No Compromise
A Sermon
(No. 2047)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, October 7th, 1888, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the [8]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be
willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again
unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him,
Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The LORD God of
heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my
kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto
thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee,
and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman
will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this
my oath: only bring not my son thither again."'Genesis 24:5-8.
Genesis is both the book of beginnings and the book of dispensations.
You know what use Paul makes of Sarah and Hagar, of Esau and Jacob, and
the like. Genesis is, all through, a book instructing the reader in the
dispensations of God towards man. Paul saith, in a certain place,
"which things are an allegory," by which he did not mean that they were
not literal facts, but that, being literal facts, they might also be
used instructively as an allegory. So may I say of this chapter. It
records what actually was said and done; but at the same time, it bears
within it allegorical instruction with regard to heavenly things. The
true minister of Christ is like this Eleazar of Damascus; he is sent to
find a wife for his Master's son. His great desire is, that many shall
be presented unto Christ in the day of his appearing, as the bride, the
Lamb's wife.
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started, communed with his
master; and this is a lesson to us, who go on our Lord's errands. Let
us, before we engage in actual service, see the Master's face, talk
with him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to our minds.
Before we get to work, let us know what we are at, and on what footing
we stand. Let us hear from our Lord's own mouth what he expects us to
do, and how far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you, my
fellow-servants, never to go forth to plead with men for God until you
have first pleaded with God for men. Do not attempt to deliver a
message which you have not first of all yourself received by his Holy
Spirit. Come out of the chamber of fellowship with God into the pulpit
of ministry among men, and there will be a freshness and a power about
you which none shall be able to resist. Abraham's servant spoke and
acted as one who felt bound to do exactly what his master bade him, and
to say what his master told him; hence his one anxiety was to know the
essence and measure of his commission. During his converse with his
master he mentioned one little point about which there might be a
hitch; and his master soon removed the difficulty from his mind. It is
about that hitch, which has occurred lately on a very large scale, and
has upset a good many of my Master's servants, that I am going to speak
this morning: may God grant that it may be to the benefit of his church
at large!
I. Beginning our sermon, we will ask you, first, to THINK OF THE
SERVANT'S JOYFUL BUT WEIGHTY ERRAND. It was a joyful errand: the bells
of marriage were ringing around him. The marriage of the heir should be
a joyful event. It was an honourable thing for the servant to be
entrusted with the finding of a wife for his master's son. Yet it was
every way a most responsible business, by no means easy of
accomplishment. Blunders might very readily occur before he was aware
of it; and he needed to have all his wits about him, and something more
than his wits, too, for so delicate a matter. He had to journey far,
over lands without track or road; he had to seek out a family which he
did not know, and to find out of that family a woman whom he did not
know, who nevertheless should be the right person to be the wife of his
master's son: all this was a great service.
The work this man undertook was a business upon which his master's
heart was set. Isaac was now forty years old, and had shown no sign of
marrying. He was of a quiet, gentle spirit, and needed a more active
spirit to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him of the
solace of his life, which he had found in his mother, and had, no
doubt, made him desire tender companionship. Abraham himself was old,
and well stricken in years; and he very naturally wished to see the
promise beginning to be fulfilled, that in Isaac should his seed be
called. Therefore, with great anxiety, which is indicated by his making
his servant swear an oath of a most solemn kind, he gave him the
commission to go to the old family abode in Mesopotamia, and seek for
Isaac a bride from thence. Although that family was not all that could
be desired, yet it was the best he knew of; and as some heavenly light
lingered there, he hoped to find in that place the best wife for his
son. The business was, however, a serious one which he committed to his
servant. My brethren, this is nothing compared with the weight which
hangs on the true minister of Christ. All the Great Father's heart is
set on giving to Christ a church which shall be his beloved for ever.
Jesus must not be alone: his church must be his dear companion. The
Father would find a bride for the great Bridegroom, a recompense for
the Redeemer, a solace for the Saviour: therefore he lays it upon all
whom he calls to tell out the gospel, that we should seek souls for
Jesus, and never rest till hearts are wedded to the Son of God. Oh, for
grace to carry out this commission!
This message was the more weighty because of the person for whom the
spouse was sought. Isaac was an extraordinary personage; indeed, to the
servant he was unique. He was a man born according to promise, not
after the flesh, but by the power of God; and you know how in Christ,
and in all that are one with Christ, the life comes by the promise and
the power of God, and springeth not of man. Isaac was himself the
fulfillment of promise, and the heir of the promise. Infinitely
glorious is our Lord Jesus as the Son of man! Who shall declare his
generation? Where shall be found a helpmeet for him? a soul fit to be
espoused unto him? Isaac had been sacrificed; he had been laid upon the
altar, and although he did not actually die, his father's hand had
unsheathed the knife wherewith to slay him. Abraham in spirit had
offered up his son; and you know who he is of whom we preach, and for
whom we preach, even Jesus, who has laid down his life a sacrifice for
sinners. He has been presented as a whole burnt-offering unto God. Oh!
by the wounds, and by the bloody sweat, I ask you where shall we find a
heart fit to be wedded to him? How shall we find men and women who can
worthily recompense love so amazing, so divine, as that of him who died
the death of the cross? Isaac had also been, in a figure, raised from
the dead. To his father he was "as good as dead," as said the apostle;
and he was given back to him from the dead. But our blessed Lord has
actually risen from an actual death, and stands before us this day as
the Conqueror of death, and the Spoiler of the grave. Who shall be
joined to this Conqueror? Who is fit to dwell in glory with this
glorious One? One would have thought that every heart would aspire to
such happiness, and leap in prospect of such peerless honour, and that
none would shrink back except through a sense of great unworthiness.
Alas! it is not so, though so it ought to be.
What a weighty errand have we to fulfil to find those who shall be
linked for ever in holy union with the Heir of the promise, even the
sacrificed and risen One! Isaac was everything to Abraham. Abraham
would have said to Isaac, "All that I have is thine." So is it true of
our blessed Lord, whom he hath made Heir of all things; by whom also he
made the worlds, that "it pleased the Father that in him should all
fulness dwell." What a dignity will be put upon any of you who are
married to Christ! To what a height of eminence will you be uplifted by
becoming one with Jesus! O preacher, what a work hast thou to do
to-day, to find out those to whom thou shalt give the bracelet, and
upon whose face thou shalt hang the jewel! To whom shall I say, "Wilt
thou give thy heart to my Lord! Wilt thou have Jesus to be thy
confidence, thy salvation, thine all in all? Art thou willing to become
his that he may be thine?"
Said I not truly that it was a joyful, but a weighty errand, when you
think what she must be to whom his master's son should be espoused? She
must, at least, be willing and beautiful. In the day of God's power,
hearts are made willing. There can be no marriage to Jesus without a
heart of love. Where shall we find this willing heart? Only where the
grace of God has wrought it. Ah, then, I see how I may find beauty,
too, among the sons of men! Marred as our nature is by sin, only the
Holy Spirit can impart that beauty of holiness which will enable the
Lord Jesus to see comeliness in his chosen. Alas! in our hearts there
is an aversion to Christ, and an unwillingness to accept of him, and at
the same time a terrible unfitness and unworthiness! The Spirit of God
implants a love which is of heavenly origin, and renews the heart by a
regeneration from above; and then we seek to be one with Jesus, but not
till then. See, then, how our errand calls for the help of God himself.
Think what she will become who is to be married to Isaac? She is to be
his delight; his loving friend and companion. She is to be partner of
all his wealth; and specially is she to be a partaker in the great
covenant promise, which was peculiarly entailed upon Abraham and his
family. When a sinner comes to Christ, what does Christ make of him?
His delight is in him: he communes with him; he hears his prayer, he
accepts his praise; he works in him and with him, and glorifies himself
in him. He makes the believing man joint-heir with himself of all that
he has, and introduces him into the covenant treasure-house, wherein
the riches and glory of God are stored up for his chosen. Ah, dear
friends! it is a very small business in the esteem of some to preach
the gospel; and yet, if God is with us, ours is more than angels'
service. In a humble way you are telling of Jesus to your boys and
girls in your classes; and some will despise you as "only Sunday-school
teachers"; but your work has a spiritual weight about it unknown to
conclaves of senators, and absent from the counsels of emperors. Upon
what you say, death, and hell, and worlds unknown are hanging. You are
working out the destinies of immortal spirits, turning souls from ruin
to glory, from sin to holiness.
"'Tis not a work of small import
Your loving care demands;
But what might fill an angel's heart,
And filled the Saviour's hands."
In carrying out his commission, this servant must spare no exertion. It
would be required of him to journey to a great distance, having a
general indication of direction, but not knowing the way. He must have
divine guidance and protection. When he reached the place, he must
exercise great common-sense, and at the same time a trustful dependence
upon the goodness and wisdom of God. It would be a wonder of wonders if
he ever met the chosen woman, and only the Lord could bring it to pass.
He had all the care and the faith required. We have read the story of
how he journeyed, and prayed, and pleaded. We should have cried, "Who
is sufficient for these things?" but we see that the Lord Jehovah made
him sufficient, and his mission was happily carried out. How can we put
ourselves into the right position to get at sinners, and win them for
Jesus? How can we learn to speak the right words? How shall we suit our
teaching to the condition of their hearts? How shall we adapt ourselves
to their feelings, their prejudices, their sorrows, and their
temptations? Brethren, we who preach the gospel continually may well
cry, "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." To seek
for pearls at the bottom of the sea is child's play compared with
seeking for souls in this wicked London. If God be not with us, we may
look our eyes out, and wear our tongues away in vain. Only as the
Almighty God shall lead, and guide, and influence, and inspire, can we
perform our solemn trust; only by divine help shall we joyfully come
back, bringing with us the chosen of the Lord. We are the Bridegroom's
friends, and we rejoice greatly in his joy, but we sigh and cry till we
have found the chosen hearts in whom he will delight, whom he shall
raise to sit with him upon his throne.
II. Secondly, I would have you CONSIDER THE REASONABLE FEAR WHICH IS
MENTIONED. Abraham's servant said, "Peradventure the woman will not be
willing to follow me unto this land." This is a very serious, grave,
and common difficulty. If the woman be not willing, nothing can be
done; force and fraud are out of the question; there must be a true
will, or there can be no marriage in this instance. Here was the
difficulty: here was a will to be dealt with. Ah, my brethren! this is
our difficulty still. Let me describe this difficulty in detail as it
appeared to the servant, and appears to us.
She may not believe my report, or be impressed by it. When I come to
her, and tell her that I am sent by Abraham, she may look me in the
face, and say, "There be many deceivers nowadays." If I tell her that
my master's son is surpassingly beautiful and rich, and that he would
fain take her to himself, she may answer, "Strange tales and romances
are common in these days; but the prudent do not quit their homes."
Brethren, in our case this is a sad fact. The great evangelical prophet
cried of old, "Who hath believed our report?" We also cry in the same
words. Men care not for the report of God's great love to the
rebellious sons of men. They do not believe that the infinitely
glorious Lord is seeking the love of poor, insignificant man, and to
win it has laid down his life. Calvary, with its wealth of mercy,
grief, love, and merit, is disregarded. Indeed, we tell a wonderful
story, and it may well seem too good to be true; but it is sad indeed
that the multitude of men go their ways after trifles, and count these
grand realities to be but dreams. I am bowed down with dismay that my
Lord's great love, which led him even to die for men, should hardly be
thought worthy of your hearing, much less of your believing. Here is a
heavenly marriage, and right royal nuptials placed within your reach;
but with a sneer you turn aside, and prefer the witcheries of sin.
There was another difficulty: she was expected to feel a love to one
she had never seen. She had only newly heard that there was such a
person as Isaac, but yet she must love him enough to leave her kindred,
and go to a distant land. This could only be because she recognized the
will of Jehovah in the matter. Ah, my dear hearers! all that we tell
you is concerning things not seen as yet; and here is our difficulty.
You have eyes, and you want to see everything; you have hands, and you
want to handle everything; but there is one whom you cannot see as yet,
who has won our love because of what we believe concerning him. We can
truly say of him, "Whom having not seen, we love: in whom, though now
we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory." I know that you answer our request thus: "You demand too
much of us when you ask us to love a Christ we have never seen." I can
only answer, "It is even so: we do ask more of you than we expect to
receive." Unless God the Holy Ghost shall work a miracle of grace upon
your hearts, you will not be persuaded by us to quit your old
associations, and join yourselves to our beloved Lord. And yet, if you
did come to him, and love him, he would more than content you; for you
would find in him rest unto your souls, and a peace which passeth all
understanding.
Abraham's servant may have thought: She may refuse to make so great a
change as to quit Mesopotamia for Canaan. She had been born and bred
away there in a settled country, and all her associations were with her
father's house; and to marry Isaac she must tear herself away. So, too,
you cannot have Jesus, and have the world too: you must break with sin
to be joined to Jesus. You must come away from the licentious world,
the fashionable world, the scientific world, and from the (so-called)
religious world. If you become a Christian, you must quit old habits,
old motives, old ambitions, old pleasures, old boasts, old modes of
thought. All things must become new. You must leave the things you have
loved, and seek many of those things which you have hitherto despised.
There must come to you as great a change as if you had died, and were
made over again. You answer, "Must I endure all this for One whom I
have never seen, and for an inheritance on which I have never set my
foot?" It is even so. Although I am grieved that you turn away, I am
not in the least surprised, for it is not given to many to see him who
is invisible, or to choose the strait and narrow way which leadeth unto
life. The man or woman who will follow God's messenger to be married to
so strange a Bridegroom is a rare bird.
Moreover, it might be a great difficulty to Rebekah, if she had had any
difficulties at all, to think that she must henceforth lead a pilgrim
life. She would quit house and farm for tent and gipsy life. Abraham
and Isaac found no city to dwell in, but wandered from place to place,
dwelling alone, sojourners with God. Their outward mode of life was
typical of the way of faith, by which men live in the world, and are
not of it. To all intents and purposes Abraham and Isaac were out of
the world, and lived on its surface without lasting connection with it.
They were the Lord's men, and the Lord was their possession. He set
himself apart for them, and they were set apart for him. Rebekah might
well have said, "That will never do for me. I cannot outlaw myself. I
cannot quit the comforts of a settled abode to ramble over the fields
wherever the flocks may require me to roam." It does not strike the
most of mankind that it would be a good thing to be in the world, and
yet not to be of it. They are no strangers in the world, they long to
be admitted more fully into its "society." They are not aliens here
with their treasures in heaven, they long to have a good round sum on
earth, and find their heaven in enjoying it themselves, and enriching
their families. Earthworms as they are, the earth contents them. If any
man becomes unworldly, and makes spiritual things his one object, they
despise him as a dreamy enthusiast. Many men think that the things of
religion are merely meant to be read of, and to be preached about; but
that to live for them would be to spend a dreamy, unpractical
existence. Yet the spiritual is, after all, the only real: the material
is in deepest truth the visionary and unsubstantial. Still, when people
turn away because of the hardness of holy warfare, and the spirituality
of the believing life, we are not astonished, for we hardly hoped it
could be otherwise. Unless the Lord renews the heart, men will always
prefer the bird-in-the-hand of this life to the bird-in-the-bush of the
life to come.
Moreover, it might be that the woman might not care for the covenant of
promise. If she had no regard for Jehovah and his revealed will, she
was not likely to go with the man, and enter upon marriage with Isaac.
He was the Heir of the promises, the inheritor of the covenant
privileges which the Lord by oath had promised. His chosen would become
the mother of that chosen seed in whom God had ordained to bless the
world throughout all the ages, even the Messiah, the seed of the woman,
who should bruise the serpent's head.
Peradventure the woman might not see the value of the covenant, nor
appreciate the glory of the promise. The things we have to preach of,
such as life everlasting, union with Christ, resurrection from the
dead, reigning with him for ever and ever, seem to the dull hearts of
men to be as idle tales. Tell them of a high interest for their money,
of large estates to be had for a venture, or of honours to be readily
gained, and inventions to be found out, they open all their eyes and
their ears, for here is something worth knowing; but the things of God,
eternal, immortal, boundless these are of no importance to them. They
could not be induced to go from Ur to Canaan for such trifles as
eternal life, and heaven, and God.
So you see our difficulty. Many disbelieve altogether, and others cavil
and object. A greater number will not even listen to our story; and of
those who do listen, most are careless, and others dally with it, and
postpone the serious consideration. Alas! we speak to unwilling ears.
III. In the third place, I would ENLARGE UPON HIS VERY NATURAL
SUGGESTION. This prudent steward said, "Peradventure the woman will not
be willing to follow me unto this land: Must I needs bring thy son
again unto the land from whence thou camest?" If she will not come to
Isaac, shall Isaac go down to her? This is the suggestion of the
present hour: if the world will not come to Jesus, shall Jesus tone
down his teachings to the world? In other words, if the world will not
rise to the church, shall not the church go down to the world? Instead
of bidding men to be converted, and come out from among sinners, and be
separate from them, let us join with the ungodly world, enter into
union with it, and so pervade it with our influence by allowing it to
influence us. Let us have a Christian world.
To this end let us revise our doctrines. Some are old-fashioned, grim,
severe, unpopular; let us drop them out. Use the old phrases so as to
please the obstinately orthodox, but give them new meanings so as to
win philosophical infidels, who are prowling around. Pare off the edges
of unpleasant truths, and moderate the dogmatic tone of infallible
revelation: say that Abraham and Moses made mistakes, and that the
books which have been so long had in reverence are full of errors.
Undermine the old faith, and bring in the new doubt; for the times are
altered, and the spirit of the age suggests the abandonment of
everything that is too severely righteous, and too surely of God.
The deceitful adulteration of doctrine is attended by a falsification
of experience. Men are now told that they were born good, or were made
so by their infant baptism, and so that great sentence, "Ye must be
born again," is deprived of its force. Repentance is ignored, faith is
a drug in the market as compared with "honest doubt," and mourning for
sin and communion with God are dispensed with, to make way for
entertainments, and Socialism, and politics of varying shades. A new
creature in Christ Jesus is looked upon as a sour invention of bigoted
Puritans. It is true, with the same breath they extol Oliver Cromwell;
but then 1888 is not 1648. What was good and great three hundred years
ago is mere cant to-day. That is what "modern thought" is telling us;
and under its guidance all religion is being toned down. Spiritual
religion is despised, and a fashionable morality is set up in its
place. Do yourself up tidily on Sunday; behave yourself; and above all,
believe everything except what you read in the Bible, and you will be
all right. Be fashionable, and think with those who profess to be
scientific'this is the first and great commandment of the modern
school; and the second is like unto it'do not be singular, but be as
worldly as your neighbours. Thus is Isaac going down into Padan-aram:
thus is the church going down to the world.
Men seem to say'It is of no use going on in the old way, fetching out
one here and another there from the great mass. We want a quicker way.
To wait till people are born again, and become followers of Christ, is
a long process: let us abolish the separation between the regenerate
and unregenerate. Come into the church, all of you, converted or
unconverted. You have good wishes and good resolutions; that will do:
don't trouble about more. It is true you do not believe the gospel, but
neither do we. You believe something or other. Come along; if you do
not believe anything, no matter; your "honest doubt" is better by far
than faith. "But," say you, "nobody talks so." Possibly they do not use
the same words, but this is the real meaning of the present-day
religion; this is the drift of the times. I can justify the broadest
statement I have made by the action or by the speech of certain
ministers, who are treacherously betraying our holy religion under
pretence of adapting it to this progressive age. The new plan is to
assimilate the church to the world, and so include a larger area within
its bounds. By semi-dramatic performances they make houses of prayer to
approximate to the theatre; they turn their services into musical
displays, and their sermons into political harangues or philosophical
essays'in fact, they exchange the temple for the theatre, and turn the
ministers of God into actors, whose business it is to amuse men. Is it
not so, that the Lord's-day is becoming more and more a day of
recreation or of idleness, and the Lord's house either a joss-house
full of idols, or a political club, where there is more enthusiasm for
a party than zeal for God? Ah me! the hedges are broken down, the walls
are levelled, and to many there is henceforth, no church except as a
portion of the world, no God except as an unknowable force by which the
laws of nature work.
This, then, is the proposal. In order to win the world, the Lord Jesus
must conform himself, his people, and his Word to the world. I will not
dwell any longer on so loathsome a proposal.
IV. In the fourth place, NOTICE HIS MASTER'S OUTSPOKEN, BELIEVING
REPUDIATION OF THE PROPOSAL. He says, shortly and sharply, "Beware thou
that thou bring not my son thither again." The Lord Jesus Christ heads
that grand emigration party which has come right out from the world.
Addressing his disciples, he says, "Ye are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world." We are not of the world by birth, not of the
world in life, not of the world in object, not of the world in spirit,
not of the world in any respect whatever. Jesus, and those who are in
him, constitute a new race. The proposal to go back to the world is
abhorrent to our best instincts; yea, deadly to our noblest life. A
voice from heaven cries, "Bring not my son thither again." Let not the
people whom the Lord brought up out of Egypt return to the house of
bondage; but let their children come out, and be separate, and the Lord
Jehovah will be a Father unto them.
Notice how Abraham states the question. In effect, he argues it thus:
this would be to forego the divine order. "For," says Abraham, "the
Lord God of heaven took me from my father's house, and from the land of
my kindred." What, then, if he brought Abraham out, is Isaac to return?
This cannot be. Hitherto the way of God with his church has been to
sever a people from the world to be his elect'a people formed for
himself, who shall show forth his praise. Beloved, God's plan is not
altered. He will still go on calling those whom he did predestinate. Do
not let us fly in the teeth of that fact, and suppose that we can save
men on a more wholesale scale by ignoring the distinction between the
dead in sin and the living in Zion. If God had meant to bless the
family at Padan-aram by letting his chosen ones dwell among them, why
did he call Abraham out at all? If Isaac may do good by dwelling there,
why did Abraham leave? If there is no need of a separate church now,
what have we been at throughout all these ages? Has the martyr's blood
been shed out of mere folly? Have confessors and reformers been mad
when contending for doctrines which, it would seem, are of no great
account? Brethren, there are two seeds'the seed of the woman, and the
seed of the serpent'and the difference will be maintained even to the
end; neither must we ignore the distinction to please men.
For Isaac to go down to Nahor's house for a wife would be placing God
second to a wife. Abraham begins at once with a reference to Jehovah,
"the God of heaven"; for Jehovah was everything to him, and to Isaac
also. Isaac would never renounce his walk with the living God that he
might find a wife. Yet this apostasy is common enough nowadays. Men and
women who profess godliness will quit what they profess to believe in
order to get richer wives or husbands for themselves or their children.
This mercenary conduct is without excuse. "Better society" is the
cry'meaning more wealth and fashion. To the true man God is first'yea,
all in all; but God is placed at the fag-end, and everything else is
put before him by the base professor. In the name of God I call upon
you who are faithful to God and to his truth, to stand fast, whatever
you lose, and turn not aside, whatever you might gain. Count the
reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. We
want Abraham's spirit within us, and we shall have that when we have
Abraham's faith.
Abraham felt that this would be to renounce the covenant promise. See
how he puts it: "The God that took me from my father's house sware unto
me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land." Are they, then, to
leave the land, and go back to the place from which the Lord had called
them? Brethren, we also are heirs of the promise of things not seen as
yet. For the sake of this we walk by faith, and hence we become
separate from those around us. We dwell among men as Abraham dwelt
among the Canaanites; but we are of a distinct race: we are born with a
new birth, live under different laws, and act from different motives.
If we go back to the ways of worldlings, and are numbered with them, we
have renounced the covenant of our God, the promise is no longer ours,
and the eternal heritage is in other hands. Do you not know this? The
moment the church says, "I will be as the world," she has doomed
herself with the world. When the sons of God saw the daughters of men
that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose, then
the flood came, and swept them all away. So will it again happen should
the world take the church into its arms: then shall come some
overwhelming judgment, and, it may be, a deluge of devouring fire. The
covenant promise and the covenant heritage are no longer ours if we go
down to the world and quit our sojourning with the Lord.
Besides, dear friends, no good can come of trying to conform to the
world. Suppose the servant's policy could have been adopted, and Isaac
had gone down to Nahor's house, what would have been the motive? To
spare Rebekah the pain of separating from her friends and the trouble
of travelling. If those things could have kept her back, what would she
have been worth to Isaac? The test of separation was wholesome, and by
no means ought it to be omitted. She is a poor wife who would not take
a journey to reach her husband. And all the converts that the church
will ever make by softening down its doctrine, and by becoming worldly,
will not be worth one bad farthing a gross. When we get them, the next
question will be, "How can we get rid of them?" They would be of no
earthly use to us. It swelled the number of Israelites when they came
out of Egypt that a great number of the lower order of Egyptians came
out with them. Yes, but that mixed multitude became the plague of
Israel in the wilderness, and we read that "the mixt multitude fell a
lusting." The Israelites were bad enough, but it was the mixed
multitude that always led the way in murmuring. Why is there such
spiritual death to-day? Why is false doctrine so rampant in the
churches? It is because we have ungodly people in the church and in the
ministry. Eagerness for numbers, and especially eagerness to include
respectable people, has adulterated many churches, and made them lax in
doctrine and practice, and fond of silly amusements. These are the
people who despise a prayer-meeting, but rush to see "living waxworks"
in their schoolrooms. God save us from converts who are made by
lowering the standard, and tarnishing the spiritual glory of the
church! No, no; if Isaac is to have a wife worthy of him, she will come
away from Laban and the rest, and she will not mind a journey on
camel-back. True converts are never daunted by truth or holiness'these,
in fact, are the things which charm them.
Besides, Abraham felt that there could be no reason for taking Isaac
down there, for the Lord would assuredly find him a wife. Abraham said,
"He shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto
my son from thence." Are you afraid that preaching the gospel will not
win souls? Are you despondent as to success in God's way? Is this why
you pine for clever oratory? Is this why you must have music, and
architecture, and flowers, and millinery? After all, is it by might and
by power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so in the opinion of
many. Brethren beloved, there are many things which I might allow to
other worshippers which I have denied myself in conducting the worship
of this congregation. I have long worked out before your very eyes the
experiment of the unaided attractiveness of the gospel of Jesus. Our
service is severely plain. No man ever comes hither to gratify his eye
with art, or his ear with music. I have set before you, these many
years, nothing but Christ crucified, and the simplicity of the gospel;
yet where will you find such a crowd as this gathered together this
morning? Where will you find such a multitude as this meeting, Sabbath
after Sabbath, for five-and-thirty years? I have shown you nothing but
the cross, the cross without the flowers of oratory, the cross without
the blue lights of superstition or excitement, the cross without
diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross without the buttresses of a
boastful science. It is abundantly sufficient to attract men first to
itself, and afterwards to eternal life! In this house we have proved
successfully, these many years, this great truth, that the gospel
plainly preached will gain an audience, convert sinners, and build up
and sustain a church. We beseech the people of God to mark that there
is no need to try doubtful expedients and questionable methods. God
will save by the gospel still: only let it be the gospel in its purity.
This grand old sword will cleave a man's chine, and split a rock in
halves. How is it that it does so little of its old conquering work? I
will tell you. Do you see this scabbard of artistic work, so
wonderfully elaborated? Full many keep the sword in this scabbard, and
therefore its edge never gets to its work. Pull off that scabbard.
Fling that fine sheath to Hades, and then see how, in the Lord's hands,
that glorious two-handed sword will mow down fields of men as mowers
level the grass with their scythes. There is no need to go down to
Egypt for help. To invite the devil to help Christ is shameful. Please
God, we shall see prosperity yet, when the church of God is resolved
never to seek it except in God's own way.
V. And now, fifthly, observe HIS RIGHTEOUS ABSOLUTION OF HIS SERVANT.
"If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be
clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again."
When we lie a-dying, if we have faithfully preached the gospel, our
conscience will not accuse us for having kept closely to it: we shall
not mourn that we did not play the fool or the politician in order to
increase our congregation. Oh, no! our Master will give us full
absolution, even if few be gathered in, so long as we have been true to
him. "If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
be clear from this my oath; only bring not my son thither again." Do
not try the dodges which debase religion. Keep to the simple gospel;
and if the people are not converted by it, you will be clear. My dear
hearers, how much I long to see you saved! But I would not belie my
Lord, even to win your souls, if they could be so won. The true servant
of God is responsible for diligence and faithfulness; but he is not
responsible for success or non-success. Results are in God's hands. If
that dear child in your class is not converted, yet if you have set
before him the gospel of Jesus Christ with loving, prayerful
earnestness, you shall not be without your reward. If I preach from my
very soul the grand truth that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will save
my hearers, and if I persuade and entreat them to believe in Jesus unto
eternal life; if they will not do so, their blood will lie upon their
own heads. When I go back to my Master, if I have faithfully told out
his message of free grace and dying love, I shall be clear. I have
often prayed that I might be able to say at the last what George Fox
could so truly say: "I am clear, I am clear!" It is my highest ambition
to be clear of the blood of all men. I have preached God's truth, so
far as I know it, and I have not been ashamed of its peculiarities.
That I might not stultify my testimony I have cut myself clear of those
who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them.
What more can I do to be honest with you? If, after all, men will not
have Christ, and his gospel, and his rule, it is their own concern. If
Rebekah had not come to Isaac she would have lost her place in the holy
line. My beloved hearer, will you have Jesus Christ or not? He has come
into the world to save sinners, and he casts out none. Will you accept
him? Will you trust him? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved." Will you believe him? Will you be baptized into his name? If
so, salvation is yours; but if not, he himself hath said it, "He that
believeth not shall be damned." Oh, do not expose yourselves to that
damnation! Or, if you are set upon it; then, when the great white
throne shall be seen in yonder skies, and the day of wrath has come, do
me the justice to acknowledge that I bade you flee to Jesus, and that I
did not amuse you with novel theories. I have brought neither flute,
harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, nor any other kind of music to
please your ears, but I have set Christ crucified before you, and
bidden you believe and live. If you refuse to accept the substitution
of Christ, you have refused your own mercies. Clear me in that day of
all complicity with the novel inventions of deluded men. As for my
Lord, I pray of him grace to be faithful to the end, both to his truth,
and to your souls. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Genesis 24.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"'166, 928, 884.