God's Work in Man
(No. 2629)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 2, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, IN THE
SUMMER OF 1857.
"And it shall be in that day, says the LORRD, that you shall call Me,
Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali. For I will take away the names
of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by
their name." Hosea 2:16.
WITHOUT any preface or prelude, we shall draw from these words three on
four lessons.
I. The first lesson from the text is this, that GOD SPEAKS CONCERNING
HIS PURPOSES OF GRACE IN MAN WITHOUT NOTICING EITHER MAN'S WILLINGNESS
OR UNWILLINGNESS–AND WITHOUT ALLOWING HIS OWN PURPOSE TO BE CHANGED BY
THE ONE OR THE OTHER.
According to the free-will plan of salvation, it would be absolutely
necessary for God to put it thus–"At that day, says the Lord, if you
are willing, you shall call Me, Ishi, and shall no longer call Me,
Baali. And if you will believe and repent, if you are willing, I will
take away the names of Baalim out of your mouth. And if you are
willing, they shall no more be remembered by their names." But note
that God puts in no, "ifs," at all, but talks about men as if they had
absolutely nothing to do in the matter–and as if He, Himself, did it
all! One might object, "But suppose they are unwilling to forget the
names of Baalim?" "Ah," says God, "but I have their will in My hands! I
have the key of man's will–I can open it and no man can shut it. I can
shut it and no man can open it." "But suppose they should be
hard-hearted and will not repent?" "Yes," says the Lord, "but I have
the hammer that can break the heart in pieces and make it fly into
shivers!" "But suppose they should be stony-hearted and will not melt?"
"No," says the Lord, "but I have a fire that will melt the most
adamantine rock that was ever known. Yes, that can consume the rock out
of the heart and utterly burn it away." Therefore, speaking concerning
the Israelites, who were serving Baalim, who were drunk with sin, who
were desperately set on worldling iniquity and who had gone far away
from God, He puts in no, "if," but distinctly says even concerning
them, "I will take away the names of Baalim out of their mouth, and
they shall no more be remembered by their name"
Have you ever noticed, throughout Scripture, how positively God speaks
with regard to His acts of salvation in men? "He shallcall upon Me, and
I willanswer him." "All that the Father gives Me shallcome to Me." "Him
that came to me I willin no wise cast out." "He shallsee of the travail
of His soul and shallbe satisfied." The free-willer might rise up and
say, "But suppose they are not willing to be saved? Will God save them
against their will?" To this we reply– There is nothing said about
their willat all–the only reference is to God's will! It is evident
that God has such a power over men that He can work in their hearts
just what He pleases, apart from their willingness or unwillingness, so
that, when I come into this pulpit to preach, if God the Spirit should
so please, though you all should gnash your teeth in anger, yet He
could, under the sound of the Word, convert you all. Though you should
set your hearts desperately against God's Word and enter His House with
a curse upon you, yet He could, before you left the place, change you
to another mind!
And though you should have come here with all levity of spirit,
hardened in heart, despising God and His Gospel, yet He has such
strength that He could, by one word of His mouth, by the breath of His
Spirit, transform you into His living children who should do the very
reverse of what you are now doing! It is in vain, then, for an infidel
to say that he could never be converted, for God could convert him. It
is in vain for a man to say, "God will never bend my knees in prayer."
God knows how to make your knees bend, be they ever so stiff. "I never
will, like a coward, cry for mercy," says one. But God knows how to
create penitent cries in your heart and how to make them struggle for
utterance, too! He has you in His hand, He has the bit even in your
mouth. And desperately as you may be set against Him, yet He can turn
you wherever He pleases. He who binds Leviathan and cuts the dragon in
two will not be stopped by a poor puny mortal like you! But if He has
purposes of Grace towards you, He will work those purposes out. If He
is determined to save you, He will, Himself, lure you into the
wilderness and give you a new heart and a right spirit! And if He has
so decreed it, struggle as you may against Him, the hour shall come
when, with one blow from the hammer of His Word, your heart shall be
broken in pieces! And with one sip of His blessed cordial of Grace,
your soul shall rejoice in pardon bought with blood!
This is a great Doctrine of the Gospel–the Doctrine of the power of
Grace–the Doctrine that God saves whom He wills, that "it is not of
him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy."
"Ah," says one, "if I am willing to be saved, will not God save me?"
Sir, He has saved you! If you are willing to be saved, God has made you
willing, and therein He has given you the very germ of salvation, for
your willingnessto be saved in God's way is the very essence of being
saved! "But," says one, "if I am unwilling to be saved, will He save
me?" No, Sir, not while you are unwilling, but, if He so pleases, He
will make you willing and then He will manifest in you His power to
save! God saves no man against his will–and yet it is against his
will. Ralph Erskine puts it thus–he says, "I was saved with full
consent against my will." He means to say, "against my oldwill, that
always willed to do evil, but yet, with the full consent of all my
powers, they being renewed, created anew in Christ Jesus and,
therefore, at once willing to submit to everything that God laid down."
Oh, how I rejoice to preach a Gospel that does not borrow strength from
me, but gets its power from God! What a consolation that, go where we
may to preach God's Word, if God wills it, that Word shall be rendered
effectual among the very worst of men–among mockers, scoffers and
despisers! Why is it that men go not to preach the Word among the
Romanists of Ireland? Because they say they will not hear them. Oh, but
they would! And we should at least free ourselves from their blood if
we did but stand up and testify the Word of God! However unwilling they
might be, God could yet, by His abundant Grace, change their hearts!
"It is of no use," said one, "to go to the Bechuana in his kraal–he
cannot be saved–he would never be willing to give up his old habits."
But you do not depend upon hswill at all! You go to him with the Gospel
and God gives him a new will and the great change is worked! All you
have to do is to preach the Word! "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God," for, with the Word of God, there goes forth His
Holy Spirit which changes men, renews their characters and hearts and
makes them what they never were before. Oh, I bless God's name that,
though all the people in the world should lift their hands against the
Most High and declare that they never would be saved, yet God could, in
an instant, if so it pleased Him, make the whole of them bend their
knees before Him, cry for the mercy they once rejected and seek the
Savior whom they once despised! Here lies the power of the Gospel, in
that it gains the mastery over man's evil will and without his consent
changes his nature, and then fully gets his consent after his nature
has been changed!
That is the first Doctrine of God, I think, we may fairly draw from the
text.
II. Now for the second, which is, that GOD WILL MAKE THOROUGH WORK OF
IT WHEN HE SANCTIFIES A
MAN.
Note that these Jews were idolaters, yet God says, "I will not only
make them leave off their idolatries, but I will do more–I will take
away the names of Baalim out of their memories–for they shall no more
be remembered by their name." God's sanctifying work either is already,
or it will yet be a complete one. I said that it either is or it will
be complete–it is so in yon bright spirits before the Throne of God
and, for the rest of us, if God has begun the good work, He will carry
it on to ultimate perfection until the very name of sin shall be clean
taken out of our mouth and the remembrance of it shall be purged from
our conscience and memory!
It is worthy of remark that this promise has had a literal fulfillment
in the case of the Jews. They have many sins, but there is one sin that
they have not–except spiritually–that is, they are not idolaters!
Before the time of their captivity, they were constantly worshipping
one false God or another. It was the hardest thing in the world to keep
them from bowing down before blocks of wood and stone. But now, go
where you may, you can scarcely find a Jew who is an idolater. Here and
there, one or two of them have joined the Romish church and so have
become idolaters by bowing down before images and saints' relics–cast
clouts and rotten bones and such things. But, taking the Jews as a
race, they are the last people in the world to become actual idolaters!
That ancient message, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord,"
seems to have been burnt into them and you cannot get it out of
them–neither will they acknowledge any form of faith that seems to
deny the unity of the Godhead, or implies that worship is to be given
to any save the incomprehensible and mysterious Being whom they, as
well as we, worship as Jehovah. The name of Baalim has been taken clean
out of their mouths–they do not remember it, neither do they call it
to mind!
And it is also a very notable thing, which we have often seen, that
men, when they are converted, usually become the most clear of the very
sin with which they were once the most defiled. You will note that a
man who has been, before his conversion, a great drunk, will, in some
instances, not only become exceedingly sober afterwards, but he will
even carry his views, if possible, to an extreme. He will be so
desperately set against everything that once injured him, that he will
even look with suspicion on others who indulge themselves in
moderation. You will note it is so with the man who has been an
habitual Sabbath-breaker. So surely as he is converted, he will become
the most precise Sabbath-keeper you ever knew! The sin that hurt him
will be the sin that he will kill, if possible. The burnt child dreads
the fire and it is the same with the man who has been burnt by sin. He
does not like to touch it again. He must keep clean away from it, turn
from it, pass by it and utterly abhor it. So was it with the Jews–the
worship of Baalim had been their favorite sin, so the name, Baalim, was
to be taken out of their mouth and to be no more called to their
remembrance.
But, my Brothers and Sisters, what noble beings you and I will be when
not only has our sin been purged, when not only have our daily
corruptions been done away with, but when all our sinful nature has
been utterly removed! Well said the Apostle, "It does not yet appear
what we shall be." No, Brethren, we can scarcely guess what we shall
be! But we can for a moment contemplate it. What a noble being man must
be when he is thoroughly refined–when all his sin is gone–when there
is not an evil passion left–when there is not a lust hidden in a snug
corner, but when his soul has become thoroughly pure and his heart
entirely renewed! Oh, what a noble creature! And just remember this,
poor, weak, and worthless though we are, that faith which we have in us
will ultimately purify us and we shall be holy, like yon bright spirits
before the Throne of God!
What a grand man would he be who had no sin in him! Suppose him to come
into this world? He would lead a life exactly like that led by our
Lord, Jesus Christ, and He was the grandest of all men! It is marvelous
to consider the different attributes of His Character, as they are
manifested in His life, but remember that we, too, shall be like He
when we see Him as He is. We shall be as pure as Adam was in the
Garden, with this addition–that our purity shall be not merely
spotless, but it shall be so white that it shall be beyond the
possibility of ever being spotted! Our nature shall be not merely pure,
but so pure that it can never be impure! God will stamp it so indelibly
with the stamp of purity that it will be pure throughout eternity! Oh,
what a blessed thought–the name of Baalim out of my mouth, sin out of
my heart, the lustful glance forever gone from my eyes, evil things
from my imagination all gone! Oh, will we not praise our Lord in the
bright moment when we wake up in His likeness, when our glorified
spirit shall be white as driven snow in the glad companionship of the
Immaculate, the Pure, the Perfect? Oh, what joyous shouts we shall
raise then! What choral symphonies, what bursts of song, what
hallelujahs of gratitude! Verily, words fail to express the emotions we
shall then feel, when, pure and holy, clean and purged, we shall be
presented, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," before the
Throne of God!
"I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall
no more be remembered by their name." I think the first day in Heaven
will be a day full of surprises. We shall not know what to make of it!
Never will there have been a day before, in our lives, when we had not
some trouble, or some sin. The first day we are there, when we shall
have no devil to tempt us, and no sin to pain us, and no trouble to
grieve us–when we find ourselves all pure, I think we shall scarcely
know what to do, we shall be so surprised! Mr. Medley's hymn has caught
the right idea–
"Then let me mount and soar away
To the bright world of endless day
And sing with rapture and surprise,
His loving kindness in the skies!" We shall be almost like poor Caspar
Hauser who was kept for many years–in fact, from his childhood–in a
dark dungeon where a ray of light could scarcely enter. He was,
afterwards, taken out by his keeper to see the light of the sun and to
mingle among men, whom he had never seen before, and to hear their
voices even though there was scarcely an intelligible sound he had been
taught to utter. Oh, what a delightful thing it would have been for him
if he had been uninjured by his confinement! But you and I, uninjured
by our confinement in this cavern below, shall be at once snatched from
the earth, set down in the streets of Paradise and find ourselves pure!
The surprise of a beggar, who wakes up and finds himself a king would
not be one-half so great as the surprise of a saint, when he shall wake
up in Christ's likeness and find himself transformed into the pure
image of God! Let us contemplate this with joy and gladness and, amid
all our daily conflicts, let us count upon the victory! Let us
anticipate the conquest by faith and let us already seize the palm
branch and put the crown upon our heads with the ecstasy of hope and
with the full assurance of faith, for if we fight, we shall reign! If
we suffer, we shall triumph! If we endure, we shall obtain "the crown
of life" that fades not away!
That is the second lesson of our text, that Christ will make thorough
work of it, wherever He has begun to save and to sanctify.
III. And now I bring to you a third lesson. THERE ARE SOME THINGS,
WHICH ARE NOT EVIL IN THEMSELVES, THAT A CHRISTIAN MUST HAVE NOTHING TO
DO WITH BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH EVIL THINGS.
I will explain what the Lord meant when He said, "You shall call Me,
Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali." Was Baali a bad name? Not at
all–God calls Himself Baali in two or three places in Scripture. You
remember that blessed passage, "Your Maker is your Husband"? It is
really, "Your Maker is your Baali." And there are several other
instances where the word, Husband, is used in reference to God which
might have been left untranslated–and they would have read like this,
"Your Maker is your Baali." Why, then, is God not to be called, Baali?
The Jews did, at one time, call Him so. They prayed to Him under that
title–why might they not continue to do so? Because the heathen had
made a wrong use of the word–they called their false God, Baali, and,
therefore, God said, "Do not apply the title to Me, because they have
used it for their false gods." I can suppose a Jew, like some young man
in these times, saying, "Now, no man is going to step between me and my
conscience. I believe the name Baali is a very good one. I have always
used it and many good men have used it. I use it very sincerely in
prayer and it is nothing to me that other people make a bad use of
it–I cannot help that! I know that it expresses my thought–it means
husband, lordly husband–and I cannot be quite so particular as the
Prophet Hosea, so I shall keep on using it."
That is how many argue in these days. Says one, "I am a Christian. I
intend to serve God, but there are certain pleasures that stand on the
boundary line between the allowable and the unallowable." "I intend,"
says one young man, "to follow them, because I do not see that there is
any harm in them. I confess that they are the cause of great injury to
others, but they do meno hurt. I used to practice them when I was in
the world, but they are no hurt to me now–you cannot bring anything in
Scripture to prove they are wrong. There is such-and-such a place, I
sometimes truly worship God there. I may be mistaken, but I cannot see
why I should not do such-and-such a thing when I see nothing exactly
wrong in it, though I admit that it has a connection with wrong and
others are thereby injured." That is just it–you are not to use the
title, Baali, not because it is a bad name, but because others have
used it for an evil purpose! So, Christian, there are many things you
are not to do, and many places you are not to frequent–not because
they are absolutely wrong, but because they have a connection with
wrong–and if you tolerate them, you will be sharing in the sin which
is committed by them! And, moreover, whether you know it or not, your
going there is but the little and little of which it is written, "You
shall fall by little and by little." So that the best way is to stand
out against the littles–to be rather too strict than too loose–and in
so doing, God will give you a reward, for He will make it become a
greater happiness to you to abstain from fleshly pleasures than it
would have been to have partaken of them. "You shall call Me no more,
Baali," because, though the name may be all right in itself, others
have misused it.
I can never look upon dice except with abhorrence. If you ask me why, I
reply–Because the soldiers at the foot of the Cross threw dice for my
Savior's garments, and I have never heard the rattling of dice but I
have conjured up the dreadful scene of Christ upon His Cross–and
gamblers at the foot of it with their dice spattered with His blood! I
do not hesitate to say that, of all sins, there is none that more
surely damns men and, worse than that, makes them the devil's helpers
to damn others, than gambling! And yet many say, "Well, I only play for
the fun of it–you know there is nothing in it." Of course there is
nothing in it, but look at the connection of it. Lord So-and-So thinks
it a very nice thing for him to go and see a horserace, he says that I
cannot prove it to be wrong. Nice company he will meet there! They
don't speak very well for the thing.
Another says, "I can do this, that, and the other. It does not hurt
me." I daresay you can, but look at the connection of the affair. You
are to avoid a thing, not merely from the moral wrong of it, or the
injury it is to you, but because it encourages others in their sins! A
good pious Jew kneels down to pray and cries to God, "Baali, hear me!"
There is a poor idolater by his side and he says, "That good,
venerable-looking man just now prayed to Baali–and so may I." "Quite a
mistake, my dear fellow," says the Jew. "I did not pray to Baali! I was
praying to God Almighty, not to your Baal." "But you said, Baal, my
dear Sir." "Ah, my Friend, but you do not understand me! I was praying
to the God of Heaven and earth, and not to that poor, paltry idol which
you call, Baal." Yet the poor heathen naturally thought the Jew was
worshipping the false god.
We are to take care not to do what appears wrong in the sight of
others, so as to lead them astray. We are not to be judged by other
men's consciences, but, at the same time, we are not to lead others to
offend. As far as we can possibly do it, we must seek to cut off those
things that are likely to do injury to others. If I were to hear of any
of my members going to a theater, I think I would go after them, and
they would never go, again, as church members. I might, perhaps, do as
Rowland Hill did. He took a box-ticket for the theater and saw some of
his members there. "There you are," he said, "I never would believe it
from hearsay." And then he walked away and immediately turned them out
of the church. It may be that I may have the misery of looking after
some of you who make a profession of religion and do not carry it out.
I am not now speaking to you worldly men who choose to frequent these
places. But I say to you who profess to be Christ's followers, "Put
away even the name of such things. Your business is not to talk of its
being allowable, but to put it away because others make a bad use of
it." You may say, "Baal," perhaps, without any very great sin, but by
doing so you encourage others in sin.
A man who makes a profession of religion ought to be something more
than other people. He who talks about being saved by Grace and washed
in the precious blood of Jesus. He who expects to live up yonder and
wear the white robe, and sing the praise of the Eternal before the
Throne of God must be different from others. The things which another
might do with impunity, he must not dare do. A native of India might
live in a jungle and not die, but we, who are not natives of the
country, might very soon die of the jungle fever. So, the man who is
not a Christian may, perhaps, go into many amusements and yet not
become any the worse for them–but a Christian must not go there
because he is not an inhabitant of that land! It is not his native air,
it is not his proper place and he knows it is not! Therefore, his
business is to go as far away from it as he can!
I have read of a lady who wanted a coachman. She advertised for one.
Three presented themselves. She called them in, one by one, and she
said to the first, "My good man, you want a coachman's place, do you?"
"Yes, ma'm." "Well, there is one question I want to ask you–How near
to danger could you drive me?" "Well, ma'm, I think I could drive
within a yard." "You won't do for me," said she. A second one was
brought in and she said to him, after asking other questions, "How near
to danger could you drive?" "Well ma'm, for the matter of that, I could
drive you within a hair's breadth." "You won't do for me," she said,
"you are not the sort of driver I want." The third was introduced. He
was a careful soul and when the question was put to him, "How near
could you drive to danger?" He said, "If you please, ma'm, I never
tried that. I always drive as far off as ever I can." Said she, "You
will do very well. You are just the coachman I want." I would recommend
you all to imitate that coachman! Do not test how near you can drive to
danger, but say, "My business is to drive as far off as I can." Do not
to see how much you can endure of that which is not right, but how much
you can avoid it, pass it by and not mingle with it!
IV. Now we come to the last lesson from the text. GOD HAS PRECIOUS
TITLES TO BE USED ONLY BY BELIEVERS. "It shall be at that day, says the
Lord, that you shall call Me, Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali."
I left this part of the subject to the last because I am not sure that
what I am about to say has all the weight that some would attach to it.
There is a difference between the words, Ishi, and, Baali. The word,
Ishi, means, "my husband." So does the word, Baali, but the word, Ishi,
is the word that the wife would use to the husband as a fondling
expression, expressive of her love. The word, Baali, is the word she
uses for him as a humble expression, on those very rare occasions in
which she feels herself to be subject to him for a moment. It is
expressive of her humility. It is the kind of word Sarah used, when,
rather out of the ordinary way, she did reverence to her husband,
"calling him, lord." The word, Ishi, is the term she would have used
when she called him simply by the loving epithet of "my own dear
husband," her man, her Beloved. She would most likely have used the
word, Baali, when her husband had spoken a little sharply to her and
claimed a little of the headship that the husband has. But when they
sat down together, in their softer moments, she would not call him,
Baali, any longer, but it would be, Ishi, my much-loved–not feared,
but much-lovedhusband.
"Now," says God to His Church, "you shall no more call Me, Baali–'my
Master, my Lord, my haughty Husband,' yet, after all, having all the
right attributes of a husband, too, but you shall call Me, Ishi–'my
loving Husband.'" Mark, there is nothing wrong in the word, Baali, as I
said before, because it is applied to God in that very passage, "Your
Maker is your Husband." And there it has a kind meaning, as well as the
aspect of superiority, but, still, the word, Ishi, is the fonder title
of the two and is, by far, the better. It is the one which we would
always wish to use towards God. If we are His people, He does not like
us to come crouching and cringing before Him. He does not wish us to
come and cry, "Baali," but He wants us to come to Him as to a loving
Friend and Father, with the sweet word, "Ishi," upon our lips. He
wishes us to come, speaking of Christ as Emmanuel Ishi–"God With
Us"–not as Emmanuel Baali–"God Our Ruler." He wishes us to speak of
Him as "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh"–"our Man, our
Husband"–and not as, "our Man, our Lord."
There is a very blessed distinction here. I think the Christian can
perceive it, though the worldling cannot. When a sinner is in his sin,
he sometimes attempts to serve God. Conviction of sin works in him some
kind of legal repentance– he tries to be better, but the sinner always
tries to be better with Baali on his lips–"O Lord, I must do right,
else I shall be punished for it. I must mend my ways, or Hell stares me
in the face. I must grow better, or else I shall die and share eternal
torment." So he tries to do better through fear. Not so the Christian!
He tries to serve his God, but he puts the name, Baali, away. "O my
blessed God!" he says, "You have done so much for me, I do truly love
You. I must love You, I will serve You, I will live for You, I will die
for You. It is a pleasure to serve You. If Heaven were quenched and
Hell blotted out, I would still serve You, for You are my Ishi, my
Loved One, whom with all my heart I serve."
But it is not so with the sinner when he first seeks mercy. He kneels
down and prays to God to have mercy upon him, but all the while it is
Baali to whom he speaks. He can never say, Ishi, while he is under
conviction of sin. His cry is, "O Lord, I am the chief of sinners!" "I
am not worthy to be called Your son." That is all Baali! But as soon as
the Lord has appeared to him and told him, "I have put away your sin,"
he offers no such prayer as he did before! He comes with boldness and
says, "Lord, I am Your child! For Jesus' sake give me these things,"
and he prays out of his heart with a fullness of confidence, for it is
now, Ishi, not Baali! It was the same God before, but under a different
aspect. He was a kind God before, but He was the Baali God. Now He is a
kind God, but He is kinder–He is the Ishi God to all Believers.
O Beloved Brothers and Sisters, I would you could all keep this word,
Ishi, on your lips! It is a Hebrew word. I bless God for having kept a
few Hebrew words in the Bible to make us remember the Jews. But,
besides this, there is something very sweet in this old term, Ishi–my
man, my Husband! Go home, Beloved, sit down and think of this title.
God bids you come to Him boldly tonight and call Him, Ishi. Sit down
and begin to think of the Son of God, who became Man. When you see Him
in His cradle, call Him, Ishi, and fondle the Infant to your breast.
When you see Him a grown Man, go up to Him and, by faith, clasp Him in
your arms and call Him, Ishi, while He preaches to you the Sermon on
the Mount. Find Him in the Garden. Stand and look at Him, not as some
marvelous Man, far above you, your superior, a Baali to you–but come
and kneel by His side and as you kneel, see, in contemplation, the
bloody sweat still streaming from His brow. Bend over Him and say, "O,
Ishi, You are my Man, my Husband, paying the costly price for me by
this awful sweat of blood!"
Then follow Him along the pavement. See His back all gory with the lash
of Pilate's whip and call Him, Ishi, then. And when you see Him on the
Cross, oh, it is there that Ishi is spelt more clearly than ever! When
His heart is opened, when His veins are bleeding, then you can see
written in His blood that name, Ishi–Man With You, your Husband. And
then see Him in His grave and call Him, Ishi, there. Track Him up to
Heaven in His Ascension and call Him, Ishi, as He leads captivity
captive. See Him pleading before the Throne of God with outstretched
hands. Look on His breastplate, read your own name and call Him, Ishi!
And then look forward–see Him as He comes in the clouds of Heaven–and
call Him, Ishi, then. See Him when He and all His people shall be
gathered home to Glory. He shall be your Ishi, then–not your Baali,
your Lord, your superior–but your Ishi, your Man, your Husband–to be
embraced and loved, to be in sweet communion with you, to be your
Acquaintance, your Friend, your "Fellow," as His Father and yours has
been blessedly pleased to call Him!
And, Christian, when you go forth to labor, tomorrow, take care not to
do it as a slave. Practice this, "Ishi," out every day. Do not serve
God because you dare not do other than serve Him! Do not serve Him
because you are afraid not to serve Him! Do not do it from fear. Do not
work like a slave, under his master's lash, but go out and serve your
Master from pure delight because He is also your Ishi, your Man, your
Husband–
"We would no longer lie,
Like slaves beneath the throne,
Our faith would 'Ishi, Jesus,' cry,
And You the kindred own." Go forth to your work, serving your Lord in
love and joy and gladness–
"'Tis love that makes our willing feet
In swift obedience move."
And now, in conclusion, my Friends, there are many here who cannot say,
Ishi, for Christ is not Ishi to them! Baali is the only word they can
use for God. What shall we do for them, dear Friends, those who know
the Lord here? What shall we do for these? We have a little
Sister–what shall we do for her, against the day that she shall be
spoken for unto the King? If she is a wall, we will build upon her with
many prayers, precious as silver! If she is a door, we will enclose her
with the cedar of our supplication! We will, day and night, pray for
these poor souls who are not yet brought in, but many of whom must be
brought in, that there may be one fold and one Shepherd! Poor Sinner, I
will preach the Gospel to you before I send you away. Are you trembling
and shivering, crouching and cowering before God? Are you afraid of
Him? Do you think His sword is out of its scabbard, hunting after you?
Do you see the arrow of vengeance thirsty for blood and winged to slay?
Do you see the Law of God after you? Then you have got as far as Baali!
Ah, Soul, if you know what sin is, in all its blackness, and if you
weep on account of it, and if you desire to be pardoned, if you are
willing to abjure all sin and all self-righteousness, here is the way
of salvation!
Ishi bids me tell it to you, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
shall be saved." "Let me go, Sir! Let me go home and pray." No, Sir!
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! "Let me go out of this chapel and I
will run home, and read a chapter." No, Sir! As you are standing there,
if you know your need of a Savior, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you shall be saved! Look at the jailor. He had made the feet of Paul
and Silas fast in the stocks and shut them in the inner prison, like a
brute as he was. But when there came the earthquake that shook the
prison, he said, "What must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved," said Paul! He did believe and
became a child of God! And he was baptized directly afterwards, walking
in the fear of Jesus. I believe conversion is very often gradual, but
there is no reason why it should be so. If God has put you, now, in
such a condition that you know yourself to be lost and ruined, you have
every reason to believe that Christ died for you and to cast yourself
upon Him, just as you are, without one plea but that Jesus died for
you!
Are you under conviction of sin? Do you feel that God would be just if
He were to destroy you? Do you ask, "Can it be possible that all my
sins could be blotted out in a moment?" Possible, Sir? It is certain
that they may be! It is certain that they wilbe! It is certain that
they ARE if you now believe in Christ!
A lady called upon me, last Monday, with this trouble upon her. She
said she had not heard me preach, but she had been reading my sermons
and God had been pleased to bless them to her–not only to her
conviction, but to her conversion. She went to the clergyman of the
parish, full of joy at having found the Savior. She began to tell him
of her gladness and how she rejoiced that all her sins were blotted
out. He stopped her, and said, "My good Woman, that is all a delusion!
You have no right to believe that your sins are pardoned till you have
led several years of piety and devotion!" She went away sad–and she
came to ask me if what the clergyman said was true. And when I quoted
that verse–
"The moment a sinner believes, And trusts in His crucified Good, His
pardon at once he receives, Redemption in full through His blood!"
"Oh," she said, "I see it clearly now!" And when I went on to tell her
that many who had believed in Christ had been black sinners one moment,
and white as snow the next–had cast themselves simply on Christ and
had instantly found peace–she could not but take to her heart the
precious promises of Christ and, believing in Jesus, being justified by
faith, she had the peace of God that passes all understanding!
I pray the Lord may give it to you right now! As many of you as shall
now look to Christ. As many of you as shall lift up your hearts to Him.
As many of you as God has ordained to eternal life and who, therefore,
believe in Him, may you now go out of this house, like the publican of
old, "justified rather than the other," triumphing that you, who came
in here to confess your guilt, crying, "Lord, have mercy on me a
sinner," can go out calling Jesus, Ishi, and clasping Him in your arms
as your Redeemer, your Savior and your All-in-All!
May the Lord give all of you such faith, for Jesus' sake! Amen.