Finding and Following Christ
(No. 3225)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24H, 1910.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 21, 1870.
"We have found Him." John 1:45.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon on verses 43 to 45 is #2375, Volume
40–FOUND BY JESUS–AND FINDING JESUS.]
I HOPE there are many here who are seeking Christ, but I feel sure that
there are with us many more who can truthfully say, "We have passed
beyond that stage, for we have found Him." Others may declare that
there never was such a Person as Jesus of Nazareth, but we know there
was and still is, for, "we have found Him," and we are living in happy
daily fellowship with Him! We bear our glad testimony to what the Grace
of God has done for us and we say with Philip, "We have found Him, of
whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph," whom we also worship as the Son of God.
Notice how positively Philip speaks. He had, himself, only just been
found by Christ, yet he does not say, "We think we have found the
Messiah," or, "We hope we have found the promised Deliverer." No,
without the slightest hesitation he says, "We have found Him." This is
a matter about which it is possible for us to be quite as positive as
Philip was. There are abundant reasons why we may have a well-grounded
assurance that Christ is our Savior if we have truly trusted in Him.
Some have thought and said that it is not possible for us to know we
are saved. Thank God that is not true and many can adopt the Inspired
Language of the Apostle John and say, "We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life." Such positiveness as this is
attainable, by God's Grace, by every true Believer in Jesus Christ!
Let me remind you, first, that it ought to be so. Whether we are saved
or not is a matter of the greatest importance to us. We cannot afford
to let it rest upon a, "perhaps," or a, "maybe." If I have really found
Christ, my sins are forgiven me for His sake–and this is a fact of
which I ought to be quite certain. If I have found the Lord Jesus
Christ, I am reconciled to God by the death of His Son, I have been
adopted into the family of God, I may confidently look to God for the
supply of all my needs, both for this life and for that which is to
come–and I may expect to be taken at the right time to dwell with Him
forever. Such glorious blessings as these ought not to be mere matters
of speculation with us! Our possession of them ought to be the result
of clean, unmistakable evidence. If I have not found Christ, I am in
danger of death every day and of the Hell that is the everlasting
prison of all unbelievers. If I have not found Christ, I am still
without hope and without God in the world–"condemned already"–because
I have not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God! Surely
I ought not to go to bed tonight with that all-important question
unsettled. I can understand a man being in doubt upon this matter, but
I cannot understand his resting comfortably while it is a matter of
doubt! If you are content to be in doubt as to whether you are entitled
to your estates, or as to whether you are mortally diseased or not,
well, those are only minor matters compared with the salvation of your
souls! God forbid that you should be willing to let the far greater
matter remain in suspense! Seek the aid of the Holy Spirit and never
rest satisfied until you know assuredly that you have found the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Savior!
A poor woman, some nights ago, wrapping around herself her poor thin
shawl, was walking along the street because she had nowhere else to go.
And as she was passing a certain building, she saw written over the
door, "For the homeless." "That is the place for me," she said, and in
she went. Now, my Friend, are you a sinner? Then I have to tell you
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Are you lost?
Then I have to tell you that He came to seek and to save the lost. It
would have done that poor woman no good at all to sit down on a rich
man's doorstep and consider how poor she
was–she got what she needed by going to the Home for the Homeless–and
Jesus Christ is a Home for Homeless souls, so away with you, poor
homeless soul, and find in Him the shelter that you need! May God's
Grace enable you to flee straight away to Christ, for if you do, He
will not refuse to receive you!
Remember, also, that no real spiritual comfort can come to us until we
know that we have found Christ. Perhapses and maybes are like thorns in
our pillow–they prevent us from resting. Or they are like stones in a
pilgrim's shoes– they make walking very uncomfortable for him. To be
able to say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against
that day," is to have a fountain of consolation springing up within
your heart! But to have to cry–
"'Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought–
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I His, or am I not?"
is to be in continual unhappiness! The man who is in such a state as
that may be safe, but he cannot have joy and peace. He must be weak,
trembling and tossed to and fro, like the waves of the troubled sea
when it cannot rest. It is only when we can say with David, "My heart
is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise," that
there is the music of deep and lasting joy in the songs that we send up
to Heaven!
Let me add that you may confidently hope to attain this assurance of
knowledge because so many others have already done so. I have reminded
you of Philip, John and Paul, but such knowledge as this was not
confined to the Apostolic age–it is at this moment the priceless
privilege of tens of thousands of Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ!
If I were now to say, "Let all those Brothers and Sisters who know that
Christ is theirs stand up and testify to this fact," I believe that the
bulk of this congregation would at once rise! And I pray that you
weaker ones, you timid and trembling souls may seek Him who can work
this great Grace in you, also, so that you, too, may be able to say as
positively as Philip did, "We have found Him."
Now I am going, with the Holy Spirit's help, to suggest a few
reflections for those to bear in mind who can say, "We have found Him."
And the first is this–IF WE HAVE FOUND CHRIST, HE MUST HAVE FIRST
FOUND US.
Two verses (v 43) before our text, we read that this very man who had
found Christ, had himself been found by Christ. It is probably true, my
dear Brother or Sister in Christ, that you were brought to know the
Lord through some human instrumentality. A godly father or mother, a
faithful minister of the Gospel, a loving Sunday school teacher or
other Christian friend. Or the reading of the Word under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit may have been the means of your conversion. There is
a very precious link between the instrument of your salvation and
yourself which you ought never to forget. Surely we can never cease to
thank God for the man or the woman whom He used to lead us out of
darkness into His marvelous Light! Yet that holy man did not convert
us. That gracious woman could never have given us a new heart and a
right spirit. We must trace our new birth to its superhuman origin–it
was the Lord, and the Lord alonewho worked that wondrous miracle of
regeneration! "You has HE quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins." If the Lord has not turned you from the error of your ways, you
are still in the broad road that leads to destruction! If He has not
found you as the shepherd finds his lost sheep, you are still wandering
on the dark mountains of sin and woe! And, as the sheep would never
find its shepherd unless he first found it, so you, if you have found
Christ, must first have been found by Christ!
I want you to go still further back and to remember that, inasmuch as
you never imagined that it was wrong for Christ to save you, although
He has not saved all other sinners and although some in your own family
have not yet found Him– and although some who attend the same place of
worship as you do have not found Him, while you have found Him and been
found by Him–you have never thought that it was wrong for Christ to
make this difference between you and others. I want you to also
remember that whatever Christ has done, He must have always meant to
do–it must have been His eternal purpose to do it! Unless you are a
careless blunderer, you do not do anything without having made up your
mind to do it. And certainly, the Lord Jesus Christ has not acted in
this great matter of the salvation of souls without thought and
deliberation! Do you not see that this brings us to the Doctrine of
Election? Many people do not like that Doctrine, but all Christian
people, though they may not believe it as we do, must believe that
which is the very essence of it–for if there is a difference between
ourselves and others, it must have been Christ who made it by His
Grace! And as He made it, then it must have been right for Him to make
it, and it could not have been wrong for Him to purpose to make that
difference! We do not believe that Christ does anything without a plan
and a purpose. And it makes no difference whether the purpose was in
His mind a year ago or from all eternity! I mean that there would be
the same difficul-
ty with regard to the Doctrine, though I see no difficulty in it at
all. Well then, the Lord Jesus Christ purposed from all eternity to
work His good work in you by His Holy Spirit–to bring you to repent of
your sin and to trust in His atoning Sacrifice–and, therefore, it is a
part of His promise to bring you home to Heaven to dwell with Him
forever! Yet there have been and still are many in this world who have
not found Him–more eminent than you are, people of greater ability and
loftier station. There are wise men who have never become wise unto
salvation and rich men who do not possess this heavenly treasure. There
are mighty kings who lord it over mighty hosts of men, who know not the
Lord of Hosts and yield not homage to the Lord Jesus Christ! When you
think of all this, do you not marvel that you should have been found by
Christ and that you should have found Christ? Do you not wonder that
God should have chosen you, that Christ should have redeemed you, that
the Holy Spirit should have regenerated you? And will you not bless and
praise the Lord to all eternity for making you the simple subject of
His Grace while such multitudes and so many far more mighty ones have
been passed by?
This teaching, which seems to me to be so simple and plain, lies at the
root of the most profound Doctrines of Holy Writ and it is, at the same
time, one of the most practical Truths of God in the whole of the
Divine Revelation! Nothing makes us love Christ more than knowing that
He has loved us with an everlasting Love and, therefore, with loving
kindness has drawn us unto Himself. Nothing makes us crave for likeness
to Him so much as the knowledge that He has chosen us and ordained us,
that we should go and bring forth fruit and that our fruit should
remain even, "fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life." I
wish that this Truth was understood and believed by all Christians, for
it is God's Truth, and a very precious Truth. I feel sure that it is
believed by many who have not recognized it or fully understood it. I
remember preaching in the open air to a great crowd of miners, most of
them Methodists. And as I preached, they shouted, "Glory!"
"Hallelujah!" "Praise the Lord," and so on. Just as they were in full
cry in that fashion, I paused a moment and then said, "This brings me
to the Doctrine of Election." I could almost feel the cold shiver of
disappointment that seemed to pass through the crowd. And it appeared
likely that there would be no more "Hallelujahs" during that discourse.
But I said to them, "In your hearts you really believe that Doctrine,
though you imagine you do not. And before I have finished my sermon, I
will prove it to you, and many of you will shout, 'Praise the Lord,'
for it even more loudly than you were doing just now." I saw the look
of incredulity upon their faces, but I went on. "Here is a man who was
once a drunk, a swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, a thief, a liar and
everything that was bad. But a great change has somehow come over him
and he is quite a new man compared with what he used to be. There is no
such alteration in many of his old companions and friends–who can have
made him so different from what he once was? Here is a glorious golden
crown and whoever has made this man to be such a contrast to what he
was before ought to have this crown placed upon his head!" Then I said,
"Shall I put the crown on the man's own head? Did he make this change
in himself?" "No, no" came the answer from all parts of the crowd.
"Well then," I asked, "On whose head shall I put the crown? Who is to
have the glory of this man's conversion?" At once they cried, "The
Lord, the Lord alone! Put the crown on His head." So far we were all
agreed and I, therefore, asked next, "Was it wrong for God to make this
difference?" No one dared to say that it was, so I advanced to my next
question, "As it was right for God to make this difference, was it not
also right for God to plan beforehand that He would do so? The Lord did
not act without a set purpose and, therefore, as He is to be crowned
for the action, is He not also to be crowned for the purpose to do it?"
"Yes, that He is!" cried the crowd. "Bless His name, hallelujah!" So I
won the hallelujahs, by His Grace, of my Methodist friends for the
Doctrine of Election as I said I would!
We do not preach, we have never preached and we shall never preach that
God has created any man for the purpose of destroying him! But we do
preach and shall preach as long as we live, that salvation is of the
Lord and all of Grace from first to last! And, therefore, that all the
glory of it must be given to the Divine hand that worked the work, to
the eternal mind that planned the work and to the great heart of love
that was the Fountain and Source from which the gracious purpose
sprang! The only explanation of the whole matter is the one we have so
often sung–
"What was there in you that could merit esteem, Or give the Creator
delight? 'Twas even so, Father,'you always must sing, 'Because it
seemed good in Your sight' Then give all the glory to His holy name, To
Him all the glory belongs, Be yours the high joy to still sound forth
His fame, And crown Him in each of your songs."
II. My second observation is–IF WE HAVE FOUND CHRIST, LET US FOLLOW
HIM. Philip found Him and followed Him all his days.
Christ was given to be the Leader and Commander of His people, so His
people should all follow Him. You have followed Him, Beloved, but can
you not follow Him yet more closely? You are His disciples, but can you
not learn more of Him than you have yet learned? Let us follow our
Jesus promptly. I want to be in such a state of heart and mind that the
moment I know what Christ's will concerning me is, I do it! I would
like to be a leaf borne along by the blessed current of His Divine
Purpose–having no will or wish to resist the sacred influences of His
unerring mind and loving heart–to obey His commands promptly and
cheerfully and, not only to obey cheerfully, but also to
suffercheerfully if He so pleases! It is a blessed condition to be in
to take anything and everything from Christ, whether it is a kiss or a
blow–to do anything for Christ, whether it is pleasing to the flesh or
not–to yield up everything for Christ, to be, indeed, a divine
sacrifice for Him, which is, after all, only the "reasonable service"
which He is fully entitled to claim from us! We read in the Revelation
concerning some, "These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He
goes." And happy are they who imitate them, even while here on earth!
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I entreat you to leave no path
untrodden where you can see the footprints of your Lord and Master!
Jesus went to Jordan's stream and was baptized there by John–have you
followed Him in this blessed ordinance? Jesus, even while living and
laboring among sinners, was separate from them–are you living the
separated life? What He did, let us do as far as it is in our power!
What He was, let us be as far as that is possible! He was reviled,
despised and rejected of men–so let us count it an honor to receive
similar treatment for His sake. He was content to walk on the bleak
side of the hill–let us not seek the sunny side by craving the world's
esteem. Is this your heart's desire, Beloved? Do you sing–
"Through floods and flames, if Jesus leads, I'll follow where He goes"?
Then mind that you not only singthose lines, but make them true in your
life! Are any of you following Christ afar off, as Peter did? Then
beware lest you fall as Peter did! Are you following Christ in your
business, or do you forget Him when you are in the office or in the
market? Do you follow Christ in your home, or do you forget Him when
you are there? Some of you used to follow Jesus very closely and to be
very warm friends of His–have you been growing cold towards Him? Oh,
let this no longer be the case! If you have found Him, follow Him and
follow Him "wherever He goes."
III. Now, thirdly, IF WE HAVE FOUND CHRIST, LET US PRIZE HIM. It is no
trifle that we find when we find Him, for He is the priceless pearl
whose worth no man fully knows!
If I have found Him, how shall I prove that I prize Him? First, let me
be willing to lose all that I have for Him. Does my present position in
life involve me in sin? Then let me leave it rather than grieve my
Lord. Is my business an evil one? Then let me renounce it at once, for
if I do not, I shall have to renounce Him! Have I any companions who
are the enemies of Christ? Then I dare not call them my friends. Is
there some dear one with whom I have entered into such close
association that it will draw me away from Christ? Then, while I can,
let me break the connection, for I must give up all for the Christ who
gave up all for me! The captain of a vessel, when his ship is in danger
of sinking, will throw the most valuable cargo into the sea if,
thereby, he may save the ship and the lives of all on board. And I must
be willing to part with my joys, my pleasures, my money, my friends and
all that I have rather than give up my Lord and Savior, for I must have
Christ at any cost!
Further, if you have found Christ and want to prove that you can prize
Him, study to find out all that you can about Him. Jesus Christ is a
great mine of untold wealth and no man has ever yet perfectly explored
that mine. Read the Scripture to learn all you can about Christ. Listen
to any preacher or teacher who can tell you anything about Christ–and
be sure to meditate as much as you can upon Christ. He is the chief
among ten thousand–"yes, He is altogether lovely." At our first sight
of Him, we fall in love with Him, but His choicest beauties are the
hidden ones which we only find by diligent search and much fellowship
with Him. As you get to know more of Him in His Person, in His work, in
His office, in His promises, in His power, in His love–you will prize
Him all the more until you would not set even Heaven, itself, in
comparison with Him–for what would Heaven be if He were not there?
Further, Beloved, if you prize Christ as you ought, you will make all
the use you can of Him. And He loves to be of use to His people. Is
there any sin upon your conscience? Run to Him to remove it from you!
Is there any trouble on your mind? Go and tell Jesus! Is there anything
that is a burden to you? Cast your burdens upon Him and He will relieve
you of them, or give you the Grace and strength to carry them! Remember
that Jesus Christ is an everyday Savior, an all-the-year-round Savior,
a whole-of-life Savior, a Savior for the body as well as for the soul!
Whatever there may be lacking in
you, there is nothing lacking in Him and He can supply all that you
lack! He is the Bread of Life, so feed upon Him! He is the Light of the
World, so see everything in the light that comes from Him! He is your
All-in-All, so look for all in Him!
Show, too, that you prize Christ as you should by letting others see
how you value Him. A bride who has many precious jewels will wear them
where they can be seen and admired by others. And we, too, are to put
on the Lord Jesus Christ who is more precious than all the gems in the
universe! Some professing Christians are apt to blush at any allusion
to their Christianity–but if it is the blush of shame, they have cause
to be ashamed of such blushing! I never hear of any man blushing
because he is a peer of the realm, though there have been many of the
so-called "nobility" who might well cause their fellow peers to blush.
But to blush because one is a Christian, oh, this must never be! As
well might we blush at being likened to an angel! Suppose the ungodly
point the finger of scorn at you–that is the only way in which such
people can really honor you. Will you strike your colors because the
enemy attacks you? No, no! Nail the flag to the mast and fight so
bravely for Christ that the enemy has to strike hiscolors! It is the
act of a pirate to sail under another flag, so whatever ship you meet
on life's wide sea, fly the flag of your King and defy the devil and
all his legions to do their worst! At home and abroad, in the House of
God or in the street, in the market or wherever you may be, let friend
and foe, alike, know that you belong to Christ! I would that all of us
who are members of this Tabernacle might love the Lord with a far
deeper and more fervent love than we have ever yet experienced. I know
that there are some eminently gracious souls among us and I pray that
their number may be greatly increased, but I am anxious lest, as a
Church, we should fall to the low level of so many of the professing
Christians of this age! Our Lord Jesus Christ deserves the very best
that we can bring to Him, so let us give Him our hearts, our minds, our
time, our talents and all we have, to show how greatly we prize Him
whom we have found!
IV. Fourthly, and briefly, IF WE HAVE FOUND CHRIST, LET US NEVER PART
WITH HIM. Philip became one of Christ's disciples, then one of His
Apostles–and now he is with Christ forever!
Tomorrow you will go, young man, into the workshop or to the counter
and your companions will laugh at you if you say you are a Christian.
But do not part with Christ because of the laughter of fools! Some of
you will be going to the Stock Exchange or to the various markets of
this great city–but part not company with Christ by doing what is
wrong. Hold Him fast and keep to that which is right, honest and true,
for he is a traitor to Christ who gets even a penny by an unrighteous
action! Tomorrow some of you may hear that which is blasphemous or
foul–rebuke it in your Lord's name, for he who is silent when he ought
to speak is tacitly denying his Lord and Master. Again I say to you,
hold Him fast however much men may scoff at you for doing so, for such
a treasure as Christ is well worth holding! Let no man separate you
from your Lord. If you are truly His, I am persuaded that no one and
nothing shall be able to part you. Though the devil himself should try
to tear Christ away from you, he cannot do it, for Christ is stronger
than Satan and He holds you with a Divine grip which the devil and all
his hosts cannot relax!
I especially urge you not to let Jesus slip away from private prayer,
or the reading of the Scriptures, or your intimate personal communion
with Him. Make your prayers more fervent, your study of the Word more
intense and real, and your daily walk with Christ more close and
tender. Abide in Him! Never give Him or anyone else cause to think that
you have left Him. The good soldier of Jesus Christ never has a
furlough–he is like the knights of old who slept in their armor and
were ready for the fray at any moment. A Christian is to always be a
Christian and in every place! He may not do wrong once a year, nor once
in a lifetime. What would you say to a man who told you he was only
going to poison himself once? What would you think of a wife who said
she was going to cease loving her husband just once? We, too, are
married to Christ, so we are His and wholly His–and only His! Hold us
fast, O blessed Lover of our souls, for only so can we continue to hold
You fast!
V. My last injunction is this–IF YOU HAVE FOUND CHRIST, TELL OTHERS
ABOUT HIM, even as Philip said to Nathanael, "We have found Him."
I have sometimes feared that some professing Christians fancy that they
are to keep Christ all to themselves. They seem to have an idea that
Heaven is just–
"A little spot enclosed by Grace"– where only they and a small select
company of like-minded persons will gain admittance! I cannot
congratulate them upon harboring such a notion and I very strongly urge
them to imitate the example of a man who found that he had a forged
bank-note in his possession–he threw it over a hedge and ran away as
fast as he could for fear anybody should think it belonged to him! Such
a spirit as that seems to me to be quite contrary to the mind of Him
who wept over Jerusa-
lem and who said, "How often would I have gathered the children
together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you
would not!"
Have you found this great hive of honey and is it very sweet to your
taste? Then tell others of it, for there is abundance for them and you,
too. You are not like the poor people in a besieged city who feel that
every mouthful that someone else eats leaves so much the less for them.
Oh, no! There is "bread enough and to spare" in the great Father's
house, so no prodigal son need perish with hunger! At the Gospel
banquet you may eat as much as you want, but there will be just as much
left for others. We have to deal with the God who is Infinite and
Omnipotent, whose supply is inexhaustible and who will be glad and
gratified as we spread far and wide the invitations to the great feast
in honor of His Son! My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as you love
Him, follow His blessed example by going after the lost sheep until you
find them! If you had only common humanity, it ought to make you
earnest in seeking to deliver others from going down to the Pit, by
telling them of Him who has paid the ransom price for all who put their
trust in Him! A battlefield must present a terrible sight to all who
gaze upon it. I wish all those who are so eager for war could see the
horrors of which we can scarcely bear to read. Yet this great London
presents a still more terrible sight to those whose eyes have been
opened to see sinners as they really are in the sight of God! Our
streets swarm with the unregenerate! Many of you live next door to them
when they are at home. Some of you live in the same house with them.
Some even sleep in the same room with them. Plead for your husbands or
wives, your brothers and sisters, your parents or children–and plead
with them as well as forthem! God forbid that you should be eternally
separated from those who are so near and dear to you! Pray for them
night and day! You who are the Lord's remembrancers, take no rest and
give Him no rest, and give them no rest until they are saved! Next to
your own relatives, plead with and for your employees, your employer,
your neighbors and all with whom you come in contact! And then widen
your sympathies and supplications until they shall embrace all of woman
born! Remember Richard Krill's question, "Brethren, the heathen are
perishing, will you let them perish?" Do not neglect the heathen abroad
or the heathen at home! An earnest minister said to his people one
Sabbath, "I am going, this week on a mission to the heathen." The
deacons looked at one another, for the pastor had not mentioned the
matter to them. And the members thought, "We are about to lose our dear
minister, but whatever has made him think of going as a missionary to
the heathen?" While these thoughts were passing through their minds, he
quietly added, "But I am not going out of this town in order to be a
missionary."
And there is no need for anybody to go out of town in order to be a
missionary to the heathen! There they are, Brothers and Sisters, all
around you! And you are the missionaries. There is your work–go and do
it–and may God bless you in it–and so may many precious immortal
souls through you be led to find Jesus and to trust in Him for
salvation, for His name and mercy's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ACTS2:1-21.
[The following Exposition is the earlier portion of the one published
with Sermon #3224, Volume 56–"REPENTANCE AND REMISSION".]
Verses 1-8. And when the day of Pentecost [See Sermons #511, Volume
9–PENTECOST and #1783, Volume 30, also named PENTECOST.] was fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place. And
suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
andit filledall the house where they were sitting. And there appeared
unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filed with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were
dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under
Heaven. Now when this was told abroad, the multitude came together and
were confounded because every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying, one to another, Behold,
are not all these which speak, Galileans? And how hear we every man in
our own tongue, wherein we were born?These men, so far from being able
to speak many languages, could not, by themselves, speak even one
correctly! The Galileans dialect was a base degradation of the true
Jewish tongue, so that the Galileans were always the subject of sneers
and scoffing on account of their mispronunciation. There are several
stories in the old Rabbinical writings, all intended to ridicule the
Galileans–yet these men had now been taught to speak their own
language perfectly and, what was still more marvelous–languages that
they had never heard now came pouring forth
from their lips with the greatest fluency! How wide the range of those
foreign tongues was, we learn from the following verses–
9-11. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites and the dwellers in
Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts in Libya about
Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and
Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
God. Babel's curse was now removed–not by a reversing of God's curse,
for God's curses and blessings are both like the laws of the Medes and
Persians which never can be altered. Men still spoke the tongues of
confusion, but the Apostles were able to speak to them all after
receiving that miraculous gift of tongues. Thus was fulfilled that
promise of Jesus, "He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he
do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto My
Father." Christ never spoke with many tongues, nor did He enable His
disciples to do so during His life on earth! But when He had gone back
to Heaven to His Father and had received gifts for men, they were
enabled to do greater works than He had accomplished by His personal
ministry here below.
12,13. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to
another, What means this? Others mocking, said, These men are full of
new wine.That is to say, if a Libyan, for instance, had been listening
to one who was preaching in the language of Cappadocia, he might think
that the man was merely babbling strange sounds without any meaning in
them. To others, the Inspired Speech of the Apostles was only like the
incoherent utterance of drunken men!
14-20. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice,
andsaid to them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at
Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: for these
are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the
day. But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel; and it
shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My
Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and
your young men shall see visions in those days of My Spirit; and they
shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in Heaven above and signs in
the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall
be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and
notable day of the Lord comes. Doubtless this refers first to the siege
of Jerusalem, when those strange portents were seen in the heavens, and
afterwards to that far greater and more notable day of the Lord, the
Day of Judgment, when the moon shall become as blood and the sun shall
become black as sackcloth of hair.
21. Andit shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be saved. What a glorious Gospel verse this is! This is
one of the great lifeboat-texts of the Bible. He who can get into this
boat shall certainly sail to Glory in safety! "Whoever"–there is no
exception of character, whatever his past life may have been! "Whoever
shall call on the name of the Lord"–here are no hard
conditions–prayer, trust, confession of that trust–all these make up
calling upon the name of the Lord. And whoever shall do this, not only
may be but, "shall be saved." There is no perhaps, no maybe about
it–"Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."