The Search Warrant
(No. 2898)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DURING THE WINTER OF 1861-2.
"But there are some of you that believe not." John 6:64.
ARE there really? Yes. He that searches the hearts says so. Then it is
high time for us to enquire, "What is it to believe in Christ? What is
it to believe to the saving of the soul?" It is not merely to consider
the Gospel to be true. It is not simply to endorse the Doctrine that
Christ is God. Those who hold a sound creed may be destitute of
precious faith and those who are able to defend the Divinity of Christ
with admirable scholarship may, nevertheless, be without God in the
world. To believe in Christ includes much more than a religious
profession. It is so to believe the Gospel as to forsake all other
beliefs for the possession of its blessed hope! It is to imbibe the
spirit of the Word of God while you accept the letter of its pure
teaching! Or, in other words, it is to come to Jesus and to prove, in
your own souls, His power to save.
Just as the faith of Abraham led him to leave his kindred and his
father's house under the guardian care of Jehovah, so saving faith
leads a man to leave his self-sufficiency with all the carnal pursuits
and ambitions that encircled, like a farmstead, his natural and
primitive home and to go forth, led by Jesus Christ, not knowing where
he goes. Just as faith led the harlot Rahab to anticipate the doom of
Jericho–to hang the scarlet line in her window and then to rest
securely in her house though the town walls upon which it was built,
were shaking–so, by faith, the sinner comes to the blood of
sprinkling, hangs the promise of Redemption in the window of his soul
and though he feels himself to be, naturally, no better than others,
yet he rests secure because that scarlet line is there and he is safe!
Or, to use another figure, just as the Hebrew householder slew the
lamb, dipped the bunch of hyssop in its blood, sprinkled it upon the
lintel and the two side posts of his house and then calmly ate the
Passover supper, though he knew that the destroying angel was flying
through the land of Egypt and though, perhaps, he could even hear the
shrieks of the dying and the wailing of the bereaved–yet he remained
quietly in his house knowing that though he might be the guiltiest of
men, the blood secured his safety according to the promise of God!
To believe in Jesus, then, is to trust our soul's salvation to what
Jesus has done for us, to prove what He is doing in us and to rely
entirely upon His promise to save us even to the end. It is to drop
from the giddy elevation where we stand on the rotten timbers of
self-righteousness and to fall into the Omnipotent arms of Him who
stands ready to receive us. It is to tear off the rags of our own
spinning that we may be clothed with the righteousness which is from
Heaven. Faith is the reverse of sight! It is to believe that we are
saved when sin tells us that we are lost. It is to believe that Christ
has cleansed us when we still feel defilement within. It is to believe
that we shall see His face in Glory when clouds and darkness enshroud
our path and doubts and fears distress our heart. This is the faith
which saves the soul!
We are not saved by faith, itself, as a meritorious work. There is no
merit in believing in God and even if there were, it could not save us,
since salvation by merit has been once and for all solemnly excluded.
Nor does faith save us as an efficient cause. Faith is the channel of
salvation, not the fountain and source of it. Hence faith, though it
saves, never boasts. He that boasts has not faith and he that has faith
can say, "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ." When the poor man who was bitten by the fiery serpent
looked to the bronze serpent upon the pole, it was his eyes that saved
him–yet it was not the merit of looking, nor was it his eyes that were
the efficient cause of his cure– all the glory of it was to be given
to God who had ordained that the bronze serpent would be the means of
healing to all
who looked to it. So, faith is the eye with which we look to Christ,
yet it has neither merit nor efficacy in itself–all the merit and
efficacy lie in the precious blood of Him to whom we look.
Again, faith is an empty hand. Yes, it is the filthy hand of the
leprous sinner and Christ puts His mercy into that black hand. Is there
any merit in the hand? God forbid! Is there any efficiency to save in
the hand? Oh, no, my Brothers and Sisters–the hand which givesmust
have the glory, not the hand which takes! He who bestows the blessing
must have the honor of it, not the faith by which we receive the
blessing from Him. Now, having thus spoken upon what faith is, and
having tried to show you its peculiar position in the work of
salvation, I am solemnly reminded, by our text, that "there are some of
you that believe not." The context shows that these words were spoken
by Christ to His disciples. They were gathered around Him and He was
addressing them. Some of them had murmured because what He said to them
was too "hard" for them to receive and the Lord Jesus, being able to
read their hearts, could say to them, "There are some of you that
believe not." And the Inspired Evangelist adds, "For Jesus knew from
the beginning who they were who would not believe, and who would betray
Him."
I am going to speak first about those whose unbelief is secret And
secondly, about those who are known to us to be unbelievers.
I. First, THERE ARE SOME WHOSE UNBELIEF IS SECRET–it is known only to
Christ.
If you had looked upon those disciples of Christ, you would have judged
that they had received the gift of eternal life. You would have said,
"God forbid that I should condemn any of those men who have come out
from an ungodly generation and have professed to be followers of the
Prophet of Nazareth!" Although it would be wrong for us to judge our
fellow creatures, Jesus judged His disciples and judged them rightly,
for He can penetrate even to the heart. He can discern the secret
thoughts, intents and motives of all men. And the day is coming when He
will finally judge the whole race of mankind. His eyes even now pierce
through the hypocrite's disguise, but His hands shall tear it away when
He shall say to those who cry to Him, "Lord! Lord!"–"Verily I say unto
you, I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity." We
know not the hollowness of their pretense, but Christ knows all about
it. And if the Holy Spirit shall help us, we may be enabled to show it
to them. Oh, that it may be so, even now, that they may stand with
their souls revealed, and their consciences convicted–and that they
may now seek faith–seeing that they have it not!
What reason for alarm and for heart-searching there is here, for it is
to be feared that even in the ministry there are some who have not
faith! Yes, Brothers, there have been in all ages men who have worn the
robes of God's ambassadors, but who have not been at peace with Him. It
is a solemn and dreadful fact that there have been men who have broken
the bread at the Lord's Table and who have been leaders in God's
Israel, yet who, notwithstanding that, have had neither part nor lot in
the matter! Brothers in the ministry and young men who occasionally go
out to preach the Word and who are hoping, by-and-by, to have a settled
pastorate, let us ask ourselves this question–Is it not possible that
we, although preachers of the Word, may yet be without faith? Are we
seeking to teach others what we have not ourselves learned? Are we only
like scaffolds, used in the building of Christ's Church, yet not part
of the spiritual structure, or like Noah's laborers who helped to build
the ark, yet were drowned by the great deluge? Are we like Elijah's
ravens which brought him bread and meat from Ahab's table, yet remained
unclean birds of evil omen? Let us seriously question ourselves, for
God has sometimes done good works by bad men–yet this has not saved
the men–even as it was with Judas who worked miracles as the other
Apostles did, preached as they did, yet who, nevertheless, was "a son
of perdition" who went to "his own place" among the lost!
Further, is it not possible that there are some in the other offices of
the church who have not faith? Men and Brothers, let me speak to you
who are the fathers in Israel. Though but young, myself, yet, as God's
servant delivering His message, I speak to you with authority. Is it
not possible that you may serve tables, as deacons of the Church, and
yet that you may be an intruder at Christ's Table? You may be an elder
and an overseer of others and yet have to say, "They made me the keeper
of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept." It is solemn
work to be made a watcher over the souls of men! But what must be our
position if, after watching over others, our own soul should still be
in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity? "I speak as unto
wise men; judge you what I say"–office-bearing and the choice of the
Church cannot guarantee your salvation!
And as this is true of some ministers and of some Church officers, it
may be true of others who are engaged in various works of piety. I
thank God that we have here many Sabbath school teachers, tract
distributors, street preachers–in
fact, I hope that there are very few persons in this Church who are
notregularly engaged in doing good in one way or other. If there are
among them any who do not believe, I am happy to say that I do not know
them. Yet is it possible, dear Friend, that you are teaching a Sunday
school class although you need to become as a little child before you
can enter the Kingdom of Heaven? May you not be distributing messages
of mercy to others, in the streets, or from door to door and yet be,
yourself, in need of that mercy? If that is your sad case, you are like
a man with a leprous hand dealing out medicine to the sick! Take care,
Christian workers, that in this day of activity, when there is so much
to do, you do not neglect the personal act of faith which unites your
soul to Christ. See to this vital and all-important matter. Make the
outside of the cup and platter clean, as far as you can, but see that
the inside is not full of hypocrisy. However active you are in the
Lord's service, I pray that your exclusive self-examination may be as
earnest as your expansive zeal! May you be as much concerned to be
saved as to proclaim salvation to others!
Now I speak to the Church members in general. I thank God that He is
adding to this Church every day. Sometimes I hear a whisper from one
side that those of us whose business it is to examine candidates for
Church fellowship are too severe in our judgment of them. And, on the
other side, there are some who say that we are not searching enough!
Brothers and Sisters, it is enough for me and my fellow laborers in
Christ, when we can say with singleness of spirit–and not with
eye-service, as men-pleasers–"We have sought to serve God in this
matter. I do verily believe that for the most part, what we have bound
on earth has been bound in Heaven–and what we have loosed on earth has
been loosed in Heaven. At any rate, if we have erred in any case it has
been neither by favor nor by prejudice, but we have sought, after
lifting up our hearts to Heaven, to give a righteous judgment in every
instance. Yet, with all the care that may be exercised, there is not,
beneath Heaven, a single church that is perfect!
Some of you are members of this Church and some are members of other
churches, yet it is almost certain that there are some of you who
believe not. I do not profess to be able to separate the tares from the
wheat, but Jesus can do it–He knows those among you who have no faith!
You may talk about faith and yet not really have it yourselves. You may
have a great gift in prayer and yet not have faith. You may be an
acceptable preacher and yet not have faith. You may walk uprightly
before your fellow men and yet not have faith. You may be a generous
subscriber to every holy work and yet not have faith. How nearly a man
may be a Christian and yet be lost! The counterfeit may be made to look
so like the genuine that men may look at it again, and again, and again
and yet may pronounce the real to be counterfeit and the false to be
genuine! The Lord grant that if there are, in this congregation, any
who have a name to live and yet are dead, they may be awakened to a
sense of their true condition before God before it is too late–and
that Christ may give them life!
Brothers and Sisters, I do not know that at the present moment if I
have any doubt of my own personal interest in Christ. Yet I do know
that it is a very solemn thing to be so sure and that it is a damnable
thing to be presumptuous concerning such a matter. There will be times,
with all of us, when it will do us good to sit down and seriously ask,
"Are these things so, or are they not?" Let us dig down to the very
foundations of our faith and see what it is upon which we are building
for eternity! There will be times when all our past experience will be
blown to shreds, like the sail of the mariner in a great gale. There
will be times when our strongest evidence will snap like a mast broken
by the fury of the storm. There will be times when all our comforts and
joys will go like hencoops washed overboard from a laboring ship. Oh,
what a blessed thing it is, at such a time as that, to cast our great
bower anchor into the sea and to calmly sing–
"In every high and stormy gale My Anchor holds within the veil"
When anyone can say–
"His oath, His covenant and His blood, Support me in the sinking
flood"–
he may feel that he is everlastingly secure and that Jesus is, indeed,
his Savior! May the Holy Spirit enable you to judge– for we
cannot–whether you have this saving faith or not!
II. Now, in the second place, I am to speak about THOSE WHO ARE KNOWN
TO US AS UNBELIEVERS.
First, there is a very pleasing class of persons here who say, " We
have no faith, but we are very anxious to have itt" I bless God for
you, dear Friends, and I wish that we had thousands like you! You feel
your need of Christ, you long to be saved, you hate sin, you hate
self-righteousness–yet you have no faith. There are certain questions
that each of you often puts to us. First, "May I believe in Christ?" I
answer–Of course you may, because Christ bids you do so and what He
bids you do, you may do. "But am I fit to believe in Him?" No fitness
is required. "But am I the person who may believe
in Jesus?" There is no special person indicated, for the Gospel runs on
this wise and it is to be preached to every creature under Heaven,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." As to the
question whether you may believe in Jesus, whoever you are, I say–Yes,
certainly–come and welcome, for Christ has said, "Whoever will, let
him take the water of life freely." Your next question probably is,
"Can I believe ?" I do not know, but I should think that you can. I
will put a few questions to you–Can you believe that Christ is God?
"Yes." Can you believe anything that God says? "Yes." You can believe,
then, for Christ said it and Christ is God–that He came to seek and to
save that which is lost, and you know that you are lost. God says,
through His servant, the Apostle Paul, "that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners." And you know that you are a sinner, therefore
He came into the world to save you! Surely you can believe that! I know
many persons who say that they cannot believe, when in truth they can,
yet they do not know that they can! How is it, then, that there are
still so many who believe not?
The chief reason is because they will not believe–they are too
proud–they love their own righteousness too much, they think
themselves too wise to submit to the righteousness of Christ. But you
ask, "Can Ibelieve in Jesus?" I say ra-ther–Can you? I ask you the
question! You who are as evil as Hell–can you believe that Christ can
save you? "Yes, Sir," you say, "I can believe that." Can you believe
that He is willing to save you–good and gracious Christ that He
is–hanging on the Cross and bidding you trust Him? "Oh, Sir!" you say,
"I cannot help believing that." Well, then, you have proved that you
can believe, for you have done it already! I used to think that
believing in Christ was some mysterious thing and I could not make out
what it was–but when I heard that it was just this–"Look unto Me, and
be you saved," I found that the only reason why it was so hard was that
it was so easy! If it had been a more difficult matter, then my proud
spirit would have tried to accomplish it! But being so easy, my proud
spirit would not do it.
You remember why Naaman could not wash in the Jordan as the Prophet
bade him? It was because he would not– his proud spirit would not let
him. "I thought," he said–that was where the mischief lay, for what
right had he to think? "I thought he will surely come out to me and
stand, and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand
over the place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers
of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in
them and be clean?" That is why he could not wash in the Jordan,
because he would not, but persisted in asking questions, needing to be
wiser than God.
tried Heart, you may believe and I think I may say that you can
believe! God is true–you know that–and it cannot be hard to believe
when you know that. Christ is able to save–you know He is–so it
cannot be difficult to believe in Him. Christ is willing to save–you
know He is–then is it hard for you to believe in Him? So I say that
you can believe. May God bless you and make you willing to believe,
for, if He makes you willing, He will be sure to show you that you are
able to believe!
The next class without faith is not one over which we can rejoice so
much as over those who are anxious to have faith–I mean the despairing
ones. There are some souls that feel their sin to be very heavy. They
have the Gospel faithfully preached to them, but they are so proud that
they will have it that Christ is not willing to save them, so they will
not go to Him. There is such a thing as proud humility–when a person
feels a sort of self-conception of being base. "No," he says, "I cannot
take the medicine. I am too sick." Now that man is as much a suicide,
spiritually, as though he took poison, or stabbed himself to death! God
says that He is able to save you, but you say that He is not. You are
lying in the very teeth of His promise and charging Him to be a liar!
The Apostle Paul, writing under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
says that Christ is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto
God by Him–yet you, in effect, say, "No, He is not." Why, you are
imitating Satan–setting up your wisdom in the place of God's–instead
of accepting God's Word as true!
1 know that when I first heard that Christ could save such a sinner as
I was, I thought the news was too good to be true, but the Holy Spirit
led me to trust in Him and then I proved that it was true. If you are a
poor miserable beggar and some good man here should say to you, "Come
home with me and I will give you a good situation. No, more, I will
take you into my home and you shall be my son and heir." You would say,
"Well, I can hardly believe it, but I will go and see if it is true." I
hope you will say to God, who has promised you far more than that,
"Lord, I am as evil a sinner as there is out of Hell, but if You will,
You can make me clean. Lord, do it! I give myself to You." And if, poor
despairing Soul, you can say, "It is God with whom I have to deal and
He can do anything. It is a dying Savior with whom I have to deal
and He must be willing to forgive. It is the risen Redeemer of whom I
have to think–He can speak peace to my soul and He will do it!" If you
can thus trust yourself with Him, you will honor God and you will be
saved!
But there is still a larger class in perhaps greater danger. I mean,
the careless and thoughtless. How many of you have come in here out of
a curiosity which may never bring you here again? For you, death is a
dream, Heaven a fiction and Hell a bugbear. You know that the Word of
God is true, yet you never trouble yourself about its warnings and
threats. You say, "Let us eat and drink, and enjoy ourselves," but as
for your immortal soul, you have left that to take care of itself as
the ostrich leaves its eggs in the wilderness. Permit me, for a minute
or two, to show you that I care for your soul even if you do not care
for it yourself. You who are indifferent to your spiritual welfare,
remember that you belong to the most hopeless class under Heaven! The
profane are frequently converted, but the indifferent not so often. I
have noticed that those who get into the habit of going first to one
place of worship, and then to another, are very rarely saved–yet that
is not because they oppose the Truth of God. No, if they would do that,
there might be some hope concerning them! When you are at home, take up
a flint and an India rubber ball of the same size. Then take a hammer
and strike both of them with it. Every time you smite the ball, you
make an impression upon it, but it quickly returns to its original
shape. When you hit the flint with the hammer, you may produce no
impression for a time, but, by-and-by, after one of your blows, it is
shivered to atoms. Many of you are like that India rubber ball. Under
the preaching of the Gospel, you are interested, moved, affected–but
the impression is never very deep and you soon return to your original
form–you are shallow with regard to heavenly things. We cannot get at
your conscience, we cannot reach your heart–would God that we could!
I pray you to remember, however, that there is a time coming when Death
will preach far more effectually to you than I can! I recollect a
narrative of a young woman, a fair and lovely lady, whose mother was
very proud of her. She had introduced her into all the fashionable
circles of the city. Her dresses were always becoming, but also
expensive and even extravagant. She lived only to go to one party and
another, and to one amusement and another. Her mother had not
observed–for mothers do not like to notice such things–that there had
been a great paleness on her daughter's cheeks. A rapid decline set in
and, at last, to the mother's terror and the daughter's dismay, the
doctor thought it his duty to say that it was impossible that she could
live many weeks. Neither mother nor daughter had ever cared for
ministers. Religion would have stood in the way of their chosen
pursuits, so they avoided it–but now the minister was sent for. He was
an earnest, faithful servant of Christ, so, instead of striving to
bolster her up with false hopes, he began to talk of death, judgment,
eternity and the wrath of God. The young woman deeply felt the force
and the truth of his words–and said to her mother, "I cannot think
what you have been doing with me. You have led me to believe that these
fine dresses and those parties and amusements were all I had to live
for! Why did you not tell me I must die? Why did you not bid me prepare
for eternity? O my Mother, would that you had told me that I must soon
leave this world and enter the eternal state!" She begged them to bring
out her last fineries and she said, "Mother, I feel it is too late now,
for I shall die, but hang those things up and look at them, and never
bring up another child as you have brought me up! And as for yourself,
I charge you to think how soon you, too, must die."
So I say to all careless ones here–Think of the grave to which you
must go sooner or later. Think of your last hours and of the only true
preparation for them. While it is true of you now that you have no
faith, may it not be true very long–but may you even now seek and find
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! For, remember that notto believe in
Christ is to be already exposed to the wrath of God! Notto believe in
Christ is to be without salvation and already under condemnation! There
are many who do not know what it is to have a present salvation, but I
bless God that there are also many who do know what a present salvation
is! Do you know what it is? Not long ago I was asked this question, "Is
it possible for a man to be saved now?""Possible? Possible? If it is
not possible for him to be saved now, it is not possible for him to he
saved at all! But the Apostle Paul assures us that "now is the accepted
time; behold, now is the day of salvation." And no man should give
sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids until he feels and knows
that this present salvation is really his!
Oh, what peace it gives to know that you are now forgiven, now blessed,
now saved! Oh, how sweet it is to be able to say that God is my Father,
that I am His child and that He will keep me in perfect safety and
bring me to be forever where He is! Oh, the delights of this present
salvation! It is better than a king's throne–it is better than a
prince's riches. Present salvation–it is Heaven on earth! It is the
antepast of the peace of immortality! Heaven on earth can only be
known by those who are saved and who know that they are saved. May that
be your case and mine, Beloved! Christ's own words are, "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall
be damned." May God bless us all with the true belief which is eternal
life to all who possess it, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 12:1-32.
The teaching of our Lord in this chapter has very much to do with
Christianity in connection with this present life, its cares and
troubles. God has nowhere promised us exemption from affliction and
trial. Indeed, it has been said, with much truth, that the Old
Testament promise was one of prosperity, but that the New Testament
promise is one of tribulation. You may rest assured that if it had been
best for us to be taken directly to Heaven when we were converted, the
Lord would have done it! But as He has not done so, there are wise
reasons why He keeps His people here for a while. The gold must go
through the fire before it has its place in the king's crown–and the
wheat must be exposed to the winnowing fan before it can be taken into
the heavenly garner.
Verse 1. In the meantime, when there were gathered together an
innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trampled one
another, He began to say unto His disciples first of all, Beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy Hypocrisy, however, of a
kind that was calculated to spread like leaven. If you know that a man
is a hypocrite, you do not feel inclined to imitate him. But the
Pharisees were such well-made hypocrites–such excellent counterfeits–
that many people were tempted to imitate them! Our Lord teaches us,
however, that it is no use being a hypocrite.
2. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither
hid, that shall not be known. For many a day, the hypocrite's true
character may not be discovered but there is a day coming that will
reveal all secrets–and woe unto the man whose sin is laid bare in that
day!
3. Therefore whatever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the
light; and that which you have spoken in the ear in closets shall be
proclaimed upon the housetops. It would be well if we all lived in such
a fashion that we would not be ashamed to have everything we did
placarded in the sky. I have heard of one who said that he would like
to have a window in his heart so that everybody might see what was
going on. I think that if I had such a window in my heart, I would like
to have shutters–and I question whether any man would really wish to
have his heart open to the gaze of all mankind! But at least let our
lives be such that we should not be ashamed for the Universal Eye to be
fixed upon them. If you are ashamed to have any one of your actions
known, be ashamed to do it! If you would be ashamed to hear again what
you were about to say, do not say it! Check your tongue. Be cautious
and careful. Live always as one who realizes God's Omniscience. While
one of the ancient orators was speaking on one occasion, all his
hearers went away with the exception of Plato–but he continued to
speak as eloquently as ever, for he said that Plato was a sufficient
audience for any man. So, if there are none but the eyes of God looking
upon you, be just as careful as if you were in the street surrounded by
your fellow creatures. No, be more careful because you are in the
Presence of your Creator!
4. 5. AndI say unto you My Friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the
body, andafter that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn
you whom you shall fear: Fear Him who after He has killed has power to
cast into Hell; yes, I say unto you, Fear Him. And how wise and brave
we shall be if we fear God! It is well put in that Psalm which we
sometimes sing–
"Fear Him, you saints, and you will then Have nothing else to fear."
This great filial fear will chase out all the little, mean, cowardly
fears, for he who, in the Scriptural sense, fears God, can never be a
coward in dealing with men.
6, 7. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them
is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.
God does not forget the sparrows, but He regards you with far greater
interest and care, for He counts the very hairs of your head. He not
only knows that there is such a person, but He knows the minutest
details of your life and being. It is always a great comfort to
remember that our Heavenly Father knows us. A dying man who had been
for many years a Believer had a minister at his bedside who asked him,
"Don't you know Jesus?" "Yes, Sir," he replied, "I do, but the ground
of my comfort is
that He knows me." And surely there is a great force in that Truth of
God! Your Heavenly Father knows you so completely that He has counted
the hairs of your head! "Fear not therefore; you are of more value than
many sparrows."
8, 9. Also Isay unto you, Whoever shall confess Me before men, him
shall the Son ofMan also confess before the angels of God: but he that
denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. What
courage this ought to give us! In company where the very name of Christ
is kicked about like a football–where everything is respected except
true religion–it is not always an easy thing to come forward and say,
"I, also, am His disciple." But if you will do this, you have Christ's
pledge that He will acknowledge you before the angels of God. If you do
not do so, but practically deny Him by a shameful silence, you may
reasonably expect that He, also, will deny you before the angels.
10. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son ofMan, it shall be
forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it
shall not be forgiven. This is one of the very difficult texts of Holy
Scripture. We are told, in 1 John 5:16 that "there is a sin unto
death," and I would have you very cautious of ever daring to trifle
with the Spirit of God since sin against Him is guarded with such
special warnings! The flaming sword of Divine Vengeance seems to hang
before the very name of the Holy Spirit, so, whatever you do, never
trample upon His royal dignity, or blaspheme Him in heart or by lips.
11. And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates,
and powers. That is to say, the persecutors–"when they bring you
there, to be tried for your lives, as many have been in past ages and
some still are."
11, 12. Take you no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what
you shall say: for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour
what you ought to say. I have often been amazed and delighted with the
remarkable answers which were given to bishops and priests by poor
humble men and women who were on trial for their lives. Perhaps you
remember that Anne Askew was asked, in order to entangle her in her
speech, "What would become of a mouse if it ate the bread of the holy
sacrament?" She said that was too deep a question for a poor woman like
her to answer and she begged the learned bishop on the bench to tell
her what would become of the mouse–to which his lordship answered that
it would be damned! Now, what reply could be given to that but the one
Anne Askew gave, "Alack, poor mouse!"? I do not know that anything
better could have been said! And on other occasions there have been
answers which have been deeply theological. And there have been some
which have been wisely evasive and also some full of weight. And others
full of Grace and the Truth of God, for the Holy Spirit has helped His
saints, in time of persecution, to answer well those who have accused
them.
13-17. And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my
brother, that he divides the inheritance with me. And He said unto him,
Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you? And He said unto them,
Take heed, beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the
abundance of things which he possesses. And He spoke a parable unto
them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do,
because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?There were empty
cupboards in the houses of the poor and there were hungry children to
be fed–so this man need not have lacked room where he could bestow his
fruits!
18-20. Andhe said, This will Ido: I willpull down my barns and build
greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will
say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take
your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, You
fool!Which was the last thing he thought–he imagined that he was a
very wise man! "But God said unto him, You fool!"
20, 21. This night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall
those things be, which you have provided? So is he that lays up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Here our Savior shows
us the frail nature of the tenure upon which we hold all earthly goods
and how it is not worthwhile to make these the chief things of our
life, for, while they may leave us, we are quite sure, by-and-by, to
have to leave them!
22. And He said unto His disciples, Therefore Isay unto you, Take no
thought No undue, anxious thought, for such is the meaning of the word
used here. "Take no thought."
22-30. For your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what
you shallput on. The life is more than food, and the body is more than
raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which
neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them: how much more are
you better than the fowls? And which of you by worrying can add to his
stature one cubit?If you then are not able to do that thing which is
the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how
they grow: they toil not, they spin not, and yet Isay unto you, that
Solomon in all his glory was not ar-
rayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which is
today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more
willHe clothe you, Oyou oflittle faith? And seek not whatyou shall eat,
or whatyou shall drink, neither be you of a doubtful mind. For all
these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father
knows that you have need of these things. So that, with the knowledge
of His guarantees to you that you shall always have enough, why do you
need to be care-worn and anxious? I have often looked at birds in a
cage and thought of the happiness and carelessness of heart which they
seem to exhibit. And yet, if you were to forget to give them water, or
if you were to fail to give them seed, how soon they would die! Perhaps
the little creature has not enough to last it more than one day, but it
goes on singing its tune and leaves all anxiety about tomorrow to those
whose business it is to care for it. You would be ashamed to let your
bird starve–and will your Heavenly Father let you, who are not His
birds, but His children, starve? Oh, no! "Your Father knows that you
have need of these things."
31, 32. But rather seek you the Kingdom of God; and all these things
shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. He does not give you
all that you would like to have, but He is going "to give you the
Kingdom." He gives the lesser gifts to others, but He is saving up the
Kingdom for you! Luther once said, "All the empires of the earth are
only so much meal for God's swine–but the treasure is for His
children. They may have less meal, but they shall have the Eternal
Kingdom." Oh, how blessed are we if, by faith, we know that this is
true concerning us! "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom"!