Driving the Vultures Away from the Sacrifice
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY NOVEMBER 27, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And when the fowls came do wn upon the carcasses, Abram drove them
away." Genesis 15:11.
ABRAHAM, when he was childless, received the amazing promise that his
seed should be as the stars of Heaven for number. This he believed and
his faith in Jehovah "was counted unto him for righteousness." Surely
there is more righteousness in trusting the Lord than in all the works
of the flesh! Those who speak lightly of faith are of a different mind
from the Lord, whose judgment is according to truth.
For the confirmation of the Patriarch's faith, the Lord resolved to
give to His servant a gracious visitation which should be regarded as
the solemn making of a covenant–and also as a prophecy of the future
history of the promised seed. Abram was bid to bring victims–a heifer,
a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon. The language is
peculiar– "The Lord said unto him, Take Me an heifer of three years
old." And then in the next verse we read, "And he took unto Him all
these." Thus God and His servant each took part in the sacrifice–and
so they set forth in symbol the communion which the Lord God has with
His people in the Covenant of Grace, as they meet together in that one
great Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, which is the soul and essence of all
the outward offerings. It was an offering taken for God which the Lord
accepted, but it was, also, an offering taken unto Himself by Abraham,
who saw Christ's day–saw it, and was glad.
The man of God obeyed the command of God with great exactness and
deliberation, laying the pieces of the sacrifice in due order and then
waiting upon God until He should be pleased to further reveal Himself.
But what is this? The solemn service is disturbed by foul birds! The
most intense devotion is liable to interruptions of the worst sort. In
the East, if a camel falls dead in the desert, the air is almost
immediately full of winged things. Vultures that had not been visible
before, not so much as one of them, will suddenly appear, as if by
magic, coming from every quarter and circling over the carcass.
"Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together."
These and smaller carnivorous birds are the scavengers of warm
countries and do not long allow any flesh to remain uneaten. So,
doubtless, when the victims presented by the Patriarch Abram were laid
upon the altar, they spied the bodies from afar and hastened to the
prey. It was nothing to the vultures, whether they were victims
slaughtered for God, or creatures that had fallen dead on the plain,
for true to their instinct, they discovered the carcasses and flew to
them, even as Job said of the eagle, "Where the slain are, there is
she." Flights of buzzards, kites and carrion crows began to make their
appearance in the sky and they would have swooped down upon the
sacrifices and defiled them, or borne them away piece-meal, if the
Patriarch, who had presented the sacrifices, had not kept watch at the
altar! This he did right earnestly and vigorously, so that we read in
the text, "When the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove
them away." When we meet with God, we must be serious and resolute in
His worship–and if difficulties arise, we must encounter them with all
our might–resolving that we will offer to God a sacrifice which shall
not be torn in pieces by distracting influences.
Observe that Abram, when he had done as God had told him, and had
brought the victims and laid them in their places, did not go home in a
hurry and say, "It is near sundown. Sarah will expect me in the tent."
No, he remained by the sacrifice! He did not grudge the time, nor feel
a sense of weariness. He loved the worship of God and, therefore,
lingered at the altar till the sun was going down. Nothing is to be
hurried in devotion! Never is haste more out of place than in Divine
worship! The habit of quiet waiting upon God, of never being in a hurry
to be gone, the willingness to give time and thought to the service of
God is not so common as one could wish. But when a man is thoroughly
devout and
God's Spirit has spoken with him, he is not satisfied to merely give
the allotted time to Divine service or to private devotion, he loathes
to be gone! He would be the first in the House of the Lord and the last
out of it. He can wait the Lord's leisure and not grow impatient, even
if, hour after hour, the converse is not closed. The longer, the
better, when God is near us. And if the blessing seems far away and it
does not come all of a sudden, the gracious worshipper waits until it
does come, for he would not go away without the benediction of the
Lord!
When we are serving the Lord, our holy anxiety must not abate till we
are fairly through with the service. Abram had laid the victims on the
altar, but as yet no fire from Heaven had consumed them and so he
remained on the spot to see that all was well to the end. The servant
of the Lord does not quit his place till he has seen the matter
through. For fear that all should yet be spoiled, he sets himself to
watch. When, therefore, the kites and carrion crows come down, the
waiting Patriarch is there to meet them. Had he gone away in haste to
attend to his ordinary duties, the sacrifice had been stolen, or
polluted. But he waits and does well in waiting. My Soul, wait only
upon God, even as a maid waits on her mistress! Watch and pray and
watch still. "Blessed are all they that wait for Him."
They that can be at leisure with God, who do not hurry over what they
have to do and who feel that their time is God's time–these are the
true sons of Abraham! If any worldly business would hurry them away,
they will not permit it. They give men the cold shoulder rather than
rob their Lord and, rob themselves, by hasty worship. Till their
appointment with God is over, they are at no man's call. They cannot
break up their interview with God, but must tarry and wait His utmost
time. Lest anything unforeseen should happen and spoil their service,
they will wait till the sun goes down, and even if sleep overtakes
them, they will be where the Lord will meet with them in the
night-watches if He so shall favor them. It is wise to never leave our
devotions till God, Himself, has pronounced the dismissal by a
benediction, has given the blessing to the fullest and so has bid His
servants go in peace.
I think that this staying of Abram to defend the sacrifice when the
ravenous birds came down upon it may be used as a lesson to us in three
respects. First, let us zealously guard the great Sacrifice of Christ.
When the foul birds, which are so numerous, especially just now, come
down upon the Sacrifice, let us drive them away! Secondly, let us guard
that minor sacrifice, the grateful sacrifice of ourselves. When the
birds of temptation come down upon it, let us drive them away. Thirdly,
let us anxiously guard those separate sacrifices of devotion which come
out of our dedicated lives. When anything comes down to disturb us in
prayer or praise, let us resolve that we will drive it away. Oh that
the Spirit of All Grace may bless this discourse to us, that we may
thereby be excited to holy watchfulness!
I. First, with regard to THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
This has been and always will be the great object of attack by the
enemies of God. One would have said, if one had not known human nature,
that the doctrine of the Substitutionary Sacrifice, Christ dying in our
place, would, of all events, have commanded the loving confidence of
every human heart. It is so wonderful a system, this plan by which
justice is vindicated and mercy is magnified, that one instinctively
expects all men to reverently accept it. It would seem too grave a
charge to bring against our apostate race that they would set to work
to quibble at the Divine expedient–and so pick holes in their own
salvation– and try to contradict the kindest hope that God, Himself,
could set before them!
But so it has been. The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish
foolishness! It is still to the Jews a stumbling block and to the
Greeks, foolishness, though it is, indeed, the power of God and the
wisdom of God. It has happened according to the Word of the Lord,
"Behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense."
Therefore, dear Friends, all of you who by faith approach the Sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus and who base your hopes of Heaven thereon, watch lest
the vultures come down upon the Sacrifice–and be ready to drive them
away!
Note well that the sacrifice which Abraham guarded was of Divine
ordination. Jehovah Himself had told him what creatures to kill, how to
divide them and how to arrange the pieces upon the altar. Abram did
nothing according to his own invention–he offered no will-worship–he
did everything as it was prescribed to him. Because this sacrifice was
Divinely appointed, he could not bear that kites and crows should peck
at it and tear it at their pleasure. It is even so with the Sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ–my blood boils that so many men should dare
to assail that which the Lord Jehovah has appointed! It was God who
devised the plan! It was God who gave His Son out of His own bosom to
die! It is God, Himself, who has commended that plan to our hearts and
made us put our trust in His great Sacrifice! Oh, it brings the tears
into our eyes and the blood into our cheeks, that any should trample on
the precious blood and speak ill of the vicarious sufferings of Christ!
Whoever the men may be, yes, though they were angels from Heaven, we
could not have patience with them! We cannot help regarding those as
worse than carrion crows who would desire to touch this most sublime,
though simplest of all doctrines–that Jesus Christ bore our sins in
His own body on the tree. They dare to say that it is immoral to
suppose that our sin could be transferred to Christ, or His
righteousness to us! Thus, to charge the essential act of Grace with
immorality is to profane the Sacrifice of God and count the blood of
Jesus an unholy thing! It is not for us to speak sweetly of those who
deal so with Christ. If they are enemies of Christ, our Sacrifice, they
cannot be friends of ours! We shake the dust from our feet against
those who reject the doctrine of a Crucified Savior, slain in the
sinner's place. They are no brethren of ours who reject the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world! We are anxious to drive off those
who peck at our Lord's Substitutionary Sacrifice, because that
Sacrifice is of Divine appointment.
Next, we see a further reason for guarding the Sacrifice in the fact
that it is of most solemn import. That sacrifice was so to Abram. It
meant, you know, a covenant. The sacrifice, as Abram had presented it
at God's appointing, was the token of his being brought into covenant
relationship with God. Now, to my mind, it is one of the most
delightful Truths of Scripture, though so much neglected, that God's
people are in covenant with God, by a Covenant of Grace. An old Scotch
theologian was known to say that he who understood the two Covenants,
understood the whole science of theology–and I believe it is so. The
very pith of the whole business lies in that broken Covenant of Works
by which we are ruined–and in that Everlasting Covenant of Grace,
ordered in all things and sure–by which we are saved. The blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ is the "blood of the Everlasting Covenant," even as
He says to us at the communion table, "This cup is the new Covenant in
My blood." If you take His Sacrifice away, of course you take the
Covenant away. Those who deny the vicarious Sacrifice have no faith in
the Covenant–in fact, they never speak of such a thing, but place it
among the obsolete terms which their forefathers used, but which they,
themselves, have altogether renounced.
The Covenant is gone from their teaching and when that is gone, my
Brothers and Sisters, what is left? If the Covenant is forgotten, what
remains to be our support when, like David, we come to our dying beds?
Alas for us if we cannot then exclaim, "Although my house is not so
with God; yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in
all things and sure"! We cannot let the vultures tear this Sacrifice,
for it is to us the token of the Covenant–and if there is no Covenant
of Grace, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain–and
we are still under the curse of the broken Law. If you are still out of
covenant with God, what hope, what safety, what peace, what joy is
there for you? Away, you kites, who are hovering over the Sacrifice
with evil intent! You may pretend to be harmless as doves, but we
cannot allow you to profane the Covenant and peck at the Sacrifice.
And next, we must guard this Sacrifice because there God most fully
displays His Grace. It was at the place of the sacrifice which Abram
had offered, that God was pleased to come and reveal Himself to the
Patriarch as He had not done before. "And it came to pass that, when
the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a
burning lamp passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made
a covenant with Abram." The place of sacrifice is the place of
Revelation. Where the blood is shed, there Grace is manifested! If you
would see God in the wilderness, you must go to the place where the
sacrifices were offered, for the place of sacrifice was the place where
God met His people. The Mercy Seat, where God displayed His Grace to
men, was sprinkled with blood. It must always be so. God cannot meet
with sinful men except in Him who is the one Mediator between God and
man, whose Sacrifice has reconciled us unto Himself. "Without shedding
of blood there is no remission" and without remission there is no
fellowship. Therefore, as we love the mercy of God, we must contend for
the Sacrifice of Christ, and we must not bear that it should be
ignored, much less that it should be decried.
True religion is gone when the vicarious work of Jesus is questioned.
In the forefront of all preaching must be the Cross. "In this sign we
conquer," as Constantine saw in his dream. There is no conquest over
human hearts except by the story of the death of Jesus for the sins of
men. Deprive us of the Sacrifice and behold an army which has lost both
its banners and its weapons of war! The gates of hope are closed
against the guilty when the Atonement is denied. The windows through
which light should come to the penitent are sealed against a single
beam of hope when once you take away the sacrificial death of Jesus
Christ our Lord. Therefore will we drive away the ravenous birds as
long as we have a hand to move. As we love the souls of men, we will
spend our last breath in the defense of our Lord's Substitution. Can we
bear to see man's last refuge taken away? God forbid! Away, you evil
birds! The heroes of old chased the harpies from their feasts–much
more would we drive you from the altar of our God!
We will do this all the more because, as I have said to you before,
this is the chief point of attack. Every doctrine of Revelation has
been assailed, but the order of battle passed by the black prince at
this hour runs as follows–"Fight neither with small nor great, save
only with the Crucified King of Israel." If they can carry the bastion
of Substitution. If they can throw down the great Truth of Atonement,
then all the rest will go as a matter of course. The Cross taken away?
Indeed, there is nothing left worth defending! If the Ark of the Lord
is taken, what remains to Israel? Write Ichabod, for the glory has
departed! Therefore let us gather up our strength, that we may
vigorously chase the vultures from the altar of the living God.
"How are we to do it?" one asks. Well, we can, all of us, help in this
struggle. First, by a constant immovable faith in Jesus Christ our
crucified Savior for ourselves. Oh, rest in Him, my Beloved! Rest more
in His great Sacrifice every day– rest more intelligently, more
happily, more implicitly in that finished work of His which He has
worked out for all His people. Looking unto Jesus; coming unto Jesus;
resting in Jesus; following Jesus–let that be a complete description
of your lives! Every day let your own heart be more united to the
well-beloved Bridegroom. Love Him best of all as you see Him arrayed in
wounds and bloody sweat. Are not these His choicest ornaments? I am
sure your hearts are never so stirred with holy feeling as when you
dwell at Calvary and behold the Surety of the Covenant dying for you!
Think more and more of Him who loved you to the death and thereby
redeemed you from the death which your own sins deserved! Sing a grave,
sweet melody–
"The ever-blessed Son of God Went up to Calvary for me! There paid my
debt, there bore my load In His own body on the tree."
Let your own confidence be strong and then very frequently make an open
declaration of your faith in the atoning Sacrifice. I say "very
frequently," for I think the oblation of our confession of Christ
should be presented continually in these days. The more frequently we
bring forward the Truth of the Atonement the better, when so many are
covering it, quibbling at it, or contradicting it. Many of our
Non-Conformist Churches are accustomed to have communion once a month
and think that quite often enough–it may be so–but we delight to
bring before the eyes of men on every first day of the week, the tokens
of the Redeemer's Sacrifice. The tokens are not objects of
superstitious reverence to us, but yet they are very dear, as sweetly
reminding us of His body broken for our sake–and His blood poured
forth for our redemption. As long as that ordinance is observed, there
will be a memorial of Christ's death of the most instructive and
impressive kind.
But whether you can use the emblems or not, declare the Truth, itself.
Let your conversation be full of Christ Crucified and if there is any
question anywhere about this matter, take your stand and let all know
that you have seen that Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the
world! On this point there can be no difference among really regenerate
men! This is one of the dividers of the chaff from the wheat. This
great magnet will not draw to itself any but the metal which is akin to
itself! Take care that there is no hesitancy about this Truth of God.
When the birds come down upon the Sacrifice, let your childlike faith
in Christ–and your clear statement of the Truth about Him–help to
drive them away! Those who are not in love with the doctrine will not
long court your company. To some of us it is felt to be a duty to make
as bold a defense as we can of this imperishable Truth of God and we
would, if we knew of still plainer words, use them constantly.
"God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
Stand fast, each man in his place, in the defense of this central Truth
of our most blessed faith. And be prepared, for the sake of this, to
endure all things from the adversary. Abram was an old man. A
vulture–and especially a dozen vultures eager for their prey–are not
easy to deal with. They are very ugly customers–they show no respect
for the sacrifice–and certainly not for those who would prevent them
from dishonoring the sacrifice. Angry and resolute, and free from every
principle of reverence, nothing is finer play to them than to tear the
great Sacrifice of God! If we come in their way, they will aim at our
eyes and tear our faces and hands. Let them come on–we are prepared
for their worst onslaughts! Be ready to endure anything for the sake of
the doctrine of a Crucified Savior made sin for us though He knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him–made a
curse for us, as it is written– "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a
tree."
The day shall come when he shall count himself most blessed who died
for Christ and earned the ruby crown of those who spilt their blood for
His dear sake. Let us emulate them by being willing to sacrifice
character, friendship, position
and all else, so that we may stand forth unquestionably clear upon this
glorious Truth of God, this article by which a Church stands or falls!
As Churches receive it, they stand! As they reject it, they are outside
the pale of the true household of faith. "When the fowls came down upon
the carcasses, Abram drove them away." To this work let us give
ourselves till the sun goes down and we fall asleep to behold the
vision of God!
II. But now, coming, perhaps, closer home to some of you, let us apply
this example of Abram to ourselves in the matter of THE GRATEFUL
SACRIFICE OF OUR LIVES. It is our reasonable service that we present
ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God by our Lord
Jesus Christ–and we must guard our consecration against the
temptations which will assail it.
I am addressing tonight many of you who feel that you have entered into
covenant with God by Jesus Christ. You are henceforth and forever
Jehovah's covenanted ones and, in consequence of that covenant, through
the Sacrifice of Christ, you have become the Lord's. Remember last
Sunday night the text which finished, "And you became Mine"? There was
a sweet ring about those words to my ears, "You became Mine." "You are
not your own, you are bought with a price." You know the sneer about
the "mercantile Atonement," but oh, I love the word, "bought," and, as
if to make it more mercantile, still, the Holy Spirit has worded it
even more plainly, "bought with a price." We take all those reproaches
about the mercantile theory into our bosom and hide them there as
greater riches than the treasures of philosophy! We are not ashamed of
the Words of God, Himself. And now, Beloved, we confess that we belong
wholly to Christ, from the crown of our head to the sole of our
feet–body, soul and spirit, time, talent, thought, substance–all that
we are and all that we have! We have been "bought with a price" and,
therefore, we put in no claim to ourselves, for we belong absolutely to
the Lord that bought us!
Now, now the vultures will come! The carrion crows and kites will from
afar behold this sacrifice and they will hasten to the prey. You do not
see them tonight, perhaps. No, but the traveler does not see these evil
fowls till, all of a sudden the sky seems dark with them! The horrid,
hideous creatures come like lightning for rapidity, and they are hungry
as death when they arrive on the scene! You that are consecrated to God
may expect that though you do not see them, there are vultures looking
down upon the sacrifice–and you must be prepared to drive them away.
"What sort of vultures will there be?" asks one. Well, there will come
doubts as to eternal things. There will be questions about your own
wisdom in giving yourself up to God. I hope you have been strangers to
such birds of prey, but some of us have not been–doubts as to whether
there is a God to serve; doubts as to whether there is a Heaven, an
eternal future, a blessed reward–doubts as to whether it is well to
give up this world for the next, or not. Drive them away, Brothers and
Sisters! Drive them away! When the birds come down upon the sacrifice,
drive them away, as he did who had all the riches of Egypt offered to
him, yet, "endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." This is what you
and I must do–feel that it is but commonsense, sanctified commonsense,
to be looking out for that which will endure forever–and to let these
temporary things go, if it is necessary that they go–that we may win
the crown that fades not away!
Possibly there will come to some of you younger folks fond dreams of
ambition. Now you are content to be a Christian and satisfied to mix
with poor people in holy service. You are quite pleased at an
opportunity of teaching in a Ragged School. Ah, but there may come a
moment when Satan will show you the kingdoms of this world and he will
say, "All these will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
And you may feel as if the service of Christ was not, after all, very
respectable. That you could do better in the world. Find choicer
company, enter more select society. But drive, drive these carrion
crows away my Brothers and Sisters–there cannot be anything comparable
in the world to the service of God–there cannot be anything so worthy
of your noblest manhood as to be truly the disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ! When these fowls come down upon the sacrifice, drive them away!
Another wretched sort of black crows, however, assails men more
frequently. They come in the form of the cares of life–the care of
getting bread, the hardness of labor. Many a man has said, "Well now, I
have many children and I work hard. And I am poor. Surely I must not
seek, first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." And straightway
he begins to neglect the assembling of himself together with God's
people. And then he thinks that he must spend a part of the Sabbath in
labor. And times that he used to spend in prayer are given up to meaner
employment. But oh, if ever a man ought to cling to Christ more than at
any other time, it is when he is poor! You that are burdened with
cares, you are the people who need Christ most of all! If a man lived
in a palace and had no Christ to go to, I would call him a miserable
being. But if you have to toil without the comforts of this life, so
much the more reason that you should enjoy those eter-
nal compensations which can help you to bear up in your struggle. Oh,
let not, I pray you, the cares of this life take you from Christ! Live
for Him! You cannot live without Him–do not try it! The heavier your
difficulties, the more Grace you need. Cling all the more closely to
your Lord when troubles come. When the birds come down upon the
sacrifice– those carking cares, wearinesses and troubles of
life–drive them away!
Perhaps I may be speaking to certain consecrated men and women who have
met with other horridly filthy fowls. Of course, you never saw vultures
in their native state. If you did see them once, you would never want
to see them again– they are such loathsome creatures. But there will
come to godly men, sometimes, temptations to sin. The purest have been
tempted to impurity. The most devout have been tempted to blaspheme.
Men full of integrity have been tempted to dishonesty and the most
truthful to falsehood. We cannot tell what we may be tempted to do. But
here is our one business with these vultures–let as drive them away!
You cannot help birds flying over your heads in the air, but do not let
them alight and build their nests in your hair! Temptations will come,
but do not entertain them. Drive them away! Give the vultures the
quarter-staff–make these horrible creatures feel that you cannot and
will not permit them to take up a lodging anywhere near you! Abram
drove them away. He would have no parley with them. He threw his staff
at them, shouted at them, struck at them and drove them away. God help
us to do so with every foul temptation!
But there is a nasty, sleepy kind of vulture, called idleness–one of
the vultures that sit and sleep by the hour to-gether–and I think I
have seen them around here, sometimes. This vulture comes to some good
men who say they belong to Christ, but that question we must leave to
their own consciences. It is a sleepy vulture and they say, "we think
we have labored long enough." They used to be in the Sunday school when
they were younger, but they are now weary of such constant toil. They
used to be very earnest in the front rank, but now their position seems
to be to sit in an arm-chair and watch the battle and see how other
people fight. I have been slenderly cheered, lately, by a large number
of Brothers and Sisters who have greatly sympathized with me–and
helped me to fight the Lord's battles by bravely looking on.
They remind me of Mr. Gough's story of Betty and the bear. She beat the
bear with her broom with all her might– and her brave husband, who had
climbed a ladder into the loft–helped her grandly by bidding her hit
the bear harder and harder, while he looked on! I hope I may yet
receive worthier help than this! Let us all be up and doing and take
our full share of the warfare. I exhort you, if the vulture of
indolence comes your way, to drive it away! A nasty, dirty creature it
is, after all, if it makes a man of God who is capable of Christian
service to a high degree, sit still, fold his arms, and say, "There is
nothing more for me to do."
One vulture, too, that wants to be driven away, is that of measuring
yourselves with other people. Some judge that they do all that is
expected of them if they copy other people. Their guinea is always put
underneath somebody else's guinea. If they gave 10, it would not be too
much for them. But still, they are satisfied as long as they do as well
as other people. Let us get out of this! If we are only going to be
what other people are, we shall run great risks of being unprofitable
servants. "Comparing themselves among themselves," says the Apostle,
"they are not wise." I will neither stand in another man's shoes at the
Day of Judgment, nor tonight, for, though I very frequently feel as
though I were surer of any other man's salvation than my own, yet at no
time would I dare to run the risk of changing with anyone, for I do
know something about myself, but I know nothing of any other man's
heart! Let no one make another man his measure and standard! I pray you
not to do so, for if you do, it will be a vulture that will defile your
sacrifice.
The man who can live most completely to God shall be the happiest man
even in this life. He whose heart's desire is only to spend and be
spent for Christ shall find that he will win a peaceful state of
heart–and this is a foreshadowing of Heaven. I mean not that we should
seek to win this poor and paltry world, which God has purposely put
under our feet, but I mean that the meek "inherit the earth" in the
highest and truest sense. He shall have the most of real happiness who
is willing to lose happiness and lose everything so that he may win
Christ and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness, which is
of the Law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith. Therefore,
when any of the ravenous fowls of evil come down upon your life's
sacrifice, drive them away!
III. And so I must close with only a few sentences upon this last
point–GUARD ALL THE SACRIFICES OF YOUR DEVOTION. When the fowls come
down upon your sacrifices of prayer, praise and meditation, drive them
away! Have you noticed that if all day long there is not a knock at the
door, there will be one if you retire to pray? It is wise to do as the
Savior says, "Enter into your closet and when you have shut the door,
pray to your Father that sees in secret." That shutting of the door
means that we are to seek secrecy and to prevent interruption. A little
boy, who was accus-
tomed to spend time every day in prayer, went up into a hayloft and
when he climbed into the hayloft, he always pulled the ladder up after
him. Someone asked him why he did so. He answered, "As there is no
door, I pull up the ladder."
Oh, that we could always, in some way, cut the connection between our
soul and the intruding things which lurk below! There is a story told
of me and of some person, I never knew who it was, who desired to see
me on a Saturday night when I had shut myself up to make ready for the
Sabbath. He was very great and important and so the maid came to say
that someone desired to see me. I bade her say that it was my rule to
see no one at that time. Then he was more important and impressive,
still, and said, "Tell Mr. Spurgeon that a servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ desires to see him immediately." The frightened servant brought
the message but the sender gained little by it, for my answer was,
"Tell him I am busy with his Master and cannot see servants now."
Sometimes you must use strong measures. Did not our Lord tell His
messengers, on one occasion, to salute no man on the way? Courtesy must
give place to devotion! It is incumbent on you that you should be alone
with your Lord–and if intruders force an entrance–they must be sent
about their business.
Alas, if you send men and women away, evil birds will still not be so
dismissed. Wandering thoughts and inward troubles–how shall these be
chased away? That door must be well shut which keeps the devil out. He
comes in at the smallest opening, for he is a serpent, and serpents get
in where other creatures cannot. They have a wriggling way with them.
Satan will twist himself into us when we hope we are beyond his reach.
Drive him away, Brothers and Sisters! He will go if you resist him.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you." He will not stand fire if
you are determined to have a shot at him. As to vain thoughts which
harass and distract you, seriously determine that you will drive them
away. All your thoughts of sorrow, dismiss them at the Mercy Seat. As
for all business thoughts, do not entertain them. Say what Abraham said
to the servants, "Abide here while I go and worship God yonder." Tell
the world, "So far may you come, but no farther–I must, I will keep my
sacrifice of praise and prayer before the Lord."
Sir Thomas Abney had been accustomed to have family prayer at a certain
time. He was made Lord Mayor of London. His hour of family prayer being
sometime about the time of the banquet, he begged to be excused for a
little, for he had an urgent engagement with a special Friend. He then
went and called his family together to meet with God in prayer. Do the
same if even a banquet should come down upon you–quit the table for
the altar–and your guests for your God. When our time for prayer draws
near, if all the 12 Apostles were to preach in our street, we ought not
to give up our private prayer for the sake of hearing them all! When
the birds come down upon the sacrifice, drive them away, however fine
they may look! Drive off the golden eagles as well as the crows. This
will require great watchfulness. Cast yourselves upon the power of the
Holy Spirit. Only He can help us with our infirmities–much more with
our distractions. Let us cry to Him, that His Divine overshadowing may
be both shield and great reward to us while we attempt to draw near to
God in private worship!
Now, my dear Hearers, I will keep you no longer except to say
this–those of you who came here tonight to hear the Word, I pray you
do not go away without a blessing. Something or other has happened,
perhaps, to distract you–drive it away! The Sacrifice of Christ is the
thing you have to look to. Look unto the Lord Jesus and be saved! And
if anything comes between you and His atoning death, drive it away!
Come to Jesus! Why should it not be? It is the last time the preacher
will be here on Thursday nights for a little while. Did he not ask for
a closing and crowning blessing? It will be realized to the fullest if
you are saved tonight! You can be saved. You shall be saved if you look
to Jesus, the great Sin Offering! Give yourselves up to the Savior now,
upon the spot.
You that have believed in Jesus unto eternal life and have just begun
the Divine life, it will not be long before you are beset with various
temptations. Be prepared for those fowls, whose chief is the prince of
the power of the air, and labor to drive them away! You think that
since you are converted, it will be all plain sailing now. You make a
mistake–it is now that the battle begins! Be prepared for conflict. I
have no doubt Abram, being a sheik, carried a good staff with him. Be
ready with a staff, borrowed from the good Shepherd, to drive away the
temptations that are sure to assail young Believers!
As for you dear old saints, you have offered your sacrifice and it is
towards evening. The sun is going down–do not be surprised if you
should feel a horror of great darkness, even at the last–but rest
assured that the Lord will come and cheer your darkness with the vision
of His Covenant Love. Drive those doubts away and those fears of death!
You are going Home! Do not be afraid. Jesus is coming to meet you,
therefore dismiss every fear! Stand by the sacrifice all day! Stand by
the sacrifice when night comes on, birds or no birds! Stand by the
sacrifice whether you see a vision of Glory or
not. Stand by the sacrifice till you behold the Lamb on His Throne! One
thing I have made up my mind to, whether I find present joy or present
sorrow, present commendation or present censure–I will be faithful to
my Lord and stand by the sacrifice until I die with one hand upon this
Book, and another upon the horns of the altar! I would cry this night
in the courts of the Lord's House, in the presence of all His people,
"Bind the sacrifice with cords, even with cords to the altar." I will
be a sacrifice for Jesus because He is a Sacrifice for me! I count it
all joy to preach Him and His Cross if I may but win souls and be found
in Him at the last. The Lord bless you and be with you, my Brothers and
Sisters, for Christ's sake!
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Genesis 15. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–377, 670, 879.
TO THE CHURCH AT THE TABERNACLE:
BELOVED FRIENDS–I write you because my heart prompts me to do so and
because many of you desire it. We have not been in hearty union for so
many years without feeling a living interest in each other. This should
be more largely the fruit of Church membership than it usually is. The
idea of real brotherhood should be more tenderly and more practically
realized. Let us, each one, labor after it and take a deep personal
interest in our fellow members, especially in those who are poor, or
ill, or young, or despondent, or under peculiar temptations and
afflictions. Thus should we make up among ourselves a sort of mutual
pastorate and should each gain as well as bestow a blessing.
Because there is so much of this brotherly concern among you, I feel
peace of heart while absent. But because there is not more of it, I
would stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. We are all the
children of one Father and redeemed with the precious blood of the same
Savior. Let us, therefore, feel a natural instinct of unity and, from
the force of the inner life, cleave to each other in love. We are
likely to need more and more of that strength which comes from perfect
unity of heart. Attacks will be made upon us by the forces of error and
we must stand shoulder to shoulder, or rather heart to heart, in the
hour of conflict. May the Lord Himself, by His Holy Spirit, enable us
to do so!
My release from public service was greatly needed, for I have felt
great prostration since last I wrote you. By your loving prayers I
shall be strengthened and enabled to use my rest for laying in new
stores for future use. How much I desire that when I am again among you
it may be in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Peace! I
desire to be remembered to each one as truly as if I could grasp every
hand and say, "God bless you," to each individual.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
November 17, 1887. C H. SPURGEON.