A Discourse to the Despairing
(No. 2379)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1894.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
15, 1888.
"Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his
sons, Why do you look, one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have
heard that there is corn in Egypt: get down there, and buy for us
there; that we may live, and not die." Genesis 42:1,2.
JACOB had reached an age in which natural vigor had gone out of him. He
was getting very old and was worn and weary, yet here he seems to lead
the way in providing for his family. It was he who spoke to the younger
men, his sons, and urged them to go down into Egypt to buy food. Jacob
was of a timorous disposition in his latter days–he had an old man's
fear of that which is high and the grasshopper had become a burden to
him–yet he proposed to his sons that they should make a venturesome
journey into Egypt! It was a great undertaking for them, for they were
stay-at-homes, and not travelers. They were shepherds, whose time was
occupied in looking after the welfare of their flocks, and not in
roaming over foreign countries. They thought it would be a burdensome
responsibility and a perilous risk to cross the desert and go down into
Egypt, yet Jacob proposed this to them as the only way of escape from
famine and death. Here is an instance in which an aged father woke up
his sons to action by telling them good news and by chiding them
because of their despairing looks and words.
I am going to use the passage in this way. There are many persons who
are sitting down in a kind of stupor. They have no hope and, therefore,
they are doing nothing at all. They need to be told the good and
blessed tidings concerning salvation and to be urged to make a right
use of that news and to avail themselves of the provision of which they
are informed. I shall give myself, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, to
the happy task of following out that line of thought under these three
heads. First, despair is useless. "Why do you look, one upon another?"
Secondly, hope is well-grounded. "I have heard that there is corn in
Egypt." Thirdly, action is reasonable. "Get you down there, and buy for
us there; that we may live, and not die."
I. First, DESPAIR IS USELESS.
I have never heard, yet, of anybody who derived any good from despair.
Let me correct myself, there is a kind of despair which is the work of
the Spirit of God. I wish that you all felt it–a despair of
self-salvation, a despair of washing away your own sin, despair of
obtaining any merit of your own by which you can become acceptable in
the sight of God–but men never come to it unless the Spirit of God
brings them. We are always ready to hope in ourselves with that
self-conceited hope which is abhorrent to God. And it is a great mercy
when, at last, the Spirit of God, like the hot blast of the Sirocco,
passes over the green field and every flower therein is withered! What
said the Prophet? "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness, thereof,
is as the flower of the field: the grass withers, the flower fades:
because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the people is
grass." That is a blessed kind of despair! But of any other sort of
despair, in reference to eternal things, I cannot say anything that is
good. I believe that Giant Despair has his dungeons full of the
skeletons of men–he is a giant and devours those who come in his
way–and he never helped a pilgrim on the road to the Celestial City.
He never worked any good to any soul that came under his power. I
cannot set you free from his grasp, but I can and do pray that the
Spirit of God may deliver you out of his clutches!
These sons of Jacob looked upon one another despairingly, it seems, and
their old father watched their looks till, at last, he asked them, "Why
do you look, one upon another?" Their looks expressed great sadness.
They had never before been in such a plight. No corn for the asses, no
bread for the children, no food for themselves. Not one of them smiled,
but grim sadness sat on every countenance, and all their faces gathered
blackness. One looked at his brother and saw that he was sad. And that
brother looked at the next one and perceived that he was mournful and
gloomy. The light of a man's countenance is often like the shining of
the sun–one bright face will make another full of joy and
gladness–but when all the sons of Jacob were sad, their sadness was
increased as they looked, one upon another. Now, when a man knows that
he has no hope. When he feels that he cannot save himself. When he
hungers for the Bread of Life and yet has none of it–when he looks to
others who are in same case, and they only reply, "It is even so. We
are also starving. We are lost"–well, then, it is a sad, sad business
altogether.
Next, their faces expressed inability. Judah looked on Reuben and
Reuben stared back at his brother, as much as to say, "Do not gaze at
me, Judah, for I cannot do anything! I have emptied my last sack of
corn." Then Reuben looked across to Simeon and Simeon turned to
Zebulon–and they all shook their heads and each one said–"It is no
use looking to me. I cannot relieve you in this time of famine, even in
the slightest degree. I have more than I can do to take care of my own
wife and children." So is it when one sinner looks upon another sinner.
If really awakened to a true sense of his condition in the sight of
God, each one says, "I cannot help you. I cannot even help myself."
There are a number of foolish virgins with their lamps all gone out,
and they have not a drop of oil between them and, therefore, not one of
them can help another. So, sadness and inability are both implied in
old Jacob's question to his sons, "Why do you look, one upon another?"
Besides that, I have no doubt that there was a great degree of
bewilderment expressed on their countenances. One asked his brother,
"Cannot you suggest anything?" "No," replied the other, "I am at my
wits' end. I never was so puzzled before." "But, surely, So-and-So, the
one member of the family who has always been so quick with his
suggestions, will have something to say in this crisis." No, not one of
them had anything that he could contribute towards the hopefulness of
the outlook. Sad, indeed, was the household in which all the brothers
seemed, each one, more bewildered than the rest! So, if I were to
gather, here, a company of men, awakened to a sense of their true
condition as sinners, but not yet led to faith in Christ, and if I were
to ask them, "What is to be done to deliver you from this sad state?"
they would, in utter bewilderment, look first at me, and then at one
another, and sadly say, "What can we do?" One of them might even cry,
with John Newton–
"The help of men and angels joined Could never reach my case" and in
his perplexity he might forget to quote the two lines that follow–
"Nor can I hope relief to find But in Your boundless Grace."
Such a man might say, "If all in this world who love me were to
conspire together to assist me out of the deep pit of sin into which I
have fallen, they could not lift me a single inch!" Bewilderment, then,
was upon the faces of the 12 sons of Jacob.
Their looks also expressed apprehension. As they looked on each other,
their faces wan, their persons gaunt, each one seemed to say to his
brother, "I dare not tell you what I think." And the other would reply,
"I knew what you meant before the dreadful words came from your lips,
for what can this long famine bring but absolute starvation? We shall
see our poor old father die, or, perhaps, we shall, ourselves, perish,
and all our children with us before the old man passes away. Anyway, we
are doomed. We cannot eat the grass. We cannot devour what the birds of
Heaven might live upon– there is nothing for us to do but to die.
There is no corn in the land. There is universal famine–grim death
will soon overtake us." So they looked at one another every day with
more and more of anxious foreboding, for the famine was in the land of
Canaan as well as in all the other parts of the earth.
But, dear Friends, what good did their sad looks and their perplexed
looks do? They did not make one mess of pottage for any of them! They
did not grind for them even a single grain of corn! They were as bad
off after all their despair as they were before it–their waiting was
absolutely useless–no improvement in their condition came of it! And
addressing you, my despairing friend, to whom I am sent tonight, I do
not think that I ever saw you before, but you are here, and I am sent
to speak thus to you! You have believed that there was no hope for you.
You did not think that you could be saved and you have been, now, for
years in that sad condition! What is the use of it to you? What is the
good of all your despair? It has not improved you in the least! It has
not even kept you back from sin. It has just made you sit in darkness,
like one who is chilled and benumbed, and over whom death is slowly
creeping. This despair is no benefit to
you. God help you to shake yourself clear of it even now! There is a
lie at the bottom of your despair–there is hope– there is hope for
the very chief of sinners! Do not believe what Satan tells you, that
you must sit still and die.
The waiting time of the sons of Jacob was wasting time. If they had
started earlier, they might have reached Egypt and, perhaps, have been
back, again, with the corn which they had bought. But now the weary
hours which brought them no hope were depriving them of the possibility
of deliverance. So, dear Hearers, you have waited because you did not
think that there was a possibility of your being saved–and all this
waiting time has been wasted! Would God that you had been converted
when you were a boy! Would God that you had known my Lord when you were
a young man and started out in business! Oh, that you had known Him
even in middle life! But now you are growing gray. Surely, the time
past suffices to have been wasted. May God help you to begin, tonight,
to obtain that heavenly bread, that true corn upon which your soul may
feed!
These sons of Jacob had waited so long that if they delayed much
longer, they could never go, for they would all be dead. Did not their
old father hint at that when he said to them, "Get you down there, and
buy for us there; that we may live, and not die"? Death seemed waiting
for them outside the door and if bread did not soon come in, they would
all have to be carried out as corpses. So, Sinner, you have waited long
enough, and far too long! You have tarried so long that if you wait
much longer, the great knell of your soul will toll out with that most
dismal sound, "Lost, lost, lost, and lost forever!" God grant that this
may not come to pass, but may the Word of the Lord, which I am
declaring in my Master's name, lead you to another course of action
than that of sitting still and looking, one upon another! I repeat what
I said before, despair is useless! I think that you who have tried it
are quite convinced that it is so–you cannot squeeze any juice out of
this flint! You can dig nothing that will help you out of this barren
soil!
II. But now, secondly, HOPE, as we preach it to the very chief of
sinners, IS WELL-GROUNDED.
In the story before us, old Jacob said to his sons, "Behold, I have
heard that there is corn in Egypt." Good news had been heard. Did you
notice that the first verse put it rather differently–"Now when Jacob
saw that there was corn in Egypt"? There is a good old proverb, quaint
but true, "Faith sees with its ears." It is a new use for ears,
according to some people's notions. My own opinion is that there is no
organ that we have with which we can see so well as we can with our
ears if we use them aright. In spiritual things, "faith comes by
hearing," and that faith becomes the sight of things hoped for! Good
old Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt and he heard that there was
corn in Egypt. That is to say, he heard it upon such good evidence that
the old gentleman seemed to see it! He had questioned some passing
travelers, some Ishmaelites, some wandering Bedouins, who had answered
him, "Oh, yes, there is corn in Egypt! We have been down there–we have
bought sacks full of it! We have brought it away with us. We know it is
so, for here it is." And Jacob, though yet very timorous, weighed the
evidence, and judged all about the matter, and he said to himself, "Oh,
yes! It is quite clear, I see that there is corn in Egypt."
Well now, dear Friends, the most of you now present and, I should
think, all of you who have come through the rain this wet night, have
heard this good news! "Heard it?" you say, "we have heard it times out
of mind." I wonder how many times you have heard it? It would be
worthwhile to sit down and figure away, to see if you could calculate
how many times you have heard the Gospel. You know, when a boy has a
father who is what a father ought to be, he says to him, "Do not let me
have to speak to you twice, Sir." If he does speak to him twice, he
says, "Do you think I am going to speak to you three times? Listen, I
shall not stop at speaking if you do not listen pretty soon!" Would you
kindly set down on a sheet of paper, not perhaps on a slate, for you
might wipe it off, there–write down how many times God has spoken to
you, distinctly, in the preaching of the Word? I will not ask you to
reckon up how many times He has spoken to you in private, on your bed
and so on. Some of you have heard thousands of sermons, but they have
done you no good. I am afraid that you are like Bunyan's Slough of
Despond. Many thousands of tons of the best road making material had
been poured into that slough and it took it all in–and it was as bad a
slough as ever! And is it not so with some of you?
I get astonished at some of you people who come and hear me whenever
you can. I am not going to look at the particular persons to whom I
refer, but it does astonish me when I know that there are those who
have come here for years, and yet are as bare of religion as the palm
of my hand is of hair! If you ask the wife or children about them, you
will find that though they say, "we enjoy Mr. Spurgeon's ministry," yet
they enjoy the drink rather more on certain other days! They would not
miss a sermon! Yes, and they will even come to Prayer Meetings and
enjoy Prayer Meetings. But still, ah me! Well, I will not say all that
I know. May God have mercy upon such people! But what am I to do? Am I
to keep on
preaching to people like that? Am I to go on perpetually washing
Blackamoors who will never be a bit the whiter? God have mercy upon you
and upon me, too, and grant that I may not labor in vain towards you,
lest in the end your guilt should be increased by the rejection of His
Truth!
The good news has been heard by all of you. Whatever may be the destiny
of the heathen, they can, at the last, say, "We never heard of Christ.
We were never bid to come and put our trust in Him. We never knew the
story of the Cross and all the love of God in Christ Jesus." You cannot
say that, but you will have to confess, some of you, in that Great Day,
that you closed your ears to it all and would have none of it. The Lord
prevent it, by His mercy!
Well, the good news has been heard, dear Friends, and, by many of us,
the good news has been believed. I believe with Jacob that there is
corn in Egypt, that is to say, I believe that there is salvation in
Christ Jesus, that it has, "pleased the Father that in Him should all
fullness dwell." There are many here who believe that Truth of God with
me. There are myriads, all over the world, who believe this and who
have seen it for themselves–there is pardon for sin! There is renewal
of nature! There is every blessing that is needed, stored up in Jesus
Christ! The good news has been heard and the good news has been
believed! If I were to ask you to stand up and give your testimony
after the manner of the Salvation Army, very many here would do so,
each one saying, "I believe it. It is even so. I have proved it to be
true."
Further, the good news conveyed to you is to the point. Suppose that
Jacob had said to his sons, "I believe that there is gold in Egypt,"
they might have asked him, "What has that to do with us?" Suppose he
had said, "I believe that there is fine linen in Egypt." They did not
need fine linen. Suppose he had said, "I believe that there are
chariots in Egypt, and horses," for there were such in abundance.
Solomon was known, in later days, to bring them out of Egypt. Yet
Jacob's sons would have said, "Dear Father, we do not need horses. We
do not want chariots. What we need is bread, for we are dying, or soon
shall die, of hunger." Well now, my dear Hearers, there is, in Christ
Jesus, exactly what you need! If you are guilty, there is pardon! If
you are weak, there is strength! If you are foul, there is cleansing!
If you are naked, there is clothing! If you are dead, there is life! In
fact, there is, in Christ, all that you can possibly need! Christ is as
much fitted for you as a glove is for a hand and He is exactly fitted
for you, Mary, Thomas, or whoever you are–even as when I came to Him,
I found Him to be exactly fitted for me! He is the very Savior for such
a sinner as you!
Well now, this is good news concerning an available blessing. Supposing
Jacob had said, "Dear sons, there is plenty of corn in Egypt, but you
cannot have any of it. If you go down there, they will not sell any
corn to you." Now, we who believe in the Doctrine of Election are
supposed to say to some men, "It is of no use for you to believe–you
will not have the blessing." I never said–I never thought such a
thing–nor did any other preacher of the Doctrine of Election! We have
freely declared to every man that whoever believes in Christ Jesus has
everlasting life! And though we believe that God knows who will have
it, even as God knew who would go down into Egypt, yet that does not in
the least affect the freeness of the preaching of the Gospel! Let those
who hear us bear witness to the fact. There was never a man, or woman,
or child, yet, who applied to God through Jesus Christ for mercy, who
was refused. "Him that comes to Me," says Christ, "I will in no wise
cast out." If you believe, you live. If you believe, you are saved. We
have eternal life when we come and trust in Jesus. Believe and receive
it at the hands of Christ. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting
life." Let that bell ring round the Tabernacle! "He that believes on
the Son has everlasting life." If you believe, eternal life is yours.
So, this good news is concerning an available blessing.
And, once more, this good news is in the present tense. Jacob did not
say to his sons, "There was corn in Egypt," but, "I have heard that
there is corn in Egypt." So say I to you–"There is salvation. There is
forgiveness. There is acceptance, there is reconciliation–there is
eternal life!" There is, in Christ Jesus, all that is necessary to lift
a soul from the portals of Hell to the gates of Heaven! There is now,
on this 15th day of the month of July, 1888–there is corn in Egypt,
there is eternal life for all who trust in Jesus–
"There is life for a look at the Crucified One! There is life at this
moment for you!"
I do not know how to preach more plainly and simply to you. The last
thing that crosses my mind is to try and make "a fine discourse." All I
want to do is to talk right to your hearts about the way to Heaven–and
not to let you go until you have come to Jesus and have trusted in Him.
So I have set before you two things, first, that despair is useless,
and, next, that there is a hope which is well grounded. There is
nothing more certain in this world than that whoever believes in Christ
shall be saved. I wish that you
would all come and try, and see for yourselves, for we have not
preached to you cunningly-devised fables, but the most sure Word of
God, which we have tasted and handled for ourselves!
III. So I shall close with my third division–ACTION IS REASONABLE.
my dear despairing Hearer, I say again that I do not know who you may
be, but I know that I am sent to you, tonight, with a message! I wish
that I knew you, so that I could take you by the hand and have you here
on this very platform, and look into your eyes with my eyes. But as I
cannot do that, I will speak to you as if I were doing it.
It was time that these men should go at once to Egypt, for they would
die if they did not go. They could but die if they went to Egypt–if
they were met by robbers on the road, and killed, they could but die.
This is your case. Without Christ, you must eternally die–there is no
hope for you. Remain as you are and you are damned. No, I soften not
the word, for it is no light sentence which the word conveys. If you do
not find Christ, you are lost forever! Say, then, as we have often
sung–
"I can but perish if I go; I am resolved to try! For if I stay away, I
know I must forever die."
1 will here bring up Giant Despair if I can, in the rear, that he may
howl a little at you, and set your feet in motion. There is no hope for
you unless you go to the Savior, even to Jesus Christ. You must die if
you do not go to Him.
It was very reasonable that Jacob's sons should go down to Egypt, for
evidently others had gone there and had found corn. O man, would to God
that you would repent and leave your sins, and come to Christ, for
others have done so, and they have found eternal life! There never was,
there never will be, there cannot be one who ever obeyed the Gospel
call and yet was disappointed! I challenge the depths of Hades and the
deep abyss of Hell, itself, to display a single soul that truly sought
the Lord and was refused! No, if you come to Him by Jesus Christ, He
must receive you. Therefore, you who feel your need of Christ, I
beseech you to awaken yourselves and seek Him now!
Further, these sons of Jacob got what they went for. They went to buy
corn, and corn they bought, and plenty of it. And you may fare better
than they did. It is not half such a task for you to go to Jesus as it
was for them to go to Egypt. You can get to Christ in the twinkling of
an eye! Behold, He comes flying to your relief. One look of faith and
you are at His feet! Trust is the great railway that will bear you to
the blessed terminal of salvation!
The sons of Jacob found in Egypt what they went for and they found it
on better terms than they supposed. Jacob said, "Buy for us there," but
they had their money put back in the mouth of their sacks! Joseph did
not want their money–he would not sell anything to his own brothers,
he would give them whatever they needed! The Lord Jesus Christ does not
need your money. He does not even need your repentance and your faith
as the purchase-price of salvation. "The wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life." It is a free gift to you who are poor as
beggary itself. Do but come and you shall find how free are the gifts
of Sovereign Grace!
And, in addition, Jacob's sons gained a great deal more than they
bargained for, for while they brought corn home, they found that there
was a great man in Egypt who was their brother–and they were invited
to go and stay with him and they were made great men in that land! Oh,
if you will but come to Christ, you will come for silver, but you will
get gold! You will come for gold and He will give you diamonds! You
will come for a rag and He will give you a royal robe! You will come to
Him for life and He will give you everlasting glory! He gives
infinitely more than any of us dare to ask, or even think–and happy is
that man who does but come to Him! Oh, if you had any idea of what
Christ will make of you, you would want wings to your heels to fly to
Him with all your might! If that young woman did but know what joy the
love of Christ would pour into her heart, she would not wait till
tomorrow's sun had risen ere she had laid hold of Jesus Christ! When we
come to Christ, there is a destiny before us which an angel's future
does not rival! We become brothers of Christ, heirs of God, peers of
the blood imperial, exalted to sit with Christ upon His heavenly Throne
and to share in all His joys! Would God that you would come! If you did
but know what is to be had by trusting in Jesus, how swiftly you would
be drawn to Him!–
"His worth, if all the nations knew for Sure, the whole world would
love Him, too," and if they did but know what He gives, they would hold
out both hands and take from Him, now, all that He delights to bestow
upon those who trust Him!
I have finished my discourse to the despairing when I have made just
two or three concluding remarks.
These sons of Jacob went down into Egypt and they did well. Right
reasoning led them to go when they heard that there was corn there and
knew that they needed it. But they were never invited to go there.
Joseph did not send an invitation to Jacob, Reuben, Judah and Simeon,
saying, "Come down into Egypt." Up to the moment when he revealed
himself, they did not know that he was there. They were never invited
and yet they went. Is there anybody here who says, "I do not think I am
invited in the Bible to trust Christ"? Then come to Him whether you are
invited or not! Do as these men did–they were not invited, but they
went! The feasts of God are of this kind, "Whoever will, let him come."
There are no tickets demanded at God's gate of mercy. If you come, you
would not have come if He had not drawn you, for no man can come to
Christ unless the Father, who sent His Son, draws him, and, "Him that
comes to Me," says Christ, "I will in no wise cast out." You are the
right man if you but come, for the wrong man never came, never can come
and never thinks of coming! You are the man to be saved if you but
trust Christ!
But I must remind you that there are many of you who have been invited,
pressed, urged, entreated with tears to come to Christ. I will not say
anything about the many times that I have tried to press those things
upon you, for I feel my feebleness, and, if you refuse me, I do not
wonder. But still, if I knew how to put eternal things before you
better than I do, how earnestly would I labor for the salvation of your
souls! Sometimes, when I am at home, I say to myself, "That is it. I
think I see, now, how to put the Truth of God to the people." But when
I get here, I do not feel that I can speak as I desire. What more is a
man to say than to tell you that you are in danger, that you will
perish if you despair of hope, that there is good ground for hope and,
that if you come to your God, trusting in Jesus as your Savior, He will
never cast you away? Therefore, come, and come at once! Come even now,
while sitting in those pews! What more can I say? Spirit of God, You
say whatever more is needed and make what is said to go home to the
hearts of the hearers!
Now, note again, that you are in a better state than the sons of Jacob,
for you are invited, and next, you have no journey to make. How far is
it to Christ? Well, there is no distance! If you believe, He is there.
Our railway people, as a rule, in making railways to a certain town, do
not make the railway to the town, but within a half-mile, or a mile, or
two miles, so that you must have an omnibus or a cab to get into the
town. And there is far too much Gospel preaching that is like that. It
is so far before you get to Christ and when you do get to Him, it needs
another journey in your own omnibus to finish up the work!
But I believe that the railway to Heaven for you starts just there, in
that pew where you are sitting, and that it goes all the way, and that
if you enter the glorious Free-Grace train, it will carry you to the
terminal! And if you take a ticket, tonight, with a simple trust in the
Lord Jesus, you will not need any new ticket, but it will take you all
the way through! Oh, I would to God that by faith you would take that
ticket right now! There is a journey to get to Heaven, but there is no
journey to get to Christ, for He is here! You need a Mediator between
your souls and God, but you do not need a Mediator between your souls
and Christ! You must be prepared to see God in Heaven, but you need not
be prepared to see Christ on earth! You may come to Him just as you
are! Here He is, look at Him by faith and the great transaction is
done!
Last of all, you are informed, as these sons of Jacob were not
informed, that no payment is required. Jacob said to his sons, "Take
money in your hand," and when they went the next time, he said, "Take
double money in your hand." That was very honest on his part, to send
money to make up for what had been put back in the sacks, as well as
the double price, for the wheat would have risen since the last time,
and old Jacob also said, "Take of the best fruits of the land in your
vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little
honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds." That is just what human
nature says, "Take Christ a present. Carry something with you." Now, I
would advise you to drop that present into the sea! Do not take
anything with you to Christ except your emptiness. That is all He
wants– take your emptiness, and He will fill it! Take your sin, and He
will wash it away!
When persons advertise that they clean garments–(you see their notices
everywhere, nowadays, a wonderful trade it must be)–do they expect
that when you send a coat to be cleaned, you are to put a guinea in the
pocket? Oh, dear no! You send the garment to be cleaned–you will have
to pay for the work, one of these days, but you need not put sovereigns
in the pocket! Just take your soul to Christ to be cleansed, with
nothing but the spot, and the stain, and the filth– and He will make
it whiter than the driven snow!
The Holy Spirit's message is, "Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your hearts." Tarry not to cleanse or mend, but come to
Christ just as you are and come at once! Sons of Jacob, starving for
need of heavenly food, look no
longer, one upon another, but up and away to the Christ who has a
superabundance of everything you need! Freely He invites you–gladly go
to Him! Spirit of God, compel them to do so, by Your sweet love, for
Jesus' sake! Amen.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"– 531, 375, 435.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Isaiah 48.
Verse 1. Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name
of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear
by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not
in truth, nor in righteousness. There were always false professors and,
I suppose, there always will be till Christ comes. A Judas was among
the 12 Apostles and we cannot wonder that we find such in every
Church–but what a dreadful thing it is to wear the name of God and yet
not really to serve Him–to be called Christians and yet not to be like
Christ! It must be a very God-provoking thing to be called by His name
and then insult it by not being true to it.
2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon
the God of Israel; The LORD of Hosts is His name. They profess to trust
Him, but they do not love Him–"they call themselves of the holy city,"
but they certainly are not holy citizens. Ah me, that God should have
to speak to men upon such a matter as this! It is self-evidently
wicked, but they will not see it.
3. I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went
forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they
came to pass. There is no better proof that God is God than that His
prophecies have been fulfilled. Only the eternal can see into the
future. He has done so and every Word of His has either been fulfilled,
or will yet be fulfilled.
4. 5. Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron
sinew, and your brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared it
to you: before it came to pass I showed it you: lest you should say, My
idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image has
commanded them. See the care of God towards the most obstinate of men!
He knows that they will pervert things, so He prevents them as far as
it is possible to do so! He tells them what is to happen, that they may
not, afterwards, say that their idol gods have done it. Ah, dear
Friends, God has taken great interest in many of us! He has, as it
were, laid His plans to keep us out of sin and yet we have often broken
out, and have gone over hedge and ditch in the ways of sin. We have
seemed resolved to do evil–we have been desperately set on mischief–
therefore He speaks of us as being "obstinate." "Your neck is an iron
sinew, and your brow brass." Will God ever speak in mercy to such
people as these? We shall see as we read on.
6-8. You have heard, see all this; and will not you declare it? I have
showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did
not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning, even
before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I
knew them. Yes, you heard not; yes, you knew not; yes, from that time
that your ear was not opened: for I knew that you would deal very
treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. What a
description! Treacherous, false, yes, very treacherous–beyond the
usual degree of treachery! Transgressors from our very birth–born in
sin. The very heart is wrong and all that comes out of us is,
therefore, wrong. And now, what follows?
9. For My name's sake will I defer My anger, and for My praise will I
refrain for you, that I cut you not off. "I cannot spare you for your
own sake; but I will spare you for My name's sake. I cannot spare you
because of anything good in you; but I will spare you because of good
in Myself." If God can glorify Himself by your salvation, He finds a
blessed motive for saving you, and, since there is no good in you, He
will fall back upon His own Glory and save you for His own name's sake!
10. Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you
in the furnace of affliction. You sinful one, yet one of His own
children, He will refine you again and again, and He will glorify
Himself by saving you.
11. For My own sake, even for My own sake, will I do it: for how should
My name be polluted? And I will not give My Glory unto another. This
verse ought to ring like music in the ears of one who is seeking mercy
and who cannot find out how mercy can come to him.
12, 13. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He; I am
the First, I also am the Last. My hand also has laid the foundation of
the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto
them, they stand up together. What a great God is He whose right hand
spanned the heavens, making the arch of the sky, as it were, with the
span of His hand!
14. All you, assemble yourselves, and hear, which among them has
declared these things? He still dwells upon prophecy. God claims that
He is God because He foretold all that happened, which the idol gods
could not do.
14-18. The LORD has loved him: He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and
His arm shall be on the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have
called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
Come you near unto Me, hear you this, I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord
God, and His Spirit, has sent me. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord your God which teaches you to
profit, which leads you by the way that you should go. O that you had
listened to My Commandments! God again breaks out in lamentations over
His wandering people! Not only is He ready to forgive them, but He
grieves to think that they should have brought so much sorrow on
themselves.
18, 19. Then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as
the waves of the sea: your seed also had been as the sand, and the
offspring of your heart like the gravel thereof; his name should not
have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me. All manner of possible
good would have been yours had you not rebelled against God. And as you
have lost it, God grieves that it should be so.
20. Go you forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, with a voice
of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the
earth, say you, The LORD has redeemed His servant, Jacob. What a grand
message for anyone to tell! Tell it, tell it, tell it everywhere, that
Jehovah has redeemed His people!
21. And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts. Neither
shall you thirst, O redeemed one, when you are in the desert!
21. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. Most
unlikely places shall yield you succor.
21. He split the rock, also, and the waters gushed out. And yet, to
finish up the chapter, stands this remarkable sentence–
22. There is no peace, says the LORD, unto the wicked. O God, have
mercy upon us, and let us not be numbered with them!