Fire–the Need of the Times
A sermon
(No. 854)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, FEBRUARY 7, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already
kindled!"- Luke 12:49.
OUR Lord was here certainly alluding to the opposition and persecution
which the Gospel would excite. This is clear from the context, in which
He declares that He is not come to send peace on the earth but a sword,
and from the parallel passages in the other Gospels, where our Lord is
forewarning His disciples that they must look for persecution. Albeit,
that this was the first direction of the Savior's thought, He here
delivers Himself of a Truth of God of a far wider application and
reveals a great peculiarity of the Gospel which causes men to oppose
it. He bears witness that the Gospel is an ardent, fervent, flaming
thing–a subject for enthusiasm, a theme for intense devotion, a matter
which excites men's souls and stirs them to the lowest depths–and for
this reason, mainly, it arouses hostility.
If the Gospel were a mere propriety of ceremonies, a truth which would
slumber in the creed or lie entombed in the brain. If it were not a
spiritual principle which lays hold upon the innermost nature, rules
the emotions and fires the affections–if it were not all this it would
remain unopposed. But because it is so living and forcible a principle,
the powers of evil are in arms to stop its course. The subject then, of
this morning's meditation will be the fiery nature of the religion of
Jesus Christ! And to bring this clearly before you we shall first and
foremost CONSIDER THE HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL.
Practically, so far as the most of us are concerned, it begins with a
revelation contained in this Book–we come to the Bible, therefore, to
find out what the Gospel is. Bending over the pages we are struck with
the extraordinary doctrines revealed. We find them far from being
matters for the curious and the philosophical, but practical truths,
touching upon everyday life and bearing upon common human nature.
Truths, indeed, so powerful over humanity that they seem to wear the
key of man's heart hanging at their belt. We find in this Book the
master Truth of the love of God plainly and repeatedly stated.
Right golden are these words, "God so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." We see revealed to us a love of God so vast as
to be incomprehensible! So generous as to be a theme for adoring wonder
throughout eternity, since the Father gives up His equal Son that He
may bleed and die that we, who are rebellious and undeserving, may live
through Him! As we believe the doctrine of Divine love, we feel it to
be a Truth which sets the soul on fire with joy, gratitude and love. As
we peruse the Gospel, we perceive that Divine love has been manifested
in connection with a most astonishing display of justice and severity
towards sin.
We see God willing to forgive, but not willing to allow His Law to be
dishonored, and therefore giving up His only-begotten Son to die a
death of pain and ignominy, in order that the penalty of a broken Law
might be rendered to justice and yet mercy displayed to rebels! We
behold the Savior bleeding on the tree as much to manifest the justice
as the love of God. And now, as we behold our Lord's passion, thoughts
that burn full into our bosom–holy detestation of sin lifts the torch
of heart-searching and the flame of true love burns up our lusts. He
dies, the Friend of Sinners dies! Murdered by human sin! Who will not,
therefore, loathe the murderous thing? It is impossible to read aright
in the illuminated volume of the Cross, printed in crimson characters,
without feeling our hearts burn within us with an ardor unquenchable.
As we study more fully the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, we perceive that
in consequence of the death of the Crucified and by reason of the love
of God, eternal salvation by Divine Grace is freely proclaimed to
everyone that believes in Christ! This creates, at first, a fire of
opposition to the doctrine of Free Grace, given not for works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to the decree of
God–for naturally we choose to be saved by our own goodness and
we prefer, like Luther on Pilate's staircase, to please ourselves with
acts of humiliating penance rather than submit to that voice which
says, "By the works of the Law there shall no flesh living be
justified." Before long, through God's Spirit, another fire burns in
our soul of intense gratitude that God should condescend to make a
covenant with man and ordain faith in Jesus as the great way of
obtaining reconciliation!
Brothers and Sisters, these three Truths–the love of God, the atoning
death of Christ and of justification by faith–are doctrines which
cannot sleep! They must be active! Like the sword of God, they cannot
be quiet. They are a seed which must grow, a leaven which must spread,
a fire which must burn on forever! Take any other Truth of the Gospel
and you will find it to be of the same energetic character–as, for
instance, that of the universal priesthood of all Believers.
Priestcraft, throughout all its domains, is stirred to bitterest hate
by this Truth of God. How cardinals and bishops gnash their teeth! How
priests and friars revile this teaching, "You are a royal priesthood"!
This does away with the pride of a clerical caste–the commerce in
pardons and confessions. Every man who believes in Jesus Christ is at
once a priest and as much a priest as any other of the saints, so that
no man has any right to arrogate unto himself in particular the title
of priest, or to suppose or imagine that there is any sacerdotal rank
in the Church but such as is common to all Believers in Christ Jesus!
This Truth of God coming into a man's soul makes him blaze and burn
with zeal! Am I consecrated to God, ordained to stand as a priest
between the living and the dead and to offer acceptable sacrifice
through Jesus Christ? Then I will purge myself from uncleanness and
diligently serve my God!
"Am I and all my Brethren priests?" asks the Believer. "Then down with
priestcraft! We will be no longer duped by pretenders who claim to be
channels of Divine Grace and anointed dispensers of the Divine favor."
If the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been a mystic philosophy which only a
few could comprehend, it would not have been a matter of fire! If it
had been a mere pompous bunch of ceremonies which the people could only
look upon and admire, it would have had no ardent influence! If it had
been a mere orthodoxy, to be learnt by heart and every jot and tittle
to be accepted without consideration, or if it had been a mere law of
civilities and legalities, a mere ordinance of propriety and rule and
regulation, it would never have been what Christ says it is! But,
inasmuch as it is a principle which affects the heart, which takes
possession of our entire manhood, changes, renews, uplifts and inspires
us, making us akin with God and filling us with the Divine fullness, it
becomes in this world a thing of flame and fire, burning its way to
victory! "I came to send fire on the earth."
I have commenced the history of the Gospel with the Bible, but
remember, the Gospel does not long remain a mere writing–it is no
sooner thoroughly read and grasped than the reader becomes, according
to his ability, a preacher. We will suppose when a preacher whom God
has truly called to the work, proclaims this Gospel, you will see for a
second time that it is a thing of fire. Observe the man! If God has
sent him, he is little regardful of the graces of oratory. He counts it
sheer folly that the servants of God should be the mimics of
Demosthenes and Cicero. He learns in another school how to deliver his
Master's message. He comes forward in all sincerity, not in the wisdom
of words, but with great plainness of speech and tells to the sons of
men the great message from the skies!
The one thing of all others he abhors is to deliver that message with
bated breath, with measured cadence and sentences that chill and freeze
as they fall from ice-bound lips. He speaks as one who knows that God
has sent him–like a man who believes what he says, and moreover, feels
that his message is a burden on his own soul–a burden which he must be
delivered from–a fire within his bones which rages till he gives it
vent, for woe is unto him if he preach not the Gospel! I would not
utter too sweeping a sentence, but I will venture to say that no man
who preaches the Gospel without zeal is sent of God to preach at all.
When I turn to sermons such as Blair's, so faultless and yet so
lifeless, I wonder whether by any possibility a soul could have been
converted under them! The absence of enthusiasm in a sermon is fatal!
It is the lack of its essential element, the one thing necessary to
raise the discourse above the level of a mere essay. In Whitefield's
sermons, of which we have but the rough notes, one perceives coals of
juniper and hot thunderbolts which mark him out to be a true Boanerges.
Mark, my Brethren, that the fire in the preacher sent of God is not
that of mere excitement, nor that alone of an intelligent judgment
acting upon the passions. No, but there is also a mysterious influence
resting on God's servants which is irresistible.
The Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven anoints all true evangelists and
is the true power and fire. The more we believe in the Presence and
power of the Holy Spirit, the more likely shall we be to see the Gospel
triumphant in our
ministry. Brethren, there is nothing in the Gospel, apart from the
Spirit of God, which can win upon man, for man hates the Gospel with
all his heart. Though the reasonableness of the Gospel of Jesus ought
to make the belief of it universal, yet its plain dealing with human
sin excites deadly antagonism, and, therefore, the Gospel itself would
make no progress were it not for the Divine power. There is an
invisible arm which pushes forward the conquests of the Truth of God!
There is a fire unfed of human fuel which burns a way for the Truth of
Jesus Christ into the hearts of men!
In tracing this history of the Gospel, I would have you observe the
effect of the preaching of such a one as I have described. While he is
delivering the Truth of God of a crucified Savior and bidding men
repent of sin and believe in Christ. While he is pleading and exhorting
with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven, do you see the fire flakes
descend in showers from on high? One of them has dropped just yonder
and fallen into a heart that had been cold and hard before–observe how
it melts all that was hard and iron-like–and tears begin to flow from
channels long dried up! Can you hear the sobbing of that anxious one as
she confesses her sins and asks for mercy? Do you notice the inward
anguish of yonder youth who is convicted of sin, of righteousness and
of judgment to come and who is ready to cry out, "What must I do to be
saved?"
Do you notice the opposite effect in another quarter? Yonder sinner has
heard of Jesus and now believes in Him. Mark well the joy he feels! He
is not like a man who has learned fresh mathematical truths of a cold,
unemotional nature, but he is ready to clap his hands! He has as much
as he can do to restrain himself, he feels so overjoyed! Do you observe
that man who has now heard that Gospel for some few months? Do you
notice that the fire still continues to burn within him? He gives to
the cause of God what seems to others to be a lavish waste. He does for
Christ what some would think to be a work of fanaticism. He is bold, he
is in earnest, he is mighty in prayer–he is, in fact, consecrated,
given up, devoted–the zeal of God's House has eaten him up as it did
the Psalmist, so that his meat and his drink is to do the will of Him
that sent him. Herein you see the true character of the Gospel! Like
fire it thaws the iceberg heart, it makes the iron flow forth to be
molded into a Divine shape. It sets the sacrifice on a blaze and man's
whole nature goes up in sacred smoke of gratitude and praise to the
Most High!
And now, as surely as God glorifies His Truth and gives seals to the
Christian ministry, opposition is aroused. If the preacher is supposed
to live in the middle ages, his history will be told in a few words. He
preaches at first to a crowd. Converts are made. The priests hear of
it. He is abhorred and marked for extermination. He resorts to lone
places among the hills. He preaches in cottages and private
assemblies–converts are still brought in. The hunt grows hotter! The
Hell hounds are out, eager for blood. The man is secreted. He takes his
pen to write if he cannot use his tongue to speak. At last he is
seized. He is dragged before the tribunals. He burns and blazes with
sacred eloquence before his judges, but he is condemned to die.
And now he stands upon a fiery pulpit, the firewood blazing all around
him! And, if he utters not a single word, yet his death is eloquent.
The fire of his earnestness is met by the fire of their malice–we know
which of the two fires will win the day! In these times we are screened
by a gracious Providence from the Satanic cruelty of persecution.
Nowadays it takes another shape–the preacher is no sooner successful
than it is reported that he is actuated either by covetous or ambitious
designs. It is also currently reported that he said this or that
ridiculous or blasphemous thing. There are some who heard him say what
he never dreamed of and others stand prepared to be godfathers to the
lie and add another of their own invention. And so the slander flies
abroad and opposition finds barbed shafts to fling at the too valiant
champion.
Parties are made and sides taken for and against–and thus, again, is
fulfilled the Master's saying–"I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the
daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law." You may depend upon it, there is no good doing if Satan
does not howl! When there is no opposition from the infernal powers, it
is because there is nothing to oppose. "Let them be," says Satan, "let
them be! A comfortable congregation, a sober minister–all asleep–let
them be! Drive on!" he says to his charioteer, "I need not alight here.
Another small congregation–more pews than people–sleepy nothings!
Drive on!" he says, "no trouble here for my empire. Drive on to yonder
Meeting House where there is an earnest preacher and a people much
given to prayer. Stop," he says, "I must use my best endeavors to stop
this invasion of my kingdom."
Straightway Satan comes to do his best or his worst to hinder the
kingdom of Christ. In Hell's opposition we discern a sign of
hopefulness, for where that fire of malice burns against the Gospel
there God's fire of Divine Grace is burning,
also! When the fire of conversion has kindled the fire of persecution,
it proves its own infinite energy by subjecting even persecution to
itself. That famous master in Israel and servant of God, Farel, the
Swiss Divine, was converted to God by the sight of a martyr burnt in
one of the streets of Paris. The wonderful demeanor of the saint as he
stood in the midst of the fire to die, made an impression on his
youthful spirit which was never afterwards shaken off.
It has often been through opposition that the Church has made her
greatest advances. Hence partly the reason for our Lord's saying, "How
I wish it were already kindled!" as if our Lord had meant, "What does
My kingdom care if opposition comes?" Let it come! It is so fruitful a
thing to the Church of God, that the sooner it shall come the better!
We might almost say, today, if there could be a return to the
persecutions of the past, if it were not for the sin which would be
caused, "How I wish it were already kindled!"
The Christian man who is slandered and opposed can afford to smile with
a sacred contempt at all that can be done against the Gospel of Christ.
It was during the persecution which raged against the saints at
Jerusalem that the Church obtained one of the greatest pillars that
have ever strengthened and adorned her fabric–I mean the Apostle Paul.
Breathing out threats against the people of God, he is on the road to
Damascus, but the blaze of heavenly fire blinds him, strikes him to the
ground and afterwards he becomes a chosen vessel to carry, like an
uplifted cresset, that very fire throughout the nations of the earth!
I look, Brothers and Sisters, for recruits to the Truth of God from the
ranks of our enemies. Never despair, the brightest preacher of Christ
may yet be fashioned out of the wretched raw material of Roman Catholic
and Anglican priests! In politics, one of the leaders of reform has
come to us from the hostile party–and we may expect in religious
matters to see the same, or even more wonderful enlightenments! A monk
reformed Germany! A parish priest was the morning star of England's day
of light! The Lord can send out His warrant to arrest a ringleader in
the army of Satan and to say to him, "You shall be no more against Me.
You are Mine. Enlist beneath My banner and from this day be a champion
for the Truth which you have despised."
Never let us fear! The fire of God which Christ has cast among us shall
go on to burn, let man do what he will to quench it! Thus I have given
you a very brief abstract of the history of the Gospel from the Bible
and the man, to the convert and the persecution, until opposition,
valiantly met, yields up its spoils.
II. Secondly, LET US STUDY MORE CAREFULLY THE QUALITIES OF THE GOSPEL
AS FIRE. First, fire and the Gospel are notable for spiritual purity.
The most refined form of idolatry that has ever existed has been the
Parsee worship of fire. There is a kind of sentiment connected with the
sun, the great parent of light and fire, which casts a halo around the
error which it cannot excuse. Behold the enlightening flame, so
immaterial, so spiritual, so akin to spirit– behold it and see to what
the Gospel may be compared!
God Himself, though He has no earthly likeness, has been pleased to say
of Himself, that He is "a consuming fire," fire being as instructive a
symbol of God as earth can afford. The Gospel is like fire because it
is so pure a thing–there is no admixture of error or unholiness in it.
Fire has little of earth. It has no dross. It is a simple element, I
was about to say, but what it is no man knows. We scarcely can put it
among the component parts of this material earth, it is so pure. Even
so, the Gospel is very pure, like silver purified seven times, free
from every earthly alloy. Moreover, it is exceedingly spiritual, so
spiritual that few understand it. Yes, none but those to whom it is
given of the Father. It is but the spiritual man, enlightened of the
Spirit of God, who receives of the things which are of God.
It is so different from the trash of Rome! It talks not of the material
flesh of Christ as if it could literally dwell in bread and wine! It
talks not of aqueous regeneration worked by drops of water! It never
consecrates holy places, or imputes holiness to material substances. It
declares that God is a Spirit and that they who worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Altar of Christianity is the
Person of an unseen Savior. The offering of Christianity is prayer and
praise. The worship of Christianity is the uprising of the heart–it is
not at all a matter for the eyes and hands and nostrils–but altogether
spiritual, sublime, elevated, pure, God-like.
Happy are they who have accepted a spiritual and perfect Gospel! The
Gospel is like fire, again, because of its cheering and comforting
influence. He that has received it finds that the cold of this world no
longer pinches him. He may be poor, but the Gospel's fire takes away
the chilliness of poverty. He may be sick, but the Gospel gives his
soul to rejoice even in the body's decay. He may be slandered and
neglected, but the Gospel honors him in the sight of God. The Gospel,
where it is fully received into the heart, becomes a Divine source of
matchless consolation. Fire, in addition to its
warmth, gives light. The flaming beacon guides the mariner or warns him
of the rocks. The Gospel becomes to us our guide through all the
darkness of this mortal life. And if we cannot look into the future,
nor know what shall happen to us tomorrow, yet by the light of the
Gospel we can see our way in the present path of duty, yes, and see our
end in future immortality and blessedness! Life and immortality are
brought to light by the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Brothers and Sisters, I need not enlarge here, because your lives are a
daily homily upon this subject. You bear about with you this heavenly
flame. It is this which cheers and guides you. You have, day by day,
found that godliness with contentment is great gain. You have learned
to rejoice in the Lord always and to be happy in the favor of the Most
High, in the salvation of Jesus and in the consolation of the blessed
Comforter. Thus do you show to others that Christ has sent fire upon
the earth.
A third likeness between the Gospel and fire is its testing qualities.
No test like fire. That piece ofjewelry may seem to be gold. The color
is an exact imitation. You could scarcely tell but what it was the
genuine metal. Yes, but the melting pot will prove all–put it into the
crucible and you will soon see. Thus in this world there are a thousand
things that glitter, things which draw admirers that are advocated in
the name of philanthropy and philosophy and I know not what beside. But
it is amazing how different the schemes of politicians and the devices
of wise men appear when they are once put into the refining pot of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ! Despotic rulers and kings are very wise to try
and keep the Gospel out of their dominions, for if they have anything
crooked in the statute book, the Gospel is sure to show it! If there is
anything rotten in the foundations of the government, there is nothing
like a preached Gospel to discover and unveil it!
What is the reason, today, that we enjoy such precious liberties in
this realm? Liberties which I venture to say are not excelled by those
possessed by any people under Heaven–what has been the groundwork of
our freedom, but this–that the Gospel preached among us, evermore like
a fire, is testing and trying everything in our institutions and that
which is not right is sure in the end to give way! Much which now
stands, but is not according to the Master's will, is marked to be
consumed–and thank God it is so–for we shall be all the better for
the overthrow of moss-grown injustice and wrong. The Gospel proves all
things and is the great ultimate test as to right and wrong.
Ah, how the fire of the Gospel will test a man's heart. Many a man
thinks he carries something good within him and he wraps himself up in
the robes of his own righteousness until the Gospel comes–and then he
finds that he is naked and poor and miserable! Many a professor
imagines that he is serving God and doing well–until, in the Gospel
fire, his wood, hay and stubble vanish in smoke! All through this world
of ours, the Gospel will burn up with unquenchable fire everything that
is evil, and leave nothing but that which is just and true. Of all
things under Heaven, the most intolerant is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"What," you ask, "intolerant?" Yes, I say, intolerant! The Gospel
enables us to proclaim liberty of conscience to all men! The Gospel
wields no temporal sword. It asks for no cannon balls to open the gates
of a nation for its ministry. The true Gospel prepares no dungeon and
no rack. It asks not Peter's sword to cut off Malchus' ear–but while
it gives freedom from all bondage, it demands obedience to itself!
Within its own realm its power is absolute! Its arguments cut and kill
error! Its teachings lay low every proud hope and expose every false
way! The Gospel is merciful to the sinner, but merciless to sin! It
will not endure evil, but wars against it to overturn it and to set up
a throne for Him whose right it is to reign. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
will never join hands with infidelity or Popery! It will never enter
into league with idolatry! It cannot be at peace with error! False
religions can lie down, side by side with one another, for they are
equally a lie and there is a brotherhood between them–but the true
religion will never rest until all superstitions are utterly
exterminated and until the banner of the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, shall wave over every mosque and minaret, temple and shrine!
Fire cannot be made tolerant of that which can be consumed–it will
burn the stubble until the last particle is gone and the Truth of God
is of the same kind.
A further parallel between the Gospel and fire lies in their essential
aggressiveness. Take a few live coals, put them down in a wheat stack
or corn rick and tell the fire, "I have given you a bundle of straw to
burn. Now burn–burn away to your heart's content, for that straw is
yours. But you must go no further–burn with propriety and within
bounds. Do not begin making sparks and flames, for we will have none of
your fierce attacks." While you are thus talking in this senseless way,
the fire has blazed up vehemently, burning the materials surrounding it
and if you do not take to your heels you will probably be consumed
yourself!
Fire is not to be talked to in that way. It knows nothing about
moderation and keeping to itself. Have I not often heard this kind of
theory laid down: "You religionists have your own liberty. Keep
yourselves respectable and quiet and enjoy yourselves, but leave other
people alone. You have no business to be propagandists, compassing sea
and land to make proselytes. Why fall into fanaticism? Sit still, now.
You have cushioned seats–be comfortable upon them. The minister has
his stipend and his pulpit–let him mind his own congregation–it will
be as much as he can do if he pleases his own disciples. Why must a man
become a firebrand, bigotedly intruding his peculiar views where they
are not
wanted?"
Yes, that is just what the world desired in Christ's day, no doubt.
Idolaters would have been satisfied if Christianity had kept itself to
the handful of disciples which Christ had gathered. Christians might
have been ridiculed at first, but by degrees they would have cooled
down into a respectable sect like the Pharisees and Sadducees,
especially after those uneducated fishermen had died out and some
respectable tradesmen in Jerusalem and, perhaps, a squire or two from
beyond Jordan had joined the community.
But Christianity did not happen to be a thing that would so soon be
frozen. The Gospel of Jesus was a thing of fire! Jerusalem, alone,
would not serve its purpose. All Judea and Galilee could not escape
from it–
"More and more the kingdom grows, Ever mighty to prevail."
Asia Minor is set upon a blaze by that fanatical firebrand, Saul of
Tarsus, and even that is not enough! The fire burns so fiercely in Asia
that the sparks fly across the Bosphorus! Paul is working in Macedonia.
He is heard of in Athens, he is talked about in Corinth–and even that
is not enough–that restless soul must cross the sea and is found in
Rome thundering at the gates of Caesar's palace! Right away in Spain
the new religion is gaining ground. Proconsuls, what are you doing? The
gods of Rome defied in far-off Spain?
No, the emissaries have crossed beyond Gaul into the savage land of
Britain! They have dared to stand in Albion and proclaim the name of
Him that was crucified! Will they never rest? Let us torture them! Rack
them! Shut them up in prison! But look!–they come to the tribunals
eagerly, and confess themselves Christians with enthusiasm! Pliny
writes home to know what is to be done with these people who seem so
anxious to die! Well, bring them into the amphitheatre! Fling them to
the wild beasts! Let the bears and lions see what they can do with
them! Make them die a gladiator's death amidst the shouts of Rome's
matrons and senators!
It does not stop them, Sir. They have entered the senate! They have
disciples among the patricians! The name of Christ was spoken the other
day right in the midst of the senate to the Emperor's own face! Yes!
They even say that there are some high in rank and of imperial blood
who worship the Crucified! Yes, and as years roll on, you priests of
Jupiter and Saturn, listen to the tale and be astonished–your gods are
rolled away from their pedestals! You who are called Pontiff and
Pontifex Maximus–all you are sent away–your temples are turned into
churches and your places where idolatry reigned supreme become the
assembling houses of the saints of the living God!
Will this Gospel of Christ ever stop? Will it not pause today? No,
Sirs, it never will, nor can! The true religion of Jesus Christ is
essentially warlike. As the heathens spoke of Minerva leaping armed
from the head of Jove, so did the religion of Christ spring armed from
the very heart of Jesus Christ and it stands in the midst of the world
an enemy of all unrighteousness! It is the foe of all oppression, the
friend of the poor and needy and the enemy of everything that is at
enmity to God! You are no Christian if such is not your Christianity,
for Jesus Christ brought not a slumbering faith, but fire onto the
earth!
Our religion is like fire, again, because of its tremendous energy and
its rapid advance. Who shall be able to estimate the force of fire? Our
forefathers standing on this side the river, as they gazed many years
ago upon the old city of London wrapped in flame, must have wondered
with great astonishment as they saw cottage and palace, church and
hall, monument and cathedral all succumbing to the tongues of flame. It
must be an amazing sight, if one could safely see it, to behold a
prairie rolling along in great sheets of flame, or to gaze upon
Vesuvius when it is spouting away at its utmost force. When you deal
with fire you cannot calculate–you are among the imponderables and the
immeasurable. I wish we thought of that when we are speaking of
religion. You cannot calculate concerning its spread.
"How many years would it take to convert the world?" asks somebody.
Sir, it need not take 10 minutes, if God so willed it–because as fire,
beyond all reckoning, will sometimes, when circumstances are congenial,
suddenly break out and spread–so will the Truth of God. Truth is not a
mechanism–and does not depend upon engineering. A thought in one mind,
why not the same thought in fifty? That thought in 50 minds, why not in
fifty thousand? The Truth of God which affects a village and stirs it
from end to end–why not a town, a city–why not a nation? Why not all
nations? God may, when
He wills it, bring all human minds into such a condition that one
single text such as this, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,"
may set all hearts on a blaze!
Vainly do we reckon the missionary costs so much, and only so many can,
therefore, be sent! Yes, but God works most by weakest means full often
and sometimes achieves by His poorest saints works which He will not
perform by those who have every visible appliance. Perhaps no men have
ever been more useful than the Moravians, yet what poor men the
Moravians have always been! How inadequate their means, yet they make
it their lives' duty to propagate the Truth of God as it is in Jesus in
every land and God is with them! The Lord has but to stir up the Church
in England to a proper sense of her duty and endow her with confidence
in Christ and a conviction that God is about to bless her, and you and
I, before these hairs shall be gray, may see such sights as we would
not have believed though a man should tell it unto us!
I can believe anything about fire. Let a man tell me that in a house
just now a bundle of rags have begun to burn. Let him tell me in five
minutes that the shop is on fire. Let him tell me in five minutes more
that it is blazing through the shutters, or that the next story is
burning, or that the roof is coming in, I could believe it all! Fire
can do anything! And so with the Gospel of Jesus–given but an earnest
preacher, given but the Truth of God fully declared! Given an earnest
people determined to propagate the Gospel and I can understand a nation
converted to God, yes, and all the nations of the earth suddenly shaken
with the majesty of the Truth of God!
Once more, the Gospel resembles fire in this, that it will ultimately
prevail. It is clearly revealed in Scripture that as the world was once
destroyed by water, it will a second time be destroyed by fire. Perhaps
they are correct who tell us that the center of the earth is all a
molten mass and we dwell but upon the cool crust of it. Perhaps it may
be so, that these great volcanoes are the ventilators of subterranean
fires. But surely is it predestined that earth and all the works that
are in it shall be burnt up, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. Fire will win the day! Old ocean, you may roll on in your pride
and laugh at fire, but fire will lick you up with its tongues of flame!
Men, you may erect your machinery with which to protect your cities,
but there shall not be a wreck of all your cities left!
Like old Babel's tower, of which only a heap of dust and ruins remains,
your pompous cities shall utterly vanish away! So with the Gospel. The
seas of iniquity may slow, for awhile, the fire of the Gospel from
spreading, but that sea shall be utterly removed by the energy of
Divine Truth. The day shall come when the fire of the Gospel shall make
the whole world to be a burnt-offering unto the Lord Most High! Let us
have courage! Let us look forward to the flight of time and expect the
advent of our Master–for the day shall come when He shall reign from
the river even to the ends of the earth! And from sea and land, from
mountain and valley there shall come up the universal song,
"Hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigns."
III. Lastly, if the Gospel is thus like fire, LET US CATCH THE FLAME!
If this fire shall really burn within us, we shall become from this
very moment fearless of all opposition. That retired friend will lose
the strings which bind his tongue–he will feel that he must speak as
God shall bid him. Or if he cannot speak, he will act with all his
might in some other way to spread abroad the savor of Immanuel's name!
That coward who hid his head and would not own his profession, when the
fire burns, will feel that he had rather court opposition than avoid
it. There may be some young man here who is about to take up his
cross–it has come to this–he must decide which it shall be. Let him
do so without fear, for the Master whom he serves will bear him through
all opposition!
The fondest relationship which can be lost by our decision for Christ
shall be more than made up for us by the union which it cements with
Jesus Himself. Better that we lost every friend and all our kinsfolk
and had the bad word of all the neighborhood, than that we lost the
love of God which passes knowledge. Cast in your lot, dear Friends,
with Christ, and fling down the gauntlet to the world! Let them say
their worst. Let them howl, let them bark, yes, let them bite–little
shall it matter to the man to whom persecution has become an occasion
for rejoicing–because now is he made like unto the Prophets which were
before him!
If we catch this flame, we shall, after having defied all opposition,
tire utterly of the mere proprieties of religion which at this present
time crush down like a nightmare the mass of the religious world. Do
you believe that if Jesus Christ came into this world He would call
nine-tenths of our modern religion the Christianity which He preached?
Is it the least bit like His own zeal? Many think that all the faith
Christianity requires is to put on your best things on Sunday and go to
your place of worship with your Bible or hymn-book, or prayer-book.
Then you sit there decorously and look at other people's bonnets and
dresses. And then you come home again!
Others think it is sufficient to listen to the sermon discreetly,
perhaps making a few observations upon the discourse, perhaps making
none because there is not enough in the sermon to be a peg to hang a
remark upon! The religion of many professors is nothing more than
that–if it is hardly that. Do you not know of people who believe the
articles and do not
doubt them because they never think of them? They have packed them away
in the iron safe, with their title deeds which they feel so sure about
that they do not care to read them. They are orthodox, but they feel no
power in their own souls produced by these Truths of God! They feel no
depression because the Truth of God convicts them of sin. There is no
exhilaration because the Truth shows them their safety in Christ.
Many, if they get to a supposed saving faith, get no farther. They are
saved themselves and that seems to be all they care about. Their
neighbors in the next pew may be damned, but what do they care? All
down the street in which they live there may be scarcely a person
attending a place of worship, but what business is that of theirs? They
belong to the denomination of Cain–they say, "Am I my brother's
keeper?" Such men have denied the faith! The selfishness which reigns
supreme in them is as antichristian as even covetousness, or adultery,
or murder could be! The spirit of Christianity is unselfishness and
love to others, care of other's souls, a devotedness to the increase of
the Master's kingdom.
O Brothers and Sisters, it is sickening work to think of your cushioned
seats, your chants, your anthems, your choirs, your organs, your gowns
and your bands, and I know not what besides, all made to be instruments
of religious luxury, if not of pious amusement, while you need far more
to be stirred up and incited to holy ardor for the propagation of the
Truth of God as it is in Jesus! One would think Christ came into the
world to administer an opiate to the sons of men, or prepare down for
all sleepers! But instead of it He came to send fire on the earth–and
where His true Gospel is, it is a fire that will not rest and be quiet
amidst mere proprieties and rounds of performances.
If we catch this fire, we shall not only become dissatisfied with mere
proprieties, but we shall, all of us, become instant in prayer. Day and
night our soul will go up with cries and moans to God, "O God, how
long, how long, how long? Will You not avenge Your own elect? Will not
Your Gospel prevail? Why are Your chariots so long in coming? Why does
not Christ reign? Why is not the Truth triumphant? Why do You suffer
idolatry to rule and priestcraft to reign? Make haste, O God, grasp
Your two-edged sword and strike and let error die and let Truth win the
victory!" It is thus we shall be always pleading if this fire burns in
our spirits.
This will lead us to eager service. Having this fire in us, we shall be
trying to do all we can for Christ. We shall never think we have done
enough! We shall be uneasy if for a moment we rest! We shall seek, if
possible, to snatch souls from the burning–to preach Christ where He
is not known and to bring Him fresh jewels for His crown. Brethren,
this is a large Church, numbering now nearly 4,000 souls and if you
grow cold and lose your earnestness, I would sooner have 40 warmhearted
men and women than the whole multitude of you if you are chilled! For
what are you who are cold and indifferent but a clog upon the chariot?
What are you but like the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt? Sin
begins among you, but no strength do you minister to the Lord's host.
The warm-hearted, earnest, thorough Christian is the life of the
Church! And if we cannot all be as we would, may the fiery spirits
among us never be retarded by those who are more lethargic. May they
live above the influences that would drag them down! May we never be
content to do as much as others, to pray as much as others, to give as
much as others–but may it be our resolve that we will outstrip
all–not out of any emulation, but out of a love to Him who has done so
much, forgiven so much, secured so much, promised so much to us who are
His people!
O lovers of Christ, come and bow at His feet and ask Him to let His
love supply you with fire this morning! Come to the Pierced One! Gaze
upon the crown of thorns! Look into the hole which the soldier's spear
has made! Gaze into the nail prints and say unto your soul–
'Now, for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my loss.
My former pride I call my shame And nail my glory to His Cross. Yes,
and I must and will esteem All things but loss for Jesus' sake. O may
my soul be found in Him, And of His righteousness partake." God bless
you for Christ Jesus' sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 12:13-53.