Man Humbled, God Exalted
(No. 3369)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
4, 1886.
"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of
men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day." Isaiah 2:17.
THIS is the case when God visits a nation with terrible judgments. When
the Jews were led away captive into Babylon, the great men of the land
were bound in chains and treated as common slaves. And as they marched
across the weary wilderness, the iron entered into their souls. Then
was the loftiness of their spirit bowed down and the haughtiness of the
king and the princes, who laughed at the Prophet, was laid low.
So also when God is pleased to send famine upon a land, then again man
has to humble himself. It is not easy to say, "I am my own. Who is Lord
over me?" when the barn is empty and when the wine vats no longer burst
with new wine. Famine is a wondrous leveler–and when the king of
Samaria went through his straitened cities–where women had eaten their
own children in the straitness of the siege, I think there was none
brought so low as the king–none so humbled as the highest and none so
base as the haughtiest!
It is so, too, when pestilence comes. With equal foot, it kicks at the
door both of the palace and of the cottage. Then the prince must mourn
because his first-born dies–and majesty must sit in weeds when
desolation is in the palace.
God has wondrous ways of making men feel that they are but dust, but
when nothing else can serve His turn He will sweep whole dynasties
away, as men remove an anthill when it has become a nuisance. Yes, He
will shake mighty nations, and make "eternal cities," as they were
called, only to stand as the memorials and the wrecks of greatness! The
Lord, in all the works of Providence hitherto, if you analyze the pages
of history, you will find has been constantly bringing down high looks
and making the haughtiness of man to be humbled. Indeed, this seems to
be God's great work! And if any man should say to me, "What is God
doing?" I would answer, "He is lifting up the lowly and he is casting
down the proud! He seems always to be engaged in this, as though it
were His natural work and He delighted in it–the taking down of those
nests that were built among the stars–and the stooping in the
almightiness of His love to pick up the beggar from the mire and set
him among the princes, even among the princes of His people."
What is thus constantly being done in His Providence will be continued
to be done until the haughtiness of man shall be completely driven
away–until in this world there shall be no place for any majesty, but
the majesty of the King of kings–until beneath the cape of Heaven
there shall be but one name before which men shall bow, one Throne
which alone shall be august in men's minds and only one name by which
all the families of the earth shall be named! "In that day," when all
the earth shall be filled with His Glory, as the waters cover the sea,
it shall be said, "He has thrown down the high looks ofman and the
Lord, alone, is exalted!"
But I want to come to something more distinctly personal to ourselves.
This text is certainly true, though in so applying it we may seem to be
wresting it from its original setting and connection, it is certainly
true in the economy of Grace. Man in all matters of religion and in all
his dealings with God, is proud, but it is amazing how apparently
humble men will be when they worship false gods. They will cut
themselves with knives and roll themselves in the mire. We have known
some votaries to kneel before the representation of the Virgin Mary and
lick the very pavement with their tongues by way of penance–and
perform the most degrading rites in honor of their false gods. Man
seems to be humble enough in his dealings with a false deity, but as
soon as ever he comes to deal with the true God, the first things that
have to be got out of him are his pride, his high looks, his
haughtiness- Oh, strange is it that before the Majesty of Heaven a worm
of the dust should think himself great, and that in the blaze of the
infinite purity of the thrice-holy God a mass of corruption like man
should fancy himself to be good! But so it is! One of the greatest
works of Grace in the heart is to humble our pride.
Going now into this subject with as much brevity as possible, we shall
observe, in the first place, that–
I. THE PLAN OF SALVATION, ITSELF, AIMS AT THE BOWING DOWN OF THE
LOFTINESS OF MAN AND AT THE EXALTATION OF GOD.
This is very apparent to us at once when we remember that there is no
plan of salvation at all for man except as a sinner The plan of
salvation necessarily considers man as needing salvation and as being
lost. Its very first promise is forgiveness, which implies sin. It
begins to talk with man of pardon and justification, which implies
guilt and a lack of righteousness. If there is anybody here that is not
a sinner, there is nothing in the Bible for him! As old Wilcox well
observes, "Christ can save everybody except the self-righteous." He
came into the world to save sinners, but not the righteous. He is the
Physician for any form of disease, except that form of disease which
consists in not being diseased. "The whole," says He, "have no need of
a physician, but they that are sick." If you are a sinner, there is
some relation between you and Christ. But if you proudly say in your
heart, "I am better than other men. I am not as the thief, or the
harlot. I need not wash in the fountain which they need so much, for I
am clean." I tell you, man or woman, there is no Christ for you, no
pardon for you, no justification for you, no Heaven for you! Your
self-righteousness, like an iron bar across the gates of Paradise,
shuts you out forever! Your good works can do for you what your sins
need not do–they may ruin your soul forever by making you too proud to
come to Christ. The plan of salvation appeals to men as sinners! It
comes to them on no other terms but as sinners–and thus it is
evidently meant to bring down man's high looks.
Moreover, it not only treats men as sinners, but as dead sinners. There
is not a complimentary word to human nature within the covers of the
Bible. It says, "You has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins"–and this was said of New Testament saints who had warm praise
from the Apostle Paul! They had been originally dead. If you want an
image of human nature, you will find it in the rottenness of Lazarus
when he had been dead four days! The Gospel comes to give life to the
dead! It comes to deal out everlasting life to those who have lost it
and could never have obtained it except as a gift from Heaven. Now, is
not this humbling to the high looks of men? What? Must it be so–that I
must see, "Death," written upon all my hopes, upon all my doings, upon
all my willings? Must all these be written down as being dead things?
It must be so. And if you do not know this, you do not know vital
godliness as yet, for the Grace of God deals with you in your natural
estate as being lost and utterly ruined and undone!
Another humbling point in the plan of salvation is that it distinctly
informs the sinner that the way of salvation is in no sense or manner
in himself, but is altogether in Another. I t tells him that if he is
saved, his salvation is entirely the work of Him who, though He was
God, yet condescended to become Man that He might lift manhood up into
companionship with Godhead! It says the sinner, when he prostrates
himself upon his knees, "Your prayers are well enough, but they avail
not with the Eternal Father to put away sin. Blood! Blood! Blood must
flow, not tears alone!" It tells the sinner that all his merits and his
good works cannot obtain salvation for him. It bids him look to Christ
and mark the crimson currents as they spring from those matchless
wounds, that mouth of mercy, those gates of Paradise, those fountains
of immortality, those sources of all our richest treasure and abiding
peace! It tells the sinner that the head that once was crowned with
thorns must be crowned with the glory of His salvation, if he is saved
at all, and that the Man who was despised and spat upon when here below
must be honored and adored above by him as his Savior, and his only
Savior, or there is no salvation for him! This, too, has a tendency to
bring down the high looks and to lower the haughtiness of man.
Perhaps, however, there is nothing in the Gospel which grates more upon
some men's pride, touching, as it were, the very marrow of their bones,
than the Doctrine, not only that man is a sinner, and a dead sinner,
and is saved by the work of Another, but that the very will to be saved
is determined not so much by himself as by God. I do not know a text
that makes a sinner grind his teeth more than this one–"So then, it is
not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows
mercy." You remember that amazing expression of the Savior's, "You will
not come unto Me that you might have life." "You have a will. You are
responsible. You are free agents, but that will of yours, you have so
wickedly set against Me that you will not come unto Me that you may
live! You refuse Me–you will not accept My Grace–you will sooner
starve than come to the feast of mercy." Many a man has turned on his
heel and said, "I will not hear this any
longer," and then we are reminded of those who left the Master because
of certain Truths of God which He taught, and we say, "Will you also go
away?" Oh, you who have had your haughtiness brought down, I believe
you will be swept out of that idea and will acknowledge that you never
came to Christ of your own free will, but only of Sovereign Grace. You
do not deny it, for you are always conscious of it, that unless your
will had been moved by Sovereign Grace, and constrained by the blessed
interposition of the Divine Spirit, you were as obstinate as the heifer
unaccustomed to the yoke, kicked against the pricks and would not come
to Christ that you might have life! Now, this part of the plan of
salvation tends to bring down high looks.
There is another point which I must notice and which is not always
understood, but it is a mighty bringer-down of high looks, viz., the
understanding of this–that our depraved nature is not in the plan of
salvation supposed to be either improved or improvable. Are you
startled at such an assertion? Well, if you have read the Word of God,
you will have found plenty of warrant for it. All that God Himself can
do for your depraved nature as it now stands is to kill it and let it
be buried when dead! The ordinance of Baptism is intended to set forth
this very Truth of God–that you must be dead and buried to the old
life, and the new and true life that you are henceforth to live does
not spring out of the ashes of the old, like the phoenix out of the
ashes of the departed one, but is an emanation of the Holy Spirit!
"Created anew in Christ Jesus." It is not that the carnal man is ever
reconciled to God, for it is plainly declared that it is "enmity
against God," and cannot be reconciled! The carnal mind cannot even
understand spiritual truth! The carnal mind knows not the things which
are of God, for they are spiritual and must be spiritually discerned.
The process by which a man is practically saved is this–a new nature
is put into us! That new and incorruptible nature immediately begins to
contend with the old Adam, "the body," as Paul calls it, "of sin and
death." This causes a conflict, a conflict which is constantly
maintained, and which at certain times is extremely intense and makes
the subject of it to cry out, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" Or, "From this body of death,
this death which has taken such a tangible form as to be to me a
realizing tangible thing–a very body of death–who will get me rid of
it?" He does not ask that it may be improved, but that he may be
delivered from it! He does not ask that it may be changed, but that a
new nature may come in and trample it down and rise superior to it!
Oh, Brothers and Sisters, how humbling this is! To think that all
Christ found in me when He met with me was so utterly good-for-nothing
that all He could do with it was to bury it–and all the life that I
had when Christ met with me was in His sight such death that He had to
quicken me with an entirely new life–and to make the old life die
daily! Happy, happy day when it is completely dead and gone and the new
life, delivered from the bondage of corruption, shall rise into Glory!
Now, this is a humbling Doctrine. I am, however, persuaded that it is
both a Doctrine declared in God's Word and a Doctrine verified by human
experience, so far as that experience is Christian experience. All this
is intended by our gracious God to bring down the high looks of man and
to humble the haughty and the proud.
But now, in the next place, while the plan of salvation aims at this–
II. THE FIRST WORK OF SALVATION ALSO SECURES IT TO A VERY LARGE EXTENT.
When the Grace of God comes into a man, it comes with an axe in its
hand. It does not come at first to build up, but to pull down. I think
we should beware of being too suddenly filled with strong confidence
and assurance. I do not say beware of too suddenly believing in Christ!
That is a blessed thing and is a sinner's present business. When the
Holy Spirit gives faith–joy and peace come immediately. But I believe
that, as a general rule, God strips before He clothes, and when He
means to build a house for His own indwelling, He does what every wise
architect does–He first digs out the deep foundations. An early work
of Grace in the soul is conviction of sin. We who speak to hundreds and
thousands of souls–for we speak without exaggeration when we say we
have seen thousands of souls under conviction of sin–we observe this,
that conviction of sin is a wondrous puller-down. When a man begins to
feel his sin lying heavy upon his heart, when his iniquity is
continually before him, as David puts it in the 51st Psalm, then his
high looks are gone. Have you ever seen a rich man in the anguish of
conviction? You would not know him from a beggar then! His purse-pride
has gone! All his wealth gives him but little comfort. "My sin! My sin!
My sin!" he says. "Would to God I were as poor as the paupers in the
workhouse, if I were but rid of my sin! What is my wealth while I have
my sin?"
Have you ever seen the man of knowledge, the man who knows everything,
the sharp, quick, critical man, who takes everybody up and thinks he
can set all the world right–have you ever seen him under a sense of
sin? He feels himself to be a fool at once, and would sit down on a
form with the infant class in a school if there he might learn of a
Savior, being content to give up all his wisdom and to be a babe in
Christ! And have you ever observed the man who was naturally of a high
and haughty disposition, who reared up among his fellows–have you ever
seen how he acts when God's hand is on him? Why, he would hide himself
anywhere–and he envies even the meanest and most obscure of the
children of God! Once get a sight of sin, and those things which now
prop us up will all give way and we shall be beggars in the face of all
the world when once we see how exceedingly sinful a thing our sin is!
Some of us have passed through this season of deep penitential humbling
before the Lord and we can bear our witness that when the Lord casts us
down, there is nothing that can lift us up but the hand of the Lord
Himself! For when we did try to rise, our wings melted like the wax
wings of Icarus and we fell to the ground broken in pieces.
But if conviction humbles, let me say that conversion humbles a great
deal more! It is thought, perhaps, by you that as soon as you find
pardon you will not be so humble as you were. Distrust the pardon that
does not humble you! Be persuaded that the forgiveness which does not
make you lie low in the dust is no forgiveness at all, but a mere fancy
of your infatuated heart! When the Lord pardons a sinner, that sinner
feels that he could sink and go out of sight. As soon as Peter's boat
began to fill, it began to sink–and as soon as our boat gets full of
mercy it begins to sink! Peter, too, said, "Depart from me, O Lord, for
I am a sinful man." And so we feel as if the abundance of God's mercy
taught us more than ever a sense of sin. I do not think that a sense of
sin is such a heart-breaking thing as a sense of mercy, for sometimes a
sense of sin is attended with a despair which steels the soul and makes
the mind hardened against God. A criminal may know himself to be
guilty, very guilty, but yet if he feels sure that there is no mercy
for him, he is like a hunted stag at bay which turns upon its
oppressors and fights for dear life. But when a man is conscious of
guilt, and then receives a free pardon from his offended God, then he
knows not what to do! He is broken in heart, first with his
unworthiness, and next with the mercy of God! God compares His Word in
one place to a hammer, and in another place to a fire. Now, why are the
two put together? Why, because there are some rocks, which, after a
line of fire has been made across them, will crack readily in a fissure
as soon as the hammer is used! Now, the hammer of conviction, when it
comes upon the cold heart, frozen with despair, may break that heart,
but oh, when the fire of God's love comes and the hammer, too, then
surely the rock gives way and our stubborn will flies into pieces
before the Lord, broken by His fire–
"Dissolved by Your goodness, I fall to the ground, And weep to the
praise of the mercy I've found." Some say they do not believe this
point. If there is anyone of you who has passed through conviction of
sin without soul-humbling, I pray God to show you that such a
conviction of sin as you have had is not the work of His Spirit! If you
have not been led to see this, then, whatever you may have seen of the
corruption of your own heart, you have not seen yourself aright. And,
on the other hand, if, in coming to Christ, you have been able to keep
anything with which to feed your pride, anything in which you can
glory, anything of which you can say, "This is mine. This is not
Christ's. This came from my own good nature and excellent disposition
and not from the Most High"–then you have need to go to Christ again,
for you have never yet been to Him aright! All that our unregenerate
nature spins must be unraveled. All the pottery that unregenerate
nature burns in her kiln shall be broken as with a rod of iron! But
that which comes from Christ is grounded, bottomed, and stayed upon the
rock of Eternal Mercy! That shall stand, and only that! Oh, this is
indeed the way in which God, in the hearts of His people, brings down
the loftiness of man, lays low his haughtiness and makes the Lord,
alone, to be exalted! Thirdly–
III. THIS SAME WORK IS CARRIED ON IN THE AFTER-WORKS OF GRACE.
I cannot single out all these–it would take too long for this
evening–but let us just pick out four of the works of Grace in a
Christian in his advance in the spiritual life.
The first is his growth in Grace. I am sure that as the Christian grows
in Grace, he grows in humility. Or, at any rate, if there is a growth
which is not accompanied by a deeper sense of unworthiness and
feebleness than existed before, then it is a supposed growth, not a
real one! The farmer is very glad when he sees his root plants growing
upwards for a time. He likes to see the green leaf, but he will shake
his head to the boy who is pleased with the green leaf only. "Oh," he
says, "I want to see it grow downwards as well as upwards–I want the
root–that is the most precious thing." If it does not grow in the
root, in the underground part, it is but of little value to him. It is
well for the Christian, when he has plenty of humility and when he can
spread out the very roots of his life and draw up nourishment from the
precious Word of God. We must grow in humility! It was remarked by an
excellent Divine that growing souls think themselves nothing,
but that grown saints think themselves lessthan nothing, and I suppose
that when they are fully grown they fail to find language in which to
express their sense of insignificance! The Apostle Paul, I suppose,
committed an error in grammar when he said, "Less than the least of all
saints." It may be bad grammar, but it is precious truth! Everyone who
has come to such knowledge as the Apostle–and I am afraid there are
not many of us who have grown to that!–can truly say that he is "less
than the least of all saints." As the Lord then enables us to grow in
Grace, Brothers and Sisters, our proud looks will come down and God
will be exalted!
In the next place, if the Lord Jesus Christ shall favor us with
communion with Himself, i t will have the same result. You have
sometimes, in happy moments, been with the Savior on the Mount. We
scarcely like to speak of these things here, but we have had times
when, before we were aware, our souls made us like the chariots of
Amminadib. But no chariot of Amminadib could have set forth our
rapture! We have had such fellowship with Jesus that, though these eyes
have never seen Him, yet we have been conscious of His Presence, joyful
and sure that He was near! He has kissed us with the kisses of His
lips–His love has been better than wine. Now, no man ever came out of
the place of communion proud. If there is one thing that always goes
with it, it is a prostration of spirit in the Presence of the precious
Savior! See Jesus and be proud? Impossible! Lean your head upon that
bosom and be exalted? Impossible! You will feel, when you have seen the
Lord, that henceforth you must blush to think that you are so little
like He and love Him so little. This is another way in which God brings
down our high looks–it is a very blessed way of doing it–may He use
it more and more!
A third way of bringing down our high looks is really to make His
children practically active. It is thought by some that activity and
usefulness have in them a strong tendency to lift us up in pride. I
suppose they have, but I believe that idleness has far more–that
nobody is so proud of his strength as the man who has never tried it
and that very likely some of those gentlemen who are so apt to pray for
the workers lest they should be exalted, and who sit down and do
nothing themselves–are much the prouder people of the two! Let me say
to you, Brothers and Sisters, that of all the temptations that the
workers have, they are not so often tempted to pride as they are to
some other things. Take the preacher, for instance, who has to preach
twice a day and be the pastor of a multitude of souls. Well, he
succeeds upon some one occasion, but he has no time to cradle himself
upon that because the trumpet sounds for another battle–and he has to
feel that he needs fresh strength! He cannot lift up the banner, for he
has to sharpen his sword again! When nightfall comes, he has still some
work to do for his Master and the first ray of the morning's light sees
him still busy. He has no time to congratulate himself upon what he has
performed! He is compelled to–
"Forget the steps already trod, And onward press his way."
I should prescribe to any Christian here tonight, who feels tempted to
pride, to attempt some great work for Christ that is a little above his
present strength! And when he has done–to let him try something a
little above even that! And if he can do that, to go still further! If
you always have something on hand more than you can do, and which puts
a strain upon your faith and upon your earnestness, I believe it will
be one of the best cures for pride and one of the best things, through
God the Holy Spirit's power, to make you see your own insufficiency and
to bring your haughtiness down.
Well, dear Brothers and Sisters, so base are we naturally that the
fourth way of bringing us down is the most common one–not by communion
with Christ, nor by activity, so much as by affliction. Must it always
be that? Must it always be that? They are bad children who always need
the rod, but there are some Christians who seem as if they never would
obey without it! "Be you not as the horse and the mule, which have no
understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle lest
they come near unto you." Oh, what hard mouths we have and with what a
sharp bit of affliction are we driven–and how we champ that bit,
sometimes, and would gladly get it out of our mouths! And if we could
do so, we would dash on to our own destruction! The only way that God
has to keep us right is to give us, every now and then, a touch with
His whip. Blessed be God for it! It is hard to bear, but oh, how
profitable it is! Blessed be God for slander! It cuts us to the quick,
but oh, how beaded with blessings has it been to us! Blessed be God for
depression of spirit! We have groaned under it, some of us, till our
life has become a burden to us–but if we had not been so depressed
when alone, we would never have been able to bear the prosperity which
God has given us abroad! We thank His blessed name, for by all these
means, in some way or other, the loftiness of man shall be brought
down, the haughtiness of man shall be made low and the Lord alone shall
be exalted!
Let us look forward to the works of Grace which are yet incomplete, but
which are soon to be completed. Let us anticipate the day when the
Spirit of God shall complete His great work–when the old nature in us
shall be utterly conquered and when the new nature, born of God–shall
reign in its greatest vitality and fullest development!
Then shall we be, before the Eternal Throne, without spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing, covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness and
decked with the jewels of our perfected salvation! Then, indeed, shall
every haughty look be gone and every proud thought be banished! And in
that day the Lord alone shall be exalted! Then shall our one song be,
"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Your name be the Glory. Unto Him
who loved us and loosed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made
us kings and priests unto God, unto Him be glory forever and ever." I
shall not detain you much longer, but we ought not to leave this
subject without mentioning yet another Truth of God that our text
suggests.–
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE WORKS OF GRACE WHICH GOD DOES IN HIS CHURCH AT
LARGE IS TO
BRING DOWN THE LOFTINESS OF MAN.
Dear Friends, we believe, and some of us believe it very firmly, that
God is going to visit our Churches with a revival. We have seen
indications of the coming blessing. In connection with this one Church,
and it is but an instance of several others, the very presence of this
multitude on a Thursday evening is, to some of us, one of the most
hopeful signs that there is a spirit of inquiry growing! And on Monday
evenings I see the greater part of this area filled with people who
come only to pray. I am not conscious of having stirred you up
particularly of late, but I have seen a very marked change over the
whole face of things. Why, for the last two or three months, our
friends who keep the gates outside, although we have always had as many
as we could by any process hold, yet find themselves now compelled to
shut the gates in the face of hundreds and even of thousands–although
before we scarcely knew where to put those who came within the walls,
yet there were not so many sent away! The mass who come here has become
perfectly astounding to us all. We can hardly realize it. We think it
is a good sign if they are willing to hear–and when they will come and
even tread upon one another in their desire to hear the Gospel! But a
better sign than that is that last Tuesday week, that day of fasting
and of prayer, left an impression on the ministers present which they
can never forget. And last Tuesday, when we met in our association, the
ministers present all said, "Why cannot we have such a day of fasting
and prayer?" Ah, indeed, why not? We all agreed that there should be
such a day. Then when the delegates and representatives of most of the
Baptist Churches in London came, they said, "Cannot we come?" Well, we
had not thought of that. "Oh," they said, "you cannot keep us out! We
should like to consecrate a whole day to fasting and prayer." "Yes," we
replied, "we are right glad to find your hearts so warmed to it." Some
asked if all the deacons and elders of Baptist churches could not come,
and they were told, "Yes, certainly." And I believe that on Monday, the
5th of November, you will find us by hundreds met together to spend the
day, from ten until six, in humiliation and prayer to God for a
blessing!
This came so spontaneously, without any plan or proposal, everybody
desiring it, that I took it at once as being a token for good! I am
glad that the good old Puritan preaching and fasting has come back to
our Churches. There are certain demons that afflict mankind, that will
not go forth without prayer and fasting, and when many are not only
willing, but eager to spend a day entirely for this, it is a good sign!
God never sets us praying and longing without meaning to bless us, only
here is the point–as sure as ever God blesses us, He will be sure to
take us down. We are mistaken if we think He is going to bless us for
our own exaltation! If any of you want a blessing for your own
self-glorification, you will be wonderfully mistaken! If I, as your
pastor, should ask for the conversion of sinners that I might be able
to say, "Oh, there are so many added to the Church in a year," I shall
not get it, or if it should come, there will come with it some stinging
rebuke that will make the soul cry out to God! You must mind that God
is in it and then we shall have the blessing! And the only thing that
will hinder it is our getting any sinister motive, or any idea that we
can exalt ourselves! I say, Brothers and Sisters, that if we seek God's
blessing for the mere extension of our denomination, we shall seek it
from a wrong motive. We must seek it for God's Glory and for that only,
for the Lord will bring down our high looks as well as the high looks
of other people! And the more He loves us, the more will He be sure to
do this, for what He will not tolerate in sinners, He will not bear in
His saints. What I cannot put up with in strangers, I will never endure
in my own friends, and so will the Lord chasten His people if they are
proud and haughty. Let us then wait and expect to receive a blessing,
but let us also expect to be humbled by it. Lastly–
V. WHERE DEEDS OF MERCY DO NOT PROVE THE TRUTH OF THIS, DEEDS OF
JUSTICE WILL CONFIRM IT.
I will say but a few sentences, but let them be caught by your ears and
seized by your hearts. In this house tonight there are some of you who
are not reconciled to God by the death of His Son. You have never
humbled yourselves and taken the Lord's Christ to be your only hope.
Now, mark this–if you will not come down by Grace, you must and shall
come down by judgment! You will be humbled, Sinner, if not to
penitence, then to remorse! If not to hopeful conversion, to hopeless
despair! Every high look shall be brought down in the day when He shall
sit upon the Great White Throne and call the quick and the dead to
judgment. "Rocks, hide us! Mountains, fall upon us! Hide us from the
face of Him that sits on the Throne!" Who said that? Why, the very man
who once said, "Lord, I thank You that I am not as other men are." Yes,
Sirs, and the very man who once said, "Who is the Lord that I should
obey Him?" He it is who now cries, "Hide me, hide me from the accusing
face." Behold, you despisers, wonder and perish! If you will not be
humbled at the Cross, you shall be humbled at the Throne of Judgment!
If mercy wins you not, judgment shall subdue you! If you will not bend,
you shall break! He who will not melt in the fires of love shall be
consumed in the furnace of wrath! Oh, my Hearer, what a dread
alternative is this! "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish
from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little! Blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him!"
There is a wonderful power in humiliation. Ahab humbled himself and
though it was not with a saving humility, yet the curse did not fall
upon him as it would have done. Even in a natural humiliation there may
be some withdrawal of temporal chastisement, but if the Lord shall give
you true brokenness of heart, remember it is written, "A broken and a
contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." There is not one word in
the Bible against a humble soul. There is not one curse against a
sinner who feels his need and comes empty-handed! Come, poor needy one,
poor helpless one, you ruined sinner, without any hope of yourself, you
bankrupt sinner, come–
"'Tis perfect poverty alone,
That sets our soul at large.
While we can call one mite our own,
We have no full discharge."
When we have done with self and with all self's hopes, projects and
plans–and trust only in the finished work of Jesus–then may we
rejoice, for we are saved and saved eternally!