FOR THE NEW YEAR – 1879.
FROM THE SICK CHAMBER OF C. H. SPURGEON.
"This year also." Luke 13:6.
AT the opening of another year and at the commencement of another
volume of sermons, we earnestly desire to utter the word of
exhortation, but alas, at this present, the preacher is a prisoner and
must speak from his pillow instead of his pulpit! Let not the few words
which we can put together come with diminished power from a sick man,
for the musket fired by a wounded soldier sends forth the bullet with
none the less force. Our desire is to speak with living words, or not
at all. He who enables us to sit up and compose these trembling
sentences is entreated to clothe them with His Spirit, that they may be
according to His own mind.
The interceding vinedresser pleaded for the fruitless fig tree, "let it
alone this year also," dating, as it were, a year from the time wherein
he spoke. Trees and fruit-bearing plants have a natural measurement for
their lives–evidently a year came to its close when it was time to
seek fruit on the fig tree and another year commenced when the
vinedresser began, again, his digging and pruning work. Men are such
barren things that their fruitage marks no certain periods and it
becomes necessary to make artificial divisions of time for them. There
seems to be no set period for man's spiritual harvest or vintage, or if
there is, the sheaves and the clusters come not in their season and
hence we have to say, one to another–"This shall be the beginning of a
new year."
Be it so, then. Let us congratulate each other upon seeing the dawn of
"this year also," and let us unitedly pray that we may enter upon it,
continue in it and come to its close under the unfailing blessing of
the Lord to whom all years belong.
I. The beginning of a new year SUGGESTS A RETROSPECT. Let us take it
deliberately and honestly. "This year also"–then there had been former
years. The dresser of the vineyard was not, for the first time, aware
of the fig tree's failure and neither had the owner come, for the first
time, seeking figs in vain. God, who gives us "this year also," has
given us others before it–His sparing mercy is no novelty! His
patience has already been taxed by our provocations. First came our
youthful years when even a little fruit unto God is peculiarly sweet to
Him. How did we spend them? Did our strength run all into wild wood and
wanton branch? If so, we may well bewail that wasted vigor, that life
misspent, that sin exceedingly multiplied.
He who saw us misuse those golden months of youth, nevertheless affords
us "this year also," and we should enter upon it with a holy jealousy
lest what of strength and ardor may be left to us should be allowed to
run away into the same wasteful courses as before. Upon the heels of
our youthful years came those of early manhood when we began to muster
a household and to become as a tree fixed in its place. Then, also,
fruit would have been precious. Did we bear any? Did we present unto
the Lord a basket of summer fruit? Did we offer Him the first-fruits of
our strength? If we did so, we may well adore the Divine Grace which so
early saved us! But if not, the past chides us and, lifting an
admonitory finger, it warns us not to let "this year also" follow the
way of the rest of our lives!
He who has wasted youth and the morning of manhood has surely had
enough of fooling–the time past may well suffice him to have worked
the will of the flesh–it will be a superfluity of haughtiness to
suffer "this year also" to be trod down in the service of sin. Many of
us are now in the prime of life and our years already spent are not
few. Have we still a need to confess that our years are eaten up by the
grasshopper and the canker-worm? Have we reached the half-way house and
still know not where we are going? Are we fools at forty? Are we half a
century old by the calendar and yet far off from years of discretion?
Alas, great God, that there should be men past this age who are still
without knowledge!
Unsaved at sixty? Unregenerate at seventy? Unawakened at eighty?
Unrenewed at ninety? These are each and all startling words! Perhaps
they will fall upon ears which they should make tingle, but they will
hear them as though they heard them not. Continuance in evil breeds
callousness of heart and when the soul has long been sleeping in
indifference,
it is hard to arouse it from the deadly slumber. The sound of the
words, "this year also," makes some of us remember years of great
mercy, sparkling and flashing with delight. Were those years laid at
the Lord's feet? They were comparable to the silver bells upon the
horses–were they "holiness unto the Lord?
If not, how shall we answer for it if "this year also" should be
musical with merry mercy and yet be spent in the ways of carelessness?
The same words recall some of us our years of sharp affliction when we
were, indeed, dug about and fertilized. How went those years? God was
doing great things for us, exercising careful and expensive husbandry,
caring for us with exceedingly great and wise care–did we render
according to the benefit received? Did we rise from the bed more
patient and gentle, weaned from the world and welded to Christ? Did we
bring forth clusters to reward the dresser of the vineyard? Let us not
refuse these questions of self-examination, for it may be this is to be
another of these years of captivity, another season of the furnace and
the refining pot! The Lord grant that the coming tribulation may take
more chaff out of us than any of its predecessors–and leave the wheat
cleaner and better.
The new year also reminds us of opportunities for usefulness which have
come and gone–and of unfulfilled resolutions which have blossomed only
to fade. Shall "this year also" be as those which have gone before? May
we not hope for Grace to advance upon Grace already gained and should
we not seek for power to turn our poor sickly promises into robust
action? Looking back on the past we lament the follies by which we
would not willingly be held captive "this year also," and we adore the
forgiving mercy, the preserving Providence, the boundless liberality,
the Divine love of which we hope to be partakers "this year also."
II. If the preacher could think freely, he could carry the text at his
pleasure in many directions, but he is feeble and so must let it drive
with the current which bears it on to a second consideration–the text
MENTIONS A MERCY. It was in great goodness that the tree which cumbered
the soil was allowed to stand for another year. Prolonged life should
always be regarded as a gift of mercy. We must view "this year also" as
a grant from Divine Grace. It is wrong to speak as if we cared nothing
for life and looked upon our being here as an evil or a punishment. We
are here "this year also" as the result of love's pleading and in
pursuance of love's designs.
The wicked man should count that the Lord's longsuffering points to his
salvation and he should permit the cords of love to draw him to it. O
that the Holy Spirit would make the blasphemer, the Sabbath-breaker and
the openly vicious to feel what a wonder it is that their lives are
prolonged "this year also!" Are they spared to curse, riot and defy
their Maker? Shall this be the only fruit of patient mercy? The
procrastinator who has put off the messenger of Heaven with his delays
and promises–ought he not wonder that he is allowed to see "this year
also?" How is it that the Lord has borne with him and put up with his
vacillations and hesitations? Is this year of Grace to be spent in the
same manner?
Transient impressions, hasty resolves and speedy apostasies–are these
to be the weary story over and over again? The startled conscience, the
tyrant passion, the smothered emotion! Are these to be the tokens of
yet another year? May God forbid that any one of us should hesitate and
delay through "this year also." Infinite Pity holds back the axe of
Justice–shall it be insulted by the repetition of the sins which
caused the uplifting of the instrument of wrath? What can be more
tantalizing to the heart of goodness than indecision? Well might the
Lord's Prophet become impatient and cry, "How long halt you between two
opinions?" Well may God Himself push for a decision and demand an
immediate reply!
O undecided Soul, will you swing much longer between Heaven and Hell
and act as if it were hard to choose between the slavery of Satan and
the liberty of the Great Father's home of love? "This year also" will
you sport in defiance of Justice and pervert the generosity of Mercy
into a license for still further rebellion? "This year also" must
Divine Love be made an occasion for continued sin? O do not act so
basely, so contrary to every noble instinct, so injuriously to your own
best interests! The Believer is kept out of Heaven "this year also" in
love and not in anger. There are some for whose sake it is necessary he
should abide in the flesh–some to be helped by Him on their heavenward
way–and others to be led to the Redeemer's feet by His instruction.
The Heaven of many saints is not yet prepared for them because their
nearest companions have not yet arrived and their spiritual children
have not yet gathered in Glory in sufficient number to give them a
thoroughly heavenly welcome! They must wait "this year also" that their
rest may be the more glorious and that the sheaves which they will
bring with them may afford them greater joy. Surely, for the sake of
souls, for the delight of glorifying our Lord and for the increase of
the jewels of our crown, we may be glad to wait below "this year also."
This is a wide field, but we may not linger in it, for our space is
little and our strengths even less.
III. Our last feeble utterance shall remind you that the expression,
"This year also," IMPLIES A LIMIT. The vinedresser asked for no longer
a reprieve than one year. If his digging and fertilizing should not
prove successful, he would plead no more and the tree would be cut
down. Even when Jesus is the Pleader, the request of mercy has its
boundaries and times. It is not forever that we shall be let alone and
allowed to cumber the ground. If we will not repent, we must perish! If
we will not be benefited by the spade we must fall by the axe! There
will come a last year for each one of us! Therefore let each one say to
himself–Is this my last?
If it should be the last with the preacher, he would gird up his loins
to deliver the Lord's message with all his soul and bid his fellow men
be reconciled to God. Dear Friend, is "this year also" to be your last?
Are you ready to see the curtain rise upon eternity? Are you prepared,
now, to hear the midnight cry and to enter into the marriage supper?
The Judgment and all that will follow is surely the heritage of every
living man–blessed are they who, by faith in Jesus, are able to face
the bar of God without a thought of terror! If we live to be counted
among the oldest inhabitants we must depart at last–there must be an
end and the Voice must be heard–"Thus says the Lord, this year you
shall die."
So many have gone before us and are going every hour, that no man
should need any other memento and yet man is so eager to forget his own
mortality and, thereby, to forfeit his hopes of bliss, that we cannot
too often bring it before the mind's eyes. O mortal Man, what do you
think? Prepare to meet your God, for you must meet Him! Seek the
Savior, yes, seek Him before another sun sinks to its rest!
Once more, "this year also," and it may be for this year, only, the
Cross is uplifted as the lighthouse of the world– the one Light to
which no eye can look in vain! Oh that millions would look that way and
live! Soon the Lord Jesus will come a second time and then the blaze of
His Throne will supplant the mild radiance of His Cross! The Judge will
be seen rather than the Redeemer! Now He saves, but then He will
destroy! Let us hear His voice at this moment! He has given us another
day, let us be eager to avail ourselves of the gracious season! Let us
believe in Jesus this day, seeing it may be our last!
These are the pleas of one who now falls back on his pillow in very
weakness. Hear them for your souls' sakes and live! Amen.
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The Covenant Pleaded