Spring In The Heart
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 11, 1866,
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
You water the ridges abundantly: You settle the furrows: You make it
soft with showers: You bless its growth." Psalm 65:10.
THOUGH other seasons excel in fullness, spring must always bear the
palm for freshness and beauty. We thank God when the harvest hours draw
near and the golden grain invites the sickle, but we ought equally to
thank Him for the rougher days of spring, for these prepare the
harvest. April showers are mothers of the sweet May flowers, and the
wet and cold of winter are the parents of the splendor of summer. God
blesses its growth, or else it could not be said, "You crown the year
with Your goodness." There is as much necessity for Divine benediction
in spring as for heavenly bounty in summer, and therefore we should
praise God all the year round.
Spiritual spring is a very blessed season in a Church. Then we see
youthful piety developed and on every hand we hear the joyful cry of
those who say, "We have found the Lord." Our sons are springing up as
the grass and as willows by the watercourses. We hold up our hands in
glad astonishment and cry, "Who are these that fly as a cloud and as
doves to their windows?" In the revival days of a Church, when God is
blessing her with many conversions, she has great cause to rejoice in
God and sing, "You bless its growth."
I intend to take the text in reference to individual cases. There is a
time of growth of Divine Grace when it is just in its bud, just
breaking through the dull cold earth of unregenerate nature. I desire
to talk a little about that and concerning the blessing which the Lord
grants to the green blade of new-born godliness–to those who are
beginning to hope in the Lord.
I. First, I shall have a little to say about THE WORK PREVIOUS TO THE
GROWTH. It appears from the text that there is work for God, alone, to
do before the growth comes. And we know that there is work for God to
do through us as well. There is work for us to do. Before there can be
growth in the soul there must be plowing, harrowing, and sowing. There
must be a plowing and we do not expect that as soon as ever we plow we
shall reap the sheaves. Blessed be God, in many cases the reaper
overtakes the plowman! But we must not always expect it.
In some hearts God is long in preparing the soul by conviction–the Law
with its ten black horses drags the plowshare of conviction up and down
the soul till there is not one part of it left unfurrowed. Conviction
goes deeper than any plow to the very core and center of the spirit
till the spirit is wounded. The plowers make deep furrows, indeed, when
God puts His hand to the work! The soil of the heart is broken in
pieces in the Presence of the Most High. Then comes the sowing.
Before there can be a growth it is certain that there must be something
put into the ground so that after the preacher has used the plow of the
Law, he applies to his Master for the seed basket of the Gospel. Gospel
promises, Gospel doctrines–especially a clear exposition of free Grace
and the Atonement–these are the handfuls of corn which we scatter
broadcast. Some of the grain falls on the highway and is lost. But
other handfuls fall where the plow has been and there they abide. Then
comes the harrowing work. We do not expect to sow seed and then leave
it–the Gospel has to be prayed over. The prayer of the preacher and
the prayer of the Church make up God's harrow to rake in the seed after
it is scattered. And so it is covered up within the clods of the soul
and is hidden in the heart of the hearer.
Now there is a reason why I dwell upon this, namely, that I may exhort
my dear Brethren who have not seen success to not give up the work but
to hope that they have been doing the plowing, and sowing, and
harrowing work, and that the harvest is to come. I mention this for yet
another reason–and that is by way of warning to those who expect to
have a harvest without this preparatory work. I do not believe that
much good will come from attempts at sudden revivals made without
previous prayerful labor.
A revival to be permanent must be a matter of growth and the result of
much holy effort, longing, pleading, and watching. The servant of God
is to preach the Gospel whether men are prepared for it or not–but in
order to large success, depend upon it–there is a preparedness
necessary among the hearers. Upon some hearts, warm earnest preaching
drops like an unusual thing which startles but does not convict. In
other congregations, where good Gospel preaching has long been the
rule, and much prayer has been offered, the words fall into the
hearers' souls and bring forth speedy fruit.
We must not expect to have results without work. There is no hope of a
Church having an extensive revival in its midst unless there is
continued and importunate waiting upon God together with earnest
laboring, intense anxiety, and hopeful expectation. But there is also a
work to be done which is beyond our power. After plowing, sowing, and
harrowing, there must come the shower from Heaven. "You visit the earth
and water it," says the Psalmist. In vain are all our efforts unless
God shall bless us with the rain of His Holy Spirit's influence.
Holy Spirit! You, and You alone work wonders in the human heart, and
You come from the Father and the Son to do the Father's purposes and to
glorify the Son! Three effects are spoken of. First, we are told He
waters the ridges. As the ridges of the field become well saturated
through and through with the abundant rain, so God sends His Holy
Spirit till the whole heart of man is moved and influenced by His
Divine operations. The understanding is enlightened, the conscience is
quickened, the will is controlled, the affections are inflamed–all
these powers, which I may call the ridges of the heart–come under the
Divine working.
It is ours to deal with men as men, bring to bear upon them Gospel
truth, and to set before them motives that are suitable to move
rational creatures. But, after all, it is the rain from on high which
alone can water the ridges! There is no hope of the heart being
savingly affected except by Divine operations. Next it is added, "You
settle the furrows," by which some think it is meant that the furrows
are drenched with water. Others think there is an allusion here to the
beating down of the earth by heavy rain till the ridges become
flat–and by the soaking of the water–are settled into a more compact
mass.
Certain it is that the influences of God's Spirit have a humbling and
settling effect upon a man. He was unsettled once like the earth that
is dry and crumbly, and blown about and carried away with every wind of
doctrine. But as the earth, when soaked with wet, is compacted and knit
together, so the heart becomes solid and serious under the power of the
Spirit. As the high parts of the ridge are beaten down into the
furrows, so the lofty ideas, the grand schemes, and carnal boastings of
the heart begin to level down when the Holy Spirit comes to work upon
the soul. Genuine humility is a very gracious fruit of the Spirit. To
be broken in heart is the best means of preparing the soul for Jesus.
"A broken and a contrite hear, O God, You will not despise." Brethren,
always be thankful when you see high thoughts of man brought down! This
settling the furrows is a very gracious preparatory work of Divine
Grace.
Yet again, it is added, "You make it soft with showers." Man's heart is
naturally hardened against the Gospel. Like the Eastern soil it is hard
as iron if there is no gracious rain. How sweetly and effectively does
the Spirit of God soften the man through and through! He is no longer
towards the Word what he used to be–he feels everything, whereas once
he felt nothing. The rock flows with water. The heart is dissolved in
tenderness. The eyes are melted into tears. All this is God's work!
1 have said already that God works through us, but still it is God's
immediate work to send down the rain of His Grace from on high. Perhaps
He is at work upon some of you though as yet there is no growth of
spiritual life in your souls. Though your condition is still a sad one,
we will hope for you that before long there shall be seen the living
seed of Divine Grace sending up its tender green shoot above the
soil–and may the Lord bless its growth!
II. In the second place, let us deliver A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
GROWTH. After the operations of the Holy Spirit have been quietly going
on for a certain season as pleases the great Master and Husbandman,
then there are signs of Grace. Remember the Apostle's words, "First the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." Some of our
friends are greatly disturbed because they cannot see the full corn in
the ear in themselves. They suppose that if they were the subjects of a
Divine work they would be precisely like certain advanced Christians
with whom it is their privilege to commune, or of whom they may have
read in biographies.
Beloved, this is a very great mistake! When Grace first enters the
heart it is not a great tree covering with its shadow whole acres–but
it is the least of all seeds–like a grain of mustard seed. When it
first rises upon the soul, it is not the sun shining at high noon–it
is the first dim ray of dawn. Are you so simple as to expect the
harvest before you have passed through the growing season? I shall hope
that by a very brief description of the earliest stage of Christian
experience you may be led to say, "I have gone as far as that," and
then I hope you may be able to take the comfort of the text to
yourselves: "You bless its growth."
What, then, is the growth of piety in the heart? We think it is first
seen in sincerely earnest desires after salvation. The man is not
saved, in his own apprehension, but he longs to be. That which was once
a matter of indifference is now a subject of intense concern. Once he
despised Christians and thought them needlessly earnest. He thought
religion a mere trifle and he looked upon the things of time and sense
as the only substantial matters. But now how changed he is! He envies
the meanest Christian and would change places with the poorest Believer
if he might but be able to read his title clear to mansions in the
skies!
Now worldly things have lost dominion over him and spiritual things are
uppermost. Once with the unthinking many he cried, "Who will show us
any good?" But now he cries, "Lord, lift up the light of Your
countenance upon me." Once it was the corn and the wine to which he
looked for comfort, but now he looks to God alone. His rock of refuge
must be God, for he finds no comfort elsewhere. His holy desires, which
he had years ago, were like smoke from the chimney, soon blown away.
But now his longings are permanent, though not always operative to the
same degree. At times these desires amount to a hunger and a thirsting
after righteousness, and yet he is not satisfied with these desires, he
wishes for a still more anxious longing after heavenly things.
These desires are among the first growth of Divine life in the soul.
"The growth" shows itself next in prayer. It is now real prayer. Once
it was the mocking of God with holy sounds unattended by the heart–but
now, though the prayer is such that he would not like a human ear to
hear him, yet God approves it–for it is the talking of a spirit to a
Spirit, and not the muttering of lips to an unknown God. His prayers,
perhaps, are not very long–they do not amount to more than this–"Oh!"
"Ah!" "Would to God!" "Lord have mercy upon me, a sinner!" and
such-like short ejaculations, but, then, by God's Grace, they are
prayers.
"Behold he prays," does not refer to a long prayer. It is quite as sure
a proof of spiritual life within if it only refers to a sigh or to a
tear. These "groans that cannot be uttered," are among "the growth."
There will also be manifest a hearty love for the means of Grace, and
the House of God. The Bible, long unread, which was thought to be of
little more use than an old almanac, is now treated with great
consideration. And though the reader finds little in it that comforts
him just now, and much that alarms him, yet he feels that it is the
book for him and he turns to its pages with hope.
When he goes up to God's House he listens eagerly, hoping that there
may be a message for him. Before, he attended worship as a sort of
pious necessity incumbent upon all respectable people. But now he goes
up to God's House that he may find the Savior. Once there was no more
religion in him than in the door which turns upon its hinges. But now
he enters praying, "Lord, meet with my soul." And if he gets no
blessing, he goes away sighing, "O that I knew where I might find Him,
that I might come even to His seat."
This is one of the blessed signs of "its growth." Yet more cheering is
another, namely, that the soul in this state has faith in Jesus Christ,
at least in some degree! It is not a faith which brings great joy and
peace, but still it is a faith which keeps the heart from despair and
prevents its sinking under a sense of sin. I have known the time when I
do not believe any man living could see faith in me, and when I could
scarcely perceive any in myself, and yet I was bold to say, with Peter,
"Lord, You know all thing, You know that I love You."
What man cannot see, Christ can see. Many people have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ but they are so much engaged in looking at it that they do
not see it. If they would look to Christ and not to their own faith,
they would not only see Christ but see their own faith, too. But they
try to measure their faith and it seems so little when they contrast it
with the faith of full-grown Christians that they fear it is not faith
at all. Oh, little one, if you have faith enough to receive Christ,
remember the promise, "To as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God."
Poor simple, weak-hearted, and troubled ones, look to Jesus and answer,
Can such a Savior suffer in vain? Can such an Atonement be offered in
vain? Can you trust Him and yet be cast away? It cannot be! It never
was in the Savior's heart to shake off one that did cling to His arm.
However feeble the faith, He blesses "its growth." The difficulty
arises partly from misapprehension and partly from lack of confidence
in God.
I say misapprehension–now if like some Londoners you have never seen
corn when it is green, you would cry out, "What? Do you say that yonder
green stuff is wheat?" "Yes," the farmer says, "that is wheat." You
look at it again and you reply, "Why, man alive, that is nothing but
grass! You do not mean to tell me that this grassy stuff will ever
produce a loaf of bread such as I see in the baker's window–I cannot
conceive it." No, you could not conceive it, but when you get
accustomed to it, it is not at all amazing to see the wheat go through
certain stages. First the blade, then the ear, and afterwards the full
corn in the ear.
Some of you have never seen growing Grace and do not know anything
about it. When you are newly converted you meet with Christians who are
like ripe golden ears, and you say, "I am not like they are." True, you
are no more like they than that grassy stuff in the furrows is like
full-grown wheat! But you will grow to be like they are one of these
days. You must expect to go through the blade period before you get to
the ear period! And in the ear period you will have doubts whether you
will ever come to the full corn in the ear–but you will arrive at
perfection in due time. Thank God that you are in Christ at all!
Whether I have much faith or little faith. Whether I can do much for
Christ or little for Christ is not the first question. I am saved, not
on account of what I am, but on account of what Jesus Christ is! And if
I am trusting Him, however little in Israel I may be, I am as safe as
the brightest of the saints.
I have said, however, that mixed with misapprehension there is a great
deal of unbelief. I cannot put it all down to an ignorance that may be
forgiven, for there is sinful unbelief, too. O Sinner, why do you not
trust Jesus Christ? Poor quickened, awakened Conscience–God gives you
His word that He who trusts in Christ is not condemned–and yet you are
afraid that you are condemned! This is to call God a liar! Be ashamed
and confounded that you should ever have been guilty of doubting the
veracity of God!
All your other sins do not grieve Christ so much as the sin of thinking
that He is unwilling to forgive you, or the sin of suspecting that if
you trust Him He will cast you away! Do not slander His gracious
Character. Do not cast a slur upon the generosity of His tender heart.
He said, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." Come in the
faith of His promise and He will receive you right now! I have thus
given some description of "its growth."
III. Thirdly, according to the text, THERE IS ONE WHO SEES THIS GROWTH.
You, Lord–You bless its growth. I wish that some of us had quicker
eyes to see the beginning of Grace in the souls of men. For lack of
this we let slip many opportunities of helping the weaklings. If a
woman had the charge of a number of children that were not her own, I
do not suppose she would notice all the incipient stages of disease.
But when a mother nurses her own dear children, as soon as ever upon
the cheek or in the eye there is a token of approaching sickness, she
perceives it at once.
I wish we had just as quick an eye, just as tender a heart towards
precious souls. I do not doubt that many young people are weeks and
even months in distress, who need not be, if you who know the Lord were
a little more watchful to help them in the time of their sorrow.
Shepherds are up all night at lambing time to catch up the lambs, as
soon as they are born, and take them in and nurse them. And we, who
ought to be shepherds for God, should be looking out for all the lambs,
especially at seasons when there are many born into God's great
fold–for tender nursing is wanted in the first stages of the new life.
God, however, when His servants do not see "its growth," sees it all.
Now, you silent, retired spirits who dare not speak to father or
mother, or brother or sister–this text ought to be a sweet morsel to
you. "You bless its growth," which proves that God sees you and your
newborn Grace. The Lord sees the first sign of penitence. Though you
only say to yourself, "I will arise, and go to my Father," your Father
hears you. Though it is nothing but a desire, your Father registers it.
"You put my tears into Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?" He is
watching your return. He runs to meet you and puts His arms about you,
and kisses you with the kisses of His accepting love!
O Soul, be encouraged with that thought that up in the chamber or down
by the hedge, or wherever it is that you have sought secrecy, God is
there! Dwell on the thought, "You, God, see me." That is a precious
text–"All my desire is before You." And here is another sweet one,
"The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in them that hope in
His mercy." He can see you when you only hope in His mercy, and He
takes pleasure in you if you have only begun to fear Him!
Here is a third choice word, "You will perfect that which concerns me."
Have you a concern about these things? Is it a matter of soul-concern
with you to be reconciled to God and to have an interest in Jesus'
precious blood? It is only "its growth," but He blesses it! It is
written, "A bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He
will not quench, till He brings forth judgment unto victory." There
shall be victory for you, even before the Judgment Seat of God, though
as yet you are only like the flax that smokes and gives no light, or
like the reed that is broken and yields no music! God sees the first
growth of Grace.
IV. A few words upon a fourth point: WHAT A MISERY IT WOULD BE IF IT
WERE POSSIBLE TO HAVE THIS GROWTH WITHOUT GOD'S BLESSING! The text
says, "You bless its growth." We must, just a moment, by way of
contrast, think of how the growth would have been without the blessing.
Suppose we were to see a revival among us without God's blessing? It is
my conviction that there are revivals which are not of God at all, but
are produced by excitement.
If there is no blessing from the Lord it will be all a delusion, a
bubble blown up into the air for a moment and then gone to nothing. We
shall only see the people stirred to become the more dull and dead
afterwards. And this is a great mischief to the Church. In the
individual heart, if there should be growth without God's blessing,
there would be no good in it. Suppose you have good desires, but no
blessing on these desires? They will only tantalize and worry you, and
then, after a time, they will be gone and you will be more impervious
than you were before to religious convictions. If religious desires are
not of God's sending, but are caused by excitement, they will probably
prevent your giving a serious hearing to the Word of God in times to
come.
If convictions do not soften they will certainly harden. To what
extremities have some been driven who have had growth of a certain sort
which has not led them to Christ! Some have been crushed by despair.
They tell us that religion crowds the madhouse–it is not true–but
there is no doubt whatever that religiousness of a certain kind has
driven many a man out of his mind. The poor souls have felt their wound
but have not seen the balm. They have not known Jesus. They have had a
sense of sin and nothing more. They have not fled for refuge to the
hope which God has set before them.
Marvel not if men go mad when they refuse the Savior! It may come as a
judicial visitation of God upon those men who, when in great distress
of mind, will not fly to Christ. I believe it is like this with
some–you must either fly to Jesus or else your burden will become
heavier and heavier until your spirit will utterly fail. This is not
the fault of religion–it is the fault of those who will not accept the
remedy which religion presents. A growth of desires without God's
blessing would be an awful thing, but we thank Him that we are not left
in such a case.
V. And now I have to dwell upon THE COMFORTING THOUGHT THAT GOD DOES
BLESS "THE GROWTH." I wish to deal with you who are tender and
troubled. I want to show that God does bless your growth. He does it in
many ways. Frequently He does it by the cordials which He brings. You
have a few very sweet moments, but you cannot say that you are
Christ's. At times the bells of your heart ring very sweetly at the
mention of His name.
The means of Grace are very precious to you. When you gather to the
Lord's worship you feel a holy calm and you go away from the service
wishing that there were seven Sundays in the week instead of one. By
the blessing of God the Word has just suited your case as if the Lord
had sent His servants on purpose to you. You lay aside your crutches
for awhile and you begin to run. Though these things have been sadly
transient, they are tokens for good.
On the other hand, if you have had none of these comforts, or few of
them, and the means of Grace have not been consolations to you, I want
you to look upon that as a blessing! It may be the greatest blessing
that God can give us to take away all comforts on the road, in order to
quicken our running towards the end. When a man is flying to the City
of Refuge to be protected from the man-slayer, it may be an act of
great consideration to stop him for a moment that he may quench his
thirst and run more swiftly afterwards. But perhaps, in a case of
imminent peril, it may be the kindest thing neither to give him
anything to eat or to drink, nor invite him to stop for a moment–in
order that he may fly with undiminished speed to the place of safety.
The Lord may be blessing you in the uneasiness which you feel. Inasmuch
as you cannot say that you are in Christ, it may be the greatest
blessing which Heaven can give to take away every other blessing from
you in order that you may be compelled to fly to the Lord. You,
perhaps, have a little of your self-righteousness left, and while it is
so you cannot get joy and comfort. The royal robe which Jesus gives
will never shine brilliantly upon us till every rag of our own goodness
is gone. Perhaps you are not empty enough, and God will never fill you
with Christ till you are. Fear often drives men to faith.
Have you ever heard of a person walking in the fields into whose bosom
a bird has flown because pursued by the hawk? Poor timid thing, it
would not have ventured there had not a greater fear compelled it! All
this may be so with you. Your fears may be sent to drive you more
swiftly and more closely to the Savior, and if so, I see in these
present sorrows the signs that God is blessing "its growth." In looking
back upon my own "growth" I sometimes think God blessed me then in a
lovelier way than now. Though I would not willingly return to that
early stage of my spiritual life, yet there were many joys about it. An
apple tree when loaded with apples is a very comely sight. But give me,
for beauty, the apple tree in bloom. The whole world does not present a
more lovely sight than an apple blossom!
Now, a full-grown Christian laden with fruit is a comely sight, but
still there is a peculiar loveliness about the young Christian. Let me
tell you what that blessedness is. You now probably have a greater
horror of sin than professors who have known the Lord for years! They
might wish that they felt your tenderness of conscience. You have now a
graver sense of duty and a more solemn fear of the neglect of it than
some who are further advanced. You have also a greater zeal than
many–you are now doing your first works for God, and burning with your
first love–nothing is too hot or too heavy for you! I pray that you
may never decline, but always advance!
And now to close. I think there are three lessons for us to learn.
First, let older saints be very gentle and kind to young Believers. God
blesses their growth–mind that you do the same. Do not throw cold
water upon young desires. Do not snuff out young Believers with hard
questions. While they are babes and need the milk of the Word, do not
be choking them with your strong meat–they will eat strong meat
by-and-bye, but not just yet. Remember, Jacob would not overdrive the
lambs. Be equally prudent. Teach and instruct them, but let it be with
gentleness and tenderness–not as their superiors, but as nursing
fathers for Christ's sake. God, you see, blesses their growth–may He
bless it through you!
The next thing I have to say is, fulfill the duty of gratitude.
Beloved, if God blesses its growth we ought to be grateful for a little
Grace. If you have only seen the first shoot peeping up through the
mold, be thankful. And as you see the green blade waving in the breeze,
be thankful for the ankle-deep verdure and you shall soon see the
commencement of the ear! Be thankful for the first green ears and you
shall see the flowering of the wheat, and by-and-by its ripening, and
the joyous harvest.
The last lesson is one of encouragement. If God blesses "its growth,"
dear Beginners, what will He not do for you in after days? If He gives
you such a meal when you break your fast, what dainties will be on your
table when He says to you, "Come and dine"? And what a banquet will He
furnish at the supper of the Lamb! O troubled One! Let the storms which
howl, and the snows which fall, and the wintry blasts that nip your
growth all be forgotten in this one consoling thought–God blesses your
growth, and whom God blesses none can curse! Over your head, dear,
desiring, pleading, languishing Soul, the Lord of Heaven and earth
pronounces the blessing of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Take that blessing and rejoice in it evermore. Amen.