A Call to the Depressed
(No. 3422)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Shakeyourself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loosen
yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion."
Isaiah 52:2.
I SHALL not attempt at this time to decipher the history of the
prophecy with which these words are associated. To the Hebrew nation
they were big with counsel, bright with hope. Apart, however, from the
connection in which it stands, this verse supplies a pointed practical
address of sterling value not to be limited by any private
interpretation. Such a charge was well fitted for Israel of old. Such
counsel would be suitable to any Church in a low condition. Such advice
is equally adapted to any Christian who has fallen into a low state,
who is groveling in the dust or among the ashes of Sodom. He is told to
rise from the ground and sit down upon a throne, for Christ has made
him a king and a priest. He is admonished to unbind all the cords that
are upon him, that he may be free and happy in the Lord. To those of
you, then, who have sunk into this distressing plight, my text contains
a vigorous appeal! Let me try to interpret it. First of all, I notice
the obvious fact–
I. SOME OF GOD'S TRUE PEOPLE ARE IN A VERY SAD CONDITION.
This is an important consideration to us just now. If just on the eve
of battle a commander should discover that an epidemic has broken out
among his troops, he will be extremely anxious that any available
remedy shall be tried, for if the soldiers are sick, how can they be
expected to behave well on the morrow? So it will sometimes happen that
when we mean to serve our Master most, we are impeded in Church action
by the prevalence of some spiritual disease among the members of the
Church. Perhaps I may be the means, tonight, of finding out the sick
ones, and indicating their symptoms, and–who can tell–perhaps this
very night, before you come to the Table, the blessed remedy may be
applied, and at the Table, while you are feasting with Christ, your
souls may become perfectly restored!
Sometimes the children of God fall into a grievous state as to their
faith and their assurance of their own interest in Christ. They doubt
whether they are Christians at all, whether their experience is
genuine, whether they ever did really repent with a truly broken heart,
whether they have received the precious faith–the faith of God's
elect. At such times they question all their graces and they are not
able to get a satisfactory answer from anyone. At the same time these
people of God may be so walking in outward consistency that everybody
else thinks well of them. No one has any suspicion of them, but they
grievously suspect themselves and are tormented with the fear that they
have a name to live, and are dead. I have known at such times that
there will come at the back of all this some terrible doubts about the
substantial Truths of our faith. "What?" You say, "doubts about the
Godhead–doubts about the Savior–doubts about the world to come?" Yes,
yes, and to the true people of God! They will hate these doubts and, in
their hearts they will still believe all the great fundamental and
cardinal Truths–but yet will they be sore put to it and be frequently
distressed. Thoughtful minds, and men of reading will have
philosophical doubts buzzing about them like mosquitoes on a summer's
day. Others who are ignorant of philosophy and, perhaps, it is well
that they are, will be troubled with doubts of a rougher, coarser
quality. Although they will not permit them so to dwell in their hearts
so that they actually become unbelievers–yet they will be sorely
distressed with questions which they cannot answer, with enigmas which
they know not how to solve, and with strange intertwistings of
difficulty which they know not how to untie. Perhaps, too, at such a
time as this, there will be over all and worse than all, a state of
dreadful indifference creeping over them. They want to feel, but cannot
feel. They would gladly wring tears of blood out of their eyes, but not
even an ordinary tear will drop. They want to be cut to pieces! They
would welcome the most poignant sorrow, but they can only say–
"If anything is felt, 'tis only pain, To feel I cannot feel."
In such cases, true Believers are sure to resort to the extraordinary
use of the means of Grace. I mean they will add to their ordinary use,
something more. Have you never been in such a state that the Bible has
become uninteresting, or the only passages of Scripture that seemed to
strike you were dreadful threats concerning your Own coming doom, as
you thought–not a word of comfort, not a syllable that makes glad your
spirit? You have gone to prayer and the heavens have seemed to be
brass! And worse still, your own heart seemed to be brass, too, and you
could not stir it up to anything like an intensity of desire. You did
not wonder that you got no answer. You would have wondered if such a
prayer as yours could be heard at all! Ah, and then you have gone up to
the assembly of God's people where at other times your heart has danced
within you with holy joy! The minister was not changed. Perhaps at
first you thought he was, but on more attentive bearing, you noticed
that there was the same Truths of God and spoken in the same honest
fashion, but you could not hear it as you once did. Clouds without rain
and wells without water–all the ordinances seemed to be to you. And
all the while, though you felt that you could not live like this, and
said–
"Dear Lord, and shall I always live, At this poor dying rate?"yet
somehow or other you could not get out of it. You felt like one
manacled, as though a nightmare were upon you. You were distressed. You
could not stir to break the spell! Your spirit cried out as best it
could, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" But the worst of it was that you did not feel that you
were wretched enough, and you did not seem to cry enough! You were
afraid you would sink into a terrible lethargy which would be the
forerunner to a spiritual death altogether.
Well, my dear Friends, I should not wonder but you brought this very
much upon yourselves. If you are in this state tonight, I would exhort
you to question whether this is not the result of what you have often
been warned of. Perhaps you slackened prayer. Perhaps in your happier
days you grieved the Holy Spirit just when you were most joyful and
happy in His love. It may be that you grew worldly, or, perhaps, a long
succession of little things, none of which you noticed at the time,
have contributed to swell the stream of your present distress. At any
rate, whatever may be the cause of this state, I grieve that you are in
it–grieve for my own sake, for your sake, for the sake of this
Church–and for the sake of the world around you, for, my Brothers and
Sisters, your testimony is, to a great extent, silenced and your
strength to bear it weakened. That face of yours, once so happy, was a
living advertisement of the Gospel! Your cheerful temperament under
trial was an invitation to sinners to come and find a like joy. But now
you are distressed and you go mourning without the light of the sun.
What can you do while you abide in such a state as that? You are like
the bruised reed out of which no music can come, or like the smoking
flax that yields no light, but only a dolorous and nauseous smoke. I am
grieved that it should be so, because were you now to attempt a verbal
testimony for Christ, it would be feeble and could not produce any
great result. I remember when I began to teach in the Sunday school. I
was very young in Grace then, having said to the class of boys whom I
was teaching that Jesus Christ saved all those who believed in Him. One
of the boys asked me the question, "Teacher, do you believe in Him?" I
replied, "Yes, I hope I do." And he enquired again, "But are you not
sure?" I had to look to myself to know what answer I should give. The
lad was not content with my repeating, "I hope so." He would have it,
"If you have believed in Christ, you are saved." And I felt at that
time that I could not teach until I could say, "I know that it is so."
I must be able to speak of what I had tasted and handled of the good
Word of Life! So, Brothers, you will find that you only perplex those
whom you gladly would persuade if, by your doubts, you provoke them to
say, "How can you expect us to believe at our mouth what you hesitate
to seal with the witness of your own heart?" Unless the joy of the Lord
is your strength, your soul will breathe a heavy atmosphere and your
utterance will be checked, if it is not chokedby your misgivings! It is
your confidence in Christ and the peace it brings you, that helps you
to speak to others as a true witness, because you are an experimental
witness of the power of true religion. Your verbal testimony, I say, is
weakened–I fear to a very great extent by the fog and vapor of your
scruples, the scruples of a conscience that droops and flags. It is sad
to think that while you are looking to your own soul in doubt whether
you are saved or not, you have but little energy to spare in caring
about the souls of others! Indeed, it is your first concern to see that
you, yourself, are saved. Till that all-important matter is resolved,
your zeal for your neighbor's welfare is ill-timed. Why busy yourselves
to keep other men's vineyards, while your own is left to be overgrown
with weeds? And then, my dear Friends, another melancholy aspect of
this disability is that all this while you are a detrimentto your
fellow Christians. It is hard enough to fight with Satan, but it is all
the harder work for the army to have to carry so many sick folk with
it, for it involves much more toil. You, whose faith is all but gone,
are like the baggage of an army–you hinder the rapid march of the
brave soldiers of the Cross! How you depress others that are around
you! Once your voice was that of a brave hero and you encouraged the
troops, but now you pine and cry, and make others hang their harps upon
the willows and learn the same doleful tune as your own! It is a sad
thing. I do not condemn you, but I greatly pity you, and I also greatly
pity the Church of God, and the cause of God, that it loses so much by
you who ought, in gratitude to Christ, do so much for Him. Alas, that
the people of God should be sunk into so mournful a condition!
II. THERE IS A SPECIAL EXPECTATION FOR THEM.
This is pressed in all earnest. Hear, it, oh, ailing Christian! "Shake
yourself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loosen
yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion."
Now, my Brother, content not yourself any longer with the state into
which you have fallen. May the Holy Spirit come to you and prompt you
to strike. Strive to get out of this condition into one of happiness
and strength. Let me try to encourage you a little, and may God enable
you to the utmost.
Remember, my dear Friend–suppose I am now talking to you, alone. I
almost wish I could grip your hand and look you close in the
face–remember from where you have fallen. Think of the peaceful hours
you once enjoyed. Oh, your stony heart was not always so cold! The Word
of God was not always so dry! The sanctuary was not always so
unprofitable! You have wrestled and prevailed–you know you have! You
have pleaded with God and you have had the desire of your heart. You
have communed with Christ and your soul has been like the chariots of
Aminadab! And can you bear to think of this and not cry–
"Return, OHoly Dove, return, Sweet Messenger of rest!"?
Can you once have known these things and had the flavor of them in your
mouth, without hungering and thirsting after them again? Think of them
and, perhaps, while you are musing upon the past, you may be helped by
strong desires to return unto the place from which you went out.
Think of the danger you are in at present. Who are they that are most
likely to fall into open sin? They are those who walk at a distance
from Christ. If you live in close communion with Jesus, you shall so
share of your Shepherd's company that you shall hear the wolf's howl,
but you shall not be likely to feel his fangs. I believe that when any
professor falls into a filthy sin, it is not the beginning, but the
culmination of a process and growth in iniquity! The open sin comes at
the heels of a long succession of neglected prayers, of neglected
worship of God in the family, a neglect of all communion with Christ
and negligence of every good thing. It is the fruit, not the seed of
the evil, which poisons the air and excites the public contempt.
Beware, then, O professor!–you who have lost the light of God's
Countenance–beware! Beware, I pray you, of that ill-condition of soul
which is the prolific parent of all distempers!
Remember, too, that there is real cause for apprehension that you never
were safe. It is just possible that those doubts you feel are no
insinuations of Satan, but the suggestions of an enlightened
conscience, or even the whispers of the Holy Spirit! Unless you are,
indeed, a Christian, in all probability, unless you now turn to God,
you will become the willing servitor of the Devil. Unless you now, with
full purpose of heart, seek Christ, perhaps the time has come when you
will turn aside, like Balaam, for reward, or perish in the gainsaying
of Korah. In some of those shapes in which wicked men have perished,
you may despondingly or presumptuously rush on to destruction and
precipitate your final doom! Beware again, I say, O cold professor–in
God's name, beware of trifling when you have so much reason to tremble!
My dear Friend, I would put another thought into your mind which may
help you. Perhaps you may think it is rather hampering than helping you
and tends more to depress than to deliver you. Remember how justly you
might now be left to your own devices. You became carnally secure. You
sinned away the light of God's Countenance. You grieved His Spirit.
What if He were now to say, "He is given unto idols, let him alone"?
What if from this day the Spirit should no more strive with you? What
if, after all, though you have talked and preached to others, you
yourself should be a castaway? I do but mention this to awaken you, my
Brother, if you are insensible. You know how sometimes the surgeon
fears that a man should sleep himself to death, and he will even drive
pins into him, or make him walk and drag him about thechamber so as to
awaken him. I would say anything, however sharp, if I might but wake
you out of your lethargy! I know you would welcome it and, in due time,
thank me for the severity of the operation.
But I shall refrain, for I think there is a better way than this. I
want you to arise and shake yourself from the dust, my poor desponding
Friend, because if the worst is the worst and you are no Christian, no
true Believer, yet, "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord,
though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as wool. Though they are
red like crimson, they shall be white as snow." What if it has been all
a mistake and you never ought to have made a profession? Remember Jesus
Christ receives sinners–come to Him now! I always find this the short
way out of a long dreary road, a quick relief for acute maladies, a
ready antidote for doubts and fears. The Devil has been arguing with
Christians for so many years that he understands the case against them
a great deal better than any of us do, and if we begin to controvert
with him, we shall soon find that that old hater of man will soon get
the mastery over us! But if we say, "I give in, Satan–I give in. I am
a sinner–the chief of sinners–have you anything more to say? I give
in, but I answer you with this–'The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
cleanses us from all sin. I believe in Him and my sins are, therefore,
washed away!'" This is the high road to perfect comfort! I beg you, my
dear Brother, to take it at once! Hear the Word of the Spirit, which
says, "Repent, and do your first works." The very first works were
repentance and faith, and so even begin again! Away to the Fountain
filled with blood! Away to the Cross, and give that life-look once
more! Away to the finished Substitutionary Sacrifice and beneath the
crimson canopy of the Atonement, hide your guilty head! Oh, if you do
this, your light shall break forth as the morning, and your glory as
the noonday! The Lord help you to do this, now, and end the strife!
Let me also remind any Christian here who is full of doubt and with the
bands of his neck tight upon him, that the blood has not changed its
power to cleanse. If it cleansed you 20 years ago, it can cleanse you
still! Remember, Jesus has not lost His power to save, nor has He
changed His Character for willingness to save to the uttermost–
"Jesussits onZion'shill, He receives poor sinners still." Come, then,
to the unchanging Savior! You who have been treacherous–you whose
hearts have played the harlot to Christ–come back, for His love to you
has not waned! "Return unto Me, O backsliding daughter, says the Lord;
for I am married unto you." The prodigal's heart may change towards his
Father, but his Father's heart never changes towards him. Return, then,
for mercy waits you, and not judgment! He is God and not man, else you
had been consumed! Return tonight, for He will put away your sin like a
cloud, and your transgressions like a thick cloud. Duly acknowledge
your wandering. Humble yourself because of your treachery and say, "My
Father, You shall be the guide of my youth," and you shall be restored
perfectly, and your former joy shall come back to you!
Do I hear you say, "But I am not fit to come back to Christ, and have
joy in Him at once"? Oh, Sir, were you fit at first? No! And you are
not fit now, but come and welcome! Christ wants nothing from you! Come
and trust Him and perfect salvation is yours. "Oh, but I cannot bear to
look Him in the face, for I have lived so long without walking in His
counsel." So much the more reason that you should not live another hour
without Him! I charge you, my poor distressed Brother–I charge you, my
troubled Sister–by the love that Christ has to you, come to Him now!
Behold, He stands at the door and knocks! If you will open to Him,
though the house is not furnished, nor the table covered with a
festival for Him as it should be, yet will He come in and sup with you,
even with you, and you shall sup with Him tonight! I see no reason why
the most desponding Christian, here, should not rejoice before he comes
to the Table of the Lord! I do not know why the most barren among us
should not be made fruitful! This I do know, that we are not straitened
in Him, we are not straitened in His willingness to bless, nor in His
ability to comfort! Oh, believe in Him, Christian! Believe Him. If you
are not a Christian, cast yourself at His feet. He will not let you
perish! Lay hold, if it is but of the hem of His garment and do not let
Him go! Even now shake yourself from the dust and put on your beautiful
garments.
III. A GLAD OBLIGATION HENCEFORTH RESTS UPON THEM.
I must close with this remark. I know there are many of God's people in
the state I have been describing. I have the pain, sometimes, of trying
to cheer them. I only hope that what I have said tonight may be blessed
of God to them. I fully anticipate it. Here, then, is the practical
point. " When you are converted, strengthen your Brothers and Sisters."
Look out for those who are in the same state as you have been in–and
be very tender toward them. As you know their case, and have traversed
that howling desert, you will be able to direct them. I have described
your case because Ifear that I have sometimes been on the verge of it
myself. I have found recovery by a fresh resort to the love of Christ
and a simple renewal of my trust in Him. I can, therefore, enter into
your feelings and ask you to try the same remedy. After you have found
the remedy to be a good one, it is but a small return, and certainly it
is due from you, to tell others how you have been restored!
Some of you, Beloved, have never been thus carried into captivity. I
pray God you never may be. There is no necessity for it, but let me
entreat you to walk very tenderly with your God. We serve a jealous
God. He will wink at many an act of insubordination done by His
enemies, the one-tenth of which, if done by His favorite ones, His
elect, His darlings–He will hide His face from them at once! "You,
only, have I known of all the people of the earth, therefore I will
punish you for your iniquities." Says He not, "As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten"? A sinner may go on wantonly unrebuked. He may add
house to house and field to field, and he may think himself secure–God
will deal with him in the next world. But the heir of Heaven is under a
discipline of Divine Love and God will deal with him in this world! And
among the chastisements of departure from Christ will be the loss of
comfort, the loss of power to do good and I know not what other
affliction added thereunto in his soul or in his circumstance. Dear
Brothers and Sisters, walk carefully, then– while you have the Light
of God, walk in the Light! Oh, prize the sweet love of Christ! Never,
never let it go. Say unto your soul, when Christ is in your heart, "I
charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of
the field, that you stir not up nor wake my Love until He pleases."
Introduce no rival's love, and no worldliness! Fall into no
inconsistencies, but pray for Grace that with holy jealousy you may
still dwell in the Light of God and find favor in His eyes.
And being thus kept near to God, and being strong in the power of His
might, come and give back the strength to Him from whom you derived it.
Stand up for Christ! I believe we are never happier than when we have
plenty to do. Idleness is the mother of vexation. A Christian who does
but little for Christ, unless he is prevented from doing it by
suffering, will, as a rule, be a miserable man or woman! You active
Christians, active in body and nimble in spirit–you joyous Christians
who walk in the Light of God's Countenance–"work while it is day, for
the night comes when no man can work." Let us pledge each other tonight
that we will now seek the good of Zion. Members of this Church, none of
you be unfaithful to the loyalty which you owe to Christ in this, the
hour when we seek to press forward as one man in the battle of our
Master! I would stand side by side with you to take my share–but what
can one do if he works alone? My Brothers in office will not be
backward, I know, but what can we do? Keep step with us, my Brothers
and Sisters, in pleading for souls, in proclaiming the Gospel, in
seeking to win the many to the knowledge of the Savior–and the Lord
will bless us, even our own God will bless us! Shaking ourselves from
the dust, and breaking off the bands of our own sloth, God will come
with His crown of benediction and place it on His Church's head! And
when we get that coveted prize, let us hold it fast, that no man take
it from us. Let us go forward as a Church in indissoluble union and in
unwearied service, until He shall come whose, "Well done!" shall be our
best reward!
The Lord bless you! And at His Table may the King's sweet spikenard
give forth a delightful perfume to every spiritual heart. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 138; ISAIAH 55:1-11; ROMANS8:28-39.
Verse 1. I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods will I
sing praise unto You. We cannot be too much occupied in the praises of
God. He rightly deserves all the thanksgivings we can bring to Him. It
is the great engagement of Heaven. Let us begin the music here. If we
would be heavenly-minded on earth, we must be filled with the praises
of God! Notice how David resolves that in praising God it shall be done
heartily. "I will praise You with my whole heart." If there is ever a
thing that ought to be done enthusiastically, it is the praising of
God! I cannot bear to hear God's praises chirped out elegantly by
polite people–as if they were ashamed of what they were doing. Nor can
I bear to see a mass of pipes and bellows left by itself to blow the
praises of God by machinery–instead of men and women praising Him with
their heart! Oh, how acceptable it must be to God to hear the heart
speak! As for the tongue and voice, however sweet their sound, there is
little in it. It is the heart! Soul music is the soul of music. "I will
praise You with my whole heart." See how bold the Psalmist is about
this. "Before the gods," he says," will I do it. Before the angels,
before the kings and great ones that think themselves little gods. I
will speak to the honor of Jehovah's name. Yes, and in the idol
temples, where their worshippers will be greatly angry about it. I will
praise You with my whole heart. Before the gods will I present praise
unto You."
2. I will worship toward Your holy Temple. That was God's way of
worship. In the old times there was the shrine of God–there was the
one altar which world render praise acceptable. David takes care to
render praise to God in God's way. And that is a great principle in
worship–to avoid will-worship and to endeavor to present sacrifices
such as God prescribes. "I will worship toward the holy Temple." What
blessed reasons are here given for praising. "I will praise You for
Your loving kindness." Is not that the grandest word in any
language–loving kindness? It is a compound of perfect sweets to make
up yet more perfect sweetness–kindness and love mixed together. A
marvelous blend! Loving kindness gave the promise, but truth takes care
to see it fulfilled. "So will I praise Your name."
2. Andpraise Your name for Your loving kindness and for Your truth, for
You have magnified Your Word. That is, "Your Word of promise–Your
Gospel which You have applied with power to my soul. You have made it
to seem lustrous beyond anything else I have ever seen of You, O my
God! Therefore will I magnify You, because You have magnified Your
Word."
2, 3. Above all Your name. In the day when I cried, You answered me,
and strengthened me with strength in my soul Ah, this is what ties a
man to praise. Answered prayer is sure to lead us to adoring gratitude.
Notice that he says that God answered him not by taking away his
trouble, but by strengthening him! With strength in his soul. You see
it does not matter whether He takes away the load, or strengthens the
back to bear it. And that is often the method by which He answers His
servants' cries. Not strength of body–perhaps he would have liked
that–but strength of soul. And oh, when the soul in strong, bodily
weakness is but a very small drawback. No, the weakness of the body may
sometimes tend to illustrate the more the greatness of the power of
God. Let us read that verse again, for some of us can set our seal to
it. "In the day when I cried, You answered me, and strengthened me with
strength in my soul."
4, 5. All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, when they
hear the words of Your mouth. Yes, they shall sing in the ways of the
LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD. David was a king, and kings
would learn from him. You and I are not kings, but we may exercise a
very beneficial influence in our own circle of acquaintances if we make
bold to praise God when others can hear us. Let us speak well of His
name. Wherever we go, let us have a good word for our Master. When
others want to know what sort of God we serve, may they gather it from
our holy joy and exultant confidence at all times!
6. Though the LORD is high, yet has He respect unto the lowly; but the
proud He knows afar off A glance of them is quite enough for Him. He
has no wish to know any more about them, He so hates them! Nothing can
separate God from a soul so much as pride. It is that which causes the
rejection of the Gospel. Men will not have the humbling Gospel–the
sinners' Gospel. They are too fine, too good, too lofty–and so they do
not want God, neither does His soul desire them. "For the proud He
knows afar off."
7. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me. He was a
king but he had his trouble. A throne is not a place wherein we can
shelter ourselves from trial. "Though I walk in the midst of
trouble"–like a man that is to rush through a fire–"yet I shall be
safe," he says, "for You will revive me–give me new life. When it
seems as if my life would be destroyed, You will quicken me again."
7, 8. You shall stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my
enemies, and Your right hand shall save me. The LORD will perfect that
which concerns me: Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever: forsake not the
works of Your own hands. Note the confident spirit that runs through
all this. There is a childlike trust in God and there is a gladsome
praise of God for what has been already received at his hands. Oh for
more of this spirit–the spirit that makes music to the Lord for the
past and trusts Him for the present and the future. Some more blessed
words of comfort from–
ISAIAH 55:1-11.
Verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that
has no money; come you, buy, and eat: yes, come buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Remark the wonderful condescension of
God, that though the gifts of His Grace are so precious that all the
world could not buy them, yet He condescends to ask His creature to
have those gifts. He stands, as it were, like One who has goods to
sell, and He cries, "Ho! Such-and-such a passerby, turnhere: give ear
in this way. Ho! Everyone that thirsts." If, then, there is any soul
that wants God, O Soul, God desires you infinitely more than you desire
Him! And He invites you to come to Him. Do not delay!
2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor
for that which satisfies not?Seeking happiness in a thousand ways with
much toil and trouble, but with bitter disappointment.
2. Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat you that which is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. God invites His creature to listen
to Him. "Do," He says "but lend Me your ear a little. Do but hearken
diligently to what I have to tell you." Oh, should not God's message of
love command the attention of all mankind?
3. Incline your ear and come unto Me! Hear, and your soul shall
live.Salvation does not come to men through the eye, but through the
ear. Not what you see in the finery of the priest or the altar. That
can do you no good. But listen to the Gospel. It is by ear-gate that
God's mercy comes triumphant into the soul of man. "Incline your ear
and come unto Me. Hear and your soul shad live."
3. And I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Here God will strike hands with the sinner and enter
into a compact with him–a Covenant of Mercy and of Grace through Jesus
Christ, the Savior!
4. Behold I have given Him for a witness to the people. To bear witness
to men of what God is.
4. A leader and commander to the people.For Christ loves the people and
He leads them rightly. He will lead them to Glory!
5. Behold, You shall calla nation that You knnownot, andnations that
knownot You shallrun unto You because of the LORD, Your God, and for
the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You. The promise is to
Christ! Today are these words fulfilled in our ears, for in calling
these British Isles to know Christ, God has given to the Lord Jesus a
people that knew Him not. What did our forefathers know of Jesus when
He was here below? And yet in this land He has multitudes of hearts
that love His name! Oh, that God would give this whole house full of
souls to Christ tonight! What a box it would make full ofjewels! Oh,
that the gracious Father would bestow it on His Son!
6-11. Seek you the LORD while He may be found, call you upon Him while
He is near Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon
him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so the rain comes down, and the
snow from Heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and
makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and
bread to the eater So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My
mouth–it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Therefore, we are not at all afraid about the success of the preaching
of the Gospel. Some will be saved tonight wherever Jesus Christ is
preached! My dear unsaved Hearer, will it be you? I pray it may be. May
the Lord grant that this may be the last night of your unregeneracy,
and be your spiritual birth night! Some willbe saved! Will yoube of the
number?
ROMANS8:28-39.
Verses 28-30. And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to His
purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also
called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified. No breaks between the links of this
chain! Foreknowledge is welded to the predestination–the
predestination is infallibly linked with the calling! The calling with
the justification and the justification with the glorification. There
is no hint given that there may be a flaw or break in the series. Get a
hold of any one and you possess the whole! The called man is the
predestinated man. Let him be sure of that. And the justified man shall
be a glorified man. Let him have no doubt whatever about that.
31. What shall we say, then, to these things? If God is for us, who can
be against us? A great many, but they are all nothing. If God is for
us, all they that are against us are not worth mentioning! They are
ciphers. If He were on their side, then the One would swell the ciphers
to the fullest, but if He is not there, we may put them all into the
scale and reckon them as less than nothing!
32, 33. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?Who, indeed?
33, 34. It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?No one can,
for–
34. It is Christ that died. And so put our sins to death. 34. Yes,
rather, that is risen again. And so has justified us.
34. Who is even at the right hand of God. And so has carried us into
Heaven by His representing us there.
34. Who also makes intercession for us. Whose everlasting pleas,
therefore, silences all the accusations of the devil!
35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
orsword?They have all been tried. In different ages of the world, the
saints have undergone all these, and yet has never one of them been
taken away from the love of Christ! They have not left off loving Him,
nor has He left off loving them. They have been tried, I say.
36. As it is written. For Your sake we are killed all the daylong; we
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. What is the result of it?
37-39. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him
that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Halleluiah! Blessed be His name!