Degrees Of Power Attending The Gospel
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also inpower, and
in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance; as you know what manner of
men we were among you for your sake." 1 Thessalonians 1:5.
PAUL here claimed two things which are absolutely necessary to success
in the Christian ministry. He could call the Gospel, "our Gospel," and
this is a foremost essential in a sent servant of Jesus Christ. Paul,
Silas and Timothy, here speaking at once, declare the word which they
had preached to be their own in a peculiar sense–every true minister
must be able to do the same–we must, ourselves, have been saved before
we preach salvation. "I believed, therefore have I spoken," says the
Psalmist. "We also believe, and therefore speak," say the whole college
of the Apostles. Without faith, the religious teacher is a mere
pretender unworthy of respect.
The Christian minister must, however, not only believe the truth of
what he asserts, but he must experimentally enjoy it. The farmer that
labors must, himself, also first be a partaker of the fruit. Before
Ezekiel delivered to the people the prophecies which were written in
the roll, the voice came to him, "Son of man, eat this roll." And he
did not only take it into his mouth, where it was like honey for
sweetness, but it descended even into his bowels and mingled with his
innermost self. We must, ourselves, feel the weight of that burden of
the Lord which we proclaim to others, or we shall not be ministers of
the Apostolic sort, but rather shall be descendants of the hypocritical
Pharisees who bound heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, upon other
men's shoulders but were not willing to touch them with so much as one
of their fingers.
The Apostle Paul could, with peculiar propriety, call the Gospel his
own. On the road to Damascus he had singularly experienced its mighty
power. And afterwards–in many trials, in many difficulties, in varied
experiences, in furious temptations–he had made each Truth of
Scripture his own by having tasted its sweetness, handled its strength,
proved its comfort and tried its power! Do not think of preaching,
young man, until you have the Truth of God written on your very soul!
As well think of steering the Great Eastern across the ocean without
knowing the first principles of navigation! As well think of setting up
as an ambassador without your country's sanction as to dare to intrude
yourself into the Christian ministry unless the Gospel is first your
own.
No amount of training at Oxford, or Cambridge, or anywhere else–no
extent of classical or mathematical teaching can ever make you a
minister of Jesus Christ–if you lack the first qualification, namely a
personal interest in salvation by Jesus Christ. What? Will you profess
to be a physician while the leprosy is on your own brow? Will you
attempt to stand between the living and the dead when you are,
yourself, devoid of spiritual life? The priests of old were touched
with the blood upon their thumb, toe and ear to show that they were
consecrated everywhere. And none among us must dare to exercise any
office for God among His people till first of all we know the
cleansing, quickening, refining and sanctifying power of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ!
It must be our Gospel before we may so much as think of aspiring to the
high and holy office of the Gospel ministry. But this alone is not
sufficient. The Christian minister, if he would imitate Paul, must be
very careful of his manner of life among the people. He must be able to
say without blushing, "You know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake." Unselfishness must be our prominent attribute–all must
be done for our people's sake. And then we must, in our lives, show the
truthfulness of our unselfish professions. O God, how much of Grace is
needed that Your servants may be clear of the blood of all men and make
full proof of their ministry!
We are not appointed to stand as motionless way-posts to point the way
with lifeless accuracy and unsympathizing coldness–this many have
done, and while showing the road have never moved one inch in it
themselves–such men shall have terrible judgment at the last. We are
appointed to be guides to the pilgrims over the hills of life and we
are bound to attend their footsteps and tread the road ourselves!
Clambering up every Hill of Difficulty and descending every Valley of
Humiliation, we are to be crying to the pilgrim band, "Be followers of
us even as we are followers of Christ Jesus."
It is not for us to say, "Go!" but, "Come!" We are not to bid you do
anything without first doing it ourselves. It is an ill time with the
preacher when he is compelled to say, "Do as I say and not as I do."
Evil practice will drown the best of preaching! Holy living, intense
earnestness, passionate longing for souls, vehement importunity in
prayer, humility and sincerity must so blend together in our walk and
conversation, that having the Gospel to be our own, we may be fully
fitted for the work of the Christian ministry–"for your sake"–that
you who bear us may not find us unprofitable in the day of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Having said this much upon the ministry itself, we observe that our
text deals mainly with the hearers, and therefore has a voice for you.
We shall use the text for two purposes–first, by way of
discrimination. And, secondly, for instruction.
I. The text suggests and very strongly, too, a thoroughly
heart-searching DISCRIMINATION–a mode of testing ourselves by which
our election may be proven, or our unregeneracy discovered. The Gospel
comes to all who hear it. In our own land, especially among you who
constantly attend places of worship, it comes to you all. If I
understand Scripture aright, it is the same Gospel which comes to the
unregenerate as to the regenerate. And though in some it is "a savor of
death unto death," and in others, "a savor of life unto life," yet the
distinction is not in the Gospel but in the way in which it is received
or rejected.
Some of our Brethren–who are very anxious to carry out the decrees of
God–instead of believing that God can carry them out Himself, always
try to make distinctions in their preaching. They preach one Gospel to
one set of sinners and another to a different class! They are very
unlike the old sowers, who, when they went out to sow, sowed among
thorns and on stony places and by the wayside. These Brethren, with
profound wisdom, endeavor to find out which is the good ground. They
insist upon it that not so much as a single handful of invitations may
be cast anywhere but on the prepared soil.
They are much too wise to preach the Gospel in Ezekiel's fashion to the
dry bones in the valley while they are yet dead. They withhold any Word
of the Gospel till there is a little quivering of life among the bones!
And then they commence operations. They do not think it to be their
duty to go into the highways and hedges and bid all, as many as they
find, to come to the supper. Oh, no! They are too orthodox to obey the
Master's will! They desire to understand, first, who are appointed to
come to the supper and then they will invite them! That is to say they
will do what there is no necessity to do. They have not faith enough,
or enough subjugation of will to the supreme commands of the great
Master to do that which only faith dares do–namely, tell the dry bones
to live–bid the man with the withered hand stretch out his arm and
speak to him that is sick of the palsy and tell him to take up his bed
and walk!
It strikes me that refusing to set forth Jesus to all men of every
character and refraining from inviting them to come to Him is a great
mistake. I do not find David suiting his counsels to the ability of
men. David gives commands to ungodly men–"Be wise, therefore, O you
kings; be instructed you judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest He be
angry and you perish from the way, while His wrath is kindled but a
little." He did not withhold his exhortation because they were such
rebels that they would not, and could not, kiss the king. No! He told
them to do it whether they could or not!
So with the Prophets. They boldly say, "Wash you! Make you clean! Put
away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil,
learn to do well." One of them absolutely cries, "Make you a new heart
and a new spirit," (Ezek. 18:31). And yet, I doubt not, that he was
perfectly agreed with that other Prophet who taught the powerlessness
of man in those two memorable questions, "Can the Ethiopian change his
skin, or the leopard his spots?" These men did not think that they were
to judge of what they were to preach by the degree of power in the
hearers–they judged by the power which dwells in their God to make the
Word effectual!
As it was with Prophets, so was it with Apostles! Peter cried to the
crowd who gathered about the Beautiful Gate of the temple, "Repent you,
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." They
delivered the Gospel, the same Gospel, to the dead as to the
living–the same Gospel to the non-elect as to the elect. The point of
distinction is not in the Gospel, but in its being applied by the Holy
Spirit, or left to be rejected of man. The same Gospel, it strikes me
in the text, came to all! And the point of distinction was farther on,
namely, in the operation of that Gospel upon the heart.
1. It appears, then, in the first place, that to some the Gospel comes
only in words. Even here there are different levels. To some it only
comes in words in a fashion that they scarcely know what it is all
about. Some of you go to a place of worship because it is the right
thing to do. You sit down on the seats and sit out an hour-and-a-half
or so of penance. When that is done you feel you have performed a very
proper act–but you have no idea what the talk was all about. It may be
said of you that hearing you do not hear for your ears are dull and
heavy.
You know no more of the Divine mind than the men who were with Saul on
the road to Damascus who heard a voice but saw no man. I believe a very
large majority of church goers know no more of what the preaching is
about than did Jonathan's lad when he ran after the arrows. Their
flight David well understood, "but the lad knew nothing of the matter."
Too many are merely the stolid, unthinking, slumbering worshippers of
an unknown God. In others the Word comes in a little better sense, but
still in words only. They hear it and they understand it in theory, and
probably are much pleased with it, especially if it is delivered in a
manner which suits their taste, or which commends itself to their
understanding. They hear and they do not quite forget.
They remember and are gratified with illustrations, doctrinal truths,
and so on–but when you have said that, you have said it all. The
Gospel remains in them as certain potent drugs remain in the chemist's
bottles–they are there but they produce no effect. The Gospel comes to
them as an unloaded cannon rumbles into its shed, or as a barrel of
gunpowder is rolled into the magazine–there is no force in it because
the fire of God's Spirit is absent. The preacher lashes the air and
whips the water. He woos the wind and invites the cloud when he
preaches to such as these. They hear, but hear in vain–insensible as
steel.
To others it comes in a preferable manner but still only in words. They
are really affected by it–the tears stream down their cheeks! They
scarcely know how to sit. They resolve, if they once get home, they
will pray. They think of amending their lives–past follies and present
dangers come before them and they are somewhat alarmed. But the morning
cloud is not more fleeing, and the early dew vanishes not sooner than
these good things of theirs! They look at their natural face in the
glass of the Word, but they go away and forget what manner of men they
are–because the emotion felt is produced by the words and not by the
Spirit and Life of the Truth of God.
Why, Brothers and Sisters, men weep at a theater! And weep far more
there than they do in many places of worship! Therefore, merely to weep
under a sermon is no sign of having derived profit from it. Some of my
Brethren are very great hands at unearthing the dead. They conduct you
to the funeral urns of your parents, or remind you of your departed
little ones, and possibly they may be the means of introducing better
feelings by this kind of working upon your emotions! But I am not
convinced of it–I am afraid that much of the holy water which is spilt
from human eyes in our places of worship is not much more valuable than
the holy water at the doors of the Catholic chapels! It is mere eye
water, after all, and not heart sorrow.
Mere excitement produced by oratory is the world's weapon in attaining
its end. We want something more than that for spiritual purposes. If we
could "speak with the tongues of men and of angels" and stir you up to
as great an enthusiasm as ever Demosthenes worked in the Greeks of
old–all that would avail nothing if it were only the effect of the
preacher's impassioned language and telling manner–the Gospel would
have come to you "in word only." And that which is born of the flesh is
flesh and nothing more.
At this point I may very solemnly ask whether it is not true of some
who compose the present congregation that you know the truth only in
word? There is a certain class of persons, and some of them are present
this morning, who are professional sermon hearers! You go one Sunday to
hear Mr. A. And then another Sunday to hear Mr. B. And you carry with
you our sacchraometers–instruments for measuring the quantity of
sweetness in each sermon! And you take a gauge of the style and manner
of the preacher. You estimate what blunders he makes and how he could
be improved. And you compare or contrast him with somebody else, as if
you were tea tasters tasting Souchong and Bohea, or cheese mongers
trying Cheddar and American!
Some individuals of this order are little better than spiritual
vagabonds without settled habitation or occupation! They go about from
place to place, listening to this and to that and getting no good
whatever. And as to doing good, the thought never enters their brain.
You cannot expect that the Gospel will come to you in anything else but
as a killing letter, for you go to hear it as merely words. You do not
look for fruit–if you see leaves you are quite satisfied. You do not
desire a blessing! If you did, you would receive it. It is at once one
of the most wicked and one of the most foolish habits to waste our time
in constantly criticizing God's Word and God's ministers.
Well said George Herbert, "Judge not the preacher, he is your judge."
What have you to do to say of God's ambassador? That his words were not
well mouthed? If God speaks by him, God knows who is best to speak for
Him. And if his Master sent the man, beware lest you ill-treat him, or
you may suffer like they of old who ill-treated the ambassadors of
David and drove him to proclaim war against them.
2. According to the text, there are others to whom the Word comes with
three accompaniments. The Apostle speaks of "power," and "the Holy
Spirit," and "much assurance." I do not think that the Word of God
comes to many people with all these three things. It comes to a very
numerous class with "power." To a smaller number with "power and the
Holy Spirit." And to an inner circle of select ones "in the Holy Spirit
and in much assurance." If I have the meaning of this passage, and I am
not so certain about it as to dogmatize, it strikes me that there are
three degrees of effect produced by the Gospel.
At any rate, we shall not be wrong in saying that there is sometimes an
effect produced by the Gospel which may be called "power," but which,
nevertheless, is not the power which saves. To many of you, my dear
Hearers, the word of our Gospel has come with power upon your
understandings. You have heard it, weighed it, judged it, and received
it as being true and of Divine authority. Your understanding has
assented to the various propositions which we have proclaimed as
doctrines of Christ. You feel that you could not well do otherwise.
These Truths of God agree so well and are so adapted at once to the
ruin of your nature and to its best aspirations, that you do not kick,
as some do, against it. You have been convinced of the authenticity and
authority of the Gospel by the Gospel.
Perhaps you have never read "Paley's Evidences," and never studied
"Butler's Analogy," but the Gospel itself has come to you with
sufficient power to be its own witness to you and your understanding
joyfully acknowledges that this is the Word of God and you receive it
as such. It has done more than that–it has come with power to the
conscience of some of you. It has convicted you of sin. You feel now
that self-righteousness on your part is folly, and though you may
indulge in self-righteousness, it is with your eyes open. You do not
sin now so cheaply as you once did, for you know a little of the
sinfulness of sin.
Moreover, you have had some alarms with regard to the ultimate end of
sin. The Gospel has made you know that the wages of sin will be death.
You feel that you cannot dwell with everlasting burnings. Your heart is
ill at ease when you think upon the wrath to come. Like Felix you
tremble when you are reasoned with concerning "righteousness and
judgment to come." And though you have put it off as yet and have said,
"Go your way till I have a more convenient season," yet it has come to
you so far with a degree of power.
More than this, it has had an effect upon your feelings as well as upon
your conscience. Your desires have been awakened. You have sometimes
said, "Oh that I were saved!" You have advanced as far, at any rate, as
Balaam when he said, "Let me die the death of the righteous." Your
feelings of hope are excited–you hope that you may yet lay hold of
eternal life and your fears are not altogether dead–you tremble when
under the Word of God. Natural emotions, which look like spiritual
ones, have been produced in you by the beaming of the Word–though as
yet the Gospel has not come with the Holy Spirit. Beyond all this, the
Gospel has come with power to some of you on your lives. I can look
with anxious pleasure upon some of you because I know the Gospel has
done you much good, though it has not saved you.
Alas, there are others to whom it has only been for a time as a bit and
bridle. But they have afterwards turned aside from it. There are those
here, who, like the dogs, have gone back to their vomit and, like the
sow that was washed, to their wallowing in the mire. We had hope for
you once, but we must almost cease to hope. Certain persons rush into
drunkenness after seasons of abstinence–having known the evil of the
sin–and having professed to hate it. The passion has been too strong
for them and they have fallen again into that deep ditch in which so
many of the abhorred of the Lord lie and rot.
Oh, may God, in His infinite mercy, bring the Gospel with something
more than this common power to your souls! May it come with "the Holy
Spirit" as well as with power! You see, we have come up by steps to
some considerable height already, but we now come to a far nobler
elevation and speak of saving Grace. To many in this house, as at
Thessalonica, the Word has come "in the Holy Spirit." Brothers and
Sisters, I cannot describe to you how it is that the Holy Spirit op-
erates by the Word. The work of the Spirit is figured forth by some
such mysterious timing as a birth, or as the blowing of the wind. It is
a great secret, and therefore not to be expounded.
But many of you know it experimentally. The Holy Spirit, first of all,
came to you as a great Quickener. How He made you live you do not
know–but this you do know–that what you once had not, you now have!
You know that there burns within you a vital spark of heavenly flame
far different from that ordinary spark of life which had been there
before! You now have different feelings, different joys, different
sorrows from any you were conscious of before! While you were listening
to the letter which kills, the Spirit of God came with it and the
quickening Spirit made you live with a new, higher and more blessed
life!
You now have within you Jesus Christ, who is Life and Immortality! You
have Heaven begun within your heart! You have passed from death unto
life and shall never come into condemnation! To you the Word of God has
come with the Holy Spirit in a quickening sense. Then it entered with
an illuminating power. It enlightened you as to your sins. What
blackness you discovered in your sins when the Holy Spirit once cast a
light upon them! Brethren, you had no idea that you were such sinners
as you turned out to be. The Holy Spirit startled and astonished you
with revelations of that great and fathomless depth of depravity which
you found to be surging within your souls!
You were alarmed, humbled, cast into the dust. You began, perhaps, to
despair–but the same illumination of the Spirit came in to comfort
you–for He then showed you Christ Jesus! He showed you the unbounded
power of His blood to take away your unbounded sins! He revealed to you
His willingness to receive you just as you were, His suitability to
your case and to your circumstances. And as soon as you saw Jesus in
the light of the Holy Spirit you looked unto Him and were
lightened–and therefore your face has never been ashamed.
So the Spirit of God came to you as light to dispel your darkness and
give you joy and peace! Since that time you have experienced the Holy
Spirit as comforting you. Amidst darkest shades He has risen as the
sunlight upon your souls. Your burdens have been removed by Him, the
blessed Paraclete! He has brought Christ, and the things of Christ, to
your remembrance. He has opened up to you precious promises. He has
cracked the shell and given you to partake of the kernel of the
privilege of the Covenant of Grace. He has broken the bone and
satisfied you with marrow and fatness out of the deep things of God.
His dove-like wings, whenever they brood over you, bring order out of
confusion and yield kindly comfort in the midst of adversity.
You have also felt the Holy Spirit in His inflaming energies. He has
rested on you when you have heard the Word, as the Spirit of
burning–your sin has been consumed by the holy revenge which you felt
against it. You have been led to great heights of love to Christ, till
you could sing–
"Had I ten thousand thousand tongues, Not one should be silent! Had I
ten thousand thousand hearts, I'd give them all to You."
When the Holy Spirit has blessed the Word, your heart has been like the
altar of incense with the flame always burning and a sweet perfume
going up, acceptable to the Most High!
Beloved, you have also felt the Holy Spirit with the Word as a spirit
of rejoicing! Oh, the bliss we have sometimes tasted! I am very
frequently heavy in spirit, but oh, the raptures which my heart has
known when the Holy Spirit has shown me my eternal election of God! My
standing in Christ Jesus! My completeness and acceptance in the
Beloved! My security through the faithfulness of the eternal God! What
delights come streaming into the soul when you read of everlasting
love, of faithfulness never wavering, of affection never changing, of a
purpose standing fast as pillars of brass and firm as the eternal
hills!
And oh, Beloved, what extravagance I was about to say, ofjoy do we
sometimes feel in anticipation of the glory to be revealed! Looking
from Nebo's brow we see the landscape down below, but, better than
Moses could do, we drink already of the rivers which flow with milk and
honey and pluck ripe fruits from celestial trees. While in communion
with Christ Jesus we get the best taste of the glory that remains. Now
this it is to receive the Word, "in the Holy Spirit." Beloved, I hope
we know what this means and you who do not know it, may a prayer go up
from every living soul here, "Lord, let the Holy Spirit go with the
preaching of Jesus Christ and let it be made effectual unto salvation."
Beloved, the highest point in the text is, "much assurance." If I
understand the passage, it means this–first, that they were fully
persuaded of its truthfulness and had no staggering or blinding doubts
about it. And secondly, that they had the fullest possible conviction
of their interest in the Truth delivered to them! They were saved, but
better still they knew that they were so! They were clean, but better
still they rejoiced in their purity! They were in Christ, but what is
more joyous still, they knew that they were in Christ! They had no
doubts, as some of you have, no dark suspicions. The Word had come with
such blessed demonstration that it had swept every doubt clean out of
their hearts!
According to Poole the Greek word used here has in it the idea of a
ship at full sail, undisturbed by the waves which ripple in its way. A
ship, when the wind is thoroughly favorable and its full sails are
bearing it directly into harbor, is not held back by the surging
billows. True, the vessel may rock, but it neither turns to the right
hand, nor to the left. Let the billows be as they may, the wind is
sufficiently powerful to overcome their contrary motion and the vessel
goes straight ahead.
Some Christians get the Gospel in that way. They have not a shadow of a
doubt about its being true. They have not even the beginning of a doubt
about their interest in it, and therefore they have nothing to do, but
with God's strong hand upon the tiller and the heavenly wind blowing
right into the sail, to go straight on, doing the will of God and
glorifying His name. May the Word come to you, dear Friends, as it does
to so very few! May it come in "full assurance," as well as in "power,"
and in "the Holy Spirit!"
3. I shall leave this first head of the text when I observe that this
is the way in which God's elect are known. The Apostle says, "Knowing,
Brethren beloved, your election of God." Why? Knowing it not by making
a guess about it– not by questioning you whether you are awakened
sinners–whether you are sensible or insensible sinners! Not by waiting
to preach the Gospel to you when you are prepared to receive the
Gospel–but preaching the Gospel to you as you were and finding out who
were the elect by this–that the elect of God received the Gospel as it
came, "in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance." This is
the test of election–the Holy Spirit blessing the Word!
And, dear Friends, if the Holy Spirit has blessed it to you, you need
not turn over the mysterious pages of the Divine decrees–for your name
is there! You have not my word for it, but God's Word for it. He would
not have brought you to feel the indwelling life of the Holy Spirit if
He had not, from before all worlds, ordained you unto eternal life! But
mark and observe from the ensuing context–you must give good proof
that it is so, or we cannot say, and even the Apostle could not have
said–"Knowing, Brethren beloved, your election of God."
We cannot tell whether the Word has come to you in the Holy Spirit and
in much assurance unless there are the corresponding results. Listen to
these words–"And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having
received the Word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit: so
that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For
from you sounded out the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread
abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show
of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to
God from idols to serve the living and true God. And to wait for His
Son from Heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which
delivered us from the wrath to come."
So you see an imitation of Apostolic example, a faith which becomes so
known as to sound abroad, a joy which affliction itself cannot dampen,
and a perseverance which is not to be turned aside by difficulties. You
see a conversion which gives up the dearest idols and binds us to
Christ and makes us watch and wait for Him–all these are necessary as
proofs of the Holy Spirit having been with the Word. O Beloved, I would
have you, the members of this congregation, not only converted, but so
converted that there should be no doubt about it! I would love to have
you not only Christians, but such fruit-bearing Christians that there
can be no doubt that you have received the Word "in much assurance."
Then shall it be equally clear that you are the elect of God. May the
Lord grant that the word here may ever be like a powerful magnet thrust
into a heap of steel filings and of ashes which shall attract all the
filings and bring them out. For that is what the Gospel is to do–it is
to discern between the precious and the vile! It is to be God's
winnowing fan to separate His elect from those who are left in their
ruin. And it only can do this by the way in which it is received,
proving the election of those who receive it, "in the Holy Spirit."
Thus much by way of discrimination.
II. Have patience for a few minutes while we now use the text by way of
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION. It is clear from the text, by way of practical
instruction, that it is not enough to preach the Gospel. Something more
is needed for the conversion of souls than even that. I have stirred
you up very often to assist me, dear Brethren, in training those of our
young men who have been called to preach the Gospel–that they may be
more efficient in their ministry–and you have kindly helped me.
But we must ever bear in mind that though God should privilege us to
send out hundreds of His ministering servants, yet there will not be a
solitary case of conversion worked by them, alone. We wish to do our
best to erect fresh places of worship for this ever-increasing city and
it is a happy day to me whenever I see the top stone brought out of a
new House of Prayer! But not one single soul shall ever be made to
rejoice in Christ Jesus by the mere fact of a place of worship being
erected, or of worship being celebrated in it! We must have the energy
of the Holy Spirit! There is the one all-important matter!
What is there practical about this? Why, then it becomes more and more
imperatively necessary that we should be much in prayer to God that the
Holy Spirit would come! We have the spirit of prayerfulness among us as
a Church. Let me earnestly entreat you never to lose it. There are
certain of my Brothers and Sisters here who are never absent from our
great gathering on Monday evening, and whose prayers have brought down
many blessings! But it is the part of fidelity for me to say that there
are some of you who might be here if you would, but seldom favor us
with your presence. Or, let me say, who seldom do yourselves the
happiness of waiting up on God in Prayer Meetings. You are not the best
of our members. You will never be the best of them if you stay away
without having a justifiable excuse.
I do not say this to those who I know must be absent. And I do not say
it to bring women out who ought to be seeing to their husbands, or to
bring men out who ought to be attending to their shops. But I say it to
some who might as well be here as not, and would bring no detriment to
themselves whatever by being here. And I must qualify what I say with
this–I have less to complain of in this respect than any man in
Christendom, for there is no place that I ever knew or heard of where
the Prayer Meeting bears so good and fair a proportion to the Sunday
gathering as it does here.
But still, Brethren, we want you ALL to pray! I would I could see you
all! Oh, it were a happy day if we could see this place full on Monday
evening. I do not know why it should not be. It strikes me that if your
hearts were once to get thoroughly warmed we should fill this house for
prayer. And what a blessing we might expect to receive! Why, we have
had such a blessing already that we have not room enough to receive it
now! But still, as the cup begins to run over, let it run over and
over. There are many churches in this neighborhood that can catch the
spillover and may they be profited thereby!
Let us increase our praying as we increase our doing. I like that of
Martin Luther, when he says, "I have so much business to do today that
I shall not be able to get through it with less than three hours'
prayer." Now most people would say, "I have so much business to do
today that I must only have three minutes' prayer–I cannot afford the
time." But Luther thought that the more he had to do the more he must
pray, or else he could not get through it! That is a blessed kind of
logic–may we understand it! "Praying and provender hinder no man's
journey." If you have to stop and pray, it is no more an hindrance than
when the rider has to stop at the farrier's to have his horse's shoe
fastened, for if he went on without attending to that, it may be that
before long he would come to a stop of a far more serious kind.
Let us learn from the text our own indebtedness to distinguishing and
Sovereign Grace. You observe, Beloved, that the Gospel does not come
with the power of the Holy Spirit to everybody. If, then, it has come
to us, what shall we do but bless and praise the distinguishing Grace
which made it come to us? You observe that the distinction was not in
the persons themselves–it was in the way in which the Gospel came. The
distinction was not even in the Gospel, but in the attendant Holy
Spirit, making it effectual. If you have heard the Word with power, it
was not, dear Brethren, because you were more ready, because you were
less inclined to sin, or more friendly towards God. You were an alien,
a stranger, a foreigner, an enemy–you were "dead in trespasses and
sins"–even as others were and are.
There was in you, whatever Papists may say, no Grace of congruity to
meet with the Grace of Christ. They say that there is something in man
congruous to the Grace of God, so that when saving Grace comes to those
who have the Grace of congruity they are saved. In me I know everything
was incongruous, everything contrary to God. There was darkness and
Light came. There was death and Life entered. There was hatred and Love
drove it out! There was the dominion of Satan and Christ overcame the
traitor–
"Then give all the glory to His holy name,
To Him all the glory belongs.
Be yours the high joy still to sound forth His name,
And praise Him in each of your songs."
A third practical lesson we will but hint at, namely, we see that there
are degrees of attainment even among those who have received the Word
with the Holy Spirit. Let us seek for the very highest degree! You are
not generally satisfied with the same qualities of life–you desire to
possess its comforts and luxuries. I will commend you if you carry this
into spiritual things. Do not be content merely to be saved, merely to
be spiritually alive–ask to be valiant for the Truth of God! I should
feel it a great honor, I hope, to be the most common soldier if called
upon to defend my country. But I must confess I should not like to be
in the ranks always. I should like, at least, to be made a corporal
very soon and a sergeant as soon as possible. And I should grumble
wonderfully much if I could not rise to rank among the commissioned
officers!
I should like to be found doing my very best and I would reach to the
most prominent position if I might better serve my country than in the
ranks. So I think it should be with the Christian. He is not to seek
for honor among men, but, if he can, by getting more Grace be more
serviceable to his God and bring more honor to His name, why let him
press forward! Ah, my dear Brethren, what business have you to be
sitting still and saying, "It is enough." The "rest-and-be-thankful"
policy is not much approved of in politics–and in religion it will
never do!
On! Forward! Upward! As the eagle takes for its motto, "Superior," and
still mounts higher and higher and higher till the young wing which
first trembled at the height has grown into the strong pinion which
makes him companion of the sun and playmate with the lightning, so let
the Christian do! If he has learned to "run and not be weary," let him
seek to "mount up as on the wings of eagles." Onward, fellow soldier!
Be yet more valiant till your name is written among the first three.
To close, does not this text, as a last practical lesson, show us
indirectly how a privilege may become a curse? The Word of God has come
to you all. I suppose there is not one here who has not heard the story
of the love of God in Christ Jesus. You have been told many times that
though man has fallen and offended God, yet the Lord has set forth His
suffering Son, Christ Jesus, to be a Propitiation for sin and that
through faith in His name, "Whoever believes on Him shall never
perish."
You have been told that God waits to be gracious and that whoever looks
to Christ shall live! Whoever calls upon the Lord shall be saved! Now,
having heard this, regardless of what some may tell you, we feel bound,
as in the sight of God, to warn you that if this comes "in word only"
to you, it will increase your condemnation! Certain preachers think
that this Word is not "a savor of death unto death" to any, but it is,
it is! Whatever their theories, whatever hyper-Calvinistic theology may
say, it is God's Word that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon in the Day of Judgment than it shall be for cities like Capernaum
and Bethsaida, which heard the Word and yet repented not!
You are not machines. You are not creatures merely to be acted
upon–you are to act as well as to be moved. And every good word that
reaches your ear is written down as a debt against you. There is no
declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which, if refused, does not
leave you more disobedient than you were. Remember how the Apostle
states it– "Unto them which are disobedient, the stone which the
builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner and a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."
Now they could not have been disobedient if it was not their duty to
obey. No man is disobedient where there is no law. It is, therefore,
the duty of every sinner hearing the Gospel to believe it! And if he
does not, this same stone shall fall upon him and shall grind him to
powder. Kiss the Son, therefore, lest He, lest He be angry and you
perish from the way while His wrath is kindled but a little. The same
Savior who blesses will be angry. He who loves His people, grows angry
with those who reject Him.
And when His wrath is kindled but a little, woe unto the object of it!
Blessed are all they that trust in Him and may we be found among that
blessed number to the praise and glory of His Grace, wherein He makes
us to differ according to the appointment of His own Divine will. May
God bless this assembly for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.