God's Own Gospel Call
DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, JUNE 30, 1889,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Incline your ear and come unto Me: hear and your soul shall live. And
I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David." Isaiah 55:3.
THIS very memorable chapter may be called God's own Gospel sermon. In
reading it we forget Isaiah and only remember Jehovah. He speaks not
here by the Prophet but in the first Person. God Himself says, "Incline
your ear and come unto Me." Now, we value every single word of Holy
Writ, but especially those words which come directly from the mouth of
God Himself–not so much spoken for Him as by Him. Take heed that you
turn not away from Him that speaks from Heaven. These are not my words
but the Words of the living God–it is not I that invite your attention
to myself. It is your Maker, your God, saying to you, "Incline your ear
and come unto Me: hear and your soul shall live. And I will make an
Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
From the very beginning, this chapter is a loving pleading with
sinners–it is a lifting of stumbling blocks and a clearing away of
objections. Perhaps someone laments thus–"Who am I, that I should come
to God? I am a poor, penniless sinner." The Lord forestalls the lament,
by saying, "He that has no money. Come you, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price." If you have no merit,
if you have no claims, still come. Free Grace sounds its golden harp
and mercy sings to it these words–"Without money and without price."
If you stand back because you look upon your past life with sorrow and
you say, "Alas, my God, I have wasted much time in another service," He
tells you that He knows your past folly and He calls you to cease from
it, saying, "Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labor for that which satisfies not?" He bids you now receive
the substantial gifts of His Grace. For these will satisfy the soul.
If anyone cries, "My needs are exceedingly great. I want the largest
and richest mercies, or else I am lost." The Lord God admits that
necessity but meets it with a full supply, saying, "Hearken diligently
unto Me and eat you that which is good and let your soul delight itself
in fatness." He knows that nothing but great mercy will serve your
turn. But great mercy is ready for you. He has not brought you anything
lean or mean but "fat things full of marrow," a fullness of delight.
If there are any who feel timorous in the Presence of such astounding
Grace and are ready to cry, "Lord, we cannot think that You would give
so great a salvation to us, for we deserve destruction and wrath," see
how He meets that doubt by the fourth verse. The highest proof of God's
love to men is this, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son." He points to His dear Son and says, "Behold, I have
given Him! In the manger, behold, I have given Him. On the Cross, in
the sepulcher, in His resurrection, in His enthronement, behold, I have
given Him!" What further proof of Divine love do you require? What
surer proof can you imagine? Come without distrust and believe that
since God spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us
all, He will also, with Him, freely give us all things.
Furthermore, lest anyone should say, "I am a poor Gentile but the Old
Testament was written for the chosen people, the Jews." The Father
speaks to His dear Son, and cries, "Behold, You shall call a nation
that You know not and nations that knew not You shall run unto You
because of the Lord Your God and for the Holy One of Israel. For He has
glorified You." To whatever race or nation you may belong, Christ calls
you to run to Him and the likes of you shall run to Him. May that
promise be fulfilled this very day in all the unconverted who hear
these words!
Beloved, I have no need to preach this morning. I have only to follow
the line of God's own Word. I do so with much confidence in the power
of that Word. Gladly will I simply enlarge on what the Lord says and
give you none of my own suggestions. My word? Ah, it is weakness
itself! But the Lord's Word is potent as when it said, "Let there be
light," and
light flamed forth and scattered primeval night. It is as potent as
when He made this dead, dull earth to teem with grass and afterwards
with cattle and placed man over all. Speak, Lord, Your fiat. Where Your
Word is, there is power.
Still, there may be some who say, "We feel ourselves to be with no
strength and incapable." The gracious Lord meets you there by laying
upon you no heavy yoke–the precepts which He puts before you are
simple and easy. He has given you ears and He bids you use them,
saying, "Incline your ear and come unto Me. Hear and your soul shall
live."
At this time we will look to the saving precepts laid down in the text.
And then we will consider the saving promises which go with the
precepts–"Your soul shall live. And I will make an Everlasting
Covenant with you." Lastly, as God shall help us, we will hearken to
saving pleadings, such as abound in the rest of the chapter. Oh, to
speak only in the power of the Holy Spirit! Oh, for
salvation–salvation for ALL my Hearers!
I. Here are TWO SAVING PRECEPTS, which are pressed upon you at this
time. For the Holy Spirit says in all His commands, "Today if you will
hear His voice, harden not your hearts." These precepts are of simple
character. The first is, "Incline your ear." This is placed in another
form, "Hearken diligently unto Me. Hear and your soul shall live." You
have ears to hear with, therefore hear. Some of you would hear fast
enough if the faintest jingle of a guinea should invite you to gain it.
Oh that you would now hear the voice of God!
What does it mean–this "Incline your ear"? It means, consider and
think upon eternal things. It is the fault and folly of worldlings that
they reckon eternal things to be second-rate and unworthy of their
immediate thought. Even from the Cross our Lord complains, "Is it
nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold and see if there is any
sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord
has afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger." The greatest event
that ever happened in time or in eternity was the death of Jesus to
save men from eternal woe. And yet this prodigy of love is disregarded.
The soul-winner has to think of all sorts of ways by which to draw
men's attention to that which is their chief blessing. They are taken
up with their farm and their merchandise–any petty piece of news in
the daily paper will win their thought and excite their talk. But this
event which most nearly concerns them is forgotten. For passing
pleasure they have ears enough. But when we speak of Heaven and Hell
they will not hear–charm we ever so wisely. May the God of all Grace
this morning arrest the careless one and constrain him to incline his
ear!
O thoughtless man, be like the wedding guest who was spell-bound by the
ancient mariner and kept from the joyous company while he heard the
strange story of the sea. We have something of greater weight to tell
than any romance of the salt sea. Do not deny yourself the benefit of
hearing the Truth of God. Rob not your soul of salvation. Your God
invites you to give earnest heed to your soul, your immortal soul, and
the place where it will spend eternity–and the way in which alone that
eternity can become one of blessedness. Since you are not dogs nor
horses, think! And give most thought to that which is of most
importance, namely, your eternal state. I should have hope for you if
you would think.
O Souls, why will you trifle where everything is of such infinite
weight? Why need I plead for that which is so much for your own good?
But when you read, "Incline your ear," it means, think about Divine
matters as God sets them before you. In these days those who judge
themselves to be wise disdain to be taught by the Revelation of God but
they elect to follow the conjectures of their own minds. They will not
follow the Bible but their own brains, such as they are. They endeavor
to make for themselves a chart of a sea they have never sailed over.
The way of happiness they picture as they would wish it to be.
Surely the voice of Wisdom advises us to incline our ear to One who
knows more than we do. God has spoken–we are to learn from His Words
rather than from our own thoughts. Science is well enough but
omniscience is better. God has spoken, we need not conjecture–God has
revealed it. Would you be wise? This book is inspired by Him–bend your
powers towards this infallible record. Am I asking too much? Does the
Lord require an unreasonable thing? If He speaks, shall we not listen?
Especially when He speaks only for our good.
Furthermore, remark that this attention to eternal things, this
hearkening to what God, the Lord, will speak, must be hearty, honest,
continual, earnest and believing. "Incline your ear," as men do when
they reach forward to catch every syllable, fearful lest they shall
miss the meaning. "Hearken diligently." Not as a man does who hears and
forgets. Hearken as they did who were pent up and besieged and longed
for deliverance. How the Scotch woman rejoiced when she heard, or
thought she heard, the sound of the Highlanders' bagpipes in the
distance! Ah me, the bare hope of rescue from ferocious foes made them
very quick of hearing.
Beloved, give the Gospel your best hearing. Hearken diligently–be
attentive and intent. When your mind has been attentive during the
discourse, let it be retentive afterwards. Try to catch God's meaning
in His Word and see what Christ would show to you. I say again, I am
asking here, in God's name, of you nothing more than is due to Him. I
would come round these galleries and down these aisles and put it to
every unconverted person–Is it not reasonable that you should consider
your ways and hearken to your God? I pray you, my Friends, do not deny
yourselves this favor–give attention, now, to your souls' best
concerns.
The second precept grows out of the first–"Incline your ear and come
unto Me." This is to be the outcome of your inclining your ear. Come
unto God. "How can I come to God?" says one. Come to Him at least by
thinking much of Him. At present God is not in all your thoughts. Some
of you are busy just now with sightseeing but you seek not a sight of
God–should it be so? Others of you are busy in making money. You go
out to business early and come home late and all those hours you are as
little mindful of Heaven as if there were no God at all. We have not
much doctrinal atheism abroad but we are drenched with practical
atheism. The nations forget God.
The Lord bids you turn your face Godward and seek after Him. Consider
eternity and how you will spend it, and what it must be for you if you
pass into it without God. When you have come to Him in thought, then
come by your desires. The son in the far-off country began to return to
his father's house, where there was bread enough and to spare, before
he had put a foot on the ground to go there. His heart was on the road
before his feet. If you feel as if you could not come to God any other
way, come by desire, at least–desire to be reconciled to God–longing
to become His child, hungering to taste of His love. This is a true
coming.
Come to God by confession of sin. You have lived up to now without Him.
Confess that neglect. You have thought that repentance and faith might
safely be put off to a more convenient season and thus you have given
your God a contemptuous putting-off. Confess the wrong you have done in
this. You have violated the Law, for you have not loved the Lord, "with
all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all
your mind." Beside this, you have broken every Commandment. Thus have
you insulted your Maker. Yet come to Him with filial sorrow and say,
"Father, I have sinned."
Come to God in humble, believing prayer. Ask Him to save you and
believe that He that asks receives. What? Will you not do that? He that
will not ask when the blessing is to be had for the asking, how can I
excuse him, how can I pity him, if he shall perish of want? Come to the
Lord by prayer and let it not be said, "You have not, because you ask
not." Oh, how I pray that you may come with your prayers while I am
pleading with you by my preaching! Come and lay your burdens down at
the feet of the great Burden Bearer! Come with all your sins and leave
the load at the Cross. Quit your evil ways and your wicked thoughts and
turn to the Lord, who will abundantly pardon.
These are the two precepts–HEAR and COME. They are neither exacting
nor unreasonable. How earnestly would I urge them upon you! I feel
ashamed of myself that I do not preach with greater emotion. But let
not my fault be the ruin of any of you. Be even more in earnest than I
am, since it is your own soul that is in jeopardy. Gladly would I save
you if I could. I am eager to win you for my Lord. Be persuaded to
hearken diligently to your God and Savior even now.
I. To encourage you in this, I come to my second head, which deals with
SAVING PROMISES. Here are two promises corresponding to the two
precepts.
You are bid, in the first precept, to hearken and incline your ear an
the promise given is this–"Your soul shall live." What? Live through
hearing? Yes, live as the result of hearing. For "faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." If any man would give himself
diligently to the study of the Revelation of God, to the searching of
the Word of God, and to the hearing of loving, earnest, truthful,
spiritual preaching–he would not fail to find life for his soul. If
with heart's resolve to find Christ in the Word a man hears it
diligently, he has this promise, "Hear and your soul shall live."
Some sit down and say, "I cannot believe." Of course you cannot believe
until you know what you have to believe. But while you are hearing what
it is, the inspired Word acts upon you with a self-evidencing power and
your conscience and mind and heart are affected thereby. The Holy
Spirit quickens through the Word and fulfils the promise, "Hear and
your soul shall live."
There is such a power about the Word of God, that when it comes into
contact with the heart which is seeking eternal life, it breathes
eternal life into it. I will try to sketch the manner of its operation.
The man is an earnest hearer and he
says to himself, "How I wish I could meet with the salvation of God!"
While listening he feels a tenderness stealing over him. Perhaps a tear
trickles down his cheek. He gets absorbed in the Truth of God to which
he listens and becomes serious, anxious and impressible. The Word of
God is like a fire which melts. Attended by the Holy Spirit, the
influence of the Word upon the soul acts for the removing of the stony
heart and the creation of a heart of flesh.
Be much in the hearing of God's Word and in thinking upon it and a
better feeling will steal over you. There will follow upon this feeling
a measure of hope in the Lord. At first it will be as a mere spark. You
will whisper to yourself, "I think, after all, I may be forgiven and
accepted." This little hope will be like the first drop of a shower.
This trembling hope will be the egg of a great joy, or the mustard seed
of the tree of holy confidence. Hope that comes by hearing the Word
attentively is a living and growing thing and will increase to a
blessed rest.
By-and-by hope will rouse the soul to pleading. You, who first of all
heard the Word carelessly–and then heard it attentively, feelingly and
hopefully–will commence to pray that it may be fulfilled to you. I
think I hear you crying, "O God, bless your Word to me. I am come to a
turning point, Lord lead me in the right way. Oh, that You would
quicken me to run therein!" This prayer will continue to rise within
the heart and will never cease till it is heard and the soul is made to
live unto God. Having come thus far, the heart will soon possess a
measure of trustfulness in the Lord Jesus, who is the Revelation of the
Grace of God. Before you know it, you will find yourself trusting in
the great Sacrifice for sin.
I do not know the manner in which faith is created by the Spirit in the
human mind. In many it comes very gradually. Who can tell when the
first light of the morning broke over this city? They that were wearily
watching by the sick saw a gray light glide over the sky. But the sun
was not yet risen. Then the light became clearer and yet more clear.
But if there were clouds in the east, even the watchers could not tell
exactly when the sun was above the horizon and the day had really
dawned. The light came by degrees but it came in truth.
my Hearers, I want you, while hearing the Word, to be praying–
"While I see You wounded, bleeding, Dying on the accursed tree, Gladly
I'd feel my heart believing That you suffered thus for me."
Thus, by the light of the Word, the man becomes a Believer before he
knows it. Is it not so in other matters? We feel that a thing is true
and we believe it without effort.
With that little faith will come gleams of joy. Or if the faith is
stronger, a full day will burst in upon the soul, lighting up the whole
nature with heavenly brightness, Oh, that the Lord would give you joy
and peace through believing at this very moment! I pray it may be so! I
am glad that you are hearing the Word. "Hear and your soul shall live."
1 remember when I sought the Lord, I said to myself, "If the Lord is to
be found by hearing, I will always be hearing." Three times on the
Sabbath you might have found me, as a lad, in some place of worship or
other. And I never lost a word. I gave earnest heed to all that was
spoken. As Gideon's fleece drank in the dew, so did I receive the Word.
The Divine life came to me at last, though not at the first. So will it
be with you, for there is the promise–the promise of God, that cannot
lie–"Hear and your soul shall live." May you understand that first
promise by having it fulfilled within yourself!
Now consider the second promise, which is something very wonderful–"I
will make an Everlasting Covenant with you." This joins on to the
second precept–"Come unto Me." The soul cries, "Lord, if I were to
come, would You receive me?" "Receive you?" says the Lord, "I would
enter into a covenant with you." If you come to God, simple as that
coming seems, it shall involve infinite results. For the Lord will do
for you exceedingly abundantly above what you ask or even think. Listen
to this promise, you that are willing to hear God's Word, and pray the
Lord to fulfill it to you at once.
First, observe how He promises condescending intercourse–"I will make
a covenant with you." It is in the Hebrew, "I will cut a covenant."
Covenants were made by cutting a victim in two and they who made a
covenant passed between the two halves of the sacrifice to make the
covenant sure. The Lord in effect says, "Poor, wretched Sinner, you
that have not a penny to buy water with. If you will come to Me, I will
enter into a sacred agreement and covenant with you!" "Covenant with
me?" says one, "What? God and I become contracting parties?" Yes. He
will make a covenant with you. O my Heart, how can you stay away? This
means life! This means sure mercies! This means eternal blessedness! "I
will
make a covenant with you," with you, an obscure nobody, who can only
look on yourself as a heap of dirt and filth. "I will make an
Everlasting Covenant with you."
God is ready to enter into a binding contract with you. He will bind
you to Himself and Himself to you. "I will make a covenant with you."
If once you come to Him, He will put His fear in your heart so that you
shall not depart from Him. He will cast about you the bands of His love
and will betroth you unto Himself in a marriage union which shall never
be dissolved. Do you enquire into the tenor of that contract? Well, I
cannot tell you all about it this morning, for time would fail me. But
it runs somewhat in this fashion–"I will be their God and they shall
be My people. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more
forever.
"A new heart also will I give you and a right spirit will I put within
you. I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed. But My
kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My
peace be removed, says the Lord, that has mercy on you."
This is a covenant of mercy. Yes, of "mercies" in the plural, as the
text has it. God will enter into a contract with you to supply you with
all manner of mercies between here and Heaven and to land you safely at
His right hand. Oh, what a promise this! God will thus enter into an
unending alliance with you. "I will make an Everlasting Covenant with
you." I do remember how this attracted me to Christ. When I saw that
His Grace was everlasting, I longed to enjoy it. If I once got to the
Lord Jesus, He would never let me go away from Him. This created in me
a vehement desire after Him–
"Once in Christ, in Christ forever; Nothing from His love can sever."
The eternity of the mercy is an essential ingredient in the
preciousness of it. I should not care to preach to you a trumpery,
temporary Gospel, which would only yield hope for a short season. But I
delight to proclaim my Lord's Everlasting Covenant. Come, poor Sinner,
come to Jesus and you shall have life eternal. We do not offer you a
ticket halfway from here to Heaven. But a ticket all the way through,
with no return to it. If you get into this covenant train, it is
running all the way and will never break down. Yield yourself to the
Lord, to be His forever and He will make with you an Everlasting
Covenant.
"Oh," you say, "but suppose I go to God and trust Him and yet these
things should fail?" They cannot fail, for He calls them "the sure
mercies of David." If you believe in Jesus, you are now forgiven. As
sure as God is God, if you come to Him through Christ Jesus you are
saved, not for time only, but for eternity. The covenant is ordered in
all things and sure. God has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake
you." Oh, the mercy of God in this!
You see we liken what He gives to the sinner to what He did to David.
The aged David lies dying. His strength is gone, he is a worn-out man,
he will soon be in eternity. It is interesting to watch him. Tears are
in his eyes as he thinks of Absalom and the rest of his wayward family
and he exclaims, "Although my house is not so with God. Yet"–blessed
"yet"–"yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all
things and sure." That is the kind of covenant which God will make with
you. I am not talking of the man in the moon but of you who are around
me, you guilty ones, who incline your ear to Him.
The Lord says to you, "I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David." When you come to die, I hope you may
not have the faults of David to confess. But I trust you may have his
covenant to fall back upon. I am thankful that David was not a perfect
man by a long way, because I can now take comfort from his confidence.
He was full of infirmities and sins and yet he could rejoice in the
Covenant of Grace. And I, also, with all my faults, may venture to do
the same. I, too, can say, "Yet He has made with me an Everlasting
Covenant." What a mass of Gospel comfort lies in these words! Would God
that all of you would so come to God that He would make with you an
Everlasting Covenant!
The covenant is all in Christ Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. With Him
this covenant is made. Great David's greater Son is given to us to be
our leader. The covenant is with Him. He stood for us in that dread day
when the Judge of all the earth executed justice upon our Surety. The
storm was made to burst upon His head. The sword of justice found its
sheath in His heart. And now He stands the Covenant Head of all
Believers. And God has made with us in Christ, "an Everlasting
Covenant, even the sure mercies of David." Thus have I put before you
the precept and the promise.
III. Our third work is to urge the Lord's own SAVING PLEAS. These are
not to be mine but the Lord's. I keep to the chapter.
The first plea for which I would beg a hearing is–God Himself speaks
to you. It is He that says, "Incline your ear and come unto Me." Can
you realize for a moment the Presence of God? Oh that He would make
Himself apparent to you! I do not ask for thunder or lightning to make
you feel the terror of His majesty. But may you know of a surety that
the Lord is here! Suppose you were to hear a strange, mysterious voice
from yonder dome, saying, "Incline your ear and come unto Me. Hear and
your soul shall live."
I am afraid the sole result would be that you would be startled rather
than savingly impressed. But, indeed, it is the Lord God Almighty that
says, "Incline your ear and come unto Me." I beseech you, refuse not
Him that speaks from Heaven. By the long-suffering that has kept you in
being until now. By the love that has borne with your ill manners and
provocations, I beseech you, now, lend a willing ear to the Lord of
Mercy.
You would hear your mother. Ah, how you wish that she were on earth to
plead with you, though you despised her admonitions when she was yet
alive! Soul, will you not hear your God, your Benefactor? Turn, I pray
you, at His entreaty. Accept His tender invitation! Come now, without
delay. Say, at once–
"Lord, you have won, at length I yield;
My heart, by mighty grace compelled,
Surrenders all to You.
Against Your terrors long I strove,
But who can stand against Your love?
Love conquers even me."
Furthermore, the Lord pleads with you by the fact that your day of
mercy is not ended. Read the sixth verse–"Seek you the Lord while He
may be found, call you upon Him while He is near." God may be found.
What a blessed fact! Have you been a drunkard? Yet God may be found.
Were you last night in evil company? Yet you are not yet shut up in
Hell and the Lord of Love may yet be found. Are you very old and have
you long despised your Savior? He has not yet closed the gate
ofmercy–He may be found. Seek Him at once, while the search can be
successful.
"Call you upon Him while He is near." God is still within call. He is
not far from any of you. Even though you speak not, He will hear the
pulsing of your heart. O Men and Women, call upon your God while His
ear is inclined toward you. Death is on his way and may overtake you
before this day concludes. Between the gathering of one congregation
and another, someone among you will fall by death's javelin. Seek Him,
my Hearers, while seeking time holds out. Before the death sweat stands
upon your brow and your soul hovers upon the edge of a dark eternity,
seek after the Lord with all your might. While He is near to you, call
upon Him–while He may be found, seek Him. Does not the voice of wisdom
plead with you to do this?
The Lord very graciously mentions yet another fact which should lead
you to come to Him, namely, that He is ready and willing to forgive the
whole of your past offenses. "Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord and He
will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." I do not know what you think of those last words, "abundantly
pardon." But to me they are so sweet that I would set the whole
orchestra of the Handel Festival to the singing of them.
"Abundantly pardon! Abundantly pardon!" You have abundant sin–fatally
abundant! But here is abundant pardon. You mourn your abundant hardness
of heart! Yes, but abundant pardon will dissolve the stone. How
abundant that pardon is the Lord does not tell. But certainly it is
superabundant. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Note
the word–Divine Grace not only abounded but it did "much more abound."
What a God is this who calls us to Himself! Come, you blackened
sinner–Jesus is both willing and able to make you clean!
Come, you chief of sinners. For He is the chief of all Benefactors and
He can so bless you that your foulest stains shall be removed and every
virtue and grace shall adorn your character. Such a gracious assurance
should lead us to come to Him, should it not? What more sweet sounding
bell can ring us unto God's table than these silver notes–"abundantly
pardon"?
Then comes in the great persuasive of the magnanimity of God. Hear the
words–"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My
ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
No man here knows what great things God designs for him. You poor
Sinners who will incline your ears and come to your God–little do you
know what great blessings and honors the Lord has decreed for you–nor
what is His mind concerning you!
Shall I tell you a secret? Before you were born and before this round
world was made, the Lord thought ofyou. Your name was in His book, your
person was on His heart. The Lord loved you and chose you unto Himself
from of old. Do you hear that? You are His elect–He ordained you to
eternal life and that life He freely gives. Shall I tell you more of
that secret? He gave you to His Son, to be His portion, His reward, His
Bride. And that Divine Son undertook to redeem you, to save you and to
bring you safely to His eternal glory.
At this moment God ordains for you His service here below and His
Presence in the world to come. If you indeed hearken to His voice, He
will make you His child. And, as a child, you shall be an heir of God,
a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. You think yourself to be the meanest of
the mean and least deserving of men and so you may be. But the infinite
Grace of God will put you among the royal seed. For He takes the beggar
from the dunghill and sets him among princes, even the princes of His
people. Hear his gracious word–"Since you were precious in My sight,
you have been honorable and I have loved you."
"Honorable? Why, I have lost my character!" Be it so, He is able to
ennoble the fallen and it is He that says, "Since you were precious in
My sight you have been honorable." The Lord determines to do nothing
less for you than to set you on His Throne, in the image of Christ,
without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Is it not true that His
thoughts are high and His ways heavenly?–
"You shall see My glory soon,
When the work of Divine Grace is done.
Partner of my throne shall be.
Say, poor Sinner, do you love Me?" Your answer must be, "O Lord, I must
come to You. For You do draw me with such soft but mighty bonds." Oh,
the glory of Divine Grace! Oh that you would come and learn how deep
the mines of Jehovah's love, how high the blessings of His favor!
Did I hear one cry, "I feel so dull and stupid. I cannot come as I
could wish"? Very well, come back to that first precept–"Hear and your
soul shall live." "I have long been a hearer," says one. Have you been
an earnest, attentive hearer? Have you heard the Word of God as sure
and infallible Truth? Then be a more believing hearer. Expect the Word
to bless you. Hear how the Lord pleads the power of His Gospel–"My
Word shall not return unto Me void but it shall accomplish that which I
please and it shall prosper in that thing whereunto I sent it."
Hearken to God's voice, and let it enter your heart. Then it will
quicken and save you as surely as the snow and the rain water the
earth. Snow does not melt at once but it turns to water before long and
is then doubly effectual in watering the soil. The devil tempts you to
give up hearing the Gospel. Do not hearken to him. Hear with double
diligence. For if he does want you to hearken, it is because he is
afraid of losing you. Hearken diligently and believe steadfastly and
before long you shall be as much saturated with the power of Divine
Grace as the earth is moistened with the snow and the rain, which fall
from Heaven but return not there. Remember, it is God's Word and in
that fact lies your hope of getting life by it.
Lastly, the Lord persuades men to come to Him by telling them of the
joy they will obtain in coming. I know that I am addressing seeking
souls who feel miserable and even despairing. "Alas," cries one, "I
shall soon go out of the reach of hope." "No," says the Lord, "you
shall go out with joy." "Alas," you sigh, "I shall be led forth to
execution." "No," says the Lord, "you shall be led forth with peace."
These are not my words. These are the very words of the living God.
Hearken to them–"you shall go out with joy and be led forth with
peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into
singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
It is a long time since you clapped your hands. But you shall do it
with rapture and all the trees shall join with you in your exultation.
Up to now the world has seemed to be as dull as you are. But it shall
brighten up. You walked, the other day, in the fields but you found
little repose among the lambs and sheep, for you felt more like a wolf.
The very birds on the bough seemed to taunt you with being silent and
ungrateful towards God. At times the flowing river, with all its
sparkle of joy, half tempted you to plunge into its depths and find a
watery grave.
Earth is but the vestibule of Hell to an unquiet conscience. But if you
hearken to your God, He can make it the porch of Heaven. Listen to this
promise. Believe it and you shall find it true. You shall enter upon a
new life and the world shall be a new world to you.
"Ah," says one, "God will never make much of me. Even if I had a little
joy and gladness, I should never be really an honor to Him." He calls
you to Him by the effectual nature of His work. True, you are a thorny
bit of ground, covered with briers and thorns and thistles. If you were
left to barrenness it would be your righteous due. But His thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are His ways your ways. This is what He is
going to do with you–"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be
to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off."
That thorny temper of yours shall become gentle and generous. That
briery malice shall give place to forgiveness and compassion. Blasphemy
shall yield to devotion, vice to holiness, falsehood to truth and pride
to lowliness. That sin of drunkenness–which has been such a thicket of
thorns to you and your wife and family–shall give place to sobriety,
industry, thrift, godliness, love to God and joy in the Holy Spirit. If
you hear and live and come to God so as to be in covenant with Him, the
day will come when you will not know yourself, so great will be the
change.
Mercy, in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," laughed when she saw what the
Lord was going to do for her. And if some of you could see what the
Lord is about to make of you, you would laugh, too. You would not laugh
like Sarah, who could not believe what was told her. But like Abraham,
who felt the joy of the coming blessing by the realizations of faith.
Beloved, at this moment I rejoice that I, an unworthy sinner, shall
dwell with the Lord God in glory–
"I shall behold His face, I shall His love adore; And sing the wonders
of His Grace Forevermore."
Yes, I shall do it, by His Grace. And so shall all of you who now
believe the promise of our faithful God. May His sweet Spirit gently
lead you to Himself! And if it is so, "it shall be to the Lord for a
name." He will get a great reputation out of His great Grace. Even as a
doctor wins a name by curing grievous diseases, they will tell it in
Heaven that you are saved and throughout eternity angels and
principalities in the heavenly places shall see in you a monument of
Divine Grace, a trophy of all-conquering love.
So may it be. And to the name of Jehovah, whose mercy endures forever,
shall be glory and honor, world without end. Amen.