DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, says
the Lord of hosts. They shall call every man his neighbor under the
vine, and under the fig tree." Zechariah 3:9,10.
WE cull the text from one of Zechariah's most instructive visions. It
is a stone from a diamond field. All the context is rich in precious
things, but we cannot, though we would be very glad to do so, linger
over them this morning. We must be satisfied with this one brilliant
stone. Taking the text as it stands, and by itself, it is evidently
descriptive of those long expected and happy days when God will once
and for all forgive His Israel and restore His long-banished ones to
their former place of favor and ofjoy. As a consequence thereof, He
shall cause them to dwell in their own land under the happiest
circumstances, surrounded by peace and enjoyment, praising and blessing
the God of mercy.
But we may, from the dealings of God with one particular case, usually
extract the rule of the Divine procedure–for the Lord is under no
necessity to alter His modes of action, and is not subject to change.
As He works in one case, so may we expect Him to do in another, if the
circumstances taken in are all similar. I purpose this morning, to
draw, therefore, from the text nothing about Israel after the flesh,
but much concerning the spiritual Israel–believing souls who are the
true seed of the father of the faithful.
Our object will be to glorify the fullness and richness of the Divine
mercy which pardons the greatest sin and sheds abroad the most
delightful peace. May the Holy Spirit now instruct both the preacher
and the congregation. While all our eyes are gazing upon the promise of
Grace, may it be fulfilled in our midst.
I. Our first remarks will gather around the question, WHAT IS TO BE
REMOVED? What does the text speak of? The reply is, "the iniquity of
that land." The term "iniquity" or, in-equity, is a very comprehensive
one–including everything that is not equitable, not right towards God,
not just towards man. It comprehends the entire compass of sin, for a
sin of commission is an in-equity of excess, and an omission is an
in-equity of falling short. The text, therefore, in the term "iniquity"
comprehends every violation of equity either by way of transgression or
shortcoming.
It includes sins against the first and second table, sins of the body,
the hand, the tongue. Sins which more immediately spring from and end
in the soul, sins against God and man, sins of youth, and sins of old
age. Widely extended as iniquity is, God declares that He will remove
all of it from His people in one day. The great variety of the sin to
be removed is clear from the additional words, "that land."
The offenses of a whole nation make up a complete catalogue of crimes.
When high and low, old and young, rich and poor, literate and
illiterate are considered as one body, the mass of their united sin is
diversified, indeed. In the throng I see a despiser of parents in one
place, and a Sabbath-breaker in another. Search the land over and you
will be sure to find liars, slanderers, drunkards, gluttons, swearers,
thieves, harlots, murderers, and I know not what of wickedness besides.
The one city of Jerusalem was so sinful that Ezekiel likened it to a
boiling pot, and said of it, "Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose
scum is there. She has wearied herself with lies. In your filthiness is
lewdness." In a land so large as Israel, though comparatively small,
there must have been criminals of all kinds–wretches defiled with sins
of the blackest dye–a more than Newgate calendar of reprobates. And
yet it is promised that all these varieties of sin shall be removed in
one day! From sins of thought and heart right up to blood-red murder,
and the most desperate adulteries–all are spoken of as to be removed.
The iniquity of a land, however, is not only that of the generation
then dwelling in it, but the accumulated sin ofpast generations, even
as we read that, "the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full." If
anyone would speak correctly of the sins of Israel he would not mean
the sins of the Israel of that particular hour, but the heaped-up sins
of their fathers who had provoked God many long generations before. Now
grasp the grand idea of mercy's boundless plan–in one day–
the promise declares that God shall not only remove all the sins of one
man, but all the sins of many men! Yes, and all the sins that have
accumulated and laid up a store of wrath against a whole nation!
What mercy is this which blots out the long records of the past, sweeps
out the rotting heaps of old transgression and cleanses the Augean
stable of a guilty nation's sin? "I will remove the iniquity of that
land in one day." What a miracle of infinite mercy! The iniquity rises
before us like a huge mountain whose peak defies the thunderbolts of
God, but lo, eternal Mercy, like a sea, swallows up the mountain and it
is gone, to be found no more. It is clear, then, from the text, that
the Lord is able to forgive sins of every shade and form.
What is your sin, my Hearer? Is it one peculiar to yourself? Yet can
God forgive it. Are your sins of many sorts, so that you could not set
them in order before your eyes because they are too varied and
multitudinous? Yet can He remove them all in one day. No matter though
one of your sins lie, as it were, in the far east, and another is found
in the far west–He can cleanse the whole land of your nature. Though
one of your sins is an attack upon the heights of Heaven, and another
dives into the lowest blasphemies of Hell–He is both the God of the
hills and of the valleys–and such enormities as yours He can remove.
When a whole land is purged, sins similar to yours must have been in
the number of those blotted out. Therefore there is hope for you, since
what has been done can be done again. What are your sins? Are they as
scarlet? "No," says one, "they are of another hue." Well, then, if they
are crimson He will make one as wool and the other as snow. He will
take away all iniquity. He will forgive all manner of sin and
blasphemy. Whatever their tint and shade, and however double-dyed and
ingrained our sins may be, the blood of Jesus can remove them all in
one day.
In addition, let every sinner here remember that the text indicates not
only variety of sin, but vast quantities of sin– the sin of a land
consisting of millions of people is no light thing to remove in one
day, yet the promise guarantees it. Eternal love takes to itself the
new sharp threshing instrument of the Atonement, and therewith beats
the mountains of sin till they become as chaff and the wind does carry
them away. Learn, then, that however many your sins may be–you might
as well count the sands on the seashore as number your
transgressions–they can all be removed from you as far as the east is
from the west.
As the tide covers all the sand, so can forgiveness cover all your sin.
As night covers all things, so can love cast a mantle over all your
wrong doings. As the sun exhales a myriad dewdrops, so can eternal love
cause all your sins to pass away. In the case of Israel, the iniquity
to be removed had been continuous and aggravated. The iniquity of the
land of Israel was an iniquity which had continued from generation to
generation. Their first fathers rebelled in the wilderness. They sinned
afterwards under the judges. They revolted under the kings. More and
more they went astray, and when sold into captivity they still
transgressed.
If cured of one sin they became more inveterate in another. Though
idolatry had been driven out of the Jews before our Savior's time, yet
their heart was still apostate, for they crucified the Lord of Glory.
So, my dear Hearer, if the continued sin of the Jews, which had for so
long a period accumulated could be put away from the land in one day,
so can yours. O you sinners of ripe years, O you transgressors of
seventy or eighty years–there is hope for you!
From the text I hear the silver trumpets ring, "I will remove the
iniquity in one day"–the continuous iniquity– then why not your
continued iniquity? Though you have added stone of sin to stone till
the mound of your transgressions stands as a memorial to God against
you, yet He can remove the heap, and that in one single day. Is not
this good news to sinners? I am sure it is to me! I do devoutly bless
and thank my heavenly Father that He has put such great promises in His
Word, and spoken so largely of His mercy to the guilty–for mine is a
case of which I am obliged to say as Baxter did, "O Lord of Mercy, give
me great mercy or no mercy, for little mercy will not serve my turn. I
must have great mercy or I perish."
See, then, in the text, the power of God to remove sin very remarkably
set forth. The Prophet speaks of the sin of a whole land, of a most
sinful land, a highly privileged land which had turned every privilege
into provocation. Yet in one day the Lord would remove it all! The
inference is clear, O penitent Sinner, that He can remove your sin,
also. O you Hearer of the Gospel, convicted in your own conscience of
having been a trifler with Divine things, despair not! Though you have
gone as far as you can in sin, the Lord, through Jesus Christ, can put
your sin away.
I know how your mind is this morning. If you are aroused to see your
state by nature, you are mourning that ever you had a being. O Man, it
were, indeed, enough to make you mourn that you were born if there were
not hope of a sec-
ond birth, and hope in the infinite mercy of God for the removal of
your hideous defilements! Take heart from the text, and approach your
gracious King through Jesus the appointed Mediator–for if you believe,
He will this day, even this day–take away all your transgressions,
receive you graciously, and love you freely. The wayfaring man, though
a fool, may in this text clearly see that our God is abundantly able to
pardon, for He removes a nation's accumulated iniquity in one day.
II. Secondly, we shall consider WHAT WAS TO BE DONE WITH IT. "I will
remove the iniquity of that land in one day." It shall be remitted and
forgiven. In some parts of Scripture we read of sin being "wiped out,"
and the expression is remarkably expressive. Sometimes the wiping out
refers to the housewife's meaning of the word–when the dish is wiped
out and turned bottom upwards. So can God take our sinful souls and
wipe them right out so that they shall be perfectly clean–and the pot
which was filthy and had death in it shall be, "holiness unto the
Lord."
At other times the wiping out refers to the erasure of notes made upon
tablets. Some writings were cleared off with a sponge. At other times,
if the tablet was of wax and the marks were made with an iron pen, or
stylus, then the wax was softened and smoothed again–and all evidence
of the record totally disappeared. Though our sins are written with an
iron pen and engraved with the point of a diamond upon the very horns
of our altars, yet will the Lord make the record to disappear when His
mercy is revealed to our faith.
He blots out the handwriting which was against us. He puts it out of
the way, nailing it to the Cross. He makes our sins, like clouds, to
pass away forever. God can, O Sinner, wipe out your transgressions so
that they shall not exist! Through the precious blood of Jesus He can
finish your transgressions, and make an end of all your sins.
If we take the word "remove" as it stands in the text, then it is as
though a great stone lay at the door of God's mercy. "Sin lies at the
door," who shall roll away the stone for us? "I," says God, "will
remove the iniquity of this land in one day." Or it is like a burden
pressing on our shoulders. Speak of the load which Atlas carried, when
he is fabled to have sustained the world. it was nothing compared with
this more than Atlantean load which crushes us down, and will crush us
to the lowest Hell. "I will remove it," says the Savior, and He has
kept His Word.
He took the load upon His own shoulders and so removed it from us. And
then He carried it right up to the Cross, and from the top of Calvary
He hurled it into His sepulcher. And there He left it, a dead and
buried thing. And if it is searched for, it shall not be found, "Yes,
it shall not be," says the Lord. He has finished transgression, made an
end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness for all His
people.
It is as though sin were looked upon as a substance, exceedingly heavy,
but capable of removal. Not, however, capable of removal by any human
hands, for it is as firmly settled in its place as the everlasting
hills. But the Lord plucks it up by its roots, removes it, and casts it
into the depths of the sea. Blessed be His name! He has so removed our
sins, as Believers, that none can ever bring them back again to accuse
or condemn us. He has fulfilled the promise, "I will remove the
iniquity of that land." And once removed by Sovereign Grace, it shall
never be brought back again.
"As far as the east is from the west"–measure that, you astronomers!
"As far as the east is from the west"–O swift-winged angel, compute
the space! "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed
our transgressions from us." The Lord has done it. It is finished! Our
iniquity is removed. The depths have covered our sins, they sank like
lead in the mighty waters.
Listen patiently to this word. The removal of our transgressions lies
in four things. There is the removal of the punishment. The man whom
God pardons cannot be punished for sin. It were a mock pardon that left
a man in the executioner's custody. The royal pardon bids every angel
of justice hold off his hand. Your sins shall never rise against you,
Sinner, if God forgives them. For you there is no Hell. For you no
never-dying worm, no fire unquenchable. Forgiven! The sentence is
stayed, no, revoked.
The removal of transgression implies next, the taking away of the guilt
of it as before the Lord. Sin has made God angry. It is a breach of His
Law. It is a dishonor to His name. Yet God will forgive the believing
sinner so that no anger shall linger in His bosom against him. He will
cast his sins behind His back, put them out of His mind. Oh, miracle of
miracles! Can God put anything behind His back when He sees all things?
Can Omniscience find a corner where His eyes can never peer? Yes. He
says, "I will cast your sins behind My back." O God, Your Word in this
case is marvelous and strange, but we perceive right well Your gracious
meaning–the transgressions of Your people shall not be remembered
against them any more forever–their guilt is utterly removed.
The removal of sin implies, thirdly, the putting away of the defilement
of sin. Sin makes us to be polluted creatures. We are like degraded
priests no longer clad in fair white garments, but wearing sordid, and
filthy robes. When the sin is put away, the defilement consequent upon
it also is cleansed and we become pure before God–personally
acceptable with God. What a mercy is this! It is no less a mercy to be
cleansed from personal defilement than to be delivered from future
punishment.
Again, the removal of sin includes, in the fourth place, the total
destruction of the dominion of sin over our nature. Not that in us sin
has lost all its power–but that in the Believer it has lost its
reigning power, and is dethroned. The position of sin in a natural man
is that of a king on his throne. The position of sin in a Christian is
that of a bandit hiding in secret places trying to get back its old
usurped dominion, but failing in the attempt, for "sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the Law, but under Grace."
Thus the promise of the text is a very full one. The removal of sin
includes the remission of the punishment, the putting away of the
guilt, the cleansing of the defilement, the dethronement of the evil
power. Ah, my dear Hearers, my heart leaps within me for joy to think
that I am able to tell you that such a fourfold, four times precious
blessing, is to be conferred by God upon poor sinful men.
O Sinner, how I wish you would have it this day. I love the word "this
day." If in one day a land's iniquity could be so completely removed,
why not yours today? Why not on this Lord's-day? How true a Sunday
would it become to you? If you believe you have your sin removed, faith
finds out the great Sin-Bearer and sees the transgression borne away by
Him. O that pardoning Grace were given to everyone in this assembly, so
that it could be safely said, "The Lord has removed the iniquity of the
whole congregation of the Tabernacle in one day."
Talk not of bell ringing–oh, what heart ringing, what heavenly songs,
what soundings of the golden harps there would be if it might be so! O
that the Almighty Spirit would apply the atoning blood, and remove the
iniquity of all this multitude in one single day! Do it, Lord, and we
will bless Your gracious name!
III. But we must turn to the third point, which is this–HOW LONG IT
TAKES TO REMOVE THE SIN. "I will
remove the iniquity of the land in one day." It took a great many days
to pile up the sin, but one day sees it removed. The iniquity of the
land began when the people entered it. They had not been long in Canaan
before Achan took of the forbidden thing, and he was but a type of the
rest.
They were a stiff-necked and rebellious people whose very nature was
averse to the service of the Lord their God. Throughout the hundreds of
years of the judges, the kings, the captivities, and so on, they
continued to revolt from the Divine authority. They heaped up
transgression till it stood aloft in mountainous heights. And yet when
the dreadful pile was completed, the Lord made it to disappear in one
day. Yes, and our sins have taken a long time to heap up–they comprise
the sins of our youth, the sins of our manhood, the transgressions of
our riper years–and it may be we have added to these the sins of our
old age.
One may say, as he looks at his sin, "That is forty years' work."
Another may mournfully confess, "That is seventy years' accumulation."
If each sin deserves a tear, O to be a Naomi! For we have need that
clouds and rains dwell in our eyes. Our souls have need of all the
watery things that nature can produce. But we may dry our tears, for
though many days were taken for the formation of the sin, the Lord says
He will remove it all in one day. In one single day seventy years of
sin are forever put away by our Lord Jesus–truly for this His name
shall be called "WONDERFUL."
Think, dear Brethren, that this iniquity could not have been removed by
all the repenting in the world. Though a man should repent of sin, if
it were possible, not for one day, but for twenty thousand years, yet
he could not remove his sin by repentance. Man tries to act as a
bleacher to his sin–he dips the stained garment into the strong liquid
which is to make it white, hoping that some spots will be removed.
But when be takes it out again, if his eyes are clear, he says, "Alas,
it seems as spotted as ever. I laid it to soak in that which I thought
full surely would take out the stain, but so far as I can see, there is
another stain added to the rest. I find myself worse instead of better.
I must add a more pungent salt. I must use a stronger lye. I must make
my tears more briny, I must fetch them up from the deep salt wells of
my heart."
He lays his vesture again to soak, but each time, as he takes it out,
his own eyes become more keen and he sees more foulness in the garment
than he had observed before. Then he goes and takes unto himself niter
and much soap. But when he has used it all, when he has gone to his
Church, when he has gone to his Chapel, when he has repeated his
prayers, at-
tended to ceremonies, done, I know not what, to prove the genuineness
of his repentance–ah, the iniquity is still there, and will be there,
and must be–let him do what he may. Yet what your repenting cannot do
in thousands of years God can do for you, Sinner–and that in one
single day!
The people of Israel had been chastised very severely. Many times they
were carried away captive and pillaged and robbed. But as often as they
were chastised they so often returned to their sins, till the Lord
said, "Why should you be smitten any more? You will revolt more and
more." Now, what many years of chastisement could not remove, God's
mercy removed in a single day. Oh, how some of you have been flogged
and whipped! You have lost your property, perhaps. You have lost your
health, it may be, through early sin. You have lost the dearest friends
you ever had.
You have been tried in body, tried in estate–but for all that you hug
your sin, and the guilt of it still clings to you. Ah, but Jehovah
Jesus can remove it in one day! What His Providence cannot do, his
Grace can do. In one day Infinite Mercy can remove the sin. During all
the years that Israel had sinned they had still offered sacrifices, but
their sacrifices had never taken away sin. It is clear, since they had
to offer the sacrifices every year, that their sins were not removed,
for then no further sacrifice would have been needed.
So, my dear Hearer, no sacrifice of yours or mine can ever take away
sin. There are still men in what is called this "enlightened nineteenth
century" who impertinently claim to be a special caste of priests, and
will offer a sacrifice on our behalf before God. Well, let them go on
with their worship if they will. Let the priests of Baal cry aloud and
spare not even to the chapter's dreadful end–but no sin is ever put
away in this fashion.
The one sacrifice of Christ upon Golgotha, the one sin-bearing of
transgression upon Calvary has put away sin in one day, and put it away
forever, so that no further sacrifice is wanted, no new blood, no new
atonement–
"It is done, the great transaction's done," Heaven is satisfied.
Justice is content. Mercy has a free channel. God is glorified. In one
day, without help, alone, solitary–God, in the Person of His Son–has
put away the transgression of His elect, and put it away forever and
ever.
Thus I might continue to show you the marvelous act of God in putting
away iniquity in one day, because the pains of Hell, even, could not
have removed sin, not even throughout eternity. Banished from God's
Presence, the sinner at the end of ten thousand times ten thousand
years would be as guilty as he was before–and as liable, still, to
bear the wrath of God. For him there is no hope that suffering could
ever make atonement. He must, forever and forever, as long as God's
Word is true, lie under the weight of sin.
There ought to be, among Christians, no question about the doctrine of
the eternity of punishment. There could be none if men were not wise
above what is written, for if Heaven is eternal, Hell must be. "These
shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life
eternal." The two things are put together in such a way that you must
doubt the one if you doubt the other. No, you cannot rightly believe
God concerning the one side without believing Him as to the other,
also.
But herein is the triumph of Christ. Dreadful as sin is, His Cross is
more glorious! Awful as the transgression against God's Law is, so
awful that none can measure its tremendous deeps, yet more glorious
still is that most effectual Atonement which Christ has worked out and
brought in–by which in one single day He has removed forever all the
sin of His people. Oh, but this is a grand text! Who shall speak of it
as he should? I wish that you would feel it, my dear Friends, and that
would be better than my speaking upon it.
Let it be, then, literally stated, that in one single moment all the
sin which lies upon a sinner can be swept away! The word "one day" is
used to show that the act of God in forgiving sin is instantaneous.
Christ in one day put away sin by His suffering and death. Faith brings
Christ to us, and —
"The moment a sinner believes, And trusts in his crucified God, His
pardon at once he receives, Salvation in full through Christ's blood."
The dying thief had not to wait a month to get pardon, or else he would
have died unsaved. He did but say, "Lord, remember me," and the answer
came, "Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." You may have begun this
morning the blackest sinner out of Hell–you may, before this service
is closed, if God's Grace meets with you–be pure through the precious
blood. Who shall describe that wondrous change from darkness into
marvelous light, from death into spiritual life? May the Eternal Spirit
work such a change as that in you!
Remember, this change is not only possible to ordinary sinners, to such
as have been moral and have kept within the bounds of the laws that
regulate mankind in reference to themselves–but it is true of the very
worst of sinners, the most degraded, depraved, abandoned–those who
have gone to the utmost extravagance of transgression. One single day,
faith being exercised, will put your guilt all away! One single word
from the great King, "Absolvo te," "I absolve you," and all sin is
gone!
She to whom Christ said, "Your sins which are many are forgiven you,"
received the pardon then and there. May that same voice in the power of
the Spirit speak to some hearts today! And may they go out of this
place justified, saying, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifies–who is he that condemns?"
IV. One would like to linger here, but I must not. For we must notice,
in the fourth place, WHO IT IS THAT REMOVES INIQUITY IN ONE DAY. Here
is the point of the text, "I will remove the iniquity of that land in
one day." "I," "I," "I." That accounts for the wonder. What cannot God
do? He can pluck the sun from his sphere, quench the lamps of night,
shake the heavens, and dry up the sea–nothing is impossible to God,
nor too hard for Him.
"I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." When Jehovah puts
His hand to a work, then it is done. All without Him must fail. But
when He does it, how readily is it accomplished! It is always, "I,"
when you come to the pardon of sin. "I, even I, am He that blots out
your transgressions."
How He "I's" it there! "I, even I, am He that blots out your
transgressions." Jehovah alone can say unto the soul, "I am your
salvation. Who can forgive sins but God only." He forgives all your
iniquities. He laid our sins on Jesus, and He, therefore, Himself takes
them away from us. It is the Lord that pardons, the Lord that cleanses
evermore. Hope then, O worn-out Transgressor, bowed down with sin–what
could not be done by others–God can do!
Tarry a moment over that word "I." Let me take it and translate it. The
"I" of Jehovah is not one, but three. To begin, then–"May the Grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you," for it is He who says, "I will
remove the iniquity of that land." He was laid as the one foundation
stone of our hope, upon which seven eyes are fixed. He who was engraved
with the graver's tool when He was fastened to the Cross, and His side
was pierced–He it is that has removed the iniquity of His people in
one day, by bearing it, by making a recompense to Almighty Justice for
it all.
See, then, the Crucified–He uplifts His pierced hands, He bares His
open side, and He says–"Sinner, look to Me. I will remove your
iniquity in one day." But, "May the love of God be with you," for it is
the Father who says, "I will remove the iniquity of this land in one
day." The returning prodigal said, "Father, I have sinned," and it was
the father, the same offended father, who bid them take off his rags
and kill for him the fatted calf. It was the father who rejoiced that
his son that was lost was found, and that he who was dead was alive
again. The Father, therefore, removes the sins of His children.
And, "May the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you," for it is the
Holy Spirit, also, who says, "I will remove the iniquity of the land in
one day." He brings the blood that Jesus shed, the Jesus that the
Father gave. He applies it to the conscience, sprinkles it upon the
heart, and makes those to be actually and experimentally cleansed who
in God's sight were cleansed by the death of Christ. "I will remove
it." Oh, did you ever feel within your heart the power of the Holy
Spirit removing your iniquity in one day?
I shall never forget when my iniquity was removed. It was, indeed, in
one single moment. Wretched I was, and more. My sins terrified, alarmed
me–they haunted me day and night. They made me to sit on the doorstep
of Hell. But how changed was the scene when I heard and understood that
text, "Look unto Me and be you saved, all you ends of the earth." Then
I was enabled to look to Jesus, and one look removed mountains. As I
looked, my iniquity was forgiven, my joy was overflowing. I had to
restrain myself and to do violence to my feelings in order to keep my
seat.
If the Methodists cry out, "Hallelujah," I could for once have cried
out, "Hallelujah," with the loudest of them! Oh, the bliss of pardon,
when it comes by the Holy Spirit! You may hear about it, my
Brethren–you may read about it– and both of these are well in their
way. I hope you will continue both to hear and read, but these are not
enough. It is essential that you receive the Word with living power
within from God Himself, against whom you have offended.
You can only find pardon and peace by looking to Jesus. The simple act
of throwing yourself into His dear arms will bring it–nothing else
will. It will come at once, come suddenly–and when it comes it will
bring to you results of blessedness that shall know no end. "I," says
God, "I will do it." "Give unto the Lord, then, you pardoned, give unto
the Lord glory and strength! Give unto the Lord the glory that is due
unto His name."
Take now your songs and go forth and sing, "O God, I will praise You,
for though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You
comfort me." If you choose your joy in that sweet verse of our poet you
will do well–
"Jesus is become at length, My salvation and my strength! And His
praises shall prolong, While I live, my pleasant song. Praise you,
then, His glorious name, Publish His exalted fame, Still His worth your
praise exceeds Excellent are all His deeds."
Continue till you mount to Heaven to sing, "Unto Him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be glory forever and
ever."
V. And now to conclude. The last point of the text is, WHAT STATE
FOLLOWS PARDON. "They shall call every man his neighbor under the vine,
and under the fig tree." Yes, wherever pardon comes, peace follows. In
times of war the fig trees are cut down, the vines are destroyed. And
if not, the inhabitants are kept within doors and often are driven into
the eaves of the earth for shelter.
But the picture before us in the text represents the people as sitting
at ease in their gardens and in their courtyards, where the luxuriant
vines yield them shelter. The words admirably picture a scene of
peace–each man under his vine and fig tree. I wonder why it is people
cannot quote Scripture rightly in prayer, but there are very few who
ever do. How often have I heard, "They shall sit every man under his
vine and fig tree, none daring to make them afraid." I would like to
find that in the Bible!
The text in Micah is, "And none shall make them afraid." They dare do
it, but they cannot do it. There is the point. They dare, but they
cannot. The impudence of Satan is unlimited–he dares to do
anything–but he cannot though he dares. Our text does not mention the
fact, but it implies that no enemy can molest. A soul pardoned is a
soul at peace. If God forgives me, nothing can distress me.
"Strike," said Luther, "strike, Lord, if You will, for now You have
forgiven me I will bear Your strokes and sing." Oh, yes! If sin is
pardoned, nothing can harm us. For us the poison is gone, the sting is
departed, the evil is annihilated. We have in the pardon of sin an
antidote for all that might have distressed us. We must and shall have
peace.
But the text also implies neighborliness. They are not each one to sit
under the vine, and under the fig tree, and say "Glory be to God I am a
pardoned man, I am saved, I do not care about my neighbors one bit."
No–he that is a gracious soul invites his neighbor, (for so it might
run), invites him to commune with him! Grace is the most neighborly
thing in the world. Christ's people are called sheep, sheep are
gregarious–you do not meet sheep one by one–they go in flocks. They
love company, good company.
So you shall find the people of God. They are good company-keeping
people. I do not mean that they have great entertainments, and care for
idle chit-chat–but this is how they are described–"Then they that
feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and
heard." Somebody said, "The good friends at the Tabernacle blocked up
the steps a good deal after service by standing to talk with one
another." Well, if you talk about Christ, and things Divine, the more
you talk the better–of holy conversation there need be no limit.
If you talk against your neighbor, be home with you! If you talk gossip
and scandal, you have no right to do it on the Tabernacle steps–no!
Where have you a right to do it? No where! Gossiping slander is at all
times vile, but if our conversation is of Jesus, then the more we speak
together, and the more sociable we are, the more the House of God on
earth becomes like Heaven above. God save us from a stiff gentility
that knows nobody because it does not know itself. May we, on the other
hand, rejoice in what God has done for us and all His people, and,
therefore, make ourselves familiar with the consecrated brotherhood of
saints.
Do not only sit under the fig tree, but call each man your neighbor.
Say, "Rejoice with me! Come and help my joy, I cannot rejoice alone.
Come and hear, all you that fear God, I will tell you what God has done
for my soul." We will make even the heathen among whom we dwell to say,
"The Lord has done great things for them." And we will say, "Yes, the
Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad." Christian
sociability, Christian communion, Christian friend-
ship, Christian communication the one with the other is a most
desirable and fitting thing–and where sin is pardoned and peace is
implanted it is quite sure to follow.
But I must note again there is not only peace and neighborliness in the
text, but there is comfort. They might sit, and they might sit together
in misery–but in this case they sit in comfort under the vine, its
broad leaves giving them shade. They sit under the fig tree, too,
finding a cool retreat from the heat of the day. And oh, how Believers,
when they meet together in communion, what comfort they have in the
Holy Spirit! I could not help rejoicing today over a good Sister who
has been away from here a long time.
She had had a deal of trouble, and I praised God when she said, "Oh,
but I should not have minded the trouble if I could have got to the
Tabernacle on Sundays and weekdays, for there you could at least forget
your troubles for an hour or two, and then go away strong to contend
with them again." Yes, and when sitting under the shadow of Christ,
under the leaves of His Truth, under the droppings of His familiar
love, Christian fellowship becomes very sweet. One almost feels, when
Jesus draws near to our assemblies, that if Heaven is better than this,
it must be very good, indeed. We get such earnest anticipation of the
joy of the glorified saints that we are fairly overcome with excessive
delight!
But note, it was not only comfort they had, but substantial enjoyment
and real supply of needs. They sat under the vine–then there was wine
for them to drink. They sat under the fig tree–then there were figs
for them to eat. So when God gives pardon and peace, He gives to our
souls a satisfaction with good things. We find in Jesus Christ, if we
sit under His shadow with delight, that His fruit is sweet unto our
taste–
"All my capacious powers can wish In Christ do richly meet; Nor to my
eyes is light so dear, Nor friendship half so sweet."
Now, my Beloved Friends–you that are unsaved and remain so. I can
understand that you seek company and that you will go and call every
man his neighbor, "Come, let us make mirth, let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die, let us break the Sabbath, let us break God's bands
asunder, and cast His cords from us." I can understand that, and I
think you also can understand that the company you keep on earth will
be the company you will have to keep forever. "Bind them in bundles to
burn them," will be the Lord's command. Like with like. They that
depart from Christ on earth will hear Him say, "Depart, you cursed,
forever." O that you might be led to seek God, and then to seek His
people!
But as for you that love God, I am sure if Grace is reigning in your
hearts you will feel a yearning after holy company, and your company
will be such as love what you love, such as hope to be with Jesus where
you will be. "Oh, but God's people have many faults!" My dear Friend,
so have you, but despite all the faults of the Church–
"My soul shall pray for Zion still,
While life or breath remains.
There may best friends, my kindred dwell,
There God my Savior reigns."
There is no better company than the company that Christ keeps! There is
no better house than the house that Christ inhabits. May we be willing
to be doorkeepers in the House of God! May we, by God's Grace, be glad
to be the least in the Church, so long as we may be numbered among the
chosen, redeemed by the blood of Jesus! May the Lord give us perfect
pardon, perfect peace, for His name's sake. Amen.
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A Most Needful Prayer Concerning The Holy Spirit