DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"He will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when He
shall hear it, He will answer you." Isaiah 30:19.
THE great sin of man is his alienation from God. He has said in his
heart, "No God," and in his life he labors to escape from the Divine
Presence. The journey into the far country is not only made for the
sake of the riotous living, but that he may get away from the Father's
house. One would have thought man would turn unto the Lord in the day
of trouble, even as Hosea said, "In their affliction they will seek Me
early." But this, alas, is not in truth and sincerity, for too often
the sinner follows the example of Ahaz, of whom it is written, "In the
time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is
that King Ahaz."
All the trials and troubles in the world will not, of themselves, drive
a man to God, but will rather hurry him into rebellion, despair and
hardness of heart! Man will look in all directions sooner than look to
God. He will sooner, like Saul, seek the help of a witch or a devil
than seek the living God. He will rather make a league with death and a
covenant with Hell than turn his heart towards his best Friend and
Helper. It is written, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and
stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in
horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!"
Vain is the warning, for man still leans upon an arm of flesh and
counts it a foolish and fanciful thing to rely upon the almighty God.
Man shifts his ground of trust full often and now depends on this, then
on that–and in due course upon a score of equally unreliable
confidences. Very early he is deceived. The staff of the broken reed
upon which he chose to lean pierces his hand. He smarts and bleeds. He
repents of his folly in one direction and repeats it in another! He
cries in the pride and stoutness of his heart, "The bricks are fallen
down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down,
but we will change them into cedars." Though again and again deceived
by his false confidences, he returns to them like a dog to his vomit.
He chooses his own delusions and attempts, again, to build upon that
sandy foundation which the tide has already shifted so many times.
Nor is it only when he is deceived that he persists in his folly, for
he continues in it when he knows that he has paid heavily for his folly
and has been impoverished by spending his money for that which is not
bread. Egypt has drained his treasure and has yielded him no
assistance–and yet he sends more treasure to the same market only to
be, again, ashamed of a people that could not profit him. He exercises
painful thoughts. He spends his mental force. He schemes. He frets. He
worries himself to find, in his carnal confidences, some little
consolation. And so he wastes his life and dries up the very marrow of
his bones in seeking for that in the creature which might so readily be
found in the Creator! He rises up early, he sits up late and he eats
the bread of carefulness–but he will not turn unto the Lord who alone
gives His Beloved sleep.
Even when impoverished and worn out with unbelief, man will not look to
the Lord! Even then he dotes upon some new thing which promises him
assistance. He seems anxious to be duped and willing to be deluded! If,
at last, all carnal trust is excluded by sheer failure of every hope,
he will lie down and die sooner than seek the Lord! He suffers, ah, how
cruelly, from the vain joys in which he trusted, yet would he still
pursue them if he could. He faints, pines, is ready to die, for he
cannot fill his belly with the husks the swine eat but yet he will not,
until almighty Grace causes him, turn his face toward the house where
there is bread enough and to spare! He will sooner perish with hunger
than confess his sin against Heaven and begin to live by faith in God!
This is the fruit of the Fall, the black evidence of our depravity, the
fruitful mother of destruction–"the carnal mind is enmity against
God." We must have something to rely upon which we can see with our
eyes and touch with our
hands–the invisible Jehovah we cannot trust and yet He, alone, is the
living and true God! Oh that we were wise, that we would understand
this and say within our hearts, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord,
for He has torn, and He will heal us. He has smitten and He will bind
us up." Now all this time, while man is struggling to get away from
God, the Lord is willing enough to receive him, to forgive him, to
bless him and to enrich him with every joy! Nor is He merely willing,
but He is able, fully able to assist the troubled heart in every
difficulty and to comfort under every distress.
Therefore does the Lord wait that He may be gracious and He is exalted
that He may show mercy. If the unwillingness were on God's part, we
might very readily understand and, in a measure, justify the
unwillingness of man to turn unto God. But when the Lord bids man
return, invites him, reasons with him, entreats him and makes every
preparation for his reception, why is it that man refuses? His Lord has
given rich promises of every help that he can desire and it is
inexcusable ingratitude and wicked obstinacy on the part of man that he
still persists in keeping aloof from his Creator! He chooses to perish
forever, sooner than trust his God! Is not this the case of some who
hear these, my words?
I desire at this time to set forth the graciousness of God and His
readiness to listen to the cry of the needy, with the hope that some
here present who may have forgotten this, to whom it may be a time of
need, may hear it and be encouraged to say, "I will arise and go to my
Father." It is joy to me to hope that it will be so, but I remember,
with sadness, that if I should be helped to set this forth clearly and
if any of you who are in trouble should afterwards refuse to trust in
the Lord, your alienation will be aggravated and your sin will become
still more trying.
He who will not trust when he knows that the Lord will be gracious to
him, sins against his own soul and plunges himself in sevenfold wrath!
If the Lord says that He will be very gracious at the voice of your
cry, what must be your doom if you will not cry?
I. In trying to set forth the overflowing Grace of the Lord our God, I
shall first of all speak upon the fact that THIS ASSURANCE IS
PARTICULARLY SUITABLE TO CERTAIN CHARACTERS. "He will be very gracious
unto you at the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it, He will
answer you." This is applicable and comfortable to all afflicted
people! To such I speak. You are depressed at this time by heavy grief.
Things have gone amiss with you–you do not prosper in business, or you
are sickening in body–or a dear one lies at home pining away. We do
not wonder that you feel exceedingly burdened in spirit! At the same
time, you are ill at ease as to your own state. The iron is entering
into your soul.
While passing through this thick darkness you will be strongly tempted
to think harshly of God and to blame Him for the troubles which now
surround you! Yet this will only make matters worse and increase your
sin and your sorrow! Perhaps, also, you will be ready to despair and
say, "There is no hope, I am taken as in a net and there is no escape
for me." Though if you knew all, you would chase away despair as your
greatest enemy! Possibly you will be ready to try some wrong method by
way of helping yourself out of present straits. Satan will suggest to
you dishonest, impure, or reckless courses which hold out some shadow
of relief. This is your danger at this time and, in pity to you, the
Lord bids us assure you that there is a far wiser course open to you,
namely, to turn to Him, for He will be very gracious unto you at the
voice of your cry–and when He hears it, He will answer you!
There is help in God for your present trial, whatever form it assumes.
Infinite wisdom understands it and infinite power can help you through
it. God can remove from you that which you are suffering, or He can
prevent the occurrence of that which you dread. Or, if, in His Divine
wisdom, He shall see fit to lay the rod upon you, He can enable you to
bear it and make it to turn to your everlasting good! Be well assured
that He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men out
of any delight in their sorrows. He pities those who are afflicted, for
He is very tender and full of compassion. And He is ever swift to
succor the suffering. There is a reason for the heavy trial which now
bows you down–depend upon that and do not complain.
The Lord is not now visiting you in wrath, but there is kindness in His
severity. Can you not believe this? It is really so and your strength,
your comfort, your ultimate deliverance out of it all will come through
your knowing this to be true and acting accordingly! By yielding
yourself to God and trusting Him in this, your evil plight, you will
obtain deliverance. "For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of
Israel: in returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in
confidence shall be your strength."
In so large a congregation as this, there must be some with broken
hearts on account of their temporal trials. I am persuaded that I am
speaking to some of the sons and daughters of woe. Go, you sorrowing
ones! Turn unto the hand
that smites you! Kiss the rod and Him that has appointed it and let
your confidence henceforth be in the Lord, for He is God and besides
Him there is none else! Say, "From this time, my Father, I will seek
You and You shall be my Guide. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, I will
approach You, trusting in His precious blood. Help me and deliver me."
You shall find Him ready to pardon and rescue you and you shall live to
sing of Him whose "mercy endures forever." Let me whisper in your ears
the sweet assurance of the text–"He will be very gracious unto you at
the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer you."
A second class of persons to whom the text will be very applicable
consists of those who are troubled on account of sin–sinners who are
beginning to feel the iniquity of their sins compassing them about. You
are at this time overthrown with a sense of guilt and with the fear of
punishment. You cannot well be smarting under severer blows than the
Law of God can give when it begins to smite the conscience and the
heart! Now, in order to escape from sin and punishment, the very first
thing with you is to come back to your God whom you have offended,
since He alone can pardon you. There must be a turning of the face in
repentance and a looking of the eyes by faith unto God in Christ Jesus,
or you will die in your sins.
The natural tendency of your heart, even when under a sense of sin,
will be to stay away from the Lord. Alas, you will look at your sin
again and again and again, till you are ready to pine away in
despair–but you will not look to Christ Jesus and be saved! A terrible
sound is in your ears as of an approaching judgment and you listen both
to it and to the howls of the dog of Hell–but you refuse to hear the
loving voice of compassion which tells of pardon bought with blood,
freely given to all who trust their Savior God! Possibly you may
conclude that there is no hope for you in better things and, therefore,
you had better enjoy such pleasures as may be found in sin and take
your swing while you may.
Now, do not believe this lie of Satan! There is hope! You are still in
the land of mercy! Poor guilty Sinner, you are where pardons are
commonly given, where God is gracious to all them that seek Him! You
have not yet come to the Judgment Seat and to the voice of a trumpet
waxing exceedingly loud and long. Calvary is before you with dying
love, not Sinai with consuming fire! Today is the day of salvation! The
hour of vengeance is not yet come! God wills not your death, nor takes
delight in your suffering, but desires that you turn to Him and live,
for He delights in mercy!
A joyful acceptance awaits you if you return to your Father's house–He
will not upbraid you for your wandering, but He will take off your rags
and put on the best robe of Christ's righteousness! He will fill the
house with music concerning you and He, Himself, will rejoice over you.
You need do nothing to make the Lord propitious, He is love already!
You need not undergo penance, nor pass through grievous anguish of
spirit in order to render God more merciful, for His Grace abounds! In
Christ Jesus the stream of Divine Love flows freely, swiftly, richly to
the worst of men! Only return unto God against whom you have
transgressed, acknowledge your transgression and put your trust in Him
through Jesus Christ, His Son, and, "He will be very gracious unto you
at the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer you."
Equally sweet will the assurance of our text be to backsliders filled
with their own ways, who are alarmed and distressed at their grievous
departures from their God. It is true, my dear Friend, that you have
very greatly transgressed in becoming a backslider. You have sinned
against much light, against much love and this makes sin exceedingly
sinful. What peaceful hours you once enjoyed when you had communion
with your Savior and your God! You have sinned against those sweet
enjoyments and against the condescending endearments of eternal love.
You have done despite to the Spirit of God and crucified the Son of God
afresh! You were taught of the Lord in the deep things of His Word and
the secret of His Covenant was opened up to you. You had an
experimental acquaintance with the Divine life and you entered into the
joys of sacred fellowship.
And yet you have turned aside from the way of the Lord and been
unfaithful to all your vows. You have left the cold flowing waters
which come from the Rock of Ages to drink of the muddy pools of earth!
You have turned away from the living God to live upon the beggarly
elements of the world. You have bowed down before the golden calf, or
some other image of jealousy! You have gone far astray from the Most
High, defiled the chastity of your soul and provoked the Lord
exceedingly. Moreover, you may well be grieved, for you have done much
dishonor to the name of God among the ungodly–you have pierced His
saints with many sorrows–and you have made His ministers to go as with
broken bones. You and such as you are our shame and our anguish! If you
were cast off forever as a traitor and left to die as a son of
perdition what could be said but that you were reaping the fruit of
your own ways?
Yet the text rings in your ears at this time like a clear silver bell
and its one note is Grace–"He will be very gracious unto you." "Turn,
O backsliding children, for I am married unto you, says the Lord."
Return, return! It is your Bridegroom's voice that calls you! With what
sweeter notes would you be wooed? "O Israel, return unto the Lord your
God, for you have fallen by your iniquity." O beloved Friend, hear the
exhortation and let your heart say, "I will return unto my first
husband, for it was better with me, then, than now." He has not shut up
the heart of His compassion, but He cries in the greatness of His love,
"Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return,
backsliding Israel, says the Lord; and I will not cause My anger to
fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not keep
anger forever."
He has chastened you sorely, but He has not given you over unto death!
He hears your groaning at this time and His soul pities you. Behold, He
cries, "How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you,
Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim?
My heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together. I
will not execute the fierceness of My anger. I will not return to
destroy Ephraim: for I am God and not man." Listen to me, O wanderer!
Let a Brother softly whisper it in your ear and may the Holy Spirit
speak it to your heart–"He will be very gracious unto you at the voice
of your cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer you."
We are sure that a fourth class of persons will be very glad of the
text, namely, all Believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart
and we are all in that condition at times. We do not always dwell upon
the Mount of Transfiguration nor sit at the festival of love in
rapturous fellowship. At times we are thrust into the furnace of
soul-trouble and our faces become black as a coal through grief of
heart! We find it hard, even, to retain a spark of faith. We even
question whether we are the Lord's, though we resolve to battle on in
His name, come what may! Even when by full assurance we can read our
title clear, we are apt to look forward and there comes over us the
fear that we shall yet fall by the hand of the enemy! If trials
multiply, how will faith be able to stand? When the days of weakness
arrive, what shall we do in our old age?
Behind all stands the skeleton form of death! What shall we do in the
swellings of Jordan? We remember how we ran with the footmen in our
former trials and they wearied us. And we ask ourselves, "How shall we
contend with horsemen?" When eternity is close in view and when within
a few hours we shall be made to confront the Judgment Seat, shall we
bear it? Will our religion, then, prove to be a reality, or will our
hope dissolve like a dream? Such questions torment our souls. Now,
Brothers and Sisters, it will not do to try and answer these questions
by taking counsel with the flesh. If you consult your own strength, it
is clear that you cannot win the battle of life! What is your strength
but perfect weakness?
If you look to your own wisdom, it is evident that you cannot guide
your own way across the pathless desert of life. What is your wisdom
but the essence of folly? Come back, then, in childlike confidence, to
God and go no more from Him. Come to the very spot where your spiritual
life commenced and find strength, wisdom, rest and all in the living
God! Let this verse smile on you and beckon you to God–"He will be
very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it,
He will answer you." No trial shall happen to you but such as is common
to man and when the temptation comes, the way of escape shall come with
it! The burden shall always find your back strengthened to bear it, or
else if your back is weak, the burden shall not be laid upon you.
The whole of your future history, though unknown to yourself, is spread
out like a map before the eyes of your great Leader and Guide! Follow
where Jesus leads you and know that He cannot forsake you! He will make
you to lie down in green pastures and His goodness and His mercy will
follow you all your days. Be careful for nothing! Be prayerful for
everything! Commit your way unto the Lord–trust, also, in Him, and He
shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your judgment as the light
and your righteousness as the noonday. Go to His Mercy Seat in every
time of trial, for He will be very gracious to you! Pour out your heart
before Him and you shall have an answer of peace from the God of your
salvation!
Now, I think those four cases include the bulk of us and, therefore, I
would pray the Holy Spirit to speak the words of the text to everyone
here present. May we feel them dropping into our hearts like a soft
saturating rain–"He will be very gracious unto you at the voice of
your cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer you."
II. Now we will make a second observation and dwell upon it for awhile.
It is this–THE ASSURANCE HERE GIVEN IS VERY FIRMLY BASED. The words of
our text are no old wives' fable, they are not such a pretty tale as
mothers sometimes tell their children–a story made to please them, but
not actually true. Our text is no fiction, it is a
faithful saying from the mouth of God. "He will be very gracious unto
you." What, then, is the ground of this assurance? And first I would
say, the ground of our comfort is found in the plain promise of God as
given in the text and in many similar declarations which are scattered
all over the Scriptures.
I have repeated this text a great many times in my sermon, because it
is far better than anything which can be spoken by man. Let me read it
again. You want to know why we should turn to God and trust Him? It is
because thus says the Lord who can neither lie nor change–"He will be
very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it,
He will answer you." This is a portion of His Infallible Word, is it
not? It is true, then–you have no doubt about its being so! Come,
then, with your Bible open, put your finger upon the Words and say, "I
believe that God is here declaring His readiness to be very gracious to
me and to hear my prayer." Now, what more do you need? Does a child
need any better assurance than his father's word? Does a true disciple
ask any stronger evidence than his Master's promise?
"It is written." Is not that enough for you? Go on your knees and plead
this Word of God at once! If your friend had said, "I will grant your
request," would you not believe him? Doubt not, then, your God, your
Father! He has never given you cause to mistrust His Word. Are not all
His promises faithful? Come, then, the assurance is well-grounded. If
there were only this one promise, it ought to be enough, but see how
many there are! The gracious promises of God's Word are as many as the
stars which brighten the midnight sky. "I will never leave you nor
forsake you." "My Grace is sufficient for you." "Fear not, I will help
you." "He that believes shall not be confounded." "Trust in the Lord
and do good, so shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be
fed." I need not quote them, for you know them well and their number is
very great. But they are all made to faith and none of them to
unbelief! Have faith in them and believe your God and His Words shall
be fulfilled in your happy experience!
A second ground upon which this assurance is built is the gracious
Nature of God. The text intimates this. "He will be very gracious unto
you." It is the Nature of God, the God of Israel, to be very generous
in His dealings! He opens His hands and supplies the needs of every
living thing. He is the God of bounty! Nor does He stop there, for
while He is bountiful to His needy creatures, He is also merciful to
His sinful creatures! Judgment is His strange work, but He delights in
mercy! Nothing pleases Him more than to pass by transgression, iniquity
and sin. That He might indulge His attribute of mercy He sacrificed the
darling of His soul, even His Son, Jesus! He loved His Son, but He
loved His mercy so greatly and He loved sinful man so heartily that,
"He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all"–
that He might have mercy upon our guilty race.
See, then, what a merciful God He is! Nor does He end even here, for to
those whom He has forgiven He is rich in loving kindnesses. His love is
very wonderful–deeper than the abyss, higher than the heavens–broader
than the sea! Well, now, what is your trouble? Trust your merciful God
to help you. What is your sin? Trust your merciful God to forgive you.
What are your backslidings? Trust your merciful God to restore you!
What are the trials you are expecting? Rely upon your merciful God to
bear you through. If He were a tyrant you might well flee from Him, but
as His mercy endures forever, it will be your wisdom to turn to Him!
Come, let us all together go, by an act of faith, this moment, and cast
ourselves at Jehovah's feet and, though we see Him not, yet let us
henceforth trust Him as He has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus and so
shall we be at peace with Him and good shall come unto us.
It is certain from the Character of God, which abounds in love, Grace
and mercy, that He will be gracious to those who seek Him. Let us seek
Him at once, every one of us! The text says not, "He will be gracious,"
but, "He will be very gracious." I love to see Grace thus decorated
with expressive words! It refreshes my mind to think that very
frequently, when we read of the mercy of God in Scripture, there is
some word with it by way of intimating its greatness, its freeness, or
its excellence. "God who is rich in mercy." "You, Lord, are plenteous
in mercy." "The Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting." "The tender
mercy of our God." "His mercy endures forever." "His merciful kindness
is great toward us." "According to His abundant mercy He has begotten
us, again, unto a lively hope." "According to the multitude of His
tender mercies." See what great words go with the mention of the Lord's
mercy! There is no fear of exaggerating it, for all language falls
short!
In the text we have the word, "very." "He will be very gracious unto
you." Do you need special comfort? You shall have it! Do you need great
help? You shall have it! Come, you grievous Sinner, here is plenty
forgiveness! Come, you
sorely afflicted one, here is rich consolation! Come, you weary
wanderer, here is complete restoration! Come you impoverished and needy
one, here are abounding supplies!–
"Rivers of love and mercy here,
In a rich ocean join.
Salvation in abundance flows,
Like floods of milk and wine."
The assurance of the text is grounded upon the merciful Nature of God
and may be relied upon without hesitation! And next it is based upon
the grand fact of the prevalence ofprayer. "He will be very gracious to
you at the voice of your cry." Is it not an amazing thing that God
permits men to pray? It is a more amazing thing that they do not pray
when He permits them!
It is marvelous that God should listen to the voice of a man! This has
been so astonishing to mere thinkers that they cannot admit it to be
true and, consequently, they have asserted that there could be no
actual power in prayer to move the heart of God. I do not wonder that
they should have thought so, for though this surprising Truth of God is
not contrary to reason, it is certainly far above reason! Now, we know,
for we have tried it, that God hears prayer! Therefore we say to you,
go to Him and test Him, for He will be gracious to the voice of your
cry! God has been pleased to set up a Mercy Seat! Answer me, O doubting
one, would there be a Divinely-appointed Mercy Seat for the
presentation of prayer if the Lord did not intend to hear prayer? He
has sprinkled that Mercy Seat with the blood of His only-begotten Son,
that through that Atonement the guilty might approach Him. Would He
shed that matchless blood and yet reject the sinner who comes trusting
there?
In addition to all this, He has promised to give the Holy Spirit to
assist in prayer, helping our infirmities because we know not what we
should pray for as we ought. Would He give that Holy Spirit and still
suffer prayer to be ineffectual? It is not conceivable! It delights God
to listen to the cries of His creatures! Your voice may be very cracked
and inharmonious and your prayer may be like an infant's wailing, or
like the cry of a young bird in its nest when it is hungry–but He who
hears the young ravens when they cry will hear your inarticulate,
discordant utterances– therefore pour out your heart before Him! He
will answer you, too, and that very quickly. "When He hears your
prayer, He will answer you"–so says the text! Has He not said, "Before
they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I
will hear"?
Where there is true prayer for Grace in the heart, the prayer is heard
before it is offered! For it is Grace that makes us pray in such a
fashion! He who sincerely asks for Grace, has Grace already, in a
measure, or else he would not be inclined to ask for more! Let this
encourage us. Since God waits to be gracious and has in wondrous
condescension endowed prayer with such privileges in His sacred courts,
who among us will not turn to Him now, with all our heart, and cry to
Him, "My Father, save and help me!"? I am pleading for my God and I
know that I am advocating the best of causes, but my tongue and my mind
fall short in the argument. I do not, however, much regret my need of
eloquence in this matter, for it is better that the theme should plead
for itself. May the Lord, by His Eternal Spirit, make the
reasonableness and the blessedness of the claim to appeal to your
conscience and your heart–and instead of searching elsewhere for
succor–may you now turn to your God in loving trustfulness.
If you required further confirmation of your faith beyond the three
truths which I have laid before you, namely, the promise itself, the
Nature of God, and the efficacy of prayer, I could ask many in this
house, today, to give their personal testimony as to the result of
faith in God and supplication to Him. We can speak positively, for we
speak from actual trial of faith and prayer. I have now reached middle
life and, having known the Lord from my youth up, I can speak from 28
years' experience. Through the favor of God I have led a very happy
life by faith in His name. I have not been without many trials,
sicknesses and difficulties–and some of these are daily with me–but
in all things faith sustains me. I bear my witness that confidence in
man is utter folly and brings sorrow to the soul! But I am more than
ever certain that confidence in God is always wise, never leads to
disappointment and never causes regret.
I mourn that I have not trusted my Lord more fully and I lament that I
have not attempted greater things in reliance upon His Word. But I have
no question that faith is right and I am sure that it will always be
justified by results. Speaking deliberately, as though I were bearing
witness concerning my fellow man in a court of justice, I have no word
to say by way of questioning the faithfulness, goodness and
truthfulness of my Lord! I am bound to declare that He has heard my
prayers, not once or twice, but always and has been gracious to the
voice of my cry! Why do I speak thus? Why
must the objectionable, "I," be introduced? Because I cannot ask anyone
else in the audience to stand up and speak without disturbing the order
of our service! But if I could do so, my Brothers and Sisters here by
the hundreds would each one offer similar testimony!
Dear Friends, your troubles have been different from mine. You have
tested God in other directions than I have done, but you have equally
found Him true, have you not? Is not His Word like silver tried in a
furnace of earth, purified seven times? Some of you are older than I.
The snows of many a winter whiten your brows, but in no one day of all
those 70 years has the Lord been unfaithful to you! Are you verging
upon fourscore? Still in that long period there has not been a single
breach of the Covenant on the part of your Lord! Your last days are
freer from doubt than your former years! Though your spirits are by no
means so elastic, your peace is less disturbed. Each year of your life
trust in God grows easier, for facts prove the reality of His working
and fellowship with your invisible Friend makes His influence over you
to be more constant and powerful! The path of faith increases in
brightness–every hour accumulates evidence for its support. We know
and are persuaded of the love which God has towards us! Verily He is
gracious and inclines His ear to His people.
III. There I leave this matter and I close by the third observation,
which is this–THE ASSURANCE OF THE TEXT BEING SO WELL CONFIRMED, IT
SHOULD BE PRACTICALLY ACCEPTED AT ONCE. If God will be gracious to the
voice of our cry and when He hears it will answer us, let us renounce,
at once, all earthly confidences! Let us defile the covering of our
graven images and cast them away and say unto our false confidence,
"Get away from me!" "We have done so," says one. Do it again, Brother,
for the tendency of your heart is still to rest in that which is seen
rather than in the invisible Jehovah! Idolatry is bound up in our
hearts! Cast out the idols again and again!
Alas, some of you have never done so. Your carnal hope still usurps the
place of God. Let me put it to you. What is your confidence for life?
You all have some confidence or other. What is yours, young man? What
is your reliance, O man in middle life? Especially, O graybeard, what
is your confidence? You have good reason to examine it, for soon you
will need it–and woe to you if it is found to fail! What is your
confidence, my brother? Is it your wealth? Is it your strong common
sense? Is it your stalwart frame–that strong pair of arms which up to
now have enabled you to stem the current? What are you relying upon?
Will it support you in death? Will it stand you in good stead in
eternity?
I know it will not if it is anything short of the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord! Come, let us flee from all creature confidence as from
a filthy thing, for it is base to the last degree for a creature to be
trusting in another creature and putting that creature into the place
of its Creator! Let us abhor such idolatrous trust! Let us shun it,
also, as a vexing and deceitful thing, for it is treacherous as the
smooth, deceitful sea and it mocks us as the mirage of the desert mocks
the thirsty traveler. Let us flee from vain confidence in self or in
man, for it is a poisonous thing! The fiery flying serpent of Egypt was
not more deadly than confidence in an arm of flesh! Let us flee from it
and never return.
O you who trust only in that which is seen, leave your idols, cast them
to the moles and to the bats, even the dearest of them all! If your
confidence is in yourself, flee from yourself, for you have no worse
enemy! Flee from unbelief and carnal trust and provoke not the Lord to
jealousy by setting up another God, for there is no other. "Once have I
spoken, yes, twice have I heard this, that power belongs unto God."
Trust not, then, where there is no power, but set all your confidence
upon the Almighty. If this is done and you flee away from other trusts,
then let me commend you at the same time to refuse despair. When a man
sees that his confidences are broken up like a potter's vessel till, to
use the expressive figure of the Prophet, there is not a piece left
large enough to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the
pit, then he is apt to exclaim, "Now it is all over with me, and I must
perish."
You loved your wife. She was all the world to you. But, alas, she is
dead and you cry, "Let me die also!" You hugged your wealth. It has
melted–that speculation has dissolved it and left you a beggar–and
now you cry, "What is there worth living for?" Beware of dark thoughts
which may beset you just now. In your worst moment, should Satan
whisper in your ear a suggestion concerning rope, or knife, or poison
bowl, or sullen stream, flee from it with all your soul! Obey the
Apostolic word, "Do yourself no harm." Nothing could be worse for you
than to break the Law which says expressly, "You shall do no murder."
Self-destruction, if done by a man in his senses, is a daring defiance
of God and the sealing of damnation! This is to leap from measured
trouble into infinite woe–the depth of which none can guess!
Why should you do this? Turn to your God! That is a wiser thing for a
man to do than to destroy his own life! Yes, there is something braver
for a man to do than to rush upon the pikes of the foe because the
battle is too hot for him! Go
to your great Captain, even to Him whom God has given to be a Witness
to the people–a Leader and Commander to the people–and He will make
you more than a conqueror! There are brighter days in store for you!
Yes, there are days to come which shall never end of everlasting life
and blessedness if you will but, now, in your distress, cast yourself
upon the covenanted mercies of God in Christ Jesus His Son!
It is grand to spring up from despair into the fullness of delight and
many a man has done this in an instant! This earth moves by slow
degrees from the frosts of winter into the bright days of June, but God
can make our souls to pass out of the deepest despair into the
brightest hope in a single moment–and if we do but trust and rest in
Him it shall be done! I know some who do not trust their all with God
because they have picked a quarrel with Him. They resemble a little
child I have heard of who one night would not say his prayers. His fond
mother said to him, "Dear child, why do you not pray?" "Mother," said
he, "I shall not say my prayers to God any more because he let my
little bird die." Do not some people talk thus against God? They have a
quarrel about their dead child, or their lost property.
Now, if you get into such a state of sullenness it will go hard with
you! It would be far better if you would bow to the Divine decision and
believe that God means your good. Oh, believe the words of my text! May
His Holy Spirit lead yon to believe them. "He will be very gracious
unto you at the voice of your cry." Those two counsels being followed,
namely, the renunciation of carnal hope and, at the same time, the
determination not to despair, there remains only this, that we now try
the power of prayer and childlike confidence in God. "But," you cry,
"there is no hope for me!" Have you ever sought for mercy? "I do not
think I should be heard." Have you ever tried? Dear Heart, have you
ever gone into your chamber, shut your door, opened the Word of God and
discovered a gracious promise? And then have you ever said, "Lord,
fulfill this promise to me. For Christ's sake be gracious to me. I
trust You, and expect You to be gracious to me"?
If any one of you has tried this and it has failed, please let me know,
for I am in the habit of continually saying that, "Him that comes to
Christ, He will in no wise cast out," and I do not want to spread a
lie! If you find that Jesus casts you out, let me know, for I would not
like to go about telling lies! I have asked others and I have tried for
myself, but I have never found any exception to the rule–"He that
believes in Him shall not be ashamed nor confounded." Nor of that other
rule–"Everyone that asks, receives, and he that seeks, finds, and to
him that knocks, it shall be opened." If I can have evidence, true and
certain, that God does not honor faith and does not hear prayer, I must
revise my convictions, contradict my statements and disbelieve my own
consciousness!
Have you ever tried believing prayer? Most of the people who disbelieve
the Bible have never read it with care and attention. Those who doubt
the faithfulness of God have never tried it! And those who deride
prayer have never practiced it! But, mind you, I am speaking of real
prayer, not of repeating certain good words! I am not talking of formal
prayer, but of going, with your heart, to the unseen God and telling
Him what you feel and what you need–and trusting Him to supply your
needs and help you. Have you done this? Go and try prayer at once, I
beseech you!
Divine Spirit, help these poor souls to pray this day! If you pray and
trust this day, it shall be unto you as the beginning of days–and from
now on you shall delight yourselves in the abundance of peace! O
Believer, it shall be true of you, "His soul shall dwell at ease and
his seed shall inherit the earth"! From the Lord's good Spirit there
shall come to you such Grace that you shall be blessed and become a
blessing to others! You shall walk happily before the Lord in this land
of the dying and then shall abide with Him forever, above, in the land
of the living! God bless you all for His name's sake. Amen.