A Discourse For A Revival Season
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 8TH, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people because of
them that dwell in a far country, Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her
King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven
images and with strange vanities? The harvest is past, the summer is
ended and we are not saved." Jeremiah 8:19,20.
THESE words, as they stand in the book of Jeremiah, were probably meant
to set forth the sin of Israel. The Prophet's heart is very full of
sadness–he can hear the shrieks and cries of the people in the streets
of Jerusalem. They are moaning for sorrow because of the oppression of
the Chaldeans–the nation that dwelt afar off. And in the midst of
their bitterness and woe they remember the God whom they had forgotten
in their prosperity–but this remembrance is not a gracious one. They
do not remember Him to humble themselves before Him, but to bring
accusations against Him!
They enquire, "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?" As if
they felt, "The people of the Lord, the people of the Lord are we, and
therefore He is bound to send us a deliverance." They question the
faithfulness of Jehovah because He justly suffers them to be
downtrodden for their sins. Then the Lord, speaking by the Prophet,
tells them the reason why, although present among them, He did not help
them–"Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and
with strange vanities?"
If they believed Him to be present, why did they set up false gods? If
they considered Him to be their God, why did they turn aside to the
vanities of the heathen? His Presence among them had been the occasion
of greater provocation since they had mocked Him to His face and set up
idols in His own temple! In the twentieth verse the Prophet represents
the people as breaking forth into another dolorous and lamentable cry,
"We thought that God would help us in the days of harvest–but the
harvest is past. We dreamed that He would chase away our enemies when
the summer months had come–but the summer is ended and still Chaldea
has her foot upon Judea's neck–still we drink the wormwood and the
gall and our enemies open their mouths at us. The harvest is past and
the summer is ended and we are not saved."
We find in the New Testament that sometimes the Apostles used the
language of the Prophets in other than the original sense. Finding the
Prophetic words to be expressive of a sense which they themselves
wished to convey to the people, they did, as it were, take the horses
and chariot of the Prophet and drive them in another direction. So I
intend to do this morning. It strikes me that there is no text in
Scripture more applicable to our present condition than this. "Behold
the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people because of them that
dwell in a far country."
We have been crying and pleading with God for the multitude of far-off
sinners who know nothing of Him. We will begin, therefore, by dwelling
upon the cry. Then comes a question, a question much requiring earnest
thought at pre-sent–"Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?"
Then we have another question which may cause searching of heart both
among saints and sinners–"Why have they provoked Me to anger with
their graven images and with strange vanities?" And our text concludes
with another cry, not the cry of gracious souls for others, but the cry
of graceless sinners for themselves, "The harvest is past, the summer
is ended and we are not saved."
I. At the outset we have in the text A CRY. Observe the word, "Behold."
I have told you many times that wherever the word, "behold," occurs in
Scripture, it is a sort of signpost to show that there is good
entertainment within. God puts this, "N.B.," in the margin that we may
observe well what it is that He is saying to us. The "behold" here is
the mark of astonishment. We are to "Behold the voice of the cry of the
daughter of My people" as an unusual thing. So seldom does Israel cry
unto the Lord–she is so negligent of prayer, she is so silent when she
ought to be incessant in her petitions–that when at last she does cry,
her voice is a wonder in God's ears!
I have felt, this week, in the state of mind which is indicated by that
interjection, "Behold!" When I sat on this platform on Monday night and
marked your sobs and tears and heard the suppressed sighs and groans of
the great multitude then assembled, I could not but say, "Behold!" And
yet it ought not to be a wonder, it ought not to be a strange thing for
God's people to be in earnest, or for sinners to feel brokenness of
heart! If prayer is the Christian's breath, why then, to see a
multitude breathing should never be a spectacle! If to pray unto God is
the Christian's daily privilege, then to approach the Throne of God
with prevalent earnestness should never be looked upon with
astonishment!
Yet, Brothers and Sisters, we must frankly confess that it is so. True
prayer is an astonishing thing! Prevalent intercession is an amazing
thing–and if you want to see something that will really thrill you
with a holy wonder, attend a Prayer Meeting where the Holy Spirit is
present in the fullness of His power and where the Brethren pray not as
a mere matter of form, but as if filled with all the fullness of God!
Such meetings as we have had during the past week are things to marvel
at! Behold! It has become a wonder for God's people to really cry. Ah,
there are some of you to whom weeping over sinners would be a novelty.
To some of you professors agonizing for souls would be a new thing–you
pray for sinners in your usual prayers–but you do not know what it is
to travail in birth for souls. You never feel as if your hearts would
break if souls are not saved. You do not feel the burden of the Lord
laid upon you till you are crushed in the dust and made to groan out,
"God have mercy upon these poor perishing souls."
With some of you it would be a great wonder to be really on fire in
prayer. And if we heard you cry, we should be compelled to say, "Behold
the voice of the cry of My people." Notice how this prayer is
described. It is a cry–"Behold the cry." A cry is the most natural
form of utterance. It is a natural expression made up of pain and
desire for relief. A cry is the first sign of human life–as if to
indicate that we are most alive when most we cry. As if a cry were the
way to life and the path to higher life ever afterwards. A cry! There
is something cutting and piercing in it. It cleaves its way up to the
Throne of God. A spiritual cry! It is born in the heart, down deep in
the inner recesses of regenerate nature. It is not a mere lip-worship,
it is not a thing of the tongue and of the jaw.
A cry! It comes from the very soul and therefore it reaches to God's
ear and God's heart. A cry! It is a plaintive, bitter, painful
thing–and, mark you–God's people seldom get a blessing in the
conversion of souls till their prayer turns into a cry mingled with
weeping. And if there is sobbing and groaning, it is none the worse. Do
you know, dear Friends, the difference between the prayers which are
not cries and those which are? When a Brother merely prays what we call
prayer, he stands up and utters very proper words, very edifying, very
suitable, no doubt, and then he is done.
Another Brother comes forward–he wants a blessing–he tells the Lord
what he desires. He takes the promises. He wrestles with God and then
he seems to say, "I will not let You go except You bless me." He cannot
be satisfied till, with the cry of, "Abba, Father," he has come before
the Throne of God and really obtained an audience with the Most High.
Note again, for every word of our text is suggestive–it is, "Behold
the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people." It is not enough to
be earnest! You must know what you are earnest about! The cry must have
a voice which is as far as possible understood by yourself and a voice
which has a meaning in it before God.
I am afraid there have been some meetings against which the charge of
fanaticism might be very fairly brought, because, while there was an
admirable earnestness which it were well for colder Christians to copy,
there was a lack of understanding–a want of really knowing what they
wanted. Beloved, we must be clear when we come before God that we
really are asking for something. Our soul must prepare itself by
meditation upon its own needs and upon the needs of the people to
express an intelligent desire before God.
Cry! Cry aloud as much as you will! But remember, when the voice said
cry, the Prophet said, "What shall I cry?" And so when I come before
God in prayer, I must ask Him, "What shall I cry?" And I must get a
clear sense of what it is at which I am driving. For if an archer takes
no aim, he may pull his bow with all his might, but he certainly is not
likely to succeed. I must direct my prayer unto God as David says–pull
my bow, direct the arrow, take aim at the center of the target–and
then when the arrow flies it is likely to reach its place. "In the
morning will I direct my prayer unto You and will look up."
What a mercy it is that our cries have a voice with God! Why sometimes,
when our cries have no voice for us, they have a voice with God. "The
Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered." When my desires are such that there are no words in any human
language which could possibly express them, my heart does but let fall
a tear, or lift a glance to Heaven and there is a voice in my cry.
"Lord, take the meaning, take the meaning," said a poor man in an
earnest prayer, to which I remember to have once listened–"I cannot
tell You, Lord, what I want, but take the meaning, take the meaning of
my poor stammering words."
There is a voice in our prayers as a Church and I think it is, "Father,
have mercy upon souls! Father, arise and let Your kingdom come, and let
the name of Your Son Jesus be honored in the hearts of many! Father,
let the Spirit who dwells in His Church, now work mightily and get to
Your name great renown in the midst of the dense crowd among whom we
dwell." O God, this is the voice of the cry of Your people! Further,
study the matter of the voice–it was, "for them that dwell in a far
country." In what a far country does every sinner dwell! "He took his
journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous
living."
The sinner who is nearest to God is still in a far country. You
moralists, how far off you are from God! Dear Mr. Offord said the other
night, "Can any of you tell how far off God is from the unpardoned
sinner? Remember, you are on this side of sin and God is on the other
side of it–but can anyone tell how far God is from the other side of
sin! His pure and holy eyes cannot even look on it! Then how far must
He be from it! You are just so far off from God as God is from sin,
added to the breadth and length of sin itself. See your sin towering
like a stupendous Alp! You cannot cross that barrier and God is far
away on the other side of that mountain. This is your wretched position
afar off from God."
Now, the prayers, I hope, of God's people have been going up for all
the far-off ones, that infinite mercy would make them near by the blood
of Christ. There are certain special far-off ones whom we ought to
mention in our prayers and whom we ought to labor after in our
Christian efforts. Do not forget the harlot when you pray–illustrious
trophies of Divine Grace have been snatched from the kennel and the
pavement. Do not forget the poorest of the poor, the vilest of the
vile–and those who dwell in haunts where theft, ignorance and crime do
fester. Pray for these most. They most need your entreaties–and let
your prayer be a cry–a cry like that of Jesus when He wept over
Jerusalem.
It would be one of the healthiest things in all the world for you
Christian people, if you were to spend a day with City Missionaries and
Bible Women in the very worst of our back slums. If your cry did not
come up, then, for those who dwell in a far country, I despair of your
knowing what true religion means! The fact is we do not face the sin of
London. We, like the ostrich, bury our heads and shut our eyes so as to
avoid seeing the evil. We can so easily get to our places of worship
along the front streets in which there is a fringe of respectability
and order and so on, that we forget the dark lanes, the blind alleys,
the dingy courts, the places where poverty, suffering, sin and
ignorance abound.
O dear Friends, if we do not go further, if we do not think of foreign
lands, we have still reason enough for putting up the voice of our cry
for those who are, "in a far country," and yet dwell at home in
England! Still, I must have you remark another word in the text–for,
"those that dwell in a far country"–there are some of you who make a
long abode in a far country. You were afar off from God eleven years
ago. I preached at you then. You were afar off from God five or six
years ago, when revivals were frequent. When this Tabernacle was opened
you came here and took your seat and you were afar off from God
then–and you are afar off now.
The fact is, you have taken up your dwellings–you have made a
settlement in one of the parishes of the City of Destruction! You are
making out a claim to be enrolled in the devil's register. You dwell in
the far-off land. If you were uneasy and felt yourselves to be
strangers and foreigners in the land of destruction, how would I clap
my hands for joy, for you would soon be rid of your old master if you
once felt sick of him. But no! You dwell in that country and I suppose
some of you always will, till you are taken from it to make your
lodging place in the flames of Hell forever! O, may God prevent it! But
I fear it of some of you.
There are some who listen to my words who are made to feel under them.
I heard but the other day of one who was set a trembling and shivering
under the Gospel. He could not but come and hear though it was always
like a great hammer to him. His friends and companions, by much
persevering effort, laughed him out of coming here. They could not bear
that he should come to hear the despised preacher. Though he had been a
dreadful drunkard and swearer before and was then sober, yet they
preferred his drunkenness to his coming here! Bitterly have they had to
regret it–for he went back to his sins and became as gross a sinner as
before.
And then when he was killing himself with sin, they began to wish him
to come here again–but it was too late–he would not come again.
Perhaps he dared not. A dreadful remorse settled upon him and under its
influence he put an end to his own existence. Take care, any of you who
hate the Gospel, that you do not laugh at other men's convictions. And
when the Gospel does come home with power to any, do not be the devil's
advocate and stand up and plead against God. God forgive those who do
this and may none of us be guilty of it!
But oh, you dwell in this far country, some of you. You are in a state
of danger and condemnation. It was only the other night, when we met at
St. John's Wood, that a man came into the vestry made broken-hearted
through the address of the evening. My dear Brother Stott soon had him
on his knees and began to pray with him. And to my grief this man said
he used to hear me at Exeter Hall and was much better in his outward
life. While hearing me he thought of religion and lived soberly–but
the Tabernacle was too far for him to come to and he would not go
anywhere else–and therefore he went back to the world and what seemed
to be like a work of Divine Grace proved to be only a work of nature.
Let us be anxious concerning those who dwell in the far country and are
only, for a time, as it were, taken out as on an excursion into the
land of light. They still have their parish settlement in the far
country and are numbered among the citizens of the City of Destruction
and are not among the people of God. O, for a cry this morning, another
cry from God's people for those who dwell in a far country! One very
consoling thought is in the text. I must only hint at it. The cry is,
"The cry of the daughter of My people." O beloved, it is so sweet to
think that our prayers, poor as they are, are the prayers of God's own
people, and therefore they must be heard.
You will say, "Is that a right argument?" Oh, yes it is! "If you being
evil know how to give good gifts unto your children." Remember that is
how Christ puts it. You are the Lord's children, therefore He will hear
you. If you were strangers it might be a different thing. Our prayers
might very readily be pulled to pieces by critics, but our Father will
not criticize them because they are the cries of His own children. I do
not think we set such store by Believer's prayers as we ought to do.
Would you let your child constantly cry to you and not answer him? I
know you would not.
Put it differently–would you let your Brother in Christ plead with you
and not grant him his desire if you could grant it? You have not a
Christian's heart if you would. Or I will touch you more closely. We
love our wives–if your wife should ask for anything that would be for
her good and you could give it, would you refuse it? Husband, would you
refuse it? You are no husband if you did! Look at Christ, the Husband
of the Church–do you think He will refuse the cry of His own spouse?
What? Shall His own dear bride come before Him and embrace His feet and
say, "I will not let You go except You bless me"–and shall He who has
espoused her unto Himself in faithfulness, say to her, "I have bid you
seek Me, but I will not be found of you. I have commanded you to knock,
but the door shall not be opened. I have told you to ask, but you shall
not receive"? O, slander not my loving Lord like this–
"He feels at His heart all our sighs and our groans, For we are most
near Him, His flesh and His bones." Let us rejoice together in the
spirit of prayer which God has given us. Let us try to foster it. Let
us be much in the exercise of it. During the coming week let us still
continue to meet together to intercede at the Throne of Grace.
And this is my reason for urging it upon you–God has promised that
when we cry, He will hear us–"He shall call upon Me and I will answer
him." "Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it
you." "With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation."
II. We will now turn to the QUESTION–"Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not
her king in her?" I will answer that question at once in the
affirmative. "The Lord is in Zion. Her king is in the midst of her."
Having answered this question, it suggests many more. Let me put them
to you. If the Lord is, indeed, in Zion and the king is in the midst of
her, why do we pray as if He were not? I find no fault with the prayers
of my Brothers and Sisters when they ask for an outpouring of the
Spirit–what they mean by their prayers is a very proper thing. But I
am not certain that the expression is altogether the best that might be
used.
The Spirit of God is with His people. I could not, last Monday night,
ask to have the Spirit of God poured out, for He was there. If at any
time the Holy Spirit was with any men on earth, even at Pentecost, He
was here last Monday night, as those present must have felt. We had not
so much to ask for it as to be thankful for it. When two or three of
you meet together in Christ's name, do not meet unbelievingly. Remember
that He has said, "There am I in the midst of you." Be content with
that assurance. You have not, as it were, to mount up to Heaven, that
is, to bring Christ down–nor to descend into the earth, that is, to
bring Him up from the depths–He is with you! "Know you not that your
bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?" "God dwells in you."
The Holy Spirit is given to the Church as a perpetual and abiding
Comforter. And in the Church the Spirit of God always dwells. Do not
pray, therefore, dear friends, as if God were not with you. "Is not the
Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" Do not pray,
therefore, like the priests of Baal, as though your God were on a
journey or needed to be awakened out of sleep. He is with you, ready to
answer by fire, if, like Elijah, you have but faith with which to
challenge His promise and His power. Is the Lord with you? Then in the
next place, let me ask you this question. Why do you despond because of
your own weakness? "We have not a sufficient number of ministers. We
have little wealth. We have few places of public worship. We have few
gifted members," and so on.
So some unbelievingly talk. "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King
in her?" What more do you want? "Oh, we would like to be strong." Why
would you be strong? That you must be disqualified to be used by God?
"No," you say. Well, but you would be! What did the Lord say by the
mouth of His servant Gideon? "The people are too many for Me." I never
heard that the Lord said, "The people are too few"–never! "The people
are too many." If Samson had the choice of weapons with which to rout
his enemies–if he wished to do it in such a way as to make the feat
illustrious, if there were before him a cannon, a fifty-pounder and the
jawbone of an ass–which would he take? Why, any fool can kill the
enemy with a cannon, but it takes a Samson to smite them with the
jawbone of an ass!
And so, when God has the choice of weapons and He always has, He
chooses the weaker weapon that He may get for Himself the greater
renown. My Brothers and Sisters, glory in your infirmities–thank God
for your weaknesses! There is room for God when you are empty! But when
you are so full and so strong and have such excellent machinery and can
do the work so well, why then you will attempt to do without your God
and a failure will be the result. But, O Beloved–
"When I am weak, then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my
song."
Let this silence forever all your raving about weakness in Christian
duty! "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?"
Did I hear you say, "I am a feeble woman and I have too much work to do
for God. I had better, perhaps, curtail it, or give it up"? My Sister,
now that you are weaker, try to do more! Now there is more room for
your God. "Oh, I am a trembling, humble, unknown man with but little
talent and what I have done has been about as much as I can do–I am
afraid to venture more." My Brother, venture more! Get onto the ground
of, "I cannot, but God can." That is safe ground. "I can" is like the
ice on which the boy tries to slide and it swallows him up. "I cannot,
but God can," is terra firma–stand there and you stand safely.
There can never come a shock to the man who rests on the Eternal
Rock–God all-sufficient. Rest on that and be glad. Again, this
question provokes another one. If God IS with us, why these great fears
about the prosperity of the Church? "Dr. Colenso becomes an Infidel.
Stanley becomes something very suspicious. Multitudes of ministers, so
called, become Puseyites–what will become of the Church of Christ?"
What will become of her? She will nestle where she always did
nestle–beneath the eternal wings! And the more she gets rid of all her
carnal confidences the better for her!
"Oh what will become of true religion?" Beloved, become of true
religion? It will go on winning and conquering, and with Christ upon
the white horse of victory, riding in her forefront, the Truth of God
shall march on conquering and to conquer till He shall come whose right
it is to reign. Be not discouraged, "Is not her King in the midst of
her?" Every now and then, when we try a new scheme, certain prudent
Brethren come and pull our ears a bit and they say, "It is more than
you can do. You must be prudent."
Yes, we are prudent. We claim to be prudent. We claim to have the
highest prudence. For we reckon it always prudent to believe God and
always prudent to act upon God's promise and not according to carnal
policy, nor the judgments of our proud, self-conceited, ignorant flesh.
Brethren, if the King is in the midst of her, let us go on and conquer!
You think you will never see such days as Pentecost? Why not? "Is not
the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?" You fear you will never see
such wonders as were worked by Whitfield and Wesley? "Is not the Lord
in Zion? Is not her King in her?"
You fancy that Ireland will never receive the Gospel? You think that
heathen nations will never lay aside their idolatry? "Is not the Lord
in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" You conceive that this
is not the age of miracles and you condemn us to go on in the
everlasting jog-trot of propriety, in the do-nothing style of
prescription, keeping in the perpetual cart-rut of conventionality and
never daring to blaze out a path for ourselves? "Is not the Lord in
Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" You do not believe there
will be a thousand souls converted under one sermon? You do not think
it is likely that the Church will be increased by hundreds in a day, or
in a month? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of
her?"
Dear brethren, the God of Zion is here! The King of Zion is here! I
grant you, we do not sufficiently recognize His Presence. We are not,
as we should be, obedient to His commands. But I charge you, O you
soldiers of the Cross, believe in the Presence of your Captain and
press where you see His helmet amidst the din of war! His Cross is the
great emblazoned banner which leads you on to Glory. Press forward to
suffer, to deny yourselves, to bear witness for Christ–the battle is
the Lord's and the King Himself fights in the van. "Her King is in the
midst of her."
I want to see you trying deeds of daring! Noble deeds of consecration,
generous gifts of liberality! I want you to be more earnest in prayer,
more incessant in supplication–but, at the same time–more venturesome
in your actions, more daring in your devotedness to Christ. The King is
in the midst of her! The Lord is in Zion still! Sinner, I must leave
this point, but there is one word of encouragement for you–
"Jesussits on Zion's hill, He receives poor sinners still."
He is in Zion, not on Sinai. Come to Him just as you are! Come to Him
for He is ready to accept you. The King with the silver scepter in His
hand holds it out to every broken-hearted sinner. Come and touch it–He
will give you perfect pardon in an instant, if your soul does but touch
the silver scepter of His Grace presented to you in Christ Jesus.
III. Time, however, will not stop for me and therefore let us go on to
the third point. That is, ANOTHER QUESTION. "Why have they provoked Me
to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?" Here is a
question for the Lord's people. It becomes a very solemn thing when God
is in His Church how that Church behaves herself. Suppose that Church
to set up false principles–if her King were not there she might take
the kings of the earth to be her head. But dare she do that when her
King Himself is there?
She might begin to lean upon the civil arm if her God were not in her!
But if her God is in her–will she venture to do that in the face of
the Presence of God? Will she build up with untempered mortar the walls
of human confidence and rest upon an arm of flesh when Jehovah is
looking on? In the matter of Gospel ordinances it is a very important
thing that we keep these ordinances as they were delivered. If the King
were not in Zion it would not matter whether I practiced Believers'
Baptism or unbelievers' Baptism! But if He has commanded Believers'
Baptism how dare I baptize unbelievers in the Presence of the King in
Zion?
How dare I profane His own ordinance to what it was never intended? It
therefore becomes a solemn question. If the King is in Zion, I must
mind what doctrines I preach. The king is there to hear me. God is
there to observe me. If God is in Zion, again, we must take care no
wrong principles are let in. What? Shall I allow the King's enemies to
eat and drink before the King's own Throne? Shall I wait upon the
King's foes and treat them as my friends when He is looking upon me
with eyes of love?
Let me take heed lest I prove a hypocrite and receive anger instead of
love! Certainly He will look upon my sins with increased wrath if I
indulge them in His Presence. Is God in Zion? Beloved Christian
Brothers and Sisters, how dare you set up that idol in your heart? Is
it your child? Your spouse? What is it? Can you worship idols when the
King is in Zion–when God is in the midst of her? My dear Friend, how
can you be so worldly, so money-grasping? How is it that you can make
wealth the main object of your life when the King is in Zion? If He did
not know about your worldliness. If He did not know about your coldness
of heart. If He did not mark your inconsistency–if He could not see
you in the path of sin–then I might not plead with you!
But. O Christian men and women, when God is present, how careful should
we be! And He is present in His Church! Judas, where are you this
morning? The Lord Jehovah is here in Zion! He has come to search
Jerusalem with candles and to punish the men who are settled upon their
lees! What will He do with you? You think it a good thing to have God
in Zion, but you have desired in this, as far as you are concerned, a
day of darkness and not of light–for when He comes, He shall be as a
consuming fire and as fullers' soap! The Lord's special Presence in His
Church always involves a season of purification.
A Church may go on with dead members for twenty years, but when the
Lord comes, as soon as the wind sweeps through the forest, the dead
branches crack and fall from the tree. A visitation from God to this
Church will try you–it is all a blessing, but partly a trial. I
believe that in every society and every Church where the Presence of
God comes, instead of the dead calm which they formerly enjoyed, there
usually comes some outbreak on the part of the flesh against the powers
or the Spirit. And they are discovered to be hypocrites who otherwise
might have gone on the whole of their lives with their vain
profession–boasting in what they did not possess. Well, we must
prepare for this ordeal. If God is in Zion, let us not provoke Him to
anger with our idolatry, nor with our strange vanities. Let us purge
and humble ourselves before Him!
But this text has a particular voice to sinners. I want you to listen
to me, you who are unconverted, while I just read this text slowly. You
have been saying, "God is in the midst of His people–how is it I have
not had a blessing?" I will ask you this question, "Why have they
provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange
vanities?" I will turn that enquiry into English–it is in Hebrew
now–"Why have you provoked Me to anger with your drunkenness and with
your mixing with vain companions? Do not ask why I have not called you
by My Divine Grace–do not ask why you are not among the people of God.
Answer My question–Why have you provoked Me to anger by indulging the
lusts of the flesh–by leaving the paths of chastity and virtue–when
you knew the right and chose the wrong?
"Do not ask why the Word is not blessed to you! Do not ask why you do
not enjoy the Prayer Meeting–answer My question first. Why have you
provoked Me to anger with your tricks in trade, with your
Sabbath-breaking, with your lying, with your loose songs, with your
mixing up with worldly company, with your profanity? Do not ask Me why
the holy dew has not dropped on you! Do not ask Me why the Holy Spirit
has not come to quicken you, but answer this, 'Why have you provoked Me
to anger with your sins?' "
Why, some of you have provoked God to anger these twenty or thirty
years! I hear of you every now and then. You love me, I know you do and
you dare not leave my ministry! You cannot leave it though it is often
a heart-searching ministry to you. God make it more so! But every now
and then there comes an outbreak with you undecided ones. You must have
the drink again, or you must go forth to lechery or sin. So it is with
you–you would be saved, but you must be damned! You would have Christ,
but you must have your sins! You would like to go to Heaven, but you
want to taste the sweets of damnation's dainties on the road!
How is it you will be such fools as to keep your filthy idols? My God,
take the hammer and break their idols! O my God, be the great
Iconoclast and dash down the altars of their lusts and clear a temple
for Yourself! You say, "Amen," to that–I hope you do. Then God hear
your cry this morning! Through the eternal Savior who drove the buyers
and the sellers out of the temple with a scourge of small cords and
overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that
sold doves and said, "Take these things away"–this day may He come
into your heart and overturn your sins!
And may He say, "Take these things away–I have bought that man with
blood! I have loved him with an everlasting love! I have brought him
under the sound of the ministry! I purpose to bring him to Myself! I
have ordained him to wear a crown and wave a palm and be wrapped about
with the fair white linen of the righteousness of saints! He shall be
Mine when I make up My jewels. Out with you, intruders! Away, you
devils! Away, you lusts! You may be called Legion, but I,
Jehovah-Jesus, cast you out, for this man is Mine."
Lord, do it! Do it this morning! The voice of the cry of Your people
comes up for those who are afar off, that their vanities may be given
up and their sins may be dashed in pieces–that they may be Yours
forever and ever.
IV. The last point is, ANOTHER CRY. I wish I might hear this cry this
morning, for then I should not hear it in the world to come, "The
harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved." I have been
talking to you. Now I want you to talk for yourselves in your heart to
God. There came a harvest of souls to this Church, by His Grace, from
the very day when first we began to preach the Gospel here. And we have
gathered such numbers into the Church as probably never were received
into any one Church in Europe in any age at one time except in the days
of the Apostles.
That harvest is only past so far as the blessing which we have received
has been received–for the harvest still continues in all its fullness.
But, ah, the harvest has missed jou! Some of you have had to move away,
or the Word ceases to be a blessing to you as it once was. This voice
has grown stale to you, has no trumpet-ringing clang about it as it
once had– "The harvest is past." Very blessed times have passed over
this Church. We have had a summer–oh, what Divine warmth has been
felt! The sun has shone strong in upon us and every plant has breathed
forth its perfume–every plant that the Lord has planted.
But many a Monday night–many a Prayer Meeting night has gone–the
summer has ended and you are not saved! You are not saved! Do you
remember, some of you, that sermon in the Music Hall, from the text,
"Compel them to come in"? Then we had a harvest and then we had a
summer–but you were not compelled to come in. You were not saved! You
remember some Monday nights when we have been bowed down and broken in
heart before God in prayer? We have then had harvests and summers–but
you are not saved! And now, last Monday night what a visitation we had!
What a harvest! What a summer! But you are not saved!
I wish you would put up that cry, "Now, Lord, I am not saved! Lord I am
not saved! I am not saved from my hard heart! I am not saved from my
love of sin! I am not saved from the guilt of sin! I am without God,
without Christ and a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel! I am not
saved!" There are some of you I could speak to very specifically–we
pray for you–but you are not saved! You have a brother who prays for
you, a sister who prays for you, a father and mother who have prayed
for you–but still you are not saved!
Husband! You have a wife who never ceases to intercede for you–but you
are not saved! We thought you would have been converted long ago! There
have been many hopeful signs about you, but you have disappointed
us–you are not saved! Take heed, take heed! There may be more in the
words that I now speak than if they were my words, for, to this day,
God sometimes speaks to men prophetically by His truly sent ministers.
The day is near with some of you, if you do not repent, when, tossing
upon the bed of sickness you will have to cry in the sight of the
approach of death, "the harvest is past, the summer is ended and I am
not saved!"
You will look back upon these Sunday gatherings with a very different
eye from that with which you look upon them now. You will remember your
Gospel privileges and value them very differently from what you do now.
When you seem to hear the tolling of your own death knell, then you
will value the Sunday chime! And take heed yet a little further! There
will come a day when you will lift up your eyes in Hell, some of you,
being in torments–and then, as you look up and see the people of God
glorified at God's right hand–you will have to say, "The harvest is
past, and the summer is ended and I am not saved!"
And let me tell you, those words will ring very differently then from
what they do now, when you have–
"To linger in eternal pain, yet death forever fly," to have to say, "I
am not saved," will be dreadful. Then the Lord will come. We are
looking for His coming. And when He comes His people shall reign with
Him. They shall rise from the dead in triumph. And when their days of
earthly reign shall be over the great archangel shall sound the trumpet
for the second resurrection–and when you wake up and find that the
righteous have all risen before you and have received their crowns and
their rewards–then, as you see the harvest of God borne by the angelic
reapers up to the sky–as you see the brightness of the Glory of the
new Jerusalem taken up into the clouds to be withdrawn from the place
where men shall stand to be judged, you will say, "The harvest is past,
the summer is ended and we are not saved!"
Oh, then you will cry, "Rocks, hide us! Mountains, fall upon us! We are
not saved!" Those mountains shall have no ears for you–those rocks
shall have no heart of compassion for you–there shall only be a dread
reverberation of your awful cry, "We are not saved! We are not saved!"
And when Hell opens wide her jaws and her tongue of fire shall lick up
the ungodly, then, "We are not saved! We are not saved! We are not
saved!" will be in dolorous contrast to that ever-swelling,
ever-increasing song, "We have washed our robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!"
Shall it be "Hallelujah," Sinner, or shall it be, "We are not saved"?
May God's eternal Grace work in you to will and to do of His own good
pleasure and so make you to work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling. And then may the question be decided and may you not have to
say forever, "We are not saved." May God bless these words for Christ
Jesus' sake. Amen.