Joshua's Obedience
A Sermon
(No. 796)
Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
at the [9]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do
according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you: turn
not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper
where ever you go." Joshua 1:7.
JOSHUA was very highly favored in the matter of promises. The promises
given him by God were broadly comprehensive and exceedingly
encouraging. But Joshua was not, therefore, to say within himself,
"These covenant engagements will surely be fulfilled and I may
therefore sit still and do nothing." On the contrary, because God had
decreed that the land should be conquered, Joshua was to be diligent to
lead the people onward to battle. He was not to use the promise as a
couch upon which his indolence might luxuriate, but as a girdle
wherewith to gird up his loins for future activity.
As a spur to energy let us always regard the gracious promises of our
God. We should sin against Him most ungratefully and detestably were we
to say within ourselves, "God will not desert His people, therefore let
us venture into sin." And we are almost equally wicked if we whisper in
our minds, "God will assuredly fulfill His own decrees and give the
souls of His redeemed as a reward to His Son Jesus–therefore let us do
nothing and refrain altogether from zealous Christian service." This is
not proper language for true children. This is the talk of the
indolently ignorant or of mere pretenders who do but mock God while
they pretend to reverence His decrees.
By the oath, by the promise, by the Covenant and by the blood which
seals it, we are exhorted continually to be at work for Christ, since
we are saved in order that we may serve Him in the power of the Holy
Spirit, with heart, and soul and strength. Joshua was especially
exhorted to continue in the path of obedience. He was the captain, but
there was a great Commander-in-Chief who gave him his marching orders.
Joshua was not left to his own fallible judgment, or fickle fancy–he
was to do according to all that was written in the Book of the Law. So
is it with us who are Believers. We are not under the Law, but under
Grace–yet there is still a Gospel rule which we are bound to follow,
and the Law in the hand of Christ is a delightful rule of life to the
Believer.
We are not to follow, in the service of God, our own fancies. We are
not allowed to frame regulations according to our own conceptions, but
our direction is, "whatever HE says unto you, do it." His servants
shall serve Him. His sheep follow His footsteps. His disciples obey
their Lord. His soldiers fulfill His pleasure: "By their fruits you
shall know them." If we are not obedient unto Christ we may rest
assured that we have not the spirit of Christ, and are none of His.
I. In speaking upon the obedience which was enjoined upon Joshua. I
would remind you that OBEDIENCE IS THE HIGHEST PRACTICAL COURAGE. Read
the text, "Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe
to do according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you."
You supposed when you heard the words, "Only be you strong and very
courageous," that some great exploit was to be performed, and the
supposition was correct, for all exploits are comprehended in that one
declaration, "That you may observe to do according to all the Law which
Moses, My servant commanded you."
The highest exploit of the Christian life is to obey Christ. This is
such an exploit, my Brethren, as shall never be performed by any man
unless he has learned the rule of faith, has been led to rest upon
Christ and to advance upon the path of obedience in a strength which is
not his own, but which he has received from the work of the indwelling
Holy Spirit. The world counts obedience to be a mean-spirited thing,
and speaks of rebellion as freedom. We have heard men say, "I will be
my own master. I shall follow my own will." To be a free thinker and a
free liver seems to be the worldling's glory, and yet if the world
could but have sense enough to convict itself of folly, upon
indisputable proof being afforded it, it were not difficult to prove
that a reviler of the obedient is a fool.
Take the world's own martial rule. Who is accounted to be the boldest
and the best soldier but the man who is most thoroughly obedient to the
captain's command? There is a story told of the old French wars which
has been repeated hundreds of times. A sentinel is set to keep a
certain position and at nightfall, as he is pacing to and fro, the
emperor himself comes by. He does not know the password. Straightway
the soldier stops him. "You cannot pass," he says. "But I must pass,"
says the emperor. "No," replies the man, "if you were the little
corporal in gray himself you should not go by," by which, of course, he
meant the emperor! Thus the autocrat, himself, was held in check by
order. The vigilant soldier was afterwards handsomely rewarded and all
the world said that he was a brave fellow.
Now, from that instance, and there are hundreds of such which are
always told with approbation, we learn that obedience to superior
commands, carried out at all hazards, is one of the highest proofs of
courage that a man can possibly give. To this, the world, itself, gives
its assent. Then surely it is not a mean and sneaking thing for a man
to be obedient to Him who is the Commander-in-Chief of the universe,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords! He who would do the right and the
true thing in cold blood, in the teeth of ridicule, is a bolder man
than he who flings himself before the cannon's mouth for fame! Yes, and
let me add, to persist in scrupulous obedience throughout life may need
more courage than even the martyr evinces when once and for all he
gives himself to burn at the stake!
In Joshua's case full obedience to the Divine command involved
innumerable difficulties. The command to him was that he should conquer
the whole of the land for the favored tribes, and to the best of his
ability he did it. But he had to besiege cities which were walled up to
the heavens, and to fight with monarchs whose warriors came to battle
in chariots of iron armed with scythes! The first conflicts were
something terrible. If he had not been a bold and able soldier, he
would have put up his sword and desisted from the strife. But the
spirit of obedience sustained him. Though you and I have no Hivites and
Jebusites to kill, no cities to pull down, no chariots of iron to
encounter, yet we shall find it no easy thing to keep to the path of
Christian consistency. Count well the cost, you who have just enlisted
under my Lord's banner–you shall not find it to be child's play to
"follow the Lamb where ever He goes."
To put on the pilgrim's dress of white linen and then carelessly to
bespatter it with unholiness, and soon to profess repentance, only to
fall again, and bemire it in the dirt, and then time after time to wash
it, or say you have washed it– this is easy enough. Fits and starts of
godliness many have who end their lives in despair. The Christianity of
some people costs them little cross-bearing, much less any "resisting
unto blood, striving against sin." A merely nominal profession is easy
enough to make and to maintain after the manner of the times. But to be
a Christian, indeed, through and through–to eat, and drink, and sleep
eternal life, to live the life of God on earth–this is the work, this
is the difficulty! You will need to have the strength of Samson, and
something more, to pluck up the gates which block up your onward
road–a Divine strength must be yours if you are to keep the crown of
the causeway against all comers.
Moreover, Joshua had not only difficulties to meet with, but he made a
great many enemies through his obedience. This was naturally so. As
soon as it was known that Jericho had been taken, that Ai had been
carried by assault, we read of first one confederation of kings, and
then of another–their object being to destroy the power of Joshua,
since these kings well knew that he would crush them if they did not
crush him. Now the Christian man is in a like plight. He will be sure
to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none, but, on
the other hand, if to do the right, and to believe the true, and to
carry out the honest should make him lose every earthly friend, he will
count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in Heaven will be yet
more friendly and reveal Himself to him more graciously than ever.
O you who have taken up His Cross, don't you know what your Master
said? "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
Christ is the great Peacemaker, but before peace He brings war. Where
the light comes, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must
flee, or, if it abides, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth
cannot, and will not, lower its standard, and the lie must be trod
under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the
world yelping at your heels! If you mince matters, and hold with the
hare and run with the hounds, you may be a Christian and a worldling,
too, after a sort. But if you would live so as to stand the test of the
last tribunal, depend upon it–the world will not speak well of you.
He who has the friendship of the world will find that he is an enemy to
God. But if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent
your unflinching fidelity since it is a testimony against their
iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right! You
will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which
shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe, but for the love of
Jesus you must do it! For the truth's sake to hazard reputation and
affection is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a
degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you.
Yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man!
And again, Joshua, in his obedience, needed much courage because he had
undertaken a task which involved, if he carried it out, long years of
perseverance. After he had captured one city, he must go on to attack
the next fortress. The days were not long enough for his battles. He
bids the sun stand still and the moon is stayed–and even when that
long day has passed, yet the morning sees him sword in hand still.
Joshua was like one of those old knights who slept in their armor. He
was always fighting. His sword must have been well hacked, and often
must his armor have been blood red. He had before him a lifelong
enterprise! Such is the life of the Christian–a warfare from beginning
to end. As soon as you are washed in Christ's blood and clothed in His
righteousness, you must begin to hew your way through a lane of enemies
right up to the eternal throne!
Every foot of the way will be disputed. Not an inch will Satan yield to
you. You must continue daily to fight. "He that endures to the end, the
same shall be saved." Not the beginner who commences in his own
strength, and soon comes to an end, but he who, girt about with Divine
Grace–with the Spirit of God within him–determines to hold on till he
has smitten the last foe, and never leaves the battlefield till he has
heard the word, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Let the man who
says that the Christian's life is mean and devoid of manliness, let him
go and learn wisdom before he speaks, for of all men the persevering
Believer is the most manly. You who boast of yourself, of your courage
in sinning, you yield to the foe. You are a cringing cur! You turn tail
upon the enemy–you court the friendship of the world–you have not
courage enough to dare to do the right and the true! You have passed
under the yoke of Satan and your own passions–and to conceal your own
cowardice–you are base enough to call the brave Christian a coward.
Away with you for adding lying to your other vices!
Oftentimes, if we follow Christ, we shall need to be brave, indeed, in
facing the world's customs. You will find it so, young man, in a
mercantile house. You will find it so, husband, even in connection with
your own wife and children if they are unsaved. Children have found
this so in school. Traders find it so in the marketplace. He that would
be a true Christian had need wear a stout heart. There is a story told
of Dr. Adam Clarke which shows the courage which the youthful Christian
sometimes needs. When he was in a shop in the town of Colerain, they
were preparing for the annual fair and some rolls of cloth were being
measured. One of them was too short, and the master said, "Come, Adam,
you take that end, and I will take the other, and we will soon pull it,
and stretch it till it is long enough."
But Adam had no hands to do it with, and no ears to hear his master's
dishonest order–and at last he flatly refused, whereupon the master
said, "You will never make a tradesman. You are good for nothing here.
You had better go home, and take to something else." Now that thing may
not be done now, for men do not generally cheat in that open downright
kind of way nowadays, but they cheat after more roguish fashions. The
records of the bankruptcy court will tell you what I mean.
Bankruptcies, one after another of the same person, are
doubled-distilled thieving, generally–not old-fashioned thieving like
that which once brought men to prison and to the gallows–but something
worse than highway robbery and burglary!
The genuine Christian will, every now and then, have to put his foot
down and say, "No, I cannot, and I will not be mixed up with such a
thing as that." And he will have to say this to his master, to his
father, to his friend whose respect he desires to gain, and who may be
of the greatest possible assistance to him in life. But if it is your
duty, my dear Brother and Sister, thus to do the right, do it if the
skies fall! Do it if poverty should stare you in the face! Do it if you
should be turned into the streets tomorrow! You shall never be a loser
by God in the long run, and if you have to suffer for righteousness'
sake, blessed are you! Count yourselves to be happy that you have the
privilege of making any sacrifice for the sake of conscience, for in
these days we have not the power to honor God as they did who went to
prison, and to the rack, and to the stake.
Let us not, therefore, cast aside other opportunities which are given
to us of showing how much we love the Lord, and how faithfully we
desire to serve Him. Be very courageous to do what the Lord Jesus bids
you in all things, and let men judge you to be an idiot if they
will–you shall be one of the Lord's champions, a true Knight of the
Cross.
II. Secondly, I learn from the text that THE EXACTNESS OF OBEDIENCE IS
THE ESSENCE OF OBEDIENCE. "That you may observe to do according to all
the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you: turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left." The world says, "We must not be too
precise." Hypocritical world! The world means that it would be glad to
get rid of God's Law altogether! But as it scarcely dares to say that
point-blank, it cants with the most sickening of all cant, "We must not
be too particular, or too nice." As one said to an old Puritan once,
"Many people have rent their consciences in halves–could not you just
make a little nick in yours?" "No," he said, "I cannot, for my
conscience belongs to God."
"We must live, you know," said a money-loving shopkeeper, as his excuse
for doing what he could not otherwise defend. "Yes, but we must die,"
was the reply, "and therefore we must do no such thing." There is no
particular necessity for any of us living. We are probably better dead
if we cannot live without doing wrong. The very essence of obedience, I
have said, lies in exactness. Probably your child, if sometimes
disobedient, would still, as a general rule, do what you told him. It
would be in the little things that thoroughgoing and commendable
obedience would appear. Let the world judge of this for itself. Here is
an honest man. Do people say of him, "He is such an honest man that he
would not steal a horse"? No, that would not prove him to be very
honest. But they say, "He would not even take a pin that did not belong
to him."
That is the world's own description of honesty, and surely when it
comes to obedience to God it ought to be the same! Here is a merchant,
and he boasts, "I have a clerk who is such a good accountant that you
would not find a mistake of a single penny in six months' reckoning."
It would not have meant much if he had said, "You would not find a
mistake of 10,000 pounds in six months' reckoning." And yet if a man
stands to little things, and is minute and particular, worldlings
charge him with being too stringent, too strict, too strait-laced and I
know not what besides! While all the time, according to their own
showing, the essence of honesty and of correctness is exactness in
little things. If I profess to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucial
test will not be in great actions, but in little ones.
My dear Brethren, I wish the Christian Church really thought this.
There is so much in many Churches of trifling with words–I mean by
people professing to believe what is not believed–putting another
meaning upon words than what is the plain natural sense which is
nothing better, I conceive, than lying in the sight of God. I know,
too, members of Churches who say, "I do not approve of a great deal
that is in our creed," and yet they remain members of such a Church! I
do not understand it! I cannot comprehend how a man can bear to partake
in the doings of any Church, whatever that Church may be, when he knows
those doings to be wrong–making it a part of his religion to do
wrong– winking at and shutting his eyes to what his own conscience
tells him is not according to the will of God.
If I thought that in any of our proceedings in this place we did not do
according to God's mind, I would humbly desire to alter at once. And I
do pray that we, as a Church–whenever we err, or in anything may not
have acted according to Scripture–I pray that we may be willing to
bring ourselves to holy Scripture, and to be always schooling our minds
to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we may do His will in all
things. The Church may be wrong in a great many points, and yet be
accepted before God because the conscience of the Church may not be
enlightened. But what I plead for is that so far as our conscience is
enlightened, we are bound to act up to it and that we have no right to
do anything about which we cannot be sure that we are right, and no
right to be uniting ourselves to any body of professors who are not
carrying out the Lord's commands and Laws in all things so far as we
can judge. Not in some things, but in all things we are to be observant
of the Divine will.
Is there any ordinance of Christ which some of you have never attended
to? Have you attended to Baptism and the Lord's Supper? I charge you,
before the living God, see to it as you value your own peace of mind.
"He that knows his master's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with
many stripes." I am not now speaking of the discipline of the Law– the
Christian is not under that–I am speaking, however, of the discipline
of Christ's own House, over which Christ is the Master, and this is the
Law of Christ's House–if we will not be obedient we shall not abide in
the comfortable enjoyment of His love but we shall be chastened, and
scourged, and smitten until we become willing to yield ourselves up to
the Lord's mind.
Through thick and thin, through fair and foul, through poverty or
wealth, through shame or honor, Christian, cling close to your Master!
Be among those virgin-souls, who–
"Where ever the Lamb does lead, From His footsteps never depart."
Those are the men who shall be honored of Heaven, who have peace with
God unspeakable within their souls today, and shall have the brightest
crowns of immortality upon their brows tomorrow. The exactness of
obedience is the very essence of obedience. Let us keep to it, then.
III. But now, thirdly, THE PATH OF OBEDIENCE IS GENERALLY A MIDDLE
PATH. "Turn not from it, to the right hand or to the left." There is
sure to be a right hand. There is sure to be a left hand, and both are
probably wrong. There will be extremes on either side. I believe that
this is true in 10,000 things in ordinary life, and also true in
spiritual things in very many respects. The path of truth in doctrine
is generally a middle one. There are certain tremendous Truths of God,
such as Divine Sovereignty, the doctrine of Election, Covenant
transactions, and so forth. And some men cast such a loving eye upon
these Truths that they desire to be, and are, quite blind to all other
Truths besides. These great and precious doctrines take up the whole
field of their vision while another and equally valuable part of God's
Word is either left unread, or else twisted round into some supposed
reconciliation with the first-named Truths.
Then, again, there are others who think much of man. They have deep
sympathy with the human race. They see man's sin and ruin, and they are
much charmed with the mercy of God and the invitations of the Gospel
which are given to sinners. They become so entranced with these Truths
in connection with the responsibility of man, and man's free agency,
that they will see nothing else! They declare all other doctrines,
except these, to be delusions! If they admit the doctrines of Grace to
be true, they think them valueless–but they generally consider them to
be untrue altogether. It seems to me that the path of Truth is to
believe them both–to hold firmly that salvation is by Divine Grace,
and to hold with equal firmness that the ruin of any man is wholly and
entirely his own fault.
We must maintain the Sovereignty of God and hold the responsibility of
man also–to believe in the free agency of both God and man–neither to
dishonor God by making Him a lackey to His creatures' will, nor, on the
other hand, to rid man of all responsibility by making him to be a mere
log or a machine. Take all that is in the Bible, dear Friends, to be
true! Never be afraid of any text that is written by the sacred pen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, when you turn the pages over, I hope you
never feel as if you wish that any verse could be altered. I trust you
never desire that any text might be amended so as to read a little more
Calvinistic, or a little more like the teaching of Arminius. Always
stand to it that your creed must bend to the Bible, and not the Bible
to your creed–and dare to be a little inconsistent with yourselves, if
need be, sooner than be inconsistent with God's revealed Truth. You
will find the path of duty then, I think, to be neither to the right
hand nor to the left.
So I think it is in another respect, in which the tendency is to one of
two extremes. Some people say of ministers, "These are God's priests.
They can distribute grace to us." Others cry out, "No, they do not, and
cannot! We are all equally able to dispense the truth. We need none to
instruct us! We are all of us to be pastors, or rather, to be sheepish
enough to think we are." Now, there, I think, the safe path lies
between the two. The minister is no priest, but still, God does enable
some men, by His Spirit, to teach others. He does raise up pastors
after His own heart. We will magnify the office, but we will not
magnify it too much. We will not suffer any to speak against it, for we
believe it to be a God-sent gift. On the other hand, we will not
slavishly prostrate ourselves before any man, however gifted he may be.
You will notice, in connection with the ordinances of God's House, one
extreme about sacraments is that they are channels of Divine Grace.
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are saving ordinances, according to
certain ignorant people. The opposite extreme is to leave ordinances
alone altogether, and to say there is nothing in them and that it is of
no use to attend to them. Surely the proper thing is to believe that,
as acts of obedience, they are acceptable to God. And as signs and
tokens of great spiritual Truths, they are instructive and edifying to
the saints and therefore not to be neglected. In this matter, I would
have you "turn neither to the right hand nor to the left."
So, too, I think it should be in our general conduct. With regard, for
instance, to our words, the course of speech generally is, on the one
hand to say too much, or on the other hand to say too little–to be
silent when the wicked are before us, or else to be rash with our lips
and betray a good cause through our rashness in defending it. There is
a time to speak, and there is a time to be silent, and he that judges
well will mark his opportunities and take the middle course. He will
neither be garrulous with advice that is not required, nor will he be
cowardly and dumb when he ought to bear testimony for his Master.
The same holds good with regard to zeal. We have some abroad nowadays
whose heads are very hot. They will be doing this, and that, and I know
not what beside–all in the twinkling of an eye! They talk as if they
would turn the world upside down, while it is their own brains that
need first to be turned into a right condition. They foment revivals,
but not revivals such as we should approve of–their revivals are blown
up like bladders with mere human excitement and playing upon men's
passions–and this brings true zeal into contempt. Theirs is a fire
which burns down the house instead of burning in the grate and warming
the household! But shall we, therefore, not be zealous? God forbid!
Shall we fall into the opposite extreme of those who fold their arms
and say, "Why make this noise? God will do His own work. Things will go
well enough, let us be quiet, let us sleep as do others"?
Brethren, there is a middle course of true, sensible, prudent
zeal–adhering to the Truth of God and never believing that people can
be converted by lies, however earnestly bawled into their ears–walking
within the bounds of God's Truth, and being persuaded that the best
seed to sow is that which God puts into the basket of His Word–that
sinners are not to be saved by rash statements nor by extravagant
declamation–but that they are brought to Christ as they were of
old–by the simple telling out of the story of the Cross
affectionately, and by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from
Heaven. Here, again, "turn neither to the right hand nor to the left."
Brethren, this is a point we must take care to observe in the matter of
our confidences. Neither to the right hand nor to the left must the
Christian turn with regard to the reliance of his soul or in the matter
of his eternal salvation. "None but Jesus" must be the constant
watchword of our spirit. Some will call us in this direction, and some
in that. The wrecker's beacons would entice us upon the rocks in a
thousand directions, but let us steer by the sun or by the polestar,
and not trust to the treacherous guides of human fancy. Keep close to
this, that "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid,
Jesus Christ the righteous."
Rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus and put all your reliance
upon Him as crucified, risen, and pleading for His people! Settle it in
your hearts that you are not to be led away from Jesus–
"Should all the forms that men devise,
Assault my faith with treacherous art,
I'd call them vanity and lies,
And bind the Gospel to my heart."
So in the matter of faith itself, let us keep the middle place. Let us
not be as some are–presumptuous and refusing to examine themselves,
declaring that they must be right. Let us remember that–
"He who never doubted of his state,
He may–perhaps he may too late."
Let us not fall, on the other side, into constant doubting, imagining
that we never can be fully assured, but must always be raising the
question–
"'Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought;
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I His, or am I not?"
Let us ask God to guide us into the middle path, in which we can say,
"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him until that day." Let us pray for
Grace to be careful, watchful, prayerful as much as if our salvation
depended upon our own vigilance–relying upon the sure promise and the
immutable oath, knowing that we stand in Christ, and not in
ourselves–and are kept by the mighty God of Jacob, and not by any
power of our own.
This middle path, in which we turn not to the right hand of
presumption, nor to the left hand of unbelief, is the path which God
would have us tread. This rule, too, for I might continue to apply it
in scores of ways, will also hold good with you in your daily life in
the matter of your general cheerfulness or otherwise. Some people never
smile. Dear souls! They pull the blinds down on Sunday. They are sorry
that the flowers are so beautiful and think that they ought to have
been whitewashed. They almost believe that if the garden beds were of a
little more serious color, it would be advisable. I have known some,
and some whom I very greatly respect, talk in this way. One good
Brother, whose shoelace I am not worthy to unloose, said, on one
occasion, that when he went up the Rhine, he never looked at the rocks,
or the old castles, or the flowing river–he was too taken up with
other things! Why, to me nature is a looking-glass in which I see the
face of God! I delight to gaze abroad, and–
"Look through nature up to nature's God."
But that was all unholiness to him. I confess I do not understand that
kind of thing. I have no sympathy with those who look upon this
material world us though it were a very wicked place, and as if there
were here no trace whatever of the Divine hand and no proofs of the
Divine wisdom, nor manifestations of the Divine care. I think we may
delight ourselves in the works of God and find much pleasure in them
and get much advanced towards God Himself by considering His works.
That to which I have thus referred is one extreme. There are others who
are all froth and levity, who profess to be Christians, and yet cannot
live without the same amusements as worldlings. They must be now at
this party, and then at that. They are never comfortable unless they
are making jokes and following after all the levities and frivolities
of the world. Ah, the first is a pardonable weakness in which there is
much that is commendable. But this is a detestable one of which I can
say nothing that is good. The Christian, I think, should steer between
the two. He should be cheerful, but not frivolous. He should be
sustained and happy, under all circumstances have a friendly and a
kindly word for all. He should be a man among men as the Savior was,
willing to sit at the banquet and to feast and rejoice with those that
rejoice. But still he should be heavenly-minded in it all, feeling that
a joy in which he cannot have Christ with him is no joy, and that
places of amusement where he cannot take his Lord with him are no
places of amusement but scenes of misery to him.
He should be constantly cheerful, happy, and rejoicing, and yet at the
same time he should have a deep solemnity of spirit which removes far
from him everything that is sacrilegiously light and trifling. By the
same rule arrange your business. Some men in business act in such a way
that from morning till night they can think of nothing but business. I
have had to mourn over some Christians who, when they have had enough,
did not know it–when they were doing as much as they could do with
health to their souls, and had no more need of gain–yet they must
launch out into something else that would take away all opportunities
of serving God's cause–and all time for reflection and thought–and
would thus bring barrenness and leanness into their souls.
Others we have to complain of who do not work enough at their callings.
They are at a sermon when they ought to be behind the counter, or they
are enjoying a Prayer Meeting when they ought to be mending their
husbands' stockings. They go out preaching in the villages when they
had better be earning money to pay their creditors. There are extremes,
but the true Christian is diligent in business, and is also fervent in
spirit, seeking to combine the two. The Believer should be like one of
old, "a just man and devout," not having one duty smeared with the
blood of another duty. Having a due proportion of all the Divine
Graces, he seeks in his life to follow out his calling as a man, as a
parent, as a member of the Church, or whatever else he may be.
IV. Now we shall close, and our last remark is that THE PATH OF RIGHT
IS THE PATH OF TRUE PROSPERITY. Observe the last paragraph of the text:
"That you may prosper where ever you go." Let no man be deceived with
the idea that if he carries out the right, by God's Grace, he will
prosper in this world as the consequence. It is very likely that, for a
time at least, his conscientiousness will stand in the way of his
prosperity! God does not invariably make the doing of the right to be
the means of pecuniary gain to us. On the contrary, it frequently
happens that for a time men are great losers by their obedience to
Christ.
But the Scripture always speaks to us of the long run–it sums up the
whole of life–there it promises true riches! If you would prosper,
keep close to the Word of God, and to your conscience, and you shall
have the best prosperity. You will not see it in a week, nor a month,
nor a year, but you shall enjoy it before long. Hundreds have I seen,
and I speak within bounds when I speak of that number, who in different
times of dilemma have waited upon me and asked my advice as to what
they should do. Now, Brothers and Sisters, I have almost always noticed
that those persons who temporize, or attempt to find a policy of going
between and doing as little wrong as possible, but still just a little,
always blunder out of one ditch into another! And their whole life is a
life of compromises, of sins, and of miseries. If they do get to Heaven
they go there slipshod, and with thorns piercing their feet all the
way.
But I have noticed others who have come right straight out and torn
away the cords which entangled them, and have said, "I will do the
right, if I die for it." And though they have had to suffer (I could
mention some cases where they have suffered for years, very much to the
sorrow of him who gave them the advice upon which they acted, not
because he regretted giving them the advice, but regretted that they
had to suffer), yet always there has been a turn somewhere or other,
and by-and-by they have had to say, "I thank God after all,
notwithstanding all my crosses and losses, that I was led to be
faithful to my convictions, for I am a happier man, if not a richer
man."
In some cases they have absolutely been richer men, for, after all,
even in this world, "honesty is the best policy." It is a very low way
of looking at it, but right and righteousness do, in the end–in the
long run–get the respect and the esteem of men. The thief, though he
takes a short way to get rich, yet takes such a dangerous way that it
does not pay. But he who walks straight along the narrow road shall
find it to be the shortest way to the best kind of prosperity, both in
this world and in that which is to come. If not, Beloved, if we get no
outward prosperity here, I trust you and I, if we love Christ and are
filled with His Spirit, can do without it. If we must be poor, it will
soon be over, and in Heaven there shall be no poverty! If we must fight
in order to maintain our conscience, remember we did not expect to come
into this world that we might–
"Be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease."
If it must come to this, that we must suffer hunger and even nakedness
itself, we shall not be worse off than the Apostles–better men than
we. We shall not be brought lower than the martyrs–with whose names we
are not worthy to have ours coupled. Let us, then, run all risks for
Christ! He is no soldier who cannot die for his country. He is no
Christian who cannot lose his life for Christ. We must be willing to
give up all things rather than sell the Truth of God or sell the right.
And if we come to this, we shall have such courage within our spirits,
such a quiet consciousness of the Presence of God the Holy Spirit, and
such sweet smiles from the once suffering, but now reigning Savior that
we shall have to bless God all our days for these light afflictions
which are but for a moment–which shall work out for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory!
I may not have spoken much to the comfort of God's people, but I shall
be glad if I have said only half a word that may tend to nurture in the
midst of our Church earnest obedience, practical piety, real positive
godliness carried out in ordinary life. We have plenty of doctrine,
plenty of thinking, plenty of talking, but oh, for more holy acting! It
is sickening to see the inconsistencies of some professors. It is
enough, indeed, to make the world ridicule the Church to see how many
profess to follow Christ, and then keep any rule rather than God's
rule, and obey anybody sooner than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and Sisters, let us pray to God that our hearts may be sincere
in the Lord's ways, and that we may be guided by His Spirit even to the
end.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORESERMON–Joshua 1.
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Spots in Our Feats of Charity
A Sermon