Faith–life
(No. 2809)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 14, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
10, 1877.
"The just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4.
"The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:17.
"The just shall live by faith" "Now the just shall live by faith."
Galatians 3:11. Hebrews 10:38.
THE fact that these words are so frequently found in the Word of God is
a sufficient justification for often preaching from them. There seems
to be, among certain preachers and hearers, some sort of question about
preaching more than once from the same text, yet it would appear that
this is by no means a wrong practice, but a most proper one. Indeed,
our Lord Jesus Christ may be thought to have preached the same sermon
more than once, for the Sermon on the Mount contains many passages
similar to those uttered by Him on other occasions. The Apostle Paul
imitated his Master's example when he wrote to the Philippians, "To
write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for
you it is safe." We need not hesitate to follow such leaders as these!
As the Truth of God contained in our texts is so often brought before
us in the Scriptures–and is revealed at least four times in almost the
same words–we ought to regard it as of the greatest imaginable
importance, as indeed it is. A mistake upon this subject would be a
mistake concerning life–for we are told, again and again, "The just
shall live by faith"–and a mistake concerning life is a vital mistake
and will be a fatal mistake to those who make it unless it is corrected
and rectified by a power higher than their own. Therefore, we ought to
give most earnest heed to that which lies near to the very heart of
true religion and which is, indeed, its very life. To the Believer,
faith is of the utmost importance. He should endeavor not to lose any
of his Divine Graces–he should seek, by the power of the blessed
Spirit, neither to lose patience, nor hope, nor love, nor any other
Grace or virtue. But still, the root of true religion is faith, so he
must first of all see to that. If we fail in faith, we shall fail
everywhere. I might almost say of faith, with regard to religion, that
it is like the heart, out of which are the issues of life. If faith is
weak, we are weak all over–for service, for suffering, for everything!
But when faith is strong, it imparts strength to all the members of the
spiritual body and the whole spiritual manhood is full of vigor. So, my
Brother, or Sister, see first and foremost to your faith! May God the
Holy Spirit graciously strengthen it and may our consideration of these
four texts tend to the same end!
First, in the great change from condemnation to justification, these
words are true–"The just shall live by faith." And, secondly, using a
very wide term to take in all the rest of our daily life–in reference
to what we have been accustomed to call sanctification–these words are
also true–"The just shall live by faith." It is the same life all the
way through, and the same method of living that life, namely, "by
faith."
I. First, then, IN THE GREAT CHANGE FROM CONDEMNATION TO JUSTIFICATION,
these words are true–"The just shall live by faith."
We all need to be delivered from the condemnation which is our due
because of sin. When a man's conscience is awakened to see the fearful
penalty which he has incurred by his transgressions, he cries out for
someone to rescue him from the death which looms before him as the
result of his condemnation. He begins to seek a way of escape and he
tries all
sorts of ways and runs in them with great perseverance, earnestness and
self-denial–but he makes a mistake as to every way of escape until he
comes to this way–"The just shall live by faith."
This is the famous text which was the means of the emancipation of the
soul of Martin Luther. I have stood at the bottom of the Santa Scala,
or Holy Staircase, at Rome, which is superstitiously believed to be the
very one down which the Savior came from Pilate's Hall. I have never
gone up those stairs because no one may go up them except upon his
knees and I would not do that. But I have walked up and down the steps
by the side of them. There are certain holes cut in the wooden floor
which encases the marble staircase and that wooden floor has been worn
away many times by the pilgrims' knees. There are places cut–where the
priests say that the blood of Jesus fell–in order to enable the poor
votaries of superstition to kiss the spot where the blood drops fell. I
have seen scores of men and women going up that staircase on their
bended knees, for they are told that there are great indulgences to be
obtained by crawling up those stairs! Luther was doing this, for he had
gone to Rome determined to get rid of his sins, if possible, and while
he was in the middle of that slavish toil, seeking to gain everlasting
life by his penances, this text came into his mind–he had read it in
the Bible in the monastery–"The just shall live by faith"–and, to the
astonishment of those who looked on, he rose from his knees, never to
go up the Santa Scala any more in that fashion!
He had discovered that which he was looking for–the true way of
living–and you know that it was not long before he needed to tell
others of the life and peace that he had discovered. An old monk who
knew something about these Truths of God, but who did not want to have
any noise made concerning them, said to him, "Go back to your cell and
live near to God, but do not make a stir." But God did not mean him to
go back to his cell and he began to speak, and very soon the world knew
that a mighty change had been worked, but it all came, instrumentally,
through Luther learning this great Truth of God–"The just shall live
by faith."
If I am addressing any who are trying to procure eternal life by their
own works–if you have mended your ways a good deal, it was time you
did so! If you have obtained a great many virtues to which you were
strangers, before, I am very glad to hear it, for it was your duty to
do so! But, if you are hoping, by any such means, to put away your sin,
oh that some voice more potent than mine, would speak not only to your
ear, but to your heart and say, "The just shall live by faith!" It is
well that you have forsaken the ale-bench. It is right that you have
abstained from profane language. It is good that you are honest. It is
most commendable that you are seeking to be a comfort to your friends
at home and to observe all the laws of domestic and social life! But if
you are seeking, in this way, to obtain eternal life, you will miss the
object of your search. It is not so that you can be made just in the
sight of God, or that you can secure true spiritual life, for, "the
just shall live by faith," that is, by faith in Jesus Christ.
You know "the old, old story," but I will tell it to you once again. To
obtain life, you must believe in that dear Son of God who came to
earth, took our nature, took our sin and was made a curse for us that
we might be no more a curse, and died, "the Just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God." Your faith must be fixed on what He did, not
on what you can do. And on what He suffered, not on what you can suffer
by way of repentance, despondency and distress of soul. You must look
right away from anything there is within or about you, or anything you
can possibly perform or achieve, to the ransom price paid by Christ
upon the Cross of Calvary, for you must live–you can only live–by
faith in Jesus Christ, for, "by the deeds of the Law there shall no
flesh be justified in His sight."
Some, however, place a great deal of reliance in various forms of
religious observances, as Luther himself did until his eyes were opened
by the Holy Spirit. If that is your case, my dear Friend, let me say
that it is well that you should attend the House of God and I am glad
that you do. But if you get the idea that you are to be saved because
you go so many times a week to the assembly of the saints, you are
making a fatal mistake! It is well to search the Scriptures, but if you
imagine that the searching of them will save you–if you think that in
them there is eternal life–you will find that there is something else
to be done before you can get that great blessing, namely, coming to
Christ that you may have eternal life, for you will search the
Scriptures in vain if you regard that exercise as one which merits
salvation! It is well that you have begun to pray, but all the praying
in the world, if it is relied on as a ground of salvation, is like a
sandy foundation for a man to build on. You may weep over your sinful
state–your tears may flow until, like Niobe, you are transformed into
a perpetual fountain–but salvation comes not so. "The just shall live
by faith." All the devotional exercises in which you can possibly
engage in public or in private, with all the so called, "sacraments,"
thrown in, and all the priestly
efficacy of which men dream–even if there were such a thing in
reality–all this could not save you! "The just shall live by faith."
This is the only way of living that God has ordained for sinners dead
in trespasses and sins.
There is a notion more common, perhaps, than either of these two–of
salvation by works or ceremonies–and that is the idea of a certain
amount of terror of conscience, which is often confused with true
conviction of sin. According to the ideas of some people, this state
must be passed through before you can be saved. You must dream about
dreadful things at night, wake in the morning full of horror and
confusion and go about your business in the utmost conceivable despair!
So some say, and it is true that there are many who come to God in that
way. I do not doubt that there are thousands who reach the Celestial
City by way of the Slough of Despond. No, how can I doubt it, when I
went that way myself? Yet that is not the best way–it is our wandering
and blundering that leads us to go that way, for the just shall not
live by despondency, but by faith! The just shall not find eternal life
through terror and despair, but they shall find it through believing in
the Lord Jesus Christ! The Prophets of Baal were under a gross delusion
when "they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with
knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them"–but they are
equally deluded who think that by lacerating their conscience and by
endeavoring to make themselves miserable, they shall, thereby, obtain
the favor of God! That is not true! You may even be put into the mortar
of conviction and brayed there with the pestle of the Law until you are
ground to atoms and there is no hope left in you–but that is not the
way of salvation! "Believe and live" is the Gospel precept! "God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "The
just shall live by faith." Do not, therefore, try and set up another
mode of salvation, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is
laid, which is Jesus Christ." And salvation comes by building upon that
foundation, resting and relying only upon Him.
There are, no doubt, others who are looking in various directions for
salvation, but we may say to them all that it is of no use which way
they look–this way or that, up, down, to the right, or to the
left–until they look by faith to Jesus Christ. But, oh, what life
comes streaming into the soul as soon as the eye is fixed upon Jesus!
In the case of some of us, the thrill that went through our heart, when
we looked to Jesus, was like a little Heaven! It seemed to us as if we
were suddenly brought into a new world. To me, believing in Jesus
brought such a change in me, at once, that I can only compare it to the
experience of a blind man, who, having never seen a ray of light,
should be suddenly taken out in the night, set under the sky studded
with stars–and then should have an instantaneous operation performed
upon his eyes so that in a moment he could see clearly! Oh, how
ravished he would be, how astonished, how delighted! How every little
star would seem to twinkle for him! How every beam of light would seem
to make him glad! He would clap his hands, he would leap for joy in the
new sense of sight and the newly discovered pleasure which it had
brought into his life! This is the kind of bliss that comes through
believing in Jesus. It is like the discovery of buried treasure–there
comes such a flood of delight upon the soul as must be experienced to
be understood, for it cannot be described! It does not come to all so
suddenly, for some eyes are opened gradually–first they see men, as
trees, walking and, by-and-by, they see more fully. But, however it is
manifested, the change that faith works in the soul is truly marvelous.
Beloved, he that believes in Jesus is "justified from all things from
which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses."
He relies upon a perfect Atonement that puts away the whole sin of the
man's earthly existence and he rejoices with unspeakable joy and full
of glory. Man, you will die–the sentence already passed upon you will
be executed before long unless you believe in Jesus, for, "he that
believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only-begotten Son of God." But, Man, if you believe in
Jesus, you can never be executed for your sin! For you, there is no
Hell! For you, there is no undying worm, no Tophet, no Gehenna–there
cannot be any of these things, for you now have no sin. "Your sins,
which are many, are all forgiven you." "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." "Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have
access by faith into this Grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God." Faith brings life, liberty, love and everlasting
joy into the heart–nothing else will do this!
This then, is the first sense of the expression, "The just shall live
by faith," and many of us have realized it and bless God that we have.
I wish that all in this place did not only know about faith, but really
had faith. Oh, that some might have it now and that, before this
congregation shall break up, each of them might be able to say, "I
believe in Jesus. I repose myself upon Him. Sink or swim, I fall into
His arms. Come what may, Christ shall be to me, from this time for-
ward, all my salvation and all my desire!" O blessed Spirit, work this
faith in every heart here present, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
II. Now comes the second part of the subject, namely, that THE WHOLE
LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN, AFTER HE IS MADE TO LIVE, IS STILL BY FAITH.
Note, first, that the Believer, after his conversion, lives in no other
way but by faith. No Christian remains a Christian except by still
believing. Where we began, there we continue–we looked unto Jesus at
the first and we are still looking unto Jesus. We came to Him at the
first, and we are still coming unto Him "as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious." We know of
no future ground of hope that can be any stronger or better than this,
no, we know of no other than believing in Jesus Christ! I beg you,
Beloved Christian people, try to avoid all attempts to live in any
other way.
There are some professing Christians who live upon their devotions.
Now, no Christian can live without prayer– without praise–without
feeding upon the Word of God. Nobody ought to attempt to do that, but
if any man should begin to say, "Now I can do without faith in Jesus
because I read so many chapters each morning, and I spend so much time
in prayer and I also attend so many public services." Ah, my Brother,
you have wandered out of the right track, for you are not living by
faith! If you pray in faith, praise in faith and read the Word of God
in faith, then all these things shall become helpful to your spiritual
life–but if faith is left out, all these things shall be but as mere
husks which contain no wheat in them whatever! I fear that there are
some professors of religion who feel perfectly satisfied if they have
gone through the regular routine of the day. I admire habits of
devotion–they should be maintained–but if the mere habit is mistaken
for living power and if it takes the place of coming continually to
Jesus by living personal faith, you will soon find yourselves in a very
strange case. "The just shall live by faith" and not by these things
apart from faith. Faith puts power into them, but they have no living
force apart from faith.
There are some other Christians who try to live by their works. They
are Believers in Jesus, but they have got into such a state of heart
that they are happy, restful and comfortable only when they can have a
certain amount of activity in the service of God. But if, through
illness, or any other cause, they are hindered from active service,
they are full of doubts and begin to think that they are not
saved–which proves that they were at least somewhat resting upon their
activities. Now by all means, let us be active in the service of our
Savior! Let us be zealous in good works, for to this end were we
called, and this is for the Glory of God. But, Beloved, if I were to
begin to draw comfort as to my soul's salvation from the fact of my
diligence in preaching the Gospel, I would be making a great mistake!
Or if you began to draw comfort from your earnestness in the Sunday
school class, or if you should rest upon your devotion to various
benevolent societies, or upon anything that you do–you would be upon
the wrong track altogether. You would be feeding where God would not
have you feed! Do all you can do, but live by faith. Serve God with all
your might, but never make your service into a prop or pillow of
confidence, for, even when we have done all that we ought to do, we are
still unprofitable servants and we must bring our best works and ask
forgiveness for their imperfections, even as there was a sacrifice
appointed for the sins of Israel's holy things. There is sin, even in
our holy things, so that they might sooner damn us than save us! Let us
put no confidence in them, nor try to live by them as some do.
There are other Christians who live by feeling. Indeed, I have heard
some advocate that we ought to live by feeling. Now, a true Christian
cannot be without feeling. God forbid that he should! Feelings of
sorrow, feelings of joy, feelings of spiritual depression and feelings
of holy elation–these are all necessary in their time and place–but
to live by feeling and to gauge our security by our state of feeling
would be truly dreadful work because our feelings are more fickle than
the weather! It is fine just now, but in another half-hour, it may
rain. In such a variable climate as ours, we can never reckon for long
upon any sort of weather. And as to our hearts and our feelings, so
dependent upon our bodily health, or upon the kindness or the
unkindness of our friends–so dependent upon a thousand little things
almost too minute to be observed–if we begin estimating our safety by
our ups and downs, we shall feel lost and then feel saved a hundred
times a day! That plan will not do. "The just shall live by faith." I
like to believe in Jesus when I have the worst feelings, just as firmly
as when I have the best of them–and to trust in God just the same when
my full assurance in Him brims with delight as I did when my soul was
emptied by sorrow. Do you think I put that sentence the wrong way? I
did not, for it is easier, I believe, to trust Christ in the depths of
sorrow than it is when you are high up in your stirrups and feel
yourself
to be somebody–for then, almost insensibly–you get away from the sole
foundation of your standing by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are some, too, who live very much, even in religious matters,
upon their outward circumstances. There are some who, if they become
poor, almost give up all profession of religion. They say that they
have not proper clothes in which to come to God's House and that they
do not like to be seen by people who knew them when they were in better
circumstances. And so that religion depends upon how many shillings a
week they can earn! That is a very poor concern. But, if we have
learned to live by faith, we shall follow the Lord in rags if He gives
us nothing better to wear. And if we have not shoes for your feet, we
shall follow Him all the same. Let us be in whatever condition we may,
we shall never be worse off than He was! So, come poverty, or come
wealth. Come the lowest possible ebb of outward fortunes or the
highest, yet, still, if we live by faith, we shall keep close to the
heels of the Crucified. God grant us Grace to live above our outward
circumstances! Remember that Inspired message, "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
Thus, you see that the Christian lives in no other manner than by
faith.
And, Beloved Friend, he lives in all forms of his life by faith. I can
only speak, for a minute or two, upon this thought. In one form of his
life, the Christian is a child at home with his Father. Well, as a
child, he lives by faith, for "as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
Our sonship and adoption remain to us matters of faith and we
continually look up to God our Father by faith. As His children, we
receive teaching, supplies, food, clothing and everything–and we
receive all by faith. To the child of God, faith is the hand that takes
everything from God. I am His child, and I know that He will supply my
every need, but faith prompts me to tell Him my needs–yes, makes me
feel that He knows what I need before I ask Him and so I take from Him
what He freely gives by believing in Him.
The Christian is described in the Word of God, next, as a pilgrim. He
is journeying to "a city that has foundations," but, all the way there,
he goes by faith–he never takes a step heavenward except by faith. An
unbelieving step is not a step towards Heaven. All the progress that is
made by any child of God is due to faith.
The Christian is also described as a warrior and there is no fighting
except by faith and no weapon of defense like the great shield of
faith. No victory is won by doubting! No devil is ever overthrown by
desponding. Mistrust of God never yet put to flight the armies of the
aliens. Unbelief never stopped the mouths of lions, or quenched the
violence of fire, or divided the sea, or conquered the land! Point to
the wonders worked by unbelief if you can. All it can show is ruin and
desolation, for unbelief is powerless except for mischief. The just,
when he fights, must fight by faith, and faith is the victory that
overcomes the world!
The Christian is also continually described in the Word of God as a
servant. Now, all service done for God must be done by faith. One of
the first objectives of our service must be to please God, but "without
faith it is impossible to please Him." O Brothers and Sisters, if we
always go to our work as Christians saying, "I am going to do it by
faith," how differently we would act from what we do now! We sit down
and think of our many infirmities and we say, "We shall never
accomplish that task." But, Sirs, have you forgotten the everlasting
arms and the Omnipotent might of Jehovah? We observe how difficult the
duty is and how strong the opposition, and so we go to work very
mistrustfully, but if, instead thereof, we were to say, "Who are you, O
great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain," we would
be sure to conquer! Service rendered in unbelief is like a vessel
marred on the potter's wheel, but as long as faith can turn it round
upon the wheel and fashion it, it will come to something that the
Master can use. You must believe, for so will you be able to serve!
"Trust in the Lord and do good," but be sure to do the first thing. The
trustingmust come before the doing–and be mingled with all the
doing–or else it will be a very poor piece of doing, indeed!
Well, then, in any capacity in which a Christian is found, he must
always be believing. If you have to go home and go to bed, and lie
there for a month and suffer, go upstairs believing that the Lord will
make your bed in all your sickness. If you have to go back to a
business where everything seems to be going wrong with you, go in faith
and know that He has said, "Bread shall be given you, your waters shall
be sure." Or if you are going, next Sunday, to teach a class in the
Sunday school, or going round with your tracts in a district where you
have to call upon some ugly-minded people, go in faith. Has not the
Lord said, "Certainly I will be with you. I will bless you, and help
you"? Then, go in faith! It will change the whole color and tenor of
your life if you remember that "the just shall live by faith," whatever
form his life takes.
Very rapidly, let me also say to you that this is the way the just are
to live in every case and every condition. The Prophet Habakkuk is the
one who first uttered these words, "The just shall live by his faith."
I wonder whether he fully understood them, himself? It is always
pleasant to see whether a doctor takes his own medicine and whether a
preacher practices his own precepts. I think this is how Habakkuk
understood these words–here is his practical exposition of them, in
the last verses of his prophecy–"Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labor of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut
off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will
rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord
God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He
will make me to walk upon my high places. To the chief singer on my
stringed instruments." Why, it is a hymn, is it not?–the hymn of a man
who saw his bread going, the meat going, the oil going and everything
going, and yet he rejoiced in the Lord! This is what he meant by living
by faith–faith, you see, about fruit–faith about flocks–faith about
cattle–faith about fig trees–faith about everything–yes, a faith
that does without anything–a faith that can take nothing and be
content with it because it finds everything in God–faith under the
worst conceivable conditions! This is how the just are to live.
And as they are to live thus at their worst, so should they live at
their best–still by faith. I was told of a friend who walked with that
blessed man of God, Mr. George Muller of Bristol, and who made the
remark to him that he thought he had a £5,000 balance one year. "Yes,"
said Mr. Muller, "God had been very gracious and we had a large
balance." "And I think," said the friend, "for some years you have
always had a large balance." "Yes," he replied, "we have." "Well,"
asked the other, "do you now, my Brother, trust in God just as simply
as you did when you had to call the children together to pray because
there was no bread to give them for dinner–and God graciously sent you
the dinner just at the right time? Is your faith just as simple? Do you
walk by faith as you did then?" And that good man said, "Yes, my dear
Brother, I live by faith now as I did then, only a great deal more so,
for I find I have more need of faith now to prevent me beginning to
trust in what I have in store." It is just so–if you are getting on in
life, you need more faith to keep you from making a god of what you
have and trusting in it! Instead of less faith in time of prosperity,
you will need even more! There are some people, you know, who lean upon
God because they have no one else to lean upon. They are like that
famous rider of whom Cowper sang, who was–
"Stooping down as needs he must Who cannot sit upright"
That is how it is with the faith of these people, and very good faith
it is, too! But that faith is even nobler that has some apparent means
of sitting upright, that seems to have something to confide in, yet
will not do it because it disdains to have even things visible, of the
best and most powerful kind, to rest upon, but will rest on nothing but
God. Why, you props and buttresses, if I trust you today, I may need
you tomorrow, and where shall I be then? No, as Abraham said to the
king of Sodom, "I will not take from a thread even to a shoe lace, I
will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made
Abraham rich." Often we have to cast aside what is offered to us and
say, "I cannot and will not have it, lest my heart should, at any time,
rely upon those gifts rather than upon my God." You know how the devil
spoke to God concerning Job, "Have You not made a hedge about him, and
about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have
blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the
land. But put forth Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he
will curse You to Your face." That is what the devil said, but it was
not true. Yet, in some cases, there is a danger of it getting to be
true. We are getting on so well and the hedge is all around us. Ah, but
we must not get to love the hedge, or it will be taken from us! If you
love the fields, the gold, the silver and begin to confide in them, you
will lose them.
"The just shall live by faith"–faith as much in the summer weather as
in the winter cold. See to that matter, O you who are the children of
God! "The just shall live by faith" in every condition. When he comes
to die, he shall live by faith. I recollect what a Negro said about his
master who was a Christian. The minister said to the Negro, "Sam, is
your master dying?" "Yes, Sir," he said, "he be dying." "And how is he
dying, Sam?" "Sir," said the Negro, "he be dying full of life." That is
how a Christian should die–"full of life." The life of God is within
him even to the last! Till he gets into Glory, "the just shall live by
faith." Yes, and before he gets there, he shall taste some of the joys
of Heaven, for, living by faith means living in the heavenly! It means
getting to anticipate the Glory that is yet to be revealed. Living by
faith makes us live the life of God and he that lives the life of God
must, in some degree, live the life of Heaven! Oh, to have it
so developed, strengthened and full-grown that, from this time forth,
we may live by faith even to the end! The Lord bless you, for Christ's
sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW22:1-14.
Verses 1-3. And Jesus answered and spoke unto them again by parables,
and said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king, which made
a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that
were bid to the wedding: and they would not come. Observe that it was a
king who made this wedding feast. Therefore, to refuse to come to it
when the command implied great honor to those who were bid, was as
distinct an insult as could very well be perpetrated against both the
king and his son! "They would not come." Had the one who invited them
been only an ordinary person, it might not have been their duty to come
and they might even have been justified in their refusal. But this was
a king who sent his servants to summon the guests to the marriage of
his son. And I bid you to take notice that the Gospel marriage feast,
to which you are invited, is the feast, not only of a king, but of the
King of Kings, your Creator and your God! And in refusing to come in
obedience to His command, you commit an overt act of rebellion against
His Divine Majesty. The king "sent forth his servants to call them that
were bid to the wedding: and they would not come." They were bid, yet
they would not come–from which I gather that those who think the
invitations of the Gospel are to be restricted to certain characters,
because they say it is useless to invite others, "do err, not knowing
the Scriptures." What have we to do with the apparent uselessness of
what we are commanded to do? It is our duty to give the invitation
according as our King directs us! It is not our business to decide
whether that invitation will be accepted or rejected. In this case, we
know what happened–"They would not come."
4. Again he sent forth other servants. Perhaps, in the kindness of his
heart, he thought that the first servants, whom he sent, were somewhat
offensive in their manner and that, therefore, the guests would not
come. Just as it may be that some of you will never receive the Gospel
from one minister, for you have a prejudice against his way of putting
it. So the Lord may, in the greatness of His mercy, send you His Word
by the mouth of another. I am quite sure that any of us who are the
King's servants would be very glad for somebody else to take our place
if he could succeed better with you than we can. This king, in his
wisdom and kindness, "sent forth other servants."
4-6. Saying, Tell them, which are bid, Behold, I have prepared my
dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready:
come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways,
one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his
servants, and treated them spitefully, and slew them. The great
majority of those who heard the invitation, "made light of it." And
this is still the habit of the bulk of mankind, and even of many whom I
am now addressing. Any day will do for you to think about Christ, so
you seem to fancy! He may have your lef-tovers–when it shall come to
the last, you think that you can send for a minister to come and pray
with you and then all will be well. You make light of it–you make
light of present mercy, of immediate reconciliation to God–you make
light of the love and Grace of God and of the precious blood of Jesus.
Take heed what you are doing, for the great King in Heaven regards this
as high treason against Himself! He looks upon it as a presumptuous
attempt to lower His Infinite Majesty in the eyes of men! When a king
has killed his oxen and fatlings for his son's wedding feast and there
is nobody to eat the provision, then is it a dishonor to him–and if it
were possible for the Gospel provisions to be universally rejected, God
would be dishonored. There are some, however, who go further than
merely making light of the invitation–"the remnant" who would, if they
could, maltreat and slay the messengers of mercy and, as they cannot,
nowadays, kill their bodies, they try to slay their reputations! Any
slander which they have heard, or any lie which they have invented,
will do to tell in order to make the minister of Christ of less repute
than he deserves to be.
7-10. But when the king heard thereof he was angry: and he sent forth
his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were
bid were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways and as many as
you shall find, bid come to the marriage. So those servants went out
into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad
and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. This is still the
glorious rule of the Gospel! Those who were first bid to the great
wedding feast were the Jews. They would not come and, therefore,
Jerusalem was destroyed. Now the Gospel is preached to all nations and
all sorts of people in all nations–yet the same sinful rejection of
the invitation is constantly being repeated. You who hear the Gos-
pel from Sunday to Sunday are bid by it to come to the great supper
and, as some of you will not come, God, in His Infinite Mercy, is
sending His Gospel to the poorest and the vilest of mankind. Many of
them do come and thus the Lord provokes you to jealousy by a people who
were not a people–and astonishes you as you find that many come from
the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South and
sit down in the Kingdom of God, while you, who reckoned yourselves to
be the children of the Kingdom because you have long been privileged to
hear the Gospel, shall be cast out! The king's servants "gathered
together as many as they found, both bad and good." The best gathering
into the visible Church is sure to be a mixture–there will be some
coming into it who should not be there.
11. And when the king came in to see the guests. For whom he had
provided sumptuous garments suitable for the wedding–for, as we
provide what is supposed to be appropriate array for mourners at a
funeral, so, in the East, they provide, on a much larger scale,
suitable apparel for wedding guests.
11. He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment He might have
had one, for it was provided. The fact that he had not one was as great
an insult to the king as a refusal of his invitation would have been.
He was not bound to provide himself with a wedding garment–he could
not have done it, for he was probably one of those swept up out of the
highways. But there it hung and he was requested to put it on. But he
refused and he had the impertinence to sit there without the
indispensable wedding garment. If he could not show his contempt for
the king in one way, he would do so in another, and he dared, in the
midst of the wedding feasters, to defy the authority of the king and to
refuse to do honor to the newly-married prince.
12. And he said unto him, Friend, how came you in here not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless. He could give no reply–the
king's presence awed him into silence.
13. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and
take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. You may manage to get into the Church even
though you are not converted, but if you are not trusting in Christ,
you are not saved, and your false profession will only make your
destruction the more terrible! Woe unto us unless we are found wearing
the righteousness of Christ–unless our lives are made holy by the
gracious influence of His blessed Spirit! These are the wedding
garments which we are to wear. If we have them not, our presence at the
festival will not avail us in the great testing time that is coming.
14. For many are called, but few are chosen. All who hear the Gospel
are called, but the call does not come with equal power to every heart.
And with some, the power with which it comes is not that which
saves–it only convinces the intellect so that an outward homage is
paid to the Word of God and the inward obedience of the soul is not
rendered to the Lord. God grant that each of us may have on the wedding
garment when the King comes in to see the guests!