God's Overtaking Mercy
(No. 3525)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1916.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 22, 1871.
"And He [the Angel of the Lord] said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, where have
you come from? And where will you go? And she said, I flee from the
face of my mistress Sarah." Genesis 16:8.
"And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her,
You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees, for she said, Have I also here seen Him who
sees me?" Genesis 16:13.
HAGAR had lived for many years in Abraham's family. This was no small
advantage. While all the rest of the world was in heathendom, the Light
of God shone brightly in Abraham's tent. Not only was Abraham, himself,
a worshipper of the Most High God, but he commanded his household after
him. We may rest assured that there were family gatherings for
devotion–that the Patriarch took occasion, both by precept and
example, to teach the knowledge of the true God to all who were in his
service. His was the central spot of the Light of God in the world–and
all around him was the thick gloom of heathenism. Yet I do not find
that Hager, during the years she lived with Abraham, even when she saw
his faith in going forth from his kindred and his country, and dwelling
in tents in the promised land–I do not find that she, herself,
received any personal call from God, or had a word from the Angel of
Mercy to her own soul. And truly in this she is like very many
servants, yes, and sons and daughters, too, in godly families who are
surrounded by the Light of God, but yet see not–who are where God
speaks–and yet He has not spoken personally to them. Who enjoy the
means of Grace, but have never yet got the Grace of the means–who are
themselves strangers in the midst of Israel, foreigners, though they
dwell in the land, itself! Now it would be a source of the greatest
imaginable joy to many of us if some of these should be called as Hagar
was–should hear the voice from Heaven and be enabled to make the
double discovery which she made, namely, that God saw her, and that she
might come into contact with God–might look to Him who had seen her!
At this time I shall first direct your attention to a very interesting
circumstance, namely– I. THE SINGULAR SEASON CHOSEN BY GOD FOR THE
INTERPOSITION OF HIS MERCY. Let us dwell on that a moment. God displays
His Sovereignty in saving souls, both in the souls whom He chooses to
save, in the instrumentality He uses in calling them, and in the
conditions of mind in which He finds them when He is pleased to look
upon them in mercy.
Now Hagar at that time–at the time when the Angel called to her seemed
to be in somewhat an unlikely state to be visited of God. She was,
first of all, at that moment smarting under a sense of wrong. She felt
that Sarah had not treated her well and in all probability Sarah had
not. The Eastern mistress is often very tyrannical towards her
servants, and Hagar stood very much in the position of a slave. We do
not doubt but what the jealous wife had been very severe–unjustly
severe towards the woman. There she sat by the well, feeling bitterness
in her own soul, that in the house of good people where she had
expected better things, she had been treated with injustice. It did not
seem likely that the God of Abraham would call her when her heart was
seething like a pot with indignation against the household where God
was worshipped! At the same time, as she turned the matter over and her
soul grew more and more bitter within her, I should not wonder but what
she felt she had brought a good deal of it upon herself. She was but
the servant and she had desired to play the mistress. She had despised
the mistress–no doubt spoken to her very contemptuously–and now it
had returned upon her and she was made to suffer for her own pride. Her
proud, fierce spirit, perhaps, did not admit it, but yet she must have
felt in her conscience that much of what was wrong about her she had,
notwithstanding, brought upon
herself. Now when a person is under such a feeling as that, disturbed,
tossed to and fro, vexed, distracted–it does not seem a likely time
for them to hear the voice of God speaking to their souls!
Moreover, at that moment she was leaving all that was good. She had
turned her back upon the household, the chosen household–left it, I
will not say deliberately, but at any rate she had left it. She was
going down into Egypt–going "anywhere, anywhere out of the world," so
that she could but get away from the place where her bondage had become
irksome. She was going, she scarcely knew where, but she probably did
know that she was going into heathendom, among heathen people. The best
she could hope to meet with was separation from God. She could not but
feel that it was black darkness which was before her and she was
rushing madly into it because her high spirit would not bend–would not
bow–would not yield before the majesty of the Most High. I think I see
her there, her eyes red with weeping, her spirit broken down with the
hunger of her journey, sitting a while and refreshed a moment, and
resolved not to stoop and never to go back–and then, again, shuddering
at the darkness that lay before her and afraid to go on. It was in such
a state as that that God met with her! To all intents and purposes she
was a friendless, outcast woman. She had left the only tents where she
could claim a shelter. She had gone into the wilderness–no father, no
mother, no brother, no sister to care for her. She turned her back upon
those who had any interest in her and now she was left alone–alone,
alone in a desert land without an eye to pity or a hand to help! It was
then, under those peculiar circumstances of trial and of sin
commingled, that God met with her!
I have been wondering in my soul, when I turned over this text, whether
there would stray into this Tabernacle some kindred case, and whether,
though no angel spoke, yet the voice of man might be tonight the voice
of the Messenger of the Covenant to some poor soul? I know you not by
name, nor face, yet I know well your feelings! It may be tonight you
are sorely angry, greatly vexed, smarting, wrathful! You have made up
your mind to choose the world and give up every semblance of that which
is good. It may be tonight that you have lost everything that makes
earth worth living in. You long for death–you would almost seek the
place where the lamps quiver on the dark river, for your spirit is
bitterness, itself, your lamp of hope is gone out! Oh, but it may be
that this is the night when God's mighty mercy is ordained to meet with
you–the very evening in which the Lord shall call out your name and
you shall feel that He knows you, your case, your circumstances and
that He has come to call you to Himself and you never might have been
called had not these extremities of yours brought God to your rescue
and to your salvation! I do not suppose that there will be anyone whose
case exactly resembles that of the text, but it has sometimes happened
that the turning point of human life has been the point of great
sorrow, great penury and distress of mind on account of some gigantic
fault, or it has been the time of some dreadful alternative put before
the soul in which it seemed as though it must be God or devil that
night–Heaven or Hell that night–eternal joy or eternal misery that
night! On some such strange occasion as this in your mental history you
have come here tonight–may God, who is here, speak with you! A
singular season for mercy! Now, secondly, let us look at–
II. THE MODE OF MERCY, OR THE HOME QUESTIONS WHICH THE ANGEL PUT TO
HER.
She is sitting there by the well. It is in a desert. It may be a little
oasis on the road, but there is no one within sight, nor any
probability of any caravan passing that way. As she sits quite still,
she hears a voice, "Hagar." She starts, she looks up and there is a
brightness like the sun above her–it shines brighter than the sun at
noonday! She can scarcely bear the light, and she hears it again,
"Hagar, Sarah's maid." Whoever it is that is speaking knows who she is,
and what she is, and all about her. "Where have you come from? And
where will you go?" She is so startled–she has just been thinking of
the place from where she came–and that dismal question had just been
starting her mind. "Where will you go?" She felt that there was no
place for her to go. It was only a choice of equal horror–she knew not
where to go. Now remark this, that very often the Gospel call comes to
the sons of men not by a voice heard by the ear, but through the
ministry in the way of describing the person's case with minute
accuracy. It was the Savior's way of doing it when He was on earth. The
woman was by the well. The Savior spoke to her. The words did not seem
to take effect. He turned the subject, and He said, "Go, call your
husband and come here." "I have no husband," she said. If she could
blush, she blushed then–"I have no husband." "You have said well, 'I
have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now
have is not your husband. In that you said truly." Then the shock went
to her very heart! She perceived that He who spoke was something more
than man. And when the Gospel fully preached describes the sinner,
paints him, photographs him, holds it before him and makes him say,
"Why, that is me–he speaks of me–it is even me," then it is that the
soul perceives what Hagar perceived–that God saw her–and that she
might look to God!
Now I shall not endeavor to make any picture of you, dear Hearer. If I
were to try it, I could not do it–it is only the Lord, Himself, who
guides us in such matters. But I will put the question to you, "Where
have you come from?" Did you
come into the condition in which you now are out of a godly parentage?
Have you got into London sin, but was there a time when you once knelt
at your mother's knee at eventide and repeated a gracious prayer? Ah,
you have spent many a day and many a night in the haunts of sin! You
were once a teacher in the Sabbath school–once a lover of the Gospel
(at least professedly so) which now you turn from and abhor! "Where
have you come from?" From old impressions that have been forgotten?
From an old profession that has been disgraced? Were you once
honorable, but now dishonorable– once a servant of God, but now a
servant at the devil's altar–a ringleader in sin it may be, though
once you were at Heaven's own gates? "Where have you come from?"
Remember from where you have fallen, and repent! And "where will you
go?" Oh, let me put the question! You stand tonight just here, "Where
will you go?" Another sin tempts you tonight–will you commit it? I
would gladly stand with you, as the old Scythian did of old when his
country was about to be invaded by the foe. He drew a line before the
chieftain of the invading host, and said, "Cross that line, and there
is war forever! Stay there and there may be peace." I put a line before
your steps tonight! In the name of the everlasting God, I charge you
cease from that sin! Once more commit it and it may be that no mercy's
trumpet shall ever sound out a message of forgiveness to you again!
"Where will you go?" Oh, go not like a dog to your vomit, like the sow
that was washed to her wallowing! Go no further, for "where will you
go" in the future? A man who sins today will sin worse tomorrow, and
the next day even worse. Many a young man, when he has commenced with
what are called the follies of London life, had no idea that he would
end it debauched, depraved and abandoned! Many a woman, when she has
once begun to trifle with sin, had no idea that her name would be
coupled one day with infamy! Many a young man at his master's till is
scrupulously honest, today, and never dreams that he will one day be a
thief–yet he is about to take a step that will surely make him so–the
first step to evil!
Oh, "where will you go?" I believe that many a man, many a woman, if
they could go back 20 years and be young people, again, and have their
history written, the true history as they lived it, would say, "I never
shall live so. Is your servant a dog that he should do this thing?"
They would have been indignant at the supposition that they could ever
be capable of the transgression into which they have now actually
fallen! "Where will you go?" Stop! Stop! You who are marching on to
evil, stop! In the name of Him that lives, stop, lest you march to
damnation and take one step that shall be your inevitable ruin, for
this is the worst of it! "Where will you go?" The way of sin is the way
of destruction! Men cannot sin and be happy. The end, the end, the end,
the end of it, oh, think of it! It is not today, nor tomorrow, but it
is that dying hour–no, it is not that only–it is that hour when, up
from among the dead, you shall arise amidst the ringing of the Last
Judgment trumpet! It is that opening of the books, that reading of the
several dooms–that separation of the righteous from the wicked–it is
that which hangs upon this question, "Where will you go?" Oh, go not to
the Judgment unforgiven! Go not to the Judgment to be condemned, to be
cast into the place "where their worm dies not, and their fire is not
quenched." God save you, Sinner! May He save you tonight instrumentally
by the force of those two questions–"Where have you come from? Where
will you go?"
And now let us notice, attentively, having observed the remarkable
season and the home questions, let us notice attentively–
III. THE DISCOVERY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
The description had been so accurate–"Hagar, Sarah's maid." The
questions had been so pertinent, had stuck so close to her soul–"Where
have you come from? And where will you go?" that she said, "It is God,
it is God that speaks to me." And there came home to her what she had
often heard before, but never felt. "There is a God. God is not an
impalpable somebody up there who has nothing to do with me, but there
is God here, here, and He sees me! It is God that deals with me–not
far away, asleep, or blind, but God sees me!" Oh, it is a glorious
thing when a soul starts up to that conviction, "I am not alone, I am
not friendless, after all. There is a God and a God who sees me and who
takes such notice of note that He speaks to me." A man is never saved
until he gets to feel something of the nearness of God, God in Christ
Jesus, but yet God. Consciousness of Deity is one of the marks of
salvation. Now Hagar's thoughts must have been something like this.
"After all, there is Somebody that has seen me and marked all my past
life, though I did not see Him. He knows everything that I have done or
thought, or said, and I perceive now that He has spoken to me, that He
cares about me. I thought Abraham did not care for me, Sarah was angry,
and then I said, 'No man cares for my soul, and I will go away.' Now I
see that God was watching me and He has cared about me, and though He
did not interpose to help me just then, just when I was so bitterly
oppressed, yet I know He has cared for me, for at last, when I was
sitting on this well, alone, He spoke to my soul." Sinner, I pray the
Holy Spirit to make just this discovery to you, that, after all, God
does care about you! He who made the heavens and the earth does think
of you! Though you are little, and less than nothing as compared with
the bulk of His vast Creation, yet on you He sets His eyes, for you He
has a care!
"Well," Hagar said in her soul, "seeing that He cares for me, He will
interpose on my behalf." The Angel, who spoke, spoke words of comfort
to her heart–told her that there was a happier future in store for her
than she dreamed–sent her away with a comfortable word ringing in her
ears! Oh, Soul, I pray God to do that for you tonight! You have said,
"God has forgotten me." He knows all about you. It may be this is the
Truth of God–I hope it is–that your name is written on the palms of
Jesus' hands! What if it should turn out that you, rebellious sinner
that you are, are one whom God loved before the foundation of the
world? What if you are one of His chosen, whom the Savior bought with
His blood? What if you are one who shall surely sit in Heaven, wear the
white robe and sing the new song–what if you are a favored one of the
Most High? Oh, I think I hear you say, "If I had half a thought that
that was true, I would not lie down in despair–I would up and bestir
myself and I would have done with my old companions! I would have done
with my old sins, if that were true!" Oh, Soul, I cannot tell you that
it is true–I hope it is–but I can tell you one thing that is true,
namely, that if you will now come and put your trust in Jesus Christ,
and repent of your iniquities, then it is all true! I can only know
your election by your calling! I can only tell your calling by your
repentance and by your faith! And if you should find peace, tonight,
and I pray you may, then you are God's beloved! He who made the heavens
loves you! He who made the earth bought you with His blood and Heaven
would not be complete without you! What if you have been far off by
wicked works, yet still you are a child and Heaven shall yet ring with
music on your return! What if you have been lost in the filth of
drunkenness and all manner of lasciviousness, yet still a piece of
God's precious silver, the house shall be swept for you and the candle
lit, and you shall yet be found and put into the Savior's treasury! Oh,
what hope this ought to make well up in the poor hopeless sinner's
heart! It is not because of your goodness, but because of His Infinite
goodness that He comes to meet with you, unworthy as you are, for He
sees you–He sees you–with thoughts of love He sees you and tonight He
interposes as He calls you by your name!
Now when Hagar made that discovery, she made another at the same time.
She said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?"–as much as to say,
and probably she had not known it before, that as God could come to
her, so she could go to God. "God has looked after me, and now I can
look after Him." There is not a great gulf between the creature and the
Creator. We can send messages to Heaven and receive blessings from
Heaven. She felt from that moment that God was real, living,
appreciable and that God would hear her prayers and answer her
petitions–and had really and literally spoken to her. Oh, I do not
know anything that puts such strength into a man, such encouragement,
such joy makes him so patient as the belief that God has spoken to
him–that God has spoken in words of love and promise to him! Why, from
that day poor Hagar would say, "I will go back. I will go back. The God
of Abraham has spoken to me. Abraham may be unkind, but I will bear it,
for Abraham's God has spoken to me. Sarah may be more cross than
ever–never mind, I do not know that I can tell her of it, but oh, it
will be such a joy in my soul–God has spoken to me, assured me of His
favor, given me a blessing!" Now that young man who thinks he has been
so badly treated, if he gets his sins pardoned tonight, and the Lord
speaks with him, he will go back and say, "I daresay I was as much to
blame as anybody, but, whether or not, I am saved and I can now put up
with anything!" And that man who is so poor that he would hardly dare
come even into this Tabernacle because his clothes were so shabby, and
he was ready to say, "I will give up the battle of life. I will never
try again"–oh, if he were able to say, "I know that God has spoken
with me tonight, brought me to the Savior's feet and blotted out my
sin"–oh! dear Brother, you will pick up the weapons, again, and go to
the battle of life once more, and your poverty will seem to have lost
its edge! The bitterness will have departed! The iron will not enter
into your soul! Get a word from God and know that you are His child,
and you can say, "Now blow, you winds, rage, you waves, and all you
elements let forth your fury–the God that rules you all is now my
Friend! No hurt can you do to
me!"
If you notice, it was just so with Hagar when she had heard the voice
of the Lord and perceived that God saw her and that she could speak to
God–then at once she went back. Told to go back, back she
went–submitted herself. You don't find her again personally–though
the old blood came up afterwards in her son–you don't find her
quarrelling with her mistress, but she patiently bears her lot in the
recollection of the blessing that she had received. This is just the
way with men, willful, wayward, headstrong–but when they get the Grace
of God, they bend their shoulders to Christ's yoke and they become tame
and gentle. Because they are happy in God's love, they are patient in
the ills of this life. Remember the story of the poor raving maniac.
They had often bound him with chains, but he snapped them asunder. He
had left his family and gone to dwell among the tombs. He made night
hideous with his screams and howls. Men dared not pass that way, for he
was worse than a wild beast! He had cut himself and torn his flesh,
torn himself with stones and briars–none could tame him! But after
Jesus had said to the evil spirit, "I charge you that you come out of
him," we find him clothed, which he had not been for many a day, in his
right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus! Oh, if some wild
spirit is here now, some spirit driven to it by suffering, by neglect,
by injustice from others–and also by its own personal sin–if the Lord
brings you to trust in Jesus, His dear Son, and see your sin all laid
upon Him, then you will, even at this moment, be a different man! Your
wife will scarcely know you, nor your children, either! You will become
another than you have ever been before. You will go back to your
business, back to your burdens, back to your sufferings and bear them
all for the sake of Him that spoke out of Heaven and saved your soul!
Now the most of this I daresay is not applicable to the most of you.
You know I have been thinking, while preaching, that you might say I
had not been preaching except to some one or two that were here. Well,
I will tell you my excuse. "What man of you, if he has an hundred
sheep, if he loses one, does not leave the ninety and nine, and go
after that which is gone astray?" After that "gone-astray one" I have
gone! And my Master, too! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 CORINTHIANS 13; EPHESIANS1.
1 CORINTHIANS 13
Verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not charity, I have become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling symbol If
there is no love to God, and no love to man, the vital element is
lacking. Whatever sound we make, if the Word of God is not in us, it is
a sound that has no meaning, conveys no heavenly meaning. "I have
become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." What if any of us
who bears witness for Christ with our tongues should be found to be no
better than this?
2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I
could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. Judas had,
no doubt, faith in God's miracles, but yet he was not saved.
Selfishness was his ruling motive–he had no love to God or man. How
this clips the wings of those lofty ones who hover on high, boasting of
their knowledge and of their gifts! There are many who have few
gifts–obscure and unknown, but love God much–these are the accepted
ones! Before God the balances of the sanctuary are rather turned by the
shekel of love than by any weight of talent or position.
3. And though Ibestow allmy goods to feed thepoor, and though Igive my
body to be burned, andhave not charity, it profits me nothing. Love is
a matter of the heart, and if the heart is not right with God, external
acts, though they are very similar to the highest acts that flow from
love, are of no service! God requires the heart to be right, and if
that is not right, whatever comes out of us is not acceptable in His
sight.
4. 5. Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity
vaunts not itself, is not puffed up. Does not behave itself unseemly,
seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil Always try to
put the best construction on other people's actions and work. Let
gentleness triumph.
6-11. Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Charity never fails: but where there are prophecies, they shall fail;
where there are tongues, they shall cease; where there is knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part But
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done a way with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child: but when I become a man, I put away
childish things. Much of what we call knowledge, much of what we call
eloquence, will all be put away. As our spiritual growth shall
increase, we shall not need these childish things.
12, 13. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And
now abides faith, hope, charity, these three. Three abiding Graces.
Some have said that faith and hope will not be found in Heaven. Why
not? Why not? It seems to me there will be plenty of room for them–
plenty of space for them. Am I to be an unbeliever when I get to
Heaven? Am I not to believe when my disembodied spirit goes to Heaven?
Am I not to believe in the resurrection of the dead? Am I not hopefully
to expect it? Am I not in Heaven to believe in the Second Advent of
Christ? Am I not to be hoping for it? Am I not to believe in the
complete conquest of Christ, and that He shall reign from the river,
even to the ends of the earth? And am I not to hope for it? To miss
faith and hope in Heaven were to miss two things which the Apostle
expressly tells us are the abiding things!
13. But the greatest of these is charity. It is the highest, the
pinnacle. It is not the foundation–that is faith. Just as a rose in
full bloom is greater than the stem that bears it, so, while faith is
most necessary, and hope most cheering, love is the most beautiful and
brightest of the three!
EPHESIANS 1.
Verse 1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He was
not made an Apostle by man, neither did he take the office upon
himself, but he was made an Apostle by the will of God.
1. To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. The saints in Ephesus, the saints where they cried, "Great is
Diana of the Ephesians," had to bear an earnest witness against
idolatry. And, dear Friends, today saints in London will not have a
very easy time of it if they are faithful to their Lord, for there is
much to protest against in this evil generation! But as there were holy
ones in Ephesus, God grant that there may be many such in London!
2. Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul would have us peaceful, restful, quiet. That peace
must be based upon Divine Grace–he does not pray that we may have
peace apart from Grace, but, "Grace be to you, and peace."
3, 4. Blessed be the God andFather ofour Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with allspiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world. The high mystery of Election is taught in the Word of God, but
some are afraid to speak of it. Not so our Apostle! He brings it out
very clearly and distinctly, and so should we, only taking care to keep
it in the proportion of other Doctrines.
4, 5. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. You hear much
about the free will of man. Hear a little about the free will of God!
You would think, from the talk of some, that God was man's debtor and
must do according to the will of man. But it is not so. He is a
Sovereign, and gives His Grace to whom He chooses, and He would have us
know that it is according to the good pleasure of His will.
6. To the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He has made us
accepted in the Beloved. Are there four words in any language which
contain choicer meaning than these, "Accepted in the Beloved"? Oh, if
you can say that, if you can feel it to be true, you are among the
happiest of men and women! "Accepted in the Beloved." You can never be
accepted apart from Christ, the Father's best Beloved. But there is
merit enough in Him to overflow and cover all our sins, and we are
accepted in the Beloved.
7. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches ofHis Grace. Notice how the Apostle keeps
on insisting that we have everything in Christ. He says, times out of
number, "in Him," "in Christ." We have redemption. We are free. We are
no longer under bonds. What is the price? "Through His blood." What is
the result? "Forgiveness of sins." What is the measure of our liberty?
"According to the riches of His Grace."
8. Wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Not
drowning us with floods of His Grace, but handing it out to us as we
are able to take it. The riches of His Grace we have, but He uses
wisdom and prudence, teaching us little by little as we are able to
bear it, and raising us up by degrees from one stage of Grace to
another, according as our poor frames can endure the joy!
9. 10. Having made known unto us the mystery ofHis will, according to
His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself: That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth;
even in Him. There are things in Christ in Heaven. There are things in
Christ on earth. But all the things in Christ shall be gathered
together. All the redeemed shall come as one great host to bow before
the Throne of the Infinite Majesty.
11. In whom also–Notice those words.
11. We have obtained an inheritance. We have got the inheritance. Even
now we have entered upon possession of the Kingdom of Grace.
11, 12. Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works
all things after the counsel ofHis own will; That we should be to the
praise ofHis glory, who first trusted in Christ. The first saints led
the way in the front of the army, and they are to the praise of God's
Glory to this day. We thank God for the Apostles and martyrs who went
before us. We will follow them as they followed Christ.
13. In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth,
the Gospel ofour salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. After faith, the Holy
Spirit is given to dwell in the soul. That is the seal. It is not that
the Holy Spirit brings a seal with Him. He is the Seal. Where He
dwells, He is the seal of God's love to that man.
14. Which is the earnest ofour inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise ofHis glory. The Holy Spirit is
first, the seal, and next, the earnest. We all know what an earnest is.
It is different from a pledge. A pledge is given and then it is taken
back again when the stipulation is carried out. But an earnest is part
of
what is to be ultimately received. The man who receives an earnest of
his wage gets a few shillings, say, on Thursday, instead of taking all
on Saturday. He never returns that. It is a part of his wages. And so
the Holy Spirit is a part of him. When we have got Him, we have got
Christ–
"You are the earnest of His love,
The pledge of joys to come;
And Your soft wings, Celestial Dove,
Shall safely convey me home." 15, 16. Therefore I, also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Is
that the way that we pray? Do we make mention of people in our prayers?
It is well to do so! It is a good plan to keep a list of persons for
whom we ought to pray and to put it before us when we draw near to God,
and go over the names. I know one man of God who has kept a debtor and
creditor list with God for many years. He puts his requests down in the
book, and when they are answered he puts that down, and if they are not
answered, he repeats them. It is a very wonderful book. I think that he
told me that there is a name down there of a person for whom he has
prayed, who is not converted yet, and that out of several for whom he
began to pray, he is the only one who is not converted–and that he is
the only one that is alive! The others were brought to Christ and died
in the faith, but he, not yet brought to Christ, still lives–and my
friend prays on with as great a confidence of the conversion of that
man as I have that Christmas will come in due time! I wish that we did
business with God in some such fashion as that, but our prayers are
shadowy, unreal. God teach us how to pray!
17, 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may
give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may
know what is the hope of His calling. You see he gave thanks to God for
their faith and for their love. But there are three Divine sisters that
must never be separated–faith, hope, and love, and so the Apostle
prays, "that you may know what is the hope of His calling."
18-21. And what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked
in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, andset Him at His right
hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, andpower,
andmight, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come. See how high Christ is
raised! The same power that brought Christ from the dead and set Him on
high, works in the salvation of every Believer! Nothing less than
Omnipotence can save a soul–and Omnipotence at its very best in the
glorification of Christ is none too great for the salvation of a
sinner!
22, 23. Andhasput all things under His feet, andgave Him to be the Head
over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him
that fills all-in-all May God bless to us the reading of that Chapter.