A Silly Dove
(No. 2984)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1863.
"Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart." Hosea 7:11.
THE race of Ephraim is not extinct. Men are to this very day very much
like what they were in the days of the Prophets. The same rebukes are
still suitable, as well as the same comforts. As man has altered very
little, if at all, in his outward bodily conformation, so has he not
varied in the inner constitution–he is much the same today as he was
in the time of Hosea. In this congregation, in the midst of the city of
London, we have too large a company of those who are "like a silly dove
without heart."
To proceed at once with the text, I want you to notice four things.
First–a saintly similitude. Secondly–a secret distinction. Thirdly–a
severe description. And lastly, a serious consideration.
I. Here we have A SAINTLY SIMILITUDE–"Ephraim is like a dove!"
The people are not compared here to the eagle that soars aloft and
scents its prey from afar, nor to the vulture which delights to gorge
itself with carrion. They are not likened to any foul and unclean bird
which was put aside under the Law of God, but the very figure which is
constantly chosen to set forth the beauty of holiness, to describe the
Believer, and to picture the whole Church–no, that very emblem by
which we set forth Him who is Holiness, itself, God the Holy
Spirit–that same comparison to a dove is here used to describe those
who were without heart. "Ephraim is like a dove"–it is a saintly
similitude.
Let me remind you that in all congregations there are those who are
like doves, but not Christ's doves, who never build their nests in the
clefts of the rock, in the bosom of the Savior. They are like
doves–you can never tell them from genuine Believers and, like doves,
they are perfectly harmless. They do no mischief to others in all their
lives. Track them, if you will, you will never find them in the
alehouse. They sing not the song of the drunkard. No man ever lost
anything in business by them. Men may have their pockets picked in the
streets, but never by them. Persons may go staggering home under a
wound, but that wound never comes from their hands–there is no
uncleanness in their heart and no slander on their tongue–they are
amiable, admirable. We might almost hold them up for examples of
propriety. Alas, alas, that we have only to look withinto find that
they are not what they seem!
Moreover, being like doves for harmlessness, they are also like them
for loving good company. We find not the dove flying with a host of
eagles, but it consorts with its own kind. Some of you are never
happier than when you are either in the Tabernacle or else in some of
the classes formed by various members of the congregation. You also
find such a pleasant excitement in the Prayer Meeting that you are not
absent from it except when you are prevented by business. You love
being where God's people go–their hymns are sweet to your ears. In
their prayers you find some sort of comfort and in the ministry of the
Word you take delight. You fly like a cloud and like doves to their
windows, and it is a joy to us to see you do it. And yet it may be that
although you know how to congregate like doves, you are simply "like a
silly dove without heart."
Moreover, these persons are still more like the dove in that they have
the same meekness, apparently, as distinguishes the dove. They hear as
God's people hear and sit as His people sit. They are not skeptics.
They never object to the exposition of the Doctrines to which they
listen. They pick no holes in the preacher's coat–they have no
particular fault to find either with the style or the matter of his
discourse. They decorously frequent the House of God and behave
themselves in a seemly manner when there. No, more than that, they seem
with meekness to receive the Word, though
they do not receive it as engrafted into their own hearts. They even
receive it with joy when the Seed is scattered on them, but having no
root in themselves, the good Seed comes to nothing. O my dear Hearers,
it is a great subject for thanksgiving that so many of you are ready
and willing to listen to the Word with deep and profound respect! But I
do beseech you to remember that you may, in this, be like the dove, and
yet, after all, you may be taken in the same net and destroyed with the
same destruction as that which fell upon the Ephraimites who were "like
a silly dove without heart!"
The dove, you know, is a clean feeder, and so we have many who get as
far as that. They know the distinction between the precious and the
vile–they will not feed on Law–they can only live on Grace. They have
come to know the Doctrines of the Gospel and they feed on them–upon
pure corn, well winnowed. You have only to bring in a little free will
and straightway they know the chaff from the wheat and refuse to
receive it! They cast it away as refuse metal which is of no value to
them. But, while they have an orthodox head, they have a heterodox
heart–while they know the Truth of God and feel it, yet it is still
not the right kind of feeling–they have never so received it as to
incorporate it into their very being. They have accepted it with the
same sort of belief and in somewhat the same manner as Simon did in
Samaria. But, after a while, when trouble and persecution shall come,
and waxes too hot, they will turn aside.
But I have to add yet further that there are some of these persons who
are like doves in another respect still more singular–as a dove is
molested by all sorts of birds of prey, s o these persons do, for a
time, share the lot which befalls the people of God! Why, there are
some who for the mere coming to the House of God, get nicknamed,
"saints." They are not saints, but they have to bear the scoffing which
is given to saints. And I know some who have turned out to be great
sinners, who have, for a time, put up with much scoffing and rebuke for
the sake of Christ! When pointed at in the street, it has been part of
the manliness of their character to acknowledge that they did frequent
such a place of worship. Though their soul has never been stricken by
the Divine Word, yet it has become so sweet in their ears that they are
willing to bear some degree of reproach for the sake of it! I should
not like to be compelled to say precisely wherein the saint is to be
distinguished by outward signs, for really, the counterfeits nowadays
are so much like the genuine that it needs the Wisdom of the Infallible
God, Himself, to discern between the one and the other! We can have
false faith, false repentance, false hope and false good works. We have
all sorts of things–paint, varnish, tinsel–and we may so grain that a
skillful eye will scarcely know whether it is the genuine wood or the
artist's skill. There are many ways of preparing metals and sometimes
the alloy seems to have in it, for some purpose, qualities which the
unalloyed metal lacks. O Lord, the great Searcher of hearts, do search
us lest we should have applied to us saintly names and pass the saintly
reputation and character–and hold saintly offices–and after all be
cast away with the rubbish over the wall and left to be consumed
forever and ever! But, enough on that point.
II. I have now to call your attention to A SECRET DISTINCTION–"Ephraim
is like a dove without heart."
This implies a lack of understanding. The dove knows but little and
experience scarcely teaches it anything. We may almost spread the snare
in the flight of that bird and yet it will fly to it, it is so silly.
It does not seem to possess, at least to the outward eye, the wits and
sense of some others of the feathered tribe. It has little or no
understanding. And oh, how many there are who are, spiritually, like
the dove! They have no real knowledge of the Truth of God! They rest in
the letter and think that is enough. I solemnly believe that there are
those who have not the shadow of an idea of the meaning of the words
which they hear every Sabbath in a form of prayer! They repeat those
prayers without any appreciation of the sense of them. They would
probably not notice if the words were put in any other way. Doubtless
they would get as much good out of them if they were thrown together in
wild disorder, as they do out of the beautiful and magnificent array in
which they are marshaled! Many who come and hear the most simple
Truths, go away and say, "It is a riddle to us. We cannot understand
how people can sit and listen to that." Either they condemn the
preacher's words as trite or else as fanatical–they cannot understand
them.
You may fetch a clodhopper and set before him the masterpiece of an
eminent old painter and tell him, "That picture is worth sixty thousand
pounds." He looks, opens his mouth, starts again and says he can't make
anything of it. He can't see where the money could go. He'd sooner have
carts, and horses, and pigs, and cows, and sheep. Well, now, to some
extent we might almost sympathize with him, but the high-art critics
despise the man at once for having no soul above his clod. And it is
just the same in spiritual things! Exhibit the glories of the Person of
Christ and the matchless wisdom of the plan of salvation–that man can
see nothing in it. "It is, no doubt, a very good and very proper
thing." He will attend to it and so on–and then he goes to church and
thinks he is pious, sits in his seat and goes through the routine–
and then supposes he is reconciled to God! Oh, how many such silly
doves we have fluttering in and out of our places of worship! As a
quaint old preacher said, there were scarcely seats enough for the
saints on account of the number of simpletons that came to listen!
But, again, they were silly doves without heart, because, lacking an
understanding heart, they also lacked a decided heart. Sometimes,
however, the dove would be slandered if we should use her as a metaphor
in this respect. Have you not seen the dove when, from afar, with her
quick eyes she has seen her cot, fly straight away, over miles of sea
and land, straight to her beloved home? There, she could not be used as
a metaphor of the ungodly–but of a child of Jesus who thus flies to
Him over the wild waves of sin. But, perhaps, you have seen the dove as
first she rises in the air and then flies round and round. She
deliberates in order to find out which is the right direction and, when
she has made up her mind, away she flies straight as an arrow to the
goal. But, while she is fluttering about, she is an apt emblem of some
men. They are undecided whether for God or Baal. They halt, to use
Elijah's figure, between two opinions. "How long halt you between two
opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow
him." On Sundays, they go to church, but on Mondays, they put off their
religious habits–the weather is too rough, or something else prevents
them from going to the Prayer Meeting. On Sunday, they say–
"My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this,
And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss"–
but, on Monday or Tuesday, the sound of the wheels in the street and
the noise of them that buy and sell put the music of Jerusalem out of
their ears and they would gladly go back to the world again! Ah, they
are silly doves without understanding and without decision!
No, there are some who may be said to have a sort of decision for a
time, but they are like the dove in that they are without resolution.
The doves seeks to fly in one direction. Somebody claps his hands and
she changes in a moment. Or else he sprinkles a handful of barley on
the ground and, though she was flying yonder, she is over here again!
How many persons there are of that kind, setting their faces to Zion,
intending to join the church–perhaps they have seen the elders and the
pastor and been accepted–but, after a little time, they say, "Well,
they did not know all about it. There are more frightful things than
they dreamt of in it!" Like Pliable, they would go to Heaven, but they
get into the Slough of Despond and there is strange stuff there that
gets into the ears and mouth–and so they get out on the side nearest
home and tell Christian he may have the brave country all to himself,
for they don't like the miry places on the way. Or, it may be that some
old companion comes up from the country and he will treat them to some
place of amusement. Or, perhaps, it may be that there is a prospect of
gain to be got in some branch of business that is not quite as honest
as it might be. But does not the money count as well? Isn't it as good
to spend? Will not other men think it worth twenty shillings to the
pound, however it may have been gained? These people who seemed so true
and warm-hearted are like the silly dove without resolution–and fly
away again to their old haunts and become just what they used to be.
So likewise there are many, like a dove, without bold hearts. They
never turn upon a persecutor. They never stood in the gap with Mr.
Valiant-for-Truth, holding the sword in their hand. They cannot open
their mouth to speak for Jesus, but they run away when they ought to
stand out like a lion against their foes. They never give a reason for
the hope that is in them. We have plenty of Baptist churches educating
cowards by the score! They never come out before the whole church–that
would be too trying for their nerves! They are never expected to come
out boldly on the Lord's side. Too often, Baptism is administered
somewhere in a corner, when as few as possible are present and, in that
way, where we ought to have lion-like men, we breed those who hide
their principles and are ready to amalgamate with any sect of people so
long as they can but bear the name of Christians! I would to God, dear
Friends, we had bolder men for our Lord and Master! Be as full of love
as you can, but take care that you mix iron with your constitution!
Silly are the doves that have no bold heart for God. The day will come
when only the bold heart shall win, for the fearful and unbelieving are
to have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone!
Too many, also, there are like a silly dove, in that they have a
powerless heart If you visit a great factory where there is a large
engine, you will notice that the amount of power used in the factory is
proportionate to the capacity of the steam-engine. If that should work
but feebly, then the wheels cannot revolve beyond a proportionate
rate–and every
part soon discovers that there is some lack of motive force. Now, man's
heart is the great steam-engine of his whole being–and if he has a
heart that palpitates with swift strokes, it will put his whole nature
in motion and that man will be mighty for his Lord and Master! But if
he has a little, insignificant heart that never did glow, and never did
burn, and never did know anything about the warmth, life, heat, power
and benediction of God's Love, then his will fritter away his time,
knowing the right and doing the wrong, loving in some sort the thing
that is beautiful, but still following that which is deformed, giving
his name to God and giving what little strength he has to the other
side! Brothers and Sisters, I would to God there were not so many in
all our communities that have but a pigeon's heart, or a dove's heart,
or no heart at all!
The root of the master lies here–these Ephraimites have not renewed
hearts and so they fail. Verily, verily, it is true to this hour, as in
Jesus' day, "except a man be born-again, he cannot see the Kingdom of
God." Many strive to see it in their own way, but, until the effectual
Grace of God comes down to turn their hearts from the great and
extraordinary confidence which their proud flesh has in their own
works, they never will see, they never can see, the Kingdom of God! How
many like Ephraim, then, have the heart altogether wrong because it is
not renewed? Therefore it has none of those qualifications which tend
to make the man what he should be.
III. With great brevity, we notice, in the third place, A SEVERE
DESCRIPTION–"Ephraim is like a sillydove."
It is a fine word, that word, "silly." Hardly do I know another that is
so eminently descriptive. There may be some sort of dignity in being a
fool–but to be silly–to attract no attention except ridicule–is so
utterly contemptible that I do not know how a more sarcastic epithet
could be applied!
"Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart." And why silly? Why, it is
silly, of course, to profess to be a dove at all, unless a dove at
heart!Silly of you to enslave yourselves with the customs of a country
of which you are not a citizen–to bind yourselves with the rules of a
family of which you are not a member! We find men, when they go to
another country, if there is a conscription there, only too willing to
plead their own nationality in order to escape it! And yet we have
persons who will serve in the Christian conscription, who give as God's
people give and outwardly do what God's people do–and yet they are not
of the godly nation, but are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel! Is
not this silly–to take the irksome toil and not to get the joy and the
benefit of it? You are silly to go and work in the vineyard, though you
have never eaten of the clusters, and never can unless your heart is
right in the sight of God.
Isn't it silly, then, to profess to be a dove at all, and yet not to be
a dove? Isn't it silly, again, to think you can pass muster when your
heart is wrong–to fancy that if you go with the crowd, you shall enter
Heaven without being seen? Do you think to deceive Omniscience? Do you
think Infallible Wisdom will not discern you? Do you think to enter
Heaven while your soul is estranged from God? Then, indeed, you are
worse than a fool! You are "silly" to think such a thing! How can you
thus hope to deceive your God? What is more silly than to play fast and
loose in this way–first, to sing the song of Zion, and then the song
of lasciviousness! There is something dignified even in the devil,
himself–there is something awful about the grandeur of his wickedness
because he is consistent in it! But there is nothing of that
consistency in you because you are here and there, everywhere and
nowhere–everything by turns, and nothing long.
Some of you are so silly as to hasten your own condemnation. You know
that to be without God and without Christ will ruin you, and yet you do
that which keeps you from going to Christ! You hug the sins that
prevent your laying hold on Him and still dandle upon your knee the
lusts which you know will shut the gates of Heaven against you! Like
Ephraim, you are silly enough to trust in that which will be your ruin.
Some of you rest upon good works, or hope to be saved by good feelings.
The two powers which had oppressed Ephraim–Egypt and Assyria–were
still the powers in which he trusted. Do not imitate his folly by
trusting to that which will ruin you!
You are silly, again, because when there is so much danger, you do not
fly to the place of shelter. O silly dove, when the hawk is abroad, not
to seek the clefts of the rock to hide yourself! And how silly are some
of you! Day after day, year after year, Satan is hawking after you! The
great fowler is seeking your destruction, but the wounds of Christ are
open to you and the invitation of the Gospel is freely given to
you–and yet, you are so silly that though you know better, you prefer
the pleasures of the day to the joys of eternity! Yet I know not that
you do prefer them, only somehow or other you are too silly to prove
your preference and go on, like a child that is playing on the hole of
the cockatrice, making mirth over your damnation–too silly to make up
your minds to choose either Heaven or Hell! I know there are some such
people in this house–would God that the arrow might find out the right
persons, but, too often, these doves are so silly,
in another respect, that they will not let the appeal of the Gospel
come home to them. They say, "it cannot be for me, for I go to Mr. A's
or Mr. B's class! It cannot be for me, for I go to the Prayer Meeting,
I contribute to the College and every good work!" Yet all the while it
means just you who act upon your own whims, but not for God, who give
God anything but your heart, who are ready to make a sacrifice of all,
except that you refuse that which He asks of you! "My son, give Me your
heart." It was considered to be a sign of great calamity when the Roman
prophet slew a bull and found no heart–and it is the worst of all
calamities when a man has no heart to give to God! "This people draws
near unto Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips; but their
heart is far from Me," is one of the complaints against Israel of old,
and one of the sins which made the Prophets weep and caused Jerusalem
to be plowed like a field.
IV. I close with just a few words upon the fourth point, and that is, A
SERIOUS CONSIDERATION. There are one or two things I would say
solemnly, softly and hopefully. Oh, that they may stick in the memory
and the conscience of many of you!
Those of you, my Hearers, who have been long sitting in this
Tabernacle–some of you ever since it was built and before then in
other places under our ministry–yet are just the same as you used to
be, ought to recollect how sadly we look on those who are not saved. It
is no rare thing to find the attendant of the sanctuary an unbeliever.
It is a common thing to find the child of converted parents, the lad
educated at the Sunday school, the man who has always had a seat in
God's House, still having no hope and without God in the world. Think
of that! Be not deceived–the Gospel will harden such people as you
are! Speaking after the manner of men, (for with God, all things are
possible, and a Sovereign God does as He wills), it does seem less and
less probable that you ever should be called by Grace after you have
sat and listened to the Word so long. The voice that once startled you
now soothes you! The manner that once attracted the eyes, and sometimes
seemed to touch the heart, fails to do either! And the very Truths of
God that once went over your heads like a crash of thunder has so
little force in them now that you even sleep under the sound of them!
Think of that, you who are like a silly dove without heart!
Remember, too, that some of the vilest sinners that have ever livedhave
been manufactured out of this raw material Some of the worst men were
once, apparently, meek-hearted hearers of the Word, but they sat under
the preaching of the Gospel till they grew ripe enough to deny God and
curse Him. The unsanctified hearing of the Gospel has sometimes
produced more gigantic specimens of sin than the deaf ear of the adder.
Beware, my Hearer! I know that you will say with Hazael, "Is your
servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Yes, there is dog
and devil enough in you unless you have been changed by Grace, to do
that thing and 20 other things that you have never dreamt of yet! Think
what multitudes of souls in Hell there are like you–silly doves
without hearts! Many of the population of that place of wailing once
heard the Gospel, heard it with gladness and appeared to receive it for
a time–but they had no root, and so the impression withered away. They
never had been called effectually by Grace and never had been renewed
in heart, although they had all the outward semblance of holiness1 They
are gone! Even now, your soul may listen to their groans and moans, the
lesson of all which would be, "Make your calling and election sure, and
be not satisfied with the name to live while you are dead."
May the Spirit of the living God stir you up to this, for, if not, I
have one more consideration to urge upon you. Remember how soon you may
be in Hell And they who go there, if they have been such as you are, go
there with a vengeance. To go from under the shadow of the pulpit to
the Pit is terrible. To go from the Communion Cup, to drink the cup of
devils–from the song of saints to the weeping, and wailing, and
gnashing of teeth of lost souls–from all the hallowed joys of God's
Sabbath, of God's House and of His Word, down to the unutterable infamy
of spirits that have no love of God, but curse Him day and night–my
Hearers, that may be your lot within an hour, a week, a year! It
matters not what the period may be, for if it ever is your lot, the
time past shall seem to have been but the twinkling of an eye for its
joy, though it may appear to you to have been ages for the awful
responsibility which the day of mercy will have entailed upon you.
Repent and be baptized, everyone of you!" As Peter said, so say I! If
you have not as yet received Christ, lay hold on eternal life and oh,
that the Spirit of the living God, while I preach the Word generally,
may apply it particularly, finding out His own chosen and gathering
them out of the ruins of the Fall, that they may be jewels in the crown
of the Redeemer! The Lord make us doves, but God forbid that we should
be "silly doves without heart."
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:
www.spurgeongems.org
PSALM 88:10-61; 1 PETER 4:1-13.
The story of how the children of Israel behaved themselves towards
their gracious God.
Psalm 88:10-16. They kept not the Covenant of God and refused to walk
in His law; and forgot His works, and His wonders that He had showed
them. Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers, in the
land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused
them to pass through, and He made the waters to stand as a heap. In the
daytime also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light
of fire. He clave the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as
out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the Rock, and
caused waters to run down like rivers. In such a scene of miracles,
surrounded by such prodigies of goodness, what did they do?
17. And they sinned yet more against Him byprovoking the most High in
the wilderness. What a fierce fire must sin be that it is even fed by
the rivers of God's goodness and burns by means of that which ought to
have quenched every spark of it! Yet there is such a fire as that
raging in our hearts and even God's mercies will make us more sinful
unless His abounding Grace comes with them to teach us how to use them
rightly.
18. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
Not for their needs, but "for their lust." It is a dreadful thing when
prayer, itself, is prostituted and the Mercy Seat becomes a place for
the expression of sinful desires which ought never to have been in our
hearts. It was so, however, with these children of Israel.
19. Yes, they spoke against God. As you read that "they spoke against
God," you naturally suppose that they uttered some blasphemy, or some
denial of His Deity. Listen and learn!
19. They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness That is
speaking against Him–to speak unbelievingly– to speak in a
questioning way concerning His power. I am afraid that there are very
few of us who can plead innocence on this score.
20. Behold, He smote the Rock, that the waters gushed out, and the
streams overflowed; can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for
His people These things, which they lusted after, they also turned into
subjects for unbelief. And they even misused the miracle which they
dared not deny.
21. 22. Therefore the LORD heard this, and was angry: so a fire was
kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel Because
they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation. This was
the provoking sin. The Lord would not endure such wanton and wicked
unbelief as this. After He had turned the rocks into rivers, could He
not turn the stones into bread, and the dust of the desert into flesh
if He chose to do so?
23-32. Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the
doors of Heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had
given them of the corn of Heaven. Man did eat angels' food: He sent
them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the Heaven:
and by His power He brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also
upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: and
He let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their
habitations. So they did eat, and were well filed: for He gave them
their own desire; they were not estranged from their lust. But while
their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them,
and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel
For all this they still sinned. Mercy failed to move them, and judgment
failed too. The right hand of God's gifts and the left hand of His
chastisement were equally ignored.
32-34. And believed not for His wondrous works. Therefore their days
did He consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When He slew
them, then they sought Him: and they returned and inquired early after
God. Perhaps some of them fought Him even while they were dying and the
remnant that survived trembled and, "returned and inquired early
after God."
35, 36. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God
their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and
they lied unto Him with their tongues. Oh, this is terrible! One would
have thought that they would have been sincere when they were broken
down with sorrow, but it was not so. And I fear that the kind of
religion which has to be whipped into us is never good for much. It
must have in it the element of spontaneity if it is to be sincere. It
was not so with these people.
37-41. For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they
steadfast in His Covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave
their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yes, many a time He turned His
anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath. For He remembered that
they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and comes not again. How
often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the
desert! Yes, they turned back and tempted God, and
limited the Holy One of Israel In their unbelieving imagination, they
circumscribed His power. They thought that He could do something, but
not everything. They believed Him one day and doubted Him the next.
42-45. They remembered not His hand, nor the day when He delivered them
from the enemy. How He had worked His signs in Egypt, and His wonders
in the field of Zoan: and had turned their rivers into blood; and their
floods, that they could not drink. He sent divers sorts of flies among
them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. All these
judgments fell upon their enemies, but they failed to remember them.
46-56. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their
labor unto the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their
sycamore trees with frost. He gave up the cattle also to the hail, and
their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of
His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels
among them. He made a way to His anger; He spared not their soul from
death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, and smote all the
first-born in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of
Ham: but made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in
the wilderness like flock. And He led them on safely, so that they
feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And He brought them
to the border of His sanctuary, even to this mountain, which His right
hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and
divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to
dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God,
and kept not His testimonies. Oh, these terrible "yets"! Though God was
faithful to the end and kept His Covenant, and brought them into the
land which He swore to their fathers that He would give them, yet they
tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies."
57-61. But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they
were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger
with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven
images. When God heard this, He was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel:
so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed
among men; and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory
into the enemy's hand.
1 Peter 4:1. Forasmuch then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for He that has suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin. Brethren, we have a Savior who suffered
for us. As the Head was, such must the members expect to be. Let us,
then, be resolutely determined that, suffer as we may, we will never
turn aside from our Lord, for, inasmuch as we suffered in Him, yes, and
died in Him, we ought to reckon that we are henceforth dead to sin and
that we have ceased from it, and can no longer be drawn into it. "He
that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin."
2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God. The doctrine of Substitution
is the strongest possible argument for holiness. You lived in sin once,
but Christ died for your sin, so you must reckon that, in Him, you died
to sin, seeing that He died in your place. And the argument is that,
henceforth, your life is to be a life in Him, a life of holiness, to
the praise and glory of God.
3. For the timepast of our life may suffice us to have worked the will
of the Gentiles. Suffice? O Brothers and Sisters, let it do much more
than that! Let it make us cry, "Would God that we had never worked the
will of the Gentiles at all!" Some young people foolishly say that they
must have a little space in which they can "see life." Ah, those of you
who have been converted in later years regret that you ever saw what
men call, "life," which is but the alias for corruption and death! "For
the time past of our life may suffice us to have worked the will of the
Gentiles."
3, 4. When we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excesses of wine,
revellings, banquets and abominable idolatries. Wherein they think it
strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you. What a strange world this world is! It speaks evil of men
because they will not do evil! Yet it has always been so. The men, "of
whom the world was not worthy," have been the very people of whom
worldlings have said, "Away with such fellows from the earth! It is not
fit that they should live." The world's verdict concerning Christians
is of little value.
5, 6. Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick
and the dead. For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that
are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the spirit. This is a very difficult passage
to expound, but I suppose the meaning is that the Gospel was preached
to those departed saints who had been called to die for Christ's sake
and that it was preached to them for this very reason, that while they
were judged by wicked men, and were by them condemned to die, they
still live a far more glorious life than they lived here, because they
were thus enabled, by their martyr death, to consummate their
consecration to God.
7, 8. But the end of all things is at hand; be you therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among
yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. It covers
them sometimes by not seeing them, for, where there is much love, we
are blind to many faults which, otherwise we might see. We do not
exercise the sharpness of criticism which malice would be sure to
exercise. Besides that, when love applies herself to prayer, and when,
in addition to prayer, she kindly gives admonition to a beloved friend,
it often happens that true Christian love does really prevent a
multitude of sins. The Apostle does not mean that by loving another
person I shall cover my own sin; nor does he mean that the exercise of
charity, in the common acceptation of that word, can cover my sin! But
if I have much love to others, I may be the instrument, in the hand of
God, for covering many of their sins in one or other of the senses I
have mentioned.
9, 10. Use hospitality, one to another, without grudging. As every man
has received a gift, even so minister the same, one to another, as good
stewards of the manifold Grace of God. Whatever "the gift" is, whether
it be money, or talent, or Divine Grace, "even so minister the same,
one to another, as good stewards of the manifold Grace of God." God
gives much to you that you may give it to others–it is only meant to
run through you as through a pipe. You are a steward and if a steward
should receive his lord's goods, and keep them for himself, he would be
an unfaithful steward. Child of God, see to it that you faithfully
discharge your responsibility as one of the "good stewards of the
manifold Grace of God."
11-13. If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any
man ministers, let him do it as of the ability which God gives: that
God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be
praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when His glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad, also, with exceeding joy. If you do not
share in Christ's humiliation, how can you expect to share in His
exaltation? But if worldlings begin to rebuke and reproach you, take it
for granted that they can discern something of Christ in you. Dogs do
not usually bark at those who live in the same village with them–it is
only at strangers that they bark. And when ribald tongues are lifted up
against you, you have reason to hope that you are a stranger and a
foreigner to the citizens of this world, for they love their own, as
our Savior reminded His disciples, "If you were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you"