Choice Portions

Choice Portions
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 25, 1862, BY REV. C. H.
SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For the Lord's portion is His people." Deuteronomy 32:9.
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul." Lamentations 3:24.
The love of God changes us into its own image, so that what the Lord
says concerning us, we also can declare concerning Him. God is love
essentially, and when this essential love shines forth freely upon us,
we reflect it back upon Him. He is like the sun, the great father of
lights, and we are as the moon and the planets–we shine in rays
borrowed from His brightness. He is the golden seal, and we, His
people, are the wax receiving the impression.
Our Heaven is to be likeness to Christ and our preparation for Heaven
consists in a growing imitation of Him in all things. See, Brethren,
how the Lord gives the Word, and our heart, like an echo, repeats every
syllable. The Lord loves His people and we love Him because He first
loved us. He has chosen His saints and they also have made Him their
chosen heritage. The saints are precious to Jesus and unto us who
believe He is precious. Christ lived for us, and for us to live is
Christ–we gain all things by His death and for us to die is gain.
The Church is the looking glass in which Christ sees Himself reflected.
She is like a fair songstress taking up the refrain of Jesus' canticles
of love, while He sings, "My sister, My spouse," she answers, "My
Beloved is mine and I am His." It is most delightful to perceive how,
through Divine Grace, Believers come to have the same feeling towards
their God which their gracious Lord has towards them.
Our two texts present us with an interesting instance–the Church is
God's portion–He delights in her, He finds in her His solace and His
joy. But God is also, as the result of this, the Church's portion–her
full delight and bliss. Beloved, the love is mutual. And whereas the
Lord is married to His people, we perceive that it is no forced match
on either side. He voluntarily gave Himself to her and she joyfully
surrenders her all to Him. His whole heart He gave unto His chosen
people, and now they as voluntarily, though led by Divine Grace, give
themselves to Him. And while He clasps His Church in His arms, saying,
"You are My portion," she returns the embrace and rapturously cries,
"You are my portion, O Lord."
As God shall help me, and relying only on His Divine assistance, I
shall try to work out these two texts at some length. We shall commence
with, "The Lord's portion.''" We will then proceed to the second, "His
people's portion.''" I. "THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE."
1. The text teaches us that the Church of God is the Lord's own
peculiar and special property. "The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein." By creation,
as well as by Providence, Jehovah is the liege Lord and Sovereign
possessor of the entire universe. Let none venture to dispute His
claims, or say that He is not the great Owner of all things, for thus
says the Lord, "Behold, all souls are Mine." But He has a special
property in His Church.
As a king may have ample possessions, to all of which he has undoubted
right, still he has royal mansions and crown lands which are in a very
special sense his own. So has the Lord of All a peculiar interest in
His saints. As Osborne and Balmoral and Windsor belong to our sovereign
by a tenure which differs from her title and claim to the United
Kingdom, so the Church is the peculiar heritage of the King of kings.
The whole world is God's by common right. He is Lord of the manor of
the universe. But His Church is His garden, His cultivated and fenced
field, and if He should give up His rights to all the rest of the wide
earth, yet He never could relinquish His rights to His separated
inheritance. "The Lord's portion is His people."
How are they His? We answer, first, by His own sovereign choice. Before
they were fashioned, all creatures lay in His mind's eye in the mass of
creatureship, and it was in His power to make whom He would as vessels
unto honor. He did so ordain to make His chosen and set His love upon
them. When they lay in the impure mass, having all fallen, it was still
in His power, through the plan of redemption, to raise up some and to
make these His own special heritage. This He did altogether apart from
any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which He foresaw in
them.
He had mercy on whom He would have mercy and ordained a chosen company
into eternal life. These, therefore, are His by election. As our text
says, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance, or as the Hebrew has it,
"the cord" of His inheritance, an allusion to the old custom of
measuring out lots by a line or cord. So by line and by lot the Lord
has marked off His own chosen people, "and they shall be Mine, says the
Lord, in the day when I make up My jewels."
They are not only His by choice, but by purchase. He has bought and
paid for them to the utmost farthing, so that about His title there can
be no dispute. Not with corruptible things, as with silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord's
portion has been fully redeemed. There is no mortgage on His estate, no
suits can be raised by opposing claimants, the price was paid in open
court and the Church is the Lord's freehold forever.
See the blood-mark upon all the chosen, invisible to human eye but
known to Christ, for "the Lord knows them that are His"? He forgets
none of those whom He has redeemed from among men. He counts the sheep
for whom He laid down His life and remembers well the Church for which
He gave Himself. Should any fraudulent adversary dispute His claim, He
shows His pierced hands and points to His wounded side. The emblems of
His passion are the seals of His possession.
They are also His by conquest. Old Jacob, when he lay dying, gave to
Joseph one portion above his brothers, which he had taken out of the
hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow. The Lord Jesus can
truly say of His people that He has taken them out of the hand of the
Amorite with His sword and with His bow. Your conquering hand, O Jesus,
when nailed to the Cross, rent away Your children's' chains. You have
trod our foes in Your anger and trampled them in Your hot displeasure.
Behold their blood is sprinkled upon Your garments and You have stained
all Your raiment.
Upon your necks, O you tyrants of the Church, has the Anointed put His
feet. He has dashed you in pieces with His own right hand! He has
broken the ties of the young lions and delivered His Israel out of the
jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear. He has obtained His saints as
a portion which He divides with the great, and as a spoil which He has
taken from the strong. We are Christ's this day by conquest in us. What
a battle He had in us before we would be won! How long He laid siege to
our hearts! How often He sent His terms of capitulation.
But we rejected all overtures of submission. We barred our gates. We
fenced our walls against Him. The Law, with its great battering ram,
smote our gates till the posts rocked in their sockets, but we
fortified our strongholds and fought stoutly against the Most High,
vowing that we would not be subdued. But ah, do you not remember that
glorious hour when He carried our hearts by storm, when He put His
Cross against the wall and scaled our ramparts, planting on our
strongholds the blood-red flag of His atoning mercy?
O Brethren, we are, indeed, the conquered captives of His omnipotent
love. Thus chosen, purchased and subdued, the rights of our Divine
possessor are undeniable, and we, His people, are the regalia of His
royalty, the gems of His crown, the sheep of His pasture, the children
of His love, the darlings of His heart–if He could renounce all else
which owns His sway, yet can He never give them up of whom it is
written, "the Lord's portion is His people."
2. In the second place, the text shows that the saints are the objects
of the Lord's special care. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth"–with what object?–"To show Himself strong
in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." The wheels of
Providence are full of eyes. But in what direction are they gazing?
Why, that all things may "work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose." God is
omnipresent and omniscient–has an eye to all creatures and all things.
He sees all immensity. He beholds all things at one gaze. Yet, "the
eyes of the Lord," in a special sense, "are upon the righteous." And
though His ears are open to all things, yet, in a peculiar manner, "His
ears are open to their cry." It is true the Lord is the eternal Watcher
of the universe and never sleeps. Yet, in a very distinct sense, He is
the guardian of His Church. "I the Lord do keep it. I will water it
every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day." "Behold
He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."
He encompasses all things by the Word of His power and He upholds all
things by His might. But His power, His presence and His protection,
are more peculiarly with His Church, for He is to her "a wall of fire
round about her and a glory in her midst." The Church, then, as God's
portion, is His peculiar care. When she lay at first in her barrenness,
as a corner of the vast howling wilderness, He took her under His care.
He fenced and hedged her. He began to dig up by the roots her nettles,
her thorns, her briers. He sent the spirit of burning into her, by
which the weeds of evil were consumed. He plowed her deep with
convictions. He harrowed her with the Law. He scattered into her the
incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.
When He saw her tender blades springing up, He watched over every one
of them, sending the dewdrops, and the rain showers, and the sunbeams,
and the wind, just when they were needed. And He continues still to
watch, even when her harvest grows ripe and the blade has given place
to the full corn in the ear. He will watch until He himself, descending
from the Great White Throne, shall take the golden sickle and reap the
sheaves and return to His eternal garner rejoicing, bringing His
sheaves with Him.
Dear Friends, it is sweet to reflect how careful God is of His Church.
We are jealous of our eyes, but the Lord keeps His people as the apple
of His eye. What a wonderful affection birds have for their young. They
will sooner die than let their little ones be destroyed! But like as an
eagle flutters over her nest, so does the Lord of Hosts defend
Jerusalem. What love a true husband has for his spouse! How much rather
would he suffer than that she should grieve! And just such love has God
towards His Church. Oh, how He cares for her! How He provides for her
as a king should provide for his own queen! How He watches all her
footsteps, guards all her motions.
He has her at all times beneath His eyes and protected by His hands.
Hear how He tells of His care in providing for His Israel. "Now when I
passed by you and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of
love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness: yes, I
swore unto you and entered into a Covenant with you, says the Lord God,
and you became Mine. Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly
washed away your blood from you and I anointed you with oil. I clothed
you, also with broidered work and shod you with badger's skin.
"And I girded you about with fine linen and I covered you with silk. I
decked you also with ornaments and I put bracelets upon your hands and
a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your forehead and earrings
in your ears and a beautiful crown upon your head. Thus were you decked
with gold and silver. And your raiment was of fine linen and silk and
broidered work. You did eat fine flour and honey, and oil: and you were
exceedingly beautiful."
Never was there care so tender, so perpetual, so faithful, so
affectionate, as the care of God over all His chosen ones, for indeed,
it is no fiction and no metaphor–the Lord's portion really is His
people. He covers us with His feathers and under His wings do we trust.
His Truth is become our shield and buckler. The Lord is mighty in
battle for His Church. He puts out His omnipotence when He first of all
delivers her, and no less might does He show every day when He keeps
her from falling. And He will present her at last spotless before His
face. Never was castle upon a mountain summit, fortified by nature, so
impregnable as is the Church of God–
"Munitions of stupendous rock Her dwelling place shall be; There shall
her sons without a shock The wreck of nature see."
3. The text includes the idea that the Church is the object of the
Lord's special joy, for a man's portion is that in which he takes
delight. Brethren, how very strong the Scripture is as to the delight
which God has in His saints. I am sure you and I cannot see anything in
ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us. We cannot take
delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened,
conscious of our sinfulness. I am afraid that God's people cannot take
much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections
and our follies that they must rather lament our infirmities than
admire our graces.
Oh, who would not rejoice in this transcendent Truth of God, this
glorious mystery? The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in
them that hope in His mercy! I do not read anywhere that God delights
in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars–but I do read
that He delights in the habitable parts of the earth and that His
delights are with the sons of men. I do not find it written that even
angels give His soul delight, nor does He say, concerning cherubim and
seraphim, "I will be a father unto you and you shall be My sons and
daughters." But He does say that to the poor fallen race of
man–debased, depraved, dejected by their sin–but saved, exalted,
glorified by His Grace!
See what terms He uses. He calls them His dwelling place. "In Jewry is
God known, His name is great in Israel, in Salem also is His tabernacle
and His dwelling place in Zion." "For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has
desired it for His habitation." Where is a man most at ease? Why at
home–
"Wherever we wander, there's no place like home." Beloved, the Church
is God's home. And as at home a man unbends himself, takes his
pleasure, manifests himself to his children as he does not unto
strangers–so in the Church, the Lord unbends Himself, condescendingly
manifesting Himself to them as He does not unto the world. O could you
think of it, that the chosen of God are as dear to Him as your humble
cottage is to you, as the rooftree of your ancestors and the place of
your birth?
We are expressly told that the Church is the Lord's rest. "This is My
rest forever, here will I dwell for I have desired it." As if all the
world beside were His workshop and His Church His rest. In the
boundless universe He is busy marshalling the stars, riding upon the
wings of the wind, making the clouds His chariot. But in His Church He
is at rest, in Zion the Everlasting One spends His Sabbaths!
Yet further, there is an unrivalled picture in the Word where the Lord
is even represented as singing with joy over His people. Who could have
conceived of the Eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is
written, "He will rejoice over you with joy, He will rest in His love,
He will joy over you with singing." As He looked upon the world, He
spoke and said, "It is very good," but He did not sing. And as He views
the works of Providence, I hear not that He sings. But when He gazes on
you and on me, the purchase of Jesus' blood–His own chosen ones–the
great heart of the Infinite restrains itself no longer but, wonder of
wonders, and miracle of miracles, God, the Eternal One, sings out with
the joy of His soul! Truly, "the Lord's portion is His people."
Once more, remember that the Lord represents himself as married to His
Church. What does He say to her? "You shall be called Hephzibah and
your land Beulah: for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be
married. As a young man marries a virgin, even so shall your God marry
you. And as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, even so shall your Lord
rejoice over you." He puts the affection, you see, in the most
brilliant light. It is not only the affection of the husband to the
wife, but seeing that some men are changeable, and their love grows
cold, the Lord selects that hour of first love when the bridegroom,
fresh and newly married, rejoices over his bride. The joy and love of
the young honeymoon of married life is but a faint picture of the
complacency and delight God always has in His people.
Dear Friends, this is a subject to be thought of rather than to be
talked about, for I find thoughts in my heart this morning, rather than
in my head, and I cannot get them out. But this I know, there cannot be
a closer union between any two beings than there is between Christ and
His people, for they are members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones. There cannot be a warmer love than this. A mother's love is
nothing compared to it–yes, "she may forget her sucking child and
cease to have compassion on the son of her womb. Yet will I never
forget you, says the Lord that has mercy on you."
The husband may repulse from his arms the chosen one whom once he loved
so tenderly but, "He hates putting away." Whom once He has embraced He
embraces forever. "I will betroth you unto Me forever; yes, I will
betroth you unto Me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving
kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth you unto Me in
faithfulness."
Oh that this love were shed abroad this morning in our poor frozen
hearts! Oh that we felt God's delight in us! For if by faith we knew
all this, and by sweet experience could attest it, surely we should be
better prepared to join with Jeremiah in the second text and say, "The
Lord is my portion, says my soul."
4. Our text teaches us that God's people are His everlasting
possession. You will say, "Why?" There is an allusion here to the
division of the portions among the different tribes. That which was the
portion of Asher never could be the portion of Zebulon and that which
belonged to Simeon never could belong to Dan. For there was a Law made,
that if any man should lose his inheritance by debt, or should be
driven to the necessity of selling it, yet at the Year of Jubilee it
always came back again to him, so that, you see, no Israelite ever lost
his portion.
Now, God maps out for Himself His people. He says, "These are My
portion." And do you think, Brethren, God will lose His portion? No–if
He should sell His portion into the hand of the enemy for a season, yet
at the Year of Jubilee it would return to Him. Glory be to God, that
Year of Jubilee is come! We were sold once. It did seem as if we were
no more the people of God. But the high priest has died, the Year of
Jubilee has been proclaimed, and now God's inheritance has come back to
Him, and if it could be alienated again, He would recover it.
If a man is a child of God and is suffered to fall, he shall certainly
be brought back by bitter repentance before he dies, that his soul at
the last may be saved, for God shall not lose His heritage. Have you
not noticed, in reading Scripture, how the Israelites always clung
tenaciously to their portion? When Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your
vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near
unto my house: and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it.
Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you the worth of it in money,"
Naboth said to him, "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers unto you."
And so, Brethren, God will never sell His children at any price. Nor if
He could have better people instead, would He change them. They are His
and they shall be His while time lasts. And when time ends and eternity
rolls on, He never can, He never will, cast away His chosen people. Let
us in this rejoice and be exceedingly glad. "The Lord's portion is His
people."
II. We turn to our second text–"THE LORD IS MY PORTION, SAYS MY SOUL."
Dear Friends, this sentence implies that true Believers have the Lord
as their sole portion. It is not, "The Lord is partly my portion," not
"The Lord is in my portion." No, He Himself makes up the sum total of
my soul's inheritance. The Lord Himself is my portion. Men of this
world, we are told, have their portion in this life. In the field they
have it in their abundant crops, and in the house they have it in
comfort, in riches. Some of them have it in purple and fine linen,
faring sumptuously every day.
But how is it God gives them so good a portion here? You may have seen
a farmer when he has his meal prepared for his swine, he passes two or
three of his little children in the yard as he is going out at feeding
time. Why does he not give some of the meal to his children? He scoops
it out till he has filled the hog's trough full, and then the swine
come and eat till they lie down, full to bursting, their eyes standing
out with fatness. How is it he does not give some of it to his
children?
"Oh, no," says he, "This is not the children's meat," and as it is not
meet to take the children's bread and give it unto dogs, so it would
not be meet to take the swine's meat and give it unto children. When
Martin Luther had a large sum of money sent to him, he gave it all away
directly to the poor, for he said, "O Lord, You shall never put me off
with my portion in this life." Now when God's children receive anything
in the way of gifts from Providence, they thank God for it, and
endeavor to use it for His honor and glory–but they still insist that
it is not their portion.
You know, when you go to a shop to buy goods, they give you the brown
paper and the string in the bargain–so when we seek first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, all these things are added to us. For
godliness has the promise of the life that is now, as well as of that
which is to come. But we don't go to buy the brown paper and the
string, they are not what we are looking after–so with the true
Christian, his portion, that which he seeks after–is his God. This is
his only portion, he seeks nothing besides.
When Abraham had many children by his wife Keturah, you remember it is
written he gave them their portions and sent them away. But he never
did so with his Isaac. Lord, let me be Your Isaac! Give the world its
portion. Give the emperor his crown. Give the rich man his money bags,
send him away. But let me be a stranger with You as Isaac in his
father's tent.
The man who has such a portion as this, ought not to wish for anything
beyond. What can be needed beyond this portion? We are walking in the
sunlight today–a fine glorious summer's day–if anyone of you should
be crying in your pew this morning, and I should ask, "What are you
weeping for?" and you should reply, "I am weeping because I cannot see
the stars," we should think you mad. For he that has the sunlight can
do without the starlight–so with the Believer. Why should he be
weeping because he has lost this or lost that?–
"You at all times, will I bless;
Having YOU, I all possess;
How can I bereaved be,
Since I cannot part with YOU?" St. Augustine was likely, very often, to
pray, "Lord, give me Yourself." A less portion than this would be
unsatisfactory. Not God's Grace merely, nor His love. All these come
into the portion but, "the Lord is, my portion, says my soul." More
than His attributes, more than His love, more than His Covenant, is
Jehovah Himself the special portion and privi- lege of His own Beloved
ones. "My Soul, wait you only upon God, for my expectation is from
Him." As God is our only portion, so He is our own portion–"The Lord
is my portion, says my soul." I hope He is your portion, dear Brethren.
But whether He is or not does not concern me so much as whether He is
mine.
Come, Brethren, have you got a personal grip of this portion? Are you
sure it is yours? Pray for sinners. Ask that God may bring them in, but
see, first of all, to your own personal interest in these precious
things. Let it go round these pews now. Can you say, "The Lord is MY
portion?" Let it not be a general declaration but a particular
affirmation– "The Lord is MY portion." Yes, with streaming eyes and
bursting heart, many a soul here that can now see Jesus hanging on the
Cross taking away all its guilt, can say, though almost choked with
tears, "Yes, blessed be His name, the Lord is my portion."
Some of you are very poor. You have nothing in the world, but you can
say, "The Lord is my portion." Like the old woman who, when she had
nothing to eat but a dry crust of bread and only a cup of water to
drink, broke the bread and said, "All this, and Jesus Christ, too!" We
have heard of a great man who once took a poor Believer and said–"Look
over there at those hills." "Yes, Sir." "Well, all that is mine. That
farm yonder, and that one yonder, and beyond that river over there–it
is all mine."
"Ah," said the Believer–"look at yonder little cottage, that is where
I live and even that is not mine, for I have to rent it. And yet I am
richer than you. I can point up yonder and say–there lies my
inheritance, in Heaven's unmeasured space. And you may look as far as
ever you can, you cannot see the limit of my heritage, nor find out
where it ends nor where it begins."
Oh, what a blessing, Brethren, it is as if you and I can say, "He is my
heritage!" Do not, I beseech you, be satisfied with generals–come to
particulars. I know people think they are going to Heaven in the lump
but they never will. Men go to Hell in bundles but they go to Heaven
separately. "But we are a Christian nation." Nonsense about a Christian
nation! We are as fairly an un-Christian nation as we are a Christian
nation. "Oh but we were all made Christians when we were sprinkled."
You are not such fools as to believe this abominable superstition. You
know better! How can a drop of water on the forehead change the heart
or affect the nature, or floods of water, for that matter? You know
better than that.
Have you been born again from above? If you have not, you are not the
children of God, and you have not a child's portion. Have you passed
from death unto life? If not, you have not the portion of the living in
Zion. You may, perhaps, have had your portion as the prodigal son did,
who said, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me." But
unless you are converted, unless you have been brought to put your
faith in Christ, you can never have that portion which belongs to the
true-born heir of Heaven, for to him God has said–"Son, you are ever
with Me and all that I have is yours."
But again, the Lord is to His people an inherited portion. Many men
have to thank God that their fathers were born before them, for they
worked and made their money, and left their estates to them. It is not
every man who is rich that owes his riches to his own industry, and
certainly, if you and I are so rich as to have God for our inheritance,
we owe it to the fact of our birth. How came I to be the child of God?
I was born so–O no, you were born an heir of wrath. I know I was the
first time but the second time I was born in the image of His Son,
begotten again unto lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
You cannot earn this inheritance by working for it. You cannot purchase
it. You can only gain it by inheriting it. Ask yourselves very solemnly
whether you know anything of the new birth, and if you do not, as the
Lord my God lives, and as your soul lives, you can have no lot or
portion in this matter until you do. "If children, then heirs. Heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Christ." But if not children, then not heirs
and the heritage cannot be yours.
But further, Brethren, this heritage is also ours by choice. We have
chosen God to be our heritage. Believer, I ask you, supposing it could
be left to you now whether you would have God to be your portion, or
have the most splendid earthly destiny, which would you have? Oh, you
would say, "Let me have my God." At first, I grant you, the will of man
is not free to choose Christ, for man chooses evil and not good and the
Lord must choose our inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose
it. "You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you," was the word of
Christ through the Apostle to all His people. But if we are really
called according to the purpose of electing love we can sing–
"Loved of my God, for Him again
With love intense I burn; Chosen of Him before time began, I choose Him
in return."
Better to have Christ and a fiery stake, than to lose Him and wear a
royal robe. Better Christ and the old Mamertine dungeon of the Apostle
Paul, than to be without Christ and live in the palace of Caesar.
Christ Jesus, You blessed portion of our souls! You are altogether
lovely. And if we had to begin again, we would, by Your Grace, begin
with You.
Again, dear Friends, God is his people's settled portion. When you were
married, some of you, there were marriage settlements to be made, deeds
to be drawn up, and lawyers called in and witnesses to sign the
marriage covenant. I suppose that when the Princess Alice gets her
portion, it will be settled upon her in some way or other. For where
there are great portions, there should be settlements. Blessed be the
name of the Most High, there is a marriage settlement made upon all the
Lord's people–their portion is settled on them.
"Yes, and amen in Christ Jesus," all the promises have been made to the
chosen seed. Heaven and earth may pass away but the Covenant of Grace
shall not be removed. The covenant of day and night may be broken. The
waters may again cover the earth, sooner than the decree of Divine
Grace be frustrated. Every promise of the Covenant is a consequence to
every heir of Heaven, nor can Satan break them. No Parliamentary act
passed on earth, no deed perpetrated in the conclaves of Hell, can ever
affect the eternal, immutable, everlasting settlements of Covenant
Grace which are made in Christ Jesus, ordered in all things and sure.
The Lord is my settled portion.
The Lord is my all-sufficient portion. God fills himself. And as Manton
says, in his exposition of the 119th Psalm, "If God is all-sufficient
in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us." And then he uses this
figure–"That which fills an ocean will fill a bucket. That which will
fill a gallon will fill a pint. Those revenues that will defray an
emperor's expenses, are enough for a beggar or a poor man–so when the
Lord Himself is satisfied with Himself, and it is His happiness to
enjoy Himself, there needs no more–there is enough in God to satisfy."
This is clear reasoning, Brethren, and surely if the expenses of
Heaven's court never did affect God's riches, all the expenses of our
trial and affliction while we are here, never can diminish the
unsearchable riches of God which are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But you will tell me that man's wishes are very large and that it is
hard to satisfy them. Ah, my Brethren, I know they are–with anything
here below. You may have heard, I dare say, of the gentleman who told
his servant, "You have been a very faithful servant to me, John, and as
you are getting old, I should like to give you a pension. Now, what do
you think would satisfy you?" "Well, master," said he, "I think if I
had fifty pounds a year I should be very well satisfied, indeed."
"Well, think it over," said the master, "and come to me and let me
know."
So the day comes. "Now, what do you want to satisfy you?" "Well, Sir,
as I said before, I should never want for anything, or wish for
anything in this world, if I had fifty pounds a year." "Well, John, it
shall be done. There is the settlement for you–you shall have it."
That man went out of the door and said to a friend, "I wish I had said
a hundred." So, you see, it is not easy to satisfy man. When he thinks
he is satisfied, he still sees something beyond, the horse leech in his
heart still cries, "Give, give." But God is a satisfying portion. You
cannot wish for anything more than this–
"All my capacious powers can wish, In You is richly stored; Nor can my
soul conceive a joy Which is not in my Lord."
I think I may add–and the experience of every Believer will bear me
out–we have today a portion in which we take intense delight. I have
tried in a poor way to show that God had a delight in His people.
Beloved, do not His people, when they are in a right state of heart,
have an intense delight in Him? Friends, we have known what it is to
have delight in our children, delight in our Church. We have had
delight in this House of Prayer. We have delight in one another, in
sweet companionship and communion. But if you have ever tasted delight
in God, you will say with Rutherford, "I have eaten the bread of angels
and my mouth is out of taste for the brown bread of this world."
God gives us "a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of
fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." "I will
satiate the soul of My priests with fatness and My people shall be
satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord." Oh the delights that we
have in God! They are not ankle-deep delights, nor knee-deep delights.
But they are a river to swim in. Here we can bathe our souls–here we
riot and revel in inexhaustible luxuriance of delight. Here our spirit
stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle. Here she expands herself
and only wishes she were more capacious, and therefore she cries,
"Lord, expand me, enlarge my heart, that I may hold more of You."
Often have we felt in the spirit with Rutherford, when he cried, "Lord,
make me a heart as large as Heaven, that I may hold You in it! But
since the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You, Lord, make my soul as
wide as seven heavens, that I may contain Your fullness." "O that the
Lord would bless me, indeed, and enlarge my coasts."
And lastly, this is to the saints of God an eternal portion. Ungodly
Man, you have your portion now. It will melt, Sir! When the last fire
comes, it will be consumed. But the lot of the Believers will outlast
the fire. The conflagration which devours all the work of man's hands
shall not be able to touch, nor even to scorch any part or parcel of
the portion of Believers. Indeed, it is in the world to come that
Believers shall have their portion. Here they have none except trials
and troubles–"in the world you shall have tribulation." But as God
cannot be seen and as He is the Believer's portion, so their portion
cannot be seen.
It is a good remark of an excellent commentator upon that passage, "For
which cause He is not ashamed to be called their God." He writes to
this effect, "If it were only for this world, God would be ashamed to
be called His people's God, for His adversaries would say, 'Look at
those people, how tried they are, what troubles they have, who is their
God? And, says he, the Lord speaks as if He might be ashamed to be
called their God, if this life were all. But the Scripture says, 'Why
God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He has prepared for them
a city.' "
Thus may the Lord turn upon His enemies and Say, "I am their God and
although I do chasten them sorely, and lead them through the deep
waters, yet see what I am preparing for them–see them as they shall be
when I shall wipe all tears from their eyes and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters." It is in the prospect of bliss so
ecstatic, joy so boundless, glory so eternal, that He is not ashamed to
be called their God.
We are not ashamed, Brethren, to call Jehovah our God. Now let us go
our way this morning to our homes. Let us eat the fat and drink the
sweet in God. Let us put on our beauteous array and be appareled with
the sun and have the moon under our feet. Let us go forth as princes of
the blood-royal, and act according to our quality. Let us rejoice in
the Lord always. Let us show to the world that we are a happy and a
blessed people, until our adversaries shall have their mouths watering
while they say, "Let us live the life and die the death of the
righteous." "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places and we have
a goodly heritage."
Dear Friends, I shall only ask in conclusion–are there not many here
who cannot say, "You are my portion, O Lord"? Will you do me this favor
this morning? When you get home will you think what your portion is,
and cast your accounts up? If you cannot put God in the list, I tell
you that when you have cast all your portion up, it comes to nothing.
It may glitter for a season, but it shall go out like brambles that
crackle under the pot but which die out afterwards in a little heap of
white ashes. You have nothing if you have not God.
Ask if it is worth while for the sake of this empty world to lose
eternal things–and if you are convinced it is not, then may God lead
you to put your trust in the Lord Jesus, and in the Lord Jesus only.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." Or, to give
you the full, as Christ puts it, "He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved." He that with his heart believes in Christ and with his
mouth makes a profession of faith, (and it should be done in Baptism),
shall be saved. God grant us His Grace to believe, then our portion is
sure forever and ever, in this world and in the world to come.