A Sermon
(No. 35)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 12, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."–Isaiah 48:10.
WHEN travelling through the country, you have often noticed that in
different spots the old rocks peep out from under the soil, as if they
would let us know what earth's bones are made of, and what are the
solid foundations of this globe. So in searching through the Scriptures
you will find here instruction, here admonition, here rebuke, and here
comfort, but very frequently you will discover the old doctrines like
old rocks rising amid other matters; and when you little expect it you
will find election, redemption, justification, effectual calling, final
perseverance or covenant security introduced, just to let us see what
the solid foundations of the gospel are, and what are those deep and
mysterious truths on which the entire gospel system must rest. So in
this text, for instance, when there seemed in the chapter but little
need of the mention of the doctrine of God's choosing his people, on a
sudden the Holy Spirit moves the prophet's lips and bids him utter this
sentiment, "I have chosen thee;" I have chosen thee by my eternal,
sovereign, distinguishing grace; I have chosen thee in covenant
purposes; I have chosen thee according to my electing love; "I have
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Well, it is a good thing
that they are mentioned sometimes when we little expect it; for these
are things which we are apt to forget. The tendency of the many in the
present age is to slight all doctrinal knowledge, and to say, "We care
not whether a thing be true or not." This age is a superficial one. Few
ministers plough deeper than the top soil; there are very few who come
into the inward matter of the gospel, and deal with the stable things
on which our faith must rest; and therefore we bless and adore the Holy
Spirit that he so frequently pens these glorious truths to make us
recollect that there is such a thing as election, after all. "I have
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." How ever, I am not going to
dwell upon that, but after making one or two preliminary observations,
I shall proceed to discuss the subject of the furnace of affliction
being the place where God's chosen ones are continually found.
And the first observation I shall make will be this: all persons in the
furnace of affliction are not chosen. The text says, "I have chosen
thee in the furnace of affliction," and it implies that there may be,
and there doubtless are, some in the furnace who are not chosen. How
many persons there are who suppose that because they are tried,
afflicted, and tempted, therefore they are the children of God, whereas
they are no such thing. It is a great truth that every child of God is
afflicted; but it is a lie that every afflicted man is a child of God.
Every child of God will have some trial or other; but every man who has
a trial is not necessarily an heir of heaven. The child of God may be
in poverty–he frequently is; but we must not infer that therefore,
necessarily every man who is poor is a child of God, for many such are
depraved and ruined, blaspheming against God and going far into
iniquity. Many a child of God loses his property; but we are not
therefore to conclude that every bankrupt, or every insolvent is a
vessel of mercy; indeed there is often some suspicion that he is not. A
child of God may have his crops blasted, and mildew seize his fields,
but that does not prove his election, for multitudes who never were
chosen of God have had the mildew and the blast as well as he. He may
be calumniated. and his character may be slandered, but that may be the
case with the wickedest worldling also; for there have been men far
from religious who yet have been slandered–in politics, or in
literature. No tribulation ever proves us to be children of God, except
it be sanctified by grace, but affliction is the common lot of all
men–man is born to it, even as the sparks fly upward; and you must not
infer, because you happen to be troubled, because you are poor, or
sick, or tried in your minds, that therefore you are a child of God. If
you do imagine so, you are building on a false foundation; you have
taken a wrong thought, and you are not right in the matter at all. I
would, this morning, if possible, disturb some of you who may have been
laying a healing plaster to your souls when you have no right to do so.
I would show you if I could, very plainly, that after all your
suffering, you may yet, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of
hell. There is such a thing as through trial going to the pit of
perdition, for the road of the wicked is not always easy, nor are the
paths of sin ever pleasant. There are trials in the pathway of the
ungodly, there are troubles they have to suffer which are quite as
acute as those of the children of God. Oh! trust not in your troubles;
fix your thoughts on Jesus; make him the only object of your trust, and
let the only test be this, "Am I one with Christ? Am I leaning upon him
?" If so, whether I am tried or not, I am a child of God. but let me be
ever so much tried, though I give my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing."' Many an afflicted man has not been
a child of God. Many of you no doubt can recollect persons in your
lifetime whose afflictions made them worse instead of better; and of a
great many men it may be said, as Aaron said, "Behold, I put gold into
the furnace, and out of it came this calf." Many a calf comes out of
the furnace. Many a man is put into the furnace and comes out worse
than he was before–he comes out a calf. Men passed through the fire in
the days of the kings of Israel–when they passed through the fire to
Moloch; but Moloch's fire did not purify or benefit them; on the
contrary, it made them worse; it made them dedicated to a false god. We
are told also in the Word of God, how a certain class of people are put
into the furnace and get no good by it, and are not the children of
God. But, lest any should doubt what I have said, let them turn to the
passage in the 22nd chapter of Ezekiel, 17th and 18th verses, "And the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man, the house of Israel,
is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead,
in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross,
behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As
they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the
midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I
gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there,
and melt you." So you see there are some who feel the furnace who are
none of the Lord's, some to whom there is no promise of deliverance,
some who have no hope that thereby they are becoming more and more pure
and more fit for heaven; but on the contrary, God leaves them there as
dross is left, to be utterly consumed; they have on earth the foretaste
of hell, and the brand of the demon is set upon them in their
afflictions even here. Let that thought be taken to heart by any who
are building their salvation on false grounds. Afflictions are no proof
of sonship, though sonship always ensures affliction.
But the second preliminary remark I would make is on the immutability
of God's love to his people. "I have chosen thee in the furnace of
affliction." I chose thee before thou wast here; yea, I chose thee
before thou hadst a being, and when all creatures lay before me in the
pure mass of creatureship, and I could create or not create as I
pleased, I chose and created thee a vessel of mercy appointed unto
eternal life: and when thou in common with the whole race, hadst
fallen, though I might have crushed thee with them, and sent thee down
to hell, I chose thee in thy fallen condition, and I provided for thy
redemption: in the fulness of time I sent my Son, who fulfilled my law
and made it honourable. I chose thee at thy birth, when a helpless
infant thou didst sleep upon thy mother's breast. I chose thee when
thou didst grow up in childhood with all thy follies and thy sins.
Determined to save thee, I watched o'er thy path when, Satan's blind
slave, thou didst sport with death. I chose thee when, in manhood, thou
didst sin against me with a high hand; when thy unbridled lusts dashed
thee on madly towards hell. I chose thee, then, when thou wast a
blasphemer and a swearer, and very far from me. I chose thee, then,
even when thou wast dead in trespasses and sins: I loved thee, and
still thy name was kept in my book. The hour appointed came; I redeemed
thee from thy sin; I made thee love; I spake to thee, and made thee
leave thy sins and become my child; and I chose thee then over again.
Since that hour how often hast thou forgotten me! but I have never
forgotten thee. Thou hast wandered from me; thou hast rebelled against
me; yea, thy words have been exceeding hot against me, and thou hast
robbed me of mine honour; but I chose thee even then; and now that I
put thee in the furnace thinkest thou that my love is changed? Am I a
summer friend fleeing from thee in the winter? Am I one who loves thee
in prosperity and doth cast thee off in adversity? Nay; hearken to
these my words. thou furnace-tried one, "I have chosen thee in the
furnace of affliction." Think not, then, when you are in trouble that
God has cast you off. Think he has cast you off if you never have any
trials and troubles, but when in the furnace, say, "Did he not tell me
this beforehand?"
"Temptation or pain?–he told me no less:
The heirs of salvation, I know from his word,
Through much tribulation must follow their Lord."
O blessed reflection! let it comfort us: his love does not change; it
cannot be made to alter; the furnace cannot scorch us, not a single
hair of our head can perish; we are as safe in the fire as we are out
of it; he loves us as much in the depths of tribulation as he does in
the heights of our joy and exultation. Oh! thou who art beloved of
friends, "when thy father and mother forsake thee the Lord will take
thee up." Thou who canst say, "He that ate bread with me hath lifted up
his heel against me," "though all men forsake thee," saith Jehovah,
"yet will not I." O Zion, say not thou art forgotten of God; hear him
when he speaks–"Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet
will I never forget thee." "I have graven thee upon my hands; thy walls
are continually before me." Rejoice then, O Christian, in the second
thought, that God's love does not fail in the furnace, but is as hot as
the furnace, and hotter still.
And now to the subject, which is this–God's people in the furnace. And
in discussing it we shall first of all endeavour to prove the fact that
if you want God's people you will find them in the furnace; secondly,
we will try to show the reasons why there is a furnace; thirdly, the
benefits of the furnace; fourthly, comforts in the furnace. And may God
help us in so doing!
I. First, then, I state the fact that IF YOU WANT GOD'S PEOPLE YOU MUST
GENERALLY LOOK FOR THEM IN THE FURNACE. Look at the world in its
primeval age, when Adam and Eve are expelled the garden. Behold, they
have begotten two sons, Cain and Abel: which of them is the child of
God? Yonder one who lies there smitten by the club, a lifeless corpse;
he who has just now been in the furnace of his brother's enmity and
persecution–that is the heir of heaven. A few hundred years roll on,
and where is the child of God? There is one man whose ears are
continually vexed with the conversation of the wicked and who walks
with God, even Enoch, and he is the child of God. Descend further
still, till you come to the days of Noah. You will find the man who is
laughed at, hissed at, hooted as a fool, a simple ton, an idiot,
building a ship upon dry land, standing in the furnace of slander and
laughter: that is Noah, the elect of God. Go on still through history;
let the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, pass before you, and you
may write upon all of them: "these were God's tried people." Then go
down to the time when Israel went into Egypt. Do you ask me to find out
God's people? I take you not to the palaces of Pharaoh, I do not ask
you to walk through the stately halls of Memphis, or go to
hundred-gated Thebes; I take you to none of the places decked with the
splendour, the glories, and dignity of monarchs; but I take you to the
brick kilns of Egypt. See yonder slaves smarting beneath the lash,
whose cry of oppression goes up to heaven. The tale of their bricks is
doubled, and they have no straw wherewith to fashion them. These are
the people of God. They are in the furnace. As we follow on in the
paths of history, where were God's family next? They were in the
furnace of the wilderness suffering privation and pain. The fiery
serpent hissed upon them; the sun scorched them, their feet were weary,
they lacked water, and bread failed them, and was only supplied by
miracle. They were in no desirable position; but amidst them–for all
are not Israel that are of Israel–were the chosen ones, those who were
most in the furnace, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of
Jephunneh, against whom the people took up stones to stone them; these
were the sons of God these were distinguished above their fellows as
being elect out of the chosen nation. Still turn over the blessed
pages; pass through Judges and come to the time of Saul, and where was
God's servant then? Where is the man whom the king delighteth to
honour? Where is the man after God's own heart? He is in the in the
caves of Engedi, climbing the goat tracks, hunted like the partridge by
a remorseless foe. And after his days where were the saints? Not in the
halls of Jezebel, nor sitting at the table of Ahab. Behold, they are
hidden by fifties in the cave, and fed by bread and water. Behold yon
man upon the mountain top wrapping his shaggy garment round him; at one
time his dwelling is by the rippling brook, where ravens bring him
bread and flesh; at another time a widow is his host, whose only
possessions are a little oil and a handful of meal–in the furnace
Elijah stands, the remnant of God's chosen people. Take history
through; there is no need for me to follow it up, otherwise I might
tell you of the days of Maccabees, when God's children were put to
death without number, by all manner of tortures till then unheard of. I
might tell you of the days of Christ, and point to the despised
fishermen, to be laughed at, and persecuted apostles. I might go on
through the days of popery, and point to those who died upon the
mountains or suffered in the plains. The march of the army of God may
be tracked by their ashes left behind them. The course of the ship of
glory may be traced by the white sheen of sufferings left on the sea of
time. Like as a comet when it flashes in its glory, leaveth a blaze
behind it for a moment, so hath the church left behind it blazing fires
of persecution and trouble. The path of the just is scarred on earth's
breast the monuments of the Church are the sepulchres of her martyrs.
Earth has been ploughed with deep furrows wherever they have lived. You
will not find the saints of God where you do not find the furnace
burning round about them. I sup pose it will be so until the latest
age. Until that time shall come when we shall sit under our own vine
and our own fig-tree, none making us afraid or daring to attempt it, we
must still expect to suffer. Were we not slandered, were we not the
butt of' ridicule, we would not think ourselves the children of God. We
glory that we stand prominent in the day of battle; we thank our
enemies for all their shafts, for each one bears upon it proofs of our
Father's love. We thank our foemen for every stab, for it only cuts our
armour and rattles on our mail, never reaching the heart. We thank them
for every slander they have forged, and for every lie they have
manufactured, for we know in whom we have believed, and know that these
things cannot separate us from his love; yea, we take this as a mark of
our being called, that we, as the sons of God, can suffer persecution
for righteousness' sake.
It is a fact, I say, that you will find religion in the furnace. If I
were asked to find religion in London, I protest the last place I
should think of going to look for it would be in yon huge structure
that excceds a palace in glory, where you see men decked out in all the
toys which the old harlot of Babylon herself once did love. But I
should go to a humbler place than that. I should not go to a place
where they had the government to assist them, and the great and the
noble of the land to back them up; but I should generally go among the
poor, among the despised, where the furnace blazed the hottest; there I
should expect to find saints–but not among the respectable and
fashionable churches of our land. This is a fact then that God's people
are often in the furnace.
II. And now, secondly, THE REASON FOR THIS. Why is it that God's
children get there? Why does God see fit to put them in the furnace?
1. The first reason I have is this–that it is the stamp of the
convenant. You know there are certain documents which, in order to be
legal, must have a government stamp put upon them. If they have not
this stamp, they may be written, but they will not be at all legal and
cannot be pleaded in a court of law. Now we are told what the stamp of
the covenant is. There are two stamps, and for your information allow
me to refer you to the book of Genesis 15:17 and there you will see
what they are. When Abraham was lying down at night, a horror of
darkness came upon him, and God made a covenant with him, and it is
said, "And it came to pass, that when the sun went down and it was
dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between
the pieces." These two things were the stamps that made the covenant
secure: "a burning lamp"–the light for God's people, light for their
darkness, light to guide them all the way to heaven; and beside the
lamp "a smoking furnace." Shall I then wish you to rend the smoking
furnace off? Do I wish to get rid of it? No; for that would invalidate
the whole. Therefore will I cheerfully bear it, since it is absolutely
necessary to render that covenant valid.
2. Another reason is this–that all precious things have to be tried.
You never saw a precious thing yet which did not have a trial. The
diamond must be cut; and hard cutting that poor jewel has; were it
capable of feeling pain, nothing would be more fretted and worried
about, than that diamond. Gold, too, must be tried; it cannot be used
as it is dug up from the mine, or in grains as it is found in the
rivers; it must pass through the crucible and have the dross taken
away. Silver must be tried. In fact all things that are of any value
must endure the fire. It is the law of nature. Solomon tells us so in
the 17th chapter of Proverbs, the 3rd verse. He says, "The fining pot
is for silver, and the furnace for gold." If you were nothing but tin,
there would be no need of the "fining-pot" for you; but it is simply
because you are valuable that you must be tried. It was one of the laws
of God, written in the book of Numbers, 31st chapter, 23rd verse–"
Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire,
and it shall be clean." It is a law of nature, it is a law of grace,
that everything that can abide the fire–everything that is
precious–must be tried. Be sure of this,–that which will not stand
trial is not worth having. Would I choose to preach in this house if I
thought it would not stand the trial of a large congregation, but might
one of these days totter and break down? Would any one forming a
railway, construct a bridge that would not stand a trial of the weight
that might run across it? No; we have things that would stand the
trial, otherwise we should think them of no value. That which I can
trust one hour, but find it break the next, when I want it most, is of
little use to me. But because ye are of value, saints, because ye are
gold, therefore ye must be tried. From the very fact that ye are
valuable, ye must be made to pass through the furnace.
3. Another thought is this; the Christian is said to be a sacrifice to
God. Now every sacrifice must be burned with fire. Even when they
offered the green ears before the harvest, it is said the green ears
must be dried with fire. They killed the bullock and laid it on the
altar, but it was no sacrifice till they burned it. They slew the lamb,
they laid the wood; but there was no sacrifice in the killing of the
lamb till it was burned. Know ye not, brethren, we are offerings to
God, and that we are a living sacrifice unto Jesus Christ. But how
could we be a sacrifice if we were not burned? If we never had the fire
of trouble put about us, if we never were kindled, we should lie there
without smoke, without flame, unacceptable to God. But be cause ye are
his sacrifice, therefore ye must be burned; fire must penetrate you and
you must be offered a whole burnt offering, holy and acceptable unto
God.
4. Another reason why we must be put in the furnace is, because else we
should not be at all like Jesus Christ. If you read that beautiful
description of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation, you will find it
says, that "his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace." The feet of Jesus Christ represent his humanity, the head the
divinity. The head of his Deity suffered not: as God he could not
suffer' but "his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace." How can we be like Christ, unless our feet, too, are burned
in the furnace? If he walked through the flames, must not we do the
same?–that "in all things he might be like unto his brethren." We are
we know, to be like Christ in that august appearance when he shall come
to be admired of all his saints; we are to be like him when we shall
see him as lie is; and shall we fear to be like him here? Will we not
tread where our Saviour trod? there is his footstep; shall not our foot
fill the same place? There is his track; will we not willingly say–
"His track I see, and I'll pursue
The narrow way, till him I view?"
Yes! Onward, Christian! the captain of your salvation hath gone through
the dark valley before you–therefore, onward! Onward with boldness!
Onward with courage! Onward with hope! that ye may be like your
Saviour, by participation in his sufferings.
III. And now WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE FURNACE? for we are quite
sure that all these reasons are not sufficient for God's trying his
people unless there is some benefit to be derived from it. Very simply
and briefly then, one benefit to be derived from the furnace is, that
it purifies us. I was very kindly shown by some of the magistrates of
Glasgow over one of the largest ship-building works I had ever seen. I
saw them cast certain articles while I was present. I noticed them put
the metal in the crucible, and after subjecting it to an intense heat,
I saw them pour it out like water into the moulds, but first they
removed the impurities from the top; but the scum would never have come
on the top had it not been for the fire. They could not extract the
dross if it had not been put in the furnace and melted. That is the
benefit of the furnace to God's people; it melts, tries, and purifies
them. They get rid of their dross; and if we can but get rid of that,
we may be willing to suffer all the misery in the world. The man who is
very badly diseased, may stop a long while before he is willing that
the doctor's knife shall be used upon him; but when death comes to his
bedside, he will say at last. "Anything, physician; anything, surgeon;
if you can but get this disease away–cut as deep as you please." I
confess I have the greatest antipathy to pain; but nevertheless, a
greater pain will make one bear a less one to relieve it. And as sin is
pain to God's people; as it is a weary torment, they will be willing,
if necessary, to have their right hand cut off, or their right eye
plucked out, rather than having two eyes or two hands, to be cast into
hell-fire. The furnace is a good place for you, Christian; it benefits
you; it helps you to become more like Christ, and it is fitting you for
heaven. The more furnace-work you have the sooner you will get home;
for God will not keep you long out of heaven when you are fit for it.
When all the dross is burned, and the tin is gone, he will say, "Bring
hither that wedge of gold; I do not keep my pure gold on earth. I will
put it away with my crown jewels in the secret place of my tabernacle
of heaven."
2. Another benefit of the furnace is, that it makes us more ready to be
moulded. Let a blacksmith take a piece of cold iron, lay it on the
anvil, and bring down his heavy hammer with tremendous force to fashion
it. There he is at work. Ah! Mr. Black. smith, you will have many a
hard day's work before you will make anything out of that bar of iron.
"But," says he, "I mean to smite hard, to strike true, and morning,
noon, and night. this hammer shall be always ringing on the anvil, and
on the iron." Ah! so it may, Mr. Blacksmith, but there will be nought
come of it. You may smite it eternally while it is cold, and you shall
be a fool for your pains; the best thing you could do would be to place
it in the furnace, then you might weld it; then you could melt it
entirely, and pour it into a mould, and it would take any shape you
pleased. What could our manufacturers do if they could not melt the
metal they use? They could not make half the various things we see
around us if they were not able to liquify the metal, and afterwards
mould it. There could be no good men in the world if it were not for
trouble. We could none of us be made useful if we could not be tried in
the fire. Take me as I am, a rough piece of metal, very rough, stern,
and hard. You may tutor me in my childhood, and use the rod; you may
train me in my manhood, and set the pains of the magistrate and the
fear of the law before my eyes, but you will make a very sorry fellow
of me, with all your hitting and knocking. But if God takes me in hand,
and puts me in the furnace of affliction, and melts me down by trial,
then he can fashion me like unto his own glorious image, that I may at
last be gathered with him above. The furnace makes us fusible. We can
better be poured out and moulded and delivered unto the doctrines, when
we have been somewhat tried.
3. Then the furnace is very useful to God's people because they get
more light there than anywhere else. If you travel in the neighbourhood
of Birmingham, or in other manufacturing districts, you will be
interested at night by the glare of light which is cast by all those
furnaces. It is labour's own honourable illumination. This may be an
idea apart from the subject; but I believe there is no place where we
learn so much, and have so much light cast upon Scripture, as we do in
the furnace. Read a truth in hope, read it in peace, read it in
prosperity, and you will not make any thing of it. Be put inside the
furnace (and nobody knows what a bright blaze is there who has not been
there) and you will be then able to spell all hard words, and
understand more than you ever could without it.
4. One more use of the furnace–and I give this for the benefit of
those who hate God's people–is, that it is useful for bringing plagues
on our enemies. Do you not remember the passage in Exodus, where "the
Lord saith unto Moses and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of
the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it towards the heaven in the sight
of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt,
and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon
beast." There is nothing that so plagues the enemies of Israel as
"handfuls of ashes of the furnace" that we are able to cast upon them.
The devil is never more devoid of wisdom than when he meddles with
God's people, and tries to run down God's minister. "Run him down!"
Sir, you run him up! You will never hurt him by all you can say against
him, for "handfuls of the dust of the furnace" will be scattered abroad
to bring plagues upon the ungodly throughout the land. Did any
Christian ever suffer yet by persecution–really suffer by it? Does he
ever really lose by it? No; it is quite the reverse. We gain by it. You
remember the case of the burning fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshech,
and Abednego, and Nebuchadnezzar's dealings. You remember he commanded
that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than usual; and he
told his brave men, his strongest ones, to take these three men bound
and cast them into the furnace. There they go! they have thrown three
men bound into the fire; but before they have time to turn back it is
said, the heat of the flames slew those men that cast them into the
furnace. Nebuchadnezzar said himself, "Did we not cast three bound into
the furnace? Behold I see four men loose walking in the midst of the
fire, and the fourth is like the Son of God." Now, just mark these
points. Nebuchadnezzar made a great blunder, and heated the fire too
hot. That is just what our enemies often do. if they would just speak
the truth about us and only tell our imperfections, they would then
have enough to do. But, in their endeavours to cast down God's
servants, they heat the fire rather too hot; they make what they say
smell, as Rowland Hill said, too much like a lie, therefore, nobody
believes them; and instead of doing any hurt, it just kills the men who
would have cast us into the fire. I have noticed sometimes when there
comes out a desperate article against any particular man, suppose the
man is right, the person who writes the article is always damaged by
it, but not the man who is thrown into the fire. It does the slandered
man good. All that has ever been said of me, as one of God's servants,
has done me good; it has just burned the bonds of my obscurity, and
given me liberty to speak to thousands. Moreover, to throw the
Christian into the furnace, is to put him into Christ's parlour; for
lo! Jesus Christ is walking with him! Spare yourselves the trouble, O
ye enemies; if ye wish to hurt us, spare yourselves the labour. You
think that is the furnace. It is not: it is the gate of heaven. Jesus
Christ is there; and will you be so foolish as to put us just where we
like to be? Oh! kind enemies, thus to render us threefold blessed. But,
were ye wise, ye would say, "Let it alone. If the thing be of God it
will stands if it be not of God it will utterly fall." God's enemies
receive more damage from "the ashes of the furnace" than in any other
way. They are shots that kill wherever they go. Persecution damages our
enemies; it cannot hurt us. Let them still go on; let them still fight;
all their arrows fall back upon them selves. And as for aught of evil
that is done against us. it is but small and light compared with the
damage that is done to their own cause. This, then, is another blessing
concerning the furnace–it hurts our enemies though it does not hurt
us.
IV. And now, to wind up, let us consider THE COMFORTS IN THE FURNACE.
Christian men may say, "It is all well to tell us what good the furnace
does; but we want some comfort in it." Well, then, beloved, the first
thing I will give you is the comfort of the text itself-ELECTION.
Comfort thyself, thou tried one, with this thought: God saith, "I have
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." The fire is hot, but he has
chosen me; the furnace burns, but he has chosen me; these coals are
hot, the place I love not, but he has chosen me. Ah! it comes like a
soft gale assuaging the fury of the flame. It is like some gentle wind
fanning the cheeks; yea, this one thought arrays us in fireproof
armour, against which the heat hath no power. Let affliction come–God
has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayest come in at the door–God is in the
house already, and he has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayest come, but I
will have this by my side for a balsam–God has chosen me. Whatever it
is, I know that he has chosen me.
2. The next comfort is that you have the Son of Man with you in the
furnace. In that silent bedchamber of yours, there sitteth by your side
one whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when
thou knowest it not, he makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and
smoothes thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lonely
house of thine that hath nought to cover its bare walls, where thou
sleepest on a miserable pallet, dost thou know that the Lord of life
and glory is a frequent visitor; he often treads those bare floors, and
putting his hands upon those walls he consecrates them! Wert thou in a
palace he might not come there. He loves to come into these desolate
places that he may visit thee. The Son of Man is with thee, Christian.
Thou canst not see him, but thou mayest feel the pressure of his hands.
Dost thou not hear his voice? It is the valley of the shadow of death:
thou seest nothing; but he says, "Fear not, I am with thee; be not
dismayed, for I am thy God." It is like that noble speech of
Caesar's–"Fear not, thou carriest Caesar and all his fortune." Fear
not, Christian! thou carriest Jesus in the same boat with thee, and all
his fortune! He is with thee in the same fire. The same fire that
scorches thee, scorches him. That which could destroy thee could
destroy him, for thou art a portion of the fulness of him that fills
all in all. Wilt thou not take hold of Jesus, then, and say–
"Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead,
I'll follow where he goes."
Feeling that you are safe in his hands, will you not laugh even death
to scorn, and triumph over the sting of the grave, because Jesus Christ
is with you?
Now, dear friends, there is another great furnace besides the one I
have been talk ing of. There is a very great furnace, "the pile thereof
is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of
brimstone, doth kindle it." There is a furnace so hot, that when the
ungodly are cast into it, they shalt be as the crack ling of thorns
under a pot. There is a burning so exceedingly fierce that all those
tormented in its flames spend their time in "weeping, and wailing, and
gnash ing of teeth." There is a furnace "where the worm dieth not, and
where the fire is not quenched." Where it is I know not. Methinks it is
not down here in the bowels of the earth. It were a sad thought that
earth hath hell within her own bowels, but that it is somewhere in the
universe the Eternal has declared. Men and women! ye who love not God,
a few more years will set you on a journey through the vast unknown to
find out where this place is. Should ye die Godless and Christless, a
strong hand will seize you on your death-bed, and irresistibly you will
be borne along through the vast expanse of ether, unknowing whither you
are tending, but with the dread thought that you are in the hand of a
demon, who with an iron hand is bearing you most swiftly on. Down he
plungeth thee? Ah! what a fall were that my friends! to find yourselves
there in that desperate land of torments! May you never know it! Words
cannot tell you of it now. I can but Just call up a few dread horrible
emotions; I can but picture it in a few short rough words: may you
never know it! Would ye wish to escape: there is but one door. Would ye
be saved: there is but one way. Would ye find entrance into heaven and
escape from hell: there is but one road. The road is this–"Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." "He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned."
To believe is to trust in Jesus. As an old divine used to say, "Faith
is recumbency on Christ." But it is too hard a word. He meant, faith is
lying down on Christ. As a child lieth on its mother's arms, so is
faith; as the seaman trusteth to his bark, so is faith; as the old man
leaneth on his staff, so is faith; as I may trust, there is faith.
Faith is to trust. Trust in Jesus, he will ne'er deceive you:
"Venture on him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good."
Thus may you escape that furnace of fire into which the wicked must be
cast. God bless you all, for his name's sake.