DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 16, 1870,
BY C H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Will you be made whole?" John 5:6.
JESUS spoke to the impotent man who had been afflicted for thirty-eight
years, and enquired of him, "Will you be made whole?" It seems a very
strange question to ask. Who would not be made whole? Would the poor
man have been lying at the pool if he had not been anxious for healing?
Must there not have been in the very look of his face, as he gazed upon
the Savior, an answer to that question, superseding all necessity of
saying it? Yet as our Lord spoke no superfluous words, it may be that
He perceived that the paralysis of the man's body had, to a very
painful degree, benumbed his mind and brought on a paralysis of his
will.
He had hoped till his heart was sick. He had waited till despondency
had dried up his spirits. And now it had almost come to this, that he
scarcely cared whether he was made whole or not. The bow had been bent
so long that all its elasticity was destroyed. He had hungered till
appetite, itself, was gone. He was now listless, with an indifference
made up of sullen repining at his disappointments and blank
hopelessness for the future. The Savior touched a chord which needed to
vibrate when He enquired as to his will. He aroused, by that question,
a dormant faculty whose vigorous exercise, it may be, was one of the
first essentials to a cure. "Will you be made whole?" was the enquiry
of a profound investigation, the scientific probe of a great Physician,
the resurrection from the grave of a great master power of manhood.
Now, in the matter of preaching the Gospel today, it may seem almost an
impertinent question for me to put to each one of you gathered here who
as yet are not saved, "Will you be made whole?" "Surely," you will
reply, "everyone desires salvation." Believe me, I am not quite so
certain as you are of the truth of that statement. "But our being
here," says one, "our having been here so long, and our attentive
listening to the Gospel go to prove that we are willing enough to be
made whole if we could but discover where health is to be found, and
what is that balm of Gilead of which so much is
said."
And yet I should not wonder if there are many here who through having
waited so long are beginning to be paralyzed in their once earnest
desires. And others, who having been here so long and never having been
very anxious, at last have come to occupy these pews as a mere matter
of custom–they have no hearty will towards the wholeness of soul which
the Good Physician is always prepared to give to those who seek His
help. I am persuaded that instead of the question being an unnecessary
one, it is in every congregation one of the first to be pressed upon
the hearer's attention.
To get a truthful answer to this enquiry from the inmost soul of every
hearer is my object now, believing that it will be a very healthful
thing to you–even if you are honestly compelled to give a negative
answer. It will at least expose the condition of the heart to itself,
and that may be helpful towards something better. As God may help me, I
shall labor to press upon you very earnestly this question this
morning, O unsaved Man or Woman, "Will you be made whole?"
I. This question is necessary to be put, in the first place, because IT
IS A QUESTION NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD. It is not the same as this
question, "Will you be saved from going to Hell?" Everyone answers,
"Yes," to that. "Will you be saved so as to go to Heaven?" At once,
without deliberation, everyone says, "Yes." For the harps of gold, for
the songs of blessedness, for the eternity of immortality–we have all
a heart and a strong desire–but that, you see, is not the question.
Heaven and its joys come out of what is proposed in our question, as a
result, as a consequence–but that is not the matter in hand just now.
We are not now saying to the thief, "Will you have your imprisonment
remitted?" We are putting it to him in another shape–"Are you willing
to be made an honest man?" We are not now saying to the murderer, "Are
you anxious to escape the gallows?" We know his reply. The question we
are putting to him is, "Will you be made righteous, upright, kind,
forgiving, so as to give up all this evil of yours?"
It is not, "Are you willing to sit at the festival of mercy, and eat
and drink as those do who are in health?" But, "Are you, yourself,
willing to be made spiritually healthful, to pass through those Divine
processes by which the foul disease of sin may be cast out, and the
healthiness of sanctified manhood may be restored to you?"
To help you to know what that question means, let me remind you that
there never were but two men who were whole, perfectly whole. And those
may be called the two Adams–the first and the Second Adam. These both
showed us in their own persons what a man would be if he were whole.
The first Adam in the garden–we should all be willing to be in
Paradise with him! We should all be delighted to walk beneath those
never-withering boughs, and gather ever-luscious fruits, without toil,
without suffering, without disease, without death.
We all should be glad enough to welcome the return of the primeval
gladness of Eden, but that is not the question. It is, should we be
willing to be made mentally and morally what Adam was before his sin
brought disease into manhood? And what was Adam? Why, he was a man who
knew his God, knew many things beside, but mainly and chiefly knew his
God. His delight was to walk with God, to commune with Him, to speak
with Him as a man speaks with his friend– until he fell he was one
whose will was submitted to the will of his Creator, anxious and
desirous not to violate that will, but in all things to do what his
Lord should bid him.
He was placed in the garden to till the ground, to keep and dress the
garden, and he did all that with joy. He was a whole, a sound man. His
whole enjoyment consisted in his God. It was his one object as a living
creature to do the will of Him that made him. He knew nothing of
rioting and drunkenness. For him there were no lascivious songs or
wanton deeds. The flash of debauchery and the glitter of profligacy
were far from him. He was pure, upright, chaste, obedient. How would
you like to be made like he, Sinner–you who are doing your own
will–you who have sought out many inventions? You who find happiness
in this sin and the other filthiness, would you be willing to come back
and find your happiness in your God, and from now on serve Him, and
none beside?
Ah, perhaps you say, blindly, "Yes," and it is possible you know not
what you say. If the truth were more clearly before you, you would
obstinately refuse to be made whole. Life would, under such an aspect,
seem to you tame, joyless, slavish. Without the fire of lust, the
excitement of drink, the laughter of folly, and the pomp of pride, what
would existence be to many? To them our ideal of sound manhood is but
another name for bondage and misery.
Take the other instance of a Man who was whole. It was Jesus, the
Second Adam. Dwelling here among the sons of men, not in a Paradise,
but in the midst of obloquy, temptation, and suffering, yet was He a
whole, sound Man. Sicknesses He took upon Himself, as to His body–and
our sins were reckoned to Him as our Substitute. But in Him was no sin.
The prince of this world searched Him through and through, but could
find no unsoundness in Him. The perfection of our Savior's manhood
consisted in this–that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners."
He was holy, that is, in its root, the same thing as "whole." He was a
complete, perfect, uninjured, untainted Man. He was whole towards His
God. It was His meat and drink to do the will of God that sent Him.
Jesus as Man was man as God would have man–perfectly conformed to His
right position. He was as He came from the Maker's hand, without blot,
without loss, without excrescence of evil, and without the absence of
any good thing. He was whole and holy. Therefore he was harmless, never
inflicting ill on others in word or deed.
He was undefiled, never affected by the influences that surrounded Him
so as to become false to His God or unkind to man. He was undefiled,
though blasphemy passed through or by His ear, yet it never polluted
His heart. Though He saw the lust and wickedness of man carried to its
climax, yet He Himself shook off the viper into the fire and remained
without spot, and blameless. He was also separate from sinners, not
drawing around Him a Pharisaic cordon, and saying, "Stand by, for I am
holier than you," but eating with them and yet separate from them.
And never more separate than when His benignant hand touched them, and
when He entered most deeply into sympathy with them in their sorrows.
He was separate by His own mental elevation, moral superiority, and
spiritual grandeur. Now, would you wish to be like Jesus?
There is a question. Probably if you were, it would involve in you much
of His experience. You would be laughed at, you would be scoffed. You,
too, would be persecuted, and unless Providence restrained your foe,
you also might be brought to death. But taking Christ for All and
All–would you be willing to be made like He–to have torn away from
yourself much real evil which you now admire, and to have implanted in
you much real good, which perhaps at this moment you do not appreciate?
Would you be willing now to be made whole?
I can imagine that you say, "I want to be like Jesus, I anxiously
desire it," and yet permit me gently and affectionately to whisper in
your ear that if you knew what I meant, if you knew what Jesus was, I
am not so sure that your will would very vehemently incline that way. I
am afraid that many a struggle, and many a rebellion would arise in
your heart if the process were being carried on towards making you
whole as Jesus Christ was whole.
Still further, to illustrate the meaning of the question, "Will you be
made whole?" let me remind you that when a man is whole, complete, and
what a man should be, there are certain evil propensities which are
expelled, and certain moral qualities which he is sure to possess. For
instance, if a man is made whole before God he is made honest before
men. No man can be said to be whole while he is still guilty of
injustice in his trading, in his thinking, in his conversation, or in
his actions towards his neighbors.
Sinner, you have been in the habit of perpetrating in your business
much that would not stand the tests of God's all-searching eye. You
often say in your trading things that are not true. You excuse them by
the assertion that others do the same. I am not here to listen to your
excuse, but I am about to ask you earnestly, "Will you be made whole?"
Are you desirous to be made from this time a thoroughly, strictly,
punctiliously honest man? No more lying puffs! No more exaggerations!
No more overreaching, and taking of advantage! Come now, what do you
think of this state of things?
Why, there are some who could not carry on their business at this
rate–"the trade is rotten, and if you do not fall into its practices
you cannot make a living! The district is low and beggarly, and none
can thrive in it but cheats. We should have to shut up the shop if we
were perfectly honest." "Why," cries one, "I should be eaten up alive
in this age of competition. I cannot believe that we are to be so
excessively conscientious." I see how it is, you do not want to be made
whole.
He who is quite whole becomes in all respects a sober man. "Not that
which goes into the mouth defiles a man. But that which comes out of
the mouth, this defiles a man." And, "the kingdom of God stands not in
meats or drinks," yet still both in meat and drink men do frequently
sin, and especially in the sin of drunkenness. Now I suppose there is
no drunkard but what at least, when he is sober, anxiously desires to
be saved. But Drunkard, understand the question, it is not this–would
you go to Heaven? But this–would you give up your drunkenness, and no
longer delight yourself in those cups of excess? Now what do you say?
Would you, from this moment, have done with all this rioting and
wantonness, and cast them all away? Perhaps in the morning some would
say, "Yes," when the eyes are red, and the woe of excess is on them.
But how about the eventide when the merry company surrounds the man,
and the wine sparkles in the cup? Would he, then, be made whole, and
renounce that which ruins his body and his soul? Ah, no. Many say,
"Yes, I would be made whole," but they do not mean it. They are like
the dog that returns to its vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her
wallowing in the mire.
To be made whole involves in a man the production of universal
truthfulness. Now, there are persons who cannot stand to speak the
truth. To them two must always be twenty. To their eyesight the faults
of any neighbor are crimes, and the virtues of any, except their
special favorites, are always tinged with vice. Naturally they have a
malicious judgment towards others. They are envious of anything that is
honorable in their fellow man. Now, what do you say, Sir? Are you
willing to be made whole and from this hour to speak nothing but the
truth towards God and towards man? I am afraid many a tongue that is
glib now would have little to say if it said nothing but truth. And
many a man might, and would, if he were honest enough to say it, refuse
the benediction of being made perfectly truthful.
So in the matter of forgiveness. A man who is made whole can forgive
even to seventy times seven. When you cannot forgive an injury, it is
because your soul is sick. When a wrong is resented strongly, you are
ill for the moment. When it is resisted constantly, you have a chronic
disease upon you. Some persons are so far from wishing to know how to
forgive that they would almost pray that they might live and die to
gratify the passion of revenge. They would follow the man who has done
them an injury through this world and the other, too, and be damned
with him if they might have the satisfaction of seeing him amidst the
flames.
Sweet is revenge to many men, and it is useless for a man to say, "I
would be made whole," while he still cultivates malice, and bears
ill-will towards his fellow man. I might thus pass over one after
another of the virtues and the vices, and show that my text is not
quite such a simple question, after all, as some people think. There
are some men who are afflicted with a miserly, grasping disposition. If
they were whole they would be generous, they would be kind to the poor,
they would be ready to give of their substance to the Lord's work.
But would they be made whole if it were left to their choice this
morning? Ah, no. They think generosity to be weakness and charity sheer
folly. "What is the good of having money and giving it away?" they say.
"What can be the good of getting it but to hold it?" And, "He is the
wise man who can hold it fastest and part with as little of it as may
be." The man does not want to be made whole, Sir. He counts his
paralyzed hand and ossified heart to be the marks of health. He reckons
himself to be the only mentally healthy man about, though his
narrow-mindedness and soul-starvation are visible
to all.
He is a very skeleton and an anatomy of sickness. And yet he believes
himself to be the paragon of health. Those who admire their failings
have evidently no wish to be free from them. "What a beautiful cataract
I have in my eye," says one. "What a precious carbuncle decorates my
limb," says another. "What a delightful bend this is in my leg," says a
third. "What a comely hump adorns my back," says another. Men do not
speak thus concerning their bodily diseases, or we should think them
mad. But they often glory in their shame, and rejoice in their
iniquities. Whenever you meet with a man who has a fault which he
mentally elevates into a virtue, you have a man who would not wish to
be made whole, and who would scorn the physician's visit if he waited
at his door. And such persons are common in every street.
Let me also remark, if a man is made whole there are not only moral
virtues which will abound in him, but spiritual Graces. For a man who
is whole is sound in spirit as well as in outward character. What then,
would happen to a man if he were made whole in his spirit? I reply,
first, You see that Pharisee there, he is thanking God that he is quite
as good as he should be, and a great deal better than most people. Now,
if that man is ever made whole, he will say, "God be merciful to me a
sinner."
But if I were to ask him whether he would like to change places with
the publican, he would reply, "Why should I? He is a degraded and
debased wretch. The language which he uses is very appropriate for him,
I am glad he uses it. It would be very degrading to me to make the same
confession as he does, and I do not intend doing it." The man does not
want to be made whole–he thinks he is whole already. He that is made
whole becomes a self-renouncing man. Paul was whole when he said, "Not
having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith."
When he counted his own righteousness to be but dung, that he might win
Christ and be found in Him, he was a whole man. Sickly men think their
own righteousness good enough, and wrap themselves in it, and stick a
little sham jewelry of ceremony and outward form on it, and then
conclude that they are right enough for Heaven. They are in such a
fever of pride that they rave about their fancied goodness, while real
goodness they call cant and hypocrisy.
He that is whole spiritually is a man of habitual prayer. He is
accustomed to feel constant gratitude, and so to exhibit continual
praise. He is a man of abiding consecration–whatever he does he does
it unto God, seeking God's glory in it. His mind is fixed upon things
unseen and eternal. His heart is not enslaved by the things that are
seen, for he knows that they are vanity.
Now, if we were to appeal to many, and they fully knew what we meant by
it, and say, "Would you be made whole? Would you from this hour become
a prayerful man, a praiseful man, a holy man, a God-serving man?" I
believe that the majority, even of our congregations, if they spoke
honestly, would say, "No. We do not want to be made whole. We would
like to go to Heaven, but we do not want this. We desire to escape from
Hell, but we do not wish to practice all this Puritan precision which
you call holiness.
"No. We would enjoy ourselves with sinners first, and go to Heaven with
the saints last. The poison is too sweet to give up, but we, too, will
have the antidote by-and-by. We would gladly breakfast with the devil,
and sup with Christ. We are in no hurry to be made pure, our tastes for
the present lead us in another direction."
II. So, having explained the question, I shall, as strength holds out,
go on to notice in the second place, that THIS
QUESTION IS CAPABLE OF A GREAT MANY REPLIES, and therefore it is the
more necessary that it should be
asked and answered.
1. First, there are some here whose only reply to this question may be
called no answer at all, that is to say, they do not want to hear or
consider anything of the sort. "Will you be made whole?" "Well, yes,
no–we do not quite know what to say. We do not want to be bothered
about it. We are young people. There is plenty of time for us to think
of these things. We are business people, we have something else to do
besides worrying our minds with religion. We are
wealthy persons, we really must not be expected to look at these
things, as poor and coarse-minded persons are required
to do."
Or, "We are sickly, and really, our attendance to our health takes up
too much time to allow us to be troubled with theological
difficulties." Anything, I see, to put away the one thing necessary
from your thoughts. The poor soul is most precious, and yet least
esteemed. Oh, how some of you trifle with your souls! How you play with
your immortal interests! I did so once myself. If tears of blood could
express my regret for having so done, I would gladly weep them. For the
loss of time which comes through a long carelessness with regard to our
soul's interests is something very solemn–a loss of time which even
mercy cannot restore to us–which even the Grace of God cannot give
back.
I would, young people, that these things were on your minds. Oh, how
earnestly I would that these questions were seen by you to be
important! Yes, pressingly important–overwhelmingly important to
you–so that you could not shake off religious enquiry, nor keep away
from your spirit the loving pressure of the Holy Spirit who would
arouse you. Would to God that you were made wise enough to desire the
noble development of spiritual life, and the destruction of everything
detrimental to your best welfare.
Be considerate, I pray you, concerning the first and chief question. Do
not give it the go around. Your dying hour may be much nearer than you
think. The tomorrow in which you hope to consider these things may
never arrive. I would put it to you again–if anything is deferred let
it be something that may safely wait. If anything is postponed let it
not be an eternal thing, a spiritual thing, but, "seek you first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness."
Now, there are some persons who have had a great deal of religious
concern and have not shaken it off, and yet their answer to this
question, "Will you be made whole?" is not a very earnest one. Years
ago they were aroused. When they heard a sermon they used to treasure
up every word. Their prayers were importunate, and their desires were
eager, but they have not obeyed the command which says, "Believe in
Christ and live."
They have become habituated to unbelieving misery, to a continuance
beneath the burden of sin which they will persist in carrying while
there is a dear Savior waiting to relieve them of the burden. And now
at this time their answer to the question is neither one thing nor the
other. They groan out feebly, "I wish I did wish. I would that I did
will. But oh I my heart is hard —
'If anything is felt it is only pain To find I cannot feel.' I will to
will, but scarcely dare say I will."
See to what a state you have brought yourself, and may God help you now
to make a desperate effort with that will of yours–may His quickening
Spirit bless this affectionate word to your heart, and may you say,
"Ah, yes, out of my deep despair, out of the pit wherein there is no
water, I do yet cry to You, my God! Out of the belly of Hell do I
desire deliverance. I will, I will, I would be saved! O give me Grace
that I may be made whole." May none of you continue to be numbered with
those who virtually give no answer to the question.
2. And, secondly, there are too many who give very evasive replies to
the question. To them I must speak. Will you be made whole? My dear
Hearers, I am anxious to put this question to every unconverted one,
but I anticipate that from several I shall get no distinct reply. I
shall hear one say, "How am I to know whether I am God's elect or not?"
Beloved, that is not the question. That question cannot be answered at
this stage of the proceedings–it shall be answered by-and-
by.
Meanwhile, why do you need to bring up that subject, except to blind
your eyes to the solemn enquiry which the text would raise? Will you,
or will you not, be made whole? Come, Man, do not shirk the question!
Come to it, and face it like a man! Are you willing to be reconciled to
God, and to be obedient to Him, or not? Say yes or no, and speak out.
If you wish to be God's foe, and to love sin and unrighteousness, say
so! Be honest with yourself, and see yourself in the true light? But
if, indeed, you would be purified from sin and be made holy, say so–it
will be no great thing, after all, to say nothing, at any rate, to
boast of. It is but a will, and that is nothing in which to glory.
"Well," says another, "I have not the power to cease from sin." Again I
say that is not the question. There must evermore be drawn a
distinction between the will and the power. God will give the power,
rest assured, in proportion as He gives the will. It is because our
will is not there that the power is not there. When a feeble will
comes, a feeble power comes. But when the will becomes intense then the
power becomes intense, too. They rise and fall together. But that is
not the query. I do not say, "What can you do?" but "What would you
be?" Would you be holy? Are you earnestly, honestly anxious to be, this
day, set free from the power of sin? There is the question, and I do
pray you, for your soul's sake, look into your heart and answer this
enquiry as in the sight of God.
"But I have been so guilty in the past," says one, "my former sins
alarm me." Again, though I am glad you have a sense of your sin, I
would remind you that this is not the question. It is not how sick you
are, but are you willing to be made whole? I know you are a sinner, and
a much worse one than you think yourself to be. However black your sin
is to your own eyes, it is ten times more black to God's eyes, and you
are an utterly condemned and lost sinner by nature.
But the question, now, is, "Will you be made whole?" It is not, "Will
you have the past forgiven, and be delivered from the penalty of it?"
Of course you would! But would you be set free from the lusts that have
been your delight, from the sins that have been your darlings? Would
you be delivered from the desires of your flesh and of your mind, the
things that your heart hungers after? Would you be made as the saints
are, as God is–holy, set free from sin? Is that the yearning of your
spirit, or is it not?
3. Now, I shall pass on to observe that there are a great many persons
who practically say, "No," to this. They do not evade it, but they
honestly say, "No." No, I must retract that word. I question whether
they honestly say, "No," they virtually say, "No," by their actions. "I
would be made whole," says one, and yet when Divine service is over he
goes back to his sin. A man says he would be cured of his disease, and
yet he indulges again in that which gave the disease–is he untruthful
or insane?
The eating of a certain meat may be the cause of disease–the doctor
tells the patient so. He says he desires to be healed, and yet he falls
back, at once, upon the very dish that caused his sickness. He is a
liar, is he not? And he that says he would be made whole, and yet
dallies with his old sin–does he not lie to himself, and his God? When
a man would be made whole he frequents the places where healing is
given. Yet there are some who very seldom go up to the House of God.
They go, perhaps, but once on the Sunday.
They now and then hear the Gospel, or attend places because they are
called places of worship–but the Gospel is not preached, the
conscience is never harrowed, the demands of God's Law and the promises
of God's Gospel are never fully insisted on. Yet are they quite content
with having gone there, and think they have done well. They are like a
man who, being sick, does not go to the physician who understands the
case, but calls in at any quack's shop where there is a profession made
of curing, though never one was cured. Such a person does not desire to
be made whole. He would not act so if he did.
How many, again, hear the Gospel but do not hear it attentively! A
telegram on the Exchange–they read it with both their eyes–will there
be a rise or fall of stocks? An article from which they may judge of
the general current of trade–how they devour it with their minds, they
suck in the meaning, and then go and practice what they have gathered
from it.
A sermon heard, and lo, the minister is judged as to how he preached
it–as if a man reading a telegram should say the capital letter was
not well inked on the press, or the dot on the "I" had dropped off the
letter. Or as if a man reading an article of business should simply
criticize the style of the article, instead of seeking to get at its
meaning, and act upon its advice. Oh, how men will hear and think it to
be the height of perfection to say they liked or disapproved of the
sermon! As if the God-sent preacher cared one whit whether you did or
did not like his sermon–his business being not to please your
tastes–but to save your souls! Not to win your approbation, but to win
your hearts for Jesus, and bring you to be reconciled to God.
Liking is hardly to be thought of in the question–seldom enough is a
patient enamored of a surgeon's scalpel. The surgeon who
conscientiously removes the proud flesh, or prevents a wound from
healing too rapidly, cannot expect admiration for his use of the knife
while the sufferer yet feels it. Nor does the preacher, when faithfully
declaring the Truth of God, expect men to commend him with their
tastes. If their consciences commend him it is enough.
Ah, my Hearers, you give us listless hearing, critical hearing,
anything but practical hearing, and all this goes to prove that, after
all, though you crowd our houses of prayer, you do not want to be made
whole! Too many take up the Gospel as a man of reading may take up a
surgery book to amuse himself with a smattering of the art, but not to
find out what will touch his own case, or remove his own sickness.
So you do with this Bible–you read it as a sacred volume, but not as
bearing upon your own best interests. How little you know of deep,
earnest, heart-longing to find Jesus! To be reconciled to God, and to
be delivered from the wrath to come! There are men who both by their
non-hearing and their hearing, say, "We do not want to be made whole."
Many there are, again, who do not desire to be made whole because being
made whole would involve their losing their present position in
society. They do not want to part with their ungodly gains or wicked
companions. Religion would involve them in some degree of persecution.
They would not like to be sneered at as a Methodist or Presbyterian.
They could not afford to go to Heaven if the road were a little rough.
They would prefer to go to Hell so long as the road which leads there
is smooth and pleasant.
They count it better to be lost with the approbation of fools than to
be saved with the derision of the wicked. They think it inconvenient to
be gracious, irksome to be pious, disreputable to be devout, foolish to
be too exact. They would gladly have the crown without the fight, the
reward without the service. They would enjoy the sweets of soul health,
but not lose the advantages of associating with the leprous and
defiled. Alas, poor fools!
4. Thank God, there are some who can say, "Yes, yes, I would be made
whole." And of their case I am going to speak now.
III. WHEREVER AN HONEST, AFFIRMATIVE ANSWER IS GIVEN TO THIS QUESTION,
WE MAY CONCLUDE THAT THERE IS A WORK OF GRACE COMMENCED IN THE SOUL. If
any one of my hearers can earnestly say, "Yes, my great longing is to
be set free from sin," my dear Friend, I am thrice happy to be
privileged to speak to you this morning!
If you say, "It is not fear of punishment, sin is punishment enough for
me. If I could be in Heaven and yet be a sinner such as I am, it would
be no Heaven to me. I want to be clear from every fault both of
thought, and word, and deed, and if I could be perfect I should be
perfectly happy, even if I were sick and poor." Well, if the Lord has
made you long after holiness, there is in your heart already the embryo
of Divine Grace, the seed of everlasting life. Before long you shall
rejoice that you are born again, and are passed from death unto life.
"Oh," you say, "I wish I could see that, I wish I could feel it!" I do
not believe that any utterly graceless person ever could have hearty,
earnest, intense longings after holiness for its own sake. Now if you
would get the joy and peace that is to come out of this fact, I have to
say to you very much what Jesus said to the poor man at Bethesda–he
said, "Take up your bed, and walk." So now, this morning, hear the
Words of the Lord–trust right now, at once, in the finished work of
Jesus Christ, who as a Substitute was punished for your guilt.
Rely on Him, and you shall be a joyous as well as a saved soul. "Have I
the power to believe in Christ?" says one. I answer, "Yes, you have the
power. I would not say to every man, 'You have the power to exercise
faith,' for the lack of will is the death of moral power. But if you
are willing you have the right, you have the privilege, you have the
power, to believe that Jesus died for you–that God, who has made you
to long after holiness–has prepared holiness for you– and the
instrument by which He will work it in you now is your faith.
The same Spirit who in you works to will, is in you working to do of
His own good pleasure. "Look, then, to Christ and be saved." I pray
that some of you may come to perfect peace this morning, by looking to
Christ. "I want holiness," you say. Yes, and it may seem a strange
thing, but true is it, that while you look after holiness in yourself
you will never have it, but if you look away from yourself to Christ,
then holiness will come unto you. Even now, that very desire of yours
has come to you from Him. It is the beginning of the new birth in your
soul. Look, I pray you, away, right away, even from your best
desires–to Christ on the Cross–and this day shall be the day of your
salvation.
It may seem a very little thing to have a desire, but yet such a desire
as I have described is no little thing. It is more than human nature
ever produced of itself, and only God the Eternal Spirit can implant
it. I am persuaded that a living, saving faith always goes with it, and
sooner or later comes to the surface, and brings joy and peace!
IV. But now, lastly, WHERE THIS QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN THE NEGATIVE, I
must remind you, IT INVOLVES MOST FEARFUL SIN. I could wish I had not
to preach on this last point, but I must, painful as it is. There are
some here, there are many elsewhere, who are not willing to be made
whole. You, my unconverted Brethren, are thus unwilling. Face that,
now, I pray you, as you will have to face it soon.
It is just this. You prefer yourself to God. You prefer to please
yourself before pleasing Him. You prefer sin to holiness. Look at it
closely and fairly. Sin is your own choice, your own present deliberate
choice. You are now making it,
and have often made it, and will, I fear, continue to make it, if God's
Grace does not prevent it. Look it in the face, for soon, on a dying
bed, you will see the whole matter in the light of eternity. You will
then discover that you preferred the pleasures of this life to Heaven.
You preferred the gaieties and amusements, and self-righteousnesses,
and prides, and self-wills of a few fleeting years to the Glory and the
bliss of perfectly obeying Christ, and being in His Presence forever.
Oh, when you come to die, and certainly when you live in another state,
you will curse yourself for having made such a choice as this! When you
lie dying unsaved, it will come to you thus, "I am not here an unsaved
man unwillingly–I would not be made whole–I willed not to be a
Believer, I willed to be impenitent. I heard the Gospel, I had it put
before me, but I deliberately willed to put it behind me and to remain
what I am. I find now I am dying unforgiven and unholy, and that of
choice."
Remember, no spiritually unsound man can enter Heaven. He must be made
whole, or be shut out of Glory. We cannot stand in the most holy place
until we are made perfect. Then you, O unhealed soul, remaining as you
are, will never stand in God's Presence–and you choose, you
deliberately choose never to be admitted to the courts of Paradise!
Furthermore, and oh, how this will strike you in a short time (how
short I know not, nor do you)–there being no entrance into Heaven for
you, you having elected not to enter Heaven–there will remain but one
other thing, namely, for you to be driven from His Presence into the
eternal burnings of His wrath!
This will surely be one of the stings of Hell, that you perish of your
own accord. How will you cry, "I chose this, I chose this! Fool that I
was, I willed this!" For what is Hell? It is sin full-blown. Sin is
evil in the conception, Hell is sin in its development. What thoughts
will be yours in Hell? "I chose that which has involved me in a misery
from which there never can be any escape. In a death out of which there
can be no deliverance. I must die to God, to holiness, to happiness,
and exist forever in that everlasting death, that eternal punishment,
and all because I would have it so, and as the result of my own free
will."
Do look that in the face, I pray you. It seems to me to be the most
dreadful element about the whole of the lost sinner's case. If I could,
when cast into Hell, say, "I am here because of God's decree, and for
no other reason," I could find something with which to harden my spirit
to endure the misery of my lost condition. But if I shall be compelled
in Hell to feel that my ruin is of myself altogether and only, and that
I perish for my own sin–my personal rejection of Christ– then is
Hell, Hell indeed. These flames, are they of my own kindling? This
prison house, is it my own building? That door so fast as never to
open, is it my own barring? Then the last relic of consolation is taken
away from my soul forever.
But, my dear Hearer, I hope you say, "I do desire to be made whole."
Then let me again remind you that the place to find the fulfillment of
that desire is at the foot of the Cross. Stand there and hope in the
great Redeemer for there is some life in you already, the dying Savior
will increase it! Stand at the foot of the Cross where falls the
precious drops of blood–view the flowing of His soul-redeeming blood,
and hope, no, BELIEVE that He shed that blood for you, and you are
saved! Go your way, you who would be made whole, for Jesus says, "I
will, be you clean."
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Think Well And Do Well