An Assuredly Good Thing
A sermon
(No. 879)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, JULY 4, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"It is good for me to draw near to God."- Psalm 73:28.
WHEN a man is sick, everybody knows what is good for him. They
recommend remedies by the score–salts from the earth, herbs of the
field, drugs from the east, minerals from the rock, extracts,
compounds, cordials, concoctions, quintessences and I know not what
besides–as many medicines as there are men–all these are cried up as
good for our complaint. Amid such a Babel it is well for a man if he
knows on his own account what is good for himself.
Certainly in spiritual things, whatever others may recommend, it is of
the first importance in all our trials to know by personal experience
for ourselves what is in the highest sense good for us. One of your
friends may commend a course of vigorous action and another may bid you
sit still. One may persuade you to contemplate your trial from its
darkest side and another may call your attention solely to the brighter
lights. But if you know, through having passed through the trial
before, what is truly good in such a case, it will be best to take your
stand upon it and not be led away by every "lo! here," and "lo! there."
The Psalmist, although he might have been surrounded by a thousand
counselors, puts them all aside, and strong in the confidence which his
experience gave him, he declares, "It is good for me to draw near to
God." It may seem good in the worldling's eyes to go his way to his
wine cups, and to make merry in dance. It may seem good to yonder
truster in an arm of flesh to seek out his friends and his kinsmen and
entrust his case to their discretion. It may seem good to the
desponding to retire in melancholy to brood over his sorrows, and to
the dissipated to endeavor to drown all care in vanity, but to me, says
the Psalmist, it is good, pre-eminently good, that I should draw near
unto God.
I. Now, in this statement, the Psalmist, first of all, TACITLY CONDEMNS
OTHER COURSES OF ACTION. Take the text in connection with the Psalm of
which it is the conclusion and you will see at once that he repents of
a certain course of thought to which he had given way and the recoil
from his error is the exclamation, "It is good for me to draw near to
God." It is as if he meant to say, "It is not good for me to do what I
have done, it is infinitely better for me to draw near to God."
We learn from this that it is not a good thing for us to try and fathom
the mysteries of Providence. What have we to do with measuring the
great depths of Providence? Is not this meddling with things too high
for us? It should be enough for us to commit our boat to the Great
Pilot, trusting all to Him who rules all–being well assured that He
will bring His own beloved to their desired haven. We need not be
curious to know the exact depth of all the deep places of the earth–
it is enough that they are in His hands. Nor need the strength of the
hills provoke our anxiety, for it is His, also. Yet such is the
tendency of the human heart, that we crave to comprehend all things in
the little hollow of our hand. We aspire to calculate the infinite and
sum the total of the immeasurable. It is with us as though foolish
children should determine to measure the great and wide sea and
therefore should push off from the shore in a little boat to drift
away, they know not where, in imminent hazard of their lives.
Theories upon predestination, followed up by speculations upon the
facts of Providence–these are enough to drive men mad and are certain
to drive them into wicked thoughts–unjust towards God and depressing
towards themselves. Gotthold in his "Emblems" tells us of the
adventures of his child. The father was one day sitting in his study
and when he lifted his eyes from a book which had engrossed his
attention, he saw standing upon the window ledge his little son. He was
troubled and frightened to the last degree, for the child stood there
in the utmost peril of falling to the ground and being dashed to
pieces. The little one had always been anxious to know what his father
was doing so many hours in the day in his study and he had at last, by
a ladder, managed to climb with boyish daring till there he stood
outside the window, gazing at his father with his little eyes.
"So," said the father, as he took the child into his chamber and
rebuked him for his folly, "So have I often tried to climb into the
council chamber of God, to see why He did this and that. And thus have
I exposed myself to peril of falling to my destruction." My God, it is
not good for me to pry into Your secrets with curiosity, but it is good
for me to draw near unto You in sincerity.
In connection with this Psalm we may also learn that it is not good for
us, under any circumstances, to get very far from God. The verse that
precedes the text runs thus–"They that are far from You shall perish."
Now, the tendency of repeated affliction, is, in the carnal mind, to
drive us away from God. "Surely He deals harshly with me," says the
sufferer. "No good has come to me since I began to attend a place of
worship and to become religious. Evil after evil has happened to me in
connection with my profession of godliness." Because of this the
ungodly man, who was a formalist in his religion, gives it all up. "It
were better," says he, "that I should find what pleasure I can in sin
since I can find none in godliness."
If God treats His hypocritical servants roughly, they soon turn against
Him. When the loaves and fishes fail, the admiring multitudes go away.
Two or three tosses upon the waves make bad sailors hate the sea and a
trial or two will soon drive empty professors into an utter dislike of
godliness. This is often the sieve in which God tries His people and
discerns between the chaff and the wheat. A dog may follow you as you
pass by, if you offer it a bone–but if you give it a stroke from your
staff–see if it will follow you, then! Yet, to its own master, the
faithful creature will cling with even greater tenderness if it is
beaten. If you are God's own child, affliction will not make you fly
from Him but to him, saying, "Show me why You contend with me."
But if you, in mere formality, follow at God's heels, as the dog
pursues the stranger for a bone, then you will readily enough turn
against the Lord if He chastens you. By this may we judge ourselves
whether we are God's servants or not. Beloved, it can never be a good
thing to take offense at the dealings of the Lord. His ways are the
best for us–to forsake them is always evil. Whatever temporary comfort
we may gain by following the paths of evil, it will be shallow and
short-lived–and soon a consequent and terrible darkness will cover our
spirits. To depart from God's Law is always hazardous traveling.
By-Path Meadow is never good for pilgrims. You may seem to gain in this
world by walking apart from God in the indulgence of a dishonest
practice, but the gain will be loss in the long run.
You may find a temporary deliverance from your pressing sorrow by a
sinful step, but you will purchase the deliverance at an awful price,
since sorrow will return to you multiplied sevenfold and will find you
naked, because your clear conscience, which was once your shield, has
been vilely cast away. He that, amidst a thousand troubles, keeps his
heart whole by standing firm in his integrity, may battle against all
the world and all the hosts of Hell and not be afraid! But he who gives
way for the sake of policy shall find that a wounded spirit none can
bear and the weakness that shall come upon him, through having turned
aside to crooked ways, shall be such as shall cost him a far more
dolorous lamentation than all his afflictions could have wrung from
him.
Thus, at the outset of this sermon, we are warned that to peer into
God's secrets is not good and to depart from God on account of His
dealing severely with us, is the very worst policy that we can follow.
II. Coming more closely to the text, we observe WHAT IS IN THE TEXT
PLAINLY COMMENDED–"To draw near to God"–what does this mean? To draw
near to God, Brothers and Sisters, implies first that we are reconciled
to Him by the death of His Son. For a man to attempt to draw near to
God while God is angry with him would be a species of insanity. As well
might the moth draw near to the candle, or the stubble approach the
flame! God is "a consuming fire," and while our hearts are evil there
can nothing come of an approach to God but destruction!
Before any one of us can draw near to God in acceptable prayer and
praise, we must wash in the fountain that Christ has filled from His
dying veins. Do you believe in the Atonement, my Hearer? Believing in
it, have you also received it? Do you rest your soul's salvation upon
the accomplished mediatorial work of Jesus Christ? If not, you are such
an enemy to God that you may by no means even think yourself capable of
drawing near to Him. Your back is towards Him and the faster you walk,
the further from God will you journey, and your end will assuredly be
to hear from Him the word,
"Depart."
You have been departing all your life! You shall go on departing
throughout eternity–departing from the God whom you have hated and
despised and forgotten. Before, then, we can draw near to God, we must
have come with
repentance and faith to the Cross and have looked up to Him who bled
there and we must have accepted Him as our salvation. I ask you whether
you can accompany me in the first step? Have you laid hold on eternal
life in Christ Jesus?
Next, in order to draw near to God, the soul must grasp the thought
that God is near to it and the soul must have a clear sense of who and
what God is. Ignorance is an effectual barrier to any approach to God,
seeing that our drawing near is not physical since God is always
equally near to our bodies. It is mental and spiritual, and therefore,
to such an approach there must be an intelligent knowledge and
apprehension of the Lord. We must know Him as good, as great, as just,
as holy, as merciful, as true, as faithful. And, knowing
Him–understanding something of His Character–we must then grasp the
thought that He is even now here, close at hand, nearer to us than any
earthly friend could be, for He possesses our heart and compasses us on
every side.
As nothing can be nearer to the fish than the water in which it lives,
so nothing can be nearer to us than God, in whom we live and move and
have our being. The Lord is not round about us merely, but He is in our
souls, filling their every corner and chamber, entering into the core
and center of our physical and mental nature. Now, when our mind is
filled with these two thoughts–God near us and reconciled to us–we
have become capable of spiritually drawing near to Him. As yet I have
not succeeded in my description. How shall I tell you what to draw near
to God is? It is prayer, but it is more than prayer.
I bow my knee and I begin to ask the Lord to help me in my time of
trouble. I tell Him what my trial is. I put up my requests, uttering
them with such words as His Holy Spirit gives me on the occasion. But
this, alone, is not drawing near to God. Prayer is the modus operandi,
it is the outward form of drawing near to God–but there is an inner
spiritual approach which is scarcely to be described by language. Shall
I tell you how I have sometimes drawn near to Him? I have been worn and
wearied with a heavy burden, and have resorted to prayer. I have tried
to pour out my soul's anguish in words but there was not vent enough by
way of speech, and therefore my soul has broken out into sighs and sobs
and tears.
Feeling that God was hearing my heart-talk, I have said to Him, "Lord,
behold my affliction. You know all about it. Deliver me! If I cannot
exactly tell You, there is no need of my words, for You see for
Yourself. You searcher of hearts, You read me as I read a book. Will
You be pleased to help Your poor servant? I scarcely know what help it
is I need, but You know. I cannot tell You what I desire, but teach me
to desire what You will be sure to give. Conform my will to
Yours."
Perhaps at such a time there may be a peculiar bitterness about your
trouble, a secret with which no stranger may intermeddle, but you can
tell it all to your God. With broken words, sighs, groans and tears,
you lay bare the inmost secret of your soul. Taking off the doors of
your heart from their hinges, you bid the Lord come in and walk through
every chamber and see the whole. I do not know how to tell you what
drawing near to God is better than by this rambling talk. It is getting
to feel that the Lord is close to you and that you have no secret which
you wish to keep back from Him, but have unveiled your most private and
sacred desires to Him. The getting right up to Jesus, our Lord. The
leaning of your head, when it aches with trouble, upon the heart that
always beats with pity. The casting of all care upon Him–believing
that He cares for you, pities you and sympathizes with you–this is
drawing near to God! It is good for me to draw near to God if this is
what drawing near to God is.
Let us make a further attempt at the definition. Drawing near to God
may assume the form of praise. It were a sad proof of selfishness if we
never approached our God except to ask for something. Brethren, I hope
we often feel that our heavenly Father has been so bountiful and kind
and tender to us, that our cup runs over and our heart pours itself out
in the language of some grand old Psalm, or we sing like the Virgin,
"My soul does magnify the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my
Savior." Thus to draw near to God in song is something, but there is a
still further approach. The soul will sometimes climb so near her God
in thankfulness that words fail her and she sits down, like David, in
the Lord's Presence, wondering, "Why all this for me? What am I and
what is my father's house, that You have brought me here? O Lord, Your
mercy overwhelms me! Come, then, expressive silence, speak the Divine
praise."
You have seen a little child when it is greatly pleased with a gift
from its mother. It says but little by way of gratitude, but it begins
to kiss its mother at a vehement rate, as though it never could be
done! Such drawing near in love exists between a regenerate soul and
its God. True saints fall to close embraces of gratitude, exhibiting
thankfulness
inexpressible, real and deep and, therefore, not to be worded–weights
of love too heavy to be carried on the backs of such poor staggering
bearers as our words. This is drawing near to God and it is good for
us.
As when on a sultry day the traveler strips off his garments and
plunges into the cool refreshing brook and rises from it invigorated to
pursue his way, so it is when a spirit has learned, either in prayer or
in praise, to really draw near to God! It bathes itself in the brooks
of Heaven (streams branching from the river of the Water of Life) and
goes on its way refreshed with heavenly strength! Still, I have not
fully described drawing near to God. To draw near to God has in it the
element of looking at the matter in the Divine light. Our light here
below is nothing better than candlelight at its best. Now, by
candlelight, there are many things of which we cannot judge. Colors are
not truly seen by candlelight. Only by sunlight is the brightness of
the tints apparent.
We too often judge our afflictions and the Providential dispensations
of God by the candlelight of human reason. Oh, if we could draw near to
God and get into His light and begin to look at things in their eternal
bearings, how good it would be! To take the sacred picture of
Providence and, with our eyeglass, look at the canvas inch by inch, is
practically to see nothing. But to view the work of the Divine Artist
as a whole–with all its lights and shades and all the fair proportions
which manifest the matchless skill! That would be to see, indeed! The
fault of us all is this–we judge Providence by the moment instead of
regarding it in its true magnitude, stretched upon the framework of
that eternal love which knows neither beginning nor end.
Your dear child dies. Yes, and what calamity could be heavier? But if
the death of one shall be the salvation of others and if the child's
death is but the child's admission into Paradise, the matter wears
another aspect. It is no longer such a subject for tears as it
otherwise might have been. Poverty scowls in your house–yes, and a
sore ill is poverty–but if this poverty of pounds, shillings and pence
should mean the reclaiming of a lost soul! If this trouble should be
really needed to get us out of an ill position and to bring us into a
holier and happier state–preparatory for Heaven–what would the loss
of all earthly riches be compared with the winning of Heaven?
Brothers and Sisters, we do not know how to judge! But if we must
indulge our propensity to sit upon the bench, it would be good for us
to get so near to God that we should weigh events in His scale and
consider matters according to His measurement. Further than this, a man
may be enabled not merely to draw so near to God as to see things in
God's light, but he may even rise so high as to be pleased with
anything and everything that pleases God. This is a high attainment
when a soul can honestly say, "If I could have my will, it should be my
will that God's will should be done. Let Him do wholly as seems good in
His sight. If it is for His Glory that I pine in sickness, then I would
not wish for health. And if it is for His honor that I should be poor
and despised, then I would not wish for comforts or for esteem."
The heart has need to pass through many a furnace before it attains to
this, yet, my Brethren, we very soon reach this point with regard to
those we love on earth, for we would very cheerfully give up our own
wishes to please some dear one. In fact, it is with very many their
highest happiness if there is anything that is needed by the object of
their affection, to deny themselves anything and everything, if but
their dear one's wish may be fulfilled. And shall we thus yield up
ourselves at the shrine of a wife, or a husband, or a darling
child–and shall we not rejoice to surrender self for our gracious
Lord? Shall we put our idols higher than our God?
Shame upon us if anything in Heaven or earth is hard to do or suffer
for our Lord. Let us ask to be able to say, "Nevertheless not as I
will, but as You will. If it pleases You, my God, it pleases me." No,
let the Lord have His way. If we could stand in His place, if we could
have our way in opposition to Him, yet should it not be, but we would
petition for the privilege of denying ourselves in order that His
eternal purpose might be fulfilled. Brothers and Sisters, may we learn
to draw near to God in such a sense as this! May the secret of the Lord
be with us! May the Spirit of the Lord overshadow our spirits! May His
will be our joy, His light our delight and Himself our all in all!
We must now leave this point. We can go no further. Words are scarcely
the proper medium by which to instruct you in the art of drawing near
to God. We must show you our fruit ripened under so Divine a sun! You
must know the sweetness of communion for yourselves and knowing it for
yourselves, you will subscribe with heart and soul to Asaph's
commendation, "It is good for me to draw near to God."
III. Thirdly, we shall occupy a little time in enquiring THE GROUNDS
FOR SUCH AN UNQUALIFIED COMMENDATION–"It is good for me to draw near
to God." First, it is good in itself. How can it be otherwise than good
to have access to Him who is the highest good? The courtier counts it a
high honor and satisfaction to sun himself
in the presence of his monarch. He basks in the royal smile. Shall not
the courtiers of Heaven count it an equal good to stand in the favor of
the King of kings and to delight themselves with the glory of His
majesty?
It is a pleasure to draw near to God. As the enlivening breath of
summer awakens the joyous emotions of creation, filling the gardens
with beauty and the groves with song, even so the Countenance of the
Lord is the source of the highest pleasure to the renewed soul,
enlightening it with celestial happiness! Out of Heaven there are no
such joys as those discovered in living near to God. Albeit, everything
that is pleasant is not, therefore, good–yet for once here is a good
thing which is sound as well as sweet, as holy as it is happy, as
Divinely excellent as it is humanly desirable. Besides, to draw near to
God is elevating. He that draws near to the earth grovels and becomes
earthy. He that draws near to the heavenly One is changed from glory to
glory into the image of the heavenly.
You shall know a man by his company, for we are all much shaped by our
acquaintances. And he that has an acquaintance with God shall be
discerned of all men, for his face shall shine and all his life and
character shall be transfigured with holiness! Let but Jehovah dwell in
a bush in the desert and lowliness is forgotten in glowing glories! And
even thus let the Holy Spirit rest upon the earnest of His servants and
the fishermen of Galilee shall become royal wonder-workers, whose names
shall be as the names of the great ones that are on the earth.
Approaching to God is, therefore, good in itself. For a chosen creature
there is nothing better than to draw near to the Creator. It is so
elevating, so honorable, so delightful!
Brothers and Sisters, it is good to draw near to God if you consider
for a moment our relations to God. Remember gratefully that we are His
children which have been born into His family–and who shall deny but
what it is a good thing for the child to come near to its parents?
Where is the babe happier than on its mother's breast? There its cares
are at an end, its sorrows cease–it cries itself to sleep upon the
warm breast of love, when elsewhere it had been disturbed with rude
alarms. It is good for me, my God, like a babe to come nestling into
Your bosom. It is always good for the chickens to shelter beneath the
wings of the hen. The hawk may be in the air, but they are perfectly
safe from cruelty– and when the child of God cowers down beneath the
everlasting wings and learns the meaning of David's words, "He shall
cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust," oh,
then it is good, indeed!
We are the sheep of His pasture and none shall doubt but what it is
good for the sheep to draw near to the Shepherd. In His Presence is
fullness of joy and nowhere else but there. He makes His sheep to lie
down in green pastures because He is near them. It is His transporting
Presence that leads them beside the still waters. It must be good for
those who are of the family of Christ to live very near to their elder
Brother, through whom all the inheritance comes to them. We are the
disciples of our blessed Teacher and Master, and where should a
disciple be but near his Lord? He wishes to be taught– let him sit at
the Teacher's feet.
The Believer is an imitator of Christ. He that would imitate his copy
must keep his copy near him and before his eyes. We are "imitators of
God's dear children," and therefore shall find it most helpful in our
labor after the heavenly image, to draw very near, study very closely,
and habitually dwell near to the Lord. Brethren, it is good for us to
draw near to God, again, because of our pitiable character and
condition. We are weakest of the weak and where should weakness lean
but upon Him who delights to put forth His power for the upholding of
the feeble? We are exceedingly foolish–even the wisest saints are
foolish, apt to be deceived and prone to error. Where, then, can our
folly be safer but under the careful guidance of Infallible Wisdom? It
must be good for us when we get into dilemmas, to enquire at the Divine
Oracle and ask which is the way that we may walk.
Besides, we are many of us so prone to despond that if others of more
elastic step could afford to live without their God, certainly we could
not. Timorous spirits will find it especially good to cultivate
intimate communion with God, for unless they do this, depression of
spirit may grow upon them and despondency may degenerate into despair.
It is good for such to plume their wings and mount above the clouds, if
the clouds have such deadly effect upon their joys. I cannot imagine a
single quality in the child of God which does not argue for the
necessity and benefit of drawing near to God. Search yourselves through
and through and what will you find in your original nature that you can
depend upon?
O you who live nearest to God, take care to examine the secrets of your
heart and see if there is not within much to disgust and little to
content you! See if there is anything in you by nature that you can
rejoice in, or that you can lean upon! Now by your weakness, by your
folly, by your sinfulness, by your unbelief–by every evil quality that
must ruin
you unless Divine grace prevents–I urge you to draw near to God! And
as each of these evils shall be overcome, you shall find increasingly
that it is good to draw near to God.
Dear Friends, the correctness of the commendation in our text might be
proven to you in many ways. We must trouble you with a few more
arguments. It is good for you to draw near to God because of the
removal of many evils with which you are constantly surrounded. You
business people have to be busy in the world from Monday morning till
Saturday night and a man who is called to business ought to be diligent
in it. There is no sin in diligence–in fact, it is a virtue. But the
tendency of business is, in many cases, to make a man covetous. In
others, fretfulness is the great failing and all worldliness is a
strong besetment. You are unmindful of your Lord very frequently and
too greedy for gain. In fact, unnumbered evils rise from our daily
avocations like dust from our dry roads as we make our pilgrimage along
them.
In what way can a Christian shake the dust from his garments? How can
he wash his face from the grime of his daily labor? Why, only by
drawing near to God! Maintain with earnest regularity your morning and
evening prayers. Do more than that–demand from time that it shall
yield a little space for eternity. Force yourself to be alone. Pray God
that your heart may be with Him while your hands are in your daily
work. See to it that while you are in the world you are not of it,
because your aspirations, your thoughts and desires are going upward,
and your communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
You will find that business becomes less dangerous. You shall find that
the cares of it are less bitter and the joys of it are less
intoxicating if you draw near to God.
I do not know what may be the peculiar position which your affairs are
in this morning, but I venture upon the remark that from the evil which
springs out of your present condition there is no cure like drawing
near to God. Are you solitary and alone? Have you much leisure? Great
temptations lurk in leisure–draw near to God and they vanish and
leisure becomes space in which to serve your God! Are you suffering
today under very severe trials? Ah, it will be sweetly good to you to
draw near to God, for then you will not become impatient nor will you
be permitted to think hard things of your gracious God and Father.
Beyond the evils which drawing near to God will remove, there are many
good things which drawing near to God will confer. These I cannot
particularly instance, for they comprehend everything. There is no
blessing in the Covenant of Grace which prayer cannot obtain, which
close approaches to God will not ensure. Let me gather them up under
these short heads–Are you a worker for God and do you lack strength?
Draw near to God and get it. Are you struggling and wrestling against a
mighty inward sin or outward error? Then draw near to God and you will
learn the way to victory. Like the old fable of the giant whom Hercules
would gladly destroy–who rose every time he fell to the ground
stronger than before because he touched his mother, earth–so the
Christian, every time he is overcome, if he falls upon his God, rises
stronger than before!
Take care, O tried Believer, that you get near your God and you shall
be strong. Are you a minister? Do you preach the Gospel? It is always
good for an ambassador to receive his orders fresh from court–and good
for us it is when we come into the pulpit with a message all glowing
from the Master's mouth! Oh, I can say, if no one else can, it is good
for me to draw near to God! Nothing else could keep my soul standing in
the midst of responsibilities so overwhelming and trials that are
neither few nor small! I had long since been utterly confounded were it
not that I have been taught by experience to draw near to God and
breathe the bracing air of Heaven before I come among you to talk of
the things of
God.
Perhaps, my dear Friend, you are conscious of having fallen into sin
and you say, "Do not talk about drawing near to God to me! I am so
unworthy." Well, if there is one to whom it is good to draw near to God
above another, you are the man! You who have the most sin have most
need of Divine Grace. Where will you obtain pardon but by drawing near
to God through Jesus Christ? You who are the foulest with inbred
corruption–how will you win the victory over your natural depravity
but by drawing near to the Strong for strength through the blood of the
Atonement and seeking the power of the Holy Spirit? I say to you,
Brothers and Sisters, whether it is sin or sorrow, whether it is
temptation or depression–whatever may be the evil which assails you
this day–it must be in the highest degree good for you to draw near to
God!
We have said enough, I think, to prove our point, but this much more
must be added. This drawing near to God is a remedy for evil open to
every child of God by the assistance of the Holy Spirit. You are poor,
yes–but you can draw
near to God without a golden bridge! You are ignorant–you can draw
near to God without Latin or Greek! You are not gifted with rhetorical
powers–you tell me you cannot put six sentences together. Remember our
gracious God does not require you to be a Demosthenes or a Cicero! You
can draw near to God even though you cannot say a word! A prayer may be
crystallized in a tear. A tear is enough water to float a desire to
God. Yes, and if you cannot even weep, the very bitterest tears are
those that drop inside the head–and these the Lord will cherish!
When parching grief will not let the eyes relieve the heart with tears,
the Lord can and will deliver. When no other balm will avail, it will
be good for you to draw near to God–and you have the Lord's permission
to do so. Yes, in the long hours of the watchful night in the sick
chamber you can draw near to God and in the sultry hours of the busy
day you have no need to seek your oratory or your closet–you can draw
near to God in the field and the shop. Here in this pew, or there in
the street! Yonder in your lonely attic, or in your miserable cellar,
or in the midst of the ribald talk and the coarse society of wicked
workmen with whom you are toiling! Anywhere, even though it were at the
gates of Hell, you can draw near to God!
There is never a possibility for Satan to block up this road, nor rob
you of this privilege. Thus you bear about with you, O Believer, a
charm against every ill–a weapon that will stand you in good stead
against every foe. And when the waters of the last black river shall
roar in your ears and your blood shall be made to freeze and your heart
and your flesh shall fail you–then as you draw near to God by
committing your spirit unto Him, you shall find that He is the strength
of your life and your portion forever! It shall always be good for you
to draw near to God. There is no need that I should say more in
conclusion, except to finish by a word of practical advice. If it is,
indeed, so good to draw near to God, let us do it at once!
Children of God, have you been living at a distance from your Father?
The silver bell rings this morning and invites you to return. An angel
voice cries, "Come back! Come back! Come back!" Will you not answer, "I
will arise and go to my Father"? Have you had a little prosperity, a
thriving time in business and have you ungratefully forgotten the God
who gave you this? Oh, now that the prosperity is for awhile removed,
out of the darkness let the voice of longsuffering Mercy be heard, for
it calls to you, "Return unto Me, backsliding child, return." It shall
be good for you to acquaint yourself with God, now, though you have
lost the privilege of communion for awhile. The privilege has not lost
its sweetness. It will still bring you countless blessings to approach
your God.
Do I address any dear friend here who is very happy and rejoicing? I
hope his joy will abide with him and that he will rejoice in the Lord
always! But it will be good for him, at this bright hour, to draw near
to God. Communion with God will give a deeper and healthier tone to
your joy so that it shall not intoxicate you. You shall have all the
true mirth that lies in earthly comfort, but the evil element shall be
neutralized–your feet shall stand on your high places, but your soul
shall not be puffed up with pride. Fellowship with God is good for you!
O seek it now! Draw near to God at once!
I would suggest to each Believer the propriety of trying to get between
now and the next Lord's-Day, a special season alone. Strain after a
devotional vacation. Surely if you can spare time for holidays and
recreations, you can clear a space for special drawing near to God. I
believe this Church would be visited with a very great ingathering if
all the members of it made it a solemn matter of duty to draw near to
God especially and particularly. I feel persuaded the ministry would
revive in freshness, converts would be more numerous and the people of
God more rejoicing if we did this. We might expect to see a general
revival of religion if all the faithful in Christ's Church drew near to
Him with greater vehemence of supplication, a higher expectation and a
greater boldness of faith. May God give us Divine Grace to attempt
this!
Alas, I have been very conscious, while preaching this morning, that my
subject has small attractions for a great many present because they
never did draw near to God and what I have spoken will seem to them to
be an idle tale. Ah, my dear Friends, if you live and die a stranger to
God, as you have lived up to now, God, whom you do not know today will
not know you in another world. No love-knowledge will He have of you.
You will ask of His Son for mercy, but He will reply, "I never knew
you. Depart from Me, you cursed." You will need an interest in Jesus'
blood in the next world! You will need to have a part in the love of
Christ when He comes in His kingdom.
But as you do not know Him here, He will not know you there. Woe is me
that I should have to tell you this! Do you know what becomes of those
that forget God? The Scripture is very plain, "The wicked shall be
turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God." Shall that be
your portion? Will you always be forgotten of God? Oh, it would be good
for
you to draw near to God! And you may do so, for Jesus welcomes those
who desire forgiveness! You have but to ask Him to accept you and He
will!
In your pew this morning, the prayer may successfully assault His
ear–send it up–"You Son of David, I desire to draw near to God.
Introduce me to Your Father's Presence by the merit of Your sacrifice."
You shall not seek in vain, dear Heart! Christ will have pity upon you
and you shall be saved! O that today, today, TODAY you might learn, for
the first time, that it is good to draw near to God!
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFOFE SERMON–Psalm 73.