Recruits for King Jesus
(No. 1770)
A SERMON PREACHED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto
David. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto
them, If you ha ve come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be
knit unto you: but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, seeing
there is no wrong in myhands, the God of our fatherlook thereon,
andrebuke it. Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the
captains, and he said, 'Yours are we, David, and on your side, you son
of Jesse: peace, peace be unto you, and peace be to your helpers; for
your God helps you. Then David received them, and made them captains of
the band." 1 Chronicles 12:16-18.
AT this time David was in the hold–I suppose in the stronghold of
Ziklag, which the king of the Philistines had given to him. It was in
that fortress-town that he received a welcome addition to his band.
David was an exile and it is not every man who cares to cast in his lot
with a banished nobleman. He was outlawed and his sovereign would have
slain him with his own hands if he had found opportunity–few care to
stake their all with a man in such a condition. The many who were on
Saul's side spoke very bitterly of David and, wishing to curry favor
with the king, they slandered him to the blackest degree–few
respectable people care to associate themselves with a person who is in
ill-repute. Many to whom David had done no ill were eager to betray him
and sell him into the hands of his enemy, for men sought their own gain
and cared not whom they sold, so long as they clutched the reward–it
was no small thing for a band of men to unite with a man upon whose
head a price was set.
David had to stand upon his guard, for traitors were all around–the
men of Keilah would have delivered him up when he went in all
simplicity of heart within their gates. The fortunes of David were at a
low ebb and, therefore, when these men came to David, they did a
valorous action–an action which he would be sure to remember in the
later days of his triumph. I want to run a parallel between the case of
David and that of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the present moment our Lord
Jesus, the Son of David, is still in the hold. Among the men of this
world, He is not yet enthroned–their hearts go after another
prince–and as yet the kingdom has not come to the Son of David. I know
that He reigns in Heaven and that He is, in very deed, King of kings
and Lord of lords–but before the eyes of the mass of men He is still
despised and rejected.
His people, as yet, are but a feeble folk and often hard put to it. His
kingdom is ridiculed, His claims are derided and His yoke is scorned.
The doctrines which He preached are tossed to and fro like a ball. And
men at the present time are glorying in science or tradition, in reason
or in speculation! Yes, they speak as if human wisdom would soon wipe
out the very name of Christianity! It is not so in truth before God,
but it is so in appearance before men. This is an age of blasphemy and
of rebuke for our Lord the King! Brave are they who will stand for
Christ in this, the day of His exile! They shall be right royally
rewarded who will now take up His cause and will go forth to Him
outside the camp, bearing His reproach. He is the man for the Lord
Jesus who can now run the gauntlet of miles of scoffers and be willing
to be called a fool, a madman, or an idiot for His name's sake.
Blessed are they who are not ashamed, this day, to bear the name of
Christ written out large and to confess that, after the way which men
call, "orthodoxy," so worship they the Lord God of their fathers! The
philosophic Christian may escape if he will drown the Christian in the
philosopher; but this is not to stand out square for Christ. It does
our heart good, nowadays, to meet with a few Brothers and Sisters who
are not ashamed to believe in the merit of the Redeemer's precious
blood and in the power of His Spirit to regenerate. We feel at home
when we drop in with a few who believe in prayer and expect the lord to
interpose on the behalf of His people. I say, blessed are they who,
like these men of Benjamin and Judah, are willing to go to the King in
the hold and take up His cause though it is at a low ebb–and stand up
for Him when the many are ready to trample Him down–and are ridiculing
His work and His cause. For my own part, I never loved my Lord more
than now, that He is defamed! And His Truth is all the dearer to me
because it is flouted by the worldly-wise.
It is to those who will volunteer for Jesus that I am about to speak,
and our first head is that using the text as a parable, we have here a
commendable example. It is a commendable example for men to join
themselves with Christ while He is unpopular. Secondly, here is a
cautious inquiry. When David sees these men come, he does not, at once,
receive them with open arms, but there is a reserve about him till he
has asked them a question or two. He wants to know who they are before
he writes down their names in his muster-roll. And, thirdly, here is a
very cordial enlistment as they answer to his question, and say, "Yours
are we, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse; for your God helps
you."
I. First, then, here is A VERY COMMENDABLE EXAMPLE. May the Holy Spirit
lead many of my dear Hearers to follow it. Many of these men of
Benjamin and Judah, in the first place, went to join themselves to
David because they had heard that he was the Lord's anointed. They
understood that Samuel had gone down to Ramah and, in the days of
David's youth, had anointed him in the name of the Lord to be king
instead of Saul. Therefore they said, "Whom God anoints, we will
follow," and they came after David. It was fit that they should be
loyal to David if they would be obedient to God. Now, it is within the
belief, I trust, of all assembled here, that the Lord God Almighty has
anointed "one chosen out of the people" to be His King in Zion–the
King of His Church forever and ever–and that One chosen out of the
people is Jesus of Nazareth, of the house of David, who is Himself, as
Man, the servant of God, but who is also Divine, and counts it not
robbery to be equal with God.
We have, I trust, all of us, drunk in this doctrine, that the Lord
Jesus is the Anointed of God, the very Word of God, in whom dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, it seems to me that if it is
so, the next inevitable step for men who fear God is to go forth and
follow the Lord's Anointed! If Jesus is the Messiah, the Sent One of
God–in the name of everything that is gracious and right, let us
follow Him! God has given Him to be a leader and a commander to the
people–let us rally to His banner without delay. If the Lord has
anointed Jesus to be a prince and a Savior, let Him be our prince and
our Savior at once! Let us render Him obedience and confidence, and
openly acknowledge the same. Our Lord puts it thus–"If I tell you the
truth, why do you not believe Me?"
The argument is irresistible with true-hearted men. If any of you
believe that Jesus is anointed to be the Savior of men, I say that you
are unreasonable if you do not practically accept Him as such. But if
you are willing to come right straight out and say, "Let others do as
they will; as for me, I will be the loving servant of the Anointed of
the Lord," then you act rightly and render a reasonable service. What
better argument can I find with just and reasonable persons than this?
You believe that God has anointed Jesus, therefore accept Him for
yourself! If these men followed David because God had anointed Him,
infinitely more binding is it upon you and upon me, believing that God
has anointed Jesus of Nazareth to be the King, for us to follow Him,
that we may be found faithful to His cause and Kingdom.
Oh, my dear Hearers, I am perplexed about some of you! You call Jesus
Lord and yet you do not obey Him! You acknowledge that He is the Savior
and yet you do not trust in Him for salvation! Think this over and may
the Holy Spirit lead you to a sensible decision. If Jesus is God's
Anointed, led Him be your Beloved.
Next, these men, no doubt many of them, followed David because of his
personal excellencies. They had heard of him–of what he was in his
youth, what he had been at home, at court–and in the army and in the
day of battle. He had behaved admirably everywhere and these warriors
had heard of it. I should not wonder if some of them remembered that
when he was a youth and ruddy, he came forth with his sling and stone
and smote the giant foe of Israel on the forehead. Perhaps they had
heard of all his mighty acts that he did when, as Saul's captain, he
went in and out before the host and did valiantly in the name of the
Most High. And when they heard of his gentleness, of his courtesy and
of all the many virtues which adorned him, making him so greatly
different from those leaders of free-looting bands who were so common
in that land, I do not wonder if they enthusiastically gave themselves
up to be the loyal followers of this David, the son of Jesse.
A good soldier should have a good captain–a good captain deserves good
soldiers. These men of war argued well when they enlisted under David.
But how shall I commend the Lord Jesus Christ to you that are of a
noble spirit? Was there ever any like He? Who among the good, the
great, the brave, the beautiful can be likened unto Him? He left the
courts of Heaven that He might save men! Love brought Him from Glory to
be the Redeemer of His enemies! Being found in fashion as a Man, He
gave Himself up to death, even the death of the Cross for love of men!
All His life long he did valiantly for the Lord, His God! In all
holiness and righteousness He defeated every temptation and overcame
all evil! And He ended His labor by going up to the Cross to enter into
personal duel with Death and Hell, therein overthrowing all the powers
of evil on the behalf of His people!
Oh, could I paint His face, and could you see it as it is beheld by the
eyes of God, you would all be enamored of Him! Oh, could all men know
how good He is, how gracious He is, as some of us know, even if they
only went to that partial extent, surely no men would stand out, but
the Prince Immanuel would win all hearts! All these young men and all
the vast multitude who gather in this Tabernacle would gladly take up
their cross and follow after Jesus at once, if they had any idea of His
surpassing excellence! O my Soul, how would you rejoice if men would
come at once to Jesus! Oh to hear you all say, "We, also, will be with
Jesus in the day of His derision and His scorn–for we see what He is
and there is none like He. He shall be our King and our Captain, for He
is the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely."
He, being such an One, and so worthy of the anointing which He has
received of God, I, as His recruiting sergeant commend Him to everyone
here! Oh, that you would all become His true followers at once! He
deserves the love and loyalty of every one of you! If you would be safe
and happy, come to my Lord, and be His servants! If you would fight a
good fight, enlist beneath this glorious, "Captain of our salvation."
There was a third reason why brave spirits resolved to enlist under
David, and that was that he was so cruelly persecuted by Saul–so
misrepresented and abused by his enemies. There are some cringing,
fawning spirits in this world who must always go with the majority.
What everybody says they say–they take their cue from those who lead
the fashion of the hour. They ask leave of common custom to breathe or
eat. They dare not swallow down their spit till they have obtained
permission to do so. Cringing, fawning sycophants of all that is great
and all that is fashionable, scarcely could a soul be found in them if
they were searched through and through with a microscope! These will
never come to David when he is in the hold, nor need he wish that they
would.
On the other hand, there are brave spirits who rather prefer to be in
the minority. They do not even care it they have to stand alone for
truth and righteousness! They could have ventured to say with
Athanasius, "I, Athanasius, against the world," for they know the right
and they cling to it. It is not to them a question whether the truth
walks in silver slippers or whether she plods barefoot through the
mire. It is the truth they care for–not the habiliments with which she
may be adorned or disfigured. Such men took up David's side
chivalrously because it was the right side and the despised side– and
they liked it, none the less, because so many spoke evil of it.
Sadly true is it that the Lord Jesus Christ is still of so little
account in this world. His name, ah, I am sick of the way in which they
use His name today! Shame on some that are called Christian ministers!
They believe in Christ, but it is a Christ without His crown, His
Atonement, His Judgment Seat, or even His Godhead! They mock us with
orthodox phrases, from which the essential Truth of God is gone. They
pretend that they believe in the Atonement–and when we listen to their
atonement we find that it does not effectually atone for anyone! It is
a mere fiction and not a fact. It saves nobody–it is a mere sham. They
have eviscerated the Gospel and then they hold up the empty carcasses
and claim that they are still Christians! Christians who have murdered
Christianity! Believers who doubt whether there is anything to be
believed! Yet we are entreated in our charity to hug such traitors to
our bosom!
We shall do nothing of the kind! We would sooner believe in infidels
outright than in those who pretend to be Christians and are infidels at
heart. "Modern thought" is a more evil thing than downright
atheism–even as a wolf in a sheep's skin is worse than a wolf in his
natural form. There are pretty things said of our Lord Jesus by those
who deny the faith which are sickening to me! I loathe to hear our true
Lord praised by false lips! They deny the doctrines which He taught and
yet make a great boast about believing Him. It is a shallow trick, but
yet it deceives shallow souls. Poor, weak minds say, "The man speaks so
beautifully of Jesus, surely he cannot be in error." I tell you it is
the old Judas trick–the Son of Man is betrayed with a kiss!
How nauseating their praises must be to Him whom they are betraying!
Think not that they are honest–their designs are far other than appear
upon the surface. They laud Him as Man that they may dishonor Him as
God! They cry up His life and His example, that they may cast His
atoning Sacrifice into the ditch. They lift up one part of the Divine
Revelation with no other intention than that they may dash down the
other! They crouch at His feet that they may stab at His
heart! I avow myself, at this hour, the partisan of Christ, and of the
whole truth of Christ in its old-fashioned form–the more old-fashioned
the better for me. I am for Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and
forever. I am for the Gospel of martyrs and confessors who gave their
hearts' blood as the seal of their faith! New gospels and new
theologies I abhor! I am for that same ancient Gospel which, today, is
said to be absolutely defunct. Science has wiped out the evangelicals–
we are dead–we are gone. So they say of us. Yet in our graves we
turn–even in our ashes live our routine fires–we expect a
resurrection! The Truth of God may be crushed down, but it cannot be
crushed out!
If there survived but one lover of the Doctrines of Grace, he would
suffice, by God's Spirit, to sow the world, again, with the Truths of
our holy faith. The eternal Truth which Christ and His Apostles taught
is not dead but sleeps! At a touch of the Lord's hand, she shall rise
in all her ancient power and look round for her adversaries and they
shall not be–yes, she shall diligently consider their place and they
shall not be. Blessed are they who at this time are not afraid to be on
the side that is ridiculed and laughed at! The Truths of God will have
their turn and though they now grind the dust, they shall be at the
top, before long, and they who are loyal to them shall share their
fortunes. Let us be bold enough to say, "Put down my name among the
fools who believe and not among those whose wisdom lies in doubting
everything." God save us from the wisdom which believes in itself and
give us more of the wisdom which believes in Him!
Once more. These men came to David because they believed that David had
a great future before him. He was very poor when they came to him. He
was an exile–as we have said, an outlaw–one who could not return to
his land because the king, himself, had a personal feud with him. But
they said, "It does not yet appear what he shall be. This son of Jesse
will be king, yet, and his enemies shall beg for their lives of him."
So, looking to the great future that awaited him, they determined to
take shares with him in his present low estate that they might be
raised with him in his exaltation. Now, I think that I can say to
everyone here, "I would that you would come over to David's side–to
Jesus' side–for there is a future awaiting Him, a glory, a triumph,
even here on earth, such as shall make those men gnash their teeth who
throw away this opportunity of enlisting in His host."
How will souls lament forever their neglect of joining themselves to
Jesus! It shall be their everlasting regret that they lost the
opportunity of standing straight out for truth, right and love, as they
are seen in the Person of the Son of God. Oh, it will be an endless
loss to have refused to stand upon the pillory of scorn and avow Jesus
of Nazareth as the Son of God and the Savior of men! "Behold He comes
with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." Woe to those who pierced Him
by refusing to believe in Him! The Lord shall reign forever and ever,
and the shout of, "Hallelujah, hallelujah," shall come up from earth
and descend from Heaven! He shall sit upon the Throne of His father,
David, and of His kingdom there shall be no end! Who does not desire to
be with Him and to behold His Glory?
Cast in your lot with Him, then, O you undecided! Let His cause be as
it may in the eyes of worldlings–espouse it at once right
heartily–for they that are with Him in His humiliation shall be with
Him in His triumph! Those are the reasons why, at this time, I stand
here, and exhort, beg, beseech, entreat everyone among you to be on the
side of Jesus Christ our Lord! Woe unto you if you turn your backs upon
Him! Woe unto you if you attempt to be neutral! Woe unto you if you are
lukewarm followers! Remember, he that is not with Him is against Him.
He that takes not up his cross and follows not after Him is not worthy
of Him and shall not be counted among His disciples!
Oh, that this whole company here tonight were distinctly and avowedly,
perfectly and continuously, on the side of Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Peace, the coming King! O my Friend, yonder, I speak to you,
personally! I would to God that you would at once put on the livery of
my Lord Jesus and become His sworn servant forever!
II. Now, I have just a few words to say upon the second head. CAUTIOUS
INQUIRY. These men of Benjamin and of Judah came to David and David met
them as a warrior standing upon his guard. The times were not such as
to allow a negligent confidence in all who professed friendship. The
Benjamites were of the same tribe as Saul and it was singular that they
should come and join with David, the rival of their own leader! The men
of Judah belonged to the same tribe as those men of Keilah who had
betrayed David–therefore the hero was cautious and made careful
inquiry. Your Lord Jesus Christ is never so eager after disciples as to
enroll those who cannot bear to be questioned! He did not go abroad
sweeping up a heap of nominal followers who would increase His apparent
strength and prove a real weakness to Him!
He said to those who offered themselves, "Count the cost." "Lord, I
will follow You wherever You go," says one. Jesus does not, then and
there, enlist him, but calmly replies, "Foxes have holes, and the birds
of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His
head." He wants followers, but He wants them to be of the right kind
and, there-
fore, He does not delude them and excite them to enter suddenly upon a
course which they will, before long, renounce. He does not act as, I am
afraid, the recruiting sergeant does when he tells the brave boys of
all the glories they will enjoy and crosses their hands with a
shilling, so that they may take Her Majesty's money and become her
servants. The sergeant does not say much about the wounds of battle and
the pains of hospitals–he does not dwell very long upon wooden legs,
and broken arms, and lost eyes, and all that. No! He dwells on
pleasure, victory, pension, glory!
Our great Captain does not, in this manner, entrap allies, but He sets
the worst part of His service first and bids men consider whether they
will be able to carry out that which they propose to do. I would in
this matter imitate my Lord–I have pressed you to come to His banner,
but at the same time I would cautiously inquire of you. Now, see what
David said to them. He set before them the right way. He said, "If you
have come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto
you." If you wish to join with Christ's people and have your name
numbered with them, one main question is–Do you come unto Him? Do you
first give yourselves to the Lord and afterwards unto His people? "If
you have come unto me," says David. It would have been useless for them
to answer, "We have come because we are fond of some of the people that
are with you." "No," he says, "if you have come to me, then my heart
shall be knit to you. No way else."
Do you come to Christ, dear Friend? Are you sure that Jesus is your
Leader? Do not profess to be a Christian if you have not come to
Christ, for Christ is the soul of Christianity! To come to Christ is
this–confessing your sin, looking to Him as the Sin-Bearer, trusting
Him with your future–trusting Him with your soul altogether. By a
sincere, simple, undivided faith, you really come to Jesus–have you
such a faith? Let Jesus Christ be first and last with you! Take Him to
be your Savior altogether! Do not be your own Savior even in part! Let
Him save you from beginning to end, from top to bottom, in all ways and
respects. If it is so, come along with you, for our host will be glad
to have its number increased by your coming! If you do not thus come to
our Lord, pray do not come to us, for you will neither do good, nor get
good thereby.
Then David puts the question, "If you have come peaceably unto me," and
this was necessary, for some are critical and quarrelsome. Some profess
to come to Christ, but they quarrel with Christ at the very first. They
would make terms with Him and they come intending to dispute with His
people. From the first they are discontented and fault-finding, rather
patronizing Christ and His cause than humbly uniting with Him and His
people. They do not think half as much of God's people as God thinks of
them. When I hear people say, "Oh, there is So-and-So, who is not what
he ought to be, and he is a member of the Church," and then they begin
finding fault with this and with that, I say to myself, "That critic is
no true friend." The Church is not perfect, but woe to the man who
finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections!
Christ loved His Church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that
the Lord can see more fault in His Church than I can. And I have equal
confidence that He sees no fault at all, because He covers her faults
with His own love–that love which hides a multitude of sins–and He
removes all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away
all the transgressions of His people! I dare not find fault with those
whom the Lord has loved from before the foundation of the world! More
especially since I find that I need all my time to find out my own
faults and to get rid of them. If you are a faultless man, I do not ask
you to join the Christian Church, because I am sure that you would not
find anybody else there like yourself. It is true that if you do not
join a Church till you find a perfect one you will not be a Church
member this side of Heaven, but I may add, that if there were such a
Church, the moment your name was written in the list it would leave off
being a perfect Church, for your presence would have destroyed its
perfection!
If you are coming to pick holes, and quiz, and question, and find
fault, and talk about inconsistencies and so forth, then you may pass
on and join some other army. But if you have come peaceably to our Lord
and to us, then I offer you a hearty welcome. We are not anxious to
enlist men who love to have the pre-eminence, nor men of fierce temper,
nor unforgiving spirits, nor proud, envious, lovers of strife–we want
only those who have the mind of Christ! Come peaceably, or come not at
all.
Again, David puts the question, "If you have come peaceably to me to
help me." Mind this and mark it well–they that join with Christ must
join in His battles, join in His labors, join in His self-sacrifice. We
must come to His Church not only to be helped, but to help. It is of no
use your entering the army if you do not mean to fight. And it is of no
use your uniting with the host of God unless you mean to take your
share in the holy warfare. Many forget this and look upon a religious
life as one of sanctified selfishness. A great many stop the Gospel
plow. "Stop!" they say, "stop!" They
want to ride on one of the horses. Yes, but the plowman has no opinion
of such friends. Let them lead the horses or hold the plow handles, or
do something–or else let them stay away.
Of course, I do not mean the sick and faint–but all fit for war must
go to the war. There is something for every Church member to do as well
as to receive. They that join the Church of Christ must come to pull as
well as to be pulled–come to work as well as to eat–and usually the
rule is true in Christ's house as it ought to be in everybody else's,
"He that will not work, neither shall he eat." They that do not labor
in the cause of Christ will very soon find that they are not fed in the
house of God. Why should they be? I count it no office of mine to carry
bread and meat to sluggards and lie-a-beds–I would sooner feed swine!
They who never do a hand's turn among us ought to be turned out from
us. If you have come peaceably to help us, then I speak for my Captain
and bid you welcome! But if you do not mean real service, please march
on.
There are the three questions, then. Do you come to Christ and accept
Him? If so, come along! Do you come with a desire to maintain peace
among your Christian Brothers and Sisters? If so, come! Do you come
with the intent of helping the Lord Jesus Christ to spread abroad His
Truth? Then come, and welcome, and the Lord be with you and with us! Do
you know what Jesus says to you who come to Him aright? "My heart shall
be knit unto you." Oh, I think that if I had been Amasai, I should have
felt the spirit come upon me to speak just as Amasai did when he so
heartily declared that he and his brothers came to join heart and soul
with David! With all that loving warmth which was so natural to him,
David said, "My heart shall be knit to you."
Now when the Lord Jesus Christ says, "Will you espouse My cause? Will
you accept Me for your Leader? Will you come and join with My people?
Then My heart shall be knit unto you"–do not your hearts leap within
you? What a charming promise it is! What union of soul it sets forth! I
do not know much about knitting, but some of you do. Things knit
together are not merely joined in one, but they are one. They are not
merely sewn together by a machine, so that you can draw out a thread
and the pieces divide, but they are knit together and are of one piece,
one fabric, one substance. Come, then, you truly faithful–you shall be
knit together with Christ! His heart with your heart! You shall never
be separated from Him any more. It is a great thing when the hearts of
God's people are knit together–but the greatest of all–when their
hearts are knit with Christ's heart and His heart is knit with theirs!
Come here, you true-hearted–cast in your lot with your Lord! Is it not
reward enough for coming into His host that His heart shall be knit to
you? I count this my Heaven upon earth, to have my Lord's love! Do you
not agree with me?
Notice how David put the other side of it, and set before them the
wrong way–"But if you have come to betray me to my enemies, seeing
there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and
rebuke it." Will persons ever join the Church to betray the Lord Christ
to His enemies? I say not that such is their present purpose, but a
great many have acted as if it were–from the beginning the were
traitors to Him and to His Truth! They have come into the Church and
yet they have betrayed Christ to His enemies! Yes, they have been aided
in their treachery by having been admitted within our ranks. Some have
done this by giving up the Doctrines of the Gospel. Falling into this
error and that, they have denied the Gospel, overthrown the weak and
shaken the strong.
Some have proved themselves the enemies of the Cross of Christ by their
inconsistent lives. People have pointed at them and said, "Those are
followers of Christ, you see. They can lie, cheat and get gain as the
basest rogues do." They say that they are Christians and yet you cannot
trust them in trade. They are just as worldly and false as if they were
not Christians at all. Why, then I suspect that they are not Christians
at all, but, like Judas Iscariot, they are children of perdition! Then
there are some in all ages who betray the Lord Jesus by apostasy. They
run well, for a time, and then they are hindered. Being armed and
carrying bows, they turn back in the day of battle! They are trees
twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Such sorrowful heart-breaking
cases occur in all churches, where men come to the very front and
appear to do great service for Christ–and yet forsake Him, and walk no
more with His people, nor in His ways–even denying that they ever were
associated with Him and with His cause.
They open His wounds! They put Him to an open shame! Woe unto them!
Sorrowfully, yet sternly, I say, if there should be one here who will,
in some future day, willfully betray the Savior on any account
whatever–the Lord have mercy upon such and prevent his joining with
our Church lest we be overwhelmed with shame and sorrow! True-hearted
men, we invite you! Half-hearted, fickle men, we would avoid you! Yet
such do come and will come–and what can we
say of them? "The God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke
them"–yes, rebuke them so as to prevent them–that they may not be as
thorns in our side.
III. But time fails me and, therefore, I must finish up, thirdly, by
describing from the text A CORDIAL ENLISTMENT. The captain of these
brave men felt the Spirit come upon him and he spoke up as
warmheartedly as David had spoken, saying, "Yours are we David, and on
your side, you son of Jesse: peace, peace, be unto you, and peace be to
your helpers; for your God helps you." He began thus–"Yours are we,
David." Now, that is the first thing I want of those who are going to
join the Church–"Yours are we, Jesus! We are not our own; we are
bought with a price." Well may that man avow himself to belong to
Christ who has been bought with the blood of Christ! "For you were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ."
Now, if you are, indeed, redeemed by Him, I pray you confess that you
are altogether and absolutely your Lord's. Sing with your whole heart–
"All that Iam, and all I have Shall be forever Yours."
Don't only sing it, but practice it! Let your lives say–"Yours are we,
Jesus. Neither count we anything that we possess to be our own; but all
is dedicated to Your royal use." Then Amasai added, "and on your side,
you son of Jesse," for, if we belong to Christ, of course we are on
Christ's side, whatever that side may be! In religion, morals,
politics–we are on Christ's side. Here is the side of the learned.
There is the side of the ignorant. We are on neither the one, nor the
other– we are on Christ's side! In every political question we desire
to be and ought to be on Christ's side–we are neither of this party
nor of that, but on the side of justice, peace, righteousness!
In every moral question we are bound to be on Christ's side. In every
religious question we are not on the side of predominant thought, nor
on the side of fashionable views, nor on the side of lucre, but on the
side of Christ! Make this your slogan–"What would Jesus do?" Go and do
that. "How would Jesus think?" Go and think that. "What would Jesus
have me to be?" Ask God to make you just that. "Yours are we, David,
and on your side, you son of Jesse." Then he added, "Peace be to you."
"Peace, peace, be to you." Double peace to you! So say we to our Lord
Jesus Christ–our heart salutes Him and invokes peace upon Him! Blessed
Master, we are at peace with You so completely as to be at one with
You. What You say we believe. What You do we admire. What You command
we obey. What You claim we resign. What You forbid we forego. We yield
ourselves up to You wholly and are at perfect peace with You in all
Your purposes, designs, and acts. Peace, peace, to You.
"And peace be to your helpers." We desire all good for all good men! We
pray for the peace of the peaceful! The day that we were converted, we
felt that we loved every Christian. I used to say of the little village
where I first preached, that I had such an attachment to every
inhabitant in it that if I had seen a dog that came from Waterbeach I
would have given him a bone! Do you not feel the same towards all the
Lord's people? The proverb has it, "Love me, love my dog." And when you
love Christ, you love the very lowest of His people. Yes, if Jesus had
a dog, you would love that dog for Christ's sake! I am sure that it is
so.
When a man is always quibbling, I fear he has not the spirit of Christ,
and is none of His. We know some people who might be compared to
porcupines–they cannot be touched by anybody–they are all spines and
prickles. Such people may think well of themselves, but it is to be
feared that the loving Jesus does not think well of them. The man with
a hot head and a bitter heart, is he a friend of Jesus? I cannot
imagine that such a head as that will lie in Jesus Christ's bosom! Oh,
no, dear Friends–he that loves is born of God, but not the man of hate
and spite! Give me the eyes of the dove and not those of a carrion
crow. When the dove soars aloft into the air, what does she look for?
Why, for her dovecote! And when she discovers the beloved abode, she
uses her wings with lightning speed, for there is her delight. If you
were to throw a raven or a carrion crow into the air, it would be
looking for something foul which it could feed upon–and there are men
and women in every Christian Church who are always trying with
far-reaching and greatly-magnifying eyes to find out some wretched
scandal or another.
If you want to go to your bed uncomfortable and to lie awake all night,
if you are a pastor of a Church, have a few minutes' talk with a friend
of this order! These are the folks who have just sniffed out a matter
that ought to be inquired into. When it is inquired into, there is
nothing to discover, and great heartburning is caused in the process of
investigation. These same scandalmongers will have something fresh
tomorrow morning to keep their dear tongues going. May
we be favored with very few of these irritating beings. May those that
come among us always be those that can say, "Peace be to your helpers."
Whatever helps Christ, I wish to help. Wherever I see anything of
Christ, there my heart shall rest. Oh, to have a large increase to this
Church and all the Churches of hearty, loving, peacemaking people!
The last word that they said to David was, "For your God helps you."
And I shall keep that last sentence very much to myself–I want to feed
upon it as my portion of meat! You must not muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treads out the corn–and I am that ox at this time. "Your God
helps you." How I do rejoice to think that God is helping the Great Son
of David! All the powers of the God of Nature and Providence are
working to aid the Lord of Grace! The stars in their courses are
fighting for our Immanuel! Everything is being overruled for the
advance of Christ's Kingdom. We are all on edge as to the Sudan and
Egypt–but could we see all things, we would rejoice! None of us know
what is coming. I am no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet, but I
venture to foretell that mountains will be leveled for the coming of
our Lord even by calamities and disasters!
There will be a speedier dissolution of the empire of the false Prophet
and of the false Prophet's imitator because of all this mixing up of
the west and the east in an unwilling conjunction. I say not how or
when, but the Lord's purpose shall stand and He will do all His
pleasure! When the ocean roars at its utmost fury, the Lord puts a bit
into the mouth of the tempest and reins up the storm. Jehovah makes a
way for Himself amid the tumult of great waters. When confusion and
uproar predominate everywhere and old chaos seems to be coming back,
again–all this is but a phase of unbroken order! How swift and sure
are the revolutions of the wheels which are bringing nearer the chariot
of the Son of God! Cast in your lot with "the Leader and Commander of
the people," who has God with Him! It is the glory of Christ's cause
that the Lord God is involved in it.
Mr. Wesley's dying words were, "The best of all is, God is with us!" As
I repeat the Truth of God, my heart cries, "Hallelujah! Blessed be the
name of the Lord!" The Lord Your God helps You, O Christ of God! The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in Your hands. You must reign–Your
Father swears it to You! You shall divide a portion with the great and
You shall share the spoil with the strong, for You have given up your
soul unto death and permitted Your Glory to be rolled in the dust–and
You have risen and gone into Glory–therefore You must reign! O
Anointed of the Lord, Your Throne shall endure forever! Tonight Your
servants salute You again, You Son of David!
Wounded Christ, we lay our fingers in the print of the nails and say,
"My Lord and my God!" Risen Christ, we look upward as the heavens
receive You, and we adore! Ascended Christ, we fall at Your dear feet,
and say, "Yours are we, O Son of David, anointed to be a Prince and a
Savior." Coming Christ, we wait and watch for Your appearing! Come
quickly to Your own! Amen and amen!