A Sermon From A Rush
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 24, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Can the rush grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds grow without
water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any
other plant. So are the paths of all that forget God. And the
hypocrite's hope shall perish."
Job 8:11-13.
ISAAC walked in the fields at eventide to meditate. I commend him for
his occupation. Meditation is exceedingly profitable to the mind. If we
talked less, read less, and meditated more we should be wiser men. I
commend him for the season which he chose for that occupation–at
eventide–when the business of the day was over and the general
stillness of nature was in harmony with the quiet of his soul. I also
commend him for the place which he selected–the wide expanse of
nature–the field.
Wise men can readily find a thousand subjects for contemplation abroad
in the open country. Our four-square room is not very suggestive. But
when a man walks in the fields, having the Lord in his heart and his
whole mental faculties directed towards heavenly things, all things aid
him in his pleasing occupation. If we look above to the sun, moon and
stars, all these remind us of the grandeur of God and make us ask
ourselves, "What is man, that the Lord should be mindful of him, or the
son of man, that Jehovah should visit him?"
If we look below, the green meadows, or golden cornfields all proclaim
Divine care and bounty. There is not a bird that sings, nor a
grasshopper that chirps in the grass which does not urge us to praise
and magnify the name of the Most High–while the plants, from the
hyssop on the wall to the cedar which spreads its boughs so gloriously
on Lebanon– exhibit to observant eyes the wisdom of the great Creator
of all things. The murmuring brook talks to the listening ear in
hallowed whispers of Him whose cloudy Throne supplies its stream. And
the air, as it sighs amid the trees, tells in mysterious accents of the
great unseen but ever-active Spirit of the living God.
The great book of Nature only needs to be turned over by a reverent
hand and to be read by an attentive eye to be found to be only second
in teaching to the Book of Revelation. He who would have us forget to
study the fair creation of God is foolish. He would have us neglect one
book by a great Author in order that we may the better comprehend
another from the same hand. The pages of Inspiration reveal God far
more clearly than the fields of creation–but having once obtained the
light of God, the Holy Spirit, we can then enter the world of nature
which has become consecrated to our best devotions and find that "in
His temple does everyone speak of His Glory."
Down by the river's bank let us go, like Pharaoh's daughter, and
perhaps among the rushes we shall find a subject for thought of which
we may say, as she did of Moses, "I drew it out of the water." The
reed, as it waves in yonder marsh, has a word of warning and whoever
has ears to hear, let him hear. I claim your attention for a preacher
who is not often heard–lend him your ears and when any shall ask you,
"What did you go out to see?" you need not blush to answer, "A reed
shaken by the wind."
The rush shall, this morning, by God's Grace, teach us a lesson of
self-examination. Bildad, the Shuhite, points it out to us as the
picture of a hypocrite–so, going to our work at once we shall have
three things to talk about this morning. The hypocrite's
religion–first, what is it like? Secondly, what it lives on. And
thirdly, what will become of it?
I. First, then, THE HYPOCRITE'S PROFESSION–WHAT IS IT LIKE? It is here
compared to a rush growing in the mire and a reed flourishing in the
water. This comparison has several points in it.
1. In the first place, hypocritical religion may be compared to the
rush for the rapidity with which it grows. True conversions are often
very sudden–as, for example, the conversion of Saul on the road to
Damascus and the conversion of the Philippian jailer when suddenly
startled out of his sleep and made to cry, "What must I do to be
saved?" But the after-growth of Christians is not quite so rapid and
uninterrupted–seasons of deep depression chill their joy. Hours of
furious temptation make a dreadful onslaught upon their quiet.
They cannot always rejoice. Their life is checkered. They are emptied
from vessel to vessel and are acquainted with grief. True Christians
are very much like oaks which take years to reach their maturity–many
March winds blow through them before they are well rooted. And
oftentimes tempest and flood and drought and hurricane exercise their
tremendous powers upon them.
Not so the hypocrite–once having made a profession of being converted,
things generally go very smoothly with him. "Because they have no
changes, therefore they fear not God." They are strangers to
lamentations over inbred corruption. When Believers talk of a warfare
within, they are astonished! If we groan out, "O wretched man that I
am– who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" these gentlemen
say, "What bad people these Christians must be, to talk in that way!
What black hearts they must have! And how inconsistent for them to
claim to be children of God!"
The hypocrite can always pray well and sing well. He meets no
hindrances in coming to the Mercy Seat, has no groans to mingle with
his formal songs. The backs of living men ache under their loads, but a
steam-engine having no living sensibilities knows no pains. A horse may
stumble from weariness, but a locomotive, never! Even so, the
mechanical professor goes on and on and on at an even rate–when living
souls enjoy no such perfect equanimity.
Strong temptations do not grieve the mere professor. The devil does not
care to molest him–he knows he is sure of him and so he lets him very
much alone. The Pharisee's house stood very firmly though it was built
on sand–and it neither shook nor stirred till the flood came. It was
as firm to all human appearance as if it had been founded on the Rock
of Ages. When the trial-hour came–then the destruction was terribly
complete–but meanwhile its foundations were dug without labor and its
timbers were set up without trouble.
It is an ill sign, dear Friend, if you never have to search your heart
with deep anxiety lest you should be deceived. To have such strong
faith that you never waver is one thing–but to be filled with such
strong presumption that you never examine yourself is quite another.
"Tush!" says this man, "I can do all things. I can run and not be
weary! I can walk and not faint! I do not understand these sighings of
Little-Faith, and limping of Ready-to-Halt. I cannot understand all
this noise about conflict within–I am peaceable and quiet always."
Yes, so it may be. Alas, many have heard the voice, "Peace, peace,
where there is no peace."
So, like the rush by the river, the hypocrite grows up suddenly and
flourishingly in Divine things, to all appearances, and finds it easy
work to be green and fair in the ways of the Lord.
2. The rush is of all plants one of the most hollow and unsubstantial.
It looks stout enough to be wielded as a staff, but he that leans upon
it shall most certainly fall. It is a water-loving thing and it
partakes of the nature of that on which it feeds–it is unstable as
water and it does not excel. It has a fine appearance, but it is of no
service whatever where stability is needed.
So is it with the hypocrite! He is fair enough on the outside, but
there is no solid faith in Christ Jesus in him–no real repentance on
account of sin–no vital union to Christ Jesus. He can pray, but not in
secret, and the essence and soul of prayer he never knew. He has never
wrestled with the angel, never sighed and cried unto God and been
"heard in that he feared." He has a pretended confidence, but that
confidence never was founded and bottomed on the finished work of Jesus
Christ.
He was never emptied of self, never brought down to feel that all his
own doing, and willing, and power are less than nothing and vanity. If
there had been a deep repentance, and a real confidence, and a true
life in Jesus, then he had not been the hypocrite that he now is. Oh,
dear Friends, while I speak upon these things, I have over my spirit
the overshadowing of a great gloom. What if some of us should be found
to have been as unsubstantial as the rush by the river when God comes
to judge the world?
What? When you need a hope to bear you up in the hour of death–what if
it should snap beneath you? You high professors! You ancient members
and revered Church officers! You eloquent preachers of the Word–what
if all your profession should, like the baseless fabric of a vision,
pass away? You have been drinking of the cup of the Lord. You have been
feasting at His sacramental table. You have talked a great deal of rich
experiences. You have boasted of the Divine Graces which you think the
Spirit of God has given you–but what if it should all be a delusion?
What if you should have fostered in your soul self-deception and should
now be traversing the way of darkness while you dream that you are in
the way of light?
May the Lord search us and give us that true, solid, substantial, real,
strong-hearted faith in Christ which will stand the test! The reed is
hollow and has no heart–and the hypocrite has none either–and lack of
heart is fatal, indeed. When the Roman seer killed the victim to take
an omen from the innards, he always considered it to be the worst sign
of all if no heart was found, or if the heart was shriveled. "Their
heart is divided," said Hosea, "now shall they be found wanting."
God abhors the sacrifice where the heart is not found. Sirs, if you
cannot give God your hearts, do not mock Him with solemn sounds upon
thoughtless tongues! If you do not mean your godliness, do not profess
it! Above all things, abhor mere profession. Jonathan Edwards tells us
that in the great revival in America there were conversions of all
sorts of people–from harlots upwards, but not one single conversion,
he said–of ungodly professors. Those seemed to have been the only
persons upon whom the Spirit of God did not descend. Beware, then, of
having the outward form of religion and being hollow and heartless like
the rush, for then your case is desperate, indeed.
3. A third comparison very naturally suggests itself, namely, that the
hypocrite is very like the rush for its bending properties. When the
rough wind comes howling over the marsh, the rush has made up its mind
that it will hold its place at all hazards. So if the wind blows from
the north, he bends to the south and the blast sweeps over him. And if
the wind blows from the south, he bends to the north and the gale has
no effect upon him. Only grant the rush one thing–that he may keep his
place–and he will cheerfully bow to all the rest.
The hypocrite will yield to good influences if he is in good society.
"Oh yes, certainly, certainly, sing, pray, anything you like." With
equal readiness he will yield to evil influences if he happens to be in
connection with them. "Oh, yes, sing a song, talk wantonness, run into
gay society, attend the theater, take a turn with the dice! Certainly,
if you wish it! 'When we are at Rome we do as Rome does.' "
Anything to oblige anybody is his motto. He is an omnivorous feeder and
like the swine can eat the vegetable of propriety, or the flesh of
iniquity. One form of doctrine is preached to him–very well, he would
not wish to contend against it for a moment! It is contradicted by the
next preacher he hears–and really, there is a great deal to be said on
the other side–so he holds with hare and hounds, too. He is all for
heat when the weather is hot and quite as much for cold when it is the
season. He can freeze and melt and boil, all in an hour–just as he
finds it pays best to be solid or liquid. If it is most respectable to
call a thing black, well, then, it is black! If it will pay better to
call it white, well, then, it is not so very black–in fact it is
rather white, or white altogether if you like to call it so!
The gross example of the Vicar of Bray comes at once to one's mind. He
had been a papist under Henry VIII, then a Protestant under a
Protestant reign–then a papist under Mary–then again a Protestant
under Elizabeth. And he declared he had always been consistent with his
principle, for his principle was to continue the Vicar of Bray! Some
there are who are evidently consistent in this particular and in the
idea that they will make things as easy for themselves as they can–and
will get as much profit as they can–either by truth or lies.
Do you not know some? They have not an atom of that stern stuff of
which martyrs are made in the whole of their composition. They love
that modern goddess, Charity. When Diana went down Charity went up. And
she is as detestable a goddess as ever Diana was. Give me a man who
will be all things to all men to win souls, if it is not a matter of
princi-ple–but give me the man who, when it comes to be a matter of
right and wrong, would rather die than deny his faith– who could burn,
but could not for a moment conceal his sentiments, much less lay them
aside until a more convenient season.
True godliness, such as will save the soul, must not be the mere bark,
but the heart, the sap, the essence of a man's being–it must run right
through and through, so that he cannot live without it. That religion
which you do not carry with you every day and which is not the dearest
object for which you live is not worth picking up from a dunghill!
Beloved, we must be ready to die for Christ or we shall have no joy in
the fact that Christ died for us.
4. Yet again the bulrush has been used in Scripture as a picture of a
hypocrite from its habit of hanging down its head. "Is it to hang your
head like a bulrush?" asks the Prophet, speaking to some who kept a
hypocritical fast. Pretended Christians seem to think that to hang down
the head is the very index of deep piety. To look piously miserable. To
speak in a wretched tone of voice. To be constantly lamenting the
wickedness of the times and bewailing the badness of the harvests and
the wickedness of our legislature.
To see nothing anywhere but what is vile, deceptive and abominable is
thought to be the trademark of superfine godliness. It is the mark of a
hypocrite to wear always a sad countenance–Job says of the hypocrite,
"Will he delight himself in the Almighty?" And the answer that he
expected was, "No, it is altogether impossible!" A real hypocrite finds
no satisfaction in his religion. He goes through with it because he
thinks he must. He walks to his place of worship with his books under
his arm just as a culprit might be supposed to walk up the gallows
stairs. And when he gets to a place of worship he is very proper in all
his demeanor–very proper, indeed, but he is never joyous.
Smile on Sundays? Shocking! What? Enjoy anything like mirth at any
time! Awful! Now you understand all about this. There are some things
which you must handle very tenderly because they will break if you
don't. A man, dressed in shoddy garments, walks very demurely for fear
the rubbish should tear. But good broadcloth allows us liberty of
action without fear of such an accident. Gingerbread religionists may
only be looked at in their somber aspects–genuine Believers are not
ashamed to be viewed even when their cheerfulness is at its full.
A person who has bought a pair of shoes made of brown paper must
mincingly tread with delicate steps. But he who, according to
Scripture, is shod with iron and brass may, with manly gait, march on
and even leap for joy without fear! I love Christian preciseness of
action, but I abhor hypocritical decorum and formalistic exactness of
worship. I would advocate holy cheerfulness–a Christian freedom which
lets the whole man show itself–a freedom of sorrowing when it is the
time for sorrow and a freedom of rejoicing when it is the time for
rejoicing!
That constrained, stiffly starched religion which some people think
such a great deal of is nothing but the bulrush religion of the
hypocrite and the Pharisee–and the sooner we throw it out the better.
The man whose heart is right with God does not stop to say, "How will
this look?" His heart tells him, as he reads the Word, that such a
course is right and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he follows
it. Right with him is delight. He knows that evil is not denied to him
as though he were debarred from pleasure, but that it is only kept from
him as a tender parent would keep poison from a child. Our life is the
life of liberty. And we find, of true religion, that "Her ways are ways
of pleasantness and all her paths are peace."
5. Once more–the rush is well taken as an emblem of the mere professor
from its bearing no fruit. Nobody would expect to find figs on a
bulrush, or grapes of Eshcol on a reed. So it is with the hypocrite–he
brings forth no fruit. The hypocrite gets as far as this–"I do not
drink. I do not swear. I do not cheat. I do not lie. I do not break the
Sabbath." His religion is all negative. And when it comes to anything
positive he fails. What have you ever done for Christ? You may look at
the whole of the hypocrite's life and it yields nothing.
Perhaps he has given a guinea or two to a charity. Yes–but did he give
it to God? He has been kind to the poor. Did he look at the poor as
being God's poor and care for them because God cares for them? Did he
do it for God? Throughout the whole life of the hypocrite there is
nothing in which he really serves God. What? Not when he has made that
long prayer? He did it either to satisfy his conscience or to please
those who were listening to him. Did he really pray to God and do it
for God's Glory and in order that he might have fellowship with God?
If so, he is no hypocrite–but the hypocrite proper–though he has left
off many wrong things, yet he has not advanced so far as to bring forth
fruit meet for repentance. He has not run in the way of holiness. He
has not sought after the image of Christ. He does not delight in
communion with Christ. He has no faith, no joy, no hope, no conformity
to the Spirit of the Master. He lacks fruit and therefore he is as the
rush and not as a plant of the Lord's right hand planting.
I will not stay further to work out this parallel–only if any words
have seemed to strike you–let them strike you. If there has been a
sentence in what I have said that suited my own case, I do desire to
feel its power. The worst is that some of you who are most sincere will
be troubled when you search yourselves, when we do not want you to be.
And others who are really hypocrites are the very last persons to think
they are. When our young members come to me in such trouble, crying,
"Sir, I am afraid I am a hypocrite," I always think, "/believe you are
not, or else you would not be afraid of it."
But those who are never afraid–who have just written it down as a
matter of fact that all is well with them–should listen to the word of
the Prophet, "Strangers have devoured his strength and he knows it not:
yes, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knows not." The
worm may be in the center of the apple when the cheek of the fruit is
still beautiful to look upon. God save us from hypocrisy and grant us
Grace to see ourselves in a true light!
II. Secondly, we have to consider WHAT IT IS THAT THE HYPOCRITE'S
RELIGION LIVES ON. "Can the rush grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds
grow without water?" The rush is entirely dependent upon the ooze in
which it is planted. If there should come a season of drought and the
water should fail from the marsh, the rush would more speedily die than
any other plant. "While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers
before any other plant." The Hebrew name for the rush signifies a plant
that is always drinking. And so the rush lives perpetually by sucking
and drinking in moisture.
This is the case of the hypocrite. The hypocrite cannot live without
something that shall foster his apparent piety. Let me show you some of
this mire and water upon which the hypocrite lives. Some people's
religion cannot live without excitement–revival services, earnest
preachers and zealous Prayer Meetings keep them green. But the earnest
minister dies, or goes to another part of the country. The Church is
not quite so earnest as it was and what then? Where are your converts?
Oh, how many there are who are hot-house plants–while the temperature
is kept up to a certain point they flourish and bring forth flowers, if
not fruits! But take them out into the open air. Give them one or two
nights' frost of persecution and where are they? My dear Hearers,
beware of that godliness which depends upon excitement for its life! I
do not speak against religious excitement–men get excited over
politics, and science, and trade–why should they not be excited about
the far weightier things of religion?
But still, though you may indulge yourself with it, sometimes, do not
let it be your element. I am afraid that many Churches have been
revived and revived till they have become like big bubbles full of wind
and now they have almost vanished into thin air! The grace which man
gives, man can take away. If your piety has sprung up like a mushroom,
it will be about as frail. Doubtless many are converted at revivals who
run well and hold out. And then their conversion is the work of the
Spirit of God.
But there are as many, I fear, of another kind! They get delirious with
excitement–they fancy that they have repented, dream that they have
believed–and then imagine themselves to be the children of God! They
may go on in such a delusion perhaps year after year. Beware! Beware!
Some hypocrites can no more live without excitement than the rush can
live without water! Dear Hearers, pray that you may be like the palm
tree, which even in the desert still continues green and brings forth
its fruit in the year of drought.
Many mere professors live upon encouragement. You are the child of
godly parents–those parents naturally look with great delight upon the
first signs of Divine Grace in you and they encourage and foster, as
they should do, everything that is good. Or you belong to a class such
as some of those most blessed classes which meet here, presided over by
tender, loving spirits–and whenever you have a little difficulty you
can run to these kind helpers. Whenever any fresh temptation arises you
find strength in their warning and counsel.
This is a very great privilege. I wish that in all Churches we would
practice the text, "Encourage him," more and more. We ought to comfort
the feeble-minded and support the weak. But, dear Friends, beware of
the piety which depends upon encouragement. You will have to go,
perhaps, where you will be frowned at and scowled at, where the head of
the household, instead of encouraging prayer, will refuse you either
the room or the time for engaging in it. You may meet with hard words,
bitter sneers, and cruel mockery because you profess to be a Christian.
Oh, get Grace which will stand that fiery trial! God give you a Grace
that will be independent of human helpers because it hangs upon the
bare arm of God Himself!
Some, too, we know, whose religion is sustained by example. It may be
the custom in the circle in which you move to attend a place of
worship–no, more–it has come to be the fashion to join the Church and
make a profession of religion. Well, example is a good thing. When I
was crossing the Humber from Hull to New Holland the other day, a
steamer came in with sheep on board and there was some difficulty in
getting them from the boat to the pier. The butcher first dragged one
sheep over the drawbridge and then the others came along readily
enough. Example is a good thing–one true sheep of Christ may lead the
rest in the way of Truth and obedience.
But a religion which depends entirely on other people must obviously go
to ruin when subjected to the temptation of an evil example. Why, if
you simply join the Church because other young people do it, or profess
such-and-such a faith because it happens to be the prevailing doctrine
in the district where you reside–why, then, your religion will depend
on the locality! And when you move somewhere else, your religion will
move off, too, or you from it. Young man, avoid this feeble sort of
piety. Be a man who can be singular when to be singular is to be right.
If the whole world shall run headlong down the broad road, be it yours
to thread your way through the crowd against the current along the
uphill way of life. The dead fish floats down the stream, the live fish
goes against it. Show your life by shunning unholy example.
Furthermore, a hypocrite's religion is often very much supported by the
profit that he makes by it. Mr. By-Ends joined the Church because, he
said, he should get a good wife by making a profession of religion.
Besides, Mr. By-Ends kept a shop and went to a place of worship
because, he said, the people would have to buy goods somewhere–and if
they saw him at their place–very likely they would come to his shop
and so his religion would help his trade. Thus he argued that there
were three good things–a profession of religion, a good wife and a
good trade as well. Suppose, Mr. By-Ends, that your religion involved
your missing the supposed good wife, and losing the good customers,
what about it then? "Why, then," says he, "I'm very sorry, but really
we must look to the main chance. We must not commit ourselves too far."
That is Mr. By-Ends' way ofjudging. He does not look upon the things of
God as the main choice. They are means to an end–that is all. I fear
there is much of this everywhere. You will know best, any of you, how
far you are affected by it. I am sure there are few, if any of you, who
can be suspected of coming here to gain trade, for the thing does not
answer in such a city as London. But in country towns this operates
marvelously. You can have the Dissenting trade if you go to meeting, or
you can have the Church trade if you go to the steeple-house.
Well, worshippers of the golden calf, do you know what Christ will do
with you if you are found in His temple when He comes? That scourge of
small cords will be on your backs! "Take these things from here," He
will say, as He sees your tables and your doves and your shekels. "My
Father's house shall be called a House of Prayer–you have made it a
den of thieves." The rush will grow where there is plenty of mire,
plenty of profit for religion–but dry up the gains and where would
some people's religion be? Pray with all your might against this
loathsome disgusting sin of making a pretension to godliness merely for
the sake of getting something by it.
Yet, doubtless, there are crowds who do this. With certain persons
their godliness rests very much upon their prosperity. "Does Job serve
God for nothing?" was the wicked question of Satan concerning that
upright man. And of many it might be asked with justice, for they love
God after a fashion because He prospers them. But if things went ill
with them they would give up all faith in God. I remember two who
joined this Church. I remember them with sorrow. I faintly hope good
things of them, but I frequently fear the worst.
They joined this Church when things were going very well. But almost
from that very time they had a succession of losses and they imputed
this to their having made a profession of religion. And so they gave up
outward religious duties. Whether they did that out of a scrupulous
honesty, I scarcely can tell. Or whether it really was this–that they
could not receive evil at the hand of God as well as good–I do not
know. I am inclined to fear it was the latter. There are some who
quarrel with the most High. If they can clearly see that since the time
of their supposed conversion, the world has gone prosperously with
them, then they will love God in their poor carnal way. But if it has
been nothing but adversity then they are astonished and think God is
not kind with them.
Do you know that the promise of the old Covenant was prosperity, but
the promise of the new Covenant is adversity? Listen to this
text–"Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away and every
branch that bears fruit"–what? "Hepurges it, that it may bring forth
more fruit"! If you bring forth fruit you will have to endure
affliction! "Alas," says one, "that is a terrible prospect!" Ah, but,
Beloved, this affliction works out such comfortable fruit that the
Christian, who is the subject of it, has learned to rejoice in
tribulations–because as his tribulations abound so his consolation
abounds by Christ Jesus!
Rest assured if you are a godly man, you will be no stranger to the
rod. Trials must and will befall. But do not let me mislead anybody
into the idea of praying for trouble! I have heard of one who did
so–he only did it but once–many trials made him wiser! The true-born
child knows how to bear the rod, but he will not ask for it–if he
asked for it he would be very silly–and it would be of no service to
him. You will have it sooner or later! And though it may be months and
years will roll very quietly with you, yet there will be days of
darkness and you ought to rejoice that there are such, for in these you
will be weaned from earth and made ready for Heaven! You will be
delivered from your clinging to the present and made to long, and pine
and sigh for the things which are not seen but eternal, so soon to be
revealed to you.
To conclude this point. The hypocrite is very much affected by the
respectability of the religion which he avows. John Bunyan's pithy way
of putting it is, "Many walk with religion when she wears her silver
slippers." But they forsake her if she goes barefoot. May I ask you
this question? What would you do if to follow Christ were penal
according to the laws of the land? If you had to live under perpetual
jeopardy of life for reading the Word–would you hide it as the saints
of God did, behind the wainscot or under the floor–and read it down in
the cellar or up in the attic at spare moments?
Could you come forward in the day of trial as those did in Pliny's time
and say, "I am a Christian"? Do you think that like poor Tomkins, when
Bonner held his finger over the candle to let him see what it was like,
you could still say you could burn but you could not turn? Could you
stand as some of the martyrs did at the stake, telling those who looked
on that if they did not clap their hands at the last they might know
their religion was not true, and so at the very last, when their poor
fingers were all on fire, they would still lift them up and wave their
hands to and fro, and cry out, "None but Christ! None but Christ!"?
Do you think you would have the Grace to suffer for Christ Jesus? You
may say, "I fear I should not." My dear Friends, that fear is a very
natural one. But mark you, if you can bear the ordinary trials of the
day, the constant trials of the world, and take them before God and
exhibit Christian patience under them, you may hope that as a Believer
in Christ you would have more Grace given you when the trials became
more severe. And so you would be able to pass through them as the
saints of old did!
But mark you, if the present trials and troubles of the day are too
much for you and you cannot exhibit Christian patience under them, I am
compelled to ask you in the language of Jeremiah, "If you have run with
the footmen and they have wearied you, how will you contend with
horses? And if in the land of peace wherein you trusted, they wearied
you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?" This may help us
to try ourselves.
III. We have a third point to close with and that is, WHAT BECOMES OF
THE HYPOCRYTE'S HOPE? "While it is yet green and not cut down, it
withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all that forget
God. And the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Long before the Lord comes
to cut the hypocrite down it often happens that he dries up for want of
the mire on which he lives. The excitement, the encouragement, the
example, the profit, the respectability, the prosperity upon which he
lived fail him and he fails, too.
Alas, how dolefully is this the case in all Christian Churches! Little
have we had to mourn over defections during the years of our ministry.
But we have had some sorrowful, very sorrowful cases, and I doubt not
we shall have more. "Lord, is it I?" "Lord, is it I?" is a question
that may be passed round among professing Christians. I fear that there
are those here this morning who one day will deny the Lord that bought
them and crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.
"Oh," says one, "it cannot be me." Do not be too sure, Friend, do not
be too sure! If I could come in Prophetic spirit to some of you who
will do this and look you in the face and tell you what you will do,
you would say like Hazael, "Is your servant a dog that he should do
this thing?" And I should have to settle my countenance until I became
ashamed and look at you yet again and say, "You are no dog and yet you
will play the dog and return to your vomit and become yet again what
once you were, only with this aggravation, that you will have sinned
against light and against knowledge, against sacred influences and
professed enjoyments of Divine love."
You have cleansed the house. You have swept it. You have garnished it
and the evil spirit is gone. But if the Holy Spirit has not driven him
out–if this has not been a work of power on the part of God–that evil
spirit will come back and he will take unto himself seven other spirits
more wicked than himself and they shall enter in and dwell there and
your last end will be worse than the first! Better not to have known
the way of righteousness than, having known it, to be turned back
again.
The worst of men are those traitors who leave the army of Truth to side
with the foe. I believe in the doctrine of the final perseverance of
every true child of God–but there are in all our Churches certain
spurious pretenders who will not hold on their way–who will blaze and
sparkle for a season and then they will go out in darkness. They are
"wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever." Better far make no pretension of having come to Christ and of
having been born again, unless through Divine Grace you shall hold fast
to the end! Remember the back door to Hell! Remember the back door to
Hell!
There is a public entrance for the open sinner–but there is a back
door for the professed saint. There is a back door for the hoary-headed
professor who has lived many years in apparent sincerity but who has
been a liar before God. There is a back door for the preacher who can
talk fast and loudly, but who does not, in his own heart, know the
Truth of God he is preaching. There is a back door to Hell for Church
members who are amiable and excellent in many respects, but who have
not really looked unto the Lord Jesus Christ and found true salvation
in Him. God grant that this may wake some who otherwise would sleep
themselves into perdition!
Yet again, where the rush still continues green because it has mire and
water enough on which to feed, another result happens, namely, that
before long the sickle is used to cut it down. So must it be with you,
Professor, if you shall keep up a green profession all your days. Yet
if you are heartless, spongy, soft, yielding, unfruitful like the
rush–you will be cut down and sorrowful will be the day when, with a
blaze, you shall be consumed! Oh, to be cut down at the last! Death, I
hope, Beloved, will be to many of you the season of your greatest joy!
You will climb to Pisgah's top with weary footsteps, but when once
there, the vision of the landscape will make amends for all the toil.
The brooks, and hills, and valleys will flow with milk and honey! And
your delighted eyes shall gaze upon your portion–your eternal
heritage! But oh, how different will be our lot, if instead of this,
"Tekel" shall be written upon us at the last because we are found
wanting!
"O my God! My God! Have You forsaken me? Am I, after all, mistaken?
Have I played the hypocrite and must I take the mask off now? Have I
covered over the cancer? Have I worn a golden cloth over my leprous
forehead and must it be torn away? And must I stand the mockery of
devils and the laughter of all worlds? What? Have I drunk of Your cup?
Have I eaten with You in the streets and must I hear You say, 'I never
knew you, depart from Me you worker of iniquity'? Oh, must it be?"
Then how hard will be the bed on which I die! How stuffed with thorns
that pillow! How tortured and anguished my poor broken heart, when
every prop is knocked away and the house comes tumbling down about my
ears! When every drop of comfort is dried up and even here the thirsty
spirit lacks a drop of cordial to afford it comfort! O my dear Hearers,
by the eternal God I do beseech you–seek a genuine religion! Do not
put off self-examination! I dare not put it off on my own account and I
pray you do not postpone it on yours. If I have not said a word to
comfort and to cheer you this morning, forgive that lack of service,
for my aim is to drive at this one thing–it will in the end be the
best and most comforting to you all if you will set to work now and
with diligence to try yourselves–whether you are in the faith.
Cry to God to aid you in this! You cannot do it well yourself, for,
"the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who
can know it?" O Cry to Him–"Search me, O God and know my heart, try me
and know my ways." Time is flying–set about the business before it is
gone! Death is coming on–search yourselves before the darkness
thickens into midnight gloom. The Judgment Day will soon arrive! The
King will sit upon the Great White Throne. Oh, before He judges you,
judge yourselves, that you be not judged!
The division will soon take place between the goats and the sheep. O,
seek to be under Christ, the heavenly Shepherd now, that you are not
banished from His Presence at the last. What more can I say? It is not
your body that is at stake–it is not your estates that are in
jeopardy–your soul, your undying SOUL–destined to Heaven's glories or
to Hell's miseries are now in question! Search yourselves, search
yourselves and God Almighty search you, too!
Ah, there are some of you who have no need to search. Without any trial
you know yourselves to be on the wrong side. And there are others of
you who, when you have searched, will still be afraid that you are
wrong. Ah, well, whatever we are, or may have been, remember Jesus came
into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. "This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Looking to that
thorn-crowned head, those dear hands and feet nailed to the tree, that
blessed heart all exposed by the soldier's spear–looking there,
looking there only, looking there NOW–we find salvation!
Believers, you have looked before. But if that is a matter of question,
look now. "Look unto Me and be you saved, all you ends of the earth."
Repeat that glance which gave you comfort. There is life still in a
look at that Crucified One. There is life at this moment for you.
Jesus! Your people look to You again! Lover of our souls! Accept us!
Oh, you who never looked before, He reigns in Glory, mighty to save! He
gives repentance and remission of sins!
Only trust Him with your soul. Have done with all your works, your
willings, your prayers, your tears, your everything as a ground of
confidence, and trust in HIM who died for sinners and you "shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck you out of His hands." The Lord grant
we may be found right at last for Jesus' sake! Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 139.