Darkness Before the Dawn
(No. 2477)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 9, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 1, 1886.
"Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and
be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether." Song of
Solomon 2:17.
THE spouse sings, "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away," so
the beloved of the Lord may be in the dark. It may be night with her
who has a place in the heart of the Well-Beloved. A child of God, who
is a child of light, may be, for a while, in darkness. First, darkness
comparatively, as compared with the light he has sometimes enjoyed, for
days are not always equally bright. Some days are bright with a clear
sunshine, other days may be overcast. So the child of God may one day
walk with full assurance of faith, in close fellowship with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and at another time he may be
questioning his interest in the Covenant of Grace and may be rather
sighing than singing, rather mourning than rejoicing. The child of God
may be, then, in comparative darkness.
Yes, and he may be in positive darkness. It may be very black with him
and he may be obliged to cry, "I see no signs of returning day."
Sometimes, neither sun nor moon appears for a long season to cheer the
Believer in the dark. This may arise partly through sickness of body.
There are sicknesses of the body which, in a very peculiar way, touch
the soul– exquisite pain may yet be attended with great brightness and
joy–but there are certain other illnesses which influence us in
another way. Terrible depressions come over us. We walk in darkness and
see no light. I should not like to guess how heavy a true heart may
sometimes become–sometimes it is necessary we are in heaviness through
manifold trials. There is not only a necessity for the trials, but also
for the heaviness which comes out of them. It is not always that a man
can gather himself together and defy the fierce blasts and walk through
fire and through water with heavenly equanimity. No, Brothers and
Sisters, "a wounded spirit, who can bear?" And that wounded spirit may
be the portion of some of the very fairest of the sons of God! Indeed,
the Lord has some weakly, sickly sons who, nevertheless, are the very
pick of His family. It is not always the strong ones by whom He sets
the most store, but, sometimes, those that seem to be driven into a
corner–whose days are spent in mourning–are among the most precious
in His sight! Yes, the darkness of the child of God may be comparative
darkness and it may, to a great extent, be positive darkness.
But yet it can only be temporary darkness. The same text which suggests
night promises dawn–"Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away,"
says the song of the spouse. Perhaps no text is more frequently upon my
lips than is this one. I do not think that any passage of Scripture
more often recurs to my heart when I am alone. And just now I feel that
there is a gathering gloom over the Church and over the world. It seems
as if night were coming on and such a night as makes one sigh and cry,
"Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away."
I am going to speak upon three things which are in our text. The first
will be our prospect. We have a prospect that the day will break and
the shadows flee away. Secondly, our posture–"until the day breaks and
the shadows flee away." Thirdly, our petition–"Turn, my Beloved, and
be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of division." We are
content to wait if He will come to us. If gladdened with His Presence,
the night shall seem short and we can well endure all that it brings!
Let the prayer of our text be put up by any of you who are waiting in
the darkness and may it be speedily answered in your happy experience!
I. First of all, let us consider OUR PROSPECT. Our prospect is that the
day will break and that the shadows will flee away. We may read this
passage in many ways and apply it to different cases.
Think, first, of the child of God who is full of doubt. He is afraid
that, after all, his supposed conversion was not a true one, and that
he has proved it to be false by his own misbehavior. He is afraid, I
scarcely know of what, for so many fears crowd in upon him. He is
crying to God to remove his doubts and to let him once again–
"Read his title clear To mansions in the skies."
His eyes are looking toward the Cross and somehow he has a hope, if not
quite a persuasion, that he will find light in Christ, where so many
others have found it. I would encourage that hope till it becomes a
firm conviction and a full expectation! The day will break for you,
dear mourner! The shadows will yet flee away. While I say that, I feel
able to speak with great confidence, for my eyes, as they look round on
this congregation, detect many Brothers and Sisters with whom I have
conversed in the cloudy and dark day. We have prayed together, dear
Friends–have we not? I have repeated in your hearing those precious
promises which are the pillows of our hope, yet, at the time, it seemed
as if you would never be cheered or comforted. Friends who lived with
you grieved much to see you so sad. They could not understand how such
as you who have lived so scrupulously as you believed to be right,
should, nevertheless, come into sadness and despondency!
Well, you have come out of that state, have you not? I can almost catch
the bright expression in your eyes as you flash back the response, "It
is so, Sir! We can sing among the loudest, now. We can leap as a hart
and the tongue that once was dumb can now sing praises to the Lord who
delivered us." The reason for this great change is that you clung to
Christ even when it seemed to be no use to cling! You had a venturesome
faith–when it seemed a risky thing even to believe, you believed–and
you kept on believing! And now the day has dawned for you and the
shadows have fled away. Well, so shall it be to all who are in the same
predicament if they will but trust in the Lord and stay themselves upon
our God! Though they walk in darkness and see no light, yet, by-and-by,
the day shall break for them, also!
This expression is equally applicable when we come into some personal
sorrow not exactly of a spiritual kind. I know that God's children are
not long without tribulation. As long as the wheat is on the threshing
floor, it must expect to feel the flail. Perhaps you have had a
bereavement, or you may have had losses in business, or crosses in your
family, or you have been sorely afflicted in your own body. And now you
are crying to God for deliverance out of your temporal trouble. That
deliverance will surely come. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall
you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." "I have been
young," said David, "and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken." The Lord will yet light your candle and surround your path
with brightness. Only patiently hope and quietly wait–and you shall
yet see the salvation of the Lord. "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous." Mark that–you know that part of the verse is true, but so
is the rest of it–"but the Lord delivers him out of them all." Clutch
at that, for it is equally true! "In the world you shall have
tribulation." You know that is true. "Be of good cheer," says Christ,
"I have overcome the world." Therefore, expect that you, also, will
overcome it through your conquering Lord! Yes, in the darkest of all
human sorrows, there is the glad prospect that the day will break and
the shadows will flee away!
This is the case again, I believe, on a grander scale with reference to
the depression of religion at the present time. [1886–eo] Some of us
are obliged to go sorrowing when we look upon the state of the Church
and the world. We are not accustomed to take gloomy views of things,
but we cannot help grieving over what we see. More and more it forces
itself upon us that the old-fashioned Gospel is being either neglected
or trampled in the dust! The old spirit, the old fire that once burned
in the midst of the saints of God, is still there, but it burns very
low at present. We need–I cannot say how much we need a revival of
pure and undefiled religion in this our day! Will it come? Why should
it not come? If we long for it, if we pray for it, if we believe for
it, if we work for it and prepare for it, it will certainly come. The
day will break and the shadows will flee away!
The mockers think that they have buried our Lord Jesus Christ. So,
perhaps, they have, but He will have a resurrection. The cry is, "Who
will roll away the stone for us?" The stone shall be rolled away and
He, even the Christ in whom our fathers trusted, the Christ of Luther
and of Calvin, of Whitefield and of Wesley–that same Christ shall be
among us in the fullness and the glory of His power by the working of
the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of myriads of men! Let us never
despair, but, on the contrary, let us brush away the tears from our
eyes and begin to look for the light of the morning, for, "the morning
comes," and the day will break and the shadows will flee away!
Let me encourage any friends who have been laboring for Christ in any
district which has seemed strikingly barren, where the stones of the
field have seemed to break the plows. Still believe on, Beloved–that
soil which appears most unfruitful will perhaps repay us after a while
with a hundred-fold harvest! The prospect may be dark, but, perhaps,
dear Friends, it is to be darker yet. We may have worked and seemed to
work in vain. Possibly the vanity of all our working is yet to appear
still more, but, for all that, "the morning comes." "They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy." We must not be in the least bit afraid even
in the densest darkness, but, on the contrary, look for the coming
blessing!
I believe that this is to be the case, also, in this whole world. It is
still the time of darkness, it is still the hour of shadows. I am no
prophet, nor the son of a Prophet, and I cannot foretell what is yet to
happen in the earth. It may be that the darkness will deepen still more
and that the shadows will multiply and increase–but the Lord will
come! When He went up from Olivet, He sent two of His angels down to
say, "You men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This
same Jesus, who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like
manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven." He is surely coming and
though the date of His return is hidden from our sight, all the signs
of the times look as if He might come very speedily! I was reading, the
other day, what old Master William Bridge says on this sub-ject–"If
our Lord is coming at midnight, He certainly will come very soon, for
it cannot be darker than it now is."
That was written two hundred years ago and our Lord has not come, yet,
and I might say much the same as Master Bridge did! Do not doubt as to
Christ's coming because it is delayed. A person lies dying and the
report concerning him is, "Well, it does not look as if he could live
many hours." You call again and they say, "Well, he still survives, but
it seems as if he would scarcely get through the night." Do you go away
and say, "Oh, he will not die, for I have expected, for several days,
to hear that he has passed away"? Oh, no! But each time you hear the
report, you feel, "Well, it is so much nearer the end." And so is our
Master's coming! It is getting nearer every hour, so let us keep on
expecting it. That glorious Advent shall end our weary waiting days! It
shall end our conflicts with infidelity and priestcraft! It shall put
an end to all our futile endeavors and when the Great Shepherd shall
appear in His Glory, then shall every faithful under-shepherd and all
His flock appear with Him–and then shall the day break, and the
shadows flee away!
As to the shadows fleeing what are those shadows that are to fly at His
approach? The types and shadows of the Ceremonial Law were all finished
when Christ appeared the first time. But many shadows still remain–the
shadows of our doubts, the grim mysterious shadows of our fears, the
shadows of sin, so black, so dense–the shadows of abounding
unbelief–ten thousand shadows! When He comes, these shall all flee
away, and with them shall go Heaven and earth– the Heaven and earth
that now are, for what are these but shadows? All things that are
unsubstantial shall pass away when He appears! When the day breaks,
then shall everything but that which is eternal and invisible pass
away! We are glad that it shall be so and we pray that soon the day may
break and the shadows flee away. This, then, is our prospect.
II. Now I want to occupy a few minutes of your time in considering OUR
POSTURE "until the day breaks and the shadows flee away." We are here,
like soldiers on guard, waiting for the dawn. It is night and the night
is deepening– how shall we occupy ourselves until the day breaks and
the shadows flee away?
Well, first, we will wait in the darkness with patient endurance as
long as God appoints it. Whatever of shadow is yet to come, whatever of
cold damp air and dews of the night is yet to fall upon us, we will
bear it. Soldiers of the Cross, you must not wish to avoid these
shadows! He who has called you to this service knew that it would be
nighttime and He called you to night duty. And being put upon the night
watch, stay at your post. It is not for any of us to say, "We will
desert because it is so dark." Has not the thought sometimes crossed
your mind, "I am not succeeding–I will run away"? Have you not often
felt, like Jonah, that you would go to Tarshish that you might escape
from delivering your Master's message? Oh, do not! The day will break
and the shadows flee away–and until then, watch through the night and
fear not the shadows! Play the man, remembering through what a
sevenfold night your Master passed, when, in Gethsemane, He endured
even to a bloody sweat for you! When, on the Cross, even His mid-day
was midnight–what must have been the darkness over His spirit? He bore
it–then you bear it. Let no thought of fear pass over your mind, or,
if it does, let not your heart be troubled, but rise above your fear
until the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Be of good courage,
soldiers of Christ, and still wait on in patient endurance.
What are we to do, next, until the day breaks? Why, let there be
hopeful watching. Keep your eyes towards the East and look for the
first gray sign of the coming morning. "Watch!" Oh, how little is done
of this kind of work! We scarcely watch as we ought against the devil,
but how little do we watch for the coming of our Master! Look for every
sign of His appearing and be always listening for the sound of His
chariot wheels. Keep the candle burning in the window to let Him see
that you are awake. Keep the door on the latch, that when He comes you
may quickly open to Him. Hopefully watch until the day breaks and the
shadows flee away.
Then, further, dear Friends, while we maintain patient endurance and
hopeful watching, let us give each other mutual encouragement. Men who
have been shipwrecked will give each other a hand and say, "Brother,
perhaps we shall escape after all." Now that it is midnight all around,
let every Christian give his fellow soldier a grip of his hand.
Courage, Brothers and Sisters, the Lord has not forgotten us! We are in
the dark and cannot see Him, but He can see us and He knows all about
us–maybe He will come walking on the stormy waters in the middle watch
of the night when our little boat seems ready to be sunk beneath the
waves by the boisterous wind! I seem, just now, as though I were a
soldier in this great guardroom and as if we were sitting in these
shadows and, perhaps, in the darkness, and seemed very much dispirited.
And I would say to you, my comrades, "Come, Brothers and Sisters, let
us cheer up. The Lord has appeared to one and another of us. He has
given to some of us the light of His Countenance and He is coming back
to welcome us all to Himself. Let us not be dismayed–our glorious
Leader forgets not the weakest and feeblest of us, neither is any part
of the battlefield beyond the reach of the great Captain's eyes! He
sees which way the struggle is going and He has innumerable reserves
which He will bring up at the right time. I seem to hear the music of
His horse's hoofs even now. He is coming who shall turn the scale in
the worst moment of the conflict, for the battle is the Lord's and He
will deliver the enemy into our hands! Let no man's heart fail him
because of yonder Goliath! The God who has raised up men to slay the
lion and the bear will yet find a David and a smooth stone to kill this
mighty giant. Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, be of good courage."
What further should we do in the dark? Well, one of the best things to
do in the dark is to stand still and keep our place. "Until the day
breaks and the shadows flee away," let us keep our place and firmly
maintain our position. A Brother who sat at the back of me, 20 years
ago, dropped in, again, recently to hear me preach. And he said to me,
after the service, that he had been in America and come over here again
after 20 years, and he added, "It is the same old story, Spurgeon, as
when I was here before–you are sticking to the same old Gospel" I
replied, "Yes, and if you will come in 20 years' time, if God spares
me, I shall still be sticking to the same old Gospel, for I have nailed
my colors to the mast and I do not mean to have anything to do with
this new-fangled progressive theology." To me, the Gospel came to
perfection long ago in the Person of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and it can
never go beyond that perfection! We preach nothing but that Gospel
which has saved our own souls and saved the souls of the myriads who
have gone to their eternal rest– and we do not intend preaching
anything else until somebody can find us something better–and that
will not be tomorrow, nor the day after, nor as long as the world
stands! It is dark, very dark, so we just stay where we are, in
steadfast confidence in the Lord who has placed us where we are! We are
not going to plunge on in a reckless manner–we mean to look before we
leap and as it is too dark to look, we will not leap, but will just
abide here hard by the Cross, battling with every adversary of the
Truth of God as long as we have a right hand to move in the name of the
Almighty God, "until the day breaks and the shadows flee away."
What else ought we to do? Keep up a careful separateness from the works
of darkness that are going on all around us. If it seems dark to you,
gather up your skirts, and gird up your loins! The more sin abounds in
the world, the more ought the Church of God to seek after the strictest
holiness. If ever there was an age that needed back, again, the
sternest form of Puritanism, it is this age! If ever there was a time
when we needed the old original stamp of Methodists, we need them
now–a people separated to God, a people that have nothing to do but to
please God and to save souls–a people that will not in any way bow
themselves to the fashions of the time! For my part, I would like to
see a George Fox come back among us, yes–Quaker as he was–to bear
such a testimony as he did in the power of the Spirit of God against
the evils of his time. God make us to feel that now, in the dark, we
cannot be as lenient as we might have been in brighter days towards the
sin that surrounds us!
Are any of you tempted into "society," so-called, and into the ways of
that society? Every now and then those who read the papers get some
little idea of what is going on in "society." The stench that comes
from "society" tells us what it must be like and makes us wish to stay
clear of it! The awful revelations that were once before made which
caused us to be sick with shame and sorrow, might be made again, for
there is just the same foulness and filthiness beneath the surface of
the supposed greater decency. O Christian people, if you could but
know, as the most of you ought not to know, how bad this world is, you
would not begin to talk about its wonderful improvements, or to
question the doctrine of human depravity! We are going on, according to
some teachers, by, "evolution," into something–if I might predict what
it is, I would say that it is into devils that many men are being
evolved! They are going down, down, down, except where eternal Grace is
begetting in the heart of men a higher and better and nobler nature
which must bear its protest against the ignorance or hypocrisy which
this day talks about–the improvements of our civilization and the
progress that we are making towards God! "Until the day breaks and the
shadows flee away," keep yourselves to your Lord and hear this voice
sounding through the darkness–the voice of Wisdom that sees more than
you see–"Come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a
Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, said the Lord
Almighty."
"Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away," lift your hands to
Heaven and pledge yourselves to walk a separate pilgrim life until He
comes before whose face Heaven and earth shall flee away!
III. Now I close by noticing OUR PETITION–"Until the day breaks and
the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be like a roe or a young
hart upon the mountains of Bether."
I am not going to preach upon that part of our text, but only just urge
you to turn it into prayer. We have to wait, Brothers and Sisters–we
have to wait in the darkness, cheered, here and there, with the light
from a golden lamp that glows with the Light of God. The world lies in
darkness, but we are of God, little children, therefore this must be
our prayer to our Well-Beloved, "Come to us." "Turn to me, O my
Beloved, for You have turned away from me, or from Your Church. Turn
again, I beseech You. Pardon my lukewarmness, forgive my indifference.
Turn to me again, my Beloved. O You Husband of my soul, if I have
grieved You, and You have hidden Your face from me, turn again to me!
Smile, for then shall the day break and the shadows flee away! Come to
me, my Lord, visit me once again." Put up that prayer, Beloved.
The prayer of the spouse is in this poetic form–"Come over the
mountains of division." As we look out into the darkness, what little
light there is appears to reveal to us Alp upon Alp, mountain upon
mountain and our Beloved seems divided from us by all those hills. Now
our prayer is that He would come over the top of them–we cannot go
over the top of them to Him–but He can come over the top of them to
us, if He thinks fit to do so. Like the hinds' feet, this blessed Hind
of the morning can come skipping over the hills with utmost speed to
visit and to deliver us! Make this your prayer, "Great Master, sweet
Beloved One, come over the mountains of division and come quickly, like
a roe or a young hart! Come easily, come unexpectedly! As roes and
harts let no man know when they will come, so come You to me." I wish
that, even while we are sitting here, our Divine Lord would come to our
spirits with all His ravishing charms, so that we might cry, "Before I
was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib."
Have you never felt an influence steal over you which has lifted you
out of yourself and made you go as on burning wheels with axles hot
with speed where before you had been sluggish and dull? Our
Well-Beloved can come and visit us all of a sudden, without any trouble
to Himself. It cost Him His life's blood to come to earth to save
us–it will cost Him nothing to come just now to bless us! Remember
what He has already done, for, having done so much, He will not deny
you the lesser blessing of coming to you. Are you saved by His Grace?
Then do not think that He will refuse you fellowship with Himself!
Pray for it now. Before we come to the Communion Table, pray for it and
while you are sitting there, let this be your cry, "Come to me, my
Beloved, over the hills of division! Come as a roe or a young hart."
And He will come to you. Put up your prayer in the sweet words we sang
just now–
"When will You come to me, Lord?
come, my Lord most dear! Come near, come nearer, nearer still, I'm
blest when You are near!
When will You come to me, Lord? Until You do appear,
1 count each moment for a day, Each minute for a year."
Oh, that this might be one of those happy seasons when you shall not be
fed by the preacher's talk, but by the Master revealing Himself to you!
May God graciously grant it!
I may be addressing some who long to find the Savior. This morning I
got from a friend who came in to see me, an illustration which I will
give to you. He told me–and oh, how he made my heart rejoice!–that
six years ago he was, so the Apostle says, "going about to establish
his own righteousness." He is a man of reputation and when a friend
sent him some of my sermons to read, he thought to himself, "What do I
need these sermons for? I am as good as any man can be." But he did
read them and the friend asked him, "Have you read those sermons of Mr.
Spurgeon's that I sent you?" "Yes," he replied, "I have, but I have got
no good out of them." "Why not?" "Why," he said, "he has spoiled me! He
has dashed my hopes to the ground. He has taken away my comfort and my
joy. I thought myself as good as anybody living and he has made me feel
as if I were rotten right through." "Oh," said his friend, "that
medicine is working well! You must take some more of it." But the more
of the sermons he read, the more unhappy he became, the more he saw the
hollowness of all his former hopes–and he came into a great
darkness–ad the day did not break and the shadows did not flee away!
But, all of a sudden, he was brought out into the light, by God's
Grace! As he told me the story, this morning, his eyes were wet and so
were mine. This is how the Lord led him into peace. I wish the telling
of it might bring the same blessing to some of you. He said, "I went
with my friend to fish for salmon in Loch Awe. I threw a fly and as I
threw it, a fish leaped up and took it in a moment." "There," said the
friend to him, "that is what you have to do with Christ, what that fish
did with your fly! I am sure I do not know whether the fly took the
fish, or the fish took the fly–it was both, the bait took the
fish–and the fish took the bait. Do just so with Christ and do not ask
any questions. Leap up at Him, take Him in, lay hold of Him!" The man
did so and at once he was saved! I wish that somebody else would do the
same. I never ask you to answer the question whether it is Christ who
takes you or you who take Christ, for both things will happen at the
same moment. Will you have Him? Will you have Him? If you will have
Him, He has you! If you are willing to have Christ, Christ has already
made you willing in the day of His power! Throw yourself upon Christ,
as the salmon opened his mouth and took in the bait, so you take Christ
into your very soul!
Writing to the Romans, Paul says, "The Word is near you, even in your
mouth." What is the thing to do with that which is in your mouth when
you want to keep it? Why, swallow it, of course! Do so with Christ! Let
Him go right down into your soul! Put Him into your mouth, as it were,
while I am preaching. Accept Him, receive Him and He is yours directly.
Then shall the day break and the shadows flee away and your Beloved
shall have come to you over the mountains of division, never to leave
you, but to abide with you forever! O blessed Spirit of God, grant all
here Divine Grace to swallow Christ, now, for only You can grant them
life that they may swallow! God bless you! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE12:22-48.
Verses 22-23. And He said to His disciples, Therefore I say to you,
Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the
body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body
is more than raiment. If you are God's servants, He will clothe you.
There is no servitor of the Lord of Hosts who will have to go without
his necessities and not one who belongs to His vast household, even
though he is but a menial in God's kitchen, who will ever be permitted
to starve.
24-26. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which
neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them: how much more are
you better than the fowls? And which of you, by worrying, can add to
his stature one cubit? If you, then, are not able to do that thing
which is least, why are you anxious for the rest? How little you can do
for yourself after all! Therefore, leave the whole with God–
"Make you His service your delight, He'll make your needs His care."
The best cure for the cares of this life is to care much to please God!
If we loved Him better, we should love the world far less, and be less
troubled about our portion in it.
27,28. Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not;
and yet I say to you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of those. If, then, God so clothes the grass, which is today
in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He
clothe you, O you of little faith? What a title to address us–"O you
of little faith!"–but, depend upon it, we deserve it when we are full
of anxious care. Much care indicates little faith. When faith is
strong, she casts all her care on Him who cares for us. Oh, that we
could but be rid of that which, after all, is not our business, and
give our whole mind, heart and soul to what is our business, namely, to
please our Creator, our Redeemer, our Friend!
29, 30. And seek not what you shall eat, or what you shall drink,
neither be you of doubtful mind. For all those things do the nations of
the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these
things. Is not that a sweet word? "Your Father knows that you have need
of these things." There used to be a hymn which was sung a good deal at
revival meetings. It had a very sweet refrain, "This my Father knows."
If you cannot, yourselves, understand your case, your Father knows all
about it. If you cannot make other people comprehend it, yet your
Father knows all that needs to be known. Whatever you really require,
even for the present life, need not be any cause of anxiety to you,
Believers, for "your Father knows that you have need of these things."
There is no need, therefore, for you to seek "what you shall eat, or
what you shall drink."
31, 32. But rather seek you the Kingdom of God; and all those things
shall be added to you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. He gives others a good many
things, but He will give you the Kingdom! Just as Abraham gave portions
to the sons of Keturah and sent them away, but Isaac had the Covenant
blessing, so, "it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom."
33. Sell what you have, and give alms. Not only give to the poor till
you pinch yourself, but even pinch yourself to do it!
33-35. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the
heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches, neither moth
corrupts. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. Never be
undressed, as it were, in a moral or spiritual sense–"Let your loins
be girded about." Never be in the dark, spiritually. Keep in the Light
of God–let your lamp be always burning. Not only walk in the Light of
God, but let your light shine before men.
36. And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he
will return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may
open to him immediately. Brothers and Sisters, whatever theory we hold
about the future, may God grant that it may never prevent our looking
for the coming of Christ as an event which may happen at any
moment–and being on the watch for it as a matter the date of which we
do not know! The practical essence of all Scriptural teaching upon that
subject is just this, "You yourselves be like men that wait for their
Lord, when He will return from the wedding."
37. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, shall
find watching: verily I say to you, that he shall gird himself, and
make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. I
will not attempt to fully explain this passage of Scripture in the few
moments which I can give to it, but it is very wonderful. Our Lord has
been here once and girded Himself to serve us, but is it not
extraordinary that here is an intimation of a second girding of Himself
that He may serve us? Oh, how fond is Christ of being the Servant of
servants, ministering to those who delight to minister to Him! What an
honor does the Captain of our salvation put upon the lowest soldiers in
this war when He declares that if we are found faithful, He will gird
Himself and come forth and serve us!
38-40. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third
watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know,
that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would
come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be
broken into. Be you, therefore, ready also: for the Son of Man comes at
an hour when you think not. Perhaps He will not come when the modern
"prophets" say that He will appear, but He will come when least of all
He is expected. Therefore, expect the unexpected! Look for your Lord to
come when the many go to sleep. Perhaps, while yet I am speaking,
before this gathered assembly shall disperse, there may be heard the
cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes; go out to meet Him!" Are our loins
girded? Are our lamps burning? God bless His own truth to the effecting
of both those ends!
41-43. Then Peter said to Him, Lord, speak You this parable to us, or
even to all? And the lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise
steward, whom his master shall make ruler over his household, to give
them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom
his master, when he comes, shall find so doing. Distributing the Bread
of Life, giving milk to babes and meat to strong men–not behaving as
if he were master, but acting only as a steward who distributes, not
his own–but his Master's stores. Oh, that we who are ministers of
Christ may be always doing this! So shall we obtain the blessing
promised to "that servant, whom his master, when he comes, shall find
so doing."
44, 45. Of a truth I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all
that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, My master delays
his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to
eat and drink, and to be drunk. First he becomes lordly. He acts as if
he were master, beats his fellow servants. He is harsh and ungenerous
and assumes great dignity and gives himself airs. Let him mind what he
is doing, for his master will come and catch him usurping his place.
The next danger is that he begins to enjoy himself, to be voluptuous,
self-indulgent–"To eat and drink, and to be drunk." He becomes
intoxicated with pride! He is carried away with divers errors and, in
making much of himself, he loses his head and acts like a fool.
46. The master of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for
him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two, and
will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Truly, our Lord uses
very strong words! The Savior is not one of your effeminate preachers
like those of modern times who seem as if the very word, "Hell," would
burn their lips, and who will not warn men to flee from the wrath to
come! It is an unkind and heartless lack of humanity which prevents
their being faithful to the souls of men. The great Lord, who is full
of tenderness, does not hesitate to use the sternest figure and the
most terrible language, simply because He does not consult His own
feelings but aims at the highest good of those with whom He deals! This
is a terrible word for us if we are unfaithful at the last–"He will
cut him in two, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers."
It is an awful thing that the unfaithful servant gets his portion with
those who do not believe in Christ. The Lord preserve all of us from
such a doom!
47, 48. And that servant, which knew his master's will, and prepared
not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with
many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of
stripes, shall be beaten with a few stripes. For to whomever much is
given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more. Under the shadow of such solemn
texts as these, let us draw near to God in earnest prayer.