Confirming the Witness of Christ
(No. 2875)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.
"Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." 1 Corinthians
1:6.
IT is not always the most gifted church which is in the most healthy
state. A church may have many rich, influential, or learned
members–many that have the gift of utterance and understand all
sciences–yet that church may be in an unhealthy condition. Such was
the case with the church at Corinth. Paul, in the opening of his
Epistle, tells them that he thanks God always on their behalf for the
Grace of God given unto them by Christ Jesus, that in everything they
were enriched in all utterance and in all knowledge, so that they were
behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Corinthians were what we would call, nowadays, judging them by the
usual standard, a first-class church. They had many who understood much
of the learning of the Greeks. They were men of classic taste and men
of good understanding, men of profound knowledge and yet, in spiritual
health, that church was one of the worst in all Greece and, perhaps, in
the world! Among the whole of them, you could not find another church
sunk so low as this one, although it was the most gifted.
What should this teach us? Should it not show us that gifts are nothing
unless they are laid on the altar of God? That it is nothing to have
the gift of oratory? That it is nothing to have the power of eloquence?
That it is nothing to have learning, that it is nothing to have
influence unless they all be dedicated to God and consecrated to His
service? I said, "it is nothing"–I mean, it is nothing good. Alas, it
is worse than nothing good–it is something evil, it is something
dreadful, it is something terrible for a man to have these gifts and
yet to misuse them, for they shall only furnish fuel for a fiercer
flame than he would have endured had he not possessed such abilities!
He who buries his ten talents may well expect to be given over to the
tormentor.
This is the next lesson that is taught us–let us never judge men by
their talents–but by the use which they make of their powers, by the
end to which they devote their talents, by the interest which they
bring to those pounds which their Master has entrusted to them. Paul,
in the commencement of his Epistle, very gently hints at the right use
of gifts and talents. And he tells us that they are sent to us that we
may "confirm the testimony of Christ." If we do not use them for this
purpose, we misuse them! If we do not turn them to this account, we
abuse them! We ought to use our endowments as the Corinthians did not
use theirs, but as they ought to have done–in confirming the testimony
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Corinthians had more powers than any of us have. Many of them could
work miracles–they could heal the sick, they could restore the lepers,
they could work wonders by the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Some of them could talk several languages and, wherever they went, they
were able to speak the language of the people among whom they abode.
This was because they were not able to spend much time in learning
languages and there needed something special to support the infant
Church. It was then but a sapling–it required a stake in the ground by
its side, that it might lean upon it, and might grow and be strong. It
was a little plant that needed to be sustained and, therefore, God
worked miracles. But now it is the stalwart oak and has its roots bent
round the staunchest rocks in creation–now it needs not any support by
miracle and, therefore, God has left us without extraordinary gifts.
But whatever gifts we have, we are to use them for the purpose
mentioned in the text–that is, for the confirmation of the testimony
of Christ Jesus.
There are two points which we shall speak of as the Holy Spirit may
enable us. First, The testimony of Christ And, secondly, What is meant
by our confirming it?
I. First, then, THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST. We are told, in the text, that
there was a "testimony of Christ" which was "confirmed in you." Our
first enquiry is, What is meant by the "testimony of Christ"?
That this world is fallen is the first Truth of God in all theology.
"We have gone astray like lost sheep," and had there not been mercy in
the mind of God, He might justly have left this world to perish without
ever calling it to repentance. But He, in His wondrous long-suffering
and His mighty patience was not pleased to do so. Being full of tender
mercies and loving kindness, He determined on sending the Mediator into
the world, whereby He might restore it to its pristine glory and might
save for Himself a people whom "no man could number," who are to be
called the elect of God, loved with His everlasting love! In order that
He might rescue the world and save those elect ones, the Lord of Hosts
has constantly ordained and sent forth a perpetual priesthood of
testifiers. What was Abel with his lamb, but the first martyred witness
of the Truth of God? Did not Enoch wear his mantle when he walked with
God and prophesied concerning the Second Advent of Christ? Was not Noah
a preacher of righteousness among a gainsaying generation? The glorious
succession never fails! Abraham comes from Ur of the Chaldees and from
the hour of his call till the day when he slept in Machpelah, he was a
faithful witness. Then we might mention Lot in Sodom, Melchisedec in
Salem, Isaac and Jacob in their tents and Joseph in Egypt. Read the
Scripture history and can you fail to observe a golden chain of united
links, hanging over a sea of darkness, but yet uniting Abel with the
last of the Patriarchs?
We are now arrived at a new era in the history of the Church, but it is
not destitute of light. See there the son of Amram, the honored Moses.
That man was a very sun of brightness, for he had been where darkness
veiled the unutterable light of the skirts of Jehovah. He climbed the
steep sides of Sinai. He went up where the lightning blazed and the
thunders lifted up their awful voice. He stood upon the
mountain-burning summit and there, in that secret chamber of the Most
High, he learned, in forty days, the witness of forty years and was the
constant enunciator of justice and righteousness. But he died, as the
best men must. Sleep on in peace, O Moses, in your secret grave. Fear
not for the Truth of God, for God will be with Joshua as He was with
you!
The times of the judges and kings were sometimes densely darkened, but
amid their civil wars, their idolatry, their persecutions and their
visitations, the chosen people still had a remnant according to the
Election of Grace. There were always some who walked through the earth,
like the ancient Druids in the woods, wrapped in white garments of
holiness and crowned with the glories of the Most High. The river of
the Truth of God might run in a shallow stream, but it was never
utterly dry. Next, come to the times of the Prophets and there, after
traversing a dreary period when the world was only illumined here and
there by such lamps as Nathan, Abijah, Gad, or Elijah, you find that
you have come to the light of meridian day, or rather to a cloudless
sky crowded with stars! There is the eloquent Isaiah, the lamenting
Jeremiah, the soaring Ezekiel, the well-beloved Daniel and lo, behind
these four high priests of prophecy, there follow twelve, clothed in
the same garb, performing the same service! I might style Isaiah the
pole star of prophecy. Jeremiah resembled the rainy Hyades of Horace.
Ezekiel was the burning Sirius. And as for Daniel, he resembles a
flaming comet, flashing on our vision but for a moment and then lost in
obscurity.
I am not at a loss to find a constellation for the minor prophets. They
are a sweet group, of intense brilliance, even though but small–they
are the Pleiades of the Bible. Perhaps, at no former season, were the
stars of God marshaled in greater numbers, but yet, amid all preceding
and succeeding gloom, the sky of time was never in total darkness!
There was always a watcher and a shining one there. God has never
abandoned the world, He has never quenched its lamp of Testimony, He
has never said, "Go, you vile thing," and spurned it from His Presence.
He might deluge it once with water. He might rain fire and brimstone
upon Sodom. He might drown a nation in the sea. He might destroy a
generation in the wilderness. He might devour kingdoms and root them
up–but never, never would He extinguish the perpetual flame of the
Testimony of His Truth!
I was thinking, just now, of a picture which I saw, a few days ago–a
beautiful painting of a brook with stepping-stones in the water, upon
which the traveler crossed. And the idea has just flashed upon my
mind–surely the stream of man's wickedness and the stream of time may
be crossed by those steppingstones of Testimony. There you have Noah,
and he is a steppingstone, to step on to Abraham. And from him to
Moses, and from Moses to Elijah and so on–from Elijah to Isaiah, from
Isaiah to Daniel, and from Daniel down to the brave Maccabees. And what
is the last steppingstone? It is
Jesus Christ, the faithful and true Witness, the Prince of the kings of
the earth! Jesus was, in one sense, the last Testifier of the Truth of
God. We are left to confirm it to others and we shall, just for a few
moments, enlarge on what the testimony of Jesus Christ was.
First of all, in order to justify me in calling Jesus Christ a
Testifier, I want to refer to one or two passages of Scripture where
you will see that He came into the world to be a Testifier and Witness
to the Truth. Turn to the 3rd chapter of John, and the 31st verse. John
the Baptist says, "He that comes from above is above all: he that is of
the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth: He that comes from Heaven
is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies, and no
man receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set
to His seal that God is true." There we find John, who was the
harbinger of our Savior, speaking of Christ as giving a testimony,
speaking of Him as One who came into the world for the special purpose
of testifying to the Truth of God.
Turn further on in the same Gospel and you will find, in the 8th
chapter and 18th verse, our Savior says this of Himself, "I am One that
bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me bears witness of
Me." I refer you, also, to the 18th chapter of John and the 37th verse
where Pilate says to Jesus, "Are You a king then?" And He replies, "For
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the
truth." There, again, you find our Savior speaking of Himself as a
Witness. I might refer you to some passages in Isaiah where he speaks
of Christ as a Witness, but I will only keep to the writings of our
friend, John, so we will now turn to the Book of Revelation. In the
first chapter, at the 5th verse, you find him saying, "Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful Witness." In the third chapter of the same Book, at
the 14th verse, "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write, These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness." Now,
then, I think I am not dishonoring my Master by calling Him a
"Witness." I have placed Him side by side with a glorious cloud of
witnesses and I have said He is the last Witness. And I think I have
not dishonored His blessed name when I find He calls Himself a
"Witness." Let us enlarge upon this head for a moment or two. Christ is
the very King of witnesses! He is the greatest of all witnesses and
superior to every other! He does not differ from any other in the
things He testifies, for they all testify to the same Truth of God
which this glorious Witness is superior to every other!
First, let me remark that Christ witnesses directly from Himself and
that is one thing in which He is superior to all the Prophets and the
other holy men who testified to the Truth. What did Isaiah say? What
did Elijah say? Or Jeremiah? Or Daniel? They only said second-hand
things–they spoke what God had revealed to them. But when Christ
spoke, He always spoke directly from Himself. All the rest only spoke
that which they had received from God. They had to tarry till the
winged seraph brought the live coal. They had to gird on the ephod, the
curious girdle and the Urim and Thum-mim–they must stand listening
till the Voice said, "Son of man, I have a message for you." They were
but instruments blown by the breath of God and giving forth sounds only
at His pleasure. But Christ was a Fountain of living water. He opened
His mouth and the Truth of God gushed forth and it came directly from
Himself. In this, as a faithful Witness, He was superior to every
other. He could say, "What I have seen, and heard, that do I testify. I
have been inside the veil. I have entered into the sanctum sanctorum. I
have dived into the depths, I have soared into the heights–there is
not a place where I have not been, there is not a Truth of God which I
cannot call My own. I am no voice of another." In this respect, He
surpassed every other witness!
Secondly, Christ was superior to every other witness from the fact that
His testimony was uniform. It was always the same testimony–we cannot
say that of any other witness. Look at Noah. He was a very good
testifier to the Truth of God, except once, when he was intoxicated–he
was a sorry testifier to the Truth then. David was a testifier to the
Truth, but he sinned against God and put Uriah to death. What shall we
say of Elijah, that man in shaggy garments? He was a testifier to the
Truth, but he was not so when he fled from Jezebel and God sent an
angel to say to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Abraham was
another witness, but he was not so when he said his wife was his
sister. The same might be said of Isaac. And if you go through the
whole list of holy men, you will find some fault in them and you will
be obliged to say, "They were very good testifiers, certainly, but
their testimony is not uniform. There is a plague-spot which sin has
left upon them all. There was something to show that man is nothing but
an earthen vessel, after all."
But Christ's testimony was uniform. There never was a time when He
contradicted Himself. There never was an instance in which it could be
said, "What You have said, You now contradict." See Him everywhere,
whether on the cold mountaintop at midnight in prayer, or in the midst
of the city. Observe Him when He walked through the cornfields on the
Sabbath, or when on the lake He bade the waves, "Be still." Wherever He
was, His testimony was uniform. This can not be said of any other
witness. The best men have their faults. They say that the sun has
spots and so I suppose that the most glorious of men, whoever they are,
who will shine most brightly in the firmament forever and ever, will
have their spots while on earth. Christ's testimony was like His own
coat, woven from the top throughout–there was not any seam in it at
all.
Yet, further, Christ's testimony was perfect in testifying to all the
Truth of God. Other men only gave testimony to parts of the Truth, but
Christ manifested it all. Other men had the threads of Truth, but
Christ took the threads and wove them into a glorious robe, put it on,
and came forth clothed with every Truth of God. There was more of God
revealed by Christ than in the works of Creation, or in all the
Prophets. Christ was a Testifier to all God's attributes and He left
none of them unmentioned. Do you ask me whether Christ bore testimony
to the Justice of God, I tell you, "Yes." See Him hanging there,
languishing on Calvary, His bones all dislocated. Did He bear testimony
to God's Mercy? Yes. See those poor creatures who were limping just
now–the lame man is leaping like a hare, the poor blind man is
beholding the sun and rejoicing! Did Jesus witness to the Power of God?
I say, "Yes." You see Him standing in the little boat and saying to the
winds, "Be still!" and holding them in the hollow of His hand. Has He
not borne testimony to everything in God? His testimony was perfect!
Nothing was left out–everything was there.
We could not say that of any mere man. I believe we cannot say that of
any modern preacher. Some people say that they can hear Mr. So-and-So
because he preaches so much Doctrine. Another likes all experience and
some want all practice. Very well, you do not expect that God has made
one man to say everything, do you? Certainly not. One class of men
defends one class of Truths and another, another. I bless God that
there are so many denominations. If there were not men who differed a
little in their creeds, we would never get so much Gospel as we do. One
man loves high Doctrine and he thinks he is bound to defend it every
Sabbath–so much the better! Some do not speak of it at all, so that he
helps to make up for other people's deficiencies. Some men are fond of
fiery exhortations–they give them every Sabbath and they cannot preach
a sermon without them. But, then, others do not give them at all, so
that the lack of one is supplied by the superabundance of the other.
God has sent different men to defend different kinds of Truth, but
Christ defended and preached all! He took them, bound them in one
bundle and said, "Here is myrrh, aloes, cassia and all precious spices
altogether–here is the whole Truth of God." Christ's testimony was
perfect.
Mark, once more, before I come to the confirmation of this testimony,
Christ's testimony was final. His was the last testimony, the last
Revelation that will ever be given to man. After Christ, nothing.
Christ comes last–He is the last steppingstone across the brook of
time. All who come after Him are only confirmers of the testimony of
Christ. Our Au-gustines, our Ambroses, our Chrysostoms, or any other of
the mighty preachers of olden times, never pretended to say anything
fresh. They only revived the Gospel–the same old-fashioned Gospel
which Christ used to preach. And Luther, and Calvin, and Zwingli, and
Knox–they only came to confirm the Truth of God. Christ said "finis"
to the canon of Revelation and it was closed forever! No one can add a
single word to it and no one can take a word from it. We Dissenters are
sometimes charged with inventing a new Gospel. We deny it. We say that
our Owen, Howe, Henry, Charnock, Bunyan, Baxter, or Janeway and all
that galaxy of stars of the pulpit did not pretend to say anything
new–they only revived the things that Christ said, they only professed
to be confirmers of the Witness. So has it been with the great men we
have lost during the last century. Whitefield and his brother
evangelists and men who stood in the same position as Gill, or Booth,
or Rippon, or Carey, or Ryland or some of those who have just been
taken away–they did not pretend to say anything new. They only said,
"Brothers and Sisters, we come to tell you the same old story. We are
not testifiers of new things–we are only confirmers of the Witness,
Christ Jesus."
II. Now we come to the second part of our subject and that is THE
TESTIMONY OF CHRIST IS TO BE CONFIRMED IN YOU. There are two points
here. First, the testimony of Christ needs to be confirmed in
ourselves. And, secondly, it needs to be confirmed in others.
First, then, to every Christian the testimony of Christ needs to be
confirmed in his own heart. O Beloved, that is the best confirmation of
Gospel Truth which every Christian carries about within him! I love
Butler's Analogy–it is a very powerful book. I love Paley's Evidences,
but I never need them myself, for my own use. I do not need any proof
that the Bible is true. Why? Because it is confirmed in me! There is a
Witness, which dwells in me, which makes me bid defiance to all
infidelity, so that I can say–
"Shouldall the forms that men devise
Assault my faith with treacherous art, I'd call them vanity and lies,
And bind the Gospel to my heart."
I do not care to read books opposing the Truths of the Bible, I never
need to wade through mud for the sake of washing myself afterwards.
When I am asked to read an heretical book, I think of good John Newton.
Dr. Taylor, of Norwich, said to him, "Have you read my Key to the
Romans?" "I have turned it over," said the Doctor. "And is this the
treatment a book must meet with which has cost me so many years hard
study? You ought to have read it carefully, and weighed deliberately
what is said on so serious a subject." "Hold," said Newton, "you have
cut me out full employment for a life as long as Methuselah's! My life
is too short to be spent in reading contradictions of my religion. If
the first page tells me the man is undermining the faith, it is enough
for me. If I had the first mouthful of a roast tainted, I do not need
to eat it through to be convinced–I ought to send it away." Having the
truth confirmed in us, we can laugh all arguments to scorn! We are
placed in a sheet of mail when we have a witness to God's Truth within
us. All the men in this world cannot make us alter one single iota of
what God has written within us! Ah, Brothers and Sisters, we need to
have the Truth confirmed within us! Let me tell you a few things that
will do this.
First, the very fact of our conversion tends to confirm us in the
Truth. "Oh," says the Christian, "do not tell me there is no power in
religion, for I have felt it! I was thoughtless like others, laughed
religion to scorn and those who attended to it. My language was, 'Let
us eat and drink, and enjoy the sunshine of life.' But now, through
Christ Jesus, I find the Bible a honeycomb which hardly needs to be
pressed to let the drops of honey run out it is so sweet and precious
to my taste that I wish I could sit down and feast on my Bible forever!
What has made this alteration?" That is how the Christian reasons. He
says, "There must be a power in Grace, otherwise I never should be so
changed as I am. There must be the Truth of God in the Christian
religion, otherwise this change would never have come over me." Some
men have ridiculed religion and its followers and yet Divine Grace has
been so mighty that those very men have become converted and
experienced the new birth! Such men cannot be argued out of the truth
of religion. You may stand and talk to them from dewy morn to the
setting of the sun, but you can never get them to believe that there is
no Truth in God's Word, for they have the Truth of God confirmed in
them.
Then, again, another thing confirms the Christian in the Truth and that
is, when God answers his prayers. I think that it is one of the
strongest confirmations of the Truth of God when we find that God hears
us. Now I speak to you, on this point, of things which I have tasted
and handled. The wicked man will not believe this. He will say, "Ah, go
and tell those who know no better!" But I say that I have proved the
power of prayer a hundred times because I have gotten to God and asked
Him for mercies and have received them. "Ah," say some, "it is only
just in the common course of Providence." "Common course
ofprovidence?"It is a blessed course of Providence! If you had been in
my position, you would not have said that. I have seen it just as
clearly as if God had rent the heavens and put His hand out and said,
"There, My child, is the mercy you asked for." It has come so plainly
out of the way that I could not call it a common course of Providence!
Sometimes I have been depressed and downcast–and even out of heart at
coming to stand before this multitude– and I have said, "What shall I
do?" I could fly anywhere rather than come here anymore. I have asked
God to bless me and send me words to say, and then I have felt filled
to the brim, so that I could come before this congregation or any
other! Is that a common course of Providence? It is a
specialProvidence–a special answer to prayer! And there are others
here who can turn to the pages of their diary and see, there, God's
hand plainly interposing. So we can say to the infidel, "Begone! The
truth of God is confirmed in us and so confirmed that nothing can drive
us out of it!"
You have had the Truth confirmed in you, my dear Friends, when you have
found great support in times of affliction and tribulation. Some of you
have passed through deep trouble. Some of you have been sorely tried
and have been brought very low, but can you not say with David, "I was
brought low and the Lord helped me"? Can you not recall how well you
bore that last trouble? When you lost that dear child, you thought you
could not bear it so well as you did. But you said, "The Lord gave, and
the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Many of you
have loved ones under the sod–your mother, father, husband, or wife.
You thought your heart would break when you lost your parents, but when
your father and your mother were taken from you, then the Lord took you
up. He told you, poor widow, that
He would be a Father to your children–and have you not found it so?
Can you not say, "Not one good thing has failed of all that the Lord
has promised"? That is the best confirmation of the Truth of God.
Sometimes, persons come to me, in my vestry, and they want me to
confirm the Truth of God outside of them. I cannot do that, I want them
to have the Truth confirmed inthem. They say, "How do you know that the
Bible is true?" "Oh," I reply, "I never have to ask such a question as
that, because it is confirmed in me. The Bishop has confirmed me!" I
mean, "the Bishop of souls," the Lord Jesus Christ, for I never was
confirmed by any other! And He has so confirmed me in the Truth of God
that no one can take it out of me. I say to these people, "Try religion
yourself and you will see its power. You stop outside the house and you
want me to prove what is inside the house–go in yourself–'taste and
see that the Lord is good,' blessed are all they that trust in Him."
This is the best way of confirming the Truth to ourselves.
The second thought was that it was our business not only to have the
Truth confirmed in our own souls, but so to live that we might be the
means of confirming the Truth in others. Do you know what Bible the
worldly man reads? He does not read this Bible at all–he reads the
Christian! "There," he says, "that man goes to church, or chapel, and
he is a member. I will see how he lives, I will read him up and down."
And he watches him and reads his conduct. If he is bad, he says,
"Religion is a farce!" But if he is a man who lives up to it, he says,
"There is something in religion, after all." Wicked men read
professors–they watch them to see whether they live up to their
profession. Christians have Argus, with a hundred eyes, staring at
them! Worldlings look at every fault with a magnifying glass and they
make the smallest molehill into a great mountain! And if there is a
speck in our eye, they will make it a beam–and they will say the man
is a hypocrite!
It is the duty of every child of God to so live that he may confirm the
witness of Christ. We should labor to do it in all the common things of
daily life. "Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to
the glory of God." Some men think that religion lies only in great
things. It does not, for it also lies in little things. Take any one
day of our lives–we eat, drink, rise in the morning, go to bed at
night–there is nothing very particular about the day. Our life is made
up of little things and if we are not careful of little things, we
shall not be careful of great ones. If we do not mind the little
things, the great ones will go wrong. Oh, may you have Grace to live
that the world may find no fault in you! And if in little things they
see exactness and precision, (and too much precision will be better
than the looseness of the morals of some professors), then they will
say, "There is something in religion. That man's life has confirmed it
in my mind because he lives up to it."
Then, again, if you can bear the taunts of wicked men without returning
them, that will be a good way of confirming religion. When I have
entered into controversy with some men and have been betrayed into heat
of temper, I could have bitten my fingers off that I should have done
so! If you can keep your temper when men laugh at you and if, when they
revile you, you do not return it, you will confirm the Truth of God.
They will say, "There is something in that man's religion, otherwise he
could not so keep his temper." You have read of James Haldane. Once,
when unconverted, he threw a ship's tumbler at the head of a person who
had insulted him. But when he was regenerated, on another occasion of
insult, simply said, "I would resent it, but I have learned to forgive
injuries and overlook insults." Men were obliged to say of him, "There
is something in the religion which can bring such a lion as that down
and make him such a lamb." Thus you will confirm the witness of Christ
if you quietly endure persecution. If you can patiently bear the laugh
and jeer of wicked men, you will confirm the Truth of God.
The last confirmation you and I, my Friends, will ever be able to give
to the witness of Christ is coming very soon. There is an hour when we
shall no longer be able to confirm the Truth by living for it, for we
must die, and that is the best confirmation of a man's principles–when
he dies well. One of the noblest confirmations of the Christian
religion is the fact that a man dies a peaceable, a happy and even a
triumphant death. Oh, if when you come to die, you are able to say, "O
death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" And if you
can grasp the tyrant Death in your hands and hurl him to the ground and
triumph in Him who said, "O death, I will be your plagues! O grave, I
will be your destruction!" If you can die without fear, or repining, or
remorse–knowing that you are forgiven. If you can die with the song of
victory on your lips and with the smile ofjoy upon your countenance,
then you will confirm the witness of Christ!
In conclusion, let me urge you, as followers of Christ Jesus, as those
whom He has loved with an everlasting love, as heirs of immortality, as
those who have been rescued from the pit of destruction, as professors
of religion, as members of a Christian Church–let me beseech you to
make it your first and last objective to confirm the witness of Christ!
Wherev-
er you are, whatever you are doing, say within yourself, "I must so
live and die that I may confirm the witness of Christ. I must so walk
among my friends and neighbors that they will see that there is a truth
and a power in religion." And let me warn you not to undertake this
task in your own strength–you will need power from on high, from the
Holy Spirit, a fresh supply of Grace from the Throne of the heavenly
Grace. It is a good plan that some persons adopt–they walk home, after
service, and when they get there, they have a few minutes in prayer
with their God. It is a blessed way of clinching the nail and making a
sermon count.
So, dear Friend, go home, and say, "I solemnly vow, yet not in my own
strength, but I solemnly vow, by Your Grace, that from this moment,
forward, it shall be my aim to live more as a confirmer of the Truth of
God! I did not know my high calling before, but I now know that I am a
confirmer of Your Truth. Lord, help me so to live that there may never
be any flaw in my conduct, never any vile word proceed out of my
lips–make me so to live that I may confirm Your Truth! Lord, help me
to confirm the witness of Christ!" Go and register that vow, and that
resolution, and seek God's Grace that you may not let it be a vow not
carried out, but may you be able to live to the Glory of God, and to
the honor of His blessed name! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM84.
A Psalm for the sons of Korah. You remember how Korah, Dathan and
Abiram were destroyed because of their rebellion against the Lord and
their revolt against His chosen servants, Moses and Aaron. And you, no
doubt, recollect how it is recorded that "the children of Korah died
not." Why they were spared, we cannot tell, except that it was an act
of Sovereign Grace and if so, I can understand why they were afterwards
selected to be among the chief singers in the house of the Lord, for
who can sing so sweetly to the God of Grace as the men who have been
saved by His Sovereign, distinguishing Grace? This Psalm is "for (or,
of) the sons of Korah."–
"Who can praise the blessed God,
Like a sinner saved by Grace?
Angels cannot sing so loud,
Though they see Him face to face–
Sinless angels can never know
What a debt saved sinners owe." Verse 1. How amiable are Your
tabernacles, O LORD of Hosts!The outer portions and the inner parts as
well– how lovely they all are! To be among Your people, to have sweet
fellowship with them, how delightful it is, "O Lord of Hosts! "You
dwell in Your tabernacles, O Jehovah of Hosts, like a king in the
center of his army, and Your people encamp round about You!
2. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD. Those
children of God who have been for even a little while exiled from the
court of the Lord, prize them all the more when they get back to them.
2. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. There gets to be
so deep a longing to appear once more in the house of the Lord that
even this clay-cold flesh of ours, which with difficulty becomes warm
towards good things, at last melts and joins in the common cry of the
Believer's whole being–"My heart and my flesh cry out for the living
God."
3. Yes, the sparrow has found a house. She is such a bold bird that she
comes and picks up a crumb or two even in the courts of God's house!
So, Lord, let me be one of Your sparrows today–"Yes, the sparrow has
found a house,"–
3. And the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even
Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King, and my God. God's house is dear
to us for the benefit that it is to ourselves, but it is still dearer
to us for our children's sake as a nest where we may lay our young.
What a double mercy it is when young people love to come with their
parents to the house of God!
4. Blessed are they that dwell in Your house: they will still be
praising You. Selah. The Psalmist felt that those who were always in
the house of the Lord must always be full of music. I am afraid that it
is not so in all cases, yet it should be.
5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the
ways of them. The man who throws his whole heart and soul into his
worship of the Lord and his service for the Lord, is the man who gets
the greatest blessing out of
the holy exercises in which he takes part. Half-hearted worshippers are
an insult to God, but blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord
of Hosts and whose heart is in His ways.
6. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also
fills the pools. If they pass through valleys that are dreary and
gloomy, they find them to be a benefit and a blessing, for they get
refreshments on the road and also help to cheer other travelers.
7, 8. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion
appears before God. O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O
God of Jacob. Selah. David cannot go up with the multitude that keeps
holy day so, feeling like Jacob when he was all alone at the brook
Jabbok–like Jacob, he wrestles with God for a blessing. You can hear
him crying out in the wilderness–"O Jehovah God of Hosts, hear my
prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob," and He who heard the prayer of
lonely Jacob by the brook, hears the cry of David and the cries of all
His children who cannot join the great assembly of worshippers of God.
9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed.
Jesus is the "shield" of His people, and He is "anointed" for His
people and there is, in Jesus, so much of all that is good that when
the Father looks upon us in Him, He can see goodness even in us poor
sinners, for the goodness of Christ overflows to us and is accounted
ours!
10. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. Of course the
Psalmist means that a day in God's courts is better than a thousand
spent anywhere else. See how he contrasts nearly three years with a
single day, and he might have gone even further and said, "Better is
one day with God than a thousand years without Him." He gives us
another contrast as he goes on to say–
10-12. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to
dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield:
the LORD will give Grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from
them that walk uprightly. O LORD of Hosts, blessed is the man that
trusts in You. May all of us know that blessedness, for our Lord Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.