His Name–The Counsellor
A Sermon
(No. 215)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, September 26, 1858, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor."–Isaiah 9:6.
LAST SABBATH MORNING we considered the first title, "His name shall be
called Wonderful:" this morning we take the second word, "Counsellor."
I need not repeat the remark, that of course these titles belong only
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we cannot understand the passage
except by referring it to Messiah–the Prince. It was by a Counsellor
that this world was ruined. Did not Satan mask himself in the serpent,
and counsel the woman with exceeding craftiness, that she should take
unto herself of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in
the hope that thereby she should be as God? Was it not that evil
counsel which provoked our mother to rebel against her Maker, and did
it not as the effect of sin, bring death into this world with all its
train of woe? Ah! beloved, it was meet that the world should have a
Counsellor to restore it, if it had a Counsellor to destroy it. It was
by counsel that it fell and certainly, without counsel it never could
have arisen. But mark the difficulties that surrounded such a
Counsellor. Tis easy to counsel mischief; but how hard to counsel
wisely! To cast down is easy, but to build up how hard! To confuse this
world, and bring upon it all its train of ills was, an easy thing. A
woman plucked the fruit and it was done; but to restore order to this
confusion, to sweep away the evils which brooded over this fair earth,
this was work indeed, and "Wonderful" was that Christ who came forward
to attempt the work, and who in the plentitude of his wisdom hath
certainly accomplished it, to his own honor and glory, and to our
comfort and safety.
We shall now enter upon the discussion of this title which is given to
Christ, a title peculiar to our Redeemer; and you will see why it
should be given to him and why there was a necessity for such a
Counsellor.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ is a Counsellor in a three-fold sense.
First, he is God's Counsellor; he sits in the cabinet council of the
King of heaven; he has admittance into the privy chamber, and is the
Counsellor with God. In the second place, Christ is a Counsellor in the
sense which the Septuagint translation appends to this term. Christ is
said to be the angel of the great council. He is a Counsellor in that
he communicates to us in God's behalf, what has been done in the great
council before the foundation of the world. And thirdly, Christ is a
Counsellor to us and with us, because we can consult with him, and he
doth counsel and advise us as to the right way and the path of peace.
I. Beginning then, with the first point, Christ may well be called
Counsellor, for he is a COUNSELLOR WITH GOD. And here let us speak with
reverence, for we are about to enter upon a very solemn subject. It
hath been revealed to us that before the world was, when as yet God had
not made the stars, long ere space sprang into being, the Almighty God
did hold a solemn conclave with himself; Father, Son and Spirit held a
mystic council with each other, as to what they were about to do. That
council, although we read but little of it in Scripture, was
nevertheless most certainly held; we have abundant traces of it, for
though it is a doctrine obscure through the effulgence of that light to
which no man can approach, and not simply and didactically explained,
as some other doctrines are, yet we have continual tracings and
incidental mentionings of that great, eternal and wonderful council,
which was held between the three glorious persons of Trinity before the
world began. Our first question with ourselves is, why did God hold a
council at all? And here, we must answer, that God did not hold a
council because of any deficiency in his knowledge, for God
understandeth all things from the beginning; his knowledge is the sum
total of everything that is noble, and infinite is that sum total,
infinitely above everything that is counted noble. Thou, O God, hast
thoughts that are unsearchable, and thou knowest what no mortal ken can
ever attain unto. Nor, again, did God hold any consultation for the
increase of his satisfaction. Sometimes men, when they have determined
what to do, will nevertheless seek counsel of their friends, because
they say, "If their advice agrees with mine it adds to my satisfaction.
and confirms me in my resolution." But God is everlastingly satisfied
with himself, and Knoweth not the shadow of a doubt to cloud his
purpose; therefore, the council was not held with any motive or intent
of that sort. Nor, again, was it held with a view of deliberation; Men
take weeks and months and sometimes years, to think out a thing that is
surrounded with difficulties; they have to find the clue with much
research; enveloped in folds of mystery, they have to take off first
one garment and then another, before they find out the naked glorious
truth. Not so God. God's deliberations are as flashes of lightning;
they are as wise as if he had been eternally considering, but the
thoughts of his heart, though swift as lightning, are as perfect as the
whole system of the universe. The reason why God is represented as
holding a council, if I think rightly, is this: that we might
understand how wise God is. "In the multitude of counsellors there is
wisdom." It is for us to think that in the council of the Eternal
Three, each Person in the undivided Trinity being omniscient and full
of wisdom, there must have been the sum total of all wisdom. And again,
it was to show the unanimity and co-operation of the sacred persons:
God the Father hath done nothing alone in creation or salvation. Jesus
Christ hath done nothing alone; for even the work of his redemption,
albeit that he suffered in some sense alone, needed the sustaining hand
of the Spirit, and the accepting smile of the Father, before it could
be completed. God said not, "I will make man," but "Let us make man in
our own image." God saith not merely, "I will save," but the inference
from the declarations of Scripture is, that the design of the three
persons of the blessed Trinity was to save a people to themselves, who
should show forth their praise. It was, then, for our sakes, not for
God's sake, the council was held–that we might know the unanimity of
the glorious persons, and the deep wisdom of their devices.
Yet another remark concerning the council. It may be asked, "What were
the topics deliberated upon at that first council, which was held
before the day-star knew its place, and planets ran their round?" We
reply, "The first topic was creation." We are told in the passage we
have read, (Proverbs viii,) that the Lord Jesus Christ, who represents
himself as Wisdom, was with God before the world was created, and we
have every reason to believe that we are to understand this as meaning,
that he was not only with God in company, but with God in co-operation.
Besides, we have other Scriptures to prove that "all things were made
by him and without him was not any thing made that was made." And to
quote yet another passage that clinches this truth. God said, "Let us
make man;" so that a part of the consultation was with reference to the
making of worlds, and the creatures that should inhabit them. I believe
that in the sovereign council of eternity, the mountains were weighed
in scales, and the hills in balances; then was it fixed in sovereign
council how far the sea should go, and where should be its bounds–when
the sun should arise and come forth, like a giant from the chambers of
his darkness, and when he should return again to his couch of rest.
Then did God decree the moment when he should say, "Let there be
light," and the moment when the sun should be turned into darkness, and
the moon into a clot of blood. Then did he ordain the form and size of
every angel, and the destinies of every creature; then did he sketch in
his infinite thought, the eagle as he soared to heaven and the worm as
he burrowed into the earth. Then the little as well as the great, the
minute as well as the immense, came under the sovereign decree of God.
There was that book written, of which Dr. Watts sings–
"Chained to his throne a volume lies,
With all the fates of men,
With every angel's form and size,
Drawn by th' eternal pen."
Christ was a Counsellor in the matter of creation; with none else took
he counsel; none else instructed him. Christ was the Counsellor for all
the wondrous works of God.
The second topic that was discussed in this council was the work of
Providence. God does not act towards this world like a man who makes a
watch, and lets it have its own way till it runs down; he is the
controller of every wheel in the machine of providence. He has left
nothing to itself. We talk of general laws, and philosophers tell us
that the world is governed by laws, and then they put the Almighty out
of the question. Now, how can a nation be governed by laws apart from a
sovereign, or apart from magistrates and rulers to carry out the laws?
All the laws may be in the statute book, but put all the police away,
take away every magistrate, remove the high court of parliament, what
is the use of laws? Laws cannot govern without active agency to carry
them out; nor could nature proceed in its everlasting cycles, by the
mere force of law. God is the great motive-power of all things; he is
in everything. Not only did he make all things, but by him all things
consist. From all eternity, Christ was the Counsellor of his Father
with regard to providence–when the first man should be born, when he
should wander, and when he should be restored–when the first monarchy
should rise, and when its sun should set–where his people should be
placed, how long they should be placed, and where they should be moved.
Was it not the Most High who divided to the nations their inheritance?
Hath he not appointed the bounds of our habitation? Oh! heir of heaven,
in the day of the great council Christ counselled his Father as to the
weight of thy trials, as to the number of thy mercies, if they be
numerable, and as to the time, the way, and the means whereby thou
shouldst be brought to himself. Remember, there is nothing that happens
in your daily life, but what was first of all devised in eternity, and
counselled by Jesus Christ for your good and in your behalf, that all
things might work together for your lasting benefit and profit. But, my
friends, what unfathomable depths of wisdom must have been involved,
when God consulted with himself with regard to the great book of
providence! Oh, how strange providence seems to you and to me! Does it
not look like a zig-zag line, this way and that way, backward and
forward, like the journeyings of the children of Israel in the
wilderness? Ah! my brethren, but to God it is a straight line.
Directly, God always goes to his object. and yet to us, he often seems
to go round about. Ah! Jacob, the Lord is about to provide for thee in
Egypt, when there is a famine in Canaan, and he is about to make thy
son Joseph great and mighty. Joseph must be sold for a slave; he must
be accused wrongfully, he must be put into the pit, and in the
round-house prison he must suffer. But God was going straight to his
purpose all the while: he was sending Joseph before them into Egypt
that they might be provided for, and when the good old patriarch said,
"All these things are against me," he did not perceive the providence
of God, for there was not a solitary thing in the whole list that was
against him, but everything was ruled for his weal. Let us learn to
leave providence in the hand of the Counsellor, let us rest assured
that he is too wise to err in his predestination, and too good to be
unkind, and that in the council of eternity, the best was ordained that
could have been ordained–that if you and I had been there, we could
not have ordained half so well, but that we should have made ourselves
eternal fools by meddling therewith. Rest certain, that in the end we
shall see that all was well, and must be well for ever. He is
"Wonderful, the Counsellor," for he counselled in matters of
providence.
And now with regard to matters of grace. These were also discussed in
the everlasting council. When the Three Divine Persons in the solemn
seclusion of their own loneliness consulted together with reference to
the works of grace, one of the first things they had to consider was,
how God should be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly–how the
world should be reconciled unto God. Hence you read in the book of
Zechariah, if you turn to the sixth chapter and the thirteenth verse,
this passage–"The council of peace shall be between them both." The
Son of God with his Father and the Spirit, ordained the council of
peace. Thus was it arranged. The Son must suffer, he must be the
substitute, must bear his people's sins and be punished in their stead;
the Father must accept the Son's substitution and allow his people to
go free, because Christ had paid their debts. The Spirit of the living
God must then cleanse the people whom the blood had pardoned, and so
they must be accepted before the presence of God, even the Father. That
was the result of the great council. But O my brethren, if it had not
been for that council, what a question would have been left unsolved?
Neither you nor I could ever have thought how the two should meet
together–how mercy and justice should kiss each other over the
mountain of our sins. I have always thought that one of the greatest
proofs that the gospel is of God, is its revelation that Christ died to
save sinners. That is a thought so original, so new so wonderful; you
have not got it in any other religion in the world; so that it must
have come from God. As I remember to have heard an un-schooled and
illiterate man say, when I first told him the simple story of how
Christ was punished in the stead of his people: he burst out with an
air of surprise, "Faith! that's the gospel, I know; no man could have
made that up; that must be of God." That wonderful thought, that a God
himself should die, that he himself should bear our sins, that so God
the Father might be able to forgive and yet exact the utmost penalty,
is super-human, super-angelic; not even the cherubim and seraphim could
have been the inventors of it: but that thought was first struck out
from the mind of God in the councils of eternity, when the "Wonderful,
the Counsellor," was present with his Father.
Again, another part of the great council was this–who should be saved,
Now my friends, you that like not old Calvinistic doctrine will perhaps
be horrified but that I cannot help; I will never modify a doctrine I
believe to please any man that walks upon earth; but I will prove from
Scripture that I have the warrant of God in this matter, and that it is
not my own invention. I say that one part of the council of eternity
was the predestination of those whom God had determined to save, and I
will read you the passage that proves it. "In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose
of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." The
predestination of everyone of God's people was arranged at the eternal
council, where God's will sat as the sovereign umpire and undisputed
president. There was it said of each redeemed one, "At such an hour I
will call him by my grace, for I have loved him with an everlasting
love, and by my lovingkindness will I draw him." There was it
originated when the peace-speaking blood shall be laid to that elect
one's conscience, when the Spirit of the living God shall breathe joy
and consolation into his heart. There was it settled how that chosen
one should be "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation;
and there was it determined and settled by two immutable things,
wherein it is impossible for God to lie, that everyone of these should
be eternally saved, beyond the shadow of a risk of perishing. The
apostle Paul was not like some preachers, who are afraid to say a word
about the everlasting council, for he says in his epistle to the
Hebrews–"God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his council, confirmed it by an oath." Now, you
hear some talk about the immutability of the promise: that is good. But
the immutability of God's counsel,–that is to fathom to the very
uttermost the doctrines of grace. The council of God from all eternity
is immutable; not one purpose has he ever altered, not one decree has
he ever changed, he has nailed his decrees against the pillars of
eternity, and though the devils have sought to rend them down from the
posts of his magnificent palace, yet, saith he, "have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion;" the decree shall stand; I will do all my
pleasure. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth, thou, Lord,
in the beginning hast made the heavens and laid the foundations of the
earth, thou hast determined thy plans and purposes, and they stand fast
for ever and ever.
I think I have sufficiently declared how Christ was the Counsellor, in
the transcendent affairs of nature, providence, and grace, in the
everlasting council-chamber of eternity. But now I would have you
notice what a mercy it was that there was such a Counsellor with God,
and how fit Christ was to be the Counsellor. Christ himself is wisdom.
He chargeth his angels with folly; but he is God only wise himself. If
a fool undertake to be a counsellor, his counsel is folly, but when
Christ counselled, his counsel was full of wisdom. But there is another
qualification necessary for a counsellor. However wise a man be, he has
no right to be a counsellor with a king, unless he has some dignity and
standing. There may happen to be in my congregation some person of
great talent, but if my friend should present himself at the cabinet
council and give his advice, he would most probably be unceremoniously
dismissed, for they would say, "Art thou of the king's council; if not,
what right hast thou to stand here?" Now Christ was glorious; he was
equal with his Father, therefore he had a right to counsel God–to
counsel with God. Had an angel offered his advice to God it would have
been as insufferable impertinence; had the cherubim or seraphim
volunteered to give so much as one word of counsel it would have been
blasphemy. He would take no counsel from his creatures. Why should
wisdom stoop from its throne, to counsel with created folly? But
because Christ was far above all principalities and powers and every
name that is named, therefore he had a right, not only from his wisdom,
but from his rank, to be a Counsellor with God.
But there is one thing that is always necessary in a man, before we can
rejoice in his being a counsellor. There are some counsellors
concerning the legislation of our country in whom you or I could not
rejoice much, because we feel that in their counsels the most of us
would be forgotten. Our farming friends would probably rejoice in them;
they will consult their interests, there is not much doubt; but whoever
heard of a counsellor yet who counselled for the poor? or who has these
many years heard as much as an inkling of the name of a man who really
counselled for economy and for the good of his nation. We have plenty
of men who promise us that they will counsel for us–abundance of men
who, if we would but return them to parliament would most assuredly
pour forth such wisdom in our behalf that without doubt we should be
the most happy and enlightened people in the world according to their
promise. but alas! when they get into office they have no hearty
sympathy with us; they belong to a different rank from the most of us,
they do not sympathize with the wants and the desires of the middle
class and of the poor. But, with regard to Christ, we can put every
confidence in him, for we know that in that council from eternity he
symphathized with man. He says, "My delights were with the sons of
men." Happy men to have a counsellor who delights in them! Moreover, he
then though he was not man, yet foresaw that he was to be "bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh," and therefore in the counsels of eternity
he pleaded his own cause when he pleaded our cause, for he well knew
that he was to be tempted in all points like as we are, and was to
suffer our sufferings and to be our covenant head in union with
ourselves. Sweet Counsellor! I love to think thou wast in the
everlasting council, my friend, my brother born for adversity!
II. Having thus discussed the first point, I shall proceed to consider
briefly the second, according to the translation of the Septuagint.
Christ is THE ANGEL OF THE GREAT COUNCIL. Do you and I want to know
what was said and done in the great council of eternity? Yes, we do. I
will defy any man, whoever he may be, not to want to know something
about destiny. What means the ignorance of the common people, when they
appeal to the witch, the pretender? when they enquire of the
astrologer, and read the book of the pretended soothsayer? Why, it
means that man wants to know something about the everlasting council.
And what mean all the perplexing researches of certain persons into the
prophecies? I consider very often that the inferences drawn from
prophecy are very little better, after all, than the guesses of the
Norwood gipsey, and that some people who have been so busy in
foretelling the end of the world, would have been better employed if
they had foretold the end of their own books, and had not imposed on
the public by predictions, assaying to interpret the prophecies,
without the shadow of a foundation. But, from their credulity we may
learn, that among the higher class as well as among the more ignorant,
there is a strong desire to know the councils of eternity. Beloved,
there is only one glass through which you and I can look back to the
dim darkness of the shrouded past, and read the counsels of God, and
that glass is the person of Jesus Christ. Do I want to know what God
ordained with regard to the salvation of man from before the foundation
of the world? I look to Christ; I find that it was ordained in Christ
that he should be the first elect, and that a people should be chosen
in him. Do you ask the way in which God ordained to save? I answer, he
ordained to save by the cross. Do you ask how God ordained to pardon?
The answer comes, he ordained to pardon through the sufferings of
Christ, and to justify through his resurrection from the dead.
Everything that you want to know with regard to what God ordained,
everything that you ought to know, you can find out in the person of
Jesus Christ. And again, do I long to know the great secret of destiny?
I must look to Christ. What mean these wars, this confusion, these
garments rolled in blood? I see Christ born of a virgin, and then I
read the world's history backwards, and I see that all this led to
Christ's coming. I see that all these leaned one upon another, as I
have sometimes seen clusters of rocks leaning on each other, and Christ
the great leading rock bearing up the superincumbent mass of all past
history. And if I want to read the future I look at Christ, and I learn
that he who has gone up to heaven, is to come again from heaven in like
manner as he went up to heaven. So all the future is clear enough to
me. I do not know whether the Pope of Rome is to obtain universal
empire or not; I do not mind whether the Russian empire is to swallow
up all the nations of the continent; there is one thing I know, God
will overturn, overturn, overturn, till he shall come whose right it is
to reign; and I know that though the worms devour my body, yet when he
shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, in my flesh shall I see
God, and there is enough in that for me. All the rest of history is
unimportant compared with its end, its issues, its purpose. The end of
the first Testament is the first advent of Christ; the end of this
second Testament of modern history is the second advent of the Saviour
and then shall the book of time be closed. But none could open the Old
Testament history and make it out, except through Christ. Abraham could
understand it, for he knew that Christ was to come; Christ opened the
book for him. And so modern history is never to be understood except
through Christ. None but the Lamb can take the book and open every
seal; but he who believeth in Christ and looks for his glorious advent,
he may open the book and read therein, and have understanding, for in
Christ there is a revelation of the eternal councils.
"Now," says one, "Sir, I want to know one thing, and if I knew that, I
would not care what happened. I want to know whether God from all
eternity ordained me to be saved." Well, friend, I will tell you how to
find that out, and you may find it out to a certainty. "Nay," says one,
"but how can I know that? You cannot read the book of fate; that is
impossible." I have heard of some divine, of a very hyper school
indeed, who said, "Ah! blessed be the Lord, there are some of God's
dear people here; I can tell them by the very look of their faces. I
know that they are among God's elect." He was not half so discreet as
Rowland Hill, who when he was advised to preach to none but the elect,
said, "He would certainly do so if some one would chalk them all on the
back first." That was never attempted by anybody, so Rowland Hill went
on preaching the gospel to every creature, as I desire to do. But you
may find out whether you are among his chosen ones. "How?" says one.
Why, Christ is the angel of the covenant, and you can find it out by
looking to him. Many people want to know their election before they
look to Christ. Beloved you cannot know your election, except as you
see it in Christ. If you want to know your election, thus shall you
assure your hearts before God.–Do you feel yourself this morning to be
a lost, guilty sinner? go straightway to the cross of Christ, and tell
Christ that, and tell him that you have read in the Bible, "That him
that cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out." Tell him that he has
said, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom you are
chief." Look to Christ and believe on him, and you shall make proof of
your election directly, for so surely as thou believest thou art elect.
If thou wilt give thyself wholly up to Christ and trust him, then thou
art one of God's chosen ones; but if you stop and say, "I want to know
first whether I am elect," that is impossible. If there be something
covered up, and I say, "Now, before you can see this you must lift the
veil;" and you say, "Nay, but I want to see right through that veil,"
you cannot. Lift the veil first and you shall see. Go to Christ guilty,
just as you are. Leave all curious inquiry about thy election alone. Go
straight away to Christ, just as you are, black, naked, penniless and
poor, and say,
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling,"
and you shall know your election. The assurance of the Holy Spirit
shall be given to you, so that you shall be able to say, "I know whom I
have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed to him." Now do notice this. Christ was at the
everlasting council: he can tell you whether you were chosen or not,
but you cannot find that out anyhow else. You go and put your trust in
him, and I know what the answer will be. His answer will be–"I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore in lovingkindness have I
drawn thee." There will be no doubt about his having chosen you, when
you shall feel no doubt about having chosen him.
So much for the second point. Christ is the Counsellor. He is the angel
of the council, because he tells out God's secrets to us. "The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his
covenant."
III. The last point was, Christ is A COUNSELLOR TO US. And here I shall
want to give some practical hints to God's people. Some how or other,
brethren, it is not good for man to be alone. A lonely man must be, I
think, a miserable man, and a man without a Counsellor, I think, must
of necessity go wrong. "Where there is no counsellor," says Solomon,
"the people fall." I think most persons will find it so. A man says,
"Well, I'll have my own way, and I will ask nobody." Have it,
sir,–have it–and you will find that in having your own way you have
probably had the worst way you could. We all feel our need at times of
a counsellor. David was a man after God's own heart and dealt much with
his God; but he had his Ahithophel, with whom he took sweet council,
and they walked to the house of God in company. Kings must have some
advisers. Woe unto the man that hath got a bad counsellor. Rehoboam
took counsel of the young men, and not of the old men, and they
counselled him so that he lost ten-twelfths of his empire. Some take
counsel of stocks and stones. We know many who counsel at the hands of
foolish charms, instead of going to Christ. They shall have to learn
that there is but one Christ, who is to be trusted; and that however
necessary a Counsellor may be, yet none other shall be found to fulfill
the necessity, but Jesus Christ the Counsellor. Let me make a remark or
two with regard to this Counsellor, Jesus Christ.
And, first, Christ is a necessary Counsellor. So sure as we do anything
without asking counsel of God we fall into trouble. Israel made a
league with Gibeon, and it is said, they took of their victuals, and
they asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, and they found out
that the Gibeonites had deceived them. If they had asked counsel first,
no cunning deception could have imposed on them in the matter. Saul,
the son of Kish, died before the Lord upon the mountains of Gilboa, and
in the book of Chronicles it is written, he died because he asked not
counsel of God, but sought unto the wizards. Joshua, the great
commander, when he was appointed to succeed Moses, was not left to go
alone, but it is written, "And Eliezer the priest shall be his
counsellor, and he shall ask counsel of the Lord for him." And all the
great men of olden times, when they were about to do an action, paused,
and they said to the priest, "Bring hither the ephod," and he put on
the Urim and the Thummim, and appealed to God, and the answer came, and
sound advice was vouchsafed. You and I will have to learn how necessary
it is always to take advice of God. Did you ever seek God's advice on
your knees about a difficulty and then go amiss? Brethren, I can
testify for my God that when I have submitted my will to his directing
Spirit, I have always had reason to thank him for his wise counsel. But
when I have asked at his hands, having already made up my own mind, I
have had my own way, but like as he fed the Israelites with the quails
of heaven, while the meat was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came
upon them. Let us take heed always that we never go before the cloud.
He that goes before the cloud goes a fool's errand, and will be glad to
get back again. An old puritan used to say, "He that carves for himself
will cut his fingers. Leave God to carve for you in providence, and all
shall be well. Seek God's guidance and nothing can go amiss." It is
necessary counsel.
In the next place, Christ's counsel is faithful counsel. When
Ahithophel left David, it proved that he was not faithful, and when
Hushai went to Absalom and counselled him, he counselled him craftily,
so that the good counsel of Ahithophel was brought to nought. Ah! how
often do our friends counsel us craftily! We have known them do so.
They have looked first to their own advantage, and then they have said,
"If I can get him to do so-and-so it will be the best for me." That was
not the question we asked them. It was what would be best for
ourselves. But we may trust Christ, that in his advice to us there
never will be any self-interest. He will be quite certain to advise us
with the most disinterested motives, so that the good shall be to us,
and the profit to ourselves.
Again, Christ's counsel is hearty counsel. I hate to go to a lawyer
above all people, to talk with him upon matters of business. The worst
kind of conversation is, I think, conversation with a lawyer. There is
your case! Dear me, what an interest you feel in it! You spread it out
before him, and he says, "There is a word upon the second page not
quite correct." You look at it, and you say, "Ah! that is totally
unimportant; that does not signify." He turns to another clause and he
says, "Ah! there is a good deal here!" "My dear fellow, you any, "I do
not care about those petty clauses, whether it says lands, properties,
or hereditaments: what I want you to do is to set this difficulty right
in point of law." "Be patient" he says; you must go through a great
many consultations before he will come the point, and all the while
your poor heart is boiling over because you feel such an interest in
the main point. But he is as cool as possible; you think you are asking
counsel of a block of marble. No doubt his advice will come out all
right at last, and it is pretty certain it will be good for you; but it
is not hearty. He does not enter into the sympathies of the matter with
you. What is it to him whether you succeed or not–whether the object
of your heart shall be accomplished or not. It is but a professional
interest he takes. Now, Solomon says, "As ointment for perfume, so is
hearty counsel." When a man throws his own soul into your ease, and
says, "My dear friend, I'll do anything I can to help you. let me look
at it," and he takes as deep an interest in it as you do yourself. "If
I were in your position," he says, "I should do so-and-so, by-the-bye,
there is a word wrong there." Perhaps he tells you so, but he only
tells you because he is anxious to have it all right; and you can see
that his drift is always towards the same end you are seeking, and that
he is only anxious for your good. Oh! for a Counsellor that could tie
your heart into unison with his own! Now Christ is such a Counsellor as
that. He is a hearty Counsellor. His interests and your interests are
bound up together, and he is hearty with you.
But there is another kind of counsel still. David says of one, who
afterwards became his enemy, "We took sweet counsel together."
Christian, do you know what sweet counsel is? You have gone to your
Master in the day of trouble, and in the secret of your chamber you
have poured out your heart before him. You have laid your case before
him, with all its difficulties, as Hezekiah did Rabshakeh's letter, and
you have felt, that though Christ was not there in flesh and blood, yet
he was there in spirit, and he counselled you. You felt that his was
counsel that came from the very heart. But he was something better than
that. There was such a sweetness coming with his counsel, such a
radiance of love, such a fullness of fellowship, that you said, " Oh
that I were in trouble every day, if I might have such sweet counsel as
this!" Christ is the Counsellor whom I desire to consult every hour,
and I would that I could sit in his secret chamber all day and all
night long, because to counsel with him is to have sweet counsel,
hearty counsel, and wise counsel, all at the same time. Why, you may
have a friend that talks very sweetly with you, and you will say,
"Well, he is a kind, good soul, but I really cannot trust his
judgment." You have another friend, who has a good deal of judgment,
and yet you say of him, "Certainly, he is a man of prudence above a
great many, but I cannot find out his sympathy; I never get at his
heart, if he were ever so rough and untutored, I would sooner have his
heart without his prudence, than his prudence without his heart," But
we go to Christ, and we get wisdom; we get love, we get sympathy, we
get everything that can possibly be wanted in a Counsellor.
And now we must close by noticing that Christ has special councils for
each of us this morning, and what are they? Tried child of God, your
daughter is sick; your gold has melted in the fire; you are sick
yourself, and your heart is sad. Christ counsels you, and he says,
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, he will sustain thee; he will never
suffer the righteous to be moved." Young man, you that are seeking to
be great in this world, Christ counsels you this morning. "Seekest thou
great things for thyself? seek them not." I shall never forget
Midsummer Common. I was ambitious; I was seeking to go to college, to
leave my poor people in the wilderness that I might become something
great; and as I was walking there that text came with power to my
heart–"Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." I
suppose about forty pounds a year was the sum total of my income, and I
was thinking how I should make both ends meet, and whether it would not
be a great deal better for me to resign my charge and seek something
for the bettering of myself, and so forth. But this text ran in my ears
"Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." "Lord," said I,
"I will follow thy counsel and not my own devices;" and I have never
had cause to regret it. Always take the Lord for thy guide, and thou
shalt never go amiss. Backslider! thou that hast a name to live, and
art dead, or nearly dead, Christ gives thee counsel. "I counsel thee to
buy of me, gold tried in the fire and white raiment, that thou mayest
be clothed." And sinner! thou that art far from God, Christ gives thee
counsel. "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I
will give you rest," Depend on it, it is loving counsel. Take it. Go
home and cast yourself upon your knees. Seek Christ, obey his counsel,
and you shall have to rejoice that you ever listened to his voice, and
heard it, and lived.
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