"Nevertheless at Your Word"
(No. 2810)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 21, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
3, 1877.
"Nevertheless at Your word." Luke 5:5.
OUR Lord Jesus Christ had preached a sermon to the multitude while He
was sitting down in Peter's boat. And after the people had gone, He had
a private message for Simon. He said to him, "Launch out into the deep
and let down your nets for a catch." Christ's discourses to the general
public were all full of most blessed teaching, but His little private
talks to His intimate acquaintances were even more helpful and
precious. They were important Truths of God which He proclaimed to the
many, but the choicest things He reserved for the few. Many a parable
which He addressed to the crowd, He explained only to His own
disciples–and many a thing which He never said to the crowd at all,
because they could not understand it, and it would have been like
casting pearls before swine, He whispered in the ears of His disciples.
So it was with Simon Peter at this time. First there was the sermon to
the many and after the sermon, this word to Peter about launching out
into the deep. Mind that you, who love the Lord, always look for the
private piece after the public sermon. Watch for the sweet Word which
your Master is always willing to utter–and do not be satisfied unless
you hear it.
Then, if the message that He gives you shall be a precept, or a
command, like that addressed to Simon, bidding him let down his nets,
be careful that you obey it at once. Be not negligent of the special
voice of God in your own heart and conscience, for God intends thereby
to bestow a great blessing upon you, even as He did upon Simon whose
boat was filled with fish almost to sinking! If you give heed to that
special private word of your Lord to your own heart and soul, you shall
have many a boatful of fish, or rather, many a heart-full of untold
blessing which otherwise you might never have received.
Peter, being exhorted to launch out into the deep and to let down his
nets for a catch, reasoned that, according to the ordinary course of
events, it would be of very little use to do so, for he and his
comrades had been toiling hard with their great nets all through the
night, yet they had caught nothing and it did not, therefore, seem
probable that they would catch anything now. However, feeling that
Christ was his Master and Lord, and that it did not become him to raise
any question about the matter, he just stated the facts of the case and
then added, cheerfully, "Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the
net."
Those four words, "Nevertheless at Your word," seem to furnish me with
a topic upon which I shall try to speak thus–First, the word of Christ
is our supreme rule. "At Your word." Secondly, the word of Christ is
our sufficient warrant. If we have that at our back, we may well say,
"Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And, thirdly, to
keep that word will always ensure a reward.
I. First, then, THE WORD OF CHRIST IS THE SUPREME RULE OF THE
CHRISTIAN. Time out of mind have we spoken to you about the precious
blood of Christ that cleanses all sin and about the blessings that
Jesus brings to you when He becomes your Savior. But we are also bound
to remind all of you who profess to have believed on Him, and to have
become His disciples, that you must not only acknowledge Him as your
Master and Lord, but that you must do whatever He bids you–
"Faith must obey the Savior's will,
As well as trust His Grace."
The moment we become Christians, who are saved by Christ, we become His
servants to obey all His commandments. Hence, it is incumbent upon us
to search the Scriptures, that we may know what our Master's will is.
There He has written it out for us in plain letters and it is an act of
disobedience to neglect this search. By refusing to learn what the will
of our Lord is, the sin of ignorance becomes willfulbecause we do not
use the means by which we might receive instruction. Every servant of
Christ is bound to know what he or she is to do and then, when he knows
it, he should at once do it. The Christian's business is, first, to
learn Christ's will and, secondly, to do it! Once learned, that will is
the supreme law of the Christian whatever may seem to oppose it.
Let me just mention a few of the times when it seems difficult to
conform to that will, but when we must say, "Nevertheless at Your
word."
And, first, we must do this with regard to great Gospel Truths when our
own reason is staggered. No thoughtful person can seriously consider
the Doctrines of Grace without often crying out, "They are high! I
cannot attain to them." There are many things revealed to us in the
Scriptures which we cannot understand–no, not even though we give all
our mind to endeavor to comprehend them. There are difficulties in
theology. This doctrine does not appear to square with that, or that
one with the next. One Truth, perhaps, appears inconsistent with the
love of God, or we may, sometimes, wonder how certain events in God's
Providential dealings can be consistent with His goodness or justice.
Well, my Brothers and Sisters, whenever you put your hand to your brow
and say, concerning anything revealed in the Scriptures, "I cannot
comprehend it," lay your other hand upon your heart and say,
"Nevertheless I believe it. It is clearly taught in the Bible and
although my reason may find it difficult to explain it, and I may not
be able to discover any arguments to prove the truth of it, yet I lay
my reason down at my Infallible Master's feet and trust where I cannot
see." For a man to take his creed blindly from a pope or a priest is to
degrade himself because he receives that teaching from his fellow
man–but for him to lay his whole mind down at the feet of Jesus Christ
is no degradation since Christ is the Wisdom of God, and all wisdom is
Infallibly gathered up in Him. I do not expect to fully understand my
Lord's will–I only ask to be informed what that will is. I do not
suppose that I can comprehend it, but I say, "What is Your will, my
Master? If You will reveal it to me, I will believe it."
We must adopt a similar course when we are exposed to the quibbles of
our fellow men. Many young persons, especially, find themselves unable
to answer all the objections that are raised by those who oppose the
Gospel. It would be a marvel if they could, for the old proverb says,
"One fool can ask more questions than 50 wise men can answer." It is
not likely that those who are just beginning to learn Divine Truths
could be able to overcome all its opponents. When a question has
sometimes staggered me, I have felt, "Well, I cannot answer that, but I
believe that it can be answered. I thank God that I have heard it
asked, for it has taught me my ignorance upon that point–and I will
sit down and study God's Word till I can answer it–but even if I
cannot answer it, it does not matter. Somebody can do so and, above
all, God Himself can! Be it mine, sometimes, to leave the arrows of the
adversary sticking in my shield–they will do no harm there. If he
likes to see them there, let him be amused by it, but as long as I
cling to Christ's Infallible teaching, they will not hurt me. So let
him shoot and shoot again." You will find, Beloved, that this will be
good exercise for your humility and good exercise for your loyalty to
Christ. It will be shown that you are, after all, a follower of
Christ–not a believer in your own infallibility, or relying upon that
reason of yours which, at best, is but a dim candle. It will be shown,
I say–that you have really yielded up your mind to the lordship of
your Savior.
Sometimes we shall have to say, "Nevertheless at Your word," when the
command of Christ seems contrary to our own experience. It would become
a dangerous thing if we were always to follow the experience even of
Christians, for the experience of one man might teach us one thing, but
the experience of another might teach us the very reverse. And to make
experience the basis of theology–though it is often a helpful
illustration of it, would lead to great mistake. I must never say, "I
did such-and-such a thing–I know it was not right, yet good came of it
and, therefore, I feel that I may do the same thing again." Neither
ought I to say, "I did such-and-such, which I knew was right, but I
suffered great trouble as the result of it and, therefore, I ought not
to do it again." No, no! Whatever happens to us, our only course is to
pursue the right path and to avoid all that is wrong. Let each of us
say, "My Master, if any act of obedience to You were to cost me many a
privilege–cost me my liberty–cause me to be put into prison" (and it
has done so to many of the saints of old) "yet I will do as You command
me, whatever the consequences may be."
What said Master John Bunyan, after he had lain in prison many years
simply for preaching the Gospel? The magistrates said to him, "John, we
will let you out, but you must promise not to preach again. There are
the regular divines of the country–what have you, as a tinker, to do
with preaching?" John Bunyan did not say, "Well, now, I can see that
this preaching is a bad thing. It has got me into prison and I have had
hard work to tag enough laces to keep my wife and that poor blind child
of mine. I had better get out of this place and stick to my tinkering."
No, he did not talk like that. He said to the magistrates, "If you let
me out of prison today, I will preach again tomorrow, by the Grace of
God." And when they told him that they would not let him out unless he
promised not to preach, he bravely answered, "If I lie in jail till the
moss grows on my eyelids, I will never conceal the Truth which God has
taught me."
We are, therefore, not to put our own past experience in the way of
obedience to our Lord's will, but to say to Him, "Nevertheless, however
costly this duty may prove to be, at Your command I will let down the
net, or do whatever You bid me do." But, sometimes, people get
remarkably wise through experience, or they think that they do. Old
sailors, for instance, fancy that they "know a thing or two." And Simon
Peter, who had been fishing in that lake for a long while, thought he
knew all that could be known about fishing. And Christ interfered with
Peter just in Peter's own line and gave him a command about fishing!
The fisherman might have said, "What is the good of casting the net? We
have been fishing all night long and have taken nothing! What is the
good of our fishing anymore?" Peter did not talk so, though he may have
thought like that, but he said, "Nevertheless at Your word, since You
know far more about fish than I do– since You did make them and can
make them come wherever You will. Since, Lord, You command it–I would
not do it at anybody else's bidding, but I will do it at Yours–I will
let down the net." So, sometimes, there may be something in God's Word,
or some path of duty clearly indicated to you which does not seem, to
carnal judgment, to be very wise, but you are to say, "Nevertheless at
Your word–no other authority could make me do it–but Your Law is the
supreme rule for my conduct and I will do whatever You bid me."
This great principle ought also to prevail when self-love is in the
way. Sometimes the command of Christ runs completely contrary to what
we would like and obedience to it involves self-denial. It threatens to
take away from us much that was very pleasurable to us and then, very
likely, something within us says, "Do not obey it. It will go very hard
with you if you do." Nevertheless, Brothers and Sisters, may the Holy
Spirit so mightily work upon you that you will do anything and
everything that Christ commands, however galling to the flesh it may
be! We are not our own, so let us never act as if we were. The mark of
the precious blood of Jesus is upon us–we have been bought with it–so
it is not right for us to make provision for the flesh, or to be
looking out for our own ease or aggrandizement. It is our duty to do
whatever our Lord bids us do and to take the consequences, whatever
they may be. So let us, each one, say, "I know that it will cost me
much, my Master, but, nevertheless, I will do whatever You command me."
Sometimes, there is a still more powerful opposition to the will of the
Lord–that is, when love of others would hinder us from obeying it. "If
I do such-and-such, which I know I ought to do, I shall grieve my
parents. If I carry out that command of Christ, the dearest friend I
have will be very angry with me. He has threatened to cast me off if I
am baptized. My old companions, who have been very kind to me, will all
consider that I have gone out of my mind and will no longer wish to
have me in their company." If a person has a genial heart and a loving
spirit, this kind of treatment is very trying and there is a strong
temptation to say, "Well, now, how far can I go in religion and yet
manage to save these fond connections? I do not wish to set myself up
in opposition to everybody else–can't I, somehow or other, please God
and yet please these people too?" But, Brothers and Sisters, if we are
indeed Christians, the supreme rule of our Lord's will drives us to say
to Him, "Nevertheless, I will do whatever You command." Farewell, our
best-beloved, if they stand in the way of Christ our Lord, for He said,
"He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and
he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."
Everyone else and everything else must go that we may keep company with
Christ!
It sometimes happens that we have God's Word pointing us to a certain
course of action, but we do not follow it because of the faintness of
our own heart. Do you ever feel faint-hearted? There are some people
who seem as if they were born without nerves, or feelings, for they
never appear to be downcast. But some of us, at times, shrink away and
seem to be dried up, as if the marrow were gone from our bones and the
strength from our hearts. At such a time as that we know what Christ
would have us do, but we hesitate to do it. We feel as if we could
not–not that we wouldnot, but that we really could not. There is a
lack of courage–a lack of confidence. We are timid and cannot dash
into the fray. Then is
the time–when heart and flesh fail–for us to take God to be the
strength of our soul by resolving, let our weakness be what it may,
that we will obey the command of Christ! When your heart is faint, dear
Brother or Sister, still follow Christ. When you feel as if you must
die at your next step, still keep close at His heels and if your soul
is almost in despair, yet hold on to Him and keep your feet in His
ways. If anyone who fears the Lord still walks in darkness and has no
Light of God, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his
God, for so shall His Light break forth as the morning and his heart
shall be once more glad in the Lord.
So you see, whatever obstacle there may be in the way of our obedience
to the command of Christ, still let each one of us say to Him,
"Nevertheless at Your word, I will do whatever You command. That shall
be the supreme rule and guide for all my actions."
II. Now, secondly, I want to show you that THE WORD OF CHRIST IS OUR
SUFFICIENT WARRANT, as well
as our supreme rule.
This is, first, our warrant for believing on Him. If the Lord Jesus
Christ has bid you do this, you certainly may do it! And if any shall
ask you why you believe on Him, this shall be your triumphant answer,
"The King gave me the command to do so." Listen to this, all you who
desire to have eternal life and who have not yet obtained it! The
Gospel commission is, "Go you therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit." And this is the Gospel command, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." The poor timid soul says, "How
can I venture to trust my guilty soul with Christ? It would be
presumption upon my part. What right have I to come and rely upon Him?"
It must be right for you to do it, for He bids you do it! And if He
bids you do it, this is warrant enough for you! Every sinner under
Heaven who hears the glad tidings of salvation is commandedto believe
on Jesus–and he is warned that if he does not believe on Him–he shall
be damned! "God now commands all men everywhere to repent." This is the
very widest form of command, so I bid each one of you to say, this very
moment, "Lord, I am not worthy to be Your disciple, but, nevertheless,
at Your command, I will believe in You. I feel that it will be a wonder
of Grace if I am saved and it is almost incredible that it should ever
take place–nevertheless, at Your command, I let down my net. I even
dare to trust Your precious blood and Your spotless righteousness and
to expect that You will save me." Is not that a blessed form of
argument? I pray that some of you may feel its force and act upon it
even now!
Next, this is an excellent reason for being baptized if you are a
Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody may say to you, "What is
the good of Baptism? It will not save you–to be immersed in water will
not wash away your sins." I hope you will be ready to reply, "Yes, I
know all that. Nevertheless, at Christ's command, I mean to do it. I
ask not what will be the gain to me of obeying His orders. That would
be sheer selfishness–He bids me be baptized and that is enough for
me." "But such-and-such a church does not practice the Baptism of
Believers, or Baptism by immersion." No, but Christ has ordained it! By
His own example, by His plain precept, by the preaching and practice of
His Apostles, He has revealed His will to us and, therefore, it is for
us to obey that will! If any shall accuse us of making too much of the
Baptism of Believers, we reply, "Our Lord has said, 'He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved,' and we have no more right to leave out
one portion of His words than the other. So, at His command we do
this–let men say what they will."
This, Beloved, is also the great argument for our taking up the
position which we hold as Dissenters. Is it not a bad thing to dissent
from other people! Yes, of course it is, if they are right and we are
wrong, but it is just as bad for them to dissent from us if we are
right and they are wrong! I am not to say, "I will be singular and keep
myself separate from other people." It would be wrong for me to act
like that. But it is right to say, "Whatever Christ commands is Law in
His Church." What synods command, or bishops command, or popes command
is not worth the paper it is written on– there is no authority in it
to a Christian. He is free from all such control as that. But the Law
of Christ, as he finds it revealed in the Bible, is binding upon him. I
should honor any man who stood absolutely alone, without another
individual to support him in his opinion, for having the courage to do
so, if he justified his action by the Word of God! To run with the
multitude is only too often to go on the wrong road. To believe a thing
because the many believe it is a coward's reason! To slink away from
truth because she stands in the pillory–because she is
unpopular–because the crowd cries her down–oh, this is a cowardly
spirit! I would rather be on the side of truth with half a dozen
paupers than be on the side of a lie with all the kings and prelates
who ever rode in their pomp through the streets of this world, for, at
the last, they who were on truth's side, and on Christ's side, shall be
honored and they who had not the conscience and the courage to follow
the Lamb shall be dishonored and covered with everlasting shame and
contempt!
This principle can also be applied to many other matters. "Nevertheless
at your word" ought to be an argument for keeping on praying. If you
have been asking, for seven years, for the salvation of a soul, and yet
that soul is not saved, you may be tempted to say, with Peter, "We have
toiled all night and taken nothing." But if you do, mind that you also
add, "Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." Still pray
on! If you have begun to pray for any man, keep on praying for him as
long as you live and he lives! Or if it is some choice blessing for the
Church or for the world, which God has evidently promised and it is
laid on your heart to ask for it, still intercede even though for years
you should receive no answer to your petition. Still knock at mercy's
door! Wrestle till the break of day, for, if in the night the blessing
comes not, before the morning sun has risen, the Lord will give you the
desire of your heart.
So, too, is it with regard to Christian service. I will suppose that
you have begun to labor for Christ and that you feel very stupid at it.
You have not much talent and what little you have, you hardly know how
to put it to the best use. Well, Brother, Sister, it looks as if you
had better not try again, yet I would advise you to say to your Lord,
"Nevertheless at Your word I will go to work, again. I will try once
more–no, I will try many times more." Suppose you have been working in
a certain district, or class, and you have not succeeded–do not yield!
Many a hard piece of soil has, after many efforts, at last brought
forth a harvest! If Jesus bade you sow there–and He did, for He told
you to sow beside all waters–go, and say, "Nevertheless at Your word I
will do what You command." When I come to address this congregation, I
like to feel that I come because I am told to do so. One of you may
say, "If I go to that dark village and stand up on the green to preach,
I expect I shall be mobbed. Nevertheless at Your word I will do it." It
is a blessed thing to render obedience to Christ under the most
difficult circumstances. To obey Him when it is pleasant to do so–when
all that you do prospers–is good as far as it goes, but to obey Him
when everything seems against you and nothing appears to prosper–to
trust the Lord and still to work on for Him–this is, indeed, making
Jesus Christ to be your Lord!
III. I must not dwell longer on this part of my theme lest I weary you.
So I will conclude with the last point, which is this, TO KEEP YOUR
MASTER'S WORD WILL ENSURE A REWARD TO YOU.
You who believe in Jesus are already saved, so you will understand that
I speak not of any legal reward, as of debt, for this is all of Grace.
But the man who carefully and faithfully does everything according to
Christ's word shall have, first of all, the reward of an easy
conscience. Suppose you go home, one night, and say to yourself, "Today
I have done something that I thought to be right, but I did not stop to
enquire if it was according to my Master's will. I did not wait upon
Him in prayer for guidance." You will feel very uneasy and
uncomfortable in your conscience and if any trouble shall arise through
it, you will have to say, "I brought this on myself, for I took my own
course." But if you can say, at nightfall, "What I have done today will
probably be much discussed and possibly it will be censured by some.
And it may even be that it will cost me much pain and even financial
loss–but I know that, as far as I could judge, it was my Master's
will." You will sleep very sweetly after that. "Whatever comes of it,"
you will say, "I will take it from my Savior's pierced hands and reckon
it to be part of the sacrifice that is necessary in being a Christian."
It is better to be a loser in that way than to be a gainer in any
other, for, as the old Divine used to say, "He that can wear the flower
called heart's ease in his bosom is better off than he that wears
diamonds in his crown, but who has not true ease of heart." If a man
goes up and down in his daily business in the world and in his
family–and is always able, by God's Grace, to feel, "I have labored as
in the sight of God to do that which is right according to the teaching
and example of my Lord and Sa-vior"–he has a reward in his own heart
from that very fact even if he had no other.
But, next, there is a great reward in being enabled to obey the
Master's word, because rightly looked at, it isin itself a blessing of
Divine Grace. When you thank God for the good things He has done for
you, thank Him not only for keeping you out of sin, but also thank Him
for enabling you to do His will. No man has any right to take credit to
himself for his own integrity, for, if he is a Christian, that
integrity is the gift of God's Grace and the work of God's Spirit
within him. If you did, in your youth, form a candid, honest judgment
of the Word of God and then, burning all bridges and boats, and
severing all connection with that which was behind you–if you dared to
cast in your lot with the despised people of God, bless Him for it and
count it as a great favor which He did for you in that He enabled you
to act thus! And if, when tempted with heavy bribes, you have, up to
now been able to say, "Get you behind me, Satan," and to follow close
to the heels of Christ, give God all the glory of it and bless His holy
name! In such a case as this, virtue is its own reward.
To have been obedient to Christ is one of the highest blessings that
God can have bestowed upon any man. There are some of us who have to
thank God that when there were pinching times, we did not dare to
yield–but when friends and enemies, alike, pointed out another way, we
saw what was our Master's way and followed it, by His Grace. We shall
have to thank Him to all eternity for this. Once begin to parley with
the foe–to stifle your conscience or hide your principles–young man,
once begin to follow trickery in trade–once begin to dally with the
wrong and you will soon find that you are sowing thorns that will
pierce through your pillow when you grow old! Be just, and fear not.
Follow Christ though the skies should fall and, in doing this, you will
be rewarded, for it is a blessing in itself!
But, more than this, no man fully does his Master's will without
getting a distinct reward. Simon Peter's boatful of fish was his reward
for launching out at Christ's word. And in keeping His commandments
there is always a great reward. There is usefulness to others, there is
happiness to yourself and there is glory to God. I sometimes fear that
we ministers do not preach enough about practical godliness. We tell
you about justification by faith and the Doctrines of Grace–and we
cannot too frequently discourse upon such topics as these–but we must
also insist upon it that where there is faithin Christ, there will be
obedienceto Christ! And we cannot too often insist upon it that while
the everlasting salvation of the Christian does not depend upon what he
does, yet his own comfort, his own usefulness and the glory which he
will bring to God must depend upon that. Therefore, look you well to
it, Beloved, young and old, rich and poor–and henceforth, as long as
you live–take the Word of God to be the polestar to you in all your
sailings across the ocean of life and you shall have a blessed voyage,
and reach the Port of Peace, not with torn sails and broken cordage, a
dismasted wreck, but, "an entrance shall be abundantly ministered to
you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
May God add His blessing, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 10:19-39.
Verses 19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the Holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new andliving way, which He has consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; andhaving an High
Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water The place of the
Christian is that of the nearest conceivable access to God, for "the
Holiest" is "the Holy of Holies"–that innermost part of the tabernacle
to reach which the high priest had to pass through the outer court,
through the court of the priests and then through the beautiful veil
which concealed the Mercy Seat. At the death of Christ that veil was
torn from top to bottom, so now there is nothing to keep us back from
the Mercy Seat! We, therefore, have boldness and liberty in that way,
"to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus"–where the high priest,
himself, could only go once in the year–we may go at all times! The
veil has not been merely lifted up, for a while, and then dropped
again. It is not rolled up ready for future use–it is torn in
two–destroyed! Since Jesus has died, there is now no separation
between the Believer and his God except by means of such a veil as our
base unbelief may please to hang up. The crimson way of Christ's shed
blood lies open to all Believers! Therefore, "let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,"
23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Not
only hold it, but hold it fast without wavering. Let us never have a
question about it! God grant that we may have an unquestioning,
unstaggering faith! To hold fast the profession of our faith seems good
enough–but to hold it fast without wavering is better–and so we ought
to do it.
23. (For He is faithful that promised). God gives us no cause for
wavering, for He never wavers. If He were an unfaithful God, we might
naturally be an unbelieving people, but, "He is faithful that
promised." Therefore, "let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering."
24. And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. I
am afraid there are some who consider one another to stir up in quite a
different spirit from this–who watch to discover a tender spot where a
wound will be most felt. They observe the weakness of a Brother's
constitution and then play upon it, or make jests about it. All this is
evil,
so let us avoid it. Let us all seek out the good points of our Brothers
and Sisters and consider them, that we may afterwards be the means of
guiding them to those peculiar good works for which they are best
adapted. "Stir up love and good works." I do not know how we can do
that better than by being very loving and full of good works,
ourselves, for then will others be likely to say, "If these people are
helped by God's Grace to love like this, and to labor like this, why
should we not do the same?" A good example is often better than a very
proper precept.
25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
manner of some. Yes, there are some who even make a bad use of what
ought to be a great blessing, namely, the printing press and the
printed sermon, by staying at home to read a sermon because, they say,
it is better than going out to hear one! Well, dear Friend, if I could
not hear profitably, I would still make one of the assembly gathered
together for the worship of God. It is a bad example for a professing
Christian to absent himself from the assembly of the friends of Christ.
There was a dear Sister, whom many of you knew, who used to attend here
with great regularity–although she could not hear a word that was
said. But she said it did her good to join in the hymns and to know
that she was worshipping God with the rest of His people. I wish that
some who stay away for the most frivolous excuses would think of this
verse–"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
manner of some."
25. But exhorting one another and so much the more, as you see the Day
approaching. It is not the work only of the minister to exhort, but the
Brothers, and the Sisters, too, should exhort one another and seek to
stir each other up in the faith and fear of God.
26, 27. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries. This is a solemn text, containing a very
terrible Truth of God. If, after having been regenerated and made
children of God, we were willfully and deliberately to let the Savior
go and apostatize altogether to the world, there would be no hope for
us. What, then, isour hope? Why, that we shall never be permitted to do
so–that the Grace of God will keep us so that, although we may fall
like Peter, we shall not fall away like Judas–that, though we may sin,
there shall not be that degree of studied willfulness about it that
would make it to be the sin unto death–a deliberate act of spiritual
suicide. The Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints derives
great glory from this other Truth of God that if they did not
persevere, there is no second means of Grace, no other plan of
salvation. No man was ever born again twice! No man was ever washed
twice in the precious blood of Jesus! The one washing makes us so clean
that, "he that is washed needs not save to wash his feet," for which
Jesus provides by daily cleansing–but the one grand atoning act never
fails. If it did fail, there would remain "no more sacrifice for sins."
28, 29. He that despised Moses' Law died without mercy under two or
three witnesses: ofhow much sorerpunish-ment, suppose you, shall he be
thought worthy who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has
counted the blood of the Covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of Grace. For
apostasy from Christ would amount to all this–and if that were
possible, what Grace would remain?
30. For we knnowHim that has said, Vengeance belongs unto Me, I wiil
recompense, says the Lord. Andagain, The Lord shall judge His people. O
professors, take this message home to your hearts! Let every one of us
take it home– "The Lord shall judge His people." God's fire is in Zion
and His furnace in Jerusalem! If a man tries nothing else, he will test
his gold. And if no others shall be judged, yet certainly those will be
who say that they are the Lord's people! In that dread Day He will
separate the goats from the sheep, the tares from the wheat, and the
dross from the gold! His fan will be in His hand and He will thoroughly
purge His floor! He will sit as a refiner of silver and He will purify
the sons of Le-vi. He shall be like a refiner's fire and like fuller's
soap. Woe to those, in that Day, who are a defilement to His Church and
an adulteration to the purity of His people!
31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
What a terrible verse that is! It is a text that ought to be preached
from by those who are always saying that the punishment of the wicked
will be less than, according to our minds, the Word of God leads us to
expect it to be–"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God."
32. But call to remembrance the former days. The Apostle is not
expecting that any of them will ever go back to where they were before.
He is persuaded that they will persevere even to the end. The very
warning that he gives is a powerful preventive against apostasy. Now
comes the exhortation–"Call to remembrance the former days." Some of
you can "call to remembrance" the time when you joined the Church–when
you had to run the gauntlet for Christ's sake.
Then, in your early Christian life, you feared nothing and nobody so
long as you could glorify God. You then had great enjoyment, sweet
seasons of communion with your Lord–"Call to remembrance the former
days."
32, 33. In which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight
of afflictions; partly, while you were made a gazing stock both by
reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while you became companions of
them that were so used. In your early Christian days, you were pointed
at and regarded as quite singular for being servants of Christ. Or,
possibly, it was not yourselves so much as your pastors, your leaders,
your friends who were prominent in the Church at whom the arrows of the
adversaries were aimed. They shot at you through them and, sometimes,
that pained you much more than when they distinctly attacked you.
Altogether, it was "a great fight of afflictions" that you had to
endure.
34. For you had compassion on me in my chains. In those early days the
Jewish Believers clung to Paul just as ardently as the unbelieving Jews
persecuted him!
34, 35. And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in
yourselves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence which has great recompense of
reward. Be like the brave Spartan who would never lose his shield, but
would come home either with it or on it! "Cast not away your
confidence." You trusted in God in those early days and nothing seemed
to daunt you, then. "Cast not away your confidence." Rather, get more
to add to it! Let there be no thought of going back, but may there
rather be a distinct advance!
36. For you have need of patience. Our supply of that virtue is often
very short. It is an article of which there is very little in the
market and all of us have need of more of it–"You have need of
patience."
36. That, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the
promise. There must first be the doing of the will of God–and then the
reward will come afterwards. God will not give to His people their full
reward yet. Patience, then, Brother! Patience, Sister! Saturday night
will come one of these days–your week's work will then be over and you
will be more than repaid for anything you have done for your Lord!
37, 38. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and
will not tarry. Now thejust shall live by faith: but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. The drawers back–the mere
professors–those who say they have been illuminated and who have
tasted, in a measure, the sweetness of religion, yet who never received
Christ in their inmost heart–these are the people in whom God has no
pleasure!
39. But we. What a consoling end this is to the chapter! It ought to
comfort every Believer in Christ who has been distressed by the earlier
verses! "But we"–
39. Are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul May that be true of all of us, for
our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.