Moving
(No. 2811)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 28, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 24,
1861
"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here."
Exodus 33:15.
THIS is a prayer which has been used hundreds of times and which is
found quite in place on many different occasions. Moses was in the
wilderness when he uttered it. He was about to lead the people into
Canaan, the land that flowed with milk and honey, yet he felt that he
would rather continue to endure the inconveniences of the tent and of
the wilderness, with the Presence of his God, than enjoy the rest and
the fatness of the land of promise without Him. God had made the desert
to become to Moses like a garden, but he felt that all the gardens of
Canaan and the vineyards of Eshcol would be as nothing to him if God
should withdraw His Presence.
Throughout the history of the Church of Christ, there have been
particular places where men of God have been compelled to fall on their
knees and pray this prayer of Moses. I can conceive of our Puritan
forefathers, when they first left this spot, Southwark, to seek in
another land the liberty which they could not find here, bowing their
knees before they entered their little vessel, "The Mayflower," and
crying to God, "If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not up
hence." I can imagine John Bunyan–after he had been 12 years in prison
and had become almost habituated to it, before he crossed the
threshold, when the time of his imprisonment was over–looking upon the
cold, damp walls of the prison on Bedford Bridge–and saying to his
Lord, "If Your Presence go not with me, carry me not up hence." The
immortal dreamer would rather abide in his "den" with his God than go
forth into the world and leave his Master behind him!
Many a time, dear Friends, in your experience and mine, we also have
had to feel the force of such a prayer as this. When, rather more than
seven years ago, I left my kind and loving little flock at Waterbeach
to come and preside over this great assembly, I could not help crying
out to God, from my inmost soul, "If Your Presence go not with me,
carry me not up hence." When you, Beloved, have to pass through any
changes in life. When, in God's good Providence, you are removed from
one sphere of service to another, I think that you, also, may look up
to God in prayer and say, "If Your Presence go not with us, carry us
not up hence." And at last, when you and I shall be about to die, when
the hour shall approach for us to leave this world behind us and to
wade through the cold stream of death, what prayer can be more
appropriate than this, "If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not
up hence"? To go anywhere without our God is terrible–but to die
without the Presence of God would be awful beyond expression. To go
down into death's dark river with no kind helper, with no loving voice
saying to us, "Fear you not, for I am with you; My rod and My staff
shall comfort you," would be sad, indeed. It would be, indeed, a solemn
thing to meet death alone, to have no Presence of God to cheer us in
the last dread conflict!
I have thus mentioned various circumstances in which we might pray this
prayer and expect a gracious answer to it. But I think, as a church and
people, such a text as this is peculiarly appropriate at this time. We
are about to leave this place, which has, to many of us, very hallowed
associations. When some of our older friends left Carter Lane Chapel,
which once stood on the site now occupied by the London Bridge railway,
I have no doubt that they felt it to be a very dreadful thing to leave
the old place. Yet, perhaps, it was one of the best things that could
have occurred to the church– that they were obliged to come out and
build a larger structure–although it is built, I suppose, in as bad a
place as they could have found by a microscopic survey of this entire
metropolis.
There are, doubtless, many who will always cherish great love for this
place because here Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth before
their eyes, crucified among them. I think all of these will join with
us, who are younger, and therefore less subject to pain concerning
changes, and we will all unite–despite all the advantages which we
hope will follow our entering upon a larger and more public place of
worship–despite the fact that three or four times as many will be able
to listen to the Word of God as can listen to it here. Despite all
this, we will unite in saying to our Lord, "'If Your Presence go not
with us, carry us not up hence.' Here let us abide unless You, who are
the true Shekinah, will go with us, and still shine forth from between
the cherubim." I feel inclined to stop my sermon and to bow my head and
ask you to bow yours, that we may together present this petition to our
God. But, as you have already prayed by the mouth of two or three
Brothers, I spread it before you and "stir up your pure minds by way of
remembrance," and urge you to plead it in secret, and at your family
altars, before your God–"If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not
up hence."
I will arrange my subject under three heads. First, what the Presence
of God always involves. Secondly, what our present move involves. And
thirdly, the sins by which God's Presence may be driven away and the
means by which that Presence may still be secured to us.
I. First, then, let us think WHAT THE PRESENCE OF GOD ALWAYS INVOLVES.
The one great need in the Church of Christ is the Presence of God. What
is needed in our places of worship is not that they should be specimens
of the highest style of architecture, although, certainly, God's House
ought not to be meaner than our own. It is not necessary that they
should be sumptuously adorned, although the greatest riches are not too
much to be devoted to the service of God. It is not essential that rich
people should be in the congregation, although there is a promise which
says, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich
among the people shall entreat your favor." It is not absolutely
necessary that the minister should be eloquent or talented, although it
is well that if a man has 10 talents, he should consecrate them all to
Christ, since talent never glitters so much as when it is consecrated
and given up to God. There are many things that the churches may need,
or may not need, but, certainly, the one thing they need beyond
everything else is the Presence of God! It was better for the Church of
Christ in England when her members met together by tens and twenties in
the woods and were hunted about by informers, and their ministers
hauled off to prison–it was better for them to be persecuted and even
put to death, in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord's Presence, than
it would have been for them to have had such soft, gentle days as
these, but not to have had their Lord with them!
It was better for the Church of Christ in Scotland when Cargill read
his text by the lightning's flash and when the Covenanter's worshipped
God in dens and caves at midnight, through fear of Claverhouse's
dragoons–it was better for them to have their Lord with them in the
midst of the snow and the tempest than to meet calmly and peacefully in
a fine ceiled house from which the Lord Himself was absent! It would be
far better for us to go back to the age of old barns, dingy thatched
buildings and to the times of an uneducated ministry, when God's power
was manifestly with His servants, rather than to go forward and to
become great, mighty and intellectual–but to lack the Presence, power
and blessing of the most High God! It is the Presence of God that makes
the house glorious. Where He is, there is Glory– and where He is
not–"Ichabod" is written on the wall, even though that wall should be
covered with pure gold!
Why is God's Presence the one thing necessary for His Church? Is it not
God's Presence that makes joy in His sanctuary?. When are we most glad?
Is it not when we consciously realize the Presence of our God? That
puts more joy into our hearts than when our corn, wine and oil are
increased. What is it that comforts the mourners in Zion? Is it not a
sight of Jesus' face and a vision of His Glory? What handkerchief can
wipe the weeping eyes like that which is held in the hand of a
covenant-keeping God? Where is the balm for our wounds and the cordial
for our fears, but in Him? "As the hart pants after the water brooks,"
so does our spirit cry out for God, even the living God–and unless we
have His Presence, our soul refuses to be comforted!
Further, what is it, but the Presence of God that makes His people
holy?. Is it not because they see the face of Christ that they are
transformed into His likeness? It is not mere teaching that can make a
man Christ-like. It is beholding Christ–Christ shining upon that man's
face and the man reflecting the Light of God which he has thus
received. The Presence of God is absolutely essential for the
edification, instruction, growth and perfecting of Believers! If we
have not this, the means of Grace are empty, vain and void. Clouds
without rain that mock the thirsty land. Wells without water that
tantalize the perishing caravan, but yield no moisture to burning
lips–a mere mirage in the desert, looking like pools of
water and fruit-bearing palm trees–but only mocking the wayfarer's
gaze. We must have the Presence of God for His people's sake, for
without Him they can do nothing!
And, my Brothers, where is the power of our ministry with sinners
unless we have the Presence of God? We sow the seed, I grant you, but
who prepares the soil and makes the furrows soft with showers? Who
sends the genial sunshine? Would not the seed rot under the clods
unless the heavenly Farmer watched over it and took care of it? There
was never yet one sinner who was converted by man! It is not in man's
power to create, nor is it in his power to new-create. Let a man first
attempt to make a fly and if he succeeds in doing that, then let him
try to make a new heart and a right spirit. Go, you who think you can
do anything to change human nature, or change the Ethiopian's blackness
into snowy whiteness, or remove the spots from the leopard's skin–go,
check Niagara in its dashing might and make the stream leap upward and
return to its source–go, bit the tempest, bind the clouds, bid the
winds only howl to music and the waves dance in chorus–but when you
have done all this, even then you may not hope to make a new heart and
a right spirit by any ministry apart from the Spirit of God!
Ah, my Friends! We have had the Presence of God here [New Park Street]
full often, as many of you can testify. If this were the time and place
to do so, there are hundreds of you who could stand up and say, ".
Christ met with me here, standing on yon spot where the crowd is now."
Here, or there, or in the schoolroom–yes, and behind the pillar, too!
There have been many of you who have heard the Word of God to purpose
in this place. Drunks have strayed in here and some arrow from the bow
drawn at a venture has reached their heart! The harlot has come into
these aisles, on the way to the bridge to destroy herself–and Christ
has met with her–and she now lives to praise His name. Here the thief,
the burglar, the passer of bad money and the very worst and vilest of
men have stepped in–and Christ has met with them, glory be to His holy
name! No man shall stop me from this glorying as I remember how God
has, right here, plucked brands from the burning. All the philosophers
in the world have never, by their philosophy, worked such a work as the
Gospel has worked here, for I can point to hundreds–I might probably
with truth say thousands–of those who, having before scorned God and
scoffed at His name, now love Him with all their heart and desire to
live to His Glory–and who would be willing to die for His honor! You
may tell this in Gath and publish it in the streets of Askelon–let the
mighty men of Philistia tremble and let fear take hold of the sons of
Moab, for God has made bare His arm and smitten His ene-mies–and the
old Gospel has proved itself worthy of its ancient prowess! God has
triumphed gloriously and put to flight both our sins and our
adversaries! But what would we do now without His Presence? It is He
who has accomplished all that has been done, so again we cry to Him,
"If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not up hence." II. Secondly,
consider WHAT OUR PRESENT MOVE INVOLVES.
We are about to move to our new Tabernacle. We must move. It is not
even humane to continue to worship here. On the lowest ground of common
humanity, it is not right that such a multitude of people should be
crowded into so small a structure. With every attempt that we have made
to get proper ventilation, it is not possible, in such a building as
this– overcrowded as it is–that persons should be able to breathe in
a healthy way. I feel it as the minister and I am quite certain that
you must feel it as the congregation. If I ever by chance I see anybody
asleep–and that has occurred, I think, only twice in the last seven
years–it is no matter of astonishment to me–the wonder is that you do
not all go to sleep under the influence of such unwholesome air as is
often bred here by the multitudes.
But, on far higher grounds, we must go hence. Here, every Sabbath
night, there are crowds in the streets. Let the faintest gleam of
sunshine come out and there are many more obliged to go away than are
able to enter this building. It is a pleasing thing that so many are
willing to listen to the same minister for seven years right on. The
glory must be given to God–but the responsibility is with us. If
people will come to hear, the least thing that the Church of God can do
is to find accommodation for them! The time was when many of us would
almost have plucked out our right eye to get them to come. When they
are anxious to come, it is but a small thing that we should provide a
suitable structure where they may be housed. The theater services are,
no doubt, a great blessing. To my mind, however, they lack one great
essential for permanent success–not being connected with any distinct
place of worship, whatever good may be done is scarcely heard of–great
efforts are put forth with small apparent results. In the theater, the
seed is sown, but there is no barn provided in which the harvest can be
housed. If some two or three men could be found constantly to preach
and if endeavors could be made to induce the people to advance from
what is, after all, an irregular form of worship, to some place which
should be their own spiritual home where they could worship God
constantly, more permanent good to the
Church of Christ-at-large would certainly result. We pray God to speed
every effort for the proclamation of the Gospel, but we are most glad
when there seems the greatest prospect of permanent success.
We must move, then, to our new Tabernacle, but still the prayer recurs,
"If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not up hence." We are going
to a place concerning which we entertain great expectations. We hope to
see there vast multitudes attentively listening to the Word of God. We
trust that many of these will be converted, that the Church will be
largely increased and that out of the Church there will spring up young
men who will be good soldiers of Jesus Christ, men who will preach the
Truth of God as it is in Jesus, throughout this land! And some of them,
we hope, in far distant countries. But if God's Presence go not with
us, our expectations will be vain, we shall have flattered ourselves
with a pleasing picture which shall never be completed–we will have
raised a cup to our lips, the sweet draught of which we shall never
drink if God's Presence go not with us!
Next, we are going to a place of great opportunities. What
opportunities you will all have for doing good–myself especially,
though I certainly do not lack for opportunities. I have always before
me a wide and open door. Oh, that I had the strength to do more and
that there were more time in which I could work! Still, when some five
or six thousand people are constantly being addressed, it is no small
opportunity for usefulness. Who can tell how many holy thoughts may be
inspired, how many wrong desires quenched, how many evil motives
exposed, how many right designs prompted in human hearts? O Lord, You
have, indeed, given to Your servant high opportunities, but what are
these if Your Presence go not with us? They are opportunities that will
be wasted. They are chances of attack upon the enemy that will
certainly end in our own defeat if the Presence of God is not with us!
It is the same with each of you in your measure– Sunday school
teachers, I hope there will open up before you a far wider sphere.
Ragged-school teachers, and you who distribute tracts, you who preach
in the streets and all of you who feel any desire to do good to your
fellow creatures– all of you, I think, will have presented before you
a golden opportunity, the like of which seldom occurs! Pray, I beseech
you–by all that is good and holy–I implore you to pray to God that
His Presence may go with you, for, if not, these opportunities will all
be thrown away! It would have been as well for you to have been obscure
Christians in some remote hamlet of the Orkneys or Shetlands, where you
could not reach a congregation without peril of your lives, as to be
members of this largest of Dissenting Churches and yet not to have the
Presence of God with you!
There is a still more solemn thought. Our great house will involve
greater responsibilities. Many persons kindly suggest to me the
solemnity of my position. I know I do not feel it as I might, but I do
realizeit as fully as I dare. I sometimes feel, in preaching to such
multitudes, as a man must feel who walked along a tightrope and was
always in danger of falling–and I shall fail if I look down. But if I
look up, I can walk there even though Hell itself is foaming at my
feet! There is no need of fear to the man who relies upon his God, but
there is every reason for fear to the man who begins to rely upon
himself. The Prophet Habakkuk says, "The Lord God is my strength, and
He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon
my high places." So may it be with us, but what an awful responsibility
it is! You know how the Lord said to the Prophet Ezekiel, "So you, O
son of man, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore you shall hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me.
When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die; if you
do not speak to warn the wicked from his ways, that wicked man shall
die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hands."
I think I have chewed and masticated that text many times. My deacons
know well enough how, when I first preached in Exeter Hall, there was
scarcely an occasion in which they left me alone for ten minutes before
the service, but they would find me in a most fearful state of sickness
produced by that tremendous thought of my solemn responsibility. And,
even now, if I ever sit down and begin to turn that thought over, and
forget that Christ has all power in Heaven and in earth, I am always
affected in the same way. I scarcely dare to look that thought in the
face and I am compelled to put my responsibilities where I put my
sins–on the back of the Lord Jesus Christ, hoping, trusting,
believing, knowing, that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that Last Great Day.
You also have your responsibilities–you must be a holy people. "A city
set on a hill cannot be hid." I never care what is said of me, except
one thing. When I hear that any member of this Church has been betrayed
into an unholy deed, that cuts me to the very quick. I had sooner that
you should diminish by death one-half, than that there should be even
one in a hundred who should fall into sin! It is sorrow enough to bury
our friends, but it is a still greater sorrow to have to excommunicate
them from fellowship or to censure them for misdeeds. You must be a
holy people–nor less must you
be an active people. If God has done so much for you and you begin to
sleep upon your oars, or to sit still and say, "We have done enough,
now we will be quiet," the curse of God will fall upon you! As surely
as you are men or women, He has not brought you to this post of duty
that you may cease your efforts or stand still! He puts you into the
middle of the battle that you may fight with sterner vigor, that you
may deal your blows with both your hands to win the battle for your
Lord and Master! There are responsibilities that lie upon you as a
Church that will utterly crush you unless this prayer is answered for
you, "If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not up hence."
III. Thirdly, we are to consider THE SINS BY WHICH GOD'S PRESENCE MAY
BE DRIVEN AWAY–AND
THE MEANS BY WHICH THAT PRESENCE MAY BE RETAINED.
We can easily get rid of God's Presence if we grow proud. Stand inside
your new house and say, "This great Babylon that I have built!" "And it
will be a Babylon to you at once! Begin to say, "We are a great people,
we can do anything that we wish! We have but to attempt and we can
accomplish." Offer incense to your own acts. Bow down and worship your
own sword as though it had gotten you the victory and the Lord shall
say, and the ears of Christians shall hear it as distinctly as the Jews
at the siege of Jerusalem heard the rustling of wings and a voice
saying, "Arise, let us go from here." A proud heart is never God's
palace–and a proud church will never be honored by the Lord.
Further, you can easily drive away the Holy Spirit by sloth. Be as lazy
as some churches are, or do as little as they do. Be as little
consecrated, as sleepy, as dull, as cold, as lukewarm as too many
professing Christians are and you shall soon find that the Lord has
withdrawn Himself from you. It is fire in the church that is constantly
needed–Divine energy to quicken the whole man into an intense activity
for his Lord and Master's cause! If you, as a church, fall into sloth,
you will hear Him say, "This is not My rest. If it is the place of your
sleep, you have polluted it and I will depart from you."
Disunion, too, among yourselves will soon cause the Holy Spirit to
leave you. It has been my constant joy to see union in the Church. We
are men and, therefore, we do not always see eye to eye with one
another. But I trust that we are also Christians and, therefore, that
we are always willing to bear with one another's shortcomings. I
daresay that you have a good deal to put up with from me–I know that I
have, sometimes, a good deal to put up with from some of you! Sometimes
there is one person and at other times there is another person who
would give offense–and it has been one part of my work, since I have
been pastor, whenever the ship has sprung a leak, not to say much about
it, but to pick the plug, myself, and to go down and drive it in and so
stop the water from coming in at that place.
There are some of you who have often done similar work. This ship would
have been scuttled long ago if it had not been for some loving spirits
who would not let other people disagree. If any of you have disagreed,
I hope you will settle your disagreements at once. If there are any
dissensions, I hope you will leave them all behind at Park Street! If
any of you are not perfectly at one with each other, we cannot expect
God's Presence to go with us until these things are once and for all
forgiven and forgotten! Let us feel as perfectly one as though we were
all perfect men and women and may God always grant us such a spirit of
mutual forbearance! May He give to us that charity which hopes all
things, believes all things and endures all things–for then we shall
have the Master's Presence. But without this, the Holy Spirit, who is
the Dove, will never stay with us!
Furthermore, if we wish to have God's Presence taken from us, there is
another quick way of securing that end– that is by getting slack and
slow inprayer. The Prayer Meeting is the gauge of the Church's
spiritual condition. You may always test our prosperity by the
multitudes who assemble to pray. Yes, and if we could enter your
families and hear how you pray there–and if my ear could be close to
your closet door, that I might hear how you pray for the Church in
private–then I would know how the Church will succeed! Grow lax and
careless, here–do but cease to entreat the Lord for a blessing–and
then He will say, "I will not bless this people. I will not give unto
them, for they do not cry unto Me. My door of mercy shall not be opened
to them, for they refuse to knock." O Beloved, let us be instant and
earnest in prayer! And let us have more faith. I wish I could leave all
my unbelief behind me and I wish you could all do the same– it would
be a blessed legacy, I am sure, to this Chapel–and the next person who
comes to preach here would, I trust, sweep it all out! Oh, that we
could get rid of our wicked distrust of our God and our suspicion of
His faithfulness, our doubts as to His veracity, our troubles and our
fears about the future! O Lord, help us to stay ourselves on You! May
we now, as a Church and people, expect great things, attempt great
things, do great things and believe great things! Then shall we see
greater things than we have ever yet beheld! Give us more faith, Lord,
and drive away our unbelief!
But how can we keep the Spirit of God with us, now that we are about to
go to our new Tabernacle? We can do it by His aid, by cultivating those
Divine Graces which are just the reverse of the evils I have mentioned.
First, we must be humble. Walk humbly with your God, walk humbly
towards one another, be patient towards all men. Brothers and Sisters,
we must be willing to be nothing–we shall never be anything till we
are willing to be nothing. If any man will be perfectly content to be
nobody, he shall be somebody. But he who must be somebody shall be
nobody. I have always noticed, in a somewhat wide observation of
personal character, that the most assuming and pretentious are the
least respected, but the most humble, disinterested, self-denying and
even self-detracting, are those whom men delight to honor. Crown
yourself and every fool will try to knock the crown off your head! Go
crownless and there will be some who will be wise enough to say, "That
man deserves a crown. Let us put one on his head." For Christ's sake as
a Church, let us be humble.
Then, let us be united. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, "I
beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in
the Lord." They were two women, but even good women will sometimes
quarrel. Perhaps you ask, "What did it matter that they were not of the
same mind?" Ah, but they were members of the Church at Philip-pi, and
the Apostle Paul did not like for even two women to disagree if they
were members of the same Church! What shall I say of two male members
of the Church–what shall I say of two aged members of the Church–what
if I should look around me and say, "There are some who, I fear, are
not perfectly at one with each other"? No, I will not say it. I will
suppose that there are none in that condition, but if there are, let me
now entreat them to be of the same mind in the Lord! What if one of
them has an angry temper and the other has a hard disposition? What if
one thinks he has a grievance and the other says that he is the one who
ought to complain? What if one of you has spoken ill of another and he
has spoken ill of you in return? Do not attempt to revive those old
quarrels, but let them be buried! Come, let me throw the first handful
of earth upon them. "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Yet
I must gratefully confess that I never knew, or heard, or read of a
Church more thoroughly and intensely one than this Church is. But it
may be that we have, in our midst, some such as I have been
describing–and if so, I pray that if you would have the Presence of
God to go with us to our new sanctuary, you will see to it that all
this evil is done away with once and for all!
Next to this, my dear Friends, let us go up into our new sanctuary with
a mind to work. I do not think I ever have to whip you to work–I do
get a great deal of work out of you. I always seek, whenever there is
anything extra to be done, to preach Christ to you in such a way that
you fall in love with Him over again and you wantto do something more
for Him than you have ever done before! You hardly know all that you
have already done and I believe you are just as ready to build another
new Tabernacle, now, as you were when we first began! You would have
more faith, I daresay, concerning building a second than you had
concerning the first. Let each man who has done nothing for the Master
up to now, say, "I must begin to do something at once. Though I have
been lazy at New Park Street, I must not be lazy in the new
Tabernacle." You know that we are going near "The Elephant and Castle."
Well, when we once get there, let every elephant carry his own castle,
or, in other words, let every man bear his own burden–let every
Christian do his own work–whether that service is the offering of
prayer and praise, or the hewing of wood and the drawing of water for
the House of the Lord.
Then, again, let us take care that we carry up to that new place,
fervent hearts full of prayer. Come, Brothers and Sisters, let us fill
our censers afresh before we start. Let us put in the frankincense and
all manner of precious spices, and let us plead for the sacred fire to
descend! And then let us stand, as long as that house stands, or we
live, waving those censers between the living and the dead, praising
the Lord for His mercies and praying to Him for yet further favors! I
do not know how to plead with you as fervently as I wish to do, but I
trust that I have set my text before you in such a way as to make you
cry to the Lord, "If Your Presence go not with us, carry us not up
hence."
Finally, let us ask for greater faith. When sailing in the little ship,
you had the little man's faith. You are about to step on board the
larger vessel, so seek to get larger faith in proportion to it. Suppose
we all had three times as much faith as we now possess–might we not do
three times as much work? Yes, but surely that will not be our limit,
will it? No, Lord, give us 10 times as much faith! Take away our
unbelief! Help us to believe Your Word and teach us to act as though we
believed it! Then shall we see far greater things than we have ever yet
seen.
My dear Friends, after all, the main objective of our ministry is the
winning of souls to God. Have I any here who have listened to me for
these seven years, but who are still unconverted? Oh, what if this last
hour in this house should be
the time of your conversion? Soul, are you willing to die without a
hope in Christ? Surely not! You know yourself to be lost, ruined and
undone. I pray you, just as you are, to make a confession of your guilt
and come to Christ's Cross! He is just as willing to receive you, now,
as He was when I first addressed you seven years ago! Though you have
refused His invitation all these years, His heart still yearns with
compassion over you. He has spared your life until now! He has not cut
down the old cumber-ground yet. Sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved! O Spirit of God, change the sinner's
heart! Give him faith that he may now cast himself on Christ! "Come
now"–NOW, this moment– "and let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." May each one of us
now pray the prayer of the penitent thief upon the cross, "Lord,
remember me when You come into Your Kingdom!" Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 SAMUEL 7:18-29.
Verse 18. Then went King David in, and sat before the LORD. This was
not the usual Oriental posture of prayer, but David was mingling
meditation with his supplication, so that his attitude was not
according to ordinary rules.
18. And he said, Who am I, OLord GOD?Why, you are David, the valiant
man who slew Goliath! No, no, no–the man of God is nobody in his own
esteem!
18, 19. And what is my house that You have brought me up to now? And
this was yet a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; but You have
spoken also of Your servant's house for a great while to come. And is
this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? No, it is not the manner of man in
general, but it is the manner of the Man Christ Jesus!
20-22. And what can David say more unto You? For You, Lord GOD, know
Your servant For Your word's sake, and according to Your own heart,
have You done all these great things, to make Your servant know them.
Therefore You are great, O LORD God: for there is none like You,
neither is there any God beside You, according to all that we have
heard with our ears. There is some sweet doctrine here! The Lord
blesses David, not because of David's virtue, or David's merit, or
David's prowess, but for His own sake–"For Your word's sake, and
according to Your own heart, have You done all these great things, to
make Your servant know them." The reason why streams of love flow from
God is just this–it is according to His Nature. He is a fountain, so
the blessing must flow from Him. He is a sun, so He must shine. It is
not only because we need His love, but because, "God is Love," that His
love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to
us. Now what is the inference from all this? Does David say,
"Therefore, O Lord, I am great and honorable"? Oh, no! He has nothing
to say in praise of himself! He says, "Therefore You are great, O Lord
God: for there is none like You, neither is there any God beside You,
according to all that we have heard with our ears."
23-25. And what one nation in the earth is like Your people, even like
Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make
Him a name, and to do for You great things and terrible, for Your land,
before Your people, which You redeemed to You from Egypt, from the
nations and their gods? For You have confirmed to Yourself Your people
Israel to be a people unto You forever: and You, LORD, have become
their God. And now, O LORD God, the word that You have spoken
concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever,
and do as You have said. What a blessed prayer this is, "Do as You have
said"! Get hold of a promise of the Lord, take it to the Throne of
Grace and then urge this plea, "Do as You have said." It is a good
argument for every upright man to use when he reminds Him of His
promise and asks Him to keep His pledged word. And we certainly may use
this plea with the thrice holy God–"Do as You have said."
26. And let Your name be magnified forever Or, "be greatened"–be made
great "forever." Notice the way David returns to God the words that
were addressed to himself. The Lord said to him, "I have made you a
great name, like unto the name of the great that are in the earth." And
David replies, "Let Your name be made great forever. You, Jehovah of
Hosts, are God over Israel; if You have made me king, and if my throne
shall be established, much more shall Yours."
26, 27. Saying, The LORD ofHosts is the God over Israel: and let the
house ofYour servant David be established before You. For You, O LORD
ofHosts, God of Israel Notice how the name of the Lord seems to grow in
this chapter until here it comes to its full force, dignity and
majesty–"You, O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel."
27. Have revealed to Your servant, saying, I will build you an house:
therefore has Your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto
You. That is the best place to find a prayer–in your heart–no prayer
comes up before God, with acceptance, but that which comes out of the
very heart which should be like the sacred ark of old, wherein were
hidden Israel's most precious things. God's words had gone right down
into David's heart and touched the secret springs of it–and now they
welled up in this blessed prayer!
28. 29. And now, O Lord GOD, You are that God, and Your words are true,
and You havepromised this goodness unto Your servant: therefore now let
it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue
forever before You: for You, OLord GOD, have spoken it There is that
grand pleading again–"You, O Lord God, have spoken it." If you can
remind God of His own promise, you may have whatever you will of Him.
If He has said anything, His word shall surely be fulfilled.
29. And with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed
forever
–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.