The Spiritual Resurrection
(No. 2554)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 30, 1898.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER
18, 1855.
"And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave
clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus sail unto
them, Loose him, and let him go." John 11:43, 44.
PERHAPS the legitimate topic of this discourse, after such a text,
ought to be the resurrection of the dead. Lazarus had died–he had lain
in his grave. At the invitation of his sisters, Jesus Christ came to
see them and His visit answered the double purpose of comforting the
bereaved and restoring the dead. It would be a blessed and an excellent
topic were we, for a little while, to dilate upon the wonders of the
resurrection. We shall do so for a few moments and then we shall come
to the principal theme of this evening which will rather concern
spiritual resurrection from a spiritual death, than that natural
resurrection which is to take place upon us all, by-and-by.
The very fact that Lazarus came from his grave, after he had lain there
four days and was corrupt, and that he was called from the sepulcher by
the mighty voice of Jesus is, to us, a proof that the dead shall rise
at the voice of Jesus at the Last Great Day. Every Christian believes
that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, but, unfortunately, the
great Doctrine of the Resurrection is not, by most of us, made so
prominent as it ought to be. In old times, the Resurrection was
preached by the Apostles as being the sum and substance of the Gospel.
Wherever Paul went, we know that he spoke concerning the Resurrection
of the dead–and then, "some mocked." But now, usually, if we speak
concerning the after state of the departed, we generally treat of
immortality, not of resurrection. Now, immortality was known to the
ancients before the Gospel came. They believed in a kind of
immortality, but resurrection never entered into the thoughts of the
heathen. Many of them believed in the immortality of the soul. Those
who had been enlightened by powerful reason, or remnants of ancient
tradition, believed that the soul did not die, but lived on in a future
state. But immortality is not resurrection! And the immortality of the
soulis very different from the Christian doctrine of the resurrection
of the body. We believe that the soul is immortal and shall last
forever, but we believe something more than that. We believe that the
body is immortal, too! And that after this body shall have been sown in
the grave–in the Lord's good time it shall be raised again and shall
either be translated to Heaven, there to enjoy eternal bliss–or else
be sent down to Hell to suffer forever and ever.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead belongs peculiarly to the
Christian dispensation. It was never taught by any rationalists or
philosophers. They might hold the transmigration of souls, but the
resurrection of the body they did not hold. But we, as Christians,
really believe that this body which we now inhabit, though it must die
and see corruption, shall be raised from the dust–that, though
consumed on the funeral pyre, its ashes, scattered to the winds, shall
yet come together again! We believe that do what you will with the
body–divide it, scatter it, mingle it–God, by the fiat of His
Omnipotence, shall rebuild the fabric to become the habitation of the
living soul forever and forever. We dare not in fact, deny this,
because we are so expressly taught it in the sacred writings and it has
been so fully and satisfactorily proved by the Apostle Paul.
And oh, my Friends, is it not a blessed fact that we shall rise again?
I see among my audience some whose garb of woe betokens that they have
lost a friend. I see some whose time-worn countenances tell me that
they must have buried a mother or a father. Others, I know, have laid
beloved infants in the dust. Others have had a precious husband or wife
severed from their bosom. I mark among you some whose dress tell me you
have been lately widowed, or bereaved of one tenderly beloved. Ah,
despair not, you mourners! Here is a fact for you–not only that your
soul and the soul of your loved one shall meet in eternity–but that
the same body on which you doted shall, if you are Believers, be seen
by you in Heaven! The eyes of the tender and pious mother which once
dropped tears on you shall behold you in Heaven! And the hands of that
pious father, now lying in the grave, that once lay on your head and
consecrated you to the Lord shall be grasped by you in Heaven! Not only
shall the soul of that infant live forever and ever, but its beautiful
body, which is dear to you as the casket which contained the soul of
your child, shall live again! It shall not be a fictitious
resurrection–it shall not be a new race of ethereal creatures–but
actual bodies shall be ours.
And oh, my Brothers and Sisters, if you have been bereft of all your
friends–if they have departed in the faith of Jesus, you shall see
them again! "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
and their works do follow them." But yet more blessed are they to be,
"for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible," and we shall see the bodies of those we once loved on
earth. Those bodies we once silently gazed upon, as they lay in all the
stiffness of death, we shall see quickened and glorified! That mortal
shall "put on immortality." That corruptible shall, "put on
incorruption." It was "sown in weakness" and we wept when we saw it
lowered into the grave–but it shall be "raised in power." It was "sown
a natural body" and though it shall be "raised a spiritual body," yet
it shall be a body to all intents and purposes, as it was before. And
we shall recognize it as such–
"Oh, sacred hope! Oh, blissful hope, That Jesus' Grace has given; The
hope, when days and years are past, We all shall meet in Heaven! "
Not in a separate existence of merely souls, but souls and bodies, too!
And–
"There, on a green and flowery mount, Our wearied (bodies as well as)
souls shall sit, And with transporting joys recount The labors of our
feet."
Ah, Beloved, does not this make Christianity worth having? Does not
this light up the grave with a supernatural splendor–this cheering,
this glorious, this overpowering, this more than natural, this
superhuman Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead? I will not stop to
picture the scene–I might tell you of the silent graves and of the
churchyards covered with the grass of ages. I might picture to you the
battlefields, I might bid you hear the voice of Jesus when, descending
with the sound of the trumpet and with an exceedingly great army of
angels, He shall say, "Awake, you dead, and come to judgment!" When he
cries, "Awake!" eyes that have been glazed for many a year shall open!
Bodies that have long been stiffened shall regain their energy and
stand upright! Not sheeted ghosts, not phantoms, not visions, but
actual beings shall rise! They–the same persons who were buried–the
real men, the real women. I think I see them bursting the cerements of
the grave, pushing open their coffin lids and coming forth. Ah, we
shall see them, and each one, for himself, shall rise. There shall rise
Lazarus and Martha and Mary–and loved ones that belong to us–whom
long we have wept as departed, we shall then rejoice over as having
been recovered!
So much by way of preliminary remarks concerning the resurrection from
the dead.
Now let us deal with the subject in another manner. The death of
Lazarus, his burial in the tomb and his corruption are a figure and
picture of the spiritual condition of every soul by nature. The voice
of Jesus, crying, "Lazarus, come forth," is an emblem of the voice of
Jesus, by His Spirit, which quickens the soul. And the fact that
Lazarus, even when alive, wore his grave clothes for a little while,
until they were taken from him, is extremely significant, for if we
allegorize upon it, it teaches us that even when a soul is quickened
into spiritual life, it still wears some of its grave clothes which are
only torn off when Jesus afterwards says, "Loose him, and let him go."
We propose, therefore, to consider these three points. First, the
slumber of death, in which every soul lies by nature. Secondly, the
voice of life–"Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth."
And thirdly, the partial bondage which even the living soul has to
endure, which is signified by Lazarus coming forth bound hand and foot
and having his face wrapped about with a napkin.
I. First, then, we have here THE SLUMBER OF DEATH in which all of us
lie by nature. Come with me now, Christian, to "the rock from where you
were hewn," to "the hole of the pit"–to the miry clay–"from where you
were dug." Come with me to the house of death, for there your soul once
lay, "dead in trespasses and sins." There are some in this world, we
know, who utterly deny that the sinner is really dead in sins. I
remember, some time ago, hearing a preacher assert that, though the
Scriptures said that men were dead, it meant a metaphorical death–that
they were not really and actually dead, but only metaphorically so.
Now, I always like, when there is a metaphor, to keep to the metaphor.
Some of the eminent doctors in Rowland Hill's day said that there were
no such beings as angels, that they were only Oriental metaphors. "Very
well," said Rowland Hill, "then it was a company of Oriental metaphors
that sang at the birth of Christ, 'Glory to God in the highest.' Angels
are Oriental metaphors? Then it was an Oriental metaphor that slew
185,000 of Sennacherib's army in a single night. Angels are Oriental
metaphors? Then it was an Oriental metaphor that appeared to Peter in
prison, that knocked off his chains and led him through the streets.
Truly," Mr. Hill said, "these Oriental metaphors are wonderful things!"
We will try the same rule here. "You has He metaphorically quickened,
who were metaphorically dead in trespasses and sins!" A fine
metaphorical Gospel that is! Then again, "To be carnally-minded is
metaphorical death! But to be spiritually-minded is metaphorical life
and peace!" Such language does not mean anything at all! My Friends, it
is all nonsense about metaphorical death! Men are really dead in a
spiritual sense.
But I must tell you in what this death consists. There are different
grades of life–understand that to commence with. There is the life of
a plant which a stone does not possess and, therefore, a stone is dead.
There is the life of an animal which the plant does not possess and, if
you were speaking of animal life, you might describe the plant as to
that extent dead. Then, again, there is mental life–and since the
animal has no mind, you might say that the animal is mentally dead.
Then there is a grade beyond the soul life of a man–a spiritual life.
To an ungodly man, there are only two parts–soul and body. To the
Christian, there are three–body, soul, and spirit And as a body
without a soul would be dead, naturally–so a man without a spirit, a
man who has not had a spark struck off from the great orb of Light
called God–is spiritually dead. Nevertheless, there are some who
assert that men who are ungodly are spiritually alive. Come, sinner, if
you think thus, I must argue with you a little while.
First of all, if you are spiritually alive and can do spiritual
actions, the first thing I ask you is, Why do you not do them now?Some
men say that they can repent and believe when they like and they do not
believe that, to do this, they need the power of the Spirit. Then, Sir,
if you can do it, and do not do it–if any man deserves to be damned,
it is you! And on your own showing, if there is a corner of the Pit
hotter than another, you ought to be put there!
The next thing I have to say to you, O Sinner, is this–You say, "I am
not dead; I have spiritual life, and can pray, and repent and believe."
Let me ask, Have you tried to do it? Do you say, "Yes"? Well, then, I
know you will confess, unless you will lie before God, that you have
found out your inability! There never was a man yet who strove to pray
sincerely before God, but he felt something repressing his devotion.
When he has come before God, under an agony of guilt, crying out for
mercy, he has felt at times as if he could not pray, as if he could not
utter a single word! Have none of you known what it is to be in such a
condition that you cannot pray, that you cannot believe, that you
cannot repent? When you put your hand on your heart and say, "O God, my
heart is hard! I wish it would melt! I cannot break it"? When you would
pray, do you not feel that your heart is far away, wandering in the
world? The best method of proving a man's inability is to set him about
doing the thing. When the young man said, "All these things have I kept
from my youth up," Jesus, just to try him, said, "Go and sell all that
you have." Ah, Beloved, when God brought us to Himself we wrestled in
prayer and pleaded with him–and we were taught, after all, that the
power for everything spiritual must come from God, for there were
certain times and seasons when we could no more have prayed than we
could have flown up to Heaven! When we could no more have believed than
we could have taken the moon in our hands! We could not grasp a
promise. We could not grapple with a single temptation. We felt
ourselves to be powerless, lost, dead. Sinner, I tell you, you are dead
as to all spiritual matters, and dead you always will be, if left to
yourself–and you cannot by any means carry yourself to Heaven! The
sovereign will and power of God alone must quicken you, or else you can
do nothing except sin. Neither righteous acts nor coming to Jesus can
you ever do of yourself.
But I think I hear someone say, "II cannot do anything, I will sit down
where I am and make myself content.''" What? Will you sit down when
Hell blazes before you, when the Pit is yawning at your feet, when
damnation stares you in the face, when God is angry with you, when your
sins are bellowing out to high Heaven for condemnation? Will you sit
down? I tell you, you cannot and dare not sit down. Sit down? As well
might a man sit on yonder housetop when the flames are blazing around
him! As well might he float down the rapids, to be at once dashed to
pieces! Ah, if you talk about sitting down, you give me the best proof
in all the world that you are "dead in trespasses and sins," for if you
were not dead, you would be beginning to cry out, "O God, quicken me! O
God, give me life! I know that I am dead! I feel that I can do nothing,
but You have promised to do it all for me. Though I am less than
nothing, You have Omnipotence to give me life." Do you not see, Man,
that I am putting you down that Christ may pick you up? Do you not see
that I am laying you low, not to perish, not to be trampled on in the
dust, but rather that, like a corn of wheat, you might fall into the
ground and die and afterwards be quickened and bring forth fruit?
Nothing can bring a man into a state of life so well as a feeling of
death! And if I could get my Hearers, one and all, to recognize,
acknowledge and feel that they were in a state of spiritual death and
utterly powerless, I could then have hope for them–for no man can
confess himself to be dead and yet sit down contentedly–he will cry
out for Divine Grace and ask God to deliver him from that death.
But there is one thing I have yet to tell you before I leave this point
and it is that the ungodly man is something more than dead. He is like
Lazarus lying in his tomb. You remember those homely words which Martha
said to Jesus? They are translated into plain Saxon and, I daresay, the
Hebrew is quite as expressive, "Lord, by this time he stinks: for he
has been dead four days." Yes, Brothers and Sisters, and this is the
condition of every ungodly man–the is not only dead, but he has become
positively corrupt in God's sight! There are some here, to whom I might
point at this moment, who know what I mean when I say they not only
groan under a sense of spiritual death, but feel themselves to be a
stench in their own nostrils and in God's also. I ask you, poor
convicted sinner, does there live or exist in this world a greater
nuisance than yourself? I know you will say, "No, there may be other
filthy and abominable things, but I feel myself to be the most
loathsome incarnation of filthiness that ever could have existed. I did
not always think myself to be so, but I do now. I feel that I am not
simply dead and powerless, but I feel offensive to myself, so that I
wish I could run away from myself. And I feel offensive, moreover, to
God–utterly obnoxious to Him." Well, then, if that is your feeling,
you are brought low enough, for it is just when we begin to corrupt, as
the body of Lazarus did, and we, like Martha, are for giving everything
up as hopeless, that Jesus Christ calls as He did then, "Lazarus, come
forth!"
Now you see what I have made my congregation out to be. Some of you are
alive–you have been quickened by God. But as for the rest of you, I am
standing in an immense catacomb, tonight, and all around me there are
dead persons–in the gallery and down below–men and women who are
spiritually dead!
II. But now comes the wonder-working process, THE VOICE OF LIFE. Jesus
said, "Lazarus, come forth."
We commence, then, with this wonder-working process by saying that the
giving of life to Lazarus was instantaneous. There lay Lazarus in the
grave, dead and corrupt. Jesus cried aloud, "Lazarus, come forth." We
do not read that a single moment elapsed between the time when Christ
said the words and when Lazarus came out of his grave! It did not take
the soul an instant to wing its way into the body of Lazarus, nor did
that body need any delay to become alive, again! So, if the Lord speaks
to a man and quickens him to spiritual life, it is an instantaneous
work. There are some of you standing there, apparently alive, but you
feel, you acknowledge, you confess, that you are dead. Well, if the
Lord speaks to you tonight, life will come into you in a moment, in one
single instant! The power of Divine Grace is shown in this, that it
converts a man instantly and on the spot! It does not take hours to
justify–justification is done in a moment! It does not take hours to
regenerate–regeneration is done in a second. We are born and we die,
naturally, in instants. And so it is with regard to spiritual death and
spiritual life–they occupy no period of time, but are done instantly,
whenever Jesus speaks! Oh, if my Master would cry tonight, "Lazarus,
come forth!" there is not a Lazarus here–although covered with the
shroud of drunkenness, bound about with the belt of swearing, or
surrounded with a huge stone coffin of evil habits and wickedness–who
would not burst that coffin and come forth a living man!
But mark, it was not the disciples, but Jesus, who said, ' "Lazarus,
come forth." How often have I strived to preach you, if possible, into
life–but that could not be done. I remember, when I have preached at
different times in the country, and sometimes here, that my whole soul
has agonized over men–every nerve of my body has been strained and I
could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame
away in a flood of tears–if I could but win souls. On such occasions,
how we preach! As if we had men before us, personally, and were
clutching them and begging them to come to Christ! But with all that, I
know I never yet made a soul alive, and never shall. And I am perfectly
conscious that all the pleadings of all the living ambassadors from God
will never induce a sinner to come to Jesus unless Jesus comes to that
sinner! Peter might have cried for a long while, "Lazarus, come forth,"
before Lazarus would have moved an inch! So might James or John–but
when Jesus does it, it is done! Oh, does not this lower the pride of
the minister? What is he? He is a poor little trumpet through which God
blows, but nothing else! In vain do I scatter seed–it is on God the
harvest depends! And all my Brothers in the ministry might preach till
they were blind, but they would have no success unless the Spirit
attended the quickening Word!
But, poor Soul, though the hearer cannot do it, and although the
minister cannot do it, I want to persuade you, if I can, that tonight,
dead as you are, Jesus can speak you to life. Let me single out a
character, for I like to do that. There is a man who says, "I have been
living 50 years in sin and tonight I am worse than ever. My old habits
bind me hand and foot and I have no hope of being delivered." Now, if
tonight, my Hearer, Jesus says, "Lazarus, come forth," you will come
forth in an instant! "No, but," you say, "I am corrupt." Ah, but Christ
is mightier than your corruption! Do you say, "I am dead"? No, but
Christ is "life." Do you say, "I am bound hand and foot, and in a
dungeon of darkness"? No, but Christ is a Light in darkness and He will
disperse the gloom. You say, perhaps, "I do not deserve it," but Jesus
cares nothing for deserving. The dead body of Lazarus deserved nothing!
It was putrid and only deserved to have the stone covering it forever.
"Roll away the stone," says Christ, and oh, what odor issued forth! And
there may be some from whom Jesus Christ may have rolled away the stone
tonight–and they may be standing at their own graves and feeling
themselves loathsome and offensive. But still, my Hearer, offensive as
you are, Jesus asks no merit of you–He will give you Hsmerits. It is
only for Him to say, "Come forth," and you will, this night, come forth
from your grave–and be made alive in Christ Jesus! Oh, may our God
wake many dead souls that may be present and bring them to life by His
summons, "Lazarus, come forth."
I think I hear another person saying, "Ah, but I am afraid, Sir, that
if I were told to come forth, the devil would not let me–he has been
oppressing me so long–he has been trying to keep me down and to make
me lie still in my grave! I feel that he is now sitting upon my breast
and weighing down all my hopes, and quenching all my love." Ah, but let
me tell you Sinner, there is not one in Hell that is so mighty as
Christ is in Heaven! The Evil One is in Christ's power and if you will
but call upon Him–if He has enabled you only to utter a groan this
night–He will cry unto you, "Come forth," and you shall live!
III. Now let us turn for a few moments to the last point and that is,
THE PARTIAL BONDAGE. Even when a soul is called by Divine Grace from
death to life, yet it often wears its grave clothes for a long while.
Many of my dear friends are afraid they are not converted because they
are not like Mr. So-and-So, or Mrs. So-and-So– they have not so much
faith and assurance and do not know as much as others–so they are
afraid they are not alive. I have a word of comfort for them! The fact
that Lazarus came forth in his grave clothes, with a napkin wrapped
about his head, teaches us that many of us, though we are alive in
Christ, still have our grave clothes on. I believe many Arminians still
have their napkin about their head. That is to say, they have not got
quite free from trusting in works. They used to, when dead, believe in
salvation by works–they do not, now, but they still have some remnants
of their grave clothes hanging about them. They have not yet come to
believe that salvation is by Sovereign Grace, alone, but will have some
works mixed up with it. They fear that, after all, God may cast them
out of the Covenant. Oh, if we could but tear their napkin off! We will
not quarrel with them, we will not be angry with them–but we think we
hear Jesus Christ say to us, "Loose them, and let them go." And we will
try all the ways in our power, by preaching, to pull the napkin from
their eyes and let them see, "free election known by calling," full
salvation, matchless security, discriminating Grace, particular
redemption and all those things that make up the great strength of the
Gospel of Jesus!
This, however, is not the point I want to dwell on with you, because I
think most of you have got that napkin off your eyes. But when we first
obtain spiritual life, how many grave clothes there are hanging about
us! A man who has been a drunk, even though he becomes a living child
of God, will sometimes find his old habits clinging to him. I have
known many drunks give up their drunkenness, but when they have been
going by a bar, they have thought that, for the life of them, they
could not keep from going in. And they have often well-near gone astray
and their feet have almost slipped. And the man who has been a swearer
will confess that there have been times when the vile words have almost
come from his lips–perhaps not quite–I hope not, but there will be
enough to show that he has some of his grave clothes still hanging
about him. We have known men who have indulged in other kinds of vices
and sins and whenever an opportunity has presented itself, there has
been the old feeling getting up and saying, "Let me do it, let me do
it," and they have strived to keep it down, but they have hardly been
strong enough. The grave clothes have still been about them. Those
grave clothes will keep on very tightly until the habit is broken off.
I believe there is not a Christian living who has not some shreds of
his grave clothes remaining and that until we lie down in the grave, we
shall carry them about with us.
Look at poor Paul. Who could have been a more holy man than he? Yet he
cried, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" Let this comfort and cheer the man who has come to Christ,
but who is yet striving against his corruption. Perhaps his unbelief
says, "If you were a child of God, you would not have these wicked
thoughts and inclinations." But, let me ask, do you hate those thoughts
and inclinations? Then tell the devil, next time that he assails you
thus, that he lies, for verily, this is not a sign that you are not the
Lord's, but rather a sign that you are His, for if you were not a child
of God, you would not mind these things! But since you are His child,
you strive against them.
These wicked grave clothes will show themselves sometimes. We know some
who seem as if they could not get rid of their old angry tempers as
long as they live. Their grave clothes have been torn in shreds by
Divine Grace. They do not quite strap their arms up, but the shreds
still hang about them–and our Brothers and Sisters, even though
converted, still seem inclined, sometimes, to be hot and fierce. And we
meet with instances, now and then, even in the Church, of some Brothers
and Sisters who cannot exactly curb themselves–they have some of their
grave clothes still about them. Do not think I am speaking to exonerate
or excuse you–I am striving to comfort you. You may be spiritually
alive with these grave clothes on if you struggle against them and try
to get them off. But if you love them, they are not your grave clothes,
but your living clothes–you are doing the work of your father–and you
shall have his wages! If you feel your sins to be grave clothes and are
anxious to get rid of them, though you cannot conquer all your sins and
corruptions, be not dismayed–trust in Christ! Though the grave clothes
yet hang about you, still trust His mercy and His Grace, for,
by-and-by, Jesus Christ shall say, "Loose him, and let him go."
We are loosed, first, from one bad habit, and then from another. All
the while I live, I feel that I carry some of my grave clothes about
with me–the garment that encumbers me and the sin that most easily
besets me. But, by-and-by, (it may only be tomorrow, but it may be many
years hence–perhaps some of you will pray for me that it may be many
years–but I do not know why we should wish it, but, by-and-by), the
time will come and Christ will say, "Loose him, and let him go." I see
one lying on his bed–the eyes glancing upward to Heaven, the pulses
faint and few–the breath drawn heavily, the body decaying. What does
all this mean? Why, it is the undoing of the wires of the cage and, in
a little while, when sickness and pain have done their work, Christ
will say, "Loose him, and let him go." I remember hearing a
brother-minister telling me of his pious sister's death-bed. When she
was very near dying, she said, "Sit me up a moment," and they did. She
then said–
"'Oh! that the final word were given, Loose me, and let me rise to
Heaven, And wrap myself in God.'"
In a moment or two, she fell back. God had said, "Loose her, and let
her go." Oh, how our disembodied spirits will rejoice when God says,
"Loose them, and let them go." We are fettered, now–we shall be
emancipated then! Then our spirits shall fly more rapidly than the
flashing lightning! Then shall they be wafted along, swifter than the
gales of the North or the winds of the South! We shall fly upwards to
our God and be free forever from all that now distresses us, for God
shall have said, "Loose them, and let them go."
And now a thought or two, dear Hearers, to finish up with. Before God
will say, "Loose him, and let him go," remember, you must have had
life. Now I come to this last solemn enquiry. How many of us in this
place, tonight, have life? How frequently it is the case that we preach
to our people with all our soul and might, and yet nobody takes it home
to himself! How often, my Friends, have I preached in vain, from the
simple fact that the hearer has listened and there has been no
application of it to his own soul! But, oh, I would not let you go,
feeble as I am, and unable to say much to you, until I have tried to
press this matter home upon your souls! My Hearers, in a little while
I, too, must stand before God's bar. And when I think of it, it is
enough to make me tremble! When I call to mind the tens and hundreds of
thousands unto whom I have ministered the Word of the Gospel, and think
if there should, on the Last Day, be found one person who shall lay his
damnation to my charge, how horrible and terrible must be my lot! If,
after having preached to others, I should have been unfaithful and
should prove a castaway, what an awful thing that would be! In these
days, when it is advertised that there is a special sermon to be
preached, people rush off to hear a popular preacher, or somebody who
happens to be much talked about–but do you know what that man does
when he preaches, and what you do when you hear? Are you aware that
every time that man stands in the pulpit, if he is unfaithful, he
subjects himself to the wrath of God? Do you not know that if, at last,
that man who stands up to preach to the people should have been
discovered to have preached false doctrine, his doom must be horrible
in the extreme? And do you remember, when you hear, it is not as if you
go to see a play, or to listen to a recital? You are listening to a man
who professes to speak by God and for God! And to speak for your good
and his heart yearns over you. Oh, it is solemn work to preach, and it
should be solemn work to hear! For every preaching and every hearing
the Lord will call us to account in the Last Great Day when He shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. What has the preacher talked
of tonight?
He has told you, first, that you are all dead. But some of you will go
away and laugh at it–but laughing at it will not make you alive. He
has told you, in the next place, that Christ can make you alive. But
you despise that Christ–but mark, your despising Him will not free you
from condemnation at the Last Great Day. He has told you of the bands
of death that some of you are bound with, and you are, perhaps, tempted
to smile. But mark you this–if you never sorrow over the bands of
death, here, you will have to wear clanking fetters forever! Did I
speak of fiction when I said that? I speak not of fiction, but a dread
reality! There is, somewhere–God knows where it is–a place where the
fire of Gehenna shall torture bodies forever and where unutterable
misery shall pain souls! And oh, tremble, you heavens, and shake, you
hills! O Earth, let your solid ribs of brass shake and let your heart
be dissolved! It is a fact–a fearful fact that there is a Hell! I know
not where it is–my spirit longs not to visit that dread region! But
had it wings, it might fly somewhere and it would find a Hell–not a
picture, not a dream, but a positive Hell! And there are souls there,
this night, that are biting their bonds of iron and shrieking out under
inexpressible torture! And there are some of your friends and relations
there, perhaps–some whom you knew in the flesh–the man with whom you
drained the wine-cups, the harlot, the adulterer, the thief and
such-like persons. There they are, in Hell, at this hour!
Do you believe it? I do not think you do, but do you believe God's Word
Or are you hardy infidels and deny it? "It is true," you say. Then are
you so mad and irrational as to persevere in the road to there? O Sirs,
if there were some tremendous precipice and I saw you hastily
approaching it, would I not cry out to you and say, "Stop! Stop! Stop!
There is ruin before you"? And may I not tonight plead with you for
your life, that you may be led to stop your course of sin? For "the
wages of sin is death," while the "gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord," whom you are shunning, avoiding and grieving!
Must I not plead with you? Shall you be going to Hell blindfolded and
shall not one of your poor fellow creatures pull the bandage from your
eyes? Shall he not call to you, without being thought mad, or an
enthusiast? Well, if I am mad, in that respect may I always be so! And
if that is to be an enthusiast, let none be sober! But if it is mad and
enthusiastic to go to Heaven, how much more so is it to go to Hell? O
God, show these poor souls what their portion in the flames must be and
tell them–for Your mercy's sake tell them–what salvation by Jesus
Christ is!
Do you ask meto tell you that before I finish? Do I hear one say, "Men
and brethren, what must I do to be saved?" I answer, "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." It is written, "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall
be damned." If you will trust in Jesus, tonight, you shall be saved! It
does not say such-and-such a person that believes, but, "he that
believes"–if he has been a drunk, a swearer, or whatever–"he that
believes and is baptized"–mark how the two are put together! I dare
not part what Christ has joined, nor dare I reverse their proper
order–"he that believes and is baptized shall be saved."
Farewell to you, my Hearers, for this night. I shall never meet some of
you again in this world. Before another Sabbath is come, your corpse
may have been laid in the grave. Which of us shall it be? On whom the
hungry teeth of Death shall feed before another Sabbath shall let its
chimes be heard? Oh, if you are the man, or if the preacher is the
doomed one, may it be fulfilled–
"Prepare me, Lord, for Your right hand, Then come the joyful day! Come
death and some celestial band, To bear my soul away."
But another says, "I will not enter this Chapel again! I will never
listen to that man again! I will never again hear his voice." Good-bye,
my Friend. I hope you will hear someone who will be as faithful to you
and if you find a man who loves you more, or would suffer more for your
sake, go and hear him! And God bless him to your soul! But one says, "I
will hear no more of this matter! It is cant. It is nonsense. I will
not turn." Ah, my Hearer, if I see you going to destruction and you
know it not, it is none the less destruction because you do not see it!
But another says, "This night I will give myself to Jesus, for I know I
need life. I lie down, a corpse, and though I cannot move, I know that
when He passes by, He will give me life." Go! God has something for
you! Go and fall before Him! You shall have life bestowed upon you–go
and accept it! For, wherever there is a "now," i t is of God. The Holy
Spirit says, ' 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts."