"Going and Weeping"
(No. 3049)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1907.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 9, 1871.
"Going and weeping." Jeremiah 50:4.
POSSIBLY someone says, on hearing my text, "I like better to be going
and singing." Yes, my Friend, and I do not blame you for making such a
choice. As long as you can go and sing in the name of the Lord, let
nothing stop you from doing so. It is meet that we who have been
redeemed by Christ from destruction and are heirs of Heaven, should
make merry and be glad. We should "rejoice in the Lord always," yet we
must not despise others if they should seem to give more prominence to
another phase of spiritual experience, namely, "going and weeping," for
there are sons of sorrow on earth who will undoubtedly be sons of joy
in Heaven. Among the sweetest flowers that bloom in the Savior's garden
are those that, like the snowdrops and the lilies of the valley, hang
down their heads.
It is also possible to be going and singing and yet, at the same time,
to be going and weeping, for the mind may be in such a complex
condition that while it has abundant cause for joy, it has a sweet well
of happy grief within itself. There is such a thing as a bitter
sweet–the worldling has that. But there is also such a thing as a
sweet bitter–and the Christian often has that–so that while he is
weeping, he can also be singing. While his soul is cast down within
him, yet does he lift up his horn on high and rejoice in the God of his
salvation! It is quite possible to blend these two experiences and the
life of God's people thus becomes like a rainbow, consisting partly of
the sunshine of Heaven and partly of the raindrops of earth. They sing
because of their present and future joy–and they weep because of the
sad past and the relics of the Fall that are still about them–and the
sins of the age that still surround them. I will not say that "Going
and Weeping" is a better motto than "Going and Singing," but sometimes
it is the only one we can use. And often it may be joined with the
other. I hope I shall be able to show you that "going and weeping" is a
very choice way of living.
We see in our text, first, a blessed combination. When we have spoken
of that, we will mention when and where this combination should be
conspicuous. And lastly we will give reasons why this combination
should be manifest in our lives.
I. First, here is A BLESSED COMBINATION–"going and weeping." The two
things certify each other, supplement each other and stimulate each
other.
First, they certify each other. I mean that when a man is going away
from his past sins, away from his old habits, away from
self-righteousness, if that reformation is a work of Divine Grace, it
will have a watermark upon it–there will be "weeping" with the
"going." If the prodigal had only said, "I will arise and go to my
father," we might have doubted the reality of his repentance. But when
he added, "and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven
and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son," then the
tears of penitence, which must have accompanied such a confession,
verified the reformation. Beware, Beloved, of all dry-eyed
reformations! Certain preachers disparage and run down repentance–they
say that it is simply "a change of mind." That is true in a sense, but
what a change of mind it is–not such a change of mind as a man makes
when, instead of buying one hat, he buys another or, instead of
spending a shilling, he saves nine pence out of it! I have heard
preachers refer to repentance as if it were a trifling, insignificant
alteration of opinion–but if that is all the repentance we have had,
it is a repentance of which we need to repent! The old-fashioned
repentance is the only one that will bring you to Heaven! If you do not
leave–
"The sins you loved before, And show that you in earnest grieve,
By doing so no more"–
you will come short of the repentance which the Holy Spirit works in
the souls of the Lord's own chosen people! There must be, as John the
Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees, "fruits meet for repentance."
Or, as the marginal reading puts it, "answerable to amendment of life."
There must be true godly sorrow over your past evil conduct. There must
be a loathing of yourself in the sight of God. And all the "going" that
is not attended by "weeping" will be a bad going after all.
Now I will turn this Truth of God around the other way by reminding you
that there are some persons who profess to be very repentant concerning
the past–if they could live their lives over again they would not live
at all as they have done–so they say and their tears flow copiously. I
am not always pleased to see copious tears. When seeing inquirers, I
have noticed that when men weep very much, they are either men of a
tender spirit who are easily moved to tears, or else they have been so
accustomed to drink that they have got into a maudlin state and cannot
help crying. I would rather have tears falling inside a penitent than
outside. Never condemn a man because he does not weep as others do–it
may be that his heart is too full for tears. Nor condemn those who cry
outwardly, for tears are often genuine evidences of repentance. I
merely remark that a briny tear, in itself, is not a sufficient proof
of that godly sorrow for sin of which the tear is only the index. And
when I warned you against dry-eyed reformations, I meant those
so-called reformations which do not include real sorrow for sin.
External weeping is quite a secondary matter, but inward weeping there
must be in all true converts. Some people cry a great deal and talk a
great deal–they say that their heart is adamant and that they are dead
as a stone. Of course they are dead! They never were spiritually alive
and the natural, stony heart has never been taken out of their flesh!
There is a great deal of truth in what they say, but they have not
learned it from the Spirit of God. They have caught certain phrases
from the lips of gracious people and merely say what they hear others
say–just as parrots do when they are taught to repeat what their
owners say.
How am I to know whether this profession of repentance is genuine or
not? Why, as I know the value of the "going" by the "weeping," so I
know the value of the "weeping" by the "going!" Is the weeping man's
life changed? Has God the Holy Spirit enabled him to lay the axe to the
roots of those old habits of which he says he repents? Does he go on
drinking and yet say that he mourns that he was a drunkard? Does he go
on swearing and yet say that he laments his profanity? Is his temper
constantly boiling over, yet he says that he repents of it? My dear
Friends, there must be something more than that, for God cannot look
upon our expressions of regret for the past as having any sincerity in
them unless they are attended by a Grace-assisted effort to put an end
to such sins for the future! There must be the "going" to prove the
"weeping" to be true, as well as the "weeping" to prove that the
"going" is in the right road.
In the next place, these two things supplement each other. That is to
say, what is deficient in the "going" is supplied in the "weeping." And
what is not in the "weeping" will be found in the "going." For
instance, the "going" concerns the present. When a man is, by the Grace
of God, renewed in the spirit of his mind, he is a different man from
what he used to be–there is faith instead of unbelief, love to God
instead of enmity against Him and holiness instead of sin. In fact, he
is "a new creature" in Christ Jesus! And this "going" applies to the
future as well as to the present, for the man will "go from strength to
strength." Led on by the Divine Spirit, he will "grow in Grace, and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." He will tread the
path of holiness till he enters the Celestial City, to go no more out
forever. But when the black and dreary past of his sinful life again
comes before his mind, he cannot help weeping. Yet even then he pleads
the merit of the precious blood of Jesus and prays with penitent king
David, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness:
according unto the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my
transgressions." When that black past is blotted out like a cloud blown
away by the wind, the "weeping" and the "going" are not
separated–tears have still to be shed because of the turning aside,
the faltering, the halting even in going along the road which God has
marked out for us. When we see men reclaimed from outward sin. When we
mark the manifest change in their character we may call that "going" in
the right road! But unless there is some "weeping" through intense
heart-emotion, some manifestation of sincere sorrow over that in which
they once delighted and of regret that they have not attained to the
high and holy things which ought to be the portion of all true
Christians, there is something lacking.
Now turn the thought the other way and notice how the "going"
supplements the "weeping." The "weeping" is an evidence that we have
learned our need. The "going" to Christ in faith supplies that need.
The "weeping" is the
acknowledgment of the disease. The "going" is the application to the
Great Physician. The "weeping" mourns over our nakedness. The "going"
takes us to the King's wardrobe to put on Christ's spotless robe of
righteousness. The "weeping" is because of our emptiness. The "going"
links us on to His fullness. It would be wretched "weeping" if we did
not know the blessed way of "going" to Him of whom Paul wrote, "My God
shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus."
I also said that these two things stimulate each other–and the truth
of this statement is readily perceptible. Our "going" leads to our
"weeping," and our "weeping" excites us to "going." The poor prodigal
felt the pangs of hunger within his body and he felt in his spirit that
he had sinned against his father. Therefore he said, "I will arise and
go." And I expect that as he went, his hunger quickened his pace–and
that every pang of his emptiness, and every sight of his
filthiness–and every consequent tear would make him speed with greater
energy towards his father's house. A deep sense of sin is often a
blessedly impelling power to drive us to the Savior. I desire never, in
this world, to be free from a deep sense of the bitterness and
guiltiness of sin. Even though freed from the guilt of sin by the
precious blood of Jesus, I still desire to feel what an abominable
thing sin is, that I may go, eagerly and passionately, to my dear
Lord's wounds and get the one only effectual remedy for all my soul
diseases. Light thoughts of sin breed light thoughts of the Savior.
When our "weeping" over our transgressions ceases, our "going" to Him
who "was wounded for our transgressions" is apt to also cease.
Repentance and faith are like the Siamese twins. If one is sick, the
other cannot be well, for they live but one life. If ever you are asked
which comes first, repentance or faith, you may answer, by another
question, "Which spoke of a wheel moves first when the wheel begins to
revolve?" You know that they are all set in motion at the same time.
So, when the hand of God sets our soul "going" in the right road, it
also sets our soul and often our eyes "weeping." And I believe that
when our soul is really "going" towards God, it is with a deepened
repentance over the past and a sincere "weeping" over the imperfections
which it still has to lament.
So that the "weeping" stimulates the "going" and I am sure that the
"going" stimulates the "weeping." If the Lord helps you to grow in
Grace and you get much joy and peace in believing, you will be sure to
say, "What a fool I was to have been all those years a slave to sin and
an enemy to such a blessed Savior!" And when you get very near to God
and "walk in the light, as He is in the light," you will see your
imperfections more than you ever did before. When I meet with a Brother
who tells me that he is nearly perfect, I know that he is living in the
dark, for, if he lived in the light, he would see how far short he came
of the Glory of God. You think your white linen looks very white, do
you not? But when the snow falls and you place your linen upon it, it
no longer looks white. So, until you come near to God, you do not know
what "perfection" is–but when you get even a dim perception of what
His holiness is, you say, with the Patriarch Job, "I have heard of You
by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes." Oh, that the Lord would enable us
to have more true "going" in the way of holiness– growing in communion
with the Holy Spirit, advancing in our likeness to Christ and becoming
more humble, more prayerful and more fervent in spirit and more
diligent in service, for then I am certain that the blessed art of holy
"weeping" would be more practiced by us every day of our life! So, the
"weeping" helps our "going" in the right road and our poor "going"
leads to more "weeping" because we do not go better.
II. Now I leave the explanation of this strange combination of "going
and weeping" to point out WHEN AND WHERE IT SHOULD BE MOST CONSPICUOUS.
And here, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I begin with myself and with
my Brothers engaged in the same holy office. Scripture teaches us that
with the sower of the Good Seed of the Kingdom, there should always be
a "going" and a "weeping." Here is a passage to prove my assertion to
be true, "He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." We
have a Christ-like task if our "going" is what it should be–to "preach
the Word," to "make full proof of our ministry," to "keep back nothing
that is profitable unto you," to bring forth, as scribes instructed
unto the Kingdom of Heaven, "things new and old" out of the Divine
Treasury–to go after the outlying masses and "compel them to come in,"
that our Master's great House may be filled for the great Gospel feast
to care for the sick, the sad and the dying–all this is included in
the "going" of "a good minister of Jesus Christ." But it will be a poor
"going" if there is no "weeping" with it! Think of the Prince of
Preachers–what a wonderful "going" was His! Ah, and what wonderful
"weeping" was His–at the grave of Lazarus and over the Jerusalem
sinners! How deeply He loved even those who rejected Him! Oh, that we
who profess to be His servants had more tender hearts! Then we would
say with the weeping Prophet Jeremiah, "Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for
the slain of the daughter of my people!" Paul was indeed a "going"
preacher–"in journeying often" and, "in labors more abundant." But
what a "weeping" preacher he was also! You know how he said to the
elders of the Church at Ephesus, in his farewell address at Miletus,
"Remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn
everyone night and day with tears." And to the Church at Philippi he
wrote, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you
even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ." So
these two things, "going and weeping," ought to be characteristic of
every true preacher of the Word–and of all teachers and other servants
of the Lord Jesus Christ whose office is of the like kind. I often feel
that I can adopt Doddridge's language and say–
"Arise, my most tender thoughts, arise!
To torrents melt my streaming eyes
And you, my heart, with anguish feel
Those evils which you cannot heal!
See human nature sunk in shame.
See scandals poured on Jesus' name!
The Father wounded through the Son–
The world abused and souls undone.
See the short course of vain delight
Closing in everlasting night–
In flames that no abatement know
Though briny tears forever flow.
My God, I feel the mournful scene.
My heart yearns over dying men
And gladly my pity would reclaim
And snatch the firebrands from the flame!
But feeble my compassion proves,
And can but weep where most it loves!
Your own all-saving arms employ,
And turn these drops of grief to joy." This combination, "going and
weeping," should be conspicuous, not only in those who plead with men
for God, but also in those who plead with God for men. The best praying
consists in "going" "boldly unto the Throne of Grace" and pleading
there–yet they who win most from God are those whose hearts are most
deeply affected–those in whom there is the "weeping" as well as the
"going." Such was the prayer of Jacob in that great night of wrestling
concerning which the Prophet Hosea says, "He had power over the Angel
and prevailed. He wept and made supplication unto Him." Weeping is a
wondrous help to those who would find their way to the heart of God!
So, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, pour out your hearts before
Him–pour them out like water before the Lord and when your heart is
breaking for the longing that it has, even if you shed no outward
tears, you have learned the sacred art of praying and you shall receive
what you have asked in so far as it is according to the will of God!
Beloved, it is a sad thing to have to say, yet it is true, that this
"going and weeping" ought to be very conspicuous in backsliders. I am
always glad to see backsliders returning to their first love and
restored to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are one or
two things that I always like to see about such people–the absence of
all arrogance and self-justification and the presence of deep humility
both towards God and towards His Church–for their offense has been
against God's people as well as against God, Himself. When a Church
member falls into sin, all the members have to suffer in their repute
among men and they also have to suffer in their power with God and,
therefore, the returning of a backslider should always be accompanied
by manifest signs of the deepest contrition. Many speak of David's sin,
but say nothing of David's penitence. Nathan rebuked him in a fashion
that very few kings would have endured, yet there was no anger in
David's heart against him for the stern way in which he told him of his
faults. The 51st and other penitential Psalms show how melted by
contrition David's soul was–groans, sobs and sighs escaped from his
heart instead of his former joyous music. There was a "going" and a
"weeping" on the part of the repenting backslider! If he had known
George Herbert's quaint lines, he might have said–
"O who will give me tears? Come all you springs, Dwell in my head and
eyes–come, clouds and rain! My grief has need of all the watery things
That Nature has produced. Let every vein Suck up a river to supply my
eyes! My weary weeping eyes are too dry for me Unless they get new
conduits, new supplies, To bear them out and with my state agree. What
are two shallow fords, two little spouts Of a lesser world? The greater
is but small– A narrow cupboard for my griefs and doubts, Which need
provision in the midst of all. Verses, you are too fine a thing, too
wise For my rough sorrows—-cease, be dumb and mute! Give up your feet
and running to my eyes, And keep your measures for some lover's lute,
Whose grief allows him music and a rhyme– For mine excludes both
measure, tune and time. Alas, my God!"
But, Beloved, this "going and weeping" should also be seen in
Christians who are making progress in the Divine Life. I believe it
always will be seen in those who are diligently and carefully watching
and striving against even the appearanceof evil. That "going" which
consists in a sort of feverish excitement, or in a sudden leap into a
high condition of soul is to be very seriously suspected. I have found
that I have had to fight for every inch of the road that I have ever
traveled Heavenward. I do not think I ever gained any spiritual victory
easily. If any here find the road to Heaven to be strewn with flowers
and one in which they can run without being weary, I can only say that
I have not found it so–and that if I did not wait upon the Lord, I
should utterly fall. Brothers and Sisters, I pray you to suspect that
it is presumption and not the full assurance of faith if you are always
"going," but never "weeping." I have already explained that this
"weeping" does not put aside the rejoicing, for a Christian may
"rejoice in the Lord" all the more while he mourns before God on
account of his own shortcomings, waywardness and faultiness. I think
the most joyful soul among us may willingly sing–
"Lord, let me weep for naught but sin, And after none but Thee And then
I would, oh, that I might A constant weeper be!"
And this "going and weeping" should also be conspicuous in every
student–I mean not only students for the ministry, but students for
Heaven, and that is what every Christian is. The Apostle John was a
student, and he once saw, in the hand of God, "a book…sealed with
seven seals." And when it was asked, "Who is worthy to open the book,
and to loose the seals thereof?" and there was no man found worthy,
what did John do? He says, "I wept much." And often that is almost as
good as knowing the original languages–indeed, it may be better! If
the heart can weep over a Doctrine, it will get that Doctrine opened up
before long. There is no chemical so strong as our tears for piercing
through the hard shell of the Truth of God. Sincerely cry over the
Truth and soon the Truth will enter your soul and you will know its
inmost meaning! There is a way of "going" by bending the mind to the
Truth of God, but there is also a "weeping" in the passionate longing
that we ought always to have towards God's statutes. "Going and
Weeping" is a noble motto for the student.
So it is for the Christian worker and for the Christian sufferer I will
put the two together. The Christian worker goes and weeps–the
Christian sufferer weeps, yet goes. I desire, while working for God in
vigorous health, to maintain a lowly, humble, penitent frame of mind.
But if sickly and laid low–and made to weep through bodily pain or
relative affliction, I ask that I may have cheerful courage, so that if
I cannot do much, I may do somethingfor the Lord and still keep on
"going." I have seen and often is my spirit melted at the sight of one
whose sufferings seldom abate, yet whose desire to serve God never
abates, but rather increases and who would give anything if activity
might take the place of patience. Blessed be those weak ones whom the
Lord elects to suffer, yet who still seek to serve Him! And blessed are
those who actively serve Him, yet sit humbly at His feet and feel that
they are less than nothing and who weep tears of joy to think that God
should so honor such poor worms as they are as to permit them to do
anythingfor His dear name's sake!
This "going and weeping" ought to be most conspicuous in those of you
who are not yet saved. If you really want to be saved you will seek the
Lord your God by hearing His Word and by much earnest prayer. If His
Grace is really working in you, you will seek Him by casting yourselves
at His feet and by looking to the great Sacrifice of Christ upon the
Cross and by trusting in His redeeming blood. But with all that "going"
there will be "weeping." You will loathe yourselves in your own
sight–you will bemoan the corruptions of your heart and cry, "The
whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the soles of the
feet even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and
bruises, and putrefying sores." Never cease your "weeping" till Christ
has said, "I absolve you." Sigh and cry until, at His dear Cross you
have seen all your transgressions blotted out forever. O Sinner, I pray
God to work in you this "going" and this "weeping!" I have already told
you that the "weeping" is of no use without the "going" by faith to
Christ, but I have also said to you that the supposed going to Christ
is not a real "going" to Him unless there is also sincere "weeping" on
account of sin. May your "going" be away from your sin and may your
"weeping" lead you to look to Christ as you pray–
"Lord God of my salvation, To You, to You, I cry! Oh let my
supplication Arrest Your ear on high! Distresses round me thicken, My
life draws near the grave– Descend, O Lord, to quicken, Descend my
soul to save!"
III. Our time is nearly exhausted, but I ask you to have patience with
me for two or three minutes more while I mention a very few out of the
multitude of REASONS WHY THE "GOING" AND THE "WEEPING" SHOULD BE
CONJOINED IN OUR LIVES.
And, first, speaking to the members of this Church, I mention that
which is always uppermost with me. We want to see a great enlargement
of our Church, a deep and permanent revival of religion. We have had a
foretaste of it, but we are sighing and crying for a great deal more.
If we are to have it, there must be in the Church a "going" and a
"weeping." Every Brother and every Sister must be doing something for
the Lord! You who can preach in the street, go and do it! You who can
distribute tracts, go and do it! You who can teach in the Sunday
schools, go and do it! You who can serve the Lord in the lodging houses
or anywhere else–you who can speak to the ones and the twos–go, go,
GO, in the Lord's name, "go you into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature!" But you will go best where you go "weeping."
Ah, me, what cause we have for weeping! Planted in the midst of the
greatest city upon the face of the earth–the greatest for population
and, considering its Light of God, the greatest for transgression–what
cause we have for weeping! If you knew what some of us have to know,
you would know enough to give you heart-ache or heartbreak. If you went
into some of our streets on the Sabbath, you might ask, "Is there any
Sabbath at all with all this marketing and bargaining?" Look at the
gin-palaces–those doors of Hell are wide open in almost every
street–as though they sold the Bread of Life, men multiply these
places where they destroy both body and soul! I dare hardly remind you
of the haunts of vice–I will rather speak of the agents of
superstition. How busily they ply their deadly trade! Some damn men by
open sin but these damn them by a lie which they offer to them as the
truth of God! This city is a reeking dunghill and, "except the Lord of
Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as
Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." May God, in His
mercy, preserve us as salt in the midst of the general putridity!
Some of you have even greater cause than this for weeping for, in your
own houses there are those who love not the Lord. Your children are not
the Lord's children. Perhaps your wife or your husband loves not your
God. You may well weep as you go! Sympathy and activity, compassion and
diligence–with this sweet mixture every saint ought to be anointed.
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is better still, for that anointing
has among its choicest ingredients the power to give us the sympathy
and the diligence that we need.
Now, Beloved Friends, I speak to you who are not converted. If you are
seeking the Lord, there ought to be in you the "going" and the
"weeping." The "weeping" as you think of Jesus and His great love to
sinners like yourself. They despised Him, rejected Him, laughed Him to
scorn but He still pursued them with love, as I trust He has pursued
you. And I know some for whom He has, by His Grace, continued the
pursuit until, at last, with a Divine art known only to Himself, He has
made the unwilling, willing in the day of His power! For the love that
Christ has to sinners, we ought all to feel our heart "weeping" that we
should ever have offended such a Divine Lover. To transgress against
His crown is high treason, but to transgress against His Cross is the
sin of sins! I know not by what name to call such hardness of heart,
such barbarity of spirit, such brutishness of soul. Think, for a
moment, (for perhaps this may help you to go and weep), of the Lord,
Himself, the King of Glory coming down among men and finding a poor
shelter in His birth, little comfort in His life and no solace in His
death. Very poor was He who could have worn the sun upon His head and
the stars as rings upon His fingers! Very lowly was He before whom the
tallest angel shrank into less than nothing in joyful adoration! Think
of Him amidst the cold night of Gethsemane sweating great drops of
blood! Think of Him scourged, spit upon, mocked and, at last, fastened
to the cruel Cross to die the death of a slave–all for love of guilty
men! Where are our hearts? Surely adamant is softer than our hearts if
we do not weep to think that all this was for undeserving,
ill-deserving, Hell-deserving sinners! And for no motive but that He
was so full of love to them that He must give Himself thus to suffer
and to die for them. Let us go to His Cross and look upon Him whom we
have pierced and mourn because of Him. And while we rejoice over
pardoned guilt, let us mourn that we have pierced the Lord.
If nothing else will make us weep, there is one other reflection that
should bring out the sorrow and also the activity of all Believers–and
that is the fact that though we were once lost and far from God, we are
now saved! There are sitting in this house hundreds, if not thousands
of persons who were "heirs of wrath, even as others," "but you are
washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God"! And now, "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be;
but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we
shall see Him as He is." "Oh, what amazing mercy," each saved soul may
well say, "and all this for me!" Everlasting Love ordained it.
Immutable Love has accomplished it. And unchanging Love will perfect
it! The chief of sinners, yet chosen before time began! A sinner since
conversion, yet loved with a love that will never change–it cannot
increase and it never will diminish–loved with a love that will
outlast the sun when its bright lamp has burned up all its oil! A love
that shall outlast time so that when the angel shall "stand upon the
sea and upon the earth," and swear "by Him that lives forever and
ever," that there shall be time no longer, it shall not affect the
heritage my soul possesses in the Infinite, Eternal Love of God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
Oh, how could I ever offend such a God as this? Shame on my heart!
Gladly would I smite you that you could ever be an enemy to One who
loved you before the day-star knew its place. And O base spirit that
does not now serve God better, more ardently, more passionately, more
perfectly, seeing that all this love has been spent on you! Beloved,
God grant that we may realize, in all its sweetness, the meaning of our
text, "going and weeping," and unto Him shall be glory forever and
ever. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: EPHESIANS 1:1-14.
In this chapter we see what Paul, writing under the Inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, has to say about the possessions and privileges of
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verses 1, 2. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is a benediction for
you as well as for the saints at Ephesus! It is for all "the faithful
in Christ Jesus." May you all have Grace without measure and may you
all have "the peace of God, which passes all understanding," to "keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"! Grace and peace are both
to be had by believing in Jesus.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.It
is right that we should bless God as He has so richly blessed us.
Blessed be the Heavenly Father who
has so abundantly blessed His children. How has He blessed us? "With
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or, things) in Christ."
4. According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, That is the commencement of all the blessing, God's electing
love. This is the Fountain from which the Living Waters flow. There
would have been no stream of blessing to us at all if it had not been
for this first primeval choice of us by God, even as Jesus said to His
disciples, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you."
4. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Here is
the blessing of sanctification–we are chosen that we may be made holy.
To what nobler end could we have been elected? Is not this the very
highest of our heart's desires–"that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love"?
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will Oh, what
a blessing this is, altogether inconceivable in its results!–
"Behold what wondrous Grace, The Father has bestowed On sinners of a
mortal race, To call them sons of God!"
6. To the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He has made us
accepted in the Beloved. Here is music for you– "accepted in the
Beloved." Are there grander words in any language than those four? Oh,
the joy of being Beloved, adopted, accepted by God the Father because
of His beloved Son! Now comes something more.
7. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His Grace. Redemption from
destruction, the forgiveness of our sins–we have all this through "the
riches of His Grace."
8-14. Wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom andprudence;
having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself: that in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth;
even in Him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things
after the counsel of His own will: that we should be to the praise of
His glory, who first trusted in Christ In whom you also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom
also after that you believed, you were sealed with that HolySpirit
ofpromise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. There is no
end to the blessing which God gives to His chosen. He is always
blessing us with blessings upon blessings, Grace upon Grace, and then
there will be Glory to crown it all. Blessed be His holy name forever
and ever!