, that He willed not to be alone, that He still continues to constantly surround Himself with ten thousand times ten thousand spirits whom He ordains to bless? Oh, that I might be among them! Does not each one of you say so? Oh, that I might tread the courts of His house! To be but a hired servant within His gates might well content me, but oh, if I might be His son and as His child, might draw near to Him!--how would I bless that glorious Being from whom I sprang and into whose bosom I would leap back again--the source of my life, the sum total of my bliss, my God, my All! Think that thought over another time. I leave it with you. Another thought rises out of the text. If there shall be in Heaven a multitude surpassing all human arithmetic, out of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, how certain the Gospel is to achieve yet a great success. We are always fretting. We are in a great hurry for results. We are impatient of the issue, for we cannot see how the Kingdom of God will come and gladly would we want to hasten the wheels of our Lord's chariot. Well, but our fears may be put aside and our disquietude may be allayed when we remember that as surely as Jehovah lives, Christ must see of the travail of His soul--and He shall see of it in the ultimate salvation of a number out of all nations that are beyond all human count! Patience, my Brothers and Sisters, patience, but diligence! Let us work at the same time that we wait. Let us serve, for the cause is in good hands. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in the hands of Christ! He shall not have died in vain! He shall not lose the purchase of His blood! A countless multitude must be saved! As surely as He bought them, so surely will He wash them in the blood which He shed on their behalf! Perhaps the day of the Church's great growth will come when she returns to something like her primitive mode of warfare. Those who first went out to convert the world were but a handful of men--one room contained them all--yet within a few years there was not a nation upon earth that had not heard the Gospel! Even to the remotest isles the Truth of Jesus had been carried, and who were the men who carried it? Brothers, they were men who never framed a syllogism--men who never embellished a sermon with rhetorical art! For the most part, they were men who spoke only the language of the common people--spoke it, I doubt not, earnestly, but certainly not according to the lordly rhetoric of the schools. They were not men who strove to be intellectual. They were not deep thinkers. They were not profoundly learned. They were men who knew but this one thing--that a Savior had come into the world and that they were intent to tell men about Him! They spoke of this and of this only in burning words with tender feelings and fervent appeals to the conscience. But now-a-days, indeed, we are told that the world is to be converted by logic! That it is to be reasonedout of its sins! That it is to be enlightened by the tapers of human intellect until the darkness of Hell shall be scattered! Believe me, we are on the wrong tack if we think this! It is not so! "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts," and the Spirit works with the simple Gospel, and only with the simple Gospel! When we get back to this conviction and return to this practice, we shall begin to see the countless multitudes flocking first to the Church on earth and afterwards to the Church above. I will ask you, my Brothers and Sisters here who have been converted, how were you saved? How were you converted? Was it by learning? Was it by the flash of some glorious speech of some mighty master of rhetoric? I confess that if I were converted to God--and I trust I was--it was through the ministration of a very simple, humble, uneducated man. I believe the confession of the most of God's children will be such as gives the glory to the Gospel, and not to the preacher's skill, art or intellect. If you have received comfort, and if you have received light, these things have come to you by the means of one who could not claim the glory, for he was but an earthen vessel--the excellence of the power was conspicuously of God and not of him! Oh, Spirit of God, bring back Your Church to a belief in the Gospel! Bring back her ministers to preach it once again withthe Holy Spirit, and not striving after wit and learning. Then shall we see Your arm made bare, O God, in the eyes of all the people, and the myriads shall be brought to rally round the Throne of God and the Lamb! The Gospel must succeed! It shall succeed! It cannot be prevented from succeeding--a multitude that no man can number must be saved! Kindly allow me to continue on the same point the Divine circle in Heaven. Notice the variety. "Out of every nation and tribe, and people, and tongue." How did John know that? I suppose as he looked at them, he could tell where they come from. There is individuality in Heaven, depend upon it! Every seed will have its own body. There will sit down in Heaven not three unknown patriarchs, but Abraham--you will know him! Isaac--you will know him! And Jacob--you will know him! There will be in Heaven not a company of persons, all struck off alike so that you cannot tell who is who, but they will be out of every nation, and tribe, and people, and tongue. I say not that they will speak the language they spoke on earth, but I do say that there will be certain idiosyncrasies and peculiar marks about them that will permit the onlooker to know, as John knew, that they are not all of one nation, but of all nations, tribes, people and tongues. I like this. The very charm of nature is its variety. If all flowers were alike, where were the glorious crown of summer? And if all bodies in the Resurrection world, or even all spirits in the disembodied state could all be precisely one like another, the very beauty of Heaven would be extinct in a degree. No, there they are from different tribes, nations, peoples and tongues--and this betokens individuality and gives us hope that we shall know each other in Heaven even as we are known! Yet a unity about them, for they all wore white robes, and they all carried palms, and they all sang the same song. There are twelve gates to the New Jerusalem, but they all lead to the same city, and there is the same center. There were twelve foundations, but they were all laid on the one Foundation. So they may be many views and notions of truth that we may hold, but they must all be bottomed on Christ Jesus and founded there. And if they are, we shall all meet in the better land. There is a variety in Heaven, yet there is a unity of experience, and a unity in the gratitude they feel. May you and I be there to help to increase the variety and to certify the unity of the heavenly throng! And now for a few words of running comment on the description given of-- III. THE SACRED COMPANY, THEMSELVES, which will supply us with a third point. They "stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." That they stood is not meant to teach us that they do not sit or rest in Heaven, for they always rest in Heaven. But they stand--that is to say--they are confirmed, they are established, they are secure. Their feet shall never slide. They stand in no slippery places. They stand before the Throne of God! It is the posture of action--they stand like soldiers ready for the march--like servants who but need to have it said to them, "Go," and they go. Oh, that we could on earth realize this posture of Heaven! The Lord hold us up that we may stand--may our feet never slide--and oh, that we might stand with loins girt ready for whatever He shall bid us do! Alas, we need often to shake ourselves, for we lie upon the bed of sloth and we are given to slumber. If we would be like those are who see His face, we should always stand and watch, that whatever the Master says to us, we would be ready to obey. That they stood "before the Throne" shows that they are in the immediate Presence of God. They are not excluded from His Presence, they are not at a distance, but they behold His Glory to peculiar advantage and He is near to them in a remarkably gracious and glorious manner. They stand before the Throne of God. Yes, and this is the charm of Heaven, to dwell in the Presence of God! You have tasted, then, something of what Heaven means, my dear Brothers and Sisters. Sometimes you have been near to Christ and in full fellowship with Him you have sipped of the golden cup from which you shall drink forever! You have tasted of immortal fruit that shall furnish your everlasting food. This is Heaven-- forever to behold His face, forever to stand like a courtier in the very court, itself, like a favorite before the Throne--not in the outer courts--not in the court of the Gentiles, but inside the veil, before the Throne, within the glorious mystery, the sanctum sanctorum, in the Holy of Holies, right where God, Himself, is! There shall we stand forever and forever! That they were "clothed with white robes'" is not a little significant. Nakedness was revealed to man by sin. Before the time when he sinned, he was naked and not ashamed. But then he strove to make himself a dress and the fig leaf was the result. But Christ has come in and clothed us--clothed us completely. The robes spoken of here seem to have covered them from head to foot. They were "clothed with white robes"--not partly clad, but altogether clad in them. Oh, how comely that righteousness of Christ which He has worked for us, and worked in us wherewith we shall be clothed when we stand before the eternal Throne of God! Brothers and Sisters, rejoice to put it on tonight! Rejoice to feel that His blood and righteousness, even now-- "Your beauty are your glorious dress." Anticipate the time when you shall be admired of men and of angels, attired in that complete garment. These robes are said to be "white robes"--white to indicate purity--and "they are without fault before the Throne of God." White--as distinctive of their priestly order, "for they are kings and priests unto God forever and ever." White--as an emblem of triumph, for now they are victors over every foe. But why and how came those robes to be white? Their robes are white because His robes were red--His robes I say. Oh, how the angels gazed with astonishment, and asked with eagerness, as they saw Him come back from Calvary, "Why are Your garments red? Why are You red in Your apparel as one that has trodden the winepress?" And He answered, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Me." Because the Savior bled and dyed His garments with His own blood for us, therefore, filthy as the saints' garments once were, they are now robed in pure immaculate white, whiter than any fuller could make them, glistening like the sun! Oh, the joy of being there! May it soon come to us! It will! It may come now, while yet we are talking here-- "Soon may the hand be stretched And dumb the mouth that lisps this faltering strain." But if it were so, then sudden death would be sudden glory! Are you sure, each one of you, that it would be so? Would your departure out of this life be your entrance into the eternal life? Would the shutting of these poor eyes be the opening of nobler optics upon a brighter scene? Believer, it would be so with you! Then why are you afraid to die? No, rather, be willing at any time to gather up your feet into the bed and die--your father's God to meet--where the white-robed company see His face! To complete the description, we will only remark that the palms in their hands may refer to their observing that great feast of the Lord, the feast of tabernacles, when the harvest of the earth is complete, when the sabbathism that remains to the people of God is attained and the pleasures which are at God's right hand forevermore are realized--for so of old it was ordained, as we read in Leviticus--that at this festival the Israelites should take palm branches in their hands and rejoice before the Lord their God. This seems to have been the acme of felicity in their sacred year. I wish I had the power to describe this glorious circle--those bright ones before the Throne, that you could see them! I think, as I look upon them, that I can see even now the Apostolic band. I mark the goodly fellowship of the Prophets. I think I see the martyrs with their ruby crowns. Do not I see the ministers and confessors of Christ, some of my own kith and kin that have gone before me--the Covenanters who bled in Scotland, and the heroes of Smithfield? There they stand, and listen!--how they sing! None shall excel them in their song of praise. You have a mother there, perhaps--a sister, or a brother, or your grandfather who, years ago "went over to the majority" to sing among that countless multitude. Oh, if I could but have a vision of all that will be there within the next hundred years, would I see myself, and would I see all this company there? Oh, if it were possible, I would gladly translate you all to Heaven at once--from the Tabernacle to the Temple, from this place where we sing His praises at His footstool to the place where we will sing them to His face more sweetly and more loudly by far! Not one of you, oh, not one of you would we have absent! Though, Friend, you may be out of sight, and almost out of hearing, one who has just managed to crowd in among the multitude that throng this house--oh, may you with all the rest of us have a place among His chosen--and may none of you find your name left out when He, for them, shall call! Are you believing in Jesus? If so, you should be there! Are you an unbeliever? If you die as you are, you must be driven from His Presence--you must be destroyed from the glory of His power--all the joy and bliss that make up life must be crushed out of you and you must live banished from Him forever! And now to close. It seems that-- IV. THIS GOODLY COMPANY WHO SURROUNDED THE CENTRAL THRONE OF GOD WERE ENGAGED IN SONG. They "cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our GOD which sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb." I was reading the other day a book containing the life of a very excellent Primitive Methodist minister, and I was greatly amused to find in his diary an allusion to myself. He says, "Went to Stroud to hear Mr. Spurgeon. He is a rank Calvinist, but a good man." I was pleased to find that I was a good man, and I was equally pleased to find that I was a rank Calvin-ist! And when I came to review the book I was obliged to say that our Brother was quite correct about my being a rank Calvinist, and we believed that he was one, too, now that he has gone to Heaven! They are all Calvinists there! Every soul of them! They may have been Armenians on earth--thousands and millions of them were--but they are not after they get there, for here is their song, "Salvation unto our God which sits upon the Throne." That is all my Calvinism. I am sure that is what Calvin preached, what Augustine preached, what Paul preached, what Christ would have us preach! And this is what they sing in Heaven--"Salvation unto our God which sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb." They sing in Heaven that it was God that planned salvation, 'twas God that ordained them to salvation, 'twas God that gave them salvation, 'twas the Lamb that brought them salvation, 'twas all of God that that salvation was carried on, and all of God that their salvation was ever perfected! They do not, one of them, say, "Stop, now! Salvation unto our God, yes, but still, free will had a hand in it." Oh, no, no, no! There never was a soul in Heaven that ever thought that! They all feel, when they get there, that although God never violated their free wills, yet He made them willing in the day of His power, and that it was His Free Grace that brought them to come and love the Savior! I am sure, if the verse were given out in Heaven, that we sometimes sing at Communion, they would sing it there-- "'Twas all of Your Grace we were made to obey, While others were suffered to go The road which by nature we chose as our way, And which leads to the chambers of woe." And I think they would sing that other verse that we sing at the Lord's Table-- "Why was I made to hear Your voice, And enter while there's room, While thousands make a wretched choice, And rather starve than come? 'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That kindly forced me in, Else I had still refused to taste, And perished in my sin." This is how they sing in Heaven, then. It is salvation--salvation all of Grace! Salvation of which the glory, from first to last, must all be given to God, and to God alone. They exclude themselves! They give no boasting to themselves. They do not say, "Salvation unto our better nature; salvation to our choicer Grace." No, no! But all unto the Lord, all unto the Lord from first to last! Well, Brothers and Sisters, some of us will not have to change our note much when we get there, for that has been the burden of our song here! It has been the theme of our ministry from our youth up, "Salvation is of the Lord." We have learned it somewhere in the same college as that in which Jonah learned that old Calvinistic theology. He had to go into the whale's belly to learn it, and when he came out, he said, "Salvation is of the Lord." And we, too, in sharp afflictions, pains, and griefs have had to learn it and have it burned into us! And we never believed it more thoroughly in our lives than we do now, that if a sinner is saved, it is God's work that saves him--and God must have all the glory of it. I pray the Lord to convince any poor needy soul that there is salvation in Him--and enable that poor soul now to come and take it--take it by a simple act of faith. You have not got to save yourselves. Christ has saved you. You have but to trust Him and you are saved. There is nothing for you to do--nothing for you to be, but simply to be nothing-- and to let Christ be All-in-All to you, to look and live, for-- "There's life in a look at the Crucified One." God grant that you may look, and so be among the countless throng who shall sing His praises forever and ever! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 7. Verse 1. Andafter these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. A perfect calm there must be till God's people are saved. Not a leaf shall stir to do them damage. Not a dash of foam upon the waters--no movement of wind, or sea, or tree. 2, 3. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, Hurt not the earth neither the sea, nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Everything exists for the servants of God! Creation is but a scaffold for the Church--and when God's Church is finished, then all may be taken down--but not till then. 4, 5. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. The order is not that of nature, but of Grace, otherwise Reuben would have come first. And the election of God is not according to birth or blood, but according to His Sovereign will. Judah, then Reuben. 5-8. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand And of the last and least tribe, still the same. 8. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. I think many Believers belong to the tribe of Benjamin-- doubting fearing, little in faith and confidence--but Benjamin still has his men. 9. After this I beheld The Gentile Church. 9. And, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and people, and tongues. It will do some people good to see that sight, for they fancy that all the saints go to their place of worship! There are no good people anywhere except those that think exactly as they do. So they seem to fancy. Oh, that their eyes were opened a little, for I am afraid that some Christians are very much like the mouse that had always lived in a box and on some grand occasion climbed up to the edge of the box. He looked over and saw the vast area of the cupboard, and said, "I had no idea the world was as big as that!" And yet it had never been outside the cupboard even then. Oh, for eyes that could see a sight like this! "After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number" (we can count pretty high, too) "of all nations, and tribes, and people, and tongues." 9. Stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes.Perfectly pure--perfectly happy-- arrayed like priests and conquerors, for they had "palms in their hands." 9-11. And palms in their hands. And cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the Thron. In the outer ring and about the elders that represent the Church, who stand in the inner ring, nearest to Christ and nearest akin to the Son of Man. 11, 12. And about the elders and four beasts, and fell before the Throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever Amen. Grand ascriptions of praise to make the worship perfect, as all worship should be which is presented to God--as all worship will be when we shall once get to Heaven. 13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are fhese.?This vast crowd--who are these? 13-17. Who are arrayed in white robes? And where did they come from? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne ofGod, andserve Him day andnight in His Temple: andHe who sits on the Throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. __________________________________________________________________ A Gross Indignity (No. 3404) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And they spit upon Him." Matthew 27:30. The night before He had "sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground," that fair visage, which was "fairer than that of any of the sons of men," had been marred by agony and grief without parallel. During that night He had no rest--He was dragged away from one tribunal to another. First, He was brought before a council of priests. Soon after He stood before Pilate and now, after the mockery of a trial, He is given up to the soldiers, that they may mock Him before His execution. 'Tis He--the world's Redeemer, the long expected Messiah--He is led out as a condemned criminal--condemned as a traitor and given up for blasphemy, that He may die the death! Do you see Him? They bring forth an old stool--they call that a throne--the Monarch who sways the scepter of the universe, is placed thereon! They thrust into His hand a reed to mock that golden scepter, the touch of which has so often given mercy to rebels! And now they play the worshipper before Him. But what is their worship? It consists of ribaldry and jeer. Having made sport of His kingship, they turn to ridicule His Character as a Prophet. They blindfold Him and strike Him in the face, some on one cheek, and some on the other, buffeting Him with the palms of their hands! They pluck His facial hair and then they say, making fools of themselves rather than of Him whom they thought to make a fool of, "Prophesy, who is he that struck You?" "Who is this that just now plucked Your beard?" "Who is it that struck You on the cheek?" Not content with this, they loosen the blindfold and He sees. What a sight is before Him! Faces in every conceivable shape mocking Him-- thrusting out the tongue or screwing it into the cheek, calling Him all the names that their low-lived dictionary could summon up, not content with heaping common scorn upon Him, but counting Him to be the very offscouring of all things. Names with which they would not degrade a dog, they use to defile Him! Then, to consummate all, they spit into His face. Those eyes, which make Heaven glad, and cause the angels to rejoice, are covered with the spit of these rascal soldiers. Down His cheek it trickles. That awful brow, the nod or shake of which reveals the everlasting decrees of God, is stained with spit from the mouths of wretches whom His own hands had made, whom He could have dashed into eternal destruction had He willed! When I muse on this, my soul is filled with sorrow. The very idea that Jesus Christ could ever have been spit upon by one in human shape appalls me! Do you remember what sort of face it was that these soldiers spit into? Shall I read you a description of it? One that loved Him and knew Him well, speaks of Him thus--"My Beloved is white. . . His Countenance is lovely." (Solomon's Song, 5:10, etc.). It was into this dear face, a coarse brutal soldiery must void their vile spit! O Church of Christ, was ever grief like yours, that your Husband should thus be defiled and that, too, for your sake? Was ever love like His that He should suffer these indignities for you? The angels crowd around His Throne to catch a glimpse of that fair Countenance. When He was born, they came to Bethlehem's manger that they might gaze upon that face while He was yet an Infant! And all through His devious path of sorrow, He was "seen of angels." They never turned away their eyes from Him, for never had they seen a visage so enchanting! What must they have thought when gathering round their Lord? Surely they would have gladly stretched their wings to have shielded that dear face! What anger must have filled their holy souls, what grief, if grief can be known by beings like themselves, when they saw these wretches, these inhuman creatures, spitting on Perfection! Oh, how they must have grieved when they saw the nasty spit about that mouth which is "most sweet," trickling down from those eyes which are "like the eyes of doves by rivers of waters," staining the cheeks which are "as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers," and falling on those lips which are "like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh." This is a subject upon which I must meditate, even though I cannot preach. I cannot describe it to you unless your soul can now draw near to your buffeted Master, unless the Holy Spirit shall give you a near and dear--an intimate, quiet, soul-satisfying view and vision of Him. I cannot give it to you. As well might I attempt to hold a candle to show you the sun as to hope, by anything that I can say, to touch your passions or move your hearts towards my dear Lord and Master, if the vision of Him does not move you to grieve for sin, and to love Him because He suffered thus for you. All I propose tonight is to offer just a few thoughts on this startling fact in the history of our Redemption. "They spit upon Him." Let us learn here the deep depravity of the human race. When I see Adam in the midst of comfort putting forth his hand to take that one fruit which his Master had reserved for Himself, I see, indeed, sin and arrogance, daring assumption and a heinous crime! But I do not see so much of levity and lawlessness, there, as I do in this, that creatures should spit on the Creator! As I look through the annals of human guilt, I see strange stories of man in reckless, defiant rebellion against his Divine Sovereign. From that first evil hour until now, what strange monsters of guilt has the earth seen! We have heard of rapine and murder, crimes for which new names have been coined to meet the new atrocities which have been committed! Homicide, fratricide, patricide and matricide in which every sanctity of kin has been outraged. We have read of fornication and of adultery, and of lusts worse than bestial. Good God, what is not man capable of? Take but the bit from his mouth and the bridle from his jaws and to what depth of iniquity will he not descend? There is not a filthy dream that Satan ever had in the dark watches of his midnight reverie which man will not embody in act, and carry out in all its grim and dread reality! Strange are those tales that have come from a far-off land, where the heathen worship in their darkness. They not merely bow down to blocks of wood and stone, but degrade themselves with vices into which we could never have imagined humanity could plunge! O God, my heart is heavy as a stone, and smitten with very grief when I think of what an evil thing man is! Why did You not sweep him from the world? How can You permit a viper so obnoxious to nestle in the bosom of Your Providence? Oh, why do You permit such a den of thieves to wander abroad such a cage of unclean birds to swing in ether, and to be carried by Your power round the sun? Why do You not blast it, smite its mountains with desolation and fill its valleys with ashes of fire? Why do You not sweep the race of humans clean away and let their very name become a hissing and a scorn? But, my Brothers and Sisters, bad as man is, I think he never was so bad--or rather, his badness never came out to the full so much--as when gathering all his spite, his pride, his lust, his desperate defiance, his abominable wickedness into one mouthful--he spat into the face of the Son of God, Himself! Oh, this is an act that transcends every other! There are other deeds connected with the Crucifixion quite as malignant, but could there be any so vile? Surely we may say of the men that drove the nails into the Savior's hands that they did but that which they were ordered to do. They were soldiers, and because they were commanded by their military superiors, therefore, they did it. But this was a gratuitous act--this was done without command, without any pressure! It was the base wickedness of their own hearts. Sin saw Perfection in its power, and it must spit on Perfection's cheeks! The creature, the erring creature, saw its Creator in the mightiness of His condescension, putting Himself into His creature's power--and the creature spit upon Him to show how much He hated, how much He loathed, despised, abhorred, detested the very thought of Godhead--even when it was Godhead veiled in human flesh and come into the world to redeem! And now, while you blush with me for human nature, thus foaming out its own reeking depravity, do pray remember that such is your nature, and such is mine. Let us not talk of things in the general, but bring them home in particular. Just such a base wretch am I, and such a base wretch are you, my dear Hearer, by nature, as were those who thus insulted our Lord. I need not go far for proofs, for if we have not spit into the Savior's face, literally--that dear sorrow-scarred visage--we have, as opportunity offered, been as rude and wanton as they! Do you not remember the poor saint of God who talked to us of the things of the Kingdom--and we laughed him out of countenance? Do we not remember that servant of ours who anxiously longed to serve her God, but we threw every obstacle in her way, and never missed an opportunity of venting some jest or sneer upon her? And O, most precious Book of God, you legacy of my Redeemer, how often in the days of my unregeneracy have I spit on you and thrust you into a corner, that the novel of the day might have my attention? I have bidden you lie still, that I might read the newspaper, or something more trivial, and it may be, less innocent, might occupy my mind. O, you ministers of Christ! How have our hearts despised you! And you, you lovely ones, the lowly in heart who follow Christ in the midst of an evil generation, how often have we said hard things of you, mocked your piety, despised your humility, laughed at your prayers, and made jokes at those very expressions whichshowed the sincerity of your hearts! In all this what have we done? Have we not really spit into the face of Christ? Come, let us weep together! Let us sorrow as those who mourn over a first-born son, whose corpse lies unburied before them. I have spit into my Savior's face, but mercy of mercies, He who stands before you tonight, self-convicted, can also add, "But He has not spit in mine. No, He has kissed me with the kisses of His love," and He has said, "Go your way; your sins, which are many, are all forgiven. I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your transgressions." Melt, then, you eyes, and stream down these cheeks, you briny tears, when I remember that He, whom I once despised, has not despised me! That He whom I abhorred, has not abhorred me! And though we hid, as it were, our faces from Him, He has not hidden His face from us--but here we are, forgiven sinners--though once we assailed Him with indignity as gross as those who spat into His face! Having propounded that melancholy fact, I pass on. May God the Holy Spirit impress each of these Truths upon our minds while I merely glance at them. Why was our Master's face full of spit? Sweet thought! Our faces were full of spots, and if the Master would save us, His face must be full of spots, too! He had none of His own--therefore those spots shall be given Him from the lips of scoffers. You know it became Him who saved us, that in everything He should be made like unto us. We were wounded. What then? "He was wounded for our transgressions." We were sick, and He, Himself, "bore our sicknesses, and carried our sorrows." Since we were worms, He must say, "I am a worm, and no man." And we being sinful, He must bear our sin and be numbered with the transgressors--and led away to die. In all things He must become a true Substitute for those whom He came into the world to redeem! And now, my Soul, come here and look at this wondrous spectacle again. The face of your Lord Jesus Christ is filled with spit! Was ever a sight so loathsome and so disgusting as this? But mark, this is your case. Down your cheeks something worse than spit ran--from your eyes there flowed something worse than came from the lips of soldiers--and from your mouth there has gushed forth a stream which is worse than that which came upon the Savior's face. Come, look at this mirror tonight, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, for the face of Christ is the mirror of your souls! What He endured mirrors forth what we were by nature. Oh, what spots there were in us! What hellish spots that streams of water could not wash away! What evils of every kind--pride, and anger, and lust, and defiance of God! Spots, did I say? Why, surely the sun has looked upon our faces and we have become black all over as the tents of Kedar. 'Tis no more with us, now, a matter of spots--by nature we are as the Ethiopian--black, thoroughly black! But, glory be unto His name, His spots have taken away our spots! This spit has made us clean! We are black no longer! By faith we may feel, tonight, that that spit on the Savior's face has washed away the sin from ours. His shame has taken away our sin! That spitting has taken away our guilt. And now what says your Lord of us? You know what sort of face He has. Listen to Him while He describes ours. You would scarcely think that He could mean it, but certainly He does, for He has seen us often and, therefore, He should know. He says of us, O prince's daughter--"Your head (Song 7:5, 6) upon you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple: the king is held in the galleries." And again He says, "You are all fair, My love; there is no spot in you." When I first had that text laid home to my soul, well do I remember how it ravished my heart! I could not understand that my Lord and Master should actually look me in the face and say, "Lo, you are fair; there is no spot in you." Oh, it is a grand and noble Truth of God! Faith grasps it, love dotes over it, our hearts treasure it! There is no spot left in a Believer-- "Covered is my unrighteousness, From condemnation I am free." One bath in the precious blood takes away all spots, makes us whiter than the driven snow and we stand before God fairest among the fair, accepted in the Beloved! Learn, then, O Church of Christ, this great Truth of God--that the spit and the shame of the Savior's face have delivered you from the odious corruption that disfigured you, and you may, therefore, rejoice in His meekness who bore your reproach! What Christ suffered by way of shame, we must remember, is a picture of what we would have suffered forever if He had not become our Substitute! Ah, my Soul, when you see your Lord mocked, remember that shame and everlasting contempt must otherwise have been forever and ever your portion. One of the ingredients of Hell will be shame--to be laughed at for our folly, to be called madmen for our sin, to feel that angels despise us, that God scorns us, that the righteous, themselves, abhor us--this will be one of the flames of the Pit that shall burn the spirits of men. To have no honoranywhere, not even among their base companions, is a bitter prospect, but there is no rank in Hell, no being honored in the Pit that yawns for the souls of men. "Shame shall be the promotion of fools, and everlasting contempt shall be their perpetual inheritance." And think, my Soul! This had been your portion, but your Master bore it for you! And now you shall never be ashamed because your master was ashamed for you! You shall not be confounded, neither shall you be put to shame, for He has taken away your reproach and borne it on His own visage! And as for your rebuke, it has entered into His own heart and He has taken it away forever--it shall never be brought to your remembrance. Think, dear Friends, of the honor which awaits the Christian, by-and-by-- "It does not yet appear How great we must be made, But when we see our Savior here, We shall be like our Head." We shall judge the angels! The fallen spirits shall be dragged up from their infernal dens, and we shall sit as assessors with the Son of God, to say, "Amen" to that solemn sentence which shall perpetuate their fiery doom! We shall reign upon this earth a thousand years with Him, and then, clothed in white robes, our joyous spirits in our risen bodies shall enter triumphant into Heaven's gates! There we shall be crowned and treated as princes of the blood. There shall angels be our waiting servants and principalities and powers shall assist us in our service of song. Before the mighty Throne of blazing light, where God, Himself, reigns, we shall stand, and sing, and bow, and worship--and we, too, shall have our thrones and our kingdoms, and our crowns, and we shall reign forever and ever and ever! Then we shall look back to that face that was covered with spit and we shall say, "We owe all this to that dear disfigured face! All this glory is the result of His shame, because He hid not His face from shame and spitting." Therefore we have "washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Therefore stand we in the full blaze of Heaven's own glory and, therefore, we serve Jehovah day and night in His Temple! Let this sweet thought, then, dwell on your mind. Christ's shame has taken away your shame! His endurance of the spitting has secured your everlasting honor! To draw another practical Truth of God from this short but thrilling sentence, "They spit upon Him." Blessed Master, "if I am like You, they well spit on me." The less I am like You, the more the world will love me, but if, perhaps, these wayfarers should see something in me that shows I have been with You, they will give me the remnants of that spit which they did not spit into Your face. Oh, my Lord and Master! One prayer I offer, "Give me Grace to bear that spit, thankfully to receive it, and to rejoice because I am counted worthy not only to believe on You, but to suffer for Your sake!" There are many of you, I know, who meet the quiz and hear the laughter of your old companions when you forsake them to follow Christ. In the associations you have formed, and in your family connections, you often encounter a treatment which is not pleasant to flesh and blood. Does not the Evil One sometimes whisper to you, "Follow not with Christ, for this is a sect everywhere spoken against"? "Leave Him and be honored! Go not with Him, when He goes through Vanity Fair. Oh, do not suffer with Him this trial of cruel mocking." Ah, that is the song of Satan! Stop your ears to it, and listen not for a moment, but listen to this true note from Heaven, "Rejoice you in that day, and leap for joy when they shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My name's sake, for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you." Take joyfully not only the spoiling of your goods, but the spoiling of your character! Sing, as our sweet hymn puts it-- "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee. Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, You my All from hence shall be." Go forth outside the camp, bearing the reproach. When at any time your heart sinks within you, I would have you consider Him who "endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and faint in your mind." If at any time you would hide your face from the shame and spitting, think you see Him enduring it, and then you will thrust out your face and say, "Let me be a sharer with my Master! Treat me like my Lord! If you spit on Him, spit on me! And rather than spit in His face, spit in mine! I will be glad enough if I can but shelter Him. It is my pride to suffer, my boast to be despised for His sake."-- "I nail my glory to His Cross, And pour contempt on all my shame." Oh, this is a glory which an archangel can never know--the glory of being trampled on by the world for Jesus' sake! The honor of fellowship in suffering with Christ! And it shall be followed by a greater glory, still, when we shall reign with Him above, because we have suffered with Him below. To conclude, let me draw one more lesson from the fact that "They spit on Him." Christian Brothers and Sisters, you that love your Master, praise Him and extol Him. How the early Church used to talk of its martyrs! After those good men, who were stretched on the rack, had their flesh torn from their bones with red-hot pincers, they were exposed to the gaze of the multitude! Naked and their limbs cut away joint by joint, they were then burned in the fire, but stood calm and dared without a sigh to declare that though they were cut into a thousand pieces, they would never forsake their Lord and Master! How did the Church ring with their praises--every Christian pulpit talked of them, every Believer had an anecdote concerning them! And shall not our conversation ring with the honor of this Martyr, this glorious Witness, this Redeemer who thus suffered shame, and spitting and death on the Cross for us? Honor Him! Honor Him! Honor Him, you blood-bought ones! Be not content to sing-- "Bring forth the royal diadem And crown Him Lord of all,"but bring it out! Make it not a matter of song, but of deed! Bring it out, and put it on His head! You daughters of Jerusalem, go forth to meet King Solomon and crown Him! Crown Him with heart and hands! Take the palm branches of your praises and go forth to meet Him! Spread your garments in the way, and cry, "Hosannah! Hosannah! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord," leading captivity captive, and scattering gifts for men! Talk of Him in your houses. Laud Him in your conversation! Praise Him in your songs! Waft you awhile your melodies on earth, till you shall lay aside this clay, and enter into Heaven, there to give Him the fiery songs of flaming tongues! Then emulate the seraphs, and surround His Throne with everlasting hallelujahs, crying, "Unto Him that loved us, and that washed us from our sins in His blood, unto Him be glory forever and ever!" I think I see Him now! He stands before me! I see that very face that once endured the spitting. Oh, you angels! Bring forth the crown! Bring forth the crown and let it be put upon His head this day! I see the piercings, where thorns penetrated His temple. Bring forth the diadem, I say, and put it on His head! 'Tis done! A shout rises up to Heaven, louder than the voice of many waters. And what now? Bring forth another, and another, and another crown, and yet another, and another! And now I see Him. There He stands--and "on His head are many crowns." It is not enough! You redeemed saints, bring forth more! You blood-bought ones, as you stream into Heaven's gates, each one of you offer Him a new diadem! And you, my Soul, though "less than the least of all saints," and the very chief of sinners, put your crown upon His head! By faith, I do it now. "Unto Him that loved me, and that washed me from my sins in His blood, unto Him be glory forever and ever." From pole to pole let the echoes sound! Yes, let the whole earth, and all that dwell therein, say, "Amen!" EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN8:29-59; MARK 14:1-9; JOHN 12:1-7 Christ thus spoke to His adversaries. Verse 29. And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father has not left Me alone: for I always do those things that please Hi . Brothers and Sisters, what Christ could say, I trust many of His servants can also say in a like manner. "He that sent me is with me." What power, what pleasure must the Presence of God give to His servants! "The Father has not left me alone." Oh, how blessed to feel that behind us is the sound of our Master's feet and that in us is the Temple of His Presence! We cannot, however, say as Christ did, "I always do those things that please Him," for, alas, we have the remembrance of sin this morning--and have to confess it in His sight. But let us also remember that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 30, 31. As He spoke these words, many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My word, then are you My disciples, indeed. It is not a mere profession that makes a man a saint--there must be a continuance of well-doing. We bind lads apprentice for a little time, but no man belongs to Christ unless he belongs to Him forever. There must be an entire giving up of one's self, in life and unto death, to the Lord's cause. 32-34. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: why do You say, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. There is this in the original, "Whoever makes sin." It is not exactly, "Whoever commits it," because if so, all would be the servants of sin and God would have no sons at all! But it says in the original "Whoever makes sin," that is, whoever makes it his choice, and makes it the delight of his soul-- whoever does this is the servant of sin and is no son of God. 35. And the servant abides not in the house forever, but a son abides forever He may be in the house and have slender privileges for a time, but these soon go away. 36. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free, indeed. And give you the privileges of sons! 37. 38. I know that you are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill Me because My word has no place in you. I speak that which Ihave seen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father Men always act according to their natures. We shall find the polluted fountain sending forth filthy streams. We do not expect to hear sweet singing from a serpent, nor, on the other hand, do we expect hissing from the bird, but every creature is after its own kind. Christ, coming from the Father, reveals God! Ungodly men, coming from the devil, reveal the devil. 39-42. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father Then said they to Him. We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. You should see in Me a brother. You should perceive in Me the attributes of God and, being made like unto God as His sons, you would love the Godhead in Me. 43-44. Why do you not understand My speech? Even because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.Christ does not speak very gentle words at all times. A deeply-rooted disease needs a sharp medicine--and He gives it. He uses the knife, sometimes, and if there is a deadly ulcer that must be cut away, He knows how to do it with all the sternness of which His loving heart is capable. 44. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him. The first murder was committed by his suggestion. Cain was guilty of it, but Satan instigated it. He has always been a man-killer and so Christ says that inasmuch as they sought to kill Him, they were worthy sons of their parent. "There is no truth inhim." 44. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. It is his own idiom. You may always know him by it. 44. For he is a liar, and the father of it The father of all liars and of all lies! 45-46. And because I tell you the truth, you believe Me not Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe Me? Oh, matchless argument! Now were they silent, indeed! His whole life was before them. He had not lived in secret and yet He could appeal to his whole life--from the first day even to this time--and say, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" It is this that weakens our testimony for God--that we are so imperfect and full of sin. Let us seek to imitate the Master, for the more clean we are from these imperfections, the more shall we be able to shut the mouths of our adversaries. 47, 48. He that is of God, hears God's words. You, therefore, hear them not, because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil?Always abuse your adversary if you cannot answer him--this is always the devil's tactic! When he cannot overthrow religion, then he seeks to append opprobrious titles to those who profess it. It is an old and stale trick and has lost much of its force. Our Savior did not answer the accusation of His being a Samaritan, but inasmuch as what they said about His having a devil, would touch His Doctrine--He answered that. 49-51. Jesus answered, Ihave not a devil, but I honor My Father and you do dishonor Me. And I seek not My own glory: there is One that seeks and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you. If a man keeps My sayings, he shall never see death.The sting of it shall be taken away--he may fall asleep--he will do so, but he shall not see death. 52-56. Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know that You have a devil! Abraham is dead, and the Prophets, and You say, If a man keeps My sayings, he shall never taste of death Are You greater than our father, Abraham, who is dead? And the Prophets who are dead? Whom do You make Yourself to be? Jesus answered, If I honor Myself, My honoris nothing: it is My Father who honors Me; of whom you say that He is your God: yet you have not know Him; but I know Him: and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like you: but I know Him and keep His saying. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. There is a great force in the original language here, "He was glad." There was an excessive joy which holy men had in looking forward to the coming of Christ. I do not think that we give ourselves enough room for joy in our religion. There are some persons who think it the right thing to restrain their emotions. They have no bursting forth of joy and seldom a shout of sacred song. But oh, my Brothers and Sisters, if there is anything that deserves the flashing eyes and the leaping feet, and the bounding heart, it is the great Truth of God that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners, even the chief! Let us be glad as often as we make mention of His name. 7. Then said the Jews unto Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? Why, He was hardly thirty, but sorrow had made him appear older. 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am. Here He claims His Deity to the fullest extent! And those who can read the New Testament and profess to believe it--and yet not see Christ as a claimant of Deity--must be sinfully blind! 59. Then they took up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. This is always the sinner's argument against the right! First, hard words, and then stones! MARK 14. Verses 1-3. After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by craft andput Him to death But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper A well-known person. There were plenty of Simons and so they had to put another name to distinguish him. You remember Simon the Pharisee, in whose house Christ was anointed by a woman who washed His feet with tears. This is another Simon. Not Simon the Pharisee, but Simon the Leper. A healed man, no doubt, or he could not have entertained guests. There can be no question by whom he was healed, for there was nobody else that could heal leprosy except our Divine Lord. "And being at Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper." 3. As He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she broke the box and poured it on His head. It does not need any "it," "poured on His head." The liquid nard flowed over His locks and, as it was with Aaron, it went, doubtless, down His beard to the utmost skirts of His garments. 4. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? Matthew says that they were disciples. Shame on them! The ointment was put to its proper use. It was more wasted when it was in the box than when it was out of it, for it was doing nothing inside the alabaster box! But when it came out, it was answering its purpose. It was perfuming all round about. "Why was this waste of the ointment made?" When lives are lost in Christ's honor, or strength is spent in His service, there is no waste. It is what life and strength are made for-- that they may be spent for Him. 5. 6. For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence and have been given to the poor And they murmured against her, And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble her? She has worked a good work on Me. Or "in Me.'" 7. For you have the poor with you always. If you help them one day, they are poor and they need helping the next. Or if you help them and leave them, leaving them because they go home to God, there are other poor people sure to come, for they will never cease out of the land. "You have the poor with you always." 7. And whenever you will, you may do them good. But Me you have not always. "You can only do this for Me during the few days that I shall be with you. Within a week I shall be crucified. Forty more days I shall be gone from you. Me you have not always." 8, 9. She has done what she could: she is come beforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wherever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also what she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.And it is so to this day! Christ's Gospel is preached, tonight, and this woman's love will be remembered. John also speaks of this in his 12th Chapter. JOHN 12. Verses 1, 2. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper. It was in the house of Simon the Leper, a near acquaintance, perhaps, a relative of this beloved family, for we find that Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. The two families had joined for this festival, and well they might, for in one case, someone had been healed of leprosy, and in the other case Lazarus had been raised from the dead! It was a holy, happy feast. 2, 3. And Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus The other Evangelist said, "anointed His head." And they are both right. She anointed His head and His feet. 3. And wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Everybody perceived and enjoyed it--and understood what costly ointment it must be which loads the air with so delicate a perfume. 4. Then said one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which would betray Him. I wonder whether he was son of that Simon the Leper, and whether a spiritual leprosy did cling to him! That, we know, was the case. 5, 6. Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag, and took what was put therei. Observe that the sharpest critics of the works of good men are very often no better than they should be. This Judas is indignant with what Mary does, and claims that he cares for the poor, but all the while he is a thief! Whenever a man is very quick condemning gracious men and women, you may be quite as quick in condemning him. He is usually a Judas. __________________________________________________________________ Confession of Christ (No. 3405) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 21, 1868. "Whoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is Heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven." Matthew 10:32,33. INCESSANTLY do we preach, and do you hear, that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, that whoever trusts in Him shall be saved. This is the great and master-duty--the believing, the trusting. It is here that salvation hinges and hangs--"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." We conceive that it is never possible to preach that Truth of God too often--that this ought to be in some sense the burden of every sermon--that it is the message, above all others, which every minister of Christ is sent to deliver! There is salvation in Him and in no other. We are to insist upon it perpetually and constantly, and never are we to forget it, that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the very chief, and that, by Him, everyone that believes is justified from those things from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses. But, Brothers and Sisters, there are other matters beside faith. And while believing in Christ is the great and the main thing, yet it would be unprofitable for you--it would be unfaithful on our part--if we were to neglect other commands of Christ which come after this foundation, faith, and have a very close relation to it. Now, I am persuaded that there are in this professing Christian England hundreds and thousands of persons who have some kind of faith in Christ, and I trust, also, a sincere one, who, nevertheless, pass over in silence the plain command of Christ about professing Him before men. And there may be some, even in this congregation gathered here, who, having given Jesus Christ their hearts, have been slow to think of the next thing which He requires, and will, perhaps, feel as though I break their quiet all too roughly when I shall try to press upon them that they go a step further and, having believed with the heart, will remember that the promise is, "He that with his heart believes, and with his mouth confesses, shall be saved." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." The outward confession is as much commanded as the inward believing--the one the natural fruit and expression of the other. We shall, therefore, first of all, consider what is the duty taught here. And secondly, why it is a duty. And then, thirdly, what are the sanctions of reward and penalty appended to the performance or neglect of this duty I. WHAT IS THE DUTY HERE MENTIONED? "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess." Observe the word. It is not "profess." It means that, but it means more. It is "confess." I take it a difference worthy of observation. To "profess" Christ may be work which anyone would do, especially in soft and silken times, when a profession may even be remunerative, when it may even add respectability to a man's character and make his path smooth! But the "confession" has this difference in it--it is a kind of thing that comes out when a sort of accusation is brought. A man professes Christ before his brethren because they will all be pleased with him for it. Another man in the midst of enemies, who will revile and persecute him, pleads guilty to the blessed impeachment of being a Christian. He confesses that what they count a crime, he counts a virtue--while they have him brought up, as it were, before their judgment seat. The crime alleged is that this man is a follower of Christ and, therefore, to be scoffed at, to be badgered and otherwise maltreated! The man says, "I am guilty, if it is guilt. I am thus vile, and rejoice in it--and I hope to be viler in it! I confess Christ, that He is mine and I am His." I think that is an obvious difference between profession and confession--there may be other differences, but we shall not be detained with them now. This seems to me to be clear beyond dispute. To "profess" Christ is but an easy thing. To "confess" Him implies that the circumstances make that confession a deed of courage, exposing the confessing soul to peril and penalty. But he gladly accepts the suffering or the shame, and confesses that what may seem to be a foolish thing to others, is a wise thing to him. He confesses Christ. I will also remark that in the Greek it is, "Whoever confesses in Me before men," by which is meant that he makes a confession of being in with Christ He holds Christ's Doctrines--desires to imbibe Christ's Spirit, to follow Christ's example. He does in effect say, "There are two sides, Sirs. You ask me which I take--I confess that I am in with Christ for the battle of life. I am His servant, His soldier, I will follow His banner and, come what may of it, I throw down the gauge of battle to all His adversaries. I confess in Christ. You may confess in the world, you may confess your love for pleasure, for wealth, for sin, but I will make my confession in Christ." That is, without doubt, the meaning of these words. It is not the profession by taking up the name of Christian--it is the confession, under dangerous circumstances, of the whole of Christ's teaching and Kingdom--and taking all the consequences thereof. Now, when ought a man to do this? It is a duty. When and how ought he to do it? I answer that as soon as ever a soul has believed in Christ, its next duty is to confess in Christ It ought never to be delayed. And where it has been, the delay ought to be made up by a speedy obedience. If you ask me what is the first confession a man ought to make, I shall reply that according to Scripture, it is by Baptism. As soon as ever the Philippian jailor had believed, Paul took him, the same hour of the night, and baptized him--baptized him into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! When Philip met the eunuch and had explained to him the Scriptures and so discipled him, the very next thing the eunuch said was, "See, here is water--what does hinder me to be baptized?" Everywhere throughout Scripture we read sentences like this, "They that gladly received His Word were baptized." And from the days of John, the precursor of Christ, to the conclusion of the history of the Apostle, we continually find that to all Believers the command was given, "Rise, and be baptized." It is the confession of Christ. Peter says that Baptism is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." It is a conscience enlightened and instructed, saying in outward symbol to God, "I desire to be buried with Christ and to rise with Christ--henceforth to be a dead man to my old self and my old sin, and being, now a new creature, wholly Christ's, to live alone for Him." Oh, how men have marred this most instructive ordinance! How they first of all put away the very ordinance, itself, in reducing it to drops of water which never could set forth as in parable or picture, a burial! How they then took away the proper subjects of it, and substituted unconscious infants for the intelligent Believer in Christ, who comes forth and says, "Thus I follow Christ, who in the waters of Jordan went down and commenced His glorious Kingdom upon the earth by Himself fulfilling righteousness by His Baptism there!" I charge you, my Brothers and Sisters, search the Scriptures! I am preaching to you only what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. We are no inventors of this Doctrine--the grand old classic of God's Inspired New Testament is our warrant! And if men would cast away all mere ecclesiastical, habit, and once more bring everything to the test of the Bible, and the Bible, alone, I think they would see that the Scripture Baptism is an ordinance for Believers, wherein and whereby they confess Christ to be Savior, and Lord and King! And they devote themselves, their powers and influence, as well as possessions, to His service. I ask none of you to accept this merely because it is my teaching, but because it is according to the Old Book and, if so, accept it and obey it as Christ's Law! But the next thing every Believer ought to do is this--we read in the Epistle to the Corinthians, thus they gave--"They gave themselves first to the Lord and afterwards to us by the will of God." It is the duty, then, of the Believer in Christ to confess his Master by giving himself up to some Christian Church. Let him find out under whose ministry he will be best edified, in whose membership he can most sweetly find rest. Let him not be ashamed to go to that Church and say, "Receive me, I am a Brother in Christ." Let him not blush. Let our Sisters never blush to acknowledge that they have trusted in the Crucified, that they are His servants, that they desire now and henceforth to dwell with His people, and to be numbered with His disciples! Some of you, I am sure, are doing very wrong and losing much benefit to your own souls, by not casting in your lot with the people of God. "When these were met together," we read in the Acts of the Apostles, "they went to their own company." Birds of a feather flock together, and if you are a bird of Paradise, seek out others and say, "I cast in my lot with you--where you dwell, I will dwell, where you worship, I will worship--your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God." Let me but be numbered with them, and I would rather be a doorkeeper in their assemblies than dwell in the tents of wickedness! There are two forms of confession in Christ, but after them, and yet at the same time, also, it behooves every Christian to make a confession in his family. I shall not say that you are ostentatiously to stand up and declare yourself a Christian in so many words. But I shall say that according to your position, you are to make it sufficiently known that you are a follower of Jesus. The servant in a family may have a very different way of rightly confessing Christ from that ofher master. And for the child, the same method might not be suitable which ought to be adopted by the parent. To my mind, the father ought to say, "My children, our household has been ill-ordered aforetime. There has been no prayer, no gathering as a family round the home altar. But God has looked upon me in mercy and now, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. My prayer shall be for you all, that you shall he saved." And I can imagine as the good man bowed his knee that morning, a change would pass over the whole constitution of his family. They would all ask one another, "What has happened to our father? What is this strange thing?" And it may be that, as it was with the jailor at Philippi, so it would be with the whole house--"He himself believed in God, rejoicing with all his house." But it shall be made somehow. It must be a distinct declaration made in some form or other by the Christian, that he is no longer what he was, but called out from the rest to be a follower of Jesus, "separated," as Paul puts it, "separated unto the Gospel of Christ." This confession, next, should be seen in the whole of a man's affairs. He is not to ticket his goods, or advertise his conversion in his shop window. But from that moment, if there has been anything of trickery, if there has been anything of foul sailing, if there has been anything in him that was according to the customs of the trade, but not according to the Laws of Christ, his immediately ceasing from all that without ostentation or Pharisaism is to be his confession of Christ! Others may continue to do the same and the customs of the trade may permit it. But as for him, he cannot touch the unclean thing. If he still continues to follow out the same customs and maxims, or if, out of business, he finds his pleasure and amusements in the same places as before. Or if, in any way, he remains exactly the same man as he was aforetime as to sin and wrong, then surely he has denied Christ and let him be baptized as he may, and join the Church as he will, he is nothing but a pretender and imposter, for the life does not agree with the confession that he is Christ's! "If any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, and lo, allthings have become new!" There is no true confession where there is not a changed spirit and a transformed life, or rather the confession is such as shall suffice to condemn the man out of his own mouth and send him out from God's Presence a revealed pretender! My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you members of this Church, I ask you to put it to your consciences! Do you confess Christ in your business? You working men, do you confess my Lord and Master by fleeing those vicious and evil habits that are so common among your class? Are you no longer the lover of the lewd song? Do you no longer laugh over the indecent story, or the one that covers vile language? Have you foresworn the pothouse and all the company that frequents it? And you merchants and you that call yourselves ladies and gentlemen, have you given up those frivolities, those empty vanities, those time murderers, those soul-destroyers of which the most of your class are so fond? If Divine Grace does not make you to differ from your own surroundings, is it really Divine Grace at all? Where there is not a thorough separation from the world, there is cause to fear there is no close union to Christ! The best part of our confession to Christ lies in the practically giving up everything which Christ would not sanction, and the following out of whatever Christ would ordain! Sometimes to follow Christ thus by confessing in Him will involve persecution. And then, let me say it will be a test point with you. We cannot confess Christ at all unless we are willing to give up every connection, however dear--every relationship, however fond--sooner than let the conscience bow the knee to natural affection. You are to love as you never loved before those that are one with you in the flesh, but still Christ is to be above all on your bosom's throne! Oh, there are some professors who do not stand to this--they have not learned the meaning of Christ's words, "If any man loves father, or mother, or husband, or child, or wife more than Me, he is not worthy of Me. And if any man loves house or land more than Me, he is not worthy of Me." You tell me there are no persecutions now? Ah, indeed, perhaps if you followed Christ more fully, you would find out that there were! There is many a timid woman who has to play the martyr, still, and many a trembling young Believer who has to find that if there are no burnings, there are trials of cruel mocking--and blessed are they that bear these things without fear, for the sake of Jesus! But if you flinch, if you are afraid of men, ah, then you count yourself unworthy and you shall not inherit the Kingdom of God! Oh, to go with Christ through all weather! To bear His Cross up the stiff hillside when the snowflakes sting in your face! To stand with the gentle, but heroic woman in the pillory! To wear the fool's cap for Christ, and so have the hoots of half an age about one's brow, were glory, and honor, and immortality! And yet many forego the honor, shrink back into their ignoble cowardice, counting themselves not fit to be the followers of Jesus! There will occasionally happen--I will only mention this and then conclude this first part--there will occasionally happen in the course of conversation, times when the confessing of Christ will become to the Christian an imperative duty--as when coarse infidelity is being avowed, or the Gospel of Jesus derided. I do not say that you are always to speak, for sometimes it would be casting pearls before swine. But I will say that if any unholy cowardice will make you hold your tongue and keep silence when you might have spoken for your Master's name, you have need to confess this sin with bitter tears and trembling, lest that denial should not be the denial of Peter, for which there is forgiveness after sore repentance--but the denial of Judas, which followed only by remorse, made him the son of perdition. Oh, stand up for Jesus! To be ashamed to acknowledge yourself a Christian, ah, then Christianity may well be ashamed of you! I know that is not the name--it is Presbyterian, Puritan, Methodist, hypocrite--oh, confess the impeachment whatever it may be! If they choose to make even the term, "hypocrite," a synonym for Christian, tell them that by the way which they call hypocrisy, even so do you in all sincerity worship the Lord God of your fathers! Be bold enough to stand in the front rank for Christ and never hide yourself behind for fear of feeble man! He is worthy to be confessed, so dare to confess Him, I beseech you! Thus much in explanation of the duty argument for it. II. WHY IS IT A DUTY? To be very brief, first, the genius of the Christian religion requires it The genius and spirit of the Christian religion is, first, light. Everything is above board with Christianity. We have no mysteries which are only revealed to a special few. We are not like those teachers of philosophy who keep their tenets for the initiated. The religion of Jesus Christ, as far as men are able to comprehend it, is as plain as a pikestaff. We, my Brothers and Sisters, have no learned books to which to point you and say, "There is the secret locked up in the dead languages. And there in the process of reading some twenty tomes, you may fish out the secret almost as clearly as the secret of alchemy." No, but here is our secret-- Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made flesh, died for sinners, the Just for the unjust, and whoever believes in Him shall be saved! If there is any mystery, it is only because there must be something mysterious in that which comes of God and tells of Him. But the Gospel never aims at mystery! The old Church of Rome has written upon her brazen brow, "Mystery. Babylon. Mother of Harlots!" But the Church of Jesus Christ says in the language of Paul, "We use great plainness of speech." Now, where the very spirit and genius of Christianity is openness, bold display, a keeping back of nothing--it seems to be natural that every Believer in it should never keep in concealment in his own breast his conviction, but should publish upon the housetop that which he has received! Again, the genius of our religion is life, as well as light. Life is sure, ultimately, to be revealed. It cannot be altogether hidden. It is sure to sprout from the seed, though buried deep in the earth. Our religion is not a thing of churches, and Sundays, and Good Fridays, and Easters, and Christmases and I know not what besides! It is a thing of everyday life, for the kitchen and the parlor, the office and factory, the court ofjustice, the Houses of Parliament. It intertwists itself with all the rootlets of our inner nature and comes out in all our actions of outward behavior and conversation. Hence, to hide it is impossible! "He could not be hid," should be as true of our Christian life as it was of our Lord. If it were a mere ceremony, it might be performed in and confined to crypt or sepulcher--but since religion is a principle which acts upon the entire life--it ought to be and must be confessed! The genius of our religion is also fire. Light, life, fire, by which I mean energy, Divine energy. The Christian is, above all, a propagandist. He it is who, having a better Truth than the Pharisees ever had, excels them in the missionary spirit. He will compass sea and land to make one proselyte, for the flaming religion of Jesus Christ can never be kept in the bosom of the man who receives it. Even fire cannot be kept still, for once it falls among the stubble, the conflagration must spread. The God that answers by fire is a God who shall reign over this world! And the God of Christianity is that God of fire! Hence, Beloved, since you are expected to operate upon others by your life and teaching, you must not dream of concealing your faith, for your religion requires it. In the next place, genuine love dictates it Ashamed of Jesus who bought you with His blood, forgave you all your sins, made you a child of God? Oh, by the five wounds, and by the glorious passion, and the bloody sweat and the travail of His soul, by the hands that bore your name in Heaven, by the heart that beats with love for you, how can you deny Him? Beloved in the heart of Jesus-- "When you blush be this your shame, That you no more revere His name." But never, never be ashamed of one so dear to you. Love inspires it. But gratitude also requires it. Surely, Brothers and Sisters, those that are converted to God owe no small gratitude to the Church of Christ, which was the instrument, in most cases, of their conversion. How can we prove that gratitude so well as by assisting that Church in all its work, that others, also, may be blessed? When I think of some Christians who say they love Christ but have never joined the Church, I put it to them, "Suppose everybody else did the same--everyother Christian has the same rights as yourself--suppose, then, that all Christians should refuse to join in Church organization--how would there be any hope for the world?" "Oh," you say, "all others may do it!" No, if you may neglect it, others may. Was it not through some minister of Christ that you first heard the Gospel? Was it not through the Sunday school or through some printed word that you first came to know Christ? Repay the debt you owe to the Church by casting in your lot with your fellow Christians and seeking to do the same for some other, who, as yet, is unrenewed by Grace. Prudence, also, let me say, suggests it to you. "Prudence," you answer, "why, I thought it was prudence to keep out of the Church, for fear I should dishonor Christ." That is imprudence! For it is going on your own way, a road Christ never marked for you. The truest prudence is to do exactly what the Master bids, for then, if anything should come amiss, you are not accountable for it. "But," you say, "suppose I should dishonor Christ?" Yes, and suppose you are dishonoring Christ now? I think you had better run that risk than take the absolute certainty that you are dishonoring Him by your disobedience! "Well," says one, "if I were to avow myself a Christian, I should feel it such a solemn thing." Therefore, do it--for we need solemn things to keep us back from sin. "I should feel it such a bond to keep me in holiness." You require such a bond--accept it, and it shall be no more a chain to you, if you are sincere, than wings are a burden to a bird, or sails become a clog to a ship-- "Take His easy yoke and wear it, Love will make the burden light! Grace will teach you how to bear it, You shall bear it with delight." But, Beloved in Christ, for your own good's sake, be not slow to do what your Master bids. One other word will suffice. Over and above all other reasoning comes this--Christ requires it. Hear you His words tonight. Mine are but feeble, but let His roll in your souls like thunder, "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in Heaven; but whoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven." Now, mark from the connection that denial means "whoever shall notconfess." The two verses are put in apposition and opposition. There is a blessing to the confessor. The curse is to the non-confessor. "Whoever shall not confess Me"-- for that is the denying here meant--"before men, him will I deny before My Father who is in Heaven." Will you willfully disobey the Master you profess to serve? Will you raise quibbles to His face and questions in His very Presence? They are His words! They can bear no other meaning. They are not to be disputed, but to be obeyed! These are not the decrees of the Council of Trent, or you might fling them to the winds. They are not the ordinances of a bench of bishops, or you might tread them under foot. These are not the commands of any minister of any sect, or you might, if you would, reject them! But they are the royal, authoritative words of Jesus Christ Himself! I charge you, by your loyalty to your King--I charge you by your indebtedness to your Redeemer--I charge you by your love to Him whom you call Master and Lord, if hitherto you have not confessed Him, make haste and delay not to keep His commandment and acknowledge Him, that He may acknowledge you! And never be ashamed of Him again, lest at the last He should be ashamed of you! I shall urge no other reason. If that last convinces not, the spirit of obedience is lacking. And I would not even ask any of you to confess Christ if you did not mean to obey Him. Were it otherwise, I would say, "Stand back! Stand back! If you do not love Him, He has never washed you from your sins! If He is not your Savior. If you have never been born-again. If you are not truly His servant in the name of God, do not touch Baptism, or His Supper! Never come to the Communion Table if you have no right there! Profess not to be a Christian if you are not! And say not, "Our Father who are in Heaven," for your Father is not in Heaven--you have no part or lot in this matter, you are in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and, harsh as the words may sound, these words are true, "Repent, and be converted," that you may obtain these blessings. Fly to Christ and trust in Him, for until you do, you have no right to the ordinances of God's house! There is no room for you in God's family! You are not His child, but an alien, a stranger, an outcast! May the Lord, in His mercy, bring you to know it, and then bring you to Jesus, and adopt you into His household--and you will give Him the praise! Now, the last thing is to be treated with brevity, but great solemnity because we are to enquire-- III. WHAT ARE THE REWARDS AND PENALTIES ATTACHED TO THIS DUTY? Here we have two sanctions. "He that confesses Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is in Heaven." Take this sentence home with you, everyone of you. What Christ is to you on earth, that you will be to Christ in Heaven. I shall repeat that Truth of God. Whatever Jesus Christ is to you on earth, you will be to Him in the Day of Judgment. If He is dear and precious to you, you will be precious and dear to Him. If you thought everything of Him, He will think everything of you. There are in my text, it appears to me, two Judgment Seats. There is one on which you sit and there is one before you, which is better. Shall I take the world--the world which contemns two things--it contemns civil vices and holy duties! Shall I take the world, which will call me a bigot, a fanatic, if I go with Christ? Shall I take the world with its pleasures and amusements? Shall I take it with its sins and laxities of morals, with its looseness and general trifling? Shall I take that, or shall I take my Lord and Master, and be thought a fool because I dare not, cannot do as others do? Shall I keep in the narrow path which He has mapped out? Which shall it be? I believe that salvation is of Grace, but there is such a thing as a human will, and God does not violate it. There is a time when every man sits just on that Judgment Seat and, blessed be he to whom God gives Grace to say-- "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow You." On that judgment which you now make, sitting on that judgment seat here, humanly speaking, will depend that other judgment from the other Judgment Seat of the Great White Throne! I think I see the Master. He has come in the clouds of Heaven. Listen how the silver trumpets ring! The dead are rising; the pillars of Heaven are shaking; stars are falling; solemnities, unseen before, attend the dread assize and the books are opened and every soul may be judged by this one thing--did he confess Christ before men? Did he call Christ his Master in his heart, and give himself up to His cause? "Then I confess that he is Mine and though he were poor and despised, rotted in a dungeon, or was burnt at the stake amidst execrations--I confess him--he is Mine! He said that I was his and now I say in return that he is Mine! He judged that he would take Me. I judged that I have taken him. He confessed Me. I confess him! But see the other--see the timorous wretch who knew something about Christ, but knew too much about the world--who loved the silver of Demas, or the pleasures of Jezebel--let him come forward. What is the Master's sentence about him? It is very short, but very full, "I never knew you." They did not know Christ on earth--and now He does not know them. He is the only Savior, and that only Savior does not know them. They were the gay party, and there was much ridicule poured upon belief in Christ. The gay young lady thought that she must take her share in this, or she might be suspected of falling in with the despised people of God. She did not know Christ. No, and He will not know her in that day when the beauty will have gone from her cheeks and the Grace and charm will have departed from her form! Yes, that man of business who was talking the other day with his fellows, and the conversation turning upon religion, there was some joke made against the Gospel, or some of its sacred Doctrines--and though he knew it was wrong and mean, he thought he must joke, too, unless he should be thought to be one of the class who follow Jesus of Nazareth! He was too respectable to know Christ, and Christ will be too respectable to know him! Let me say to all the counts and countesses, the dukes and duchesses, the royal highnesses and royal personages of all denominations that are fretting out their little hour--the true dignity will be to know Christ! And the true horror to be unknown of Him! Oh, happy shall that man be whose name was handed down from man to man amidst scorn, shame and spitting, because he took Christ's part. "Stand back, you angels!" the King will say. "Stand back, you seraphim and cherubim! Make way for him! He loved Me in the days of My scorn. He suffered for Me on earth. I know him. My Father, I confess him before You in Heaven amidst the glories of My Throne! I confess him before You--he is Mine." But the apostate, the turncoat, the careless, the non-confessing, whatever are their dignities, and names, and honors, and glories here-- though the world's church may count them good and offer a song for them beneath its domes--if they have not trusted Christ with their own heart and have not loved Him with their own soul, it shall be all in vain! Though they have been decorated and almost adored, Christ shall turn coldly upon them with, "I never knew you!" "But, Lord, we ate and drank in Your courts!" "I know you not! Depart from Me." "But, Lord! Are we then to be forever banished from Your Presence?" "I never knew you! Your loss is eternal--your ruin must be final." Choose you, this night, whom you will serve! By the living God, before whom I stand, I beseech you this night, decide for Christ! If God is God, serve Him. If the Devil is God, serve him. One way or the other! If Jesus Christ is worthy of your love, let Him have it and take up your cross. But if He is not, then trifle with religion and go on your way. But I cannot finish so. Consider, think and turn unto Him with full purpose of heart. Give yourselves to Him. Unite yourselves with God's people, wherever you may find them. Cast in your lot with the lovers of Jesus in whatever Christian denomination you may happen to meet with them. The Lord bless you and them--and acknowledge you in the day when He shall appear! May God add His solemn sanction, for Jesus' sake. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 10:16-23. Verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you, therefore, wise as serpents and harmless as doves. It is a strange errand that you are sent upon--not as dogs to fight with wolves. Yet you are to fight with them, but you are to go as lambs in the midst of wolves! Expect, therefore, that they will rend you. Bear much, for even in that you shall conquer! If they kill you, you shall be honored in your death. As I have often said, the fight looks very unequal between sheep and wolves, yet at the present moment there are vastly more sheep in the world than wolves, the sheep having outlived the wolves. In this country, at any rate, the last wolf is gone and the sheep, with all their weaknesses, continue to multiply. "That is due," you say, "to the shepherd." And to Him shall your safety and your victory be due! He will take care of you. "I send you forth as sheep among wolves." But do not, therefore, provoke the wolves. "Be wise as serpents." Have a holy prudence. "Be as harmless as doves," but not as silly as doves. 17-19. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. And very remarkable were the answers given by the martyrs to those who persecuted them! In some cases they were altogether unlettered men, feeble women--unused to the quibbles and the catches which ungodly wise men use--and yet with a holy ability they answered all their adversaries and often stopped their mouths! It is amazing what God can make of the weakest of men when He dwells in them and speaks through them! 20, 21. For it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Strange venom of human nature! It never grows so angry against anything as against God's Truth. Why is this? False religions will tolerate one another, but they will not tolerate the religion of Christ! Is not this all accounted for by that old dark saying at the gates of Eden, "I will put enmity between you and the woman--between your seed and her Seed." That enmity is sure to come up as long as the world stands. 22, 23. And you shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another, for verily I say unto you, You shall not have gone over the cities ofIsrael till the Son of Man is come. They had not been able to get all through Palestine before the destruction of Jerusalem. Perhaps we shall scarcely have been able to preach the Gospel in every part of the world before our Master's speedy footsteps shall be heard. __________________________________________________________________ Fullness of Joy Our Privilege (No. 3406) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And these things we write unto you, that your joy may be full." 1 John 1:4. VERY closely does the Apostle John resemble his Lord in the motive that prompted him to write this Epistle! You remember how Christ said in His last discourse to His disciples on the eve of His passion, "These things have I spoken unto you that your joy may be full"--and how He counseled them, "Ask and receive that your joy may be full"--and how He prayed to the Father for them, "that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves." Here, then, the beloved disciple, moved by the Spirit of God, reflects and follows out the same gracious purpose--"These things we write unto you, that your joy may be full." What an evidence of our Savior's deep attachment to His people that He is not content with having made their ultimate salvation sure, but He is anxious concerning their present state of mind! He delights that His people should not only be safe, but happy! Not merely saved, but rejoicing in their salvation! It does not please your Savior for you to hang your head as the bulrush and go mourning all your days. He would have you rejoice in Him always and for this end He has made provision and to this end He has given us precepts. Therefore it appears-- I. THAT THE CHRISTIAN'S JOY NEEDS LOOKING AFTER. We should not find the Apostle John writing to promote that which, in the natural order of things, would be sure to occur. In this object of pastoral anxiety, he seems to include the whole of the Apostolic College with himself when he says, "These things we write unto you that your joy might be full," as if your joy would not be full unless Inspired Apostles should be commissioned of God to further it. Your joy then, I say, needs looking after. I do not doubt but you have very suggestive proofs of this, yourselves, in your external circumstances. You cannot always rejoice because, although your treasure is not in this world, your affliction is. Poverty will sometimes be too heavy a cross for you to sing under. Sickness sometimes casts you upon a bed on which you have not, as yet, learned to rejoice. Losses befall you in business, failures of hope, forsaking of friends and cruelty of foes--and any of these may prove like winter nights which nip the green leaves of your joy and make them fade and fall off your branches. You cannot always rejoice, but sometimes there is a necessity that you should be in heaviness through manifold temptations. I suppose none of you are so perfectly happy as to be without some trial. Your joy will need to be looked after, then, lest floods should come in and quench it. You will need to cry to Him who alone can keep its flame burning, to trim it with fresh oil. I suppose, too, that you have moods and susceptibilities which make it no easy matter to maintain perpetual joy. If you have not, I have. Sometimes there will be deep depression of spirit--you can scarcely tell why. That strong wing with which you mounted like an eagle will seem to flap the air in vain. That heart of yours, which once flew upwards like the lark rising from amidst the dew, will lie cold and heavy like a stone upon the earth, and you will find it hard to rejoice. Besides, sin will stop the beginning of your holy mirth, and when you would dance for joy, like David before the Ark, some internal corruption will come to hamper your delight. Ah, Beloved, it is not easy to sing while you fight. Christian soldiers ought to do it--they should march to battle with songs of triumph, that their spirits may be nerved to desperate valor against their inbred corruptions, but sometimes the garment rolled in blood and the dust, and the turmoil will stop for awhile the looked for shout of victory. With trials many and manifold--trials from the thorns and briars of this fallen world, trials from Satanic suggestions, trials from the uprisings of black fountains of corruption within your own polluted hearts--you have, indeed, need that your joy, to keep it full and flowing at high tide, should be guarded and supplied by an influence above your own--and fed from a celestial spring! I dare say you have learned by this time, my Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, how exceedingly necessary it is that this joy of ours should be abundant. When full of joy, we are more than a match for the adversary of souls, but when our joy is gone, fear slackens our sinews, and, like Peter, we may be vanquished by a little maid! When our joy in the Lord is at its fullest, we can bear that the fig tree should not blossom, that the herd should be cut off from the stall and the flocks from the field, but how heavy our sorrows are to bear, how impatient we become when the chains that link Heaven and earth are disarranged, or the communication in any way intercepted. If we can see the Savior's face without a cloud between, then temptation has no power over us, and all the glittering shams that sin can offer us are eclipsed in their brilliance by the true gold of spiritual joy which we have in our possession. Oh, what rapture!-- "I would not change my blest estate For all that earth calls good or great! And while my faith can keep her hold, I envy not the sinner's gold." Thus the Christian, by his holy joy, outbraves temptation and is strong to endure a martyrdom of vice. Why, you can do anything when the joy of the Lord is within you! Like a roe or a young hart, you leapt over the mountains of Bether. The mountains cannot appall you--you make a stepping-stone across the brook. The heaviest tempests which lower over you cannot chill nor dampen your courage, for your song pierces it, and your soul mounts above it all into the clear blue of fellowship with your God! But when this joy is gone, then are we weak, like Samson when his hair was shorn. We become the slaves of temptation and if we do not yield to its treacherous enticements, at any rate, it harasses us, and so enervates the power with which we were known to glorify our God. The Christian's joy needs looking to. If any of you have lost the joy of the Lord, I pray you do not think it a small loss. I have heard of a minister who said that a Christian lost nothing by sin--and then he added--"except his joy." And one replied, "Well, and what else would you have him lose?" That is quite enough! To lose the light of my Father's Countenance. To lose my full assurance of interest in Christ. To lose my Heaven below--oh, this is a loss great enough! Let us walk carefully, let us walk prayerfully so that we may realize perpetual joy and peace even to the fullest! Let none of us be content to sit down in misery. There is such a thing as getting habituated to melancholy. My bias is toward that state of mind, but, by the Grace of God, I resist it. If we begin to give way to this foolishness, we shall soon weave forged chains for ourselves which we cannot readily snap. Take your harp from the willows, Believers. Do not let your fingers forget the well-known strings. Come, let us praise Him. If we have looked black in the face for awhile, let us brighten up with the thoughts of Christ! At any rate, let us not be easy till we have shaken off this lethargic distemper and once again come into the normal state of health in which a child of God should be found--that of spiritual joy! II. THE CHRISTIAN'S JOY LIES MAINLY IN THINGS REVEALED, otherwise it would not find its fitting sustenance in Inspired Words. If the Christian's joy lay in the wine vat and in the barn, in the landed estate, or the hoarded purse, it would only be necessary that the vineyard should yield plenteous clusters, that the harvest should be crowned with abundance, that peace should prevail and trade should prosper--and forthwith the heritor and the merchant have all that heart could wish. But the Christian's joy is not touched by these vulgar things. These commonplace satisfactions do not suit the noble mind of the Believer! He thanks God for all the bounties of the basket and the barn, but he cannot feast his soul upon stocks or fruits that perish with the using. He needs something better! The Apostle John seems to tell us this when he says, "And these things write I unto you"--nothing about prosperity in this world, but all about fellowship with Christ--"And these things we write unto you, that your joy may be full." From which I infer that everything which is revealed to us in Scripture has for its intention the filling up of the Christian's joy. What is Scripture all about, then? Is it not, first and foremost, concerning Jesus Christ? Take this Book and distil it into one word, and I will tell you what it is--it is JESUS! All this is but the body of Christ. I may look upon all these pages as the swaddling-bands of the infant Savior, and if you unroll Scripture, you come to Jesus Christ, Himself. Now, Beloved, is not Jesus Christ the sum and summit of your joy? I hope we do not utter a falsehood when we sing, as it is our custom-- "Jesus the very thought of Thee, With rapture fills my breast, Tho'sweeter far Your face to see, And in Your bosom rest." Jesus--Man yet God--allied to us in ties of blood. Why, here is mirth! Here is Christmas all the year round! In the Nativity of the Savior there is joy for us--the Babe born in Bethlehem--God has taken Man into communion with Himself! Jesus the Savior--here is release from the groans of sin! Here is an end to the means of despair! He comes to break the bars of brass and to cut the gates of iron in sunder-- "Jesus, the name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease! 'Tis music in the sinner's ears, 'Tis life, 'tis health, 'tispeace!" Scripture, surely, has well taken its cue! Would it make us joyful, it has done well to make Christ its head and front. All the doctrines of the Bible have a tendency, when properly understood and received, to foster the Christian's joy. Let us mention one or two of them. There is that ancient, much-abused, but most delightful Doctrine of Election, that "all worlds before," Jesus elected His people and looked with eyes of Infinite Love upon them as He saw them in the glass of futurity. What? Christian, can you believe yourself "loved with an everlasting love," and not rejoice? Was it not the Doctrine of Election that made David dance before the Ark? When Michel sneered at him for dancing, he said, "It was before the Lord who had chosen me before your father (Saul), and all his house." Surely to be chosen of God, to be selected from the mass of mankind and made favorites of the heart of Deity--this ought to make us, in our worst moments, sing with joy of heart! Oh, that Doctrine of Election! I wish some of you would acquaint yourselves with it in the Psalmody of the Church, rather than in the wrangling of the schools! It is a tree that puts forth its luxuriance in the tropical climate of Divine Love--but it looks dwarfed and barren in the arctic regions of human logic! Then there are the Doctrines which like living waters, drop from this sacred and hidden fountain. Take, for instance, that of Redemption. To be bought with a price--a price whose efficacy is not questionable--bought so that we are now the property of Jesus, never to be lost! Bought not with that general redemption which holds to the sinner's eye a precarious contingency, but bought with an effectual ransom which saves every blood-bought sinner because he was redeemed--his own proper self, of God's own good will! Oh, here is occasion for song!-- "Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God-- He to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood." Can you see the blood-mark on yourself, and not rejoice? Oh, Christian, surely your joy ought to be full! Or turn to the Doctrine of Justification and consider how, through faith, every Believer is "accepted in the Beloved," and stands, wrapped in Jesus' righteousness, as fair in God's sight as if he had never sinned. Why, here is a theme for joy! Know and acknowledge your union with Christ-- "One with Jesus, By eternal union one!" Members of His body, "of His flesh, and of His bones," and what?--not a song after this? How sweet the music ought to be where this is the theme! Then, too, to mention no more, there is one Doctrine which is like a handful of pearls--that of Eternal Preservation unto Glory which is to be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ. You are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." You shall be with Him where He is. You shall behold His Glory. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." Oh, can you put on this robe of splendor and go up to the Throne where Christ has already made you sit representatively in His own Person, and can you not begin, tonight, your song which shall never end? Truly we have but to mention a Truth of God and you can think it over for yourselves--every Doctrine of Revelation is to the Christian a source of joy! Well, and every part of Christian experience is to further our joy. "Why," says one, "all a Christian's experience is not joyful." I grant you that, but remember that all a Christian's experience is not Christian experience! Christians experience a great deal which they do not experience as Christians--but experience it because they are not such Christians as they ought to be! I believe that much of that groaning which some people think such a deal of, is rather of the devil than of the Spirit of God. Certainly that unbelief which some people seem to look upon as such a precious flower, is rank herbage, never sown in us by the hand of God the Holy Spirit! Beloved, there is a mourning which comes from the Spirit of God that is a joyful mourning, if I may use such a strange expression. Sorrow for sin is sweet sorrow. I would never wish to miss it. I think Rowland Hill was right when he said that it would be his only regret in going to Heaven that he could not repent any more. Oh, repentance, true evangelical repentance, is not that half-bitter thing which comes from the Law! It is a sweet genial thing. I do not know, Beloved, when I am more perfectly happy than when I am weeping for sin at the foot of the Cross! I find that to be one of the safest and best places where I can stand. I have sometimes thought that the raptures of Communion I have known are not altogether so deep--though they may be higher--not, I say, so deep as the pensive joy of weeping over pardoned sin, when-- "Dissolved by His goodness, I fall to the ground And weep to the praise of the mercy I've found!" Yes, sorrow for sin is a part of the Christian's experience which helps to fill his joy. And though your cares and anxieties, dear Friends, with regard to the things of this world may be very distressing, yet remember, in every drop of gall which your Father gives you to drink, there is, if you can find it, a whole sea of sweetness! God sends you trials to wean you from the world--a happy result, however grievous the process! Oh, that I might never desire to suck of the breasts of her consolation anymore! Oh, to come to Christ, and find my all in Him! Believe me, Beloved, our joy ends where the love of the world begins. If we had no idols on earth--if we made neither our children, nor our friends, nor our wealth, nor ourselves our idols--we should not have half the trials that we have. Foolish loves make rods for foolish backs. God save us from these, and when He does, though the means may seem severe, they are intended to promote our joys by destroying the eggs of our sorrows. But there is much of a Christian's experience that is all joy, and must be all joy. For instance, to have faith in Christ, to rest in Him--is not that joy? To sing from one's heart-- "I know that safe with Him remains, Protected by His power, What I've committed to His hands, Till the decisive hour." Is not that joy? And even that humbler note-- "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Your Cross I cling," has the germ of Heaven in it! Truly, there can be no more delightful place for the soul to stand than close to the Cross, covered with the crimson drops of blood and clasping Christ Himself! And then hope is another part of the Christian's experience. What a fountain of joy it is! We are saved by hope. Sweetly does the Psalmist express himself, "My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your Word." To the followers of Christ there is a full assurance of hope--"which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil." Above all things, Christian fellowship is the chief auxiliary of Christian joy. Read the verse that immediately precedes our text, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ." Ah, now we hit the mark! This is the center of the target. Fellowship with Christ is the summum bonum--it fills up the measure of joy! All other graces and gifts may help to fill our cup of blessedness but fellowship with saints in their fellowship with the Father and the Son--surely this, of itself, must suffice to fill our vessels to the very brim! Fullness of joy! Did you ever prove it, my Beloved? I think some of you have. No, I know you have! You could not have contained more joy--you were full to overflowing! Do you know that a little joy is healthful? Be it relief from anxiety, pleasure after pain, or even a cheerful thought in breasts to sorrow prone. But to have a fullness of joy, joy that pulsates through our every nerve and paints the entire universe of God's goodness before our eyes in a meridian glow, this is a myriad of blessings in one! If I held in my hand a glass, and poured water into it till it were full, right to the very brim, till it seemed as if the least touch would make it run over--well, that is how the Christian sometimes is. "Why," he says, "I could not feel more happy! If anyone should make me rich, if I could have all that the worldling craves, I could not be any happier! I am rich to all the intents of bliss since You, God, are mine." It is not every man that can go home and say, "There is nothing on earth I want, and there is nothing in Heaven that I yearn after beyond the endowments my God has already bestowed on me! "Whom have I in Heaven but You, and who is there upon earth I desire beside You?" Go, you that pine for joy, and traverse the wide earth round in fruitless search--my soul sits down at the foot of the Cross and says, "I have found it here!" Go, like the swallow. Fly across the purple seas to find another summer now that this is over--my soul would stop just where she is--living at the foot of the Cross, my sunis in its solstice, and stands still forever--never stirring, never moving--without parallax or shadow of a tropic! Evermore the same--bright and full and glorious! Oh, Christian, this is a blessed experience! May you know it all your life! Never doubt, my dear Friends, that every precept in the Word of God is intended to further the Christian's happiness. When I read the Ten Commandments, I understand them to be just and salutary directions not to do myself any harm. The spirit of the Law seems to be benevolent in its warnings. If I were commanded not to put my finger into the fire, and did not know that fire would burn, I ought to be thankful for the prohibition. If I were commanded not to plunge into the sea, not having known before that the sea would drown me, I should be thankful for the interdict. God's precepts are designed to enlighten our eyes and preserve our feet from falling. They forbid what is dangerous, hurtful. God never denies His servants anything that is really for their good. His laws are freed-men's rules--they are never fetters to the Christian. And as for the precepts of our blessed Christianity, they, every one of them, promote our happiness! Let me take one or two of them. "Love one another." That is the first. Well, now, when are you happiest? When you feel spiteful and bitter towards everybody else, or when you feel charity towards the faulty, and love towards your fellow servants? I know when I feel best. There are some people who seem to have been suckled upon vinegar--wherever they go, they always see some defect. Were there to be men on earth again such as Chrysostom and others of his day, who have been portrayed in history, or like the Nazarites of Jeremiah's plaintive hymn, "Purer than snow and whiter than milk," they would say, "Ah, well, though their reputation is unsullied, we do not know what they do in secret!--we cannot scan their motives!" Some people are always in a cynical, suspicious humor, but they who "love one another" can see much to rejoice in everywhere. We are told in Scripture to "serve the Lord with diligence," and I am sure it is "the diligent soul" that is made fat. The do-nothing people are generally those who say-- "Lord, what a wretched land is this, That yields us no supplies." It ought to be a wretched land to lazy people! Those that will not work, neither shall they eat, neither in spiritual things or in temporal shall they be fed. If, in the winter, you complain of cold, get to the plow and you will soon be full of warmth! Sit you down, groan, and complain, and blow on your blue fingers and you shall soon find the cold will starve you yet more and more. Holy activity is the mother of holy joy! And growth in Grace, again--why, when is a man happier than when He grows in Grace? To be at a standstill, to contract one's self--why, this is misery! To force one's understanding, like a Chinese foot into a Chinese shoe, is torture! But to have a mind that is capable of learning, to be able to sometimes say, "There, I was wrong"--to be able to feel that you know a little more today than you did yesterday because God, the Holy Spirit has been teaching you, why, this is joy! This is happiness! This is such as God would have us know! All the writings of Scripture, whether they are doctrinal, experimental, or practical, have the drift which John indicates in these words, "That your joy may be full!" Having thus shown that the Christian's joy needs looking after and that it is mainly fed upon things revealed in Scripture, the inference clearly must be that-- III. WE SHOULD CONSTANTLY READ THE SCRIPTURES. Read the Scriptures in preference to any other book What a deal of reading there is now-a-days! But how large a proportion of what you call, "popular literature," is mere chaff-cutting--nothing more! Why, I am really ashamed to state the fact that I am bound, as a Christian minister, to denounce. You cannot publish a religious newspaper, or a religious magazine, as a rule, to make it pay, without a religious novel in it--and these religious novels are a disgrace to the Christianity of the 19th Century! People's minds must be in an odd state when they can eat nothing but these whipped-creams and syllabubs--for people who would be healthy, should sit down to something solid, and their stimulants should be consistent with sobriety. You will never attain the mental growth of men and women by feeding on such stuff as that! You may make lackadaisical people in the shape of men and women, but the thinking soul with something in it, the woman who would serve her God as a true helper to the Christian ministry, the young man who would proclaim Christ and win souls need some better nutriment than the poor stuff that modern literature deals out so plentifully. Oh, my dear Friends, read the Bible in preference to all such books! They only deprave your taste. If you want these books, have them. We would not deny pigs their proper food and I would not deny any person living that which his taste goes after, provided it does not shock decent morals. I lament the taste rather than the indulgence of it! If you have a soul that canappreciate the pleasures of wisdom, eschew the trifles of folly. And if you have been taught to love verities, and substantial truths, you scarcely need that I should say, "Search the Scriptures." Search them diligently and frequently! Prefer the Scriptures to all religious books. In our books and our sermons--we will say it of all of them--we do our best to give you the Truth of God, but we are like the gold-beaters whose brazen arms you can see out over their doors-- we get a little bit of gold and we hammer it out. Some of my Brothers are mighty hands at the craft. They can hammer out a very small piece of gold so as to cover a whole acre of talk. But the best of us, those who would seek to bring out the Doctrines of Grace in love, are poor, poor things. Read the Bible for yourselves more, and confide less in your glossaries. I would rather see the whole stock of my sermons in a blaze, all burned to ashes, than that they should keep anybody from reading the Bible. If they may act as a finger pointing to certain chapters--"Read this! Read this!"--I am thankful to have printed them. But if they keep you away from your Bibles--burn them! Burn them! Do not let them lie on the top of the Scriptures--put them somewhere at the bottom, for that is their proper place. So with all sorts of religious books--they are a sort of mixture--their human thinking dilutes Divine Revelation. Keep to the Revelation of God, pure and simple. And, when you read your Bible, read it in earnest. There are several ways of reading the Bible. There is a skimming over the surface of it--content with the letter. There is also diving into it and praying yourselves down deep into the soul of it--that is the way to read the Bible! Do not always read it one verse at a time. How would Milton's Paradise Lost be understood if read by little snatches selected at random? You would never scan the purpose or design of the poem. Read one book through. Read John's Gospel. Do not read a bit of John and then a bit of Mark, but read John through, and get at John's drift. Remember that Matthew, though he wrote of the same Savior as Luke, is not more various in his style than he is distinct in his aim and, in a certain sense, independent of the testimony he bears. The four Evangelists are four separate witnesses, each giving a special contribution to the Doctrine as well as the history of Christ. Matthew, for instance, shows you Jesus as a King. You will notice that most of his parables begin with "a king." "Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened." Mark shows you Christ as the Servant. Luke shows you Christ as Man, giving sketches of His childhood. And His parables begin with, "A certain man," while John teaches you Christ in His Godhead, with a starting point far different from the other three, which have been styled the Synoptical Gospels. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Try, if you can, to get a hold of what the books mean, and pray God the Holy Spirit to lead you into the drift and aim of the sacred writers in so writing. I would like to see my Church members, all of them, good, hard, solid Bible students. Beloved, I would not be afraid of all the errors of Popery, Infidelity, Socinianism, Plymouth Brethrenism, or any other "ism" if you were to read your Bibles! You will thus keep clear of the whole lot. There is no doubt about your standing firm to the good old faith which we seek to teach you, if you do but keep to Scripture--the Book, the one Book, the Book of books, the Bible! That studied, not hurriedly, but with a determination to compare spiritual things with spiritual, and to observe the analogy of faith, you shall find a well-spring of delight and holy joy which men of letters who dabble in the proudest classics might envy, for Isaiah is better than Homer, and David is richer than Horace. But better still, you shall stand while others fall! IV. BUT ARE WE ALL BELIEVERS? IS THIS BOOK JOY TO ALL OF US? That is a significant pronoun in the text, "These things we write unto you that your joy may be full." To whom writes he? Is it to you? Young woman, does the Scripture write to you that your joy may be full? Young man, does the Scripture speak to you to fill you with holy joy? You do not know whether it does or not--you do not care about it. Then, it does not speak to you. You get plenty of joy elsewhere. Well, it does not speak to you. It does not intrude upon you. It leaves you alone. It offers you no joy. You have enough. "The whole have no need of a physician, but they that aresick." But there are some of you here who need a joy, and you have not found it. You are uneasy. You cannot find a tree to build your nest. You are like the needle, when it is turned away from its pole--you cannot be quiet. You have got a horseleech in you, that is always crying, "Give! Give!" You are uneasy. Oh, dear Friend, I am glad to hear it! May that uneasiness go on increasing. May you become weary of heart, and heavy-laden of spirit, for I have a whisper for you. Jesus Christ has come into the world to call to Himself all those who labor and are heavy-laden! And when you are sick and weary with the world, come to Him, come to Him! What? You have been turned out, have you? The world has got all it could out of you and thrust you away? Now, Jesus Christ will have you. Come to Him! Come to Him! He will receive you. So you are burnt out, are you? All the goodness that was in you is burned up and you have now become nothing but smoking flax--a stench in the estimation of your once flattering companions? You are nowhere. They do not like you. You are mopish and miserable. Oh come to Him! Come to Him, come to Him! He will not quench you. Your music is all over, is it? You were like a reed, like one of Pan's pipes. You could give out some music, once, but you got bruised and you cannot make one sound or note of joy. Well, poor Soul, come to Him! Come to Him! He will not break you. He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax-- "Wearysouls that wander wide From the central source of bliss, Turn to Jesus' wounded side Look to that dear blood of His." Here is peace, here is joy in Christ Jesus! Oh, if you are sick of the world, come to my Master! May God the Holy Spirit bless this sickness and make you come because you have nowhere else to go! Jesus Christ will receive the devil's castaways. The very sweepings of pleasure, the dregs of the intoxicating cup, those who have gone so far that now their friends reject them, Jesus Christ accepts! May He accept me, and accept you--and then in Him our joy shall be full! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM66:1-15. Verse 1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all you lands. Let not Israel alone do it. Take up the strain, you nations. He is the God of all the nations of the earth. "Make a joyful noise unto God, all you lands." 2-4. Sing forth the honor of His name: make His praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible are You in Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves unto You. All the earth shall worship You and shall sing unto You. They shall sing to Your name. Selah. I still must always cling to the belief that this whole world is to be converted to God, and to lie captive at the feet of Christ in glorious liberty! Do not fall into that lethargic, apathetic belief of some that this is never to be accomplished--that the battle is not to be fought out on the present lines, but that there is to be a defeat--and then Christ is to come. No, foot to foot with the old enemy will He stand, till He has worsted him and until the nations of the earth shall worship and bow before Him! 5, 6. Come and see the works of God: He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot there did we rejoice in Him. Where God is most terrible to His enemies, He is most gracious to His friends! As Pharaoh and his hosts went down beneath the terrible hand of God, the children of Israel lifted up their loudest hallelujahs and sang unto the Lord, who triumphed gloriously! And so shall it be to the end of the chapter. God will lay bare His terrible arm against His adversaries but His children shall, meanwhile, make music! "There did we rejoice in Him." 7-9. He rules by His power forever: His eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah O bless our God, you people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard. Who holds our soul in life and allows not our feet to be moved.Loudest among the singers should God's people be! If others can restrain their praise, yet let the love of Christ so compel us that we must give it a tongue and tell forth the majesty of our God! It is He alone who keeps us from Hell-- which holds our soul in life! It is He alone who keeps us from falling foully. Yes, and falling finally, "and allows not our feet to be moved." 10. For You, O God, have proved us. All God's people can say this. It is the heritage of the elect of God. "You have proved us." 10-11. You have tried us, as silver is tried. You brought us into the net Entangled, surrounded, captive, held fast. Many of God's people are in this condition. 11. You laid affliction upon our loins. It was no affliction of hand or foot, but it laid upon our loins--a heavy, crushing burden. 12. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water It was the full ordeal. One was not enough. Fire destroys some, but water is the test for others--but God's people must be tried both ways. "We went through fire and through water, but"--. Blessed "but." 12. But You brought us out into a wealthy place.Out of the fire and out of the water they came because God brought them! And when He brought them, it was not to a stinted, barren heritage, but into a wealthy place. Oh, Beloved, when we think of where the Covenant of Grace has placed every Believer, it is a wealthy place, indeed! 13-15. I will go into Your house with burnt offerings: I will pay You my vows which my lips have uttered, and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer unto You burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams. I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. The best, I think. "The best of the best will I bring You, O my God. I will bring You my heart. I will bring You my tongue. I will bring you my entire being __________________________________________________________________ Peter's Prayer (No. 3407) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING JUNE 10, 1869. "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus'knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Luke 5:8. THE disciples had been fishing all night. They had now given up fishing--they had left their boats and were mending their nets. A Stranger appears. They had seen Him, probably, once before, and they remembered enough of Him to command respect. Besides, the tone of voice in which He spoke to them and His manner at once ruled their hearts. He borrowed Simon Peter's boat and preached a sermon to the listening crowds. After He had finished the discourse, as though He would not borrow their vessel without giving them their hire, He bade them launch out into the deep and let down their nets again. They did so and, instead of disappointment, they at once took so vast a haul of fish that the boats could not contain all and the net was not strong enough and began to break. Surprised at this strange miracle-- overawed, probably by the majestic appearance of that matchless One, who had worked it, Simon Peter thought himself quite unworthy to be in such company--and fell on his knees and cried this strange prayer--"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." So I desire that, first of all, we shall hear-- I. THE PRAYER IN THE WORST SENSE WE CAN GIVE TO IT. It is always wrong to put the worst construction on anyone's words and, therefore, we do not intend to do so except by way of license and, for a few moments only, to see what might have been made out of these words. Christ did not understand Peter so. He put the best construction upon what he said, but if a caviler had been there, a wrong interpretation would have been to this sentence--"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." The ungodly virtually pray this prayer. When the Gospel comes to some men and disturbs their conscience, they say, "Go your way for this time. When I have a more convenient season, I will send for you." When some troublesome preacher tells them of their sins--when he puts a burning Truth of God into their conscience and awakens them so that they cannot sleep or rest--they are very angry with the preacher and the Truth that he was constrained to speak. And if they cannot bid him get out of their way, they can at least get out of his way, which comes to the same thing! And so the spirit of it is, "We do not want to give up our sin. We cannot afford to part with our prejudices, or with our darling lusts and, therefore, depart--get out of our way--leave us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come to torment us before our time?" Peter meant nothing of this sort, but there may be some here who do and whose avoidance of the Gospel, whose inattention to it, whose spite and hatred of it, all put together virtually make up this cry, "Depart from us, O Christ!" Alas, I fear there are some Christians who do, in fact--I will not say intentionally--really pray this prayer! For instance, if a believer in Christ shall expose himself to temptation--if he shall find pleasure where sin mingles with it, if he shall forsake the assemblies of the saints and find comfort in the synagogue of Satan--if his life shall be inconsistent, practically, and he also shall become inconsistent by reason of his neglect of holy duties, ordinances, private prayer, the reading of the Word and the like--what does such a Christian say but, "Depart from me, O Lord"? The Holy Spirit abides in our hearts and we enjoy His conscious Presence if we are obedient to His monitions. But if we walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to us and, before long we shall have to ask-- "Where is the blessedness I knew When first Isaw the Lord?" Why does the Holy Spirit withdraw the sense of His Presence? Why, but because we ask Him to go! Our sins ask Him to go! Our unread Bibles do, as it were, with loud voices ask Him to be gone! We treat that sacred Guest as if we were weary of Him and He takes the hint and hides His face and then we sorrow and begin to seek Him again. Peter does not do so, but we do. Alas, how often ought we to say, "Oh, Holy Spirit, forgive us that we so vex You, that we resist Your admonitions, quench Your promptings and so grieve You! Return unto us and abide with us evermore." This prayer in its worst is sometimes practically offered by Christian Churches. I believe that any Christian Church that becomes divided in feeling, so that the members have no true love, one to another, that lack of unity is an act of horrible supplication! It does as much as say, "Depart from us, You Spirit of unity! You only dwell where there is love--we will not have love! We will break Your rest--get away from us!" The Holy Spirit delights to abide with a people that is obedient to His teaching, but there are churches that will not learn--they refuse to carry out the Master's will or to accept the Master's Word. They have some other standard, some human book--and in the excellencies of the human composition they forget the glories of the Divine! Now I believe that where any book, whatever it may be, is put above the Bible, or even set by the side of it, or where any creed or catechism, however excellent, is made to stand at all on an equal basis with that perfect Word of God, any church that does this, in fact says, "Depart from us, O Lord." And when it comes to actual doctrinal error, particularly to such grievous errors as we hear of, now-a-days--such as baptismal regeneration and the doctrines that are congruous thereto--it is, as it were, an awful imprecation and seems to say, "Begone from us, O Gospel! Begone from us, O Holy Spirit! Give us outward signs and symbols, and these will suffice us! But depart from us, O Lord--we are content without You." As for ourselves, we may practically pray this prayer as a Church. If our Prayer Meetings should be badly attended. If the prayers at them should be cold and dead. If the zeal of our members should die out. If there should be no concern for souls. If our children should grow up untrained in the fear of God. If the evangelization of this great city should be given over to some other band of workers and we should sit still. If we should become cold, ungenerous, listless, indifferent--what can we do worse for ourselves? How, with greater potency, can we put up the dreadful prayer, "Depart from us--we are unworthy of Your Presence! Begone, good Lord! Let 'Icha-bod' be written on our walls! Let us be left with all the curses of Gerizim ringing in our ears." I say, then, the prayer may be understood in this worst sense. It was not so meant--our Lord did not so read it--we must not so read it concerning Peter. But let us, oh, let us take care that we do not offer it thus, practically, concerning ourselves! But now in the next place we shall strive to take the prayer as it came from Peter's lips and heart-- II. A PRAYER WE CAN EXCUSE AND ALMOST COMMEND. Why did Peter say, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord"? There are three reasons. First, because he was a man. Secondly, because he was a sinful man. And again, because he knew this and became a humble man. So, then, the first reason for this prayer was that Peter knew that he was a man and, therefore, being a man, he felt himself amazed in the Presence of such an One as Christ. The first sight of God--how amazing to any spirit even if it were pure! I suppose God never did reveal Himself completely--could never have revealed Himself completely to any creature, however lofty in its capacity. The Infinite must overwhelm the finite. Now, here was Peter, beholding, probably for the first time in his life in a spiritual way, the exceeding splendor and Glory of the Divine power of Christ! He looked at those fish and at once he remembered that night of weary toil, when not a fish rewarded his patience. And now he saw them in masses in the boat--and all done through this strange Man who sat there, having just preached a still stranger sermon, of which Peter felt that never man spoke like that before and he did not know how it was, but he felt abashed! He trembled, he was amazed in the Presence of such an One. I do not wonder if we read that Rebecca, when she saw Isaac, came down from her camel and covered her face with her veil. If we read that Abigail, when she came to meet David, alighted from her donkey and threw herself upon her face, saying, "My Lord, David!" If we find Mephibosheth depreciating himself in the presence of King David and calling himself a dog--I do not wonder that Peter, in the Presence of the perfect Christ, should shrink into nothing and, in his first amazement at his own nothingness and Christ's greatness, should say he scarcely knew what, like one dazed and dazzled by the light, half-distraught and scarcely able to gather together his thoughts and put them connectedly together! The very first impulse was as when the light of the sun strikes the eyes and it is a blaze that threatens to blind us! "Oh, Christ, I am a man--how can I bear the Presence of the God that rules the very fishes of the sea and works miracles like this?" His next reason was, I have said, because he was a sinful man and there is something of alarm mingled with his amazement. As a man he stood amazed at the shining of Christ's Godhead! As a sinful man, he stood alarmed at its dazzling holiness. I do not doubt that in the sermon which Christ delivered, there was such a clear denunciation of sin, such laying ofjustice to the line and righteousness to the plummet--such a declaration of the holiness of God--that Peter felt himself unveiled, discovered, his heart laid bare! And now came the finishing stroke. The One who had done this could also rule the fishes of the sea! He must, therefore, be God! And it was to God that all the defects and evils of Peter's heart had been revealed and thoroughly known! And almost fearing with a kind of inarticulate cry of alarm because the criminal was in the Presence of the Judge--the polluted in the Presence of the Immaculate--he said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But I have added that there was a third reason, namely, that Peter was a humble man, as is clear from the saying, because he knew himself and confessed bravely that he was a sinful man. You know that sometimes there have been persons in the world who have suddenly found some king or prince come to their little cottage--and the good housewife, when the king, himself, was coming to her, has felt as if the place itself was so unfit for him that, though she would do her best for his majesty, and was glad in her soul that he would honor her hovel with his presence, yet she could not help saying, "Oh, that Your Majesty had gone to a worthier house, had gone on to the great man's house a little ahead, for I am not worthy that Your Majesty should come here." So Peter felt as if Christ lowered Himself, in coming to him, as if it were too good a thing for Christ--too great, too kind, too condescending a thing--and he seems to say, "Go up higher, Master! Sit not down so low as this in my poor boat in the midst of these poor dumb fishes. Sit not down here, for You have a right to sit on the Throne of Heaven in the midst of angels that shall sing Your praises day and night! Lord, do not stop here--go up, take a better seat, a higher place--sit among more noble beings who are more worthy to be blessed with the smiles of Your Majesty." Don't you think he meant that? If so, we may not only excuse his prayer, but even commend it, for we have felt the same. "Oh," we have said, "does Jesus dwell with a few poor men and women that have come together in His name to pray? Oh, surely, it is not a good enough place for Him--let Him have the whole world and all the sons of men to sing His praises! Let Him have Heaven, even the Heaven of heavens! Let the cherubim and seraphim be His servants and archangels loose the laces of His shoes! Let Him rise to the highest Throne in Glory and there let Him sit down, no more to wear the crown of thorns, no more to be wounded and despised and rejected, but to be worshipped and adored forever and ever." I think we have felt so and, if so, we can understand what Peter felt, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Now, Brothers and Sisters, there are times when these feelings, if they cannot be commended in ourselves, are yet excused by our Master and have a little in them, at any rate, which He looks upon with satisfaction. Shall I mention one? Sometimes a man is called to an eminent position of usefulness and, as the vista opens before him and he sees what he will have to do--and with what honor his Master will be pleased to load him--it is very natural and I think it is almost spiritualfor him to shrink and say, "Who am I that I should be called to such a work as this? My Master, I am willing to serve You, but oh, I am not worthy." Like Moses, who was glad enough to be the Lord's servant and yet he said, and he meant it so heartily, "Lord, I am slow of speech. I am a man of unclean lips, how can I speak for You?" Or, like Isaiah, who was rejoiced to say, "Here am I, send me!" But who felt, "Woe is me, for I am a man of uncircumcised lips! How shall I go?" Not like Jonah, who would not go at all, but must go off to Tarshish to escape working at Nineveh! Yet perhaps with a little seasoning of Jonah's bitters, too, but mainly a sense of our own unworthiness to be used in so great a service, we seem to say, "Lord, do not ask me to do that! After all, I may slip and dishonor You. I would serve You, but lest by any means I should give way under the strain, excuse Your servant and give him a humbler post of service." Now, I say we must not pray in that fashion, but still, while there is some evil there, there is a sediment of good which Christ will perceive in the fact that we see our own weakness and our own unsuitableness. He won't be angry with us, but separating the chaff from the wheat, He will accept what was good in the prayer and forgive the bad. Sometimes, again, dear Friends, this prayer has been almost on our lips in times of intense enjoyment Some of you know what I mean, when the Lord draws near unto His servants and is like the consuming fire--and we are like the bush that seemed to be altogether on a blaze with the excessive splendor of God realized in our souls! Many of God's saints have, at such times, fainted. You remember Mr. Flavel tells us that riding on horseback on a long journey to a place where he was to preach, he had such a sense of the sweetness of Christ and the Glory of God, that he did not know where he was--and he sat on his horse for two hours, together--the horse wisely standing still! And when he came to himself he found that he had been bleeding freely through the excess of joy. And as he washed his face in the brook by the roadside he said he felt, then, that he knew what it was to sit on the doorstep of Heaven and he could hardly tell that if he had entered the pearly gates, he would have been more happy, for the joy was excessive. To quote what I have often quoted before, the words of Mr. Welsh, a famous Scotch Divine who was under one of those blessed deliriums of heavenly light and rapturous fellowship, exclaimed, "Hold, Lord! Hold! It is enough! Remember, I am but an earthen vessel, and if You give me more, I die!" God does sometimes put His new wine into our poor old bottles and then we are half inclined to say, "Depart, Lord! We are not yet ready for Your glorious Presence." It does not come to saying that--it does not amount to all that in words--but still, the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak, and the flesh seems to start back from the Glory which it cannot bear as yet. There are many things which Christ could tell us, but which He will not because we cannot bear them now. Another time, when this has passed over the mind, not altogether rightly, not altogether sinfully, like the last two, is when the sinner is coming to Christand has, indeed, in a measure believed in Him, but when, at last, that sinner perceives the greatness of the Divine Mercy, the richness of the heavenly pardon, the glory of the inheritance which is given to pardoned sinners1 Then many a soul has started back and said, "It is too good to be true, or, if true, it is not true to me." Well do I remember a staggering fit I had over that business! I had believed in my Master and rested in Him for some months--and rejoiced in Him--but one day, while reveling in the delights of being saved and rejoicing in the Doctrines of Election, Final Perseverance and Eternal Glory--it came across my mind, "And all this for you, for such a dead dog as you--how can it be so?" And for awhile it was a temptation stronger than I could overcome! It was just saying, spiritually, "Depart from me, I am too sinful a man to have You in my boat--too unworthy to have such priceless blessings as You bring to me!" Now, that, I say, is not altogether wrong and not altogether right. There is a mixture there, and we may excuse and somewhat commend, but not altogether. There are other times in which the same feeling may come across the mind, but I cannot stay now to specify them. It may be so with some here, and I pray them not to concern themselves utterly, nor yet to excuse themselves completely, but to go on to the next teaching of this prayer-- III. A PRAYER THAT NEEDS AMENDING AND REVISING. As it stood, it was not a good one. Now let us put it in a different way. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Would it not be better to say, "Come nearer to me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord"? It would be a more brave prayer and a more tender prayer--more wise and not less humble, for humility takes many shapes. "I am a sinful man," here is humility. "Come nearer to me." Here is faith which prevents humility from degenerating into unbelief and despair! Brothers and Sisters, that would be a good argument, for see--"Since, Lord, I am a sinner, I need purifying. Only Your Presence can truly purify, for You are the Refiner and You purify the sons of Levi. Only Your Presence can cleanse, for the fan is in Your hand and You alone can purge Your floor. You are like a refiner's fire, or like fuller's soap--come nearer to me, then, Lord, for I am a sinful man and would not be always sinful. Come, wash me from my iniquity that I may be clean. And let Your sanctifying fire go through and through my nature till You burn out of me everything that is contrary to Your mind and will." Dare you pray that prayer? It is not natural to pray it. If you can, I would say to you, "Simon Bar-Jona, blessed are you, for flesh and blood have not taught you this." Flesh and blood may make you say, "Depart from me"--it is the Holy Spirit, alone, that under a sense of sin, can yet put a Divine attraction to you in the purifying fire and make you long, therefore, that Christ would come near to you! Again, "Come near to me, Lord, since I am a man and, being a man, am weak--and nothing can make me strong but Your Presence. I am a man so weak that if You depart from me, I faint, I fall, I pine, I die! Come near to me, then, O Lord, that by Your strength I may be encouraged and be fitted for service. If You depart from me, I can render You no service whatever. Can the dead praise You? Can those with no life in them give You glory? Come near me, then, my God, though I am so feeble! And as a tender parent feeds his child, and the shepherd carries his lambs, so come near to me." Do you not think he might have said, "Come near to me, Lord, and abide with me, for I am a sinful man," in the recollection of how he had failed when Christ was not near? All through that night he had put the net into the sea with many a splash--and had drawn it up with many an eager look as he gazed through the moonlight--and there was nothing that rewarded his toil. In went the net again--and now when Christ came and the net was full to bursting--would it not have been a proper prayer, "Lord, come near to me and let every time I work, I may succeed! And if I am made a fisher of men, keep nearer to me, still, that every time I preach Your Word, I may bring souls into Your net and into Your Church that they may be saved"? What I want to draw out from the text, and I shall do so better if I continue bringing out these different thoughts-- is this--that it is well when a sense of our unworthiness leads us not to get away from God in an unbelieving, petulant despair, but to get nearer to God! Now, suppose I am a great sinner. Well, let me seek to get nearer to God for that very reason, for there is great salvation provided for great sinners! I am very weak and unfit for the great service which He has imposed upon me--let me not, therefore, shun the service or shun my God, but reckon that the weaker I am, the more room there is for God to get the glory! If I were strong, then God would not use me, because then my strength would get the praise for it. But my very unfitness and lack of ability and all that I lament in myself in my Master's work is but so much elbowroom for Omnipotence to come and work in! Would it not be a fine thing if we could all say, "I glory not in my talents, not in my learning, not in my strength, but I glory in infirmity because the power of God does rest upon me"! Men cannot say, "That is a learned man--and he wins souls because he is learned." They cannot say, "That is a man whose faculties of reasoning are very strong and whose powers of argument are clear--and he wins sinners by convincing their judgments." No, they say, "What is the reason of his success? We cannot discover it. We see nothing in him different from other men, or perhaps, only the difference that he has less of gifts than they." Then glory be to God! He has the praise more clearly and more distinctly--and His head who deserves it--wears the crown! See, then, what I am aiming at with you, dear Brothers and Sisters. It is this-- do not run away from your Master's work, any of you, because you feel unfit--but for that reason do twice as much! Do not give up praying because you feel you cannot pray, but pray twice as much, for you need more prayer and, instead of being less with God, be more! Do not let a sense of unworthiness drive you away. A child should not run away from its mother at night because it needs washing. Your children do not stay away from you because they are hungry, nor because they have torn their clothes--they come to you because of their necessities! They come because they are children, but they come more often because they are needy children--because they are sorrowful children! So let every need, let every pain, let every weakness, let every sorrow, let every sin drive you to God. Do not say, "Depart from me." It is a natural thing that you should say so and not a thing altogether to be condemned, but it is a glorious thing, it is a God-honoring thing, it is a wise thing to say, on the contrary, "Come to me, Lord. Come still nearer to me, for I am a sinful man and without Your Presence I am utterly undone." I shall say no more, but I would that the Holy Spirit would say this to some who are in this house, who have long been invited to come and put their trust in Jesus, but always plead as a reason for not coming that they are too guilty, or that they are too hardened, or too something or other! Strange that what one man makes a reason for coming, another makes a reason for staying away! David prayed in the Psalms, "Lord have mercy and pardon my iniquity, for it is great." "Strange argument," you will say. It is a grand one! "Lord, here is great sin and there is now something that is worthy of a great God to deal with! Here is a mountain sin, Lord, have Omnipotent Grace to remove it! Lord, here is a towering Alp of sin--let the floods of Your Grace, like Noah's flood, come 20 cubits over the top of it! I am the chief of sinners-- here is room for the chief of Saviors." How strange it is that some men should make this a reason for staying away! This cruel sin of unbelief is cruel to yourselves--you have put away the comfort you might enjoy. It is cruel to Christ, for there is no pang that ever wounded Him more than that unkind, ungenerous thought that He is unwilling. Believe, believe that He never is so glad as when He is clasping His Ephraim to His breast! As when He is saying, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you." Trust Him! If you could see Him, you could not help it. If you could look into that dear face and into those dear eyes, once red with weeping over sinners that rejected Him, you would say, "Behold, we come to You! You have the words of eternal life! Accept us, for we rest in You alone. All our trust on You is stayed." And that done, you would find that His coming to you would be like rain on the mown grass, as the showers that water the earth and, through Him, your souls would flourish, your sackcloth would be taken away and you would be girt about with gladness and rejoice in Him, world without end! The Lord Himself bring you to this. Amen. LUKE 15:1-27. We shall, tonight, read a chapter which, I suppose, the most of us know by heart. But as often as I have read it, I do not remember ever reading it without seeing some fresh light in it. May it be so tonight! Verse 1. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners to hear Him. A rare crowd they must have been, when it is said all the publicans and sinners! All sorts of sinners came in such numbers that it seemed as if the city had sent out all its hosts of sinners. And these drew near--came as close as they could for fear of losing a single word! They made the inner ring about the Savior. He had a bodyguard of sinners and certainly there are none that will ever glorify Him as these people will do. 2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receives sinners and eats with them. They stood further off. Not to listen, but to murmur. Here was the old fable of the dog in the manger. They did not want Christ, themselves, but they murmured that other people should have Him. They despise Him. They thought themselves too righteous to need a Savior. Yet they murmured when the Physician came to His patients to give them the healing medicine! 3. And He spoke this parable unto them, saying. They were hardly worth His trouble. But though He spoke it to them, others who are not of that sort have sucked sweetness out of it ever since! We are told this is a parable, but on looking at it we find it to be three. Have you ever seen a picture in three panels and the whole of the panels necessary to complete the picture? So it is here. Different views of the great work of Divine Grace suiting different persons, so that if we do not see through one glass, we may use a second, and a third! 4. 7. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost Isay unto you, that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. Not that one repenting sinner is of more esteem in Heaven than 99 saints who have been kept by the power of God. No, not so, but there is a greater stir of joy in Heaven at the time of the sinner's repentance than there is over all the ninety-nine. And you know how that is. You may have many children and you may love them all alike, yet if one is ill you take far more notice of him just then--and all the house is ordered with a view to that sick child. He may not be the best child you have, but still, for the time being, there is more thought of him because he is ill. And if you should happen to have in your family a boy that has greatly grieved you and has gone astray, I am sure that if he were to repent, you would feel intense joy over him. But it would not be true that you thought more of him than of his brothers and of his sisters who are with you and are obedient to you. We must not learn from a passage more than it teaches. At the same time, let us learn as much as we can from it. It sets Heaven on a blaze ofjoy when one single penitent turns to his Father! 8. Either what woman having tenpieces of silver, if she loses onepiece, does not light a candle andsweep the house, and seek diligently till she finds it?Eastern houses generally are very dark and if you need to find anything, you must light a candle. Now, this is one piece of money out of ten, as the sheep was one out of a hundred. The woman does not stand counting over the other nine, but she leaves them in the box and lights a candle and begins to make a stir. No doubt other people who were in the house would say, "What an inconvenience this dust is." She must find her piece of money. So sometimes in a congregation, we feel it necessary to have special services and makes a little stir--and there are some good souls who are inconvenienced and they do not like all the dust. Oh, it matters not what dust we make, as long as we find the lost piece--and if a soul is found, we can put up with some irregularities as long as the precious thing is discovered and brought to its Owner! 9, 10. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, Isay unto you, there isjoy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.Here follows this most wonderful of all parables--the truest picture of man's folly and lost estate that was ever sketched--and at the same time the most wonderful picture of the Mercy and Love of God that was ever painted! 11, 12. And He said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to His father, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. And he divided unto them his living. In the East the younger son has a smaller portionof the estate compared with the elder. But it is a usual thing--certainly not an unusual thing--to let him have his portion while his father is yet alive, that he may make use of it and be able, by his industry, to increase it till he becomes a substantial person--a custom not altogether without wisdom in it if there must be a distinction between elder and younger sons. You remember how Abraham gave portions to his sons by Keturah and sent them away, whereas Isaac had nothing because he was the heir and had everything. So this younger son asks for his portion and the father divided to them his living. 13. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. His heart was distant from his father. Therefore he did not feel at ease until he put himself at a distance where he could do just as he liked--could do that which he knew his father would not approve of and what he would not like to do in his father's house. And is not this a true picture of the man who is not a friend of God? He wants to do as he likes. He desires to be independent and as he knows that what he likes to do will not please God, he tries to forget God. He gets into a far country by his forgetfulness. He says in his heart. "No God." He wishes there was no God. He gets as far away from God as he can. Then it is that he wastes his substance. Did you ever look at an ungodly life as the wasting of precious substance? It is just that! The love which ought to go to God is wasted in lust. The energy that ought to be spent in righteousness is wasted upon sin. The thought, the ability that ought to be laid at Jesus' feet is all used for selfish pleasure--and so it is wasted. He wasted his substance in riotous living. 14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in need. "Began to be in need." What a change! At home with his father, then with plenty to waste--and now in need. Those two words, "in need," describe the condition of every ungodly man! After a time, he is in need--in need of everything that is good and worth having. His soul is a pauper. He is in need. 15. And he sent and joined himself to a citizen of that country. A gentleman with whom he had spent a fortune. Many a time had this citizen sat at his table and drank his best wines. And what does this fine fellow do for him? 15. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.A very low occupation anywhere, but in Judea a peculiarly degrading occupation. He sent him, a Jew, into the fields to feed swine! 16. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat It does not say that he would have stopped his hunger with the husks, for that could not be done. He would only fill his belly--fill it up, as it were, with anything just to choke his sense of need. And there are many men that know that the world cannot satisfy them, but it could at least take their thoughts off a little from their inward need and so they gladly fill up their belly with the husks that the swine do eat. 16. And no man gave unto him.He gave to them--he spent all his money with them. He was a fine fellow, then, so they said. But now no man gave to him. And what a mercy it was, for if they had given him all he needed, he would not have gone back to his father! There is nothing like a little gracious starvation to fetch a man home to Christ. And it is a blessed Providence and a blessed work of the Spirit of God when a man at last is starved till he must go home to God! 17-20. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and went to his father. "And when he came to himself." He had been beside himself before. There are two things upon which ungodly men are very ignorant--God and themselves. "He arose and went to his father." That was the best of all. He stopped not with resolutions, but he actually did the deed! This was the turning point with him. He arose and went to his father. 20, 21. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father interrupted the prayer. He would not let him conclude it. "Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." 22-24. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fatted calf, and kill it and let us eat and be merry, For this, my son was dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.What a change between being in need and, "let us eat and be merry."-- "Wonders of Grace to God belong." There is no wishing to fill his belly with husks, now! But the word is passed round, "Let us eat and be merry." 25. Now his elder son was in the field. There is a great deal of questioning about who this man was--this eldest son. Why, dear me, I have known him! I have the misfortune to meet him every now and then. He is a very capital man--one of the best of men, but he does not care about revivals, or about having a great many converted. He is very suspicious about such things--he does not care about making so much fuss over men that have newly repented. He holds rather hard views about them. "He was in the field at work." 25-27. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heardmusic and dancing. Andhe called one ofthe servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Your brother is come; and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. Did you ever notice that point--the father's gladness because he had received him safe and sound? No bones broken. His face was not disfigured. He was safe and sound. It is a wonderful thing that the sinner should come back to Christ safe and sound, considering where he has been! He has been in much worse danger than if he had been in battle or in shipwreck. He has been with drunks and with harlots--and yet he is received safe and sound. Oh, the wonders that Divine Grace can do, to put safeness and soundness into us who went so far astray! __________________________________________________________________ Not Boasting, But Trusting (No. 3408) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Not of works lest any man should boast" Ephesians 2:9. THIS is very plain. There is no mistaking the sense. We are saved by Grace and not by our own doings. A reason is assigned. If we were saved by our own doings, it would be natural and certain that we would boast. It is well that the Apostle is so very explicit here and elsewhere upon this Doctrine, for men will fall against and blunt the edge of his statement. Self-righteousness is the natural religion of every degraded heart. Only the Spirit of God can make a man really receive and acknowledge the Truth of God. The Apostle seems determined that if any reject it, it shall not be for lack of clearness in his statement as a teacher. He does not beat about the bush, or go round about, or mince matters--he comes at once to the point, "By Grace are you saved"--and then he gives the negative, the backstroke of the sword, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." This is the old controversy of Christianity from the very beginning. The first heavy fire of the Gospel ordinance was directed against the Judaizers. They said salvation was by ceremonies and the works of the Law of God. In all sorts of shapes and ways, sometimes straightforwardly and sometimes cunningly, they tried to get into the Christian Church the idea that the works of men could have some merit in them and contribute in some degree to their salvation! The Apostle was a very sturdy opponent of this subtle innovation. His Epistle to the Romans, his Epistle to the Galatians, his Epistle to the Ephesians and, indeed, all his writings seem like so many cannons dragged to the front and discharging red-hot shot against the very idea of salvation by the works of the Law. "By the works of the Law there shall no flesh living be justified," he says, "for by the Law is the knowledge of sin." Further down in the history of the Christian Church this old conflict was renewed very vehemently by Martin Luther and his brother Reformers against the Church of Rome. You must not think that the great point of difference between the Protestants and Romanists is whether we shall obey that respectable old gentleman at Rome or not! Or whether we shall have our ministers dressed in blue and scarlet and fine linen--or in common broadcloth, like ourselves. Those trifles may become important as ostensible signs of profession, but they are not the main point at issue. They are merely the husk of the controversy! The real battle between the Papists and the Protestants turns on this--are men saved by works, or are they saved by Grace? All the Reformers that ever tried to reform the Church of Rome by interfering with her mummeries and her monasteries, her priests and their vestments, her holy days and celebrations, and I do not know what besides, were all just fiddling away with a wasted force at some of the external branches of that horrible old upas tree! But when Luther came fresh from the cell with that Light of God still beaming from his eyes, "We are justified by faith," then it was that the axe was laid at the root of this tree! There is nothing needed to bring down popery but the constant promulgation of this one Truth of God--"It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy," for salvation is not of man, neither by man--it is of the Lord and it is given to as many as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts! In fact, this is the standing controversy, today, before which all other controversies dwindle into insignificance. The outside world still has it that they will be saved by their own doings. The host of God's elect, stripped of their own righteousness and made to put on the righteousness of Christ, stand, each man, with his sword upon his side and his shield in his hand, defensive for this one Truth of God, this vital Truth of God, the all-important Truth of the Gospel! For this, Brothers and Sisters, we ought, every one of us, to be prepared to shed our blood! To obliterate or to disguise this Truth were to put out the lamp that illuminates this dark world! Take away the only ointment that can healearth's wounds! To destroy the only medicine that will ever cure the diseases of humanity--"Justified by faith, saved by Grace, not of works, lest any man should boast." At this time, let us briefly consider a great negative--"not of works." A great reason--"lest any man should boast." And then throw in, one after the other, with very little order, a few thoughts about this great matter. A GREAT NEGATIVE--"Not of works." Now, Brothers and Sisters, it must not be of works because that way has been tried and has proved a complete failure. Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden under circumstances peculiarly conducive to his happiness. The Law of God which was to test him was remarkably simple. It contained but one command, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." Adam was not, as we are, corrupt--his constitution had no tendency to sin. He was pure and perfect with well balanced judgment and without bias one way or the other. He had never sinned--he need not ever to have sinned! It seems to me, he had nothing to gain by sin. His paradise was as perfect as it could be! God had been pleased to give him everything necessary to make him abundantly happy. But under these circumstances--the most favorable in which humanity was ever placed--the way of acceptance before God by works broke lamentably down! Whether after a short or long term of probation, we will not say--it is folly to speak where Scripture is silent--it is certain that when tempted, he lapsed, for the woman took the fruit and the man also partook of it. Then acceptance by works became like a potter's vessel smashed with a rod of iron! Man had tried the way of merit and bitter, indeed was the award. Despair, you sons of Adam--where your father failed, though up to then untainted--you, with perverted will, with imagination apt to picture pleasantry in sin, with judgment warped and strained by innate depravity, by the infection of example and by the force of surrounding circumstances--think not that you can stand upright where perfect Adam fell! Hope not to find a way back through the gates of Paradise, for there still stands the cherub with his flaming sword--and no flesh living shall henceforth be saved by his works! The way of salvation by works is utterly unsuitable for us! It is not only fruitless, proved to be so, but it is inconsistent. Anything which involves an impossibility is vain to propose. Propose to a man without feet that he should walk, or to a man without eyes that he should distinguish colors--you see the folly--but is it not equally absurd to recommend a convict to seek a peerage? It is impossible for any one of us to obtain merits before God! We have all confessedly sinned already. Our present status debars us from entering the list for future honors. By what means are we to put away this old sin? There it stands. Suppose we obey God from this time forth till we die without a single fault--we shall then only have done what it was our duty to perform and God had a right to expect of us! There will be no balance left, nothing to put per contra against our sins, nothing to our credit as a reduction of our liabili-ties--we would only have paid the current account, supposing that to be possible. The debt will still remain! The old score--who is to pay that? "Oh," says one, "we apply to Christ for that." No, no, Sir! If it is to be by works, you must keep to works, for the Apostle lays it down in the 11th of Romans that, "if it is of Grace, it is not of works, and if it is of works it is not of Grace." Two principles, these, which will not mingle--have which you like. They are like oil and water, or, rather, like fire and water--they are opposed to each other! If Christ is to save you, He must do it altogether. He will never be a make-weight for you, depend upon it! He did not come into this world to make up a few deficiencies--not at all so! He will not have you boasting! He will not have you sharing the honor of your salvation with Him! God demands of every man a perfect life--having all sinned, we cannot bring Him a perfect life. You have cracked that vase. And, if you do not break it again, it is already cracked. "Oh," but you tell me, "it is only in a little place." Yes, but if there is only one link in the chain broken which drags up the miner from the deeps of the earth, it is quite enough for his destruction that one link is broken! There is no need to have a dozen links fretted through with rust, the one flaw is sufficient. If you will be saved by works, you must be absolutely perfect, for it is inconsistent with the Justice of God that He should accept any but perfect obedience from the creatures that come under His sway. Can you render this? If you know yourselves, you will say, "we cannot." You will look on the flames that Moses saw when Sinai was on a blaze--you will tremble and despair of ever saving yourselves! But, again, while the way has been proven to be fruitless and is certainly unsuitable, it is a way which, with all his talking, no man ever does fairly try. I have often noticed that those who prate loudest of good works are those that have the fewest good deeds to make mention of. Like little traders in the streets with their little stock of commodities, they had need cry and advertise their wares because they have so little to sell! Whereas a diamond merchant or dealer in bullion sits still and never makes a noise at all because he has precious treasure by him. Your hard talkers about good works generally come from some disreputable haunt. They will even boast that their sentiments are better than their habits. Well, they need be! I have seen them put their black and smutty fingers upon the bright Gospel of Christ and say, "This leads to licentiousness." Pity, then, Sir, you should ever approach it, since you can find licentiousness fast enough without it! Pure minds see God in the Gospel. They veil their faces and bow before its majesty. Ah, well might I preach up morality, but not as the way of salvation, or what would be the result of it? What said Chalmers during the early part of his life? He said, "I preached up sobriety till nearly all my followers became great drinkers. I preached up honesty till I manufactured thieves. The more I preached of the right which man ought to do, the more I found men doing wrong." These are not his words, but they are the sense of his own solemn confession when he came to read the pure Gospel and began to preach it with all his heart! So is it with every man and I suppose it always will be. Dry essays about duty run off and slide like oil down a slab of marble--while the proclamation of the Gospel of the Grace of God in pardoning the chief of sinners attracts men to Jesus, breaks their hearts, causes them to hate sin, sets them upon reformation, makes them holy and helps them to persevere even to the end! "Not of works," says the text--and we come back to it. If salvation were by works and could be so worked out--listen--then Calvary would be a superfluity! The Cross of Christ, with all its wonders, would be a work of supererogation on God's part! The work of Redemption would be a subject of derision for us! Is there no salvation, or is there salvation somehow else? Must God come down and take the form of man and in that form must the Christ of God suffer even unto death--and all for nothing--for it comes to that! If man can save himself, what is there need of you angels? Hush your Christmas carols! What need for those gazing eyes and that absorbing wonder as you watch the manifestation of the Lord of Glory, Incarnate among men? What needs it that the Prophets talk of the Lamb of God and point us to the Infinite Sacrifice? What need is there that Jesus wears the crown of thorns and bows His head to die for us? There are men who say we can work our own passage to the stars and by our merits enshrine ourselves among the blessed. Sirs, which shall I believe--that God has worked a work that need not have been, or that you are under the spell of a fatal delusion? "Let God be true and every man a liar." You can find no way to Heaven but by the Cross!-- "Could your zeal no respite know, Could your tears forever flow-- All for sin could not atone-- Christ must save, and Christ alone!" Those persons who prate most of salvation by works, whether they acknowledge it or not, do really lower the standard of holiness and abate the dignity of the Law of God. You come to probe them and the old story which Whitefield and John Vaudois fought against so valiantly of Saxon obedience is the petition of the self-righteous man's creed. "Well," he says, "I can't keep all the Law of God--I admit that. As to thoughts, deeds and words, I can't be quite clean, but I will do my best." Now, what is this but to altogether lower the Law of God because you cannot come up to God's Law? Is the Almighty God to come down to your terms? Do you think to barter with Him? Can your miserable three farthings in the pound satisfy a Divine Law? This will never be! "Heaven and earth shall pass away," says Christ, "but not one jot or one tittle of the Law shall fail." This is the Word of God spoken from Sinai, "Cursed is every man that continues not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them." God will not take part payment! Holiness, let me tell you, Sirs, is a very different thing from that morality which some men boast of! Why, I almost hold my breath when I encounter some men's morality that they talk so much of! Those loose tongues that chatter so glibly against the Gospel as fomenting licentiousness--if they did but once cry, "God be merciful to us sinners," would come much nearer to playing their right part. Men that are sinning daily in open violation of common virtue will talk as though they were pure in all their tastes, holy in all their thoughts and above suspicion in all their lives? Oh, no! God's holiness is something more grand, more sublime than you and I have guessed at! And we shall not reach to that by our works, at any rate, for they are blotted, blurred, marred and spoiled upon the wheel like the figures of an ill-taught potter--and we cannot presume to exhibit them before the living God. II. A GREAT REASON IS GIVEN--a few words on it--"Not of works lest any man should boast." If any man could get to Heaven by his own works, what a boaster he would naturally be! I am sure he would be so on earth. This is the part he would play. He would hear that God, in His mercy, had been forgiving some great sinner and that there wasjoy in Heaven over him. And he would say, "I cannot take my share in such pleasures as that. I have never transgressed His Commandments. I find myself very tightly bound and I do not get much joy out of it. Here is that renegade who has been given to sin and he is to be saved! I do not like it." You know where to read the story in Luke's Gospel, "He was angry and would not go in, therefore his father came and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years have I served you, neither transgressed I at any time your commandments and yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this, your son was come, which has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf." Pretty specimen of a son, but the picture of what any man would be who felt, "I owe God nothing. I am all right--I am saved by my own works." What a churl he would be in the Church! I am sure I would be very sorry to admit such a man to our assemblies. I would feel that he was quite out of place with poor sinners saved by Grace like ourselves, who have nothing to boast of. It would make the whole Church wretched to have such people in Church fellowship! Why, if we did not idolize them, we would hate them! I do not know which of the two it would be--certainly they would be much out of place in our assemblies with their boasting. And what would they do in Heaven? Why, the very reverse of what all the spirits are doing who are there--these all sing, "We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb"--they would have to say, "We kept our raiment white ourselves." When the ransomed spirits cast their crowns at His feet, the self-righteous souls would hold high their crests and wear their tiaras, saying, "We have won them ourselves and we have a right to them!" It would spoil Heaven! Heaven would not be the perfection of harmony. Such beings would occasion discord in the Glory Land--a greater discord than seen in the universe since the Fall! No, no! It is "Not of works, lest any man should boast"! Do I hear somebody say, "We do not maintain that men are to be saved by works altogether, but partly by God's Grace and partly by their own works." Well, I will suppose for a moment that this strange monster can be manufac-tured--a saint compounded part of Grace and part of works! Well now, in what proportion are these two opposite qualities to be brought together? How much Grace and how much works? Half works? Yes. Then how about those poor fellows who come very near half? Well, one quarter works? Yes. And then three-quarters Grace? Well, perhaps some more, and some less. Some three-quarters works, some half works and some only one-eighth works and so on. You will have to arrange them very orderly, you know--and depend upon it that as soon as they find out the proportion of their salvation that was by works--in that proportion they will begin to boast! I would and I do not think I would be to blame if I did. I would say, "Now, here I am, saved half by my works. Here is a lot of these poor believers in Christ who were saved altogether by Grace, but I have contributed of my own means a full half to my salvation. I do not mind just lifting my crown a little--just admit I had help in getting it on my head, but I am not going to cast it down at His feet--every man has a right to what is his due!" I thought Napoleon did a good thing when, on the day of his coronation, he took his crown and put it on his own head. Why should he not take the symbol that was his due? And if you get to Heaven one half by Grace and one half by works, you will say, "Atonement profited me a little, but integrity profited me much more!" Do I seem to you to talk sarcastically? Be it admitted I do! Were it possible for me to kick this idea of human merit like a football round the world, Sirs--were it possible to set it in the pillory of scorn and pelt it with I know not what of filth, I would feel that I had the Apostle Paul standing by my side and saying, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." And I would hear him say of his own righteousness, "I count it as dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him." He could not have taken a coarser figure, nor one which expressed more thoroughly his hearty contempt of everything like self-righteousness--"I count it as dung that I may win Christ, and be found in Him." "Lest any man should boast"--this is a good and sufficient reason why salvation should not be of works! Now-- III. A FEW THOUGHTS WITHOUT ORDER, but I hope they may catch your attention and stick in your memory. Some say--I know it is a common observation--this talking about sinners coming to Christ just as they are and trusting in Him alone for their salvation is very dangerous. Respectable persons and people who think themselves qualified to be critics, generally make some such observation as this--"it is very dangerous." Now my dear Friends, if you will condescend to listen for a minute, I would remind you that neither you nor I have anything to do with making the Gospel We may think the Gospel ought to be such-and-such, but that does not make it so. And if I should choose to think, or if youshould, that such-and-such a Doctrine is very dangerous, that neither makes it true nor makes it false, for, after all, the great solemn appeal about all matters of religion is not to you, nor yet to me! We stand on an equal footing there--you may think one thing and I may think another. But the Judge--the Judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail, must decide. The great question is, "What say the Scriptures? What does the Old Book say?" If it does not teach that the salvation of a sinner is altogether by Grace and not of works, it does not teach anything at all--and there are no words in any language that mean anything! I must be made to believe that black is white and that God has purposely and willfully written a Book to deceive us, before I can believe salvation to be by works! For the expressions about this matter are not a few. They are not casual--they are not dark and mysterious, they are not metaphorical--they are plain, simple and obvious. I challenge any man--I will not say any theologian--but any man of common-sense that can read the Bi-ble--whether he uses our version, or prefers the original--if he will but read it honestly, he can come to no other conclusion in reading the Epistles of Paul than this--that salvation is by Grace through faith in the merits of Christ--and not at all by the works of the Law. Now, that is a thing that ought to decide and end the matter. I ask you not to heed anything I say--do not take my word for it--my ipse dixit is nothing! It is in God's Book and on your heads it must be if you deny it! "Oh," said one to another, "I didn't like your preaching the other night." "What didn't you like in it?" "I didn't like your preaching up salvation to sinners." "Oh, that is nothing to me, the quarrel is not between you and me, but between you and my Master. You must settle that with Him. I have nothing to do with manufacturing Doctrines--my business is to preach them as I find them in the Scripture. If you do not like them, you must leave them, but it is at your own peril." Let me say to all of you, I beseech you cast not away your own soul! Everyone of us ought to remember that a great deal of that commodity in this world known by the name of good works is not good works at all What is a good work? I would venture to say that anything that has in it the element of selfishness is not good. You may question that, but I think it is the highest virtue to be unselfish. If a man is found to be virtuous, as we say, with the design of benefiting himself, has he not spoiled his virtue? The very design of seeking merit by what he does, spoils the possibility of merit! A man is not a servant of God while he is only serving himself. It is only when he gets rid of self that he becomes truly good. To pray may be good or not, according to whether it is real prayer. To attend the House of God, or give alms to the poor may be good or not good, according to the heart. But external duties are not good works! No, though a man should be faultless in his external life, yet if the motive were sinister and the desires unclean, his works would all taste of the fountain from where they came and not be good in the sight of God. Did it ever strike you that in our works the heart must always be the great matter? Cowper, in his Task, has very wonderfully worked out this subject in the best blank verse. He pictures two footmen employed by you--one of them is a very polite, quick, nimble, handy fellow--but, as he says, he serves you for your house, your housemaid, and your pay. Let either of these be gone and he is gone, too. But the true servant is Charles, that stands behind the chair, that is troubled if your appetite seems to fail, that has been with you from a boy, that if you were poor and hadn't any pay to give him, would cling to the posts of your doors--that would live for you and die for you-- that is the man whom you love as a servant! So it is with virtue. The best and highest of good works are those that spring from love, real love to God! Now, where do you find this? In the man who rejects Christ? No--his works are those of a slavish fear! He does not serve God out of love, but because he trembles at the thought of Hell. But when a soul is brought to trust in Jesus, then the heart loves God, the service of God becomes a great delight and the man who says, "I am not saved by works," works ten times harder than he ever would have done if he had hoped to be saved by his own doings! And his works are better works because he has devoted love which infuses into them a sacred excellency which otherwise had not been there. Be it forever known and understood that when we preach salvation by Grace, we do not undervalue morality. No, Brothers and Sisters, we exalt it! I will give you proof. There is a hospital. It is free to all the sick, but there is a notion about town that nobody may enter there except those who do something to heal themselves. Now, I will suppose that I am sent as a missionary to go among the sick and tell them that their own health is not worth a farthing, that they are to come to the hospital gates just as they are, that at the hospital they look at disease as a qualification and not at health. Somebody might say, "Here is this man undervaluing health." My dear Brother, I am doing no such thing! Do you think I would be trying to get these sick people into the hospital if I undervalued health? It is not health I undervalue--it is the quackery that mimics health! It is this empiricism which films over men's diseases, which had need be dealt with otherwise. Why, if thousands in London were dying because they had the notion that they could not be received at the hospital unless they healed themselves, surely it were the kindest and best work a man could do--and the quickest means to promote the popular health--to go and dissuade men of this absurd notion! If, my Brothers and Sisters, when we bade you come to Christ, we told you that after coming to Him, you might live in sin as you did before, we would be worthy to be hanged! But when we tell you that Christ is a Physician and His Church a hospital--and that He can heal you if living in sin, we do not by any means decry your morality, but only tell you that it is but a piece of quackery until you come to Christ!-- "Speak they of morals, oh, You bleeding Lamb! The best morality is love to You!" The best holiness is to love Christ and to serve Him actuated by the motive of gratitude! And if you try merit before you come to Him, it will only plunge you into deeper sin! You cannot blot out your iniquities. Still I know the scandal will be repeated, but if any choose to repeat it, the lives of those who have preached up salvation by Grace furnish the best answer. In the days of Charles the First and Charles the Second, you would have found the party headed by Laud in the Church of England crying up ritual, crying up good works. You would have found on the other hand, the Puritan party rigidly preaching up Justification by Faith and Salvation by Grace. Now, Sirs, where did you find the country parson that preached in the morning upon good works, in the afternoon? Why, with a girl on either side dancing round the Maypole, according to the Book of Sports! And if you needed him a little later in the evening, you would have to send some trusty parish beadle to bring him in from the village alehouse! But where is the man who preached salvation by Grace while at the conventicle? "Oh" says one, "he is at home singing Psalms with his family." Doesn't he go round the Maypole? "No, the old bigot, he never breaks the Sabbath. He says it is against the Law of God." Well, but isn't he in the alehouse? "No, I dare say the old superstitious creature is on his knees somewhere, praying." Everybody knows this was the fact! The Puritan theology bred Puritan living--the Doctrine of Justification by Faith made men holy! But the other party that preached this wonderful doctrine of salvation by works went pretty far to prove, at any rate, that theycould not be saved by their works! The long-haired cavaliers, with their scented locks and their abominations not fit to be uttered by pure tongue, or heard by the ear of decency--these were your work mongers, your upholders of salvation by your own doings! But the man that ordered his household well in the fear of God, the man that could bend to God but not to a tyrant, the man that loved his country and would sooner die on Edge Hill or Naseby than he would lay down the faith he held dear to him--that is the man who preached that we are justified by faith and not at all by the works of the Law! You shall find holiness grows out of the one Doctrine which is despised--and wickedness springs from the other which is advertised as a panacea for all ills! If there are any here that think they can be saved by their own works, I have no Gospel to preach to them whatever. I will not interfere with them. My Master has said that there is no need of a physician to them that are not sick. Good people, virtuous people, excellent people--you that are going to Heaven all on your own account--don't quarrel with us poor sinners because we choose to have what you despise! If you do not want the medicine, let us drink it and be not bitter against us if we choose another way than yours. If your road is broad enough and there are enough companions in it, let us alone if we choose the narrow path! But yet I cannot coolly dismiss you so. If you are naked, poor and miserable--I will not insult you. I counsel you by my Master--get gold tried in the fire that you may be rich and white raiment that you may be clothed--and if you know not how you can buy it, I will tell you. It is without money and without price! It is freely given and shall be given to you if you will take it. Shake your hand of that venomous serpent of your own self-confidence! Shake it into the fire, I pray you--it is the best place for it! You may come with empty hands to Christ and He will give you all your soul can want. When you come to die, you will find that good-works theory unable to bear you up. The best of men have looked upon their lives from that closing scene in another manner than they ever did before. One said he was gathering up all his works--his good works and his bad works, too--and flinging them all overboard that he might just simply trust in a Crucified Savior. At any rate, Friend, if you are prepared to risk your soul on your works, I am not prepared to risk mine on anything that I have done! No, I am not afraid to meet the trial hour. I am not afraid to look you in the face to-night and say, "I will meet you on that tremendous day and we will see whose confidence is the better. You shall take yourworks if you will, and I will take my Lord! And you shall rest in what you do, but I will not rest in anything I do." Oh, rest well upon Him and I will tell you what will happen when the whirlpools of Almighty Wrath shall be round about you! Your good works shall go like those deceitful life-buoys we heard of the other day--and you shall sink! But never did a soul sink that could cling to Christ! It is an unheard of thing that Christ has ever let a sinner perish, for He has said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Now, whether you have been righteous or wicked, whether you can cry yourselves up, or whether you bewail yourselves that you are deep in the mire of sin--go, stretch out your hand and take Christ! Turn your eyes to Jesus, dying upon Calvary's Cross and look to Him-- "There is life in a look of the Crucified One!" There is life at this moment for you! I wish that everyone in this dense mass would look to my Master. There is Grace enough in Christ for everyone of you! No sinner was ever lost because there was any stint in Christ! No, but because they would not come and thought themselves too good for Him. Come as you are--just as you are and trust Christ. And then mark you, you will be saved! You will be saved from the love of sin! You will be saved from the power of it! You will begin a new and holy life. You will henceforth be full of good works which shall abound to the Glory of God--and with these good works upon you, you shall be like a tree that is covered with rich fruit, acceptable to God! Still your root shall not be your fruit, but your root shall be a simple faith in a precious Christ whom this night I have declared unto you. So God bless you. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS5:1-9. Verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ We have it tonight. We enjoy it. We delight in it, "through our Lord Jesus Christ." 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this Grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only have we peace, but we get into the favor of God and we stand in it! This is the Grace or favor which comes of being justified. We now feel a freedom to come into our Father's Presence because He has forgiven us for Christ's sake. We now feel at home with Him though once we were prodigal sons and had wandered far away. And we rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. We have something yet in reserve--present peace, but future perfection! We have present rest, but there still remains a rest for the people of God. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God! 3-5. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations, also, knowing that tribulation works patience. And patience, experience, and experience, hope. And hope makes us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. So that even what might seem to be the disadvantages of this present life are made to work into advantages! And what at one time might threaten our prosperity, really conduces to it. Patience, which we never could have if we never had a trouble, is given to us. And experience, which we never could have if we did not patiently endure the trouble we obtain! We get pearls out of these deep seas. We get treasures out of these blazing furnaces which seem to smelt our blessings, that they may come to us rich and pure. And, above all, there rises a glorious hope, never to be drowned--never to be made ashamed--because we feel the love of God shed abroad in our hearts like a sweet perfume making every part of our nature fragrant because the Holy Spirit is there! 6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. That was our character. There was no good point about us. We were ungodly and we had no strength to mend ourselves or to be other than ungodly. The strength for reformation had all gone. The strength for regeneration we never had. We were without strength and then Christ died for us--died for the ungodly! 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man. A benevolent, loving-spirited man. 7, 8. Some would even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.And that is the glory of His Love! While we were rebels against His government, He redeemed us. While we were far off from Him by wicked works, He sent His Son to die and bring us near. Free Grace, indeed, was this--not caused by anything in us but springing freely from the great heart of God! 9. Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. You see the force of the argument? If He loved us when we were still dead in sin, much more will He keep us and preserve us now that He has justified us! Were His enemies redeemed? Shall not His friends be kept? Did He love those who were still far off? Will He not love those who are brought near--and love us even to the end? __________________________________________________________________ Seeking Richly Rewarded (No. 3409) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1869. "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Psalm 34:10. THE young lions are very strong. They are as yet in the freshness of their youth and yet their strength does not always suffice to keep them supplied. The young lions are very crafty--they understand how to waylay their game and leap upon them with a sudden spring at unawares, and yet, with all their craftiness, they howl for hunger in the woods. The young lions are very bold and furious, very unscrupulous. They are not stayed from any deed of depredation and yet for all that, freebooters as they are, they sometimes lack and suffer hunger. These are just the type of many men in the world--they are strong men, they are cunning men, they are thoroughly up to the times--smart, sharp men. If anybody could be well supplied, one would think they should be. But how many of them go to bankruptcy and ruin and, with all their cunning, they are too cunning! And with all their unscrupulousness, they manage, at last, full often, to come to an ill end. They do lack and suffer hunger. But here are the people of God--they are regarded as simpletons, such simpletons as to seek the Lord instead of adopting the maxims of universal worldly wisdom, namely, "Seek yourself!" They have given up what is called the first law of human nature--namely, self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-serving--and have come to seek the Lord, to seek to magnify Him. And what comes of their simplicity? "They shall not want any good thing." Notwithstanding their lack of power, their want of cunning and the check which conscience often puts upon them, so that they cannot do what others can to enrich themselves--yet for all that, they have a fortune ensured to them! They "shall not want any good thing." Let us look at this text, now, and together consider it thus--first, the seeking of the Lord which is here intended. And then following upon that, the promise that is given upon such seeking. I. THE SEEKING OF THE LORD HERE INTENDED. We must be particular and very precise about this. The promise is so rich that we wish to win it fully, but we do not wish to be dishonest. We would not take a Word of God that does not belong to us, lest we should deceive ourselves and be guilty of robbing God. We must go carefully and jealously, here, and must search ourselves to see if in very deed and truth we are such as reallyseek the Lord. Now, the term to "seek the Lord," I may say, is the description of the life of the Christian. When he lives as he should, his whole life is seeking the Lord! It is with this he begins. "Behold, he prays," that is, he seeks the Lord. He has begun to be conscious of his sin. He is seeking pardon of the Lord. He has begun to be aware of his danger--he is seeking salvation in the Lord. He is now aware of his powerlessness and he is looking for strength to the Lord. Those deep convictions, those cries and tears, that repenting and humbling and, above all, those acts of simple confidence in which he casts himself upon the great Atonement made upon Calvary's bloody tree--those are all acts of seeking the Lord! Now, perhaps some of you have got no farther than this. Well, you shall have your proportion of blessing, according to your strength. You shall have your share in it, little as you are. He will give to His children at the table their portion, as well as to those who have grown to manhood. After a man has attained unto eternal life by confiding in the Lord Jesus, he then goes on to seek the Lord in quite another way. No wonder! Since he has found the Lord, or rather has been found of Him, and yet he still presses on to apprehend Him of whom he has been already apprehended! He still presses forward, seeking the Lord, and he seeks the Lord thus. He seeks, now, to know the Lord's mind, the Lord's Law and will. "Show me what You would have me to do," he says. "Lord, I went by my own wit, once, and I brought myself into a dark forest--I lost myself--I was at Hell's brink and You did save me. Now, Lord, guide and direct me. Be pleased to teach me. Open my lips when I speak. Guide my hands when I act. I wait at Your feet, feeling that-- "For holiness no strength have I, My strength is at Your feet to lie." The man now seeks the Lord by daily and constant prayer, seeking that he may be upheld, guided, constrained in paths of righteousness and restrained from the ways of sin. He becomes a seeker of the Lord after sanctification, as once he was after justification. And then he becomes a seeker of the Lord in a further sense. He seeks to enjoy the Lord's love and His gracious fellowship and communion. He seeks to get near in reverent friendship to his Lord. He now longs to grow up in the likeness of Christ, that his conversation with the Father and the Son may be more close, more sweet, more continuous. He feels that God is his Father and that he is no longer at a distance from Him in one sense, for He is made near by the blood of the Cross. Yet sometimes he is oppressed with a sense of his old evil heart of unbelief and in departure from the living God--and he cries out, "Draw me nearer to Yourself!" In fact, his prayer is always-- "Nearer my God to Thee, Nearer to Thee-- Even though it is a Cross that raises me, Still all my cry shall be, Nearer to Thee, nearer to Thee." He seeks the Lord's company. He delights to be in God's house and at God's Mercy Seat, and at the foot of the Cross, where God reveals Himself in all His Glory! He is constantly crying for a larger capacity to receive more of God. And the longing of his soul is, "When shall I come and appear before God?" He feels that he never shall be satisfied till he awakes in the Lord's likeness. Now, all this, which may be private within him and scarcely known to any, operates practically in an outward seeking of the Lord which makes the man's life to be sublime. The genuine Christian lives for God. He makes the first objective of all that he does, the Glory of God, the extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom, the showing forth of His praise who has brought him out of darkness into marvelous light. He is a young man, an apprentice--he has been converted and he says, "Now, what can I do while I am in this house to make it better, to make it happier and holier, that men may see what the religion of Jesus is? How can I recommend my Lord and Master to those among whom I dwell--to my master and my mistress and my fellow servants?" He becomes a tradesman on his own account, and when he opens that shop door he says, "I do not mean to trade for myself. I will make this to be my objective, that this shall be God's shop. God has got to keep me--He has promised that He will--therefore, I may take what I need for the daily subsistence of myself and my children, but I will keep the shop for God, for all that, and if He prospers me, I will give Him of my substance, but whatever comes of it, I will so trade across my counter, so keep those books and manage those bills that I will let the world see what a Christian trader is! And I will seek thus to recommend my Lord and my God--and my objective shall be to make Him famous." He seeks the Lord on Sundays. He desires at the Sunday school, or the preaching station, or anywhere he may serve, to be glorifying God. But he equally seeks Him on Mondays and other weekdays, for he believes there is a way of turning over calicoes, weighing pounds of tea, plowing acres of land, driving a cart, or whatever else he may be called to do, by which he can honor God and cause others to honor Him. Now, I say very solemnly--I hope I am mistaken in what I say, but I fear I am not--I am afraid there are many professors who would tell a lie if they said that they sought God always in their business, for though they are the members of a Church and you would not find them out in anything seriously inconsistent, yet their whole life is inconsistent because for a Christian to live for anything but the Lord Jesus Christ is inconsistent! It is inconsistent to the very root and core, to the tenor and aim, the supreme objective of life, altogether inconsistent! A man has a right to live, to bring up his family, to educate them and see them comfortably settled in life--but that ought to be only for God's Glory! His acting as a father is expected, for if a man cares not for his own household, he is worse than a heathen and a publican--that God may be glorified by his doing is his duty! But when I see some people putting by their thousands and getting rich for no sort of reason that I know of, except that people may say, "How much did he leave behind him?" how can I believe that those professors, as they take the sacramental cup, are doing anything but drinking condemnation unto themselves? When I see some Christians who profess to be living for nothing but to be respectable and to be known, and honored and noticed, but never seem to care about the souls of men, nor about Christ's Glory--never shedding a tear over a dying sinner nor heaving a sigh over this huge and wicked city, which is like a millstone upon the neck of some of us, like a nightmare perpetually upon our hearts--when I see these men so cold, so indifferent, so wrapped up in themselves, what can I think but that their religion is but a cloak, a painted pageantry for them to go to Hell in, which shall be discovered at the last and be a theme for the laughter of the fiends? Oh, may God grant that we may all be able truly to say, "I seek the Lord. I am sure, I am certain that I seek Him," for if we can feel that that is true, then we can take the promise of thetext. If not, we may not touch it. If we, as professing Christians, are not at top and bottom in heart, and soul, and spi-rit--and in all that we do--really seeking the Glory of God, the promise does not belong to us! But if we can, from our very souls, declare, "Notwithstanding a thousand infirmities, yet, Lord, You know all things: You know that I love You and that I seek Your honor," then this is true of us, and no one of us shall need any good thing! Just a word or two more about this, for we must discriminate thoroughly well before we come to the promise. It is too rich and precious to be bestowed upon the wrong persons and there are some who hope to get this promise, who feel that they must not take it. We must be among those who seek the Lord heartily, not merely saying that we do, or wishing that we did but, filled with the Holy Spirit, and in the power of His blessed residence in our souls, we must be heartily panting after God's Glory! Otherwise I do not see that we can put our hands on the promise without presumption. We must be seeking it honestly, too, for there is a way of seeking God's good and your own at the same time--I mean having a sinister and selfish motive. We may preach and not be preaching only for God at all. A man may live in the Sanctuary, in holy engagements from morning until night and yet may never ardently, intensely, seek the Lord. A man may be a great giver to charities, a great attendee at Prayer Meetings, a great doer of all kinds of Christian work and yet he may never seek the Lord, but may yet be seeking to have his name known, to be noted as a generous man, or be merely seeking to get merit to himself, or self-complacency to his own conscience. It is a downright honest desire to serve and glorify God while we are here that is meant in the text. If we have got it and I think we may readily see whether we have or not-- then is the word of the Psalmist true to us. We must seek God's Glory heartily, honestly, and we must seek it most obediently. A man cannot say, "I am seeking God's Glory," when he knows he is disobeying God's command in what he is doing. How can I say that I am desiring to glorify God by following a pursuit which is sinful, by giving loose to my anger and speaking rashly? By giving rein to my passions, by indulging my own desires, by being proud and domineering over my fellow Christians, or by being pliant, fearful, timid after an unholy sort and not being bold for God and for His Truth? No, we must watch ourselves very narrowly and cautiously. We must be very careful of our own spirits. We soon get off the line. Even when we are keeping correct outwardly, we may be getting very inconsistent inwardly by forgetting that the first, last, midst and sole objective of a blood-bought spirit is to live for Christ--and that if saints on earth were what they should be, they would be as constantly God's servants as the angels are in Heaven--they would be as much messengers of God in their daily calling as the seraphs are before the eternal Throne of God! Oh, when will the Spirit of God lift us up to anything like this? The most of us are still hunting after things that will melt beneath the sun, or rot beneath the moon! We are gathering up shadows to ourselves, things which have no abiding substance--we are seeking self, seeking anything rather than the blessed God! Lord, forgive us this sin wherein we have fallen into it, and make us truly such as truly seek the Lord! Now, let us be prepared to behold-- II. THE PROMISE OF THE REWARD OF SUCH SEEKING. "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." That is, not one of them. They that first stepped into Be-thesda's pool were healed--but no others. But here everybody that steps into this pool is healed! That is to say, everyone that seeks the Lord has this promise--the least as well as the greatest--the Little-Faiths and the Much-Afraids as much as the Great-Hearts and the Standfasts. They that seek the Lord, whether they are chimneysweeps or princes, whether they are tender children or seasoned veterans in the Master's great army--they shall want no good thing. "Well, but," somebody says, "there are some of them that are in need." They are in need? Yes, that may be, but they are not in need of any good thing. They cannot be. God's Word against anything you say, or I say. If they seek the Lord, they shall not, they cannot, they will not need any good thing! "Well, at any rate, they need what appears to be a good thing." That is very likely--the text does not say they shall not be. "Well, but they need what they once found to be a good thing! They need health--is not that a good thing? It was a good thing to them when they had it before, yet they need health. Does not that go against the text?" No, it does not in any way whatever! The text means this--that anything which is absolutely good for him, all circumstances being considered, no child of God shall ever need. I met with this statement in a work by that good old Puritan, Mr. Clarkson, which stuck by me when I read it some time ago. I think the words were these, "If it were a good thing for God's people for sin, Satan, sorrow and affliction to be abolished, Christ would blot them out within five minutes! And if it were a good thing for the seeker of the Lord to have all the kingdoms of this world put at his feet, and for him to be made a prince, Jesus would make him a prince before the sun rose again!" If it were absolutely to him, all things being considered, a good thing, he would have it, for Christ would be sure to keep His Word. He has said he shall not want it, and He would not let His child want it, whatever it might be, if it were really, absolutely, and in itself, all things considered, a good thing! Now, taking God's Word and walking by faith towards it, what a light it sheds on your history and mine! There are many things for which I wish, and which I sincerely think to be good, but I say at once, "If I have not got them, they are not good, for if they were good, good for me, and I am truly seeking God, I would have them--if they were good things, my heavenly Father would not deny them to me--He has said He would not, and I believe His pledged Word." I think sometimes it would be a good thing for me if I had more talents, but if it were a good thing I would have more, I would have them. You think it were a good thing if you were to have more money. Well, if He saw it to be good, you would have it. "Oh," you say " but it wouldhave been a good thing if my poor mother had been spared to me--if she were alive, now, it would have been a good thing and it would certainly be a good thing for us to be in the position I was five years ago before these terrible panic times came." Well, if it had been a good thing for you to have been there, you would have been there. "I don't see it," says one. Well, do not expect to see it, but believeit! We walk by faith, not by sight. But the text says so. It says not that every man shall have every good thing, but it does say that every man that seeks the Lord shall have every good thing. He shall not want any good thing, be it what it may. "Well, I doubt it," says one. Very well. I do not wonder that you do, for your father, Adam, doubted it, and that is how the whole race fell! Adam and Eve were in the Garden, and they might have felt quite sure that their heavenly Father would not deny them any good thing, but the devil came and whispered and said to them, "God knows that in the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will be as gods! That fruit is very good for you--a wonderfully good thing--never anything like it--and that one good thing God has kept away from you." "Oh," said Eve, "then I will get it," and down we all fell! The race was ruined through their doubting the promise! If they had continued to seek the Lord, they would not have needed any good thing. That fruit was not a good thing to them--it might have been good in itself, but it was not good for them or else God would have given it to them--and their doubting it brought all this terrible sorrow on us. So it will upon you, for let me show you--you say, perhaps, "It would be a very good thing for me to be rich." God has stopped you up many times. You have never prospered when you thought you were going to. You will put out your hand, perhaps, to do a wrong thing to be rich, but if you say, "No, I will work, and toil, and do what I can, but if I am not prospered, it is not a good thing for me to be prospered, and I would not do a wrong thing if it would bring me all the prosperity that heart could desire." Then you will walk uprightly and God will bless you. But if you begin to doubt it and say, "That is a good thing and my heavenly Father does not give it to me," you will, first of all, get hard and bitter thoughts against your heavenly Father. And then you will get wicked thoughts and wrong desires--and these will lead you to do wrong things, and God's name will be greatly dishonored thereby. How do you know what is a good thing for you? "Oh, I know," says one. That is just what your child said last Christmas. He was sure it was a good thing for him to have all those sweets! He thought you very hard that you denied them to him, and yet you knew better. You had seen him before made so ill through those very things he now longed for. And your heavenly Father knows, perhaps, that you could not bear to be strong in body--you would never be holy if you had too robust health. He knows you could not endure to be wealthy--you would be proud, vain, perhaps wicked--you do not know how bad you might be if you had this! He has put you in the best place for you. He has given you not only some of the things that are good for you, but all that is good for you! And there is nothing in the world that is really, solidly, abidingly good for you, but you either have it now, or you shall have it before long. God your Father is dealing with you in perfect wisdom and perfect love, and though your reason may begin to cavil and question, yet your faith should sit still at His feet and say, "I believe it. I believe it, even though my heart is wrung with sorrow. I am a seeker of God. I seek His Glory and I shall not need any good thing." I think someone in the congregation might say to me, "Look at the martyrs. Did not they seek the Lord above all men?" Truly so, but what were you about to object? "Why, that they needed many good things. They were in prison, sometimes in cold, and nakedness, and hunger. They were tormented on the rack. Many of them went to Heaven from the fiery stake." Yes, but they never needed any good thing. It would not have been a good thing to them, as God's martyrs, to have suffered less, for now read their history. The more they suffered, the brighter they shine. Rob them of their sufferings and you strip their crowns of their gems! Who are the brightest before the eternal Throne of God? Those who suffered most below! If they could speak to you now, they would tell you that that noisome dungeon was, because it enabled them to glorify God, a good thing to them! They would tell you that the rack whereon they did sing sweet hymns of praise was a good thing for them because it enabled them to show forth the patience of the saints and to have their names written in the book of the peerage of the skies! They would tell you that the fiery stake was a good thing because from that pulpit they preached Christ after such a fashion as men could never have heard it from cold lips and stammering tongues! Did not the world perceive that the suffering of the saints were good things, for they were the seed of the Church? They helped to spread the Truth of God and, because God would not deny them any good thing, He gave them theirdungeons, He gave them their racks, He gave them their stakes--and these were the best things they could have had, and with enlarged reason, and with their mental faculties purged, those blessed spirits would now choose again, could they live over again, to have suffered those things! They would choose, were it possible, to have lived the very life and to have endured all they braved to have received so glorious a reward as they now enjoy! "Ah, well, then," says one, "I see I really have not understood a great deal that has happened to me. I have been in obscurity, lost my friends, been despised, felt quite broken down--do you mean to tell me that that has been a good thing?" I do. God has blessed it to you. He will enable you to say, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Your Law." And if you get more Grace, you will say it is a good thing, for is it not a good thing for you to be conformed to the likeness of Christ? How can you be, if you have no suffering? If you never suffered with Him, how can you expect to reign with Him? How are you to be made like Him in His humiliation, if you are never humbled? Why, I think every pain that shoots through the frame and thrills the sensitive soul helps us to understand what Christ suffered. And being sanctified, gives us the power to pass through the torn veil, and to be baptized with His baptism, and in our measure to drink of His cup and, therefore, it becomes a good thing! And our Father gives it to us because His promise is that He will not deny or withhold any good thing from those that walk uprightly. I feel, Brothers and Sisters, as though my text were too full for me to go on with it! There is such a mass in it, and if you will take it home and turn it over at your leisure, you may do with it better than I can, if I attempt wire-drawing and word-spinning. There is the text. It seems to me to speak as plainly as the English tongue can speak. Give yourselves wholly up to God and live for Him, and you shall never want anything that is really good for you! Your life shall be the best life for you, all things considered in the light of eternity, that a life could have been! Only mind you keep to this-- the seeking of the Lord. There is the point of it! Get out of that, and there may be some promise for you, but certainly not this one! You have got out of the line of the promise--but keep to that and seek the Lord--and your life shall be, even if it is a poverty-stricken one, such a life that if you could have the Infinite intelligence of your heavenly Father, you would ordain it to be precisely as it now is! "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Why, how rich this makes the poor! How content this makes the suffering! How grateful this makes the afflicted! How does it make our present state to glow with an unearthly glory! But, Brothers and Sisters, we shall never understand this text fully, this side of Heaven. There we shall see it in splendor. They that seek the Lord here shall have up yonder all that imagination can picture, all that fancy could conceive, all that desire could create. You shall have more than eye has seen, or ear has ever heard! You shall have capacities to receive of the Divine fullness, and the fullness of the pleasures that are with God shall be yours forevermore! But, again I come back to that, are you seeking the Lord? That is a question I have asked my own heart many and many a time--Do I seek the Lord's Glory in all things? I ask it of you, you young men who are starting in business. Now, you know you can, if you like, go into business for yourselves. I mean you can make your trade tell for yourselves, and live to yourselves, and the end will be miserable and the way to it will not be happy. But if God's Spirit shall help you young men and women early in life to give your hearts to Jesus, and to say, "Now, God has made us so we will serve Him that made us. Christ has bought us, so we will serve Him that bought us. The Spirit of God has given us a new life, so we will live for this new and quickening Spirit"--then I do not stand here to promise you ease and comfort, for in the world you shall have tribulation, but I do say, in God's name, that He will not withhold one good thing from you, and that when you come to be with Him forever and ever, you will bless Him that He did for you the best that could be done even by Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Love. You shall have the best life that could be lived, the best mercies that could be given and the best of all good things shall be yours here and hereafter. There may be some here, however, who have long passed the days of youth and up till now have never had a thought of their Maker. The ox knows his owner and the ass his master's crib, but they have not known God. If you keep a dog, he fawns on you and follows at your heels. There is scarcely any creature so ignorant but what it knows its keeper. Go to the Zoological Gardens and see if those animals that are most deficient in brains are not still obedient to those that feed them! Yet here is God, good and kind to a man like you, and you have lived to be 40 and have never had an idea of loving and serving Him! Have you sunk lower than the brutes? Think of that! But Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners such as you. Repent! May God's Eternal Spirit lead you to repentance of this great sin of having lived in neglect of God, and from henceforth, seeking pardon for the past through the Atoning Sacrifice, and strength for the future through the Divine Spirit, seek the Lord and you shall find that you shall not need any good thing. The Lord bring you there and save and bless you eternally! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM34. "A Psalm ofDavid when he changedhis behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, andhe departed." It was a very painful exhibition and one in which David does not shine, but in which, nevertheless, the Providence and Grace of God are very conspicuous. And it is very pleasant to find a man of God penning such words as these after his escape. Verse 1. I wiil bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. After any very great deliverance, we feel prompted to special gratitude. And it appears to us as if we never should leave off praising God. I wish that perpetuity were real, but, alas, it often happens that the next cloud that sweeps the skies brings back our doubt and our fears--and our song is over. It ought not to be. Our heart's resolve should be, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth." 2. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD. What else is there to boast about? But what a proper subject for boasting, the Lord is, because it is legitimate boasting! We can never exaggerate--we can never speak too well or think too well of God! He is high above our thoughts when they are at the best, so that we may make them as big as we may and we shall never be guilty of extravagance! 2. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Humble souls cannot, generally, endure boasting, but boasting in God is very sweet to them. He that will make God great will always be a choice favorite with a broken spirit. Those that are little in themselves delight to hear of the Glory of God. 3. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together It is too grand a theme for one! One little heart can scarcely feel it all! One feeble tongue cannot tell it out. Come, then, you saints that know His name--magnify the Lord with me! 4. I sought the LORD and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Blessed be His name for this. Are there not many of you, dear Friends, who can bear the same testimony--personal proof of a prayer-hearing God? You tried Him, for you sought Him. You tried Him and you found Him true, for He delivered you from all your fears. 5. They looked unto Him and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. Only a look--and their burden was gone. Only a look! What great things hang on little things! Faith is but a look, yet it brings life, pardon, salvation! Heaven comes that way. Only a look! 6. 7. Thispoor man cried, and the LORD heardhim, andsavedhim out ofallhis troubles. The angel ofthe LORD encamps round about them who fear Him, and delivers them. The angel of the Lord does not merely come to help His people, but he stays with them. He encamps. He has pitched his tent, for he means to tarry. The guardians of God forsake not their charge. They encamp about them who fear Him, for their deliverance. 8. O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that trusts in Him. It is the grandest of benedictions! It is the sum and substance of the Gospel! "Blessed is the man that trusts in Him." By the way of works we are cursed, but by the way of believing we are blessed. Are you trusting? Dear Heart, are you trusting? Is it a feeble trust? Are you often much tried and distressed? Yet if you are trusting, you are blessed! God pronounces you so--do not let your faith waver about it, or suffer the devil to tell you that you are accursed, for you cannot be! You are blessed. 9. O fear the LORD, you His saints: for there is no need to them that fear Him. Sometimes their wishes are not granted, but there is no real need. They shall have all necessaries, if they do not have all luxuries. 10. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger. Strong as they are, and crafty as they are, they sometimes howl because of their hunger. 10. But they who seek the LORD--Though they have no craft, no courage, no strength and no foresight. 10. Shall not need any good thing. Plead that, tried child of God! Plead it! Plead it if you are in need tonight--if you are in any form of need--plead this gracious Word of God! 11. Come, you children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear ofthe LORD. A Sunday School teacher's text! Gather the children close to you. Say, "Come near me. I would be familiar with you." It was a king who spoke these words, and yet he delighted to say, "Come, you children." Win their attention. "Hearken unto me." If they do not hear, how shall they understand? "And I will teach you the fear of the Lord." That is your subject--pure religion--heart religion--spiritual religion! I will teach you the fear of the Lord." 12. What man is he that desires life?What man is he that does notdesire life? Love of it is innate in us all. 12, 13. Andloves many days, that he maysee good?Keep your tongue from evilandyour lips from speaking guile. He begins with one of the hardest practical duties of the fear of God, for he that bridles his tongue is also able to bridle the whole body! The tongue is such an unruly member that if that is kept--and only through Divine Grace can it be so--then we may be quite certain that all the other organs and faculties will be kept, too. 14. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it A great deal packed away into a small compass there. There is the negative, "Depart from evil," and the positive which must go with it, "Do good." And if you do not do good, you will soon do evil. And then there is that blessed precept--"Seek peace." Hunt after it if you cannot find it. And if it runs away from you, follow it--pursue it--hunt after it till you gain it! A peaceable life is a happy life. 15. The eyes ofthe LORD are upon the righteous. He watches them. He loves them too well to let them ever be out of His sight. He views them with complacency. He regards them with affection. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. 15. And His ears are open unto their cry. Ready to hear their feeblest prayer--the cry of their pain--their distress. His ears are always open. 16. The face ofthe LORD is against them that do evil Sets His face against them. 16-17. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Here is an explanation of the experience of the Believer--first, prayer--then God's hearing and then deliverance. Who would not pray who has found prayer to be so effectual with God? 18, 19. The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; andsaves such as are ofa contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions ofthe righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all. The first line seemed to have something terrible in it--"Many are the afflictions of the righteous." But there is a blessed, "but," that comes in--thrown like the tree into Marah's bitter stream to sweeten it all! 20, 21. He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked. Their own evil shall be their destruction! They need nothing more than to be allowed to go on in sin! Sin is Hell. The fire of corruption is the fire of perdition. Evil shall slay the wicked! 21, 23. And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants: and none of them who trust in Him shall be desolate. How grandly does David preach the Gospel! We need not look to Paul to learn salvation by faith! The Psalms are full of it. We have had it just before. "Blessed is the man that trusts in Him." And now, again, "None of them who trust in Him shall be desolate." They are sinful, but they shall not be desolate. They often feel as if they were utterly unworthy, but they shall not be desolate. They are, sometimes downcast, but they shall not be desolate. They may be hunted by trials, afflictions and temptations of the Devil, but they shall not be desolate! They may come to the bed of pain and to the chamber of death, but they shall not be desolate! They shall stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, but they shall not be desolate--not one of them--for it is written, "None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate." __________________________________________________________________ Christ and His Hearers (No. 3410) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners to hear Him, and the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, This Man receives sinners and eats with them." Luke 15:1,2. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS always seeks to blame others and to whitewash itself. The group that stood nearest to Christ in preaching was composed of two classes of persons--the publicans, or tax-gatherers and the open sinners. Now the Pharisee, when he came to speak of these two classes, called them by one name, lumping them all under one description and calling them all sinners. Now, although the publicans, or tax-gatherers, were very generally taken from the lowest class of Jews, and their calling of tax-gathering, never in itself, too popular, was in their particular case very objectionable, yet we have no reason to believe that all tax-gatherers were necessarily profane, or licentious, or dishonest. There were bad and good among those Jewish tax-gatherers, as well as among all other classes of mankind! Yet, because they were looked upon as being of the lowest class, the Pharisee spoke of them as if they were all "sinners." This is a common habit, I am afraid, with the Too-Goods--with those who have never felt their own sinfulness, to always use the worst names they can and to put as bad a color as they can upon the characters of other men. I wish we had learned to do the very reverse, namely, to try to see all the good we can in our fellow creatures, which were far more like Christ, rather than to condemn them wholesale, and impute the faults of some to a whole class. The Holy Spirit here speaks of "publicans andsinners"--the evil spirit in the Pharisee calls them all sinners. Let us imitate the Spirit of God and not the spirit ofpride. But I said that self-righteousness tries to whitewash itself, for did not these Pharisees, when they murmured that Christ received sinners, intend to say that as He did receive them, they were not sinners? No, they would not have blushed, for they were rather honest in their self-righteousness--perhaps more honest than we are--they would not have blushed to have said, "We have thanked God that we are not as the publicans, and not as the sinners." They did not reckon themselves as belonging to the class of offenders and breakers of the Law of God. They were holy! They were the separated ones! They were a peculiar people, zealous for good works after their own estimation, though not in the sight of God. Alas, how easy it is for us to try to make ourselves appear to be better than we really are! We are full of sin--our nature is deceitful and vile, and yet we try to draw up a good balance sheet, if we can, of our spiritual trading! We represent that to be sound which is rotten, and that to be accepted which is dishonored. Oh that we could but see ourselves as God sees us! We would never again, then, dare even to thinka good thought of ourselves out of Christ, but abhorring ourselves in dust and ashes, we would wrap His righteousness about us! We would plunge into the crimson fountain of His blood and never hope to be accepted except in the Beloved! May God grant us Grace to beware of the least touch of self-righteousness, for it is evil, only evil and that continually! May we always be as timid as the publican who stood afar off and dared not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, rather than be as censorious and presumptuous as the Pharisee, whose sole prayer consisted in flattering himself that he was better than others. Having thus introduced to you the Pharisees, the publicans and the sinners, let us now come to the text, itself, and observe that publicans and sinners were attracted to the ministry of Christ. The first question at this time shall be--what attracted them? Then secondly, what in the Gospel should attract us? And thirdly, what came of their being attracted, and what comes to us, also, of our being attracted by the Gospel? First, then, it seems that when Christ preached, He was surrounded by a number of persons of very loose character, and others of the lowest calling who pressed to Him to hear Him. I. WHY DID CHRIST'S HEARERS COME? They were genuine hearers--it was a bona fide audience. I mean by that, that they were not like the crowds who followed Christ up the mountain--who followed not to hear Him, but to eat of the loaves and the fishes. These publicans and sinners were not thinking of the loaves and fishes. They were none of those who, like the old people in some parishes,go to Church in order to get the loaf of bread on the Sunday morning. They were real, bona fide hearers, who really went to hear. They were a genuine, earnest, and honest audience--and they pressed around Him to listen to Him. Why did they do this? I will tell you why they did not. They certainly were not attracted to Christ by any ceremonialism which Christ used, or any kind of pomp or show of priestcraft in His dress. It is said that the working classes do not attend places of worship because we do not dress ourselves in white, and blue, and green, and I do not know what other colors besides--in fine because we do not make fools of ourselves! It is said that people will not come to hear us because of this, but our Lord Jesus Christ never put on anything like a priestly vestment in His life! The common dress in which He robed Himself was "a garment without seam, woven from the top throughout," or rather, the usual dress of the East. There was nothing whatever in His garb that was distinctive. John the Baptist, it is true, put on prophetic robes--the rough robe of hair-skin and some have used that same rough garment to deceive, but Christ was perfectly a Man among men. I may venture to say that whoever else was a clergyman, Jesus Christ was not, and whoever else was a priest, as one of a priestly caste set apart from the people, He was none. He was just a Man among men. He ate as they ate, and drank as they drank. He toiled as other carpenters have done in the carpenter's shop, and when He came to speak in public, He spoke like one of the people. His authority was not derived from His robes! He had not to step into the vestry and put on His garments to get His dignity. His dignity was in the Man, Himself, in the Spirit that filled the Man. That which attracted people to Him was certainly nothing external and had nothing to do with milliner's shops, but was something far other than that. Again, the publicans and sinners certainly did not come to Christ to hear Him because of His laborious reasoning. The working classes of London, we are told, if they are ever to be brought to places of worship, need that we should argue with them, and prove to them the existence of God, the Divinity of Christ, the truth of the Bible and all such things--and they are not led by our dogmatism! That is the statement that is made. I believe it to be as false as those who say it is impertinent. I do not find our Savior ever trying to prove that there is a God. I do not find Him standing up and continually apologizing! His mode of address is, in the strongest sense, and I grant you in a sense far above what you and I could claim to adopt, dogmatic! "Verily, verily, I say unto you." That is His argument. "I testify what I do know, and what I have seen of the Father," and He bears witness to the Truths of God with a full, down-right certainty which does not admit of a doubt! True, He has an answer for the Sadducees, but it is curt, sharp and decisive. And He goes on His way to preach His own Gospel, which is evidently His delight and His forte. No, if publicans and sinners came to Christ, they did not come to Him to be amazed with the display of intellect or to be dazzled with the remarkably judicious manner in which He would handle a debate! They came for some other reason than that. Again, if they came to Jesus Christ, they certainly did not come because of His trimming Doctrines. He was not one who excused sin, or who made it out to be a weakness, incidental to human nature. No, He denounced sin in the most burning terms! They did not come to Him because He was one who preached smooth things with regard to the punishment of sin. No, my Brothers and Sisters, of all the preachers that ever lived, none ever preached on the wrath of God in such terrible terms as Jesus Christ, Himself! Though He was full of tenderness and full of love, yet you hear Him speak of the worm that never dies, and of the fire that never shall be quenched! He loved men's souls too well to make them think that sin was a trifle! He loved them too well to let them run the risk of everlasting woe without warning them of it in the plainest terms. No, if any sat at Jesus' feet to learn of Him, it was not because their conscience remained unmolested and they were lulled by siren strains into a deadly sleep! His spirit-stirring words must often have sent bolts right through and through their consciences! They did not, therefore, go because He used fair speech and so amused the people, and lulled them to sleep in sin! Once more, if the publicans and sinners listened to Christ in crowds, it was not because of His vehement gesticulation or His declamation. He was not a preacher who was at all given to the stamping of the foot. "He shall not strive, nor cry, nor His voice be heard in the streets." The bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench. He opened His mouth and spoke, and He spoke with matchless oratory, for "never man spoke like that Man." But it was all simple and plain. You see no traces of logic. There are no signs of rhetoric. You do not catch Him for a moment, as it were, seeking so to awaken the emotions as to ignore the intellect, and so to stir the passions as if men were only children to the frightened or to be cajoled. He speaks to them as men! He appeals to their entire nature and while the Truths He utters are full of pathos that stir the very depths of the soul, yet are they gentle and quiet, and His speech distils as the dew and drops as the rain. Let none think that they can win a congregation by the mere force of gesticulation. Jesus did not so. What then, was it that attracted these people? They were not generally sermon-hearers. Look at that fellow, there with his ink bottle. He will look up the Jew that has forgotten to pay his tribute to Caesar. He is very quick about that,but he is not a man who is at all likely to attend theological discussions. Do you see that villain, there, with the low forehead? Why, I do believe he is the very man who was tried and who only escaped with his life upon a doubtful point at the last Passover! And there is that woman--oh, yes, there can be no doubt about her character! You know her, and what she is. Do you see them there? They are all listening, not with their ears, only, but with their very eyes and mouths they are drinking in every word that Man is saying as He talks to them about the lost sheep and the lost son. What is it that enthralls them? What are the golden chains that come from His mouth and hold these by their ears? What can the secret be? I think it lay partly in this, that He was a Man awfully in earnest. As they looked up to Him, they all felt that He was a real Man. The Pharisees were starched with decorum and full of affectation. These people were too simpleminded, though wicked, to believe in the Scribes and Pharisees--and so they went their way to their own haunts and never regarded their teaching. But with half an eye, they could see standing there a Man unaffected, sincere and in earnest, who was speaking of something which He, Himself, believed, and speaking it with power and force because He felt it in His soul! Oh, never was there such an earnest preacher as the Master! No idle word has He to give account of! No words to recollect that lack results because they came not fresh from the Speaker's heart! All He speaks is to the point and all of it came deep from His heart's inmost self. This drew the people to Him. They were attracted, too, no doubt, because He honestly touched their consciences. It would be supposed, my Brothers and Sisters, that the very intelligent, wise, rational and seemly Doctrine of Unitarianism, as we are commonly told it is, would everywhere be attended by crowds--but there are scarcely any places in which that Doctrine is preached in which you might not catch any number of spiders, and study the whole science of entomology as far as these interesting creatures are concerned! How is this? Why, as one said, once, "The people know in their hearts somehow or other, I cannot tell how, that this that you preach is not true. Although it looks so well and so rational, and seems to flatter them so much, yet they do not come to hear it, for in their hearts they know it is not true." It is a strange thing that if the old evangelical Doctrines should appear for one moment to be beaten in a debate, they always conquer in results. I shall defy any man to maintain a Church prosperously, or to keep up a denomination which is built upon unsound Doctrine with anything like prosperity during a term of years. The bubble shines and glitters, but it is too thin to last, and it goes. Now, after all, the worst men like to hear a preacher who will dash at their consciences, who will tell them what they, in their inner selves, know to be true! And as Jesus Christ never flinched from this, but told them just what was fact, the people delighted to gather round Him and to listen to His speech. Moreover, and I doubt not that this was the great charm they perceived--that He intensely loved them, that He did not preach the Truths of God merely that it might cause philosophic speculation and because He was highly pleased to teach it, but because He wanted that Truth to raise, to bless, to comfort, to save them and to make them happy. The Pharisee, if he ever spoke to a publican or a sinner, would do it with a long space between them, gathering up his robes for fear of contagion, looking down upon the sinner as though the teacher were so much above the taught. But Christ came right among them, and was one of them--and He looked as if He would do anything for them if He might but deliver them from their sins. They knew this, and it was this mighty charm that embraced them and made them linger till the voice had done, and then carry away the echoes of those loving tones in their memories for many a day afterwards. Besides that, I doubt not that another charm of Christ's preaching lay in this, that He always preached Doctrine that was hopeful to them. While He said, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees," He had loving words for weary and heavy-laden ones. While He denounced self-righteousness, He would turn round and say, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." If He ever had a frown upon His brow, it was for the hypocrite and the proud man, but He had tears for sinners, He had loving invitations for penitent ones. Like a good physician, He sought out morally sick folk and sought to restore them to spiritual health. This it was, also, that helped to attract them to Christ. Now, my dear Hearers, I believe that if you would tell me your characters, I could tell you whether, if Jesus Christ were here now, you would be likely, habitually, to hear Him or not. If you are a very excellent person who never did anything wrong. If you feel yourself a deal above most people. If you have a proper sense of your own dignity, and if you are much impressed with your own importance, I believe that you would have murmured at Christ. And I am quite sure that you would not have been in the throng that drew near to hear Him. But if you are sensible that you have been guilty. If you confess that you have broken God's Law. If you are anxious to be forgiven, or if you are conscious that you are forgiven, but still need to be daily washed, to be daily kept, to be daily dealt with in tenderness and love--oh, you are the men and women who would have made a bodyguard about that Prince of Preachers, for as surely as His Doctrine was meant for you as the rain comes down upon the mown grass, so was your state of mind meant for the Gospel! And you and the Savior would be quite sure to stand in near and proper relationship to one another! But we cannot linger, and must pass on, now, to the second point-- II. WHAT IS THERE IN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST THAT DOES NOT ATTRACT SOME OF US, BUT OUGHT TO ATTRACT US ALL? Very briefly, there is this in the Gospel that attracts my soul and I will speak for others. Ever since we fell out with God through sin, the thought of God has been dreadful to us. We have been afraid of Him. But Jesus Christ is God and He has taken upon Himself our manhood. And now He tells us that we may come to God through Him--in fact, that if we come to Him, when we have seen Him, we have seen the Father! Now, as I want to be one with God, and yet shudder at the thought of coming to Him, my soul burns with fervent affection towards Christ! And when I see that I can come to God so safely and so sweetly by coming through Him, that attracts me. Next, ever since we were awakened to a sense of what sin is, sin has been a great burden to us. We have offended against God, and we know it. Oh, that this offense could be blotted out! Now, Jesus Christ comes and shows that, altogether without a violation of justice, God can put away all our sins as if they had never been! The Gospel tells us that Christ becomes a Substitute for us, that He was punished instead of all those who believe in Him, so that the Law takes effect, Justice is satisfied and yet God is gracious. I know when I first learned that Truth of God, my heart was ravished with it. I have read books, sometimes, that have kept me up at night to read them, or I have got hold of ideas that have almost made me dance when I have got them--but that old idea of Substitution--oh, Sirs, it was the brightest day I ever lived when I learned that--that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all! You know, an awakened conscience cannot play with sin as some of you do and imagine that God can easily forgive sin--but when the conscience is awakened, it feels that God cannot forgive sin without exacting the punishment that is due to sin! Then there comes in to meet this difficulty the fact that Christ is punished in the place of the Believer--that God is just, and yet the Justifier of him that believes. Here is another precious Truth that has attracted many of us to Christ. I pray God that it may attract many others to Him. Here is the way of pardoned sin and here is the way of access to God! Brothers and Sisters, we feel in ourselves so many inabilities, we cannot do anything right! We feel that we cannot pray. There are times when, if we gave a world for it, we cannot shed a tear, when we cannot make our hard hearts melt, cannot get repentance out of these dry souls! Oh, but then this attracts me to Christ, to find that He can give me all Grace--that in Him all fullness dwells, that His Spirit helps our infirmities and that just as I am--wounded, broken, sin-sick, hard, cold and dead-- Christ comes and meets my case! Oh, how this ought to attract us to Christ! And then oftentimes the fear comes up to every awakened man--"Shall I hold on? If I begin to be a Christian, shall I hold out to the end? Will not temptation yet lead me astray?" Then Christ comes in and says, "Because I live, you shall live also. I give unto My sheep, eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hands." Oh, Savior, this is a silken bond to draw us to Yourself! Was there ever a greater attraction than this--all safe in Christ! The lambs of the flock, the weakest ones, all safe! The man of imperious passions, the man with once imperious lusts--all safe when once they put themselves in the hands of Christ! Then can we all say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day." But the thought comes over us sometimes, "Ah, but what will it be to die?" That hour of death--how grim it looks! And, indeed, it never is child's play to die--to pass into the unknown and the invisible! The naked spirit--to leave the body behind--it to become food for worms. The bravest man may well turn pale here! But oh, the attraction of Christ is, "He that believes in Me shall never die. Though he were dead, yet shall he live." Oh, the thought of resurrection! The thought that death is changed, no longer to be a penal sentence, but to be merely an entrance into Heaven! The thought that-- "Jesus will make a dying bed Feel soft as downy pillows are, While on His breast we lean our head And breathe our life out sweetly there." The thought that He will come and meet us, and that our spirits, side by side with His, shall pass through the iron gate with a song upon our lips, and fear no terror as we pass by the gates of the grave! My Brothers and Sisters, this woos us to Christ! This holds us to Christ! This charms and fascinates us! This is a faith that well sustains us, that blots out the past, that brightens the present and lights up the future with the expectation of the glory to be revealed! My Hearer, if you have never had Christ, do you not desire Him? Man, if Christ is yours, Heaven is yours. Man, if you believes in Christ, this night, your transgressions shall be forgiven you! You shall become a child of God, an heir of immorality! Do you not need a Savior? Will you not ask for one? Oh, yield you, yield you now to Him who was given for you, who round you now, the cords of His love would cast, binding you fast to His altar! God grant in His Infinite Mercy that the attractions of the Gospel may be known to us all! And now, in the last place-- III. WHAT CAME OF IT? Those who were attracted first to hear were, according to the second verse, still further blessed. The Pharisees said, not--"This Man preaches to sinners," but, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." It is a great blessing when the Gospel is preached to sinners, but oh, it is a far greater blessing when sinners are received, when sinners come to eat with Christ. The Pharisees left out what they ought to have mentioned, that when Christ received sinners, He did not leave them sinners. It is no disgrace to say of a certain doctor in London, "Why, it is said that that doctor has had some of the most horrible cases in London. I saw one man, there, with a dreadful cancer. Another was taken in that was subject to epilepsy. I saw one with a leprosy taken into that physician's house." Is that any disgrace to the physician? Why, Sir, the thing is how did they come out? What were they after his skill had been exerted upon them? What they were when they went into the hospital is no disgrace to the hospital--it may even reflect honor upon the wisdom of those who exercised their skill within it. So that Christ receives sinners is true, but He first makes them penitent sinners! He makes them believing sinners! He changes their nature! He turns the lion into a lamb, the raven into a dove--and then when He has done this, when He has washed away their sins and changed their natures--He receives them to be His friends! None are so near to Christ as blood-washed sinners! He receives them to be His disciples! None could sit at His feet but those who first have been washed in His blood. Then He receives them as His servants. None can serve Him who have not first been served by Him. Then He receives these sinners to be His advocates. He sends them out to preach His Gospel, but He never sends any out to preach the Gospel unless, first of all, they have received Him into their hearts as the Gospel of their salvation. "This Man receives sinners." Oh, I wish that tonight the Lord would find the biggest sinner in the Tabernacle! I might say, if there were such a person present, one commonly known to be the biggest blackguard in the parish, I wish the Lord would light on just such an one, for the raw material for a great saint is often a great sinner! When the devil wanted to make the biggest sinner that ever lived, he took an Apostle to be the raw material, namely, Judas, and made him the son of perdition. But when Christ wanted the greatest of preachers, and the best of all the Apostles, He went right into the devil's camp and laid hold of Saul of Tarsus--and made him become Paul, the mighty winner of souls! "This Man receives sinners." The thief, the drunkard, the harlot--He still receives them! He washes them, changes them, takes them into His society, lifts them up--takes the beggar from the dunghill and makes him sit among princes. Oh, mighty Master, do this deed of Grace again and though the Pharisees will murmur and the proud may still slander Your name, we who are sinners, too, will clap our hands for very joy and bless Your love and adore Your Grace, world without end! "This Man receives sinners." And then they said, "And eats with them." Yes, in a mystical sense you will see that done again tonight, for here is the TABLE, the Lord's Table, peculiarly so, and to that Table let no man come who has never been a sinner, for he will not be welcome! Let no man come who has not felt himself to be a sinner, for he will not be welcome. If there is a man that is rich in good things and that is full of good things, let him not come, for, "He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich He has sent away empty." If there is a handmaiden here of low estate and humble mind, let her come, for He has remembered the low estate of His handmaiden. But if there are any that are great and mighty, and exalted in their own estimation, let them stand aside and hear Him say, "He has put down the mighty from their seat, and He has exalted them of low degree." Here is a Table spread for sinners, sinners blood-washed, but still sinners. I often feel, my Brothers and Sisters, as if I could not come to the Cross anyway but as a sinner. I think I told you this parable once. Once there was a great king who used to have a table spread every day, and there were two sorts of persons who had a right to come there. All round the king, on his right and left, sat the princes of the blood and the nobles of the highest rank. They came in their robes of state and there they sat, and they were welcome. At the other end of the table, the king in his bounty had bidden his chamberlain every day spread many dainty dishes for beggars, and if there were any in the city at any time who were foot sore, who were houseless and homeless, ragged and hungry, the notice was given that anyone who could plead abject poverty might come to the king's table. Now, it so happened once on a time that a prince of the blood had lost, as he thought, the deeds of his estate. Moreover, he had lost the register of his birth and he was afraid that all that he had ever possessed had never been rightly his own. Perhaps he was some changeling child, he said, for such things had been. Perhaps his estates were not his own, and as the time came round for the feast, he felt as if he did not dare put on his robes lest he should be shown to be an impostor. But then it flashed across his mind, "If I have been an impostor up till now, and I am not the son of my reputed father. If the estates and the rich gems I have, are not mine, then I am a poor beggar and I have not anything." So he took off his fine garments and found some common dress that had been laid aside. "I must sit at the king's table somewhere," he said, "and if I cannot go as a prince, I will go as a beggar and so, one way or the other I will eat of his banquet." Brothers and Sisters, I have often had to do that, and I would advise you to do it whenever your doubts and fears come across you. If Jesus Christ cannot receive you and you cannot come to Him asa saint or as a child of God, remember, that "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." Come with all your sins! Come, I say, and you cannot be cast out! Many years ago the shaft of a mine was blocked up by some falling earth, and there was no chance of the miners' escape. They gathered themselves together and held a Prayer Meeting in expectation of a speedy death, for it did not seem probable that they would ever be able to get out by the shaft, which was so thoroughly destroyed. While they were in prayer, a happy thought struck one of the older miners. He had heard that there was an old shaft which led into another mine, which had been given up, and he said he would go first and perhaps they might be able, by going through some old passages, to come out into the old mine. He knew from what he had heard his father say, that much of it was very low, and water dripped into it, and that in some places they would have to keep on all fours. But for all that, he said, it would not matter so long as they could but get to the daylight again. They could not go up the regular shaft, but away they went, creeping down the back ways, all through the mire, mud, and filth, and dirt and darkness--but they came to the light at last and all came up safe to their homes again. Now, sometimes when I can look straight up to my Lord, I know that I am His child. I do tonight, and I can rejoice to go up and down the shaft straight ahead. But, Brothers and Sisters, if ever you cannot do that, there is an old working, there is an old way, the way that all the saints have gone. You will have to go on your hands and knees. You will have to go on all fours. You will find it flooded with tears of repentance, but never mind, the devil himself cannot block up that way. If you cannot come as a saint, come as a sinner! If you have got no Grace, you can get Grace. If you cannot come with a tender heart, come fora tender heart. If you cannot come with faith, come to get faith, for "this Man receives sinners and eats with them." May this Blessed Man come and eat with us tonight! EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 15:11-32. Verses 11-13. And He said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me theportion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. It was an act of ingratitude to leave his father at all--an act of extreme folly to turn his father's goods to ill-account. 14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in need.And the sinner's greatest all will be spent one day! The pleasures of sin are but for a season. The strongest sinew in an arm of flesh will one day crack. The flowers that grow in man's garden will one day fade--man may think he has an eternity of pleasure before him, but if he is looking to the flesh for it, it shall be but for an hour. 15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. At the very best, the comforts of this world are ignominious to a man. They degrade him--as it was a very degrading employment for a Jew to feed swine--so the comfort the world can give to a man does but degrade his noble spirit. 16. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, but no man gave unto him.The prodigal cannot be brought any lower! He is made to herd with the swine, and he envies even them because they are satisfied with the husks! He cannot eat of the same and, therefore, he envies even the brutes! Surely, when a sinner becomes fully convinced of sin, he may well envy even the sparrows or the serpents because they have not sinned! 17-20. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose, and went to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.Remember Matthew Henry's pa-raphrase?--Here were eyes of mercy. 20. And had compassion--Here was a heart of mercy. 20. And ran Here were legs of mercy. 20. And fell on his neck Here were deeds of mercy. 20. And kissed him And here were lips of mercy. 21- 22. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight and am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants Here were words of mercy, wonders of mercy and, indeed, it is all mercy throughout! 22- 25. Bring forth the best robe andput it on him; andput a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring here the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: For this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and isfound. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field. That is where these over-good elder sons always are--they are out at work--they are not at home in communion with God! They are in the field! Do not ask who the elder brother was--he is here tonight--there is many an envious moralist--yes, and an envious professor, too, who feels it hard that profligate offenders should be pardoned! 25-27. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Your brother is come; and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry. He did not want the fatted calf killed! If this reprobate brother were allowed to come in at the back door and to eat with the servants, he thought that quite good enough, but for this rebel to be put upon an equality with himself--he could not bear that! 28. And would not go in: therefore came his father out and entreated him. See the tenderness of this father? The same arms which embraced the sinning one, were also ready to clasp the self-righteous one! I always feel great pity and great admiration for this dear, dear father. What with a bad son and a good son, he had two bad sons, for this good son, you see, had got in a pet just as I have seen some real Christians get into a very un-Christian frame of mind! Well, they do not like, somehow, receiving into their company the women who have gone astray--the men who have lost their reputation. He was angry and would not go in--and now his father crowned his love. He ran to meet one son and now he comes out to reason with another who is unnaturally and ungraciously angry with him. 29. Andhe, answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do Iserve you, neither transgressed I at any time your commandment: and yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. I know the brother. He says, "I have been a consistent Christian. I have been diligent in the service of God. I have abounded in prayer and yet all the daylong have I been plagued and chastened every morning. I do not get much joy--I have such a sight and sense of temptation and sin that I am generally low spirited. I seldom get a drop of full assurance. I never get a kid given me, that I might make merry with my friends." Those who are under the Law never do make merry. You never knew a man yet that was trying to save himself by keeping the Commandments of God that could dare to make merry. No, they have to draw long faces, and well they may, for they have a long task before them! They put on a garb of sadness, being of a sad countenance, as the hypocrites are! 31, 32 But as soon as this, your son, was come, who has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf And he said, to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found. And so, dear Friends, there is more joy over the prodigal when he returns, than over the man who thinks he never has been astray! __________________________________________________________________ Joining the Church (No. 3411) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING OCTOBER 24, 1869. "And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves unto the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." 2 Corinthians 8:5. SOME persons are always trying to prove what is customary in the Christian Church. They are always seeking after instances and precedents. The worst of it is that many of these people look for old things that are not old enough--the old things of the Church of Rome, for instance, and mediaeval customs and observances which are nothing but authentic trumpery! If they want the real old solid things, they should go back to the Apostolic times. The best book of Church history from which to gather ritual, true ritual, is the Acts of the Apostles! And when the Christian Church shall go back to that, instead of enquiring about what the primitive Christians did in the second or third century, she will come much nearer to the knowledge of what she ought to do! Now, our text tells us of one old custom in the Apostles' days. Those who became Christians first gave themselves to the Lord and then they gave themselves to the Church, according to God's will. Let us ponder these things in their order. Of course we shall think of the main and most important point first--that action which gives value and beauty to all that follows and is its fruit-- I. THE SOUL'S SUPREME GIFT The first thing that the original Christians, the Christians of the old and Holy Spirit times did was, "they gave themselves unto the Lord." This is vital, the one all-important bestowal. Have all of us who are professors that we are Christ's disciples really given ourselves to the Lord? Are there not in this House of Prayer some who have never thought of doing so, and even some who would reject with contempt the idea of doing so? Oh, my Hearers, the day will come when you will look at these matters in a very different light! And in the next world it will be seen that it would have been your highest wisdom to have given yourselves to the Lord--and your supreme folly to have lived unto self! When these early Christians gave themselves to the Lord, the first thing manifestly was that the giving and the gift were sincere. Should any here present have given themselves to the Lord, let them ask themselves whether their gift was sincere. These primitive Believers meant what they said. There was a deep reality about their consecration--they gave themselves over to Jesus Christ to be entirely His. Remember that in those times this meant very much more than we are ever made to suffer now. A man who gave himself to Christ in those days was put out of the synagogue if he was a Jew. He was cast out of society if he happened to be a heathen. He was dragged up before the tribunals. He was frequently cast in prison--as frequently beaten with many stripes--and very often he was put to death by fire, or by the sword. But these early Christians knew what was to happen and, knowing it, yet deliberately they gave themselves up to the Lord. Oh, dear professors here present, has your gift of yourselves to Christ been as sincere as that, or did you merely come and make a profession because others did? And have you stuck to that profession, lie though it was, because you did not like the shame of confessing that you had made a mistake? Oh, is it sincere or not? If it is not, God make it so, for it is only that which is of the heart that will stand the trial of the Last Great Day! Lord, deliver us from having any religion in which the heart is not found! Their gift of themselves to the Lord was, in the next place, a willing gift. All the soldiers of Christ are volunteers and yet they are all pressed men. The Grace of God constrains men to become Christians, but yet only constrains them consistently with the laws of their mind! The freedom of the will is as great a truth as is the Predestination of God. The Graceof God, without violating our wills, makes men willing in the day of God's power--and they give themselves to Jesus Christ. You cannot be a Christian against your will! How could it be? A servant of God against his will? A child of God against his will? No, it never was so and it never shall be so! Here and now, you Christians, I shall ask you whether you are not cheerfully, gladly, unreservedly the servants of God! I know you are and that bond you made years ago is not irksome to you now, but if you are genuine saints, you repeat it again tonight and you hope to repeat it in life and in death, for you are willingly and exultantly the Lord's own! The gift that these early Christians made was, in the next place, an intelligent one. They did not receive into the Church in Paul's days unintelligent people. They knew that no sponsorship could avail here. They knew, as one would think all rational people ought to know, that the religion of Jesus Christ cannot exist where there is no clear apprehension of the saving Truth of God. Only where the understanding was able to grasp the Saviorship of Jesus could there be spiritual life and true conversion. No religious rite, or ceremony, or ordinance could confer this. I have heard ministers tell their congregations, "You were made Christians in your infancy and you ought to stand to the vows then made for you." Surely every man's conscience tells him there is not a shadow of ground for such reasoning! What have I to do with, or what do I care about vows that were made for me when I was a child? Were they bad or were they good--they never consulted me and I have nothing to do with them, nor will I have! Whether they promised that I would serve God, or that I would serve the devil, I equally reject their responsibility and their sponsorship! As an intelligent being, I speak for myself before God and none shall speak for me! If I had been dedicated to Moloch, should I in my manhood accept the dedication? God forbid! And even if I were dedicated to Christ, I will not accept a dedication which I know Christ never accepted because He never asked for it. He asks my personal dedication. He asks only for intelligent love, intelligent service--and I trust that many of you came to Christ knowing what you did, knowing what repentance meant, knowing what faith meant, having counted the cost of what a life of holiness would be and then deliberately, as men and women of judgment and understanding, said, "O Prince, we enlist beneath Your banner! O Immanuel, write our names in Your muster-roll, for we will be Your servants from now on and forever!" It was a sincere gift, it was a willing gift and it was an intelligent gift that these first Christians made of themselves to the Lord! My Brothers and Sisters, it was, moreover, a complete surrender which they made. No Christian in the olden times gave himself in part to the Lord and in part reserved himself for idols, or for himself--and had any attempted to have done so, they would have been spurned, for it is of Christ's rule in the Church that He will have all or none. You must, as a Christian, be all a Christian, or nothing of a Christian! There is no such thing as dividing between God and the devil, between righteousness and sin. The surrender must be without reserve and without limit. If you have truly given yourselves to the Lord, you have given Him your body--no more to be polluted with sin, but to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit. You have given Him your mind--no more to be a free thinker after the boasted free thought of the slaves of skepticism. You have given up your faculties--to sit with them at the feet of Christ to learn of Him, to take His teaching for the Truth of God and His Word the one court of appeal for all questions. You take Him to be your Teacher beyond all dispute and His Doctrine to be unsullied truth for you. You have also given up to Him your tongue to speak for Him, your hands to work for Him, your feet to walk or run for Him--your every faculty of body and mind in beautiful partnership for His service! As for your newborn, angelic, spiritual nature--that must emphatically be the Lord's--and will always be the royal and reigning power within. You are today in the trinity of your nature--body, soul and spirit--altogether Christ's! And this includes, if you are a sincere Christian, all that you have--all of talents, all of time, all of property, all of influence, all of relationship, all of opportunity. You count nothing to be your own from this time forth, but you say with the spouse, "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine." Again, the surrender which every true Christian makes is a surrender to the Lord. That, my Brothers and Sisters, is where it must begin--with the Lord! We ought not to give ourselves up to the Church until we have given ourselves up to the Lord. And it must never be a giving of ourselves up to priests. Oh, scorn that! Of all the wretches that live, the worst are priests! Of all the curses that ever fell upon earth--I will not except even the devil--the worst is priestcraft! I care not whether it wears the garb of the dissenting minister, or the clergyman of the Established Church, or the Roman Catholic, the Muslim or the heathen--no man can do your religion for you! If any man pretends that he can, or that hecan pardon your sin, or do anything for you before God, put him aside--he is a base impostor! Never surrender your thoughts or your mind to any man. Pin your opinions to no man's coat sleeves. To the Lord make the surrender complete and ample--to His Truth, to His Law, to His Gospel make your surrender as complete as if you made yourselves slaves, or a stone to be carved by His hands! You shall rise in dignity as you sink in selfhood. You shall become free in proportion as you wear God's bonds. You shall become great as you become little in yourselves. Give yourselves wholly up to God. Mind it is to Him--not to any man, not to any creed, not to any sect--but wholly and entirely to the Lord who loved you from before the foundation of the world! To the Lord who bought you with His heart's blood! To the Lord whose Spirit sealed your adoption within your souls! Mind this, then! Mark it as the first step in all public acts of religion--you must give yourselves first to the Lord! You have no right to talk about joining a Christian Church until you have done that--"first to the Lord." You have no right to be baptized until you have done that--"first to the Lord." You have no right to sit at the Communion Table until you have done that--"first to the Lord." Give yourselves first to the Lord with unfeigned repentance for sin and simple and hearty confidence in Jesus! And then, as a complete giving-up of yourselves to the Lord--you may come to every hallowed act of service, to every privilege-feast of love--but not until then! Oh, Sirs, your sacraments and your ceremonies--God abhors them until first you have given Him your hearts! Vain are your oblations! Your incense is an abomination to Him! It is an evil, and worse than an evil--it is a mockery of God, an insult to Him--until first your heart surrenders itself to Jesus and your manhood becomes the rightful property of God by your willing yielding of it to Him! I cannot press this matter by way of questioning everyone present, but still I would like to ask of every conscience, especially of every professing Christian, to answer this question, "My Soul, have you given yourself up, through the Grace of God, to belong to the Lord?" Do you mean that, or is it a farce? Have you made it real, or is it all a sham? Do you feel within your soul tonight a desire to make it more complete a gift? Do you pray for Grace to make it perfect in the future? Do you rest alone upon the precious blood of Jesus? Then do you desire to glorify God so long as you are in this body? Oh, then 'tis well with you and you may go the next step with me. If not, hands off all ordinances, hands off all promises! There is nothing in the Bible and there is nothing in the Church for you until you first are reconciled to God by the death of Jesus Christ1 And now let us turn to consider briefly the second giving of the soul-- II. THE GIFT THAT FOLLOWS THE SUPREME ONE. I want to know this passage aright. I think I do. "They first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us"--that is, they gave "their own selves" unto us--by the will of God. After a true Christian has given himself or herself to the Lord, the very next act should be to give themselves to the Christian Church. They should at once assay, as Paul did, to be united to the Brethren of Christ. Somewhere in the district where he lives, if there is a Christian Church, the newborn Believer should at once seek fellowship with others who love his Lord, because saved by His Grace. The right way to do this is to give himself. Not his name, his money, not his mere presence, his sympathy, his active labors--all these are part of the gift--but the soul of it all is to give himself. In the whole force and weight of his influence, personality and ability, as far as God shall help him, he is to give up to the Church. What is involved in this giving up of ourselves to the Christian Church? I will repeat it, so as to refresh the memories of many members here who have forgotten it. It is your dutyto be united to the Christian Church. What does that mean? What duties spring out of it? There is, first, consistency of character If you make no profession of religion and live as you like--you shall answer for that at the Last Great Day. But if you join a Christian Church, take heed how you live, for your actions may become doubly watched--and will be doubly sinful if you fall into inconsistency! You are a servant in the family and a member of a Christian Church--there must be in you no eye-service! There must be about you nothing which would dishonor a good servant of Jesus Christ! You are a husband--you have no business to be a bad-tempered, domineering tyrant to your wife! If you are, you ought not to be a member of a Christian Church at all! You are a wife-- you ought not to be an untidy, idle, novel-reading woman, neglecting your family duties! If so, I do not care what classes you attend, or what Prayer Meetings--you have no business to act like that and profess to be a Christian! You are a Christian, you say, and have joined the Church--then in your trade you have no business to fall into the tricks and knavery that are common on all sides! If you cannot live without being a rogue, do not be a professor of religion! It will be quite as well for you to go to Hell at once, as you are, as to go there with a millstone about your neck through having made a profession, a base and wicked profession, of godliness which you did not carry out. No, Sirs, if you will not, in the strength and spirit of God's Grace, strive after consistency of moral conduct, you have no right to talk about giving yourselves to the Church, which you will disgrace! You will only sin yourselves into a deeper condemnation. Therefore, stay away from it! The next thing that is required of every member of Christ's Church is attendance upon the means of Grace. I do not mean merely Sunday attendance. Any hypocrite comes on a Sunday, but they do not, to my knowledge, all of them, come on Monday to the Prayer Meeting, nor all to the weeknight service on a Thursday. I am pretty certain of this, though some of them may. Weeknight meetings and services are a powerful test. Many cannot come, I know, and I do not ask that domestic duties be sacrificed, even for public worship. But there are some who ought to be present who are not and, indeed, all of you, so far as opportunity will permit, and if you reside within reasonable distance, should come. Take care that you do not become lax in that respect. Another duty of all Church members is to aid and comfort one another. Just as among Freemasons--give the grip and you get a kindly word and a brotherly recognition--so should it be among Christians, only in a higher sense. You must comfort those that mourn, help those who are poor and, in general, we ought to watch out for each other's interests, seeing that in the Church we are all members of one family. You are to "do good unto all men, especially unto such as are of the household of faith." Let your crumbs be given to the sparrows out of doors, but let your Brothers and Sisters have the most and best of what you can give! This is the plain duty of every Christian. Every Church member, too, is to try to give himself to the Church in the sense of doing his share in all Church work. Shame on the Church member who has no post that he can occupy, who is neither generous with his purse, nor diligent with his hands, nor earnest with his heart, nor speaking with his tongue! You cannot all do all, but each must take his place and niche, for everyone who is doing nothing--what is he but a drone in the hive who will surely be expelled before long? I hope, my dear Friends, I can say that I did this when I joined the Church of Christ. I well remember how I joined it, for I forced myself into the Church of God by telling the minister--who was lax and slow--after I had called four or five times and could not see him, that I had done my duty and if he did not see me, I would call a Church Meeting, myself, and tell them I believed in Christ and ask them if they would have me! I know when I did it, I meant it! I know there was not one among them all who more intensely meant it, then, and I mean it now! I give myself up to Christ and to Christ's religion. I do not mind speaking upon politics when they touch upon Christianity. I do not mind helping on the common cause of philanthropy, or any work for the good of my follow men--but to no work do I give myself with my whole heart and spirit but to that of spreading abroad the knowledge of Christ's name! This, I think, ought to be to the Christian the first and last thing. Does your religion cover your drapery, or your drapery your Christianity--which, Sir? You are a politician--right enough--I am glad that there should be an honest man in such a place. Does your religion, however, cover your politics, or do your politics devour your religion? You are a working man. Well, it is an honorable position and all honor to the hard-working man--but does your religion permeate and give quality to your hard work? Do you love Christ with it all? Do you feel all the while that, most of all, you must be a Christian? Then I do not care what you are, whether you are a blacksmith or a chimney-sweep, a king or a crossing-sweeper--it is of small account! First and foremost, must you be a Christian and all else must be subordinated to that--for this the Christian Church has a right to expect. Now I know there are some who say, "Well, I hope I have given myself to the Lord, but I do not intend to give myselfto any church, because_." Now, why not? "Because I can be a Christian without it" Now, are you quite clearabout that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord's commands as by being obedient? Well, suppose everybody else did the same? Suppose all Christians in the world said, "I shall not join the Church." Why there would be no visible Church! There would be no ordinances! That would be a very bad thing and yet, one doing it--what is right for one is right for all--why should not all of us do it? Then you believe that if you were to do an act which has a tendency to destroy the visible Church of God, you would be as good a Christian as if you did your best to build up that Church? I do not believe it, Sir! Nor do you, either. You have not any such a belief--it is only a trumpery excuse for something else. There is a brick--a very good one. What is the brick made for? To help to build a house with. It is of no use for that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good-for-nothing brick! Until it is built into the wall, it is no good! So you rolling-stone Christians, I donot believe that you are answering your purpose--you are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live-- and you are much to blame for the injury you do! "Oh," says one, "though I hope I love the Lord, yet if I were to join the Church, I would feel it such a bond upon me." Just what you ought to feel! Ought you not to feel that you are bound to holiness, now, and bound to Christ, now? Oh, those blessed bonds! If there is anything that could make me feel more bound to holiness than I am, I should like to feel that fetter, for it is only liberty to feel bound to godliness, uprightness and carefulness of living! "Oh," says another, "if I were to join the Church, I am afraid that I would not be able to hold on." You expect to hold on, I suppose, out of the Church--that is to say, you feel safer in disobeying Christ than in obeying Him! Strange feeling, that! Oh, you had better come and say, "My Master, I know Your saints ought to be united together in Church fellowship, for Churches were instituted by Your Apostles--and I trust I have Grace to carry out the obligation. I have no strength of my own, my Master, but my strength lies in resting upon You--I will follow where You lead and leave the rest to You." "Ah, but," says another, "I cannot join the Church--it is so imperfect." You then, are perfect, of course! If so, I advise you to go to Heaven and join the Church, there, for certainly you are not fit to join it on earth and would be quite out of place! "Yes," says another, "but I see so much that is wrong about Christians." There is nothing wrong in yourself, I suppose? I can only say, my Brother, that if the Church of God is not better than I am, I am sorry for it. I felt, when I joined the Church, that I would be getting a deal more good than I should be likely to bring into it. And with all the faults I have seen in living these 20 years or more in the Christian Church, I can say, as an honest man, that the members of the Church are the excellent of the earth in whom is all my delight--though they are not perfect, but a long way from it! If, out of Heaven, there are to be found any who really live near to God, it is the members of the Church of Christ. "Ah," says another, "but there are a rare lot of hypocrites." You are very sound and sincere yourself, I suppose? I trust you are so, but then you ought to come and join the Church to add to its soundness by your own. I am sure, my dear Friends, none of you will shut up your shops tomorrow morning, or refuse to take a sovereign when a customer comes in because there happen to be some smashers about who are dealing with bad coins! No, not you! And you do not believe the theory of some, that because some professing Christians are hypocrites, therefore all are, for that would be as though you would say that because some sovereigns are bad, therefore all are bad--which would be clearly wrong, for if all sovereigns were counterfeits, it would never pay for the counterfeiter to try to pass his counterfeits! It is the quantity of good metal that passes off the bad. There is a fine good quantity of respectable golden Christians still in the world and still in the Church--rest assured of that! "Well," says one, "I do not think--though I hopeI am a servant of God--that I can join the Church. You see, it is so looked down upon." Oh, what a blessed look-down that is! I do think, Brothers and Sisters, there is no honor in the world equal to that of being looked down upon by that which is called, "Society," in this country! The most of people are slaves to what they call, "respectability." Respectability? When a man puts on a coat on Sunday that he has paid for. When he worships God by night or by day. Whether men see him or not--when he is an honest, straightforward man--I do not care how small his earnings are, he is a respectable man! And he need never bend his neck to the idea of Society or its artificial respectability! These various kinds of humbug, for they are no other, keep many from joining the Christian Church because they are afraid of being looked down upon by respectable people in Society. I read in a paper only yesterday that it would be no use to create Nonconformist peers, because in the next generation they would cease to be Nonconformist and become respectable in their religion--and I am afraid it is true! It is outrageous that as soon as some persons rise in social position they renounce the Church to which they gave themselves when they gave themselves to the Lord! The day will come when the poorest Christian will be exalted above the proudest peer that did not fear God--when God will take out of the hovels and cottages of England a peerage of an Imperial race that will put to the blush all the kings and princes of the world! And these He will set above the seraphim when others will be cast from His Presence! I say to any of you who will not join this Church because doing so would lower your respectability--neither I or Jesus Christ asks you to join it! If these are the gods you worship--Society and Respectability--go to your beggarly gods and worship them, but God will require it of your hands in the Day of Account. There is nothing better than the service of Christ! For my own part, to be despised, pointed at, hooted in the streets, called by all manner of evil names--I would accept it all, sooner than all the stars of knighthoods and peerages if the service of Christ necessitated it, for this is the true honor of the Christian when he truly serves his Master! The day is coming when the Lord will divide between those that love Him and those that love Him not--and every day is getting ready for that last division. This very night the division is being made! In the preaching of the Gospel it is being carried out. Let each man take his stand and ask himself the question--Are you with Christ or with Belial? Are you with God, with Christ, with the precious blood, or do you still rank with sinful pleasures and their delights? As you will have to answer for it when the skies are on a blaze and the earth reels, and the Judgment trumpet summons you before the Great White Throne, so answer it now! And you brave spirits who have loved your Savior--if you have never yet joined His army, come and enlist now! And you loving spirits who are tender and who have shrunk back awhile, come forward now-- "You that are men now serve Him Against unnumbered foes! Your courage rise with danger, And strength to strength oppose." Today stand up for Jesus! Today be willing to be the off-scouring of all things for His name's sake. And then, when He comes in His Glory, yours shall be the reward, a reward that shall far outweigh any losses that you can sustain today! "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "He that with his heart believes and with his mouth makes confession shall be saved." Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and may His blessing rest upon you! Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 CORINTHIANS 8. The Apostle is writing concerning a certain collection which was being made for the poor saints of Jerusalem. It was from Jerusalem that the Gospel had spread into Greece and, therefore, those who had received spiritual things from the poor Jews at Jerusalem were bound by every tie of holy brotherhood to remember their benefactors in the time of famine. The Apostle stirs up the Corinthian Church about this contribution. Verse 1. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you. Or, "we make you to know." 1, 2. Of the Grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia. How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their generosity. It is good to stir one Christian up by the example of another and Paul excites those at Corinth by the example of the Churches in Macedonia--especially, no doubt, the Church at Philippi. He says that they were in great affliction and they were very poor, but yet they had been so filled with the Grace of God that their very poverty had enabled them to "abound to the riches of their generosity," for what they gave became more in proportion because they were so poor. 3. For to theirpower, Ibearrecord, yes, and beyond theirpower they were willing of themselves. Without any pressure! Without even a hint--spontaneously! 4. Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. "Take upon us the communion," for that blessed word "Koinonia" communion, is applied not only to the Lord's Supper and to such fellowship as that, but to communion with poor saints--fellowship with them by helping their necessities. And Paul says that the Macedonian Churches pressed it upon him that he should take their money and go with it to Jerusalem and distribute it. He appears to have been very reluctant to do this, but they pressed it upon him. 5. And this they did, not as we hoped. That is, "according to our hopes." 6. But first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. They first gave of themselves to God and then asked Paul to take it that he might use it for God in the distribution of Christian charity among the poor saints at Jerusalem. 6, 7. So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same Grace also. Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that you abound in this Grace also. They were a famous Church--this Church at Corinth, having gifted men in abundance more than other Churches--to the extent that they did not have one man for a pastor because they so abounded in brethren able to edify. And he urges them, as they were forward in all things, not to be backward in their generosity. 8. I speak not by commandment. "I do not wish to put it upon you as a law. I want it to be spontaneous on yourpart." 8, 9. But by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For you know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you, through His poverty, might be rich.What a touching argument! How could he find a better? Help your Brothers and Sisters in Jerusalem that are in need, even though that help should pinch you, for you know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and what He did, and what He gave that you might be rich! 10. Andherein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.They had begun last year--perhaps not a year ago, but some months ago in the previous year--to talk the matter over and to make promises. And they had been among the first to undertake the work, but as yet they had not done it. 11. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance, also, out of that which you have. They had not a minister, you see, and what is everybody's business is nobody's business--and so the contribution was not carried out. And in general, the Church at Corinth is about the worst in the New Testament, and that for this very reason--that it had not any oversight. It is the pattern Church of certain Brothers whom we have among us this day--in the very example of them! And they quote this as an example, whereas it is put here as a beacon, and a very excellent beacon, too, to warn us against any such thing! Everything was sixes and sevens, good people as they were. Seeing that they had no order and no discipline, nothing got done, and they wearied the Apostle's life because of that. God would have things done decently and in order--and He gives to His Churches, pastors after His own heart! And when He does, then is the Church able to carry out her desires and her activities with something like practical common-sense. But here a year ago, months ago, they had talked the matter over and made a promise--and now Paul has to say to them, "Now, therefore, perform the doing of it." They had no deacons to look them up, I will be bound to say. 12-14. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has, and not according to that he has not. For I mean not that other men be eased and you burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their need--that their abundance may also be a supply for your need--that there may be equality It is in the Christian Church, alone, that we shall ever find liberty, equality and fraternity thoroughly represented. There, by the life of Christ within His people spiritually, that shall be realized, and the Apostle backs up this thought of his, which Bengel has beautifully put when he says, "We ought to minister of our luxuries to the comfort of others, and of our comforts to the necessities of others." So we should, to keep up a balance that when one suffers needs and another abounds, there may be an equality made. 15. As it is written, he that had gathered much.Much manna 15-17. Had nothing left over: and he that had gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For, indeed, he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. Or, "he is coming to you," for he bore this letter to them. 18. And we have sent with him the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches: And what Brother was that? Nobody knows. And a Brother who has praise in all the Churches may be well content to have his name forgotten! Oh, it would be a sweet thing to have praise in all the Churches anonymously, so that it all might go up to God. It may have been Luke. Probably it was. It may not have been Luke. Probably it was not. We do not know who it was. But it is not important. What does it matter? As Mr. Whitfield used to say, "Let my name perish, but let Christ's name last forever." "And we have sent with him the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches." 19. And not that only, but who was also chosen of the Churches to travel with us with this Grace, Or "with this gift." 19, 20. Which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind. Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. He had other brethren associated with him lest anybody should even hint that Paul was benefited thereby. And, oh, in the distribution of the Lord's money, it becomes us to be exceedingly careful! Paul adds this. 21. Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. That the thing might be so clear and transparent that while God knew that Paul was honest, everybody else might know it, too, for others had been associated with him. 22, 23. And we have sent with them our Brother whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you. Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the Churches, and the Glory of Christ. How beautiful to see Paul so praising his brethren--very humble, commonplace persons as compared with himself, but he admires the Grace of God in them. How very different from the general spirit of depreciation that you find even among Christians--afraid to praise anybody lest they should be exalted above measure. You might leave that to the devil! He will take care that they are not exalted above measure but you need not be as particular about that. Often the best thing that can be done for God's servant is to encourage him, for, though you may not know it, he may have a multitude of depressions, heavy toil and earnest care and much watching which may bring him down. Paul speaks well of the Brotherhood--let us try to do the same. But what does he call these simple-minded men who are going with him to distribute this money? Does he call them the Glory of Christ Yes! Christ is the Glory of God and His people are the Glory of Christ! He glories whenever He is glorified by them! They are the result of the travail of His soul and in that sense they are His Glory. __________________________________________________________________ The Heavenly Rainbow (No. 3412) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And there was a rainbow around about the Throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Revelation 4:3. "A RAINBOW!" "A rainbow around about the Throne!" I have a notion concerning this rainbow, that it was a complete circle. In the 10th Chapter the Apostle tells us that he saw "another mighty angel with a rainbow upon his head," which could hardly have been the semi-circular arc we are accustomed to see in the sky in times of rain and sunshine. It must have been, I should imagine, a complete ring. I stood, two years ago, on a little wooden bridge in the village of Handeck on the Swiss side of the Grimsel Pass, and looked down upon the roaring torrent beneath. The waterfall, breaking itself upon enormous rocks, cast up showers of foam and spray. As I looked down, the sun shone upon it and I saw a rainbow such as I had never seen but once before in another place upon a similar occasion. It was a complete circle around the fall, then another one and within it a third-- three wheels within wheels, consisting of all the delightful colors of the rainbow, from the timid violet up to the courageous red! There was no mistake about it. They were complete rings that seemed to go right round the torrent, like great belts of sapphires, emeralds and chalcedonies. The ring was trebled as it shone before me. I stood and wondered at the sight. Then these very texts came to my mind, "a rainbow around about the Throne," and, "I saw a mighty angel, who had a rainbow upon his head." It seems to me that John had such a sight before him--a rainbow which entirely surrounded the Throne of God. If it is so, I shall not, I think, be accounted fanciful if I draw a moral. In this world we only see, for it is all we can see, one-half of the Eternal Covenant of God's Grace. That one upward arch of Divine masonry is all that we see here. The other downward half, on which the one which we see rests, namely, the eternal decree, the purpose, the resolve of Infinite Sovereignty--that is out of sight as yet. We cannot discern it. Earth comes between the horizon and bounds it. But when we shall get up yonder and see things as they are, and know even as we are known, then the Covenant will be seen by us to be a complete circle, an harmonious whole--not a broken thing, not a broken arc, or a semi-circle, as it seems to be now-- but, like Deity itself, perpetual, everlasting, complete, perfect, eternal! It may be true to the figure--it certainly will be so in fact. What we know not now, we shall know hereafter and possibly this very emblem is here used to set forth to us that while we see the Glory which God has made manifest, we do not and cannot, at present, see the eternal purpose itself, except as far as we judge of it from its grand results. Oh, it is delightful to think of going up yonder if for nothing else than knowing more of Christ, understanding more of Divine Love, drinking deeper into the mystery of godliness through which God was manifest in the flesh! Surely, if we know but little, that little knowledge has set us thirsting for deeper draughts and we are waiting for the time when we shall drop the veil which parts us from spiritual realities and shall see them face to face, needing no longer to view them as in a glass, reflected darkly! I want you to notice three things which these words suggest, "There was a rainbow around about the Throne." First--Divine Sovereignty never oversteps the bounds of the Covenant, but is rainbow-hedged with a wall of fire around about the Throne. In the second place--Divine Government springing from Sovereignty--the Throne of God is always regulated by the Covenant--there is respect at all times to the Covenant of Grace in everything that Jehovah does. Thirdly--in the Covenant of Grace the predominant quality is Grace--"it was in sight like unto an emerald, " which I will further explain indicates that loving kindness and tender mercy towards men always shine radiant in the Covenant. First, then, "there was a rainbow around about the Throne." I. DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY NEVER OVERSTEPS THE BOUNDS OF THE COVENANT. "There was a rainbow around about the Throne"--as though the rainbow hedged the Throne of God--belted it, girt it round about. God's Sovereignty must, of necessity, be absolute and unlimited. He made everything and as nothing existed before God, or independent of God, He had a right to make what He pleased and to make all that He did make after His own will and pleasure. And when He has made, His rights do not terminate, but He still continues to have an altogether unlimited and absolute power over the creatures of His hands. He claims the right for Himself. "Has not the potter power over the clay to make of the same lump one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor?" God has the power to create and the power, afterwards, to use that which is created for the purpose for which He has made it. "Shall I not do what I will with My own?" is a question which the Almighty may well ask of all His creatures who would dare to bring Him to their bar and blasphemously rejudge His judgment, snatch from His hands the balance and the rod and seek to set themselves up as censors of the Holy One! Whenever men say, "How can God do this?" and, "How shall He do that?" it should always content us to answer, "No, O man, but who are you that replies against God?" for whether we will have it or not, still God has said it and He will stand to it. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion"--so then, it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy! But as one Truth of God is always to be taken in its relation to another Truth and not to be isolated from its natural kindred, it is a delightful consideration that God, in His absolute Sovereignty, never does violence to any of His other attributes and, above all, never does violence to the Covenant The Covenant still surrounds the Sovereignty and practically hedges it within its bounds! God is practically, as far as we are concerned, bound by His own Revelation of His own Character. He has been pleased to tell us that He is just and that He is the Lord God, merciful and gracious. In a few words, He has given us the sum of Himself by saying that, "God is Love." When a man says concerning himself, "I have a right to do as I like, but I am generous as well as just," you feel sure he will exercise the right which he claims in a manner according to and consistent with his own statement of what he is. And if he has rightly estimated his own character, he will give bountifully and pay honorably. Rest assured, then, that God's Sovereignty never will prove Him to have misrepresented Himself, or to have deceived us! When He says that He is just, He neither can nor will act unjustly towards any creature He has made. There was never a pang or a pain inflicted arbitrarily by God. God never pronounced a curse upon any man unless that man had clearly and richly earned it by his sin! No soul was ever cast into Hell by God's Sovereignty. God takes counsel with Himself, but He stoops not to caprice. How comes the hapless creature, then, to this dread torment? Sin brings the sinner into a ruined state--yustiepronounces the sinner's doom. Sovereignty may let that doom stand. What if it moves not to avert the issue? Justice it is that pronounces the curse. Be assured, Man, however much you may kick against the Doctrine of Election, you have no reason to do so! Whatever that Doctrine may involve, it is not possible but that God must and will act towards you in a way so strictly just that when you, yourself, come to discover it in eternity, you will not be able to complain, but be compelled to stand speechless! Moreover, God has been pleased to assure you that He is Love--that He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Now, whatever Sovereignty may decree, you may rest assured that the decree will be in consonance with the fact that God is full of mercy, grace and truth. I know some of you set up the decree of God like a huge monster before you. You paint a horrible picture, as though the visage of Him that speaks to you from Heaven were cruel and pitiless. But that picture is drawn by your perverse imagination--it is not God's portrait of Himself, for He says, "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, but had rather that he would turn unto Me and live." God mocks not when He says, "Turn you, turn you; why will you die, O house of Israel?" That is honest emotion which God feels over a sinner who ruins himself when He cries, "How can I give you up? How shall I set you as Admah? How shall I make you as Zeboim? My heart is moved; My repentings are kindled together!" God wills not the death of a sinner, but had rather that he should turn unto Him and live! So He, Himself, assures us and, Sovereign as He is, yet He still remains both just and gracious forever--and let us not doubt it for a moment! The rainbow, the rainbow of His own glorious attributes of mercy always surrounds the Throne of God! It is equally certain, taking another view of this subject, that God's Sovereignty never can by any possibility run counter to thepromise which He Himself has made. God has a right to do as He wills with His own, but when He once, in His Sovereignty, chooses to make a promise, He would be unfaithful if He did not keep it--and it is not possible that Hecan be unfaithful, for none of His Words ever did fail, or ever shall! He has been true to the very jots and tittles of all that He has, Himself, declared. Never in any case has any man been able to say that God has spoken in secret, and said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek you My face," in vain. I want every unconverted person here to be careful to note this Truth of God. Whenever you find a promise in God's Word, do not let the thought of Predestination scare you from it. Predestination can never be contrary to the promise! It is not in Election, or Reprobation, or in any Doctrine that asserts Divine Sovereignty to make the promise of God to be of no effect! Take a promise like this--"He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved." If you believe, and if you are baptized, you have, then, God's Word for it--you shall be saved! Be sure of it-- that stands fast! Heaven and earth may pass away, but that Word shall not fail you. God will keep His Word of Truth with you and at the Last Tremendous Day you shall find that since you believe, God will save you! Take another--"Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then, if you call upon the name of the Lord--that is if with hearty, earnest prayer, you cry to God and if with your whole soul you take Him to be your All-in-All, calling upon His name as the heathens do upon their gods when they avow themselves to be their followers--if you do this, you shall be saved! Now, I beseech you, remember that no decree can possibly run counter to this. You say, "What if the decree shall destroy me?" Man, His promise is the decree! The promise of God is His eternal purpose, written out in black and white for you to read. So far from the counsel of eternity being contrary to the Revelation in time, the revelation in time is nothing more than a transcript of what God resolved to do from before the foundation of the world! Take any promise you will. Let it be this, if the others seem to miss you--"Come now, let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as wool." Now, your sins are as scarlet, and you are willing to come and reason with God and you find that when He reasons with you, He tells you that you must rest in the blood of Jesus, leave your sins and depend wholly upon Christ. Well, now, after you have done, you have God's Word for it that those scarlet sins of yours shall be "whiter than snow." Well then, they must be so! It is not possible that anything unknown to you should come in and make void the promise which is known. I will read that verse I just mentioned again, "He has never spoken in secret, and said to the seed of Jacob, Seek you My face in vain." God has not said behind your back what He has not said to your face! He has said, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." He has said, "Oh, you thirsty, come and drink." He has said, "Whoever will, let him come and take of the Water of Life freely." There is nothing in that mysterious roll, which no human eye has ever seen, that can be in conflict with the golden promises which gleam in the Book of God's Word upon every needy sinner that comes and trusts in the Lord! There is a rainbow around about the Throne. Sovereignty never gets out of the circle of the promise. Oh, child of God! Your heavenly Father, in His Sovereignty, has a right to do with you, His child, as He pleases, but He will never let that Sovereignty get out of the limit of the Covenant! As a Sovereign, He might cast you away, but He has promised that He never will--and He never will! As a Sovereign, He might leave you to perish, but He has said, "I will not leave you nor forsake you." As a Sovereign, He might suffer you to be tempted beyond your strength, but He has promised that no temptation shall happen to you, but such as is common to man, and He will, with the temptation, make a way of escape! Let no dark thought ever cross your mind that, perhaps, towards you He will deal arbitrarily. It is not so. He will carry out His purpose to you--and of that purpose He has already informed you by telling you that you are His, His adopted child and you shall be His forever and ever! In the second place-- II. THE RULING GOVERNMENT OF GOD IN THE WORLD ALWAYS HAS RESPECT TO THE COVENANT OF GRACE. It is so in great things. He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel. When you read God's Word, Egypt comes upon the stage--Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome. Yet what are they but a sort of background? They come and they go, for all their secular grandeur, as mere accessories. The central figure is always the Election of Grace--the people of God--for the rest, they are merely the plowmen and the vinedressers for the Lord's own people. Sometimes these nations are nursing fathers. At other times they are sharp rods. Whichever they may be, they are mere instruments. The Bible speaks of them as so much scaffolding for the building of the living temple in which the mercy of God shall be displayed! Whenever you read, or hear people talk about prophecy, you may depend upon it that Inspiration has not been given to tell of Louis Napoleon, or any other earthly Sovereign. It is not the history of Prussia, Russia, or France that the heavenly Apocalypse unveils. The whole Book is written for His people--it gives us the history of the Church--but it does not give us the history of anything else! The way to read the Book, if you do read it, is with this central thought in your minds--that God has not revealed to us anything concerning Assyria, Babylon, Greece, or Rome for their own sakes--but He has referred to them because they happen to have a connection with the history of His Church. That is all, for He has chosen Jacob to Himself and Israel to be His peculiar treasure. My Brothers and Sisters, I believe that when kings and potentates meet in the cabinet chamber and consult together according to their ambition, a Counselor whom they never see pulls the strings and they are only His puppets. And even when armies meet in battle array, when the world seems shaken to and fro with revolutions and the most stable thrones quiver as though they were but vessels out at sea, there is a secret Force working in all. The end and drift of these momentous actions is the bringing out of the chosen race--the salvation of the blood-bought company and the glory of God in the redeeming of the world unto Himself! When you read the newspaper, read it to see how your heavenly Father is managing the world for the good of His own children! All else--be it the disposal of a throne, the settlement of a political question, or the winning of a boat race--all else, I say, are minor things compared with the interests of the Election of Grace! All things are revolving and cooperating for good. They are working together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to the purpose of His Grace. By them He will make manifest throughout the ages unto the angels and the principalities, His manifold wisdom! Now, as this is the case in the great, it is equally so in the little. In all your smaller affairs, God always governs with respect to the Covenant. Your worst afflictions are still meant for your good, for this is one clause in the Covenant, "Surely in blessing, I will bless." When you come to the worst, even should that happen to be at the close of life, you will find that God has still kept within Covenant engagements. Hear what David said upon his bed of pain, "Although my house is not so with God, yet"--oh, gracious, "yet"!--"yet has He made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure." You have lost your property--it is a sad thing for you to come down in the world, but this always was in the Covenant. Have you never read it? "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Lately, when you have been in prayer, you have had but little comfort--and when you have read the Word of God, it has not seemed to gleam with delight to you, but rather the Book has seemed dark. Well, well, that is in the Covenant! Did I not read it to you? "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent." Perhaps you have been backsliding. It is sad that it should be so. And now you have lost much of your enjoyment and you are exceedingly cast down. But did you ever read it, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways"? Do you not know it to be a promise from God--"If his children err from My commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod; nevertheless, My Covenant will I not take away from him, nor suffer My loving kindness to fail"? You are only receiving, now, what God has promised to give to you! Look upon these things as tokens that God is faithful. We are told in the Covenant God made with Noah, that "seedtime and harvest, summer and winter shall never cease." Now, the snow has fallen today, and it is bitterly cold. But, my Brothers and Sisters, it was in the Covenant that the winter should not cease. No doubt when the harvest comes, and the summer laughs with joy, we shall say, "How good God is and how true He has been to His Covenant, that there should be a harvest and a summer!" Ah, but when the seed is cast into the cold soil and the frost covers it, you ought to be equally grateful to the faithfulness of God, for this, too, is one part of the promise! If He did not keep one part, you might be afraid that He would not keep the other! Just so is it spiritually. Your troubles are promised to you. "In the world you shall have tribulation." You have got your troubles. "As many as He loves, He chastens." You have got the chastening. Be, therefore, thankful that you have another proof of the Divine Faithfulness towards you. There is a rainbow around about the Throne of God, and let the Throne decree what it may! The scepter is never stretched beyond the boundary of Covenant Love. It is impossible for God to deal towards His people contrary to the spirit which breathes in the two Immutable things in which it is impossible for Him to lie, and by which He has given strong consolation to those who have fled for refuge to the hope which is set before them in the Gospel . Our third point is-- III. IN THE COVENANT OF GRACE, REPRESENTED BY THE CIRCULAR RAINBOW, LOVE AND GRACE ARE ALWAYS CONSPICUOUS. The emerald, with its green color, is always taken to represent this green earth and the things which concern the dwellers therein. And it has always been viewed as a type of mercy. It is a soft and gentle color, the most agreeable to the eyes of all the colors, the vibrations of light caused by it being found to be more suitable to the optic nerve than the vibrations of any other color. Scarlet and such bright colors, the emblems of justice and vengeance, would soon destroy theeyes. White, the emblem of purity, cannot long be endured. Those of us who have crossed lofty mountains covered with snow have had to suffer as long as we have been there, from snow-blindness. The human eyes would soon cease to perform its functions if the earth were long covered with snow and if we had nothing to relieve the eyes. Green is the color that suits mankind and it represents the mercy, the tenderness and the benevolence of God towards mankind. Whenever you read the Covenant, read it in the light of the emerald. I have sometimes thought that some of my Brothers and Sisters read it in another light. I think I have heard prayers which, if translated into plain English, would run something like this--"Lord, we thank You that we are elected. We bless You that we are in the Covenant. We bless Your name that You are sending sinners down to Hell, cutting them off and destroying them, but we are saved!" I have sometimes thought I have caught in such prayers an air of complacency in the damnation of sinners, and even a little more than that--I have fancied I have seen in certain hyper-Calvinists a sort of Red Indian scalping knife propensity-- an ogre-like feeling with respect to reprobation--a smacking of lips over the ruin and destruction of mankind! As to all of which, I can only say that it seems to me to be "earthly, sensual, devilish." I cannot imagine a man, especially a man who has the spirit of Christ in him, thinking of the ruin of mankind with any other feeling than that which moved the soul of Christ when He wept over Jerusalem, crying, "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!" Let no one imagine that the spirit of Calvinism is a spirit of hostility to universal humanity! It is not so! It is a perversion and a caricature of the expositions of Calvin and Augustine--and of the Apostle Paul and of what our Master preached--to represent us as thinking with complacency of the ruin of any one of the human race! My Brothers and Sisters, when I have sometimes heard statements made about the fewness of those who will be saved at the last, I have thought that surely the rainbow around about the Throne of the God whom such people worshipped must have been scarlet in color. It could not have been "in sight like unto an emerald." There must have been a predominance of vengeance in it and not of mercy! Why, I firmly believe that at the last it will be found that there are more in Heaven than in Hell, for when the great winding up of the drama shall come, Christ will in all things have the preeminence! Now, alas, there are few that find the narrow road while broad is the gate of Hell and many there are that go in that way. We are in the minority, now, but when I think of the countless hosts of little children, elect of God, who have gone from their mother's breasts to Glory, not having passed through actual sin, but being bought with precious blood, I can see a vast multitude that belongs to Christ! And when I look forward to that brighter age when the nations shall flock to the feet of Christ, and tens of thousands and hundreds of millions shall sing His praises from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, I rejoice to think that then the Lord Jesus Christ will see of the travail of His soul and will be satisfied--and it is not a little that will satisfy Him! I have sometimes thought with a certain good Divine, that when the King comes to end His reign, there will be found no more in prison in comparison with the great number of His creatures, than in any well ordered government. At any rate, let us hope so. We have no right to speak positively where we have no positive declaration. But it is significant that there is always a prominence given in Scripture to the grace, the mercy, the goodness and the loving kindness of God. Surely Scripture would not tell us this unless it would also seem to be so in the universal Providence of God. I believe that in the rainbow, the emerald will be the most conspicuous, and that Divine Grace will be "in Heaven the topmost stone," for it "well deserves the praise." And now, in conclusion, my dear Friends-- IV. LET ME MAKE ONE OR TWO PRACTICAL REMARKS. Let me exhort you all to understand the Covenant, of which the rainbow is the symbol. I am sorry to say that there are many professors who do not know what the Covenant means. I have been told that there are pulpits where the word, "Covenant," is scarcely ever mentioned, so that the congregation really do not know what the Covenant of Grace means. Now, the old Scotch Divines and our own Puritan forefathers were of opinion that the two Covenants are the very essence of all theology. When a man gets a clear view of the Covenant of Works and sees how it was made with Adam, and broken, and how it involved our ruin--and then gets a clear view of the Covenant of Grace made with the Second Adam, the conditions of which are all fulfilled by Him, so that the Covenant cannot be broken by us--and that all the provisions of that Covenant are made sure by His having fulfilled His Suretyship and Sponsorship on our behalf. When a man gets a hold of these two things, why, he cannot be an Arminian. It is impossible! But he must keep pretty near to those grand old Doctrines which we call the Doctrines of Grace. If any man says to me, "What is the one thing which I have to learn to be a sound preacher of the Gospel?" I think I would say, "Learn to distinguish between the Covenant of Hagar, which is Sinai in Arabia, and the Covenant of Sarah, which is the Covenant of the New Jerusalem, which is of promise. The distinction between works and Grace, between debt and gift, between the works of the Law and the abounding loving kindness of the Lord our Lord." May I ask young members of the Church to read the Scriptures upon this point and to ask their older friends to instruct them in the matter of the Covenant? It is such an important point that I would press it very earnestly. I hope you do not wish to go to Heaven like those of whom the Savior speaks, and who enter into life lame, or maimed, or having but one eye. Oh, no, but seek to clear away ignorance! That the soul is without knowledge is not good. Get a clear view of these things, for by so doing you will be comforted, you will be strengthened, you will be sanctified! But if you do understand the Covenant, have a constant regard to it. There is a sweet prayer, "Have respect unto Your Covenant." We pray that to God. Well, He does have respect to the Covenant. He has the symbol of it all around His Throne! He cannot look anywhere without looking through His Covenant. He sees us, He sees the world, He sees all things through that rainbow which is around His Throne. He sees all human affairs through the medium of the great Mediator, the Covenant Angel, the Lord Jesus. Well now, what you ask God to do, and what He does, do for yourselves! Have respect unto the Covenant. Do you ever think of the Covenant? Some, I am afraid, do not think of it by the month together and yet the Covenant--oh, Brothers and Sisters--it is a casket full of wealth! It is a fountain full of crystal streams! It is the Heaven out of which the manna falls! It is the Rock out of which the living waters flow--the Rock, Christ, who is the essence of the Covenant to us! Live upon the Covenant in life and let it claim your last accents in the moment of death! Rejoice in this Covenant of Grace all day! Live upon the choice morsels which God has laid up in store for you in it. The Covenant! The Covenant! Oh, keep your hearts, keep your thoughts, keep your eyes constantly on it! And oh, get comfort from the Covenant! Do not merely think of it, but really lay hold upon it. You are in covenant with God! It is not a question with you, as a believer in Christ, whether God may keep you and bless you and cause His face to shine upon you. He will do so! He cannot do otherwise, if I may use such language concerning Him, because though He is free, yet He has bound Himself by His promise! He has bound Himself by His oath! He has put Himself within the limit of the rainbow and out of that He cannot, and will not go! It encircles His Throne and Himself. You may go up to His Throne humbly but still go there with boldness. You do not come like a common beggar. You do not knock at the door as a man does at your door, a chance beggar asking for charity. You have got a promise! Come, then, as a man goes into the bank who has got a bank-bill that is dated and now the day is come for it to be paid! Go to God, making mention of the name of Jesus, with the humble boldness with which a child asks of its own loving parent what that parent has often promised to bestow. Let the comfort of the Covenant be continually yours! And if you have this comfort, never, never be so base as to indulge hard thoughts of God. It is very easy for me to say this to you, but it will not always be so easy for you to practice it. Ah, Friends, we think we can take God's will and be submissive to it and acquiesce in it--but when it presses hard upon us--then is the proof. When a man gets into the fining-pot and the crucible is put into the fire, they will show what faith he has! Ah, it is hard when you get a heavy stroke, when you are told that such-and-such an one who is very dear to you will die before long, or when you know that you, yourself, have a fatal disease--it is then hard to say, "The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock!" Or, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, and blessed be His name." It was admirable in David, that when he began one of his mournful Psalms, he knew that he was going to groan a good deal, so he said, "There is one matter we will set right before we get out of trim. Truly God is good to Israel." That is settled. He puts that down as the first thing when he gets into the box as a witness. He says, "I am confused, today, and tumbled up and down in my wits, but before I say anything, I have to say this one thing--I solemnly declare before men, angels and devils--God is truly good to Israel! As for me, my feet had well-nigh gone, my steps had almost slipped," and so on--but he begins with that. Now, settle that, settle that in your soul! Put that down like an anchor, right deep in the sea--come winds, come waves, come hurricanes--God is good! God is faithful! God will keep His Covenant! Every dark and painful line meets in the center of His Love. It must be right. Never let your soul be envious of the wicked when you see their prosperity, but still rejoice in your God and let Him do as He wills! If you do know anything about the sweetness of the Covenant, when you meet with a poor child of the house of Israel, tell him about it. And as you do not know who he may be, tell everybody about it! There may be one of your Brothers or Sisters with whom you are to live in Heaven sitting next to you in the pew. Since I mentioned last Sundaynight that there was a young person who had been here for two years and nobody had ever spoken to her, I have had a letter from a young man to say that he is in the same case. Oh, dear! You know how I told you on Sunday night that I was ashamed of some of you, but I did not know in which part of the chapel you were and, therefore, as I did not know who it was, I could not be ashamed of you, but get you to be ashamed on your own account! Now, you see, there are two cases, and I am afraid if we get more testimony, it would go to ever so many places in the Tabernacle. Do not let it be so! Let each one pluck up heart and say unto his fellow, "Know the Lord." Let each man say to his neighbor, "Have you tasted the sweetness?" Who finds honey and eats it all? You ought to say, like the Syrian lepers, "This is a day of good tidings; if we tarry here, perhaps mischief will befall us; let us go even into the camp of Israel and let us tell them of this thing." Spread abroad the good news! Who knows how many you may bring to my Master's footstool, to their salvation and to your own comfort and joy? EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 18:21-24; 19:1-10. Blessed is he that reads and understands the prophecy of this Book. We have no difficulty in knowing to what city this great Babylon refers, for the Church of Rome, in the plenitude of its wisdom, has taken the title to itself in attempting to claim that Peter was the first bishop of Rome! They quote the text, "The church that is in Babylon salutes you"-- that church, they say, being the church in Rome! Therefore Rome is Babylon! Besides, the whole of the 18th Chapter gives such a description as can only apply to her and she must, and shall, come to her end! Verses 21-24. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down and shall be found no more at all And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you; and no craftsmen of whatever craft he is, shall be found anymore in you; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in you, And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries were allnations deceived. Andin her was found the blood of Prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth REVELATION 19:1-10. Verses 1-4. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven, praying, Alleluia, Salvation, and glory, andhonor, andpower, unto the Lord our God: For true andrighteous are His judgments: for He hasjudged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hands. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the Throne, saying, Amen: Alleluia. For the overthrow of a monstrous system of error gives delight to all holy spirits--and chiefly to those who stand nearest the eternal Throne of God! 5-6. And a voice came out of the Throne saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, and you that fear Him, both small and great And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! The harlot church is put away! The true Church is introduced, fully arrayed in perfect holiness, ready for the consummation of her own joy and her master's--her last delight. 7-10. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I feel at his feet to worship him, and he said unto me, See you do it not: I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. If John made a mistake, because the saints in Heaven are all so like their Master, it is well that the mistake was at once corrected, for angel worship, or the worship of saints, is to be avoided by all saints! And God's Word about it is, "See you do it not." It is said that we should certainly pay reverence to holy men that are now with God, but see you do it not! Indeed, here among men, the same kind of idolatry is sought to be kept up, and the preacher is arrayed in garments to make him distinct from the people, as though he were something better or different from them and not their fellow servant! But, for all this, let us hear the voice which says, "See you do it not. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus." Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. __________________________________________________________________ God's Mercy Going Before (No. 3413) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY10,1870. "The God of my mercy shall prevent [go before] me." Psalm 59:10. IF you read this Psalm, you will find that David was in a very grievous plight. He was surrounded by the most cruel and the most false of men. They were ravening like wolves over carrion and endeavoring to destroy his character--and even to take his life. David knew where his resort was. As the conies make their dwellings in the rocks, and as the swallows have built a nest for themselves at God's altar, so David resorted to his God, and to his God alone. All the skin bottles may be dry, but there is water in the well. And all creature comforts may fail but there is an all-sufficiency in an unfailing God. If all is false to you, God will be true! And if all hate you, God is Love--and if you are in Him, He cannot be angry with you, nor rebuke you--love towards you, and love only, shall rule the day! Let me persuade every child of God here in the hour of his trouble to resort to the comfort which David found so availing. Away, as a bird to the mountain--away, away to your God! If you have Rabshekeh's letter about you, go and spread it before the Lord. If you have, today, an inward sorrow that you cannot tell into any other ear, go, like Hannah, and stand before God, and there let your soul pour out its bitterness. You shall find that in consulting human sympathy, there is some gain--often very little--but in seeking the sympathy of your great High Priest above, there is much gain and there never can be failure. When David returned to Ziklag, he found it burned and his wives carried away captive. He and his men had lost all their property and all their families. His men spoke of stoning him, but it is written, "David encouraged himself in his God." Now, if you have come to something like the same plight. If your affairs are at the lowest ebb and there is the sharpest winter passing over all your prospects, now turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Be of good courage, for He shall strengthen your heart. If we learn only that lesson--and do but put it into practice throughout our life--we shall have a good reward for coming up to the assembly of God's people tonight. But now, a few words upon this text of David's. He declares that the God of his mercy would go before him, or forestall him. The word "prevent," when it was used by our translators, did not mean at all what it does now. It means here that God would provide, would forestall, would be beforehand in loving kindness with him--and the two points we will speak of tonight are these--it has been so. It shall be so. First-- I. IT HAS BEEN SO. The God of our mercy has gone before us and outrun us. It has been so in the salvation of all His people. Long before time had begun, God had foreknown His chosen, and foreordained them unto eternal life. They had not chosen Him, for they were not in existence! He chose them as He saw them in the glass of His decrees. It must always be that God goes before or outruns His people, since from before the foundation of the world He had loved them--loved them with an everlasting love. There can be nothing before this. We know of nothing that can stand side by side with it, so far as we are concerned, for we had no being, except in the purpose of God. But even then He loved us. He loved us when we were dead in sins, when we had not a heart with which to love Him, when we were rejecting Him altogether and did evil even as we could--yet He loved us notwithstanding all. It must always be true if we think of the Doctrine of Election that He went before us with His mercy! It was so also, with redemption. Where were we when Christ redeemed us? My Brothers and Sisters, our sins were laid on Christ, but they were not then committed. Our transgressions were then taken by Him, but we had not even perpetrated them then! We were not yet living and yet a Savior was provided for us before we were, by any actual sin, personally lost. A fountain filled with blood was provided for us before we had, by any actual guilt, become defiled. Oh, here was Divine forethought--here was a precious going before, of God's goodness! How He must have loved us, that knowing what our needs would be, foreseeing the abundance of our sins, He laid by in store the Divine Atonement, the sacred Propitiation by which all our sins should be put away. This was another going before of His mercy! Indeed, Brothers and Sisters, if you think of it, the whole Gospelis a going before of us. There was that Book written exactly to meet your case and mine, when as yet our case was not in existence. Here was a Covenant "ordered in all things and sure" and made for us in the Person of Christ. We were not parties to it, for as yet had not any being. Here was mercy laid by in the Covenant, everything that our necessities could require! Grace for Grace supplies for all the needs of our nature, treasured up for the poor mendicants before we ever became beggars, or knew that we were in need! Think of the fullness that there is in Jesus Christ, and all these 1,800 years ago in matter of fact, and there from the foundation of the world in the Divine Purpose for every elect soul, though many of them would not come into being until remote centuries had flown by! All this forestalled, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, too, by which the saints are now called unto repentance, and unto a new life and all the operations and influences of the Holy Spirit which are all provided for in the Covenant of Grace--all bestowed upon the saints as one by one, they come into life, but all provided for long before they were born! My God, your goings forth were of old, from everlasting, and all your goings forth were full of love to me, and to all them that love You! How marvelous are You in Your condescending Grace! Where shall I find words with which to adore You? How shall I sufficiently give you the gratitude of my heart in outward expression for this, Your ancient, Your everlasting love towards those whom you have chosen? Bless His name, oh, you His people! Live to His praise and love Him all day long! But this Truth of God met with a further illustration in our experience at the time of our conversion and before it Observe the preventing goodness or God with many of us before conversion. We might have committed the unpardonable sin, but we were always kept from that--how, we may not know, and probably never shall until we are in Heaven. We might have put ourselves into positions where instrumentalities which were blessed to us might never have reached us. We have sometimes been on the verge of committing sins which might have led us in a downward career of vice, farther and farther, and might even have led us to destroy ourselves! Speaking after the manner of men, our soul has run innumerable risks, each one of which could have led to eternal destruction from the Presence of the Lord, had it not been that going before mercy was beforehand with us and would not let us commit the fatal act which would have consigned us to everlasting perdition! Many and many a time has He held back His servants when they were just on the edge of the fatal precipice, when they were about to take the deadly poison which would have eternally destroyed their souls! His mercy, in some Providence which they did not understand, has interposed. And you who are here tonight, you have been sick lately. Well, that sickness has kept you out of a sin into which you were beginning to slide. You have lately been overtaken with a very terrible loss. Yes, but your soul was getting eaten up with covetousness, and if it had not been for that loss, you had not been here tonight--you would have been still seeking after the world with both your hands--and you would not have had an ear for anything like a message from the Throne of God! It may be a part of the joy of Heaven to be permitted to see the manifold wisdom of God in His dealing with us even before we were quickened by His Spirit. There are marvelous preparations, I do not doubt, which are going on in human hearts for the more effectual work of Grace, for there are many who are not converted, but whose case is very hopeful. They are like what our Lord called "honest and good ground," ready for the living Seed. Holy teachings at home, Godly examples, works within the mind that have tended to elevate the taste and purify the morals--and a thousand other things may come in as a sort of preparation for the true work of Divine Grace--and in looking back, while we must, first of all, see the preventing Grace of God in keeping us back from sin, we can next see it in gently leading us, though we knew Him not, as He did Israel of old, taking us by the arms and teaching us to go, sweetly inclining us, gently drawing us until the time should come when He should pass by us and say unto us, "Live." All the history of an elect child of God, even before conversion, will be found to be full of traces of the going before goodness of the Lord. But probably we noticed this most at the time of our conversion. Some of us recollect when we first began to sigh and cry after a Savior, but oh, how He then went before us with His mercy! The sermon that we heard seemed exactly to suit our case, though the minister knew nothing of us. And when we turned to the Word of God, there were texts there, some of them very terrible ones, and they did for us just exactly what ought to have been done--they helped in the cutting and tearing process that was necessary before the pierced hands should come and bind up our wounds! God's mercy in going before us helped us to the tenderness of heart that we were seeking after, helped us to the repentance that we longed to feel, helped us to the contrition which we desired to experience. It helped us, in fact, to have done with self, and to begin with Him! It helped us to see the depravity of our hearts as soon as ever we began to desire to see it and to be humbled on account of it. But do you not remember when those desires began to assume the form of prayer--when you got some light as to the way of salvation and desired how to close in with Christ and to trust Him? How swiftly did the Divine Father then run to meet His prodigal child! Oh, happy day when He fell upon our neck and kissed us, when He took off our rags and put on the raiment of joy, and bade the music and dancing go on in the house because the lost one was found! Oh, at that time, in gracious answer to prayer almost as soon as we began to pray, perhaps, we had an instance of how He goes before us with the blessings of His goodness! We were not fit to receive His mercy--so we thought--but His mercy came. We were not ready for Christ, but Christ came to us. We felt ourselves so hardened, but He came and softened us. We could not squeeze out a tear, but He accepted the dry bottles that would have had tears in them if they could. We felt as if we were just nothing--but Christ knew that our nothingness made room for Him to be everything--so He came and took us at our worst and gave Himself to be ours forever and ever! Oh, if He had waited until we had washed that foul face, and taken away every stain with floods of tears--oh, if He had waited until we had cleansed those filthy hands and washed them snowy white, until we had found a wedding dress in which we should have been fit to come--ah, Savior, You would have waited even till now and even forever, for we never could have been fit for You! But no sooner did we long to come, no sooner did we feel that we would gladly come if we dared, but felt that we were all unfit to come, than Your swift feet of mercy brought You to Your children, and the Grace was given for which we scarcely dared to hope! That is my experience, Brothers and Sisters, and I know that it is yours--God in the matter of conversion going before us with His mercy! And how has it been since then? Take another illustration from your life. Have you not oftentimes been prevented by the God of your mercy--by directions given when you were just about to take a wrong step? I remember well, and never can forget, how the whole turn of my life was made by the Providence of God in what we would call an accident. I certainly, in all probability, had not been here tonight if it had not been that an engagement made to meet a certain gentleman at a certain time was punctually kept by us both, but a servant showed him into one room on one side of the passage, and showed me into another on the other side--and we sat there two hours waiting for one another, but missed each other--and so the whole current of my life flowed in another direction! I recollect a course of action which I would have adopted, but from which I was altogether turned by hearing, as I thought, as I walked alone and sought direction, such a voice as this, "Seek you great things for yourself? Seek them not." That text guided me in what I believe was a right, prudent and certainly has been a happy way! Had it not been for that, I might have gone astray, unwittingly, but still unwisely, into all sorts of paths! Have you not found it so? Just when you did not know which way to go you had the direction when you sought it. If you applied to God, He gave you guidance by some means, just as surely as the Jew had it when he resorted to the priest who wore the Urim and the Thummim. Take care that you always recollect this in the future, if it has been so in the past. God has gone before you, and marked out your path for you--and given you a plain map of the way. Has it not been so? Moreover, He not only tells us the way, and so prevents us, but He clears the way for us. Great difficulties have frequently run in our way in Providence and in Grace, and we have been like the women who went to the sepulcher. We have said, one to another, "Who shall roll away the stone for us?" But when we have come there, behold, "the stone was rolled away for it was very great." God had made a road where we could not see any and could not make any. What? Have you never gone through the Red Sea? Have the waters never stood upright as a heap on either side while you, as God's chosen, went through? I know you have had an experience analogous to that! Then treasure up the memory of it. Do not be ashamed now, in your talks with your fellow Christians, to tell that the Lord has gone before you with His goodness, in clearing the way for you! How frequently, too, has He gone before us with His goodness, by supplying our needs! Like the Israelites, who, however early they rose in the morning, found the manna from Heaven awaiting them, so has it been with you, with all who trust God! Your needs have not come as quickly as the supplies. In fact, some of us have only known our needs by finding the supplies sent! And we have said, "Then I must have needed this, or it would not have come." And we have blessed the Lord as we have seen our soul's necessities in the light of the Grace that has come to supply them! Oh, it has been so with you--you know it has! You have had to move, perhaps, from place to place, and God has prepared the place for you. It may be that your life has consisted much of wandering to and fro, and tossing about, yet, though you seemed like a football, you have never been tossed anywhere but what you have fallen on your feet, and fallen into the place, too, that God had provided and prepared for you! So it has been up to the present, has it not? Has He not thus gone before you with His goodness? And once again, how often, dear Friends, when we have begun to pray for a mercy, we have had the mercy while we have yet been calling--while we have been speaking He has heard us! How frequently have we desired to return from our backslidings, and while we have been desiring to return, He has appeared and melted us down in penitence and gratitude. We have desired sanctification, and we have had the rod sent to our house directly, which was probably the very speediest way to ensure our growth in that respect. Whatever we have actually needed of the Lord, our God, He has not withheld it from us in its season, so that we will join in saying that until now it has been so, it has been so. The God of our mercy has gone before us. Now, in the second place-- II. IT SHALL BE SO. It shall be so with you who are seeking Christ tonight. God's rule for the future is His action and conduct in the past. He never changes. You must not imagine that Jesus Christ will be sterner with you than He has been with others like you. If it has been His custom to reject those who have come, He will reject you. But if it has never been so, it never shall be so, for, "Him that comes to Me, I will in nowise cast out." Hearken, then, to Jesus now! God will go before you with the blessings of His goodness. Now, you have been thinking lately-- "I'll to the gracious King approach, Whose scepter mercy gives." And you have thought to yourself, "Before I can come, I must feel my need aright." Now, you think you do not feel your need and you have been troubled a great deal lately because you have not that tenderness of heart that you ought to have. Now, if you cannot come to Christ with a broken heart, come to Christ fora broken heart! He is ready to give it to you. The preparation of the heart in man is from the Lord in this respect. Come and tell Him that you need a broken heart. One of the best prayers you can pray is, "Lord, create a right spirit within me." You say, perhaps, "Sir, I need more than a broken heart--I need even to learn to pray." Well, I remember what Mr. Fuller once said to a young man who was trying to pray and could not. He whispered to Mr. Fuller, who was kneeling by his side, "I cannot pray." "Tell the Lord so," said Mr. Fuller. So, Brothers and Sisters, when you say, "I cannot pray as I would. I cannot express myself as I desire," go and tell the Lord that you are a poor, ignorant soul, and that you do not know how to pray, and say, "Lord, teach me." "Oh, but I do not feel the desire I need to feel." I have often found that those who have most of desire think they have not any. Well, go and tell the Lord about that, and ask Him to give you the desire which shall be necessary to make earnest prayer, that you may begin to pray, that you may have a broken heart. Wherever you like to go back to, I will go back with you, but I will tell you that Jesus Christ was there before you, and that He will meet you there with just what your souls need! He is there ready with it. He will go before you with the blessings of His goodness. The God of my mercy shall go before! "Well," says one, "but I think that I ought to have some sort of preparation for God. I do not mean merit, but still, there must be the cleansing of the hands and the reformation of the heart." Yes, I know there must, and I know what is more--that there willbe all that if you come to Christ for it--but if you try to work this in yourselves, beforeyou come to Him, you will certainly fail! Now, instead of going roundabout to find preparations for Christ by way of reformation, come to Him as you are, for He will give you all the fitness that you think you ought to bring. He has got it all. Christ did not come to save the righteous, but sinners, just as a physician does not present himself to heal those who are whole, but to heal those who aresick. "But I do not feel my sickness." That is part of your sickness that you do not feel your sickness. Come and have that cured as well as all the rest! Do not think that you are to patch up a part of the cure and then to come to Him! But oh, stand to one side and let Him go before you with the blessings of His goodness, of His love, His blood and His Holy Spirit. He will meet you just where you are. "But I am desirous to be saved," says one "and I do not think that Christ is willing to have me." Ah, but remember the verse we sometimes sing-- "No sinner can be beforehand with Thee-- Your Grace is most Sovereign, most rich, and most free." If you have a heart-felt desire after Christ, I know where you obtained it. It never grew in your garden. The dust heap of your heart would never yield so sweet a flower as that! It is the Grace of God that has made you desire Christ and for every spark of desire that you have to Christ, Christ has a volcano full of desire after you! Oh, if you have but a farthing's worth of desire for Him, He has ten thousand pounds worth of desire towards you! You cannot outrun Christ, I am sure. "I would gladly be at peace with God," says one. "I throw down the weapons of my rebellion tonight! I will say, 'Lord, accept me.'" And do you think that He is unwilling to be at peace with you? Why, there never was any unwillingness on His part! He wills not the death of a sinner, but had rather that he would turn unto Him and live. Oh, do not imagine, do not imagine, any of you, that if there is any distance between you and God, God makes the distance! No, it is your own heart, your own unbelief, your love of sin--something sinful on your side--it is no lack of Grace on His side! I do not say that God will meet you half-way--I do not believe He will--but I believe He will meet you all the way, every inch of it, that He will meet you just where you are! Like the poor man that was left between Jerusalem and Jericho, of whom it is said that the good Samaritan came "where he was," so Jesus will come and pour in the oil and the wine to heal and quicken. Only cry unto Him! If you cannot frame words, groan out your prayer! Let your aching heart but cry, "My God, have mercy on me! For Jesus' sake, forgive me!" and He will outrun you, Sinner! He will outrun you! He will anticipate the prayer and grant the blessing! Why are you afraid to come? You know not what God is, or you would come right willingly and tell Him all your case. He can meet it! He understands it! He knows it now! Oh, come! Seek the secrecy of your chamber. Tell out as best you can, your sins, your fears, your weaknesses and unbelief--and trust in that Son of God, who became Man that He might lift men up to God--and as surely as you trust Him, you shall be saved! But now, it shall be so, to you who are the people of God. He will go before you with the blessings of His goodness in the future, as He has done in the past. Now, you are, perhaps, going across the sea to America or Australia. Well, He will be there before you. All is well! He has arranged it for you before you get there, and you shall have reason to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord, He has come where His servant should come and has prepared a place for him, and made him a sphere of labor." Or it may be, my dear Friend, that you do not know just where you are going. Well, I do not know that you need fret yourself about it, for if you walk by faith in the living God, you are going just where He knows it is best for you to go--and He will go before you. As surely as ever His glorious marching was through the wilderness with the hosts of Israel, so will there be glorious marching at your head to lead you in a right way and to bring you to a city to dwell therein. Trust in Him with full confidence and go onward, for He shall be your Guide and lead the van. I speak now especially to the members of this Church. It is a blessed thing to reflect upon, that in all Christian service, God will go before us. When our missionaries have gone to foreign lands, it has often happened that before the missionary has arrived, there has been a tradition in the minds of the people that there would be white men who would come to teach them some new thing--and thus they have been prepared for it and frequently whole tribes have speedily given ear to the Gospel of Christ, because for many years God had been leading them to expect His Gospel! Now, what has happened in heathen countries is happening every day in our own country! I believe that God prepares the minds of the people for the preacher as much as ever He does prepare the preacher for the people! I ask the Lord to give me preparation for the pulpit, but I often think that the other side of it--the preparation of the people for the pulpit--is equally important, and that the Lord will give it in answer to prayer! Now, how often, dear Friends, when you try to do good, you will discover that the person you are anxious about has been prepared by God on purpose for you? For instance, a man has been sick and ill. Ah, you see he had been thoughtless, before, and God has just been plowing the soil by making the man thoughtful and careful, in order that he may now listen to the Gospel. There are a thousand different sorrowsthat Cross over men's minds. A working man, for instance, may during the day feel depressed, and he does not know why. Some recollections of his early childhood may come across him, but he cannot tell why, and you, perhaps, meet him ten minutes after that. If you would but speak to Him of Christ, you would be surprised to find that you had come just in the very nick of time, when God had made the man ready for you and then sent you as a messenger from Him! Believe it, that whenever you feel an extraordinary anxiety after a soul, you may take it as an indication that that soul is as much needing you as you are needing it! There is a something that will attract that person to you, as well as you to that person. Or if you should seem to be repelled, God has still a design there, and you must try again, and labor again--for a blessing will certainly come. God is preparing the man even while that man repulses you--preparing him for the time when at last he shall cheerfully accept that Savior whom you propose to him! My Brothers, as God's servants, we are very much in the position of Joshua with the Israelites when they came up to Canaan. They were to conquer Canaan, but do you know Canaan had been conquered long before? For if you conquer a man's heart, it is merely a matter of detail to go and conquer his body, and God had sent before a rumor of what He would do, and Rahab told them that she knew that the hearts of the Canaanites were melted in them for fear. Moreover, God sent diseases and sent the hornet so that these people were dying, and those who were living were weakened by disease and stung by hornets, so that the Jewish hosts had an easy work. They had but to take what God had made ready for them! Go up, go up, O hosts of the Lord, for God has conquered the land beforehand for you! All these sorrows and griefs, all the calamities of wars, all the miseries of nations are but convincing them, as they shall be convinced, that their idols cannot help them! And even as to the Antichrist of Rome, all the kings that have committed fornication with her shall hate her, and shall burn her flesh as with fire! God is working secretly, God is working mysteriously and mightily! Only be encouraged, O Church of God, to go up and take the prey, for Jericho shall fall before your shouts, as God, even the Lord, your God, shall be exalted, as you win the last great victory! Think of all this through this month when you will be hard at work and just go in to win a soul. Go in for God has gone before you! You, dear Teacher, be earnest with that child, for God is intending to bless it and is getting that child ready! Your instrumentality shall fit to that heart as a key does to the wards of the lock. God is preparing you and preparing it, and good will come of it! And now, lastly, Brothers and Sisters. We shall soon expect to have done with laboring for Christ and to have done with pilgrimage and all its cares, except that we shall have the last river to pass over. But then, "the God of my mercy shall go before me." There shall be the delightful Presence of Jesus and the shining company of angels, and the visions of Glory yet to be revealed--and we shall forget the pangs of earth in the joys of the heavenly land! Like one drop of bitterness that is drowned in the flood of sweetness, death shall be swallowed up in victory, and when we come to Heaven, itself, we shall discover that our God has gone before us there. "Behold," says the Redeemer, "I go to prepare a place for you." Oh, how delightful it is to think of going to Heaven where there will be nothing to get ready, but where all will be just as we need it--all that can be required to give to us the highest conceivable happiness, all ready, and all made ready by Christ! Rejoice, then, Believer! He will go before you through this earth and before you into Heaven, where He has already gone, bless His name! Live happily! Live happily! Live to serve Him out of gratitude for what He has done, and the Lord bless you evermore. Amen and Amen! EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM116:1-6; ROMANS 5:10-21. Verse 1. I love the LORD because He has heard my voice and my supplications. You cannot help loving God if He has heard your prayers. Have you tried Him? If you have, you can join with David and thousands of others in confessing that He is a prayer-hearing God and, therefore, you love Him. I find the verse might be read, "I love the Lord because He hears." He is always hearing. I am always speaking to Him and He is always hearing me. Therefore I love Him. Can you imagine a better reason for love? 2. Because He has inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. "He has inclined His ear"--stooped down, as it were, as you do to a sick person to catch his faintest word. "He has inclined His ear." He has heard my prayer when I could hardly hear it myself! When it was such a broken prayer, such a feeble prayer, that I was afraid I had not prayed, yet He heard me! He inclined His ear and, "therefore, will I call upon Him as long as I live." That is, I will never leave off praying and I will never leave off praising. This is the best gratitude we can show to God. Now, if a beggar were to say to us, "If you will help me today, I will beg of you as long as I live," we would not be very thankful! But when we say this to God, He is glad, for He wants us to be thus continually calling upon Him. 3, 4. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of Hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD--O LORD, I beseech You, deliver my soul He felt as if he had been hunted. As in hunting, they sometimes surround the stag with dogs as with a cordon, so he says, "the sorrows of death compassed me. There was no getting away. I was in a circle of sorrow." Worse than that, his pains of conscience and heart were so great that he says, "The pains of Hell get hold upon me"--got the grip of him, as though he were arrested by them--as though those dogs had come so close as to seize and grasp him. "Then," he says, "I called." At the worst extremity he prayed. There is no time too bad to pray! When it is all over with you, still pray. Often the end of yourself is the beginning of your God. He means to get you away from every other confidence, that you may fling yourself upon Him. "Then called I upon the name of the Lord." And what was the prayer? A very short one--"O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul." God does not measure prayers by the yard. It is not by the length, but by the weight. If there is life, earnestness, heart in your prayer, it is all the better for being short. Read the Bible through and you will scarcely find a long prayer. Prayers that come from the soul are often like arrows shot from the bow--quick, short, sharp! And God hears such prayers as these--"O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul." 5. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous. Wonderful combination--gracious and yet righteous! And if you want to know how this can be, look at Calvary, where Jesus dies that we may live! "Oh, the sweet wonders of that Cross, where God the Savior loved and died"--where there was the Justice of God to the fullest and the mercy of God without bound. "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous." 5, 6. Yes, our God is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple. Those that have such a deal of wit may take care of themselves, but, "the Lord preserves the simple," the straightforward, the plain-minded--those who believe His Word without raising questions. "The Lord preserves the simple." 6. I was brought low and He helped me.Oh, many of you can say this, I trust, and if you cannot, I hope you will before long--"I was brought low and He helped me." ROMANS 5:10-21. 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall by saved by His life.This is a grand argument for the safety of all Believers, having a three-fold edge to it! If He reconciled His enemies, will He not save His friends? If He reconciled us, will He not save us? If He reconciled us by the death, will He not save us by the life of His Son? 11. And not only so The blessings of the Covenant of Grace rise tier upon tier, mountain upon mountain, Alp on Alp. When you climb to what seems the utmost summit, there is a height yet beyond you. "And not only so"-- 11. But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement Then he begins to explain the great plan of our salvation. 12. Therefore as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinnedIn that one man. 13. 14. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that hadnot sinnedafter the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. Children died who had not actually sinned, themselves, but died because of Adam's sin. 15-17. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift For if through the offense of one, many are dead, much more the Grace of God and the gift by Grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one, to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense--By Adams' sin. 17, 18. Death reigned by one: much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. All who are in Christ are justified by Christ, just as all who were in Adam were lost and condemned in Adam. The "alls" are not equal in extent-- equal as far as the person goes in whom the "alls" were found. And this is our hope--that we, being in Christ, are justified because of His righteousness. 19. 20. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. Moreover the Law entered--The law of Moses. 20. That the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. It makes us see sin where we never saw it. It comes on purpose to drive us to despair of being saved by works. It bids us look to the flames that Moses saw, and shrink and tremble with despair. 21. That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. __________________________________________________________________ "Brief Life Is Here Our Portion" (No. 3414) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "LORD make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am." Psalm 39:4. ACCORDING to the judgment of Calvin, and some of the ablest commentators, there is a kind of pettishness in this verse. The context appears to imply that David had grown impatient under the chastening hand of God. Job, under similar circumstances, longed to accomplish as a hireling, his day, and sought the repose of the grave. And so the Psalmist inquires how much longer he has to bear the ills and griefs of life, or when the goal shall be reached. But I am sure it is not for any of us to upbraid the Psalmist, for what is his impatience compared with ours? When I read of Elijah casting himself under the juniper tree, saying, "Let me die, I am no better than my fathers!"--should I wonder at the weakness of so great a man--it is only because he is great! No doubt that kind of weakness has seized us all. We have, every now and then, expressed a longing to depart--not so much, I fear, because of our eagerness to be with Christ, as because we have grown weary with the trials, the services and the sufferings of this poor wilderness. Well, if we are the subjects of the same infirmity as these godly men of old, we must flee where they fled for strength to grapple with these infirmities and overcome them! We must look to the Strong for strength and pray God to work in us that ripe fruit of patience so rare and yet so precious, for it greatly glorifies God wherever it is brought forth! David here asks the Lord to be his Teacher. Observe the words, "Make me to know.." That is to say, "Instruct me, let me be the scholar, and You condescend to my ignorance and weakness, and teach me." What? But did not David know his end? Did he not know the measure of his days? Was his frailty a secret that he could not discover? We may be sure that he knew it in part--knew it, perhaps, in that superficial manner in which many of us assent to moral and spiritual truths, with little understanding and no appreciation. But he wanted to know it after a more perfect way--he would apprehend it with that spiritual enlightenment which God alone can communicate. Upon the dishes at the china factories you have, perhaps, seen an impression produced--the inscription is to be there in the future--that is, like common knowledge. Have you afterwards seen that piece of china when it has passed through the oven, has been baked, and comes forth with what you saw there, superficially baked into its very substance? Such should be our prayer, that what we know as upon the surface may be burned into our innermost consciences, may become indelibly a part of our own selves. Lord, not only make me to know, but make me to know by Your own Divine art--burn it into me--make me to know my end and the measure of my days. Observe the condescension of God, that we are allowed to ask Him to teach us such a lesson as our frailty! And mark the proof of our own ignorance and our own forgetfulness that we cannot even learn this lesson unless God teaches us! And must He make us know? We need that our minds should be renewed, as it were, by a creative or a regenerating process, else we shall fail to discern the very simplest Truths of God. Confessing our ignorance, let us go to God with the prayer of the Psalmist and He willanswer us. There are, then, three things which the Psalmist wishes to know--his end, the measure of his days and growing out of these, a just estimate of his own frailty. May the Lord teach us to profit while we meditate upon them! I. "LORD, MAKE ME TO KNOW MY END." Do we know this already? If you do, let your pure minds be stirred up by way of remembrance. The certainty of your end--try to know that by grasping the fact and letting the truth of it affect your souls. Yes, I must die unless the Lord should come and I should be caught up together with the saints in the air. I must reach the terminus of this mortal life as other men, on the couch of weakness and the bed of death. I must die. There is no discharge in this war. There is no possibility of your having an everlasting life here. You don't desire it if you are Christians! Neither could you have it if you did desire it--a time will come when you must depart. Think, then, dear Brothers and Sisters--common places will beuseful to you. Let it pass over your soul, that for you the funeral bell must toll, for you the grave be dug, for you the winding-sheet and the cerements of the tomb, for you, "earth to earth, and dust to dust, and ashes to ashes," as sure as you are a man. Being born mortal, you must die. The Lord make you to know this! You must die, not another for you! You must gather up your feet into the bed and, like old Jacob, pass across the stream, the narrow stream of death. You, though now in the prime of life, or in the gaiety of childhood. You who have escaped so many accidents and are now ripe and mellow in the quietude of old age--the dearest friend and companion cannot be a sponsor for you. When the call shall come, your pitcher must be broken at the fountain, your wheel at the cistern and you, in your own proper flesh and blood, must pass away--and your disembodied spirit must stand before God. Forget not, then, the certainty, or the personality of it! It shall be conclusive, "Make me to know my end." It shall not be a halt, but a finale. Not a starting on the road, but a termination of the great journey of life. "My end," my end for all things beneath the sun, the end of my sin as far as this world is concerned and the end of my service of Almighty God! The end of all my opportunities of doing good, of my occasions of getting good. My end so that whatever after is done under the sun, I shall have no share nor interest in it. The living know that they must die, but the dead know not anything! Other saints walk over their graves, nations rise and fall, convulsions shake the most solid empires, all things change--but there, beneath the sod, they slumber on. Their memory and their love are lost alike--"unknowing and unknown." Certainly we shall come to an end. Certainly I, myself, shall come to that end, and when my death comes, it will, for this life and this mortal state, be a veritable end which I cannot pass. While musing on our end, the accompaniments of our end may well excite passing reflection. In all probability, Brothers and Sisters, though we know not what may come to us, our departure out of this life will be attended with the same languor and prostration we have witnessed in the case of others. We may expect the sick bed, the days of pain and the sleepless nights which are the premonitions of decease. We may imagine for ourselves what we have so often seen among our kinsfolk and acquaintances--the family gathered in silent watchfulness and the weeping children summoned to give the parting kiss--while the hot tears fall on the blanched cheeks of the departing. We can picture it all to our minds. It may be well we should, and make a rehearsal of it, too, for it is probable enough that so it may come. We are not sure that we shall take so deliberate a leave of the world. It may happen to us in the crowded streets. Our end may come to us as we go by the way. That, however, rather strikes us as the course of Nature, when there is the taking down of the tent, the folding up of the canvas, the putting away of each pin and pin-hold, and so we shall be removed as a shepherd's tent. Then will come a leaving of all earthly things--your shutters will be put up by somebody else--your books will be no more kept by you--you will have struck the balance for the last time. Some other hand must go out to earn the children's bread, now that the father is gone. Some other woman's tender care must watch over the little ones, now that the mother is no more. And the time must come when the rich man shall bid farewell to his parks and lawns, when he must bid farewell to his mortgages, to his bonds, his deeds and his estates. And the poor man, who may, perhaps, find it as hard, must bid farewell to the cottage and the hearth, and all that made life dear to him. There will be a parting time for each of us, and we pray the Lord make us to anticipate it! In connection with this, it is probable there will be many regrets to all of us. I hope when we come to die it will be no question as to whether we are saved or not. But even to a saved man, there arises this thought, "Oh, that I had glorified God more! Oh, that I had devoted of my substance, and of my time, and of my talents, more to my Master's service! I can no more feed the hungry, or clothe the naked, or teach the ignorant. Oh, that those golden opportunities had been seized more eagerly, and employed more industriously by me! But now my time for service here is over, and I am mourning the scantiness of my life-work--and I cannot amend that which is faulty, or supply that which is lacking." Our end, Beloved, will be the end of all our Christian labor here below. No going to your Sunday school class any more. No coming, again, of the preacher to his rostrum. No standing here to admonish or to console. No more will the corner of the street listen to your voice, my Brother, in your earnest evangelizing. No longer can your hand be outstretched to distribute the Word which tells of the great Savior and the good Shepherd--our Lord Jesus Christ. On that bed you will be taking leave of all your Christian service and if anything has been left undone, there will then be no opportunity to complete it. Depend upon it--and it is wise to look forward to the event--our end will be no child's play. We may often smile and sing about death and long for evening to approach, that we may rest with God, but it is, at the same time, a most solemn thing. The best way to deal with it is to die daily, to go down to Jordan's brink and bathe every morning in that death stream, till death shall be as familiar as life, till you shallcome to think of it with daily expectation! Yet at times we almost wonder that we are lingering here, for we are expecting to be called away to dwell in the land of the living, where there is no more death, nor sorrow, nor sighing. Then, again, it will be well for us to be made to know our end in all its results. Although it is called our end, yet surely it is, strictly speaking, a great beginning! A more true beginning, I was about to say, even than our first birth. The moment a man dies, he then enters upon the most solemn part of his existence. Make me, Lord, to know what it will be after this, my departure. What will then happen to me? Come, let me reflect. My soul must wing her way without the body up to the Throne of God, and there, at once, receive the preliminary sentence, the forecast of the sentence of the Last Tremendous Day. "Committed for trial," to lie in durance vile without the body till the Resurrection trumpet, or be admitted into Glory, such as that Glory can be without the body, until the Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from Heaven with a shout, and the trumpet of the archangel, and the voice of God! Which will it be with me? Ask this, dear Hearers, and ask your God to make you to know which it shall be--your spirit rejoicing in the Presence of Christ, your Savior, far from the world of grief and sin, eternally shut in with God--or shall it be your spirit mocking among kindred condemned in the Pit that has no bottom, where the iron key is turned and through the door of which there can be no escape? Which shall it be with you? When you think of your end, remember one of these must be your portion--Heaven or Hell! Then comes the Day of Judgment and of the Resurrection. The clarion, clear and shrill, shall be such as wakens man, not for battle, nor sleepers for the fray--it shall wake the long-buried from their silent graves and they shall rise from sea and land an exceedingly great multitude! Then shall the Great White Throne be set and the books be opened! This is the end God will have you to know. Oh, seek to know it! When that book is opened, and Christ shall read with eyes of fire, and with a voice of thunder, what shall the Lord award you? Will He turn to the page and say, "Blotted out with My blood are all the transgressions that were once recorded here and, therefore, there is nothing now to read except that which is the award of My chosen. I was hungry, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; sick and imprisoned, and you ministered unto Me! Come, you blessed!" Or will it be to see the page turned over and to hear the voice declare, "I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat; thirsty and you gave Me no drink"? Will it be a record all of sin, and not of virtue, with the accompanying sentence, "Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire"? "Lord make me to know my end," and let not my end be to be banished forever with the wicked! Gather not my life with sinners, nor my soul with bloody men! Cast me not away from Your Presence! Banish me not from Your mercy! Shut me not up in the lowest Pit! Condemn me not to eternal destruction from the Presence of the Lord! "Make me to know my end," and let this be the end--to be with Christ where He is, to behold His Glory, the Glory which You gave Him from before the foundation of the world! It seems to me that when David prayed that he might be made to know his end, he well knew these were the accompaniments. But the way in which he wished to be made to know them was that he might be made to believe in them firmly, so as to realize them vividly, look upon them not as fictions, myths and traditions, but as realities--that he might be made to know them, so as to meditate upon them, to have his mind exercised constantly about them--that he might be made to know them so as to be prepared for them and to set his house in order, because he must die, and not live, preparing to meet his God. And, above all, that he might know his end by having a full assurance of being saved in Christ Jesus, so that his end should be everlasting peace! "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Oh, that we might, while mentioning such men, become such men ourselves--and know that our end shall be peace through Jesus Christ! Now, in the second part of the prayer, David says-- II. "MAKE ME TO KNOW THE MEASURE OF MY DAYS." It is a very humbling thing to recollect that our days have a measure. In the Latin there is a proverb, "As poor men count their sheep." And it is only because we are so poor in life that we are able to measure our days. God's days are not to be counted. "Your generations, who can tell, or count the number of Your years? From everlasting to everlasting You are God." "The measure of our days." Ask in prayer that you may be made to know this. I will just give some outlines, like a drawing-master's sketch on the blackboard. How insignificant the measure of my days--what a very little time I have to live after all. If 70 years is my term, of what small account they are! Perhaps you have sometimes stood by a sand-cliff, as I did the other day, looking at alternate layers of shells, one above another. I should think at least one hundred feet thick of shells of a modern sort succeeded by thin layers of sand! Now, this must undoubtedly have been formed by the gradual deposit of some ancient sea, but how long must it have taken to have composed a rock of one hundred feet thick of white shells and sand? Well, but that is only a comparatively small layer of this earth. We go a little deeper andwe find sandstone and limestone which must have taken, if the laws of Nature have been at all in other times as they are now, not thousands, but even millions of years to form by the gradual deposit of the ocean! You go deeper, still, and at last you come to rocks made by fire, and the geologist is most reasonably led to the conclusion that this world, as it now stands, must have existed several millions of years, because it has taken so long a time to collect these various deposits. I know as I stood poking my stick into this sand and shells, I felt as if I had shriveled into a little ant and less even than a tiny animalcule which had scarcely come into this world when it was driven away and there were these rocks looking at me, and saying, Where were you when we were formed? When the waving ocean was washing up these shells, where were you? But now take your mind away from this world and recollect that some beings dear to us are older than this world, for when this world was made, the morning stars sang and shouted for joy! Oh, you angels--what infants we must seem in comparison with your age! Where were you when Gabriel first flew upon his errand, swift as lightning? Where were you when sin made Lucifer, Sun of the Morning, descend swift beneath the wrath of God into the shades of darkness which are reserved for him forever? What is your life when once compared with the period of life which cherubim and seraphim have seen? Oh, but what are cherubim and seraphim compared with God? When, in this great world, sun, moon and stars had not begun, God was as great and glorious as He is now! And when the whole of this Creation shall be rolled up like a worn out scroll, He will be the same--no older in a myriad myriad years than He is now, for with Him there is no time-- "He fills His own eternal Now, And sees our ages pass." All things are present to Him! We are carried away as with a flood, but He sits serene, neither age nor time change Him! "Lord, make me to know the measure of my days." Help me to fall down in my utter insignificance before Your Throne, adoring Your eternal majesty-- "Great God, how infinite are Thee, What worthless worms are we! Let the whole race of creatures bow, And pay their praise to Thee." While seeking to know the measure of our days, let the great importance that attaches to them stand out distinctly before us, for on this link our everlasting destiny is hung. It is this life which, as far as we are concerned, decides the next. In this life a Believer, then a life of Glory, happiness, and immortality! In this life an unbeliever, then in the next life, in the world to come, everlasting punishment from the hand of God! This thought makes even this little life swell to won-drously great proportions! Here is a man next door to a worm and yet next door to God--born but yesterday and yet his existence will go on perpetually with God, for man shall not die! So momentous, and yet so insignificant! So magnificent, and yet so minute is the measure of my days! "Lord, make me to know the measure of my days"--the certainty of that measure. God has appointed that you shall not die before the time--you shall certainly not live beyond it. That thread shall be cut off in its due season-- "Plagues and death around me fly, Till He wills, I cannot die." While I admonish you to remember the certainty, let me urge you to reflect upon the uncertainty of it, as far as you are concerned. You may live another twenty, thirty, or forty years--or you may not live as many seconds! You may be spared for the next 50 years, and still taking part in life's battle. Or it may be that before the clock has ticked again, you may be like a warrior taking his rest. Certain to God, but uncertain to you! It is well, in thinking of our days, to remember they will be quite long enough for us if God helps us to use them well. Life is very short, but a great deal may be done. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in three years, saved the world! Some of His followers in three years have been the means of saving many and many a soul. It was a short life that Luther had to do his great work in. If I remember rightly, he was hard upon 50 before he began to preach the Truth of God at all! This is a hopeful sign for some of you who have wasted your young days! There have been men of 60 that have yet achieved a life's work before they had slept and gone their way. After all, time is long or short as you like to make it so. One man lives a 100 years and dies a worldling. And yet another man, through God's Grace, puts forth as much energy in two or three years as if he were a thunderbolt launched from the hands of God! And he leaves his name among imperishable memorials. Your life will be long enough to achieve great things if God will help you to remember, in measuring your days, that they will be quite short enough for the enterprise you have in hand. You will only have finished the picture when the master palsies the arm and makes you drop the pencil. And you will only have completed the day's work when the shadow shall have fallen and you shall go Home to your rest. Work with all your might, but don't work despondingly--there is time enough for your soul to glorify God! Do your piece of the great work, though it be but a hair's breadth you are allowed to perform, and though it is as nothing in the presence of Him whose mighty deeds are shown through all generations. Shall I need to say anything more about measuring our days, except that it may be a painful recollection for us to remember that if they are not longer days, it is the prevalence of sin that made it necessary to shorten them! We might have lived to the age of Methuselah but the Antediluvian fathers so filled the earth with violence that God sent a flood and swept them all away! It is great mercy that men don't live too long. Where were progress if the old men of 200 years ago were here to obstruct it? Where the chance for reform if the vested interests of avarice were permitted to accumulate without any check? Now, however, the old blood is constantly superseded by fresh blood and the stream of life is kept purer by the passing away of the old conservative element, which when here, was exceedingly good in its season, but must give place to the influx of a spring tide more adapted to the growth of the times. Thank God, the great infidels don't live forever--who would have wished to have a Voltaire forever stalking about this world! What a mercy that his was but a short life! What would you think if you had a Tom Paine blustering against Almighty God 500 years at a stretch? A mercy it is that even good men don't live here forever, because their temptations would so accumulate in the recollection of years of service, that self-righteousness would become inveterate, hero worship an established idolatry and dogmatism a nuisance without abatement! I grant you experience might come in to modify some of the evils, for so the Grace of God can do anything--but there would be at least a natural tendency to perpetuate corruptions. We don't measure, I am afraid, our own years, in some respects, as we are known to do those of others. Some have to thank themselves that their lives are short--sins of their youth lie in their bones! And as we remember our days, we may provoke very painful recollections as to past sin, be checked as to all future folly and desire henceforth to walk in holiness and fear in the service of God until our days are ended. To number our days seems to me to mean, "not let them run away and be wasted." Hours ought to be counted--we sleep too much, some of us--we spend too much time at the table, too much in idle talk. Lord, help us to measure out our days, count them as they fly, and even the odd five minutes--those little pieces of time which we think we may idle away--much may be accomplished with them if we really set our minds as in the sight of eternity to employ the scraps for God. "Lord teach me to know the measure of my days." But my time has failed and, therefore, I must have but one or two words about the third point. David prays that he might know his frailty-- III. LORD, HE SAID, "MAKE ME TO KNOW THAT I HAVE AN END, THAT I MAY KNOW MY FRAILTY." I must come to that end soon. I am coming to it now. Lord, make me to know that I am so frail that I may die at any time--early morning, noon, night, midnight, cockcrow. I may die in any place. If I am in the house of sin, I may die there. If I am in the place of worship, I may die there. I may die in the street. I may die while undressing tonight. I may die in my sleep. I may die before I get to my work tomorrow morning. I may die in any occupation. But God, grant I may never die a blasphemer! I may die with the cup of Communion at my lips. I may die preaching. I may die singing. In all, grant I may die as I wish to die--doing Your service for the love of Christ and by the power of Your Spirit. Perhaps, as I stand here and readily speak, the arrow is on its way--soon may the hand be stretched and dumb the mouth that lisps this faltering strain! Oh, may it never intrude upon an ill-spent hour, but find me wrapped in meditation and hymning my great Creator, or serving my fellow man with love to God, or in some way so laboring that it shall not come to me as a thief in the night, but shall find me watching, ready for His Advent! And this is what David meant, "Make me to know my end." It may come at any time, but let me always be ready for it. Make me to know the measure of my days with the same object. My days are measured. These days may be few--they may be very few--I may have come to the last one. The pilgrimage of life is a very solemn one. It reminds me of a caravan proceeding forward in a track--some know it, some of the travelers have forgotten it--but on the road which they are pursuing, there is a deep gulf or chasm, and some in the front part of the caravan have already fallen into the gulf. Others are proceeding. In some cases they can hear the shrieks and cries of those who have fallen into the chasm on ahead. But here in the darkness, in the rear of the caravan, there may be many others indulging in such sparks of fire as they have kindled. They are sounding the tabret and the cymbal, and still making merry--though everyone of them is going onwards towards the same precipice over which their comrades, who led the way, have already fallen! There they go--onward, onward, onward in the darkness, till they come to that fatal step which will plunge them into the world unknown! God has led you to this tabernacle well in health and strong, but your next step may be into eternity! Beware, then, that you lay hold on the hand which was once crucified lest, whenyou slip, there be none to hold you up! And, when you fall, there be none to rescue you, and you fall through the black and cheerless darkness forever and ever, lost, lost, lost, beyond hope of rescue! God forbid this for His mercy's sake. Amen. EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM90. "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." It is well to know the author because it helps you to an understanding of the Psalm. Remember that Moses lived in the midst of a pilgrim people who were dwelling in tents, journeying towards Canaan. He lived in the midst of a people doomed to die in the wilderness. Only two of them--Moses, himself, not one of them--only two of those that came out of Egypt were to be permitted to enter into the promised land. You may expect, therefore, to find much that is somber about this Psalm--and yet there is much that is very restful and trustful about it. If it is the prayer of Moses, it is the prayer of a man of God. Verse 1. LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Your chosen people have dwelt in You. You are their rest, their refuge, their comfort, their home. It is just the same, now, as in the days of Moses. God's people have no dwelling place for their souls, but their God. They are happy when they get to Him. In Him they dwell at ease. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth--Before they were born like infants, gigantic as they are. 2. Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Everything else changes. You do not. We lose our comforts. We dwell, as it were, in tents which are taken down and removed, but there is no change in You. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, you know this Truth of God, but do you enjoy it? I think there is no sweeter food for the soul than the Doctrine of the Immutability of the eternal existence of God--God who cannot die and cannot change--that is, and always is, God. Oh, He is our confidence and joy! As for men, what are they? 3. You turn man to destruction and say, return, you children of men. He has only to speak--no need to take the scythe and mow us down. He does but say, "Return, you children of men," and we go back to the dust! 4. For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. A thousand years is a very long period in human history. If you fly back and try, in your knowledge of history, to recollect what the world was a thousand years ago, it seems a long, long time ago. But to God, who always lives, all the age of the world must seem but as the twinkling of an eye! What are a thousand years to You, You glorious One, before whom the past is present, and the future is as now? 5. You carry them away as with a foot. Men stand, as they think, firmly, but as the best built buildings are swept away by a torrent--trees, cattle, everything dispersed before the impetuous outburst--so, great God, do You carry men away as with a flood! 5, 6. They are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up. In the morning it flourishes, and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers. Have you ever watched a field of grass when in full bloom? There is, perhaps, no more beautiful sight! What variety of colors in the flowers which are the glory of the grass! And then you come by and the mower has done his work--and there it all lies. It has been withered by the sun's heat. Just such are we. Our generations fall before the scythe of death as falls the grass. And it is done at once. "In the morning it flourishes; in the evening it is cut down." 7. For we are consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath are we troubled. Whenever God's anger breaks forth against a people, it must consume them! Oh, what a blessing it is if you and I know that His anger is turned away and He comforts us. Then we are not troubled by it any longer. Do not apply these words to yourselves. They belong to the Israelites in the wilderness who were dying, consumed by God's anger and troubled by His wrath. But as for us who believe in Jesus Christ, we have love instead of anger--and the sure mercies of David instead of wrath--and in this we may rejoice. 8. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. And what was the result of that but that they all had to die? Their carcasses fell in the wilderness. Oh, if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ, this text is not true to you--does not belong to you. Here is another that doesbelong to you--"You have cast all my sins behind Your back." He has not set them in the light of His Countenance, but He has cast them into the depths of the sea and, Beloved, you stand acquitted, justified! And yet there may be some here who feel their sins, tonight, and know that God is looking at their sin. Do you know, dear Friend, there is no hope for you but one? And that is written in the Book of Exodus--"When I see the blood, I will pass over you." If you do but put your trust in the blood of Jesus Christ, God will turn away His eyes from your sins and look upon the blood of Jesus Christ! Yes, the blood of Jesus shall blot out your sins and you shall rejoice! 9, 10. For all our days are passed away in Your wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they are fourscore years, yet is their strength, labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away. It is well to have such a sense of our mortality upon us as this Psalm suggests. And yet, it is better still to recollect that we are immortal--that when we die after the flesh, we shall not die, but live in Christ, world without end! Life is cut off and it is like a string that holds a bird by the leg--we fly away. Which way? If we are God's own, we fly away above yon clouds. We reach the eternal fields where we shall sing forever and ever! 11. Who knows the power of Your anger? Even according to Your fear, so is Your wrath. Dreadful is God's anger, indeed. Who knows it? None of us do. The lost in Hell begin to know it, but it will need eternity for them to learn it all! Oh, I charge everyone here who is unpardoned never to attempt to learn what God's anger means! It will be an awful lesson, the power of that anger! Why, when it is let loose against a man, even in this life, in a measure it crushes him. But what the power of that anger must be, who can tell? 12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Count how many days have gone. Will not the time past suffice us to have worked the will of the flesh? You cannot tell how few remain, but still, if you live to the longest period of life--taking that for granted which you may not take for granted--how little remains! Oh, that we might, by the shortness of life, be led to apply our hearts unto wisdom, so as to live wisely! And what is the best way of living wisely, but to live in Christ and live to God? 13. Return, OLORD, howlong?It is an earnest prayer, full of grief. The Prophet of Israel, Moses, was attending one continual funeral. Whenever the tribes halted, they formed a cemetery and buried another legion of their dead. I do not wonder that he prays, "Return, O Lord, how long?" 13, 14. And have compassion on Your servants. O satisfy us early with Your mercy: that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. If they are but few, help us to live happily in them. Grant us the art of Your Grace of knowing Yourself, the source of happiness, that we may drink ofbliss to the fullest. 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein You have afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Give us measure for measure--sweets in bounty, according to the bitterness. Surely God has done more than this to some of us! We can bless His name because His love has abounded and He has made our cup to run over with His goodness! 16. Let Your work appear unto Your servants, and Your glory unto their children. We will do the work and the next generation shall have the glory. We will be content to wait, plodding on. Jesus will come, by-and-by. "Let Your work appear to us--Your Glory to our children." 17. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. That if we must go, we may do something that will live, that we may not have lived in vain. "Establish the work of our hands upon us." 17. Yes, the work of our hands establish. It is my daily prayer. My heart often goes up to Heaven that the work that is done in this place may never pass away, but that God would make it such a work of true and real Grace, that it may abide until the Lord, Himself, shall come! We may expect it if we seek it at His hands. "Yes, the work of our hands, establish." __________________________________________________________________ Right-hand Sins (No. 3415) A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE 27, 1868. "And if your hand offends you, cut it off." Mark 9:43. SALVATION is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not of works, neither can it be procured by human merit. It is the free gift of God through the atoning Sacrifice of Christ to every soul that believes. But what is salvation? Salvation is, in short, deliverance from sin, deliverance from the guilt of it, from the punishment of it, from the power of it. If, then, any man is saved, he is delivered from the reigning power of sin. It is not possible, therefore, that any man should have salvation and yet continue in the indulgence of sin. Jesus Christ came to open a hospital for sin-sick souls, not that they might remain sick in a hospital but might go out of it healed. He came not to take men to Heaven with their sins about them, but to purge them from their sins and so make them fit to enter Heaven! Hence, Jesus Christ is the severest of all moralists and while He and His followers denounce all trust for salvation in merit, they equally declare that no man is a saved soul who tolerates any known sin. All the Gospel declares this. In all its parts it implies this and that man cannot and ought not to consider himself to be saved and cannot truly be said to be saved while he lives in the indulgence of evil propensities as he did before. We shall not at all, therefore, come into conflict with the Doctrines of Grace while we preach to you the strongest claims of Christ upon our hearts and lives through His Word. We shall have to urge upon you the most strenuous giving up of sin and that which leads to sin--but this, not as a means of salvation--but as a result of faith and as an evidence that salva