Before Sermon, At Sermon and After Sermon
(No. 1847)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 28, 1885,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and
receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your
souls. But be you doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves." James 1:21,22.
BRETHREN, it is a good thing to be under the sound of the Word of God.
Even if the very lowest motive should induce persons to come to hear
the Gospel, it is, nevertheless, a good thing that they should come. We
have heard of some who have even come to steal–and yet the Word of God
has stolen into their hearts. In many cases, in olden times, spies were
sent to hear the Protestant divines who preached the Gospel–and these
took notes of all that was said, with a view to accuse them of false
doctrine that they might be punished–yet in several cases, the spies,
themselves, were converted! Such is the power of the Gospel of Christ,
that it woos and wins, even, its greatest enemies. He that comes near
to its fire, even with the intent to quench it, may find himself
overcome by its heat.
Master Hugh Latimer, in his quaint manner, when exhorting people to go
to church, tells of a woman who could not sleep for many nights,
notwithstanding that drugs had been given to her. She said that if they
would take her to her parish church she could sleep, there, for she had
often enjoyed a quiet slumber under the sermon. And he goes the length
of saying that if people even come to the sermon to sleep, it is better
than not to come at all for, he adds, in his fine old Saxon, "they may
be caught napping." It is even so. A sick man does well to live where
there are physicians, for one day he may be healed. If men are in the
heat of a battle, they may be wounded–if they come where Gospel arrows
are shot, they may fall under them. Plants that grow in the open are
likely to be watered when the shower falls. We dare not say to any man
who wills to enter the House of Prayer, "You must not come because your
motive is gross and low." No, you are welcome, anyway! Who knows but
that, being in the way, God may meet with you. Being where His Truth is
preached, you may hear it–and "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God."
Yet it will strike you at once that though it is well to come to the
hearing of the Word of God in any case, yet it is better to come in a
better way. We should endeavor to gather the most we can from the means
of Grace and not pluck at them at random. A farmer may feel that there
will be sure to be some crop upon his land if he does but seed it, but,
if he is a wise man, he is not satisfied with a bare crop–he
fertilizes his land heavily and tills it well so that it may bring
forth a large return to him–for in these times, the largest harvest is
no more than he needs. So, my Brothers, let us so use the holy
ordinance of preaching that we may extract the largest possible amount
of gold from the ore. Let us so come into the solemn assembly that we
may hope to meet with God, there, for this is the chief end of our
gathering together. And let us so behave ourselves before the coming,
in the coming and after the coming, to the sanctuary, that we may gain
the greatest possible profit by our coming together. To hear the Word
of the Lord is often made, of the Spirit of God, to be life to dead
souls and the most eminent means of further quickening to those who are
already alive unto God. Let us not lose a grain of the blessing through
our own fault. The Word of the Lord is precious in these days–let us
not trifle with it.
This morning I shall handle my text with the earnest design of teaching
you how to hear. Oh, that the Spirit of God may graciously help me!
First, let us note what to do before the sermon–"Lay aside all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness." Secondly, let us learn how
to behave during the sermon–"Receive with meekness the engrafted Word,
which is able to save your souls." And thirdly, here is the instruction
for after the sermon–"Be you doers of the Word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves."
I. Let us consider the fit and proper preparation for listening to the
Gospel, or what is to be done BEFORE HEARING. It will strike every man
who thinks about it, that there should be some preparation of the heart
in coming to the worship of God and to the hearing of the Gospel.
Consider who He is, in whose name we gather, and surely we cannot rush
together without thought! Consider whom we profess to worship and we
shall not hurry into His Presence as men run to a fire. Moses, the man
of God, was warned to take off his shoes when God only revealed Himself
in a bush–how should we prepare ourselves when we come to Him who
reveals Himself in Christ Jesus, His dear Son? There should be no
stumbling into the place of worship half-asleep; no roaming there as if
it were no more than going to the theater. We cannot expect to profit
much if we bring with us a swarm of idle thoughts and a heart crammed
with vanity. If we are full of folly, we may shut out the Truth of God
from our minds. We should make ready to receive what God is so ready to
bestow. If he was condemned, who came to the wedding feast not having
on a wedding garment, what shall we say of those who habitually come
into the festivals of our Lord and never think of being meet to be
partakers of His royal dainties? What shall we say of those who defile
the temple of God by never seeking to have their souls washed from the
filthiness of their sin? Certainly there should be a serious
preparation when a sinful creature draws near to the most holy God!
Brothers and Sisters, when I think of our engagements throughout the
week, who of us can feel fit to come into the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High? I mean not into these tabernacles made
with hands, but into the inner spiritual temple of communion with God.
How shall we come unto God until we are washed? After traveling so miry
a road as that which runs through this foul world, can we come unto God
without shaking the dust from off our feet? Can we be busy with earthly
cares all the six days of the week and be ready for the holy Sabbath
without a thought? I think not! Even in the heathen temples before the
solemn mysteries began, the herald cried, "Far hence, you profane! Far
hence, you profane!" And should not some herald cry to our wandering
thoughts, "Far hence, vain thoughts, for God is
here!"
When the hour is come for drawing near unto the glorious Lord before
whom angels veil their faces as they cry, "Holy, holy, holy," it
becomes us to be devout and humble, holy and earnest. Yes, Brothers and
Sisters, if we were always occupied with Divine worship; if we never
knew thought or care except for His Glory; if we were altogether
dissociated from the entanglements and defilements of the world, I
should not be so earnest to speak of preparation before hearing the
Word of God! But, alas, it is not so! We are men of unclean lips and we
dwell among a people of unclean lips! We have not yet come into the
holy country where everyone that salutes us is either saint or angel.
We have not yet cut off all the Canaanites–we still have need to watch
against them daily. Because of the sin which dwells in us and around
us, we have need to wash ourselves in the laver at the tabernacle door
before we may come near unto the Most High.
There is a common consent among mankind that there should be some
preparation for worship. I see the visible signs of it here, today.
Before the Sabbath dawned, you began to prepare clean linen and
brighter garments than those of common days. It is but an outward and
common matter, but still, within the shell there lies a kernel. Man
puts off his ordinary weekday garments and puts on his best apparel for
the Sabbath because, by instinct, he feels that he should pay some
reverence to his God. I fear this change of clothing full often
degenerates into a wish to look good before your fellows, but the
underlying meaning should be this–"I am going up, this day, to the
worship of my God. I will not go, therefore, either in uncleanness of
body or of apparel, but will put on the best raiment, that I may show
respect to my God and to the assemblies of His house."
My counsel to you is cleanse your hearts rather than your garments! Go
before God in newness of spirit rather than in newness of clothing. If
of old the Prophet said, "Rend your heart, and not your garments," so
may I say, today, Put on the garments of righteousness and holiness by
the Grace of Christ Jesus our Lord, rather than external garments which
do but adorn the flesh. Yet, I say, even in that change of raiment
there is an admission that there should be God and to worship His holy
name. God grant that we may not be forgetful of some kind of special
preparation when we go up to hear the Word.
In making this preparation, our text tells us that there are some
things to be laid aside. What does it say? "Therefore lay aside all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness." Some things must be removed
before the Word of God can be received. And what are these things? The
text mentions all filthiness. Now sin of every kind is filthiness. It
does not strike the most of men so–they call it pleasure! I have even
known them to think it an ornament. But in the judgment of the Spirit
of God, who speaks here by His servant, James, every sin is filthiness.
In the sight of every renewed man, all sin is
filthiness and nothing better. Ever since the day when the Spirit of
God took the scales from his eyes, the godly man sees sin to be a foul
thing–abominable in the sight of a holy God. Sin in the thoughts is
filthiness of the thoughts! Sin in words is filthiness of speech! Sin
in action is filthiness in life! Everywhere, the transgression of the
Law is a foul and polluting thing, which neither God nor good men can
bear.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, in coming before God, by the help of His
Spirit, every sin must be confessed, forsaken, and hated. By faith in
the precious blood of Jesus, it must be washed out, for we cannot come
before God with acceptance while iniquity is indulged. We must remain
apart from God till we are apart from filthiness. Filth, you know, is a
debasing thing, meet only for beggars and thieves–and such is sin.
Filth is offensive to all clean persons. We cannot bear close contact
with a person who neglects the washing of his body or of his clothes,
so as to become a living dunghill. However poor a man is, he might be
clean. And when he is not, he becomes a common nuisance to those who
speak with him, or sit near him. If bodily filthiness is horrible to
us, what must the filthiness of sin be to the pure and holy God?! I
cannot attempt to express the abomination of sin to God! He hates it
with all His soul. If we are to be acceptable before God, there must be
no keeping of favorite sins, no sparing of darling lusts, no providing
for secret iniquities–our service will be filthiness before God if our
hearts go after our sins. He says, "Be you clean, that bear the vessels
of the Lord." He would not have the vessels of His sanctuary touched
with filthy fingers.
Have we well considered this? Lay aside, then, all filthiness unless
you wish to arouse the wrath of God. If we are offensive to God, all we
do becomes offensive to Him. Remember how it is written that, "the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his
offering, He had not respect." The Lord's acceptance is, first, to the
person and, then, to the sacrifice–to Abel, first, and to his offering
afterwards. If God has no delight in a man's person, then has He no
delight in his services. Think not, you unclean, that your hymns and
praises, however sweetly they are sung, can be music in His ears! Think
not that your forms of prayer can ever ascend like sweet perfume before
Him–they are a stench to Him–and an abomination, so long as you,
yourselves, are not washed from your filthiness! The filthiness of sin
is to be put aside if we would hear the Word aright.
Moreover, sin is not only offensive, but it is dangerous. We have
learned at last, I hope, though some are still ignorant of the fact,
that filthiness means disease. Men begin to see that unless we are
clean we cannot be healthy. He who harbors filth is making a hot-bed
for the germs of disease and thus he is the enemy of his family and of
his neighborhood. The filthy man is a public poisoner, a suicide and a
murderer! Sin is the greatest conceivable danger to a man's own
soul–it makes a man to be dead while he lives–yes, corrupt before he
is dead. Sin is a mortal disease and he that bears it about him is not
far from Hell–while he continues to love it, he can never enter
Heaven. Will you come before God and tread His courts with this leprosy
upon your foreheads? Will you bring your infectious diseases into His
Temple? They must be laid aside. Oh, for Grace to do this!
There are at least three sins that are intended, here, and one is
covetousness. Hence the desire of unholy gain is called filthy lucre
because it leads men to do dirty deeds which otherwise they would not
think of. If the lust of wealth enters into the heart, it rots it to
the core! The Apostle cries, "Your gold and your silver are cankered!"
Truly, the man becomes full of cancer and cankered, too. Now, when a
man's heart is full of filth, when the desire to get gain and to get it
anyway he can is strong on a man, he is in a very unfit condition to
profit by hearing the Gospel. You cannot get the Gospel into him–a
golden bolt fastens the door. He is somewhat in the condition of the
sea captain I have heard of who went out after whales and when he
landed and heard the Gospel preached, he said to the man of God, "Sir,
it was of no use your preaching to me, for all the while I was thinking
about where I should find a whale. There is no room for anything else
in my mind but whales. I must have whales and, for the time, I can
think of nothing else but whales." So it must be with the man who is
hot for gain–his farm and his merchandise are in his heart –crowding
out everything else. He who has a stall in Vanity Fair is in an unfit
state to buy the Truth of God since his merchandise is vanity. A
covetous man is an idolater and cannot receive the gift of God till he
has mastered his bosom sin. He is too foul to draw near to the Lord!
God help him to escape from the idolatry of riches.
Then, with peculiar correctness, lustfulness may be spoken of as
filthiness. I need not enlarge. Does not Nature, itself, teach us that
the indulgence of our animal passions, whatever form that indulgence
may take, whether of drunkenness or lewdness, is a condition that makes
a man unfit for the reception of the pure Word of God? How should
spotless purity come and dwell with that man whose life is brutish
indulgence? How should the thrice Holy Spirit come and dwell
in that heart which is a den of unclean desires? Did the men of Sodom
profit by the teaching of Lot? Shall a man come from the chamber of
lust to the house of the Lord? No, Brothers and Sisters. We must lay
apart all filthiness if we are to worship God in spirit and in truth.
But in the connection of my text, the filthiness meant is especially
anger. Read it and you will see. "The wrath of man works not the
righteousness of God; therefore lay aside all filthiness." Some
persons, when they are angry, will say things that never ought to be
repeated, or even said for the first time. It was so, no doubt, in
James's day even more than in our own–then angry men let fly horrible
epithets and abominable insinuations which were, indeed, a superfluity
of naughtiness. Now, the child of God is to subdue his anger, wrath and
malice. How can you accept the Word of Peace while you are at enmity
with your brother? How can you hope to find forgiveness under the
hearing of the Word of God when you forgive not those who have
trespassed against you? We would have you pray before you come into
this house on the Sabbath morning or evening–and see to it that you
come in the spirit of gentleness and meekness! Only thus will you
receive the engrafted Word. The wrath of man is so filthy a thing that
it cannot work the righteousness of God! Nor is it likely that the
righteousness of God will be worked in the heart that is hot like an
oven with passion and malice. A revengeful, bitter and malicious spirit
is little likely to imbibe the sweet forgiving spirit of the Gospel.
God help us, then, to lay aside all filthiness and especially all
enmity.
But it is added, "and superfluity of naughtiness." What does that mean?
Any kind of naughtiness in a child of God is superfluous–iniquity
ought not to be within him! "Superfluity of naughtiness," or the
outpouring of evil, is unnecessary. It is an excrescence upon a child
of God. The phrase here used differs not in meaning from the first
epithet of the text–it gives another view of the same thing. You have
seen a rose bush which, perhaps, was bearing very few roses, and you
half wondered why. It was a good bush and planted in good soil, but its
flowers were scanty. You looked around it and, by-and-by, you perceived
that suckers were growing up from its roots. Now, these suckers come
from the old, original briar on which the rose had been grafted–and
this rose had a superfluity of strength which it used in these suckers.
These superfluities, or overflows, took away from the rose, the life
which it required, so that it could not produce the full amount of
flowers which you expected from it. These superfluities of naughtiness
that were coming up here and there were to the injury of the bush.
Children of God, you cannot serve the Lord if you are giving your
strength to any form of wrong! Your naughtinesses are springing from
the briar stock of your old nature and the best thing to do is to cut
off those suckers and stop them as much as possible, so that all the
strength may return into the rose–and the lovely flowers of Grace may
abound. Oh, that God's people, when they come up here on the Sabbath,
may first have undergone that Divine pruning which shall take away the
superfluity of naughtiness, for there cannot be grafting without a
measure of pruning! The gardener takes off from a certain part of the
tree, a shoot of the old stock, and then he inserts the graft. There
must be a removal of superfluities in order that we may receive with
meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save our souls. This is
what is to be put away.
The garments spotted with the flesh and infected with disease are to be
taken off and laid aside. We are to wear them no more if we desire to
profit by the Word which we hear. We are not to lay up these to put
them on again, but lay them aside among the offal of Tophet's
fire–with the strong desire never to touch them again. To the fires we
condemn these filthy things! What have we to do with filthiness, now
that we have been begotten by the will of God to be the first fruits of
His creatures? You who are the children of a holy God, what have you to
do with naughtiness, or any such superfluity? God help you to shake off
sin as Paul shook off the viper into the fire!
Why is this? Why is a man, as he comes to hear the Gospel, to see to
this? I take it because all these evil things preoccupy the mind.
Whether it is covetousness, or lewdness, or anger, in addition to the
pollution which these bring, they also possess the thoughts, so that
they are not likely to be blessed while hearing the Word of God. These
are the rocks which prevent the seed from entering the mind. These the
birds which devour that which is sown. These are the weeds which choke
the upspringing shoots. Therefore, lay these aside. If you bring your
measures to this place filled to the brim with chaff, how can you
expect to have them filled with wheat? If we come here with this
filthiness about us, how can we expect that the pure and incorruptible
Word of God shall be sweet to us?
Moreover, sin prejudices against the Gospel. A man says, "I did not
enjoy the sermon." How can you? What have you been enjoying during the
week? What flavor did last night leave in your mouth? "I cannot stand
that man," says one.
And if you could, it would be an evidence that the man was not
faithful! Can Ahab love Elijah? I remember seeing one get up and go out
in hot indignation at what I had said, which happened to come
personally home to him, though the man was a stranger to me. What I had
said was the pure Truth of God and I could not be sorry that an
ill-living man was indignant at it, since this was the only homage that
such as he could pay to purity! Had he but known it, there was therein
a manifestation to himself of what his nature was and in what condition
he was. Do you think Christ's servants desire to please those who will
not please God? "Oh," said one to a Puritan Divine, "my lord heard you,
this morning, and he is mightily offended at your remarks upon profane
language, for my lord is given to drop an oath, now and then, in his
ordinary speech." What said the Puritan Divine? He answered, "Sir, if
your lord offends my Lord, then your lord ought to be offended and I
cannot say less than I have said."
If any men are offended with the Gospel, it is because they offend God.
It is almost invariably the case that when persons grow skeptical, who
once professed to be religious, and begin picking at this and that,
there is a secret evil in their lives which they thus try to cover from
their own consciences. The devil tempts them to rail at the ministry
because the Gospel presses hard upon their guilty consciences and makes
them feel uneasy in their sins. If you are to hear God's Word with
pleasure and profit to yourselves, you must, "lay aside all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness," for these things will prejudice you
against the Word of God and render you incapable of that lively
appreciation of it which is so necessary to profiting thereby. God
bless these words of mine and may many of you who have come carelessly
here at different times, henceforth seek to come with preparedness into
the assembly of God's people.
II. Secondly, I will talk a little about DURING HEARING. How shall we
act while listening to the Word? "Receive with meekness the engrafted
Word, which is able to save your souls." The first thing, then, is
receive. That word, "receive," is a very instructive Gospel word–it is
the door through which God's Grace enters us. We are not saved by
working, but by receiving–not by what we give to God, but by what God
gives to us–and we receive from Him. In the hearing of the Word, there
should be a receiving of it, not into the ears only, but into the
understanding, into the heart, into the conscience, together with a
laying-up of this good treasure in the memory and the affections. You
must receive the Word of God, or it cannot bless you. For, Sirs, the
Word of God is a feast, but what comes of it if a man only looks at the
banquet? Shall he not go away as empty as he came if he does not
receive it? The preaching of the Word of God is as a shower from
Heaven, but what happens to the soil if the raindrops fall but none are
absorbed into the soil? Of what use is the shower if none is drunk in
by the thirsty furrows? A medicine may have great healing power, but if
it is not received, it does not purge the inward parts of the body.
There must be a receiving of any good thing before the goodness of it
can be ours.
I love, when I read the Bible, or hear the Word, to throw the doors of
my soul wide open–yes, and to open all the windows of my heart. My
soul cries, "Come in, most blessed Spirit; come in, Divine Life. You
shall not say there is no room for You in the inn! Come, take
possession of every chamber of this house of mine and be Master of it
from now on and forever." I pray you, my Brothers and Sisters, do not
block up your souls against the incoming tide of the Gospel! On the
contrary, break down the dams and let the river flow into you till you
are filled with it! Receive the Word of God! Many men are not profited
by the Word because it does not penetrate them, but is like water
flowing down a slab of marble. The Truth of God must soak into the
heart if it is to bless the heart! May the blessed Spirit give us a
sweet receptive-ness of the Truth, for, otherwise, it is of no use to
hear it.
Then it is added, "receive with meekness." Many do not receive the
Gospel because they are not of a meek and teachable spirit. They come
up to God's house, but the only seat they will occupy is the Judgment
Seat. One would imagine them to be the god of God by their bold talk!
Judge not the Word of God, I charge you! You may judge me as you like–
small matter shall that be to me, for we are not anxious as to men's
judgment–our judgment is with the living God. If the preacher truly
declares the Word of God, woe unto the man who sits in judgment upon
it–this same Word shall judge him at the Last Great Day! We stand at
the bar to be tried by God's Word, searched and sifted–but woe unto us
if, rejecting every presence of meekness, we ascend the tribunal and
summon God, Himself, before us! The spirit of critics ill becomes
sinners when they seek the Lord's mercy.
His message must be received with teachableness of mind. When you know
it is God's Word, it may upbraid you, but you must receive it with
meekness. It may startle you with its denunciations, but receive it
with meekness. It may be there is something about the Truth which, at
the first blush, does not commend itself to your understanding. It is,
perhaps, too
high, too terrible, too deep–receive it with meekness. This is not the
spirit of the present age, but it is the spirit which the living God
requires of us. It is by receiving with meekness that we receive the
Truth of God in the power of it and so it is able to save our souls.
Unless you are converted and become as little children, you cannot
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The door of Heaven is open to those
who sit at Jesus' feet and learn of Him. You are not His servant unless
He is your Master. You cannot be said to be His disciple if you
question His teaching, for in the questioning of Christ's teaching lies
the rejection of His Person. To doubt Jesus is treason against the
authority He claims over every human heart. Receive with meekness if
you would be blessed with Divine Grace.
What is this which is to be received? "Receive with meekness the
engrafted Word." We are not bid to receive with meekness men's words,
for they are many, and there is little in them. But receive with
meekness God's Word, for it is one, and there is power in each Word
which proceeds out of His mouth. One Word of God created the heavens
and the earth! By the Word of God, the heavens still stand! One Word of
His shall, before long, shake not only earth but also Heaven!
Therefore, hear with meekness that Word; that Word which testifies of
sin and of its sure punishment; that Word which testifies of Grace most
large and free–and of an Atonement provided by the Only-Begotten Son
of the Father–by which sin is put away in consistency with justice and
holiness. Receive with meekness the Word of the Lord in its entirety
and unity. Reject no part of it, but receive the whole.
Any little particle of God's Word, so far as we know it, is precious,
and should be highly esteemed by us. The odds and ends, and corners and
fragments of the Divine Word are to be received by you and by me–and
there is a lack of meekness in us if we begin to pick and choose, and
cut and carve the Divine Word. Who are we that we should say, "This or
that is not essential"? Who are you, O man, that you should decide what
is essential or otherwise? He who gave the Word did not write trifles!
It is essential that you receive the Word of the Lord as supreme and
perfect! And it is essential that you are lost if you do willfully
reject any portion of that which the Most High deigns to reveal to men.
Receive with meekness the one, only, and indivisible Word of the Lord.
It is called "the engrafted Word." The Revised Version has "the
implanted Word," which is, perhaps, more literal than the Authorized
translation. And it puts in the margin, "the inborn Word," which gives
another idea and yet conveys the same sense. I will keep to our old and
well-beloved version and read it, "engrafted Word." When a graft is to
be made, the first thing is to make a cut or gash. Nobody ever received
the Word of God into his heart, to be engrafted there, without being
cut and wounded by the Truth of God. It needs two wounds to make a
graft–you wound the tree and you wound that better tree which is to be
grafted in. Is it not a blessed grafting when a wounded Savior comes
into living contact with a wounded heart? When a bleeding heart is
engrafted with a bleeding Savior? Engrafting implies that the heart is
wounded and opened–and then the living Word is laid in and received
with meekness into the bleeding, wounded soul of the man. There is the
gash and there is the space opened by it. Here comes the graft–the
gardener must establish a union between the tree and the graft. This
new life, this new branch, is inserted into the old stem, and they are
to be livingly joined together.
At first they are bound together by the gardener and clay is placed
about the points of junction. But soon they begin to grow into one
another and only then is the grafting effectual. This new cutting grows
into the old and it begins to suck up the life of the old and change it
so that it makes new fruit. That branch, though it is in the grafted
tree, is altogether of another sort. Now, we need the Word of God to be
brought to us in a similar fashion–our heart must be cut and
opened–and then the Word must be laid into the gash till the two
adhere. Then the heart begins to hold to the Word, to believe in it, to
hope in it, to love it, to grow to it, to grow into it and to bear
fruit accordingly! "Christ lives in me," said the Apostle. Is not that
a wonderful thought? The daily Incarnation of Christ in the Believer,
or, in other words, the new Eternal Life living in us and producing
fruit after its own kind, while we live in it–and the fruit is our
own. Christ is come in all the newness of His life and is living in me!
Oh, blessed grafting! "Receive with meekness the engrafted Word."
Once more, you are to receive it by faith, for you are to regard the
word as being able. Believe in the power of God's Word–receive it as
being fully able to save your souls from beginning to end! Two ways it
does this–by putting away your sin as you accept the blood and
righteousness of Christ–and by changing your nature as you accept the
Lord Jesus to be your Master and your Lord, your life and your all.
There is such potency in the Word of God, that if it is received into
the heart, it will effectually save the soul! It will not merely give
you a hope of being saved, but really save you–save
you now, save you through life, save you to all eternity! Oh, with what
ears ought men to listen to a Word which can save their souls! With
what open mouths ought they to drink in this Living Water! How wisely
might we wish to be like sponges, to suck it all up, or like Gideon's
fleece, to be saturated with the dew of Heaven! How we ought to wish to
be like the plowed ground which is broken up and pulverized, so that
every drop that falls may soak into it! Oh, that the new life that is
come to us would put out the old life of the flesh, so that our life
should no longer be after the old fashion, but in all newness of power!
Let us rejoice to have the Word engrafted in us.
This is how to behave at the sermon. Oh, what need have we of the Holy
Spirit to help us to hear the Truth as well as to prepare us before we
hear it!
III. Lastly, and very briefly, let us think of AFTER THE SERMON. "Be
you doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
First, the command is positive–"Be you doers of the Word." Oh, dear
Sirs, I come to this pulpit oftentimes and speak with you, but as I
come here, my heart is more and more burdened with this desire–that
mine may not be an unprofitable ministry to you! I shall be useless to
you unless you are doers of the Word as well as hearers. Sirs, you have
heard about repentance and the putting away of filthiness–repent,
then, and let your filthiness be put away! May God the Holy Spirit lead
you to do so–not only to hear about it–but do it. You have heard us
preach continually concerning faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
know all about believing–but have you believed? Sirs, have you
believed? If not, to what use is it for us to cry, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved"? We are to admonish you concerning
all those blessed duties which spring out of that living faith which
works by love–but it is nothing to hear about these virtues unless you
possess them! Doing far surpasses hearing!
I believe that with a very little knowledge and great doing of what we
know, we may attain to a far higher degree of Grace than with great
knowledge and little doing of what we know. The man who knows how to
keep shop makes no profit by his knowledge if he does not keep a shop.
The doctor who knows how to cure the sick is not, therefore, a healer
if he never has a patient. The man who knows how to teach children, but
never teaches them, is not an instructor of youth. If a schoolmaster
teaches the little he does know, he may be a better teacher than a
great philosopher who keeps all his wisdom to himself. We value clouds
by their rain, and men by their actual doings! The world is always
looking to the church, not so much to hear her teachings as to see her
doings. Few ask, "What is the doctrine taught at such a meeting house?"
The ungodly world cries, "Forget the doctrine! What good is done
there?"
If the people who attend there are mean, false and hypocritical, the
world condemns the tree which yields such fruit! The bulk of men do not
read the Bible, but they read you–and if they do not come to hear the
minister preach the Gospel, yet they say, "These people who hear him
are no better than other people, and why should we trouble to go and
listen to him?" The minister gets the blame which should rightly belong
to those who are hearers but not doers of the Word of God! Oh, may the
Eternal Spirit work in us all to will and to do of His own good
pleasure! There is nothing done by these Sundays. There is nothing done
by these pulpits! There is nothing done by these pews! There is nothing
done by these vast gatherings unless our hearers are doers of the Word
of God! Practice is the harvest–the rest is but the plowing and the
sowing.
Observe that the command is put negatively. The text says, "not hearers
only." Those who are hearers only are wasters of the Word. What poor
creatures hearers are, for they have long ears and no hands! You have
heard of him who, one day, was discoursing eloquently of philosophy to
a crowd, who greatly applauded him. He thought he had made many
disciples, but suddenly the market bell rang and not a single person
remained! Gain was to be made and, in their opinion, no philosophy
could be compared to personal profit! They were hearers till the market
bell rang and then, as they had been hearers only, they quit the
hearing, also! I fear it is so with our preaching–if the devil rings
the bell for sin, for pleasure, for worldly amusement, or evil
gain–our admirers leave us right speedily! The voice of the world
drowns the voice of the Word! Those who are only hearers, are hearers
but for a time. Some of those now before me are hearers only. We cannot
mark your houses by putting a cross upon your doors and writing on
them, "Lord, have mercy upon us," but if I did so, London would seem to
be smitten with the plague!
Oh that you would cease from this mocking of God and ruining of
yourselves! Remember, if any man will be lost, he will most surely be
lost who heard the Gospel and refused it! Write that word in great
capital letters–if any soul will be lost emphatically, it is he who
has been, for years, a hearer only, a hearer where thousands have
believed unto eternal life!
Over the cell of such a man write, "He knew his duty, but he did it
not"–and that cell will be found to be built in the very center of
Gehenna–it is the innermost prison of Hell. Willful rejection of
Christ ensures woeful rejection from Christ! Take heed, you that deny
Him entrance now, lest–
"How they deserve the deepest Hell
That slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance must they feel
Who break the bonds of love!"
The text closes with this solemn word–"deceiving yourselves."
Whereupon says Bishop Brownrig, "To deceive is bad, to deceive
yourselves is worse, to deceive yourselves about your souls is worst of
all." Alas, there are many in that sad condition! A syllogism may be
bad and yet it may look like logic–and such are the hopes which men
fashion out of a bare hearing of the Word of God! It is very easy, when
you get well accustomed to the Gospel, au fait at it, as they say, to
be able to twist it so as to make it seem to favor you, though it
condemns you. He who wills to be deceived can feign an acquittal out of
a sentence of death! Many think it is all right with them, when it is
all wrong with them. They always hear the Gospel–how can they be
castaways? They sit under a thoroughly evangelical Divine–how can they
be reprobates? They know what is what–they will not consent to hear
false doctrine–they have a discriminating faculty and will not abide
unorthodox teaching.
I am very glad they will not, but they seem to make a god of this
discernment. Alas, it is a mere idol! Hundreds believe that because
their minister is unquestionably sound in the faith, therefore they are
also sound. As they have the good sense to hear him, surely they are
first-rate people and the Lord will overlook their faults! Oh, Sirs, be
not such fools! Do not deceive yourselves in that way, for there is no
truth in this comforting conclusion! The better that which you hear,
the more guilty are you if you do not practice it! And the plainer and
more straight the Gospel which is taught you, the more inexcusable are
you if you do not receive it! When the Gospel comes to you with a heavy
knock at the door of your heart, the more terrible your crime if you
bolt and bar your door against it, or say, "When I have a more
convenient season I will send for you."
God grant to each one of us that when we go home we may attend to the
doing of the sermon! You know the old story–I am half ashamed to
repeat it, but it is so pat to the point. When Donald came out of
church sooner than usual, Sandy said to him, "What? Donald, is the
sermon all done?" "No," said Donald, "it is all said, but it is not
begun to be done yet." Let my sermon be done in your chambers by prayer
and in your lives by holiness! Let it be done all through the week by
our, each one, seeking to put away all filthiness! Let us cling to the
holy Christ, desiring to live His life and breathe His Spirit. God
grant it may be so with you all, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–James 1.
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