Rest As a Test
(No. 2748)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 13, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
4, 1879.
"Ask for the old path, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you
shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16.
A VERY short time ago, I gave you, in print, [See The Swordand the
Trowel, March, 1879, "Incidents of Travel Clustering Round a
Text"–contact Pilgrim Publications, Pasadena, TX,
www.pilgrimpublications.com for availability and prices.] a sermon upon
this text which, I daresay many of you well remember. I am not now
going to pursue the same line of thought as I then followed. I have
taken this text again, not to preach from all its words so much as from
one single Truth of God which is clear in it, namely, that you may
judge which is the old path and which is the good way in which you
ought to walk, by this test–if you are in the old path, the good
way–you find rest for your soul. You may, therefore, judge of your
position at the present moment and test the quality of your
religion–for there are many false faiths, erroneous creeds, man-made
religions and evil spirits that have gone out into the world. But you
may try them all by this test if you are, indeed, in the old path, the
good way–in God's own way–you find rest for your soul!
I need not have taken the same text again, for this Truth is clearly
taught in many other passages of Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in
that memorable soul-saving invitation of His, says, "Come unto Me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and
you shall find rest unto your souls." From these words it is clear that
if I have really come to Christ, He has given me rest. And if I have,
in very deed, taken His yoke upon me and learned of Him, I have found a
still further rest. But if I neither have rest given to me, nor have a
rest which I find, I am led to the conclusion that I have not come to
Christ and am not wearing His easy yoke. Is not that clear reasoning
and should we not thus judge ourselves by what is so manifestly true?
Moreover, we have not only the words of Christ to support us in this
reasoning, but we know that it is the distinguishing feature of His
Gospel that it does give this rest of heart. The types and sacrifices
under the Law never gave any permanent rest, for, although he who
brought a sin-offering found peace for the moment, by-and-by he had to
bring another sacrifice. The great Day of Atonement, when it was duly
observed with all its holy pomp and ceremony, brought a blessing on the
people, but there had to be another Day of Atonement the next year.
Now, if the consciences of those who presented the various victims had
been cleansed from dead works, there would have been no need that there
should be a further remembrance made of sin. But none of these things
could make the comers thereunto perfect–rest of conscience was not
possible under the shadows–it is only to be found in the Substance.
Every morning had its bleeding lamb and every evening had another
bleeding lamb–blood was perpetually being shed–
"Fresh blood as constant as the day, Was on their altar spilt"–
but our Lord Jesus Christ has this testimony for His Glory alone, "this
Man, after He had offered one Sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God," for all His sacrificial work was done!
In the Atonement of Christ, there is a real and effectual expiation
which there was not in all the types of the Law of God–and the man who
has once received that expiation is forever absolved before the
Judgment Seat of God from all his sin. Having believed in Jesus, he
sees in his Savior's Sacrifice a full Atonement for the whole of his
guiltiness and realizes that he is delivered from it! And, therefore,
he has peace and rest of heart, for Jesus makes us perfect in the
things that
appertain to the conscience. Walking in the Light of God as He is in
the Light, His blood cleanses us from all sin and we understand what
Paul meant when he wrote, "There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit."
If you have not found rest of heart, dear Friend, you have missed that
blessing which is peculiar to the Gospel dispensation. If you have not
found in Christ perfect quiet for your soul, you put Him on a level
with Moses and you seem to make out that you will need either another
sacrifice, or another something to make you clear of guilt in the sight
of God. This would be casting Christ down from His priestly throne and
robbing Him of the brightest jewel in His crown–and this we must never
do! So, if we have found the right way and are walking in it, we must
have rest for our soul, for this is the peculiar mark of it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the parable of the prodigal son, pictured to
us the result of returning to God in the right way. I need scarcely
quote our Savior's words, for you are probably all familiar with them.
That younger son had no rest while he joined himself to a citizen of
the far country who sent him into his fields to feed his swine. He
hungered and he thirsted all the while he was there–but he had no
sooner come home and confessed his faults in his father's ear, and
received his father's kisses and words of welcome, than where do we see
him? Toiling to gain acceptance with his father? Working in his
father's fields until he has earned the right to be again called a son?
No, but received with music and dancing, in the best room of his
father's house, to be fed upon the daintiest fare that his father's
household could afford, and to be welcomed back to his father's heart,
to go no more out forever! Well, now, if you have never heard any music
and dancing–if your soul has never partaken of the fatted calf–if the
Father's kiss has never breathed peace to your troubled spirit, then, I
think you cannot have come home to the great Father, for, had you done
so, there would have been peace in your heart and conscience!
Further, we find that this rest which is spoken of in the text has come
to those who have trodden the good old way. There are plenty of
instances in the Word of God, but one will suffice us as a specimen of
many more. How restful is the Apostle Paul even amid much that might
perplex him! When he is writing his letters, he seems as if he wrote
poetry rather than prose when he begins to touch upon the condition of
a justified man. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." You know that there are many
other passages to the same effect which I need not quote, all of which
prove that he had true peace of heart. Think, too, of his behavior
under trying circumstances–what wonderful calmness he exhibited in
times of trial! Before Nero, the cruel lion, on board ship when the
vessel was driven upon the rocks, or in the prison where he and Silas
sang the praises of God at midnight–wherever you find him–even when
he becomes "such an one as Paul the Aged" and he needs his cloak, for
the Mamertine Prison is cold, still he is always calm, quiet, happy,
peaceful!
Yet I need not quote the case of the Apostle Paul–there are multitudes
of Christian men and women alive who are equally witnesses that the
good old way is the way of peace! They are disturbed, sometimes, yet
their heart is not troubled. I know, perhaps, as well as anyone here,
what deep depression of spirit means–and what it is to feel myself
sinking lower and lower–yet, at the worst, when I reach the lowest
depths, I have an inward peace which no pain or depression of spirit
can in the least disturb! Trusting in Jesus Christ, my Savior, there is
still a blessed quietness in the deep caverns of my soul though, upon
the surface, a rough tempest may be raging and there may be but little
apparent calm. Many of you also know that it is so with you. If you
have come to terms with God, through Jesus Christ, the great
Reconciler, then there is for you, "the peace of God, which passes all
understanding," which, "shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus."
I. This, then, is the kind of plumb line that we are going to use to
see whether our soul is upright, whether the foundation of our
spiritual building is well and truly laid–IF WE ARE REALLY IN THE GOOD
OLD WAY, WE HAVE FOUND REST UNTO OUR SOULS.
This rule proves the rightness of the way of salvation by Grace alone
through faith in Jesus Christ, for, if you examine all the ways that
are opposed to this, you will find that they bring no rest whatever.
All the other ways are only different forms of seeking salvation by our
own works. The Roman Catholic church has embodied to the very full the
doctrine of salvation by works with which, indeed, is our great
quarrel–the same that Martin Luther took up. The Papists would have it
that works justify a sinner, but Luther rightly maintained, according
to the teaching of Scripture, that faith alone justifies in the sight
of God.
Well, now, according to this way of justification by works, they tell
us that a man is accounted just before God because of his good works,
especially such as his attendances at the various ceremonies of the
church, his reception of "sacraments" and the like. But I am bold
enough to say that no one in the church of Rome has ever or ever could
have, legitimately, any rest of heart through his own good deeds,
either living or dying! I have purposely added the word, "dying,"
because I want you to note what is the highest state of blessing to
which the best Catholics hope to attain at death. When I was in Rome I
stood in the church of St. John Lateran and I saw there a notice that
there was to be "a mass for the repose of the soul of his eminence,
Cardinal Wiseman." "Well," I thought to myself, "if there ever was a
man who served his church well, and who was distinguished, not only as
a saint, but as a prince of the church, surely this was the man–yet
when the cardinal dies, he goes somewhere or other–I do not know
where–but it is somewhere where he has not any repose because there
are to be masses for the repose of his soul! As there were for the
repose of the soul of the late pope. Now, if even popes and cardinals
go where they do not have any repose, where do ordinary Catholics go?
It must be a very poor outlook for them! If I were in their place, I
would turn Protestant, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and go to Heaven
when I die! There is nothing to be had, you see, for money. The best
thing that man can do is not worth anything in the sight of God–so let
no one of us place the slightest reliance upon it.
Take any other form of this error and you will find that there is no
rest in it. The common, somewhat diluted, Protestantized doctrine of
salvation by works has the same flaw in it. If I am to be saved by my
own works, when may I know that I have done enough? Never! Never! Even
if I couldhave ever done enough in quantity, I shall soon undo it all
by some sin or mistake which would make it valueless! And if I should
persevere in well-doing even to the end of my life and do the best I
can all the while, have I not reason to fear that I might still fall
short of the Divine standard because my motive or my spirit is faulty
and so, at the last, I would not have the quantity of good works
necessary to make me a Christian? Unless you lessen the requirements of
the Law of God, salvation by works can only be possible upon the
condition of absolute perfection–but absolute perfection is beyond any
man's reach, seeing that he has already sinned!
If, however, you lower the standard and say that sincere obedience will
avail instead of perfect obedience, who is to decide as to the
sincerity? How is a man to be certain, even then, he is always sincere?
May he not, sometime or other, have a mixture of insincerity with his
1ove? And if so, may not that, like a little leaven, sour the whole
lump? So unsatisfactory and unreliable is this doctrine of salvation by
works that Cardinal Bellarmine, who was one of the greatest of the
Romish theologians, towards his latter end used words something like
these–"that, while it is right to tell the people that they must be
saved by their works, yet, inasmuch as few persons can ever tell that
they have done sufficient good works to merit salvation, it is,
probably, upon the whole, safer to trust in the blood of Jesus Christ
than in our own works." And I hope that the cardinal himself did so!
If you put your trust in the blood of Jesus and rely for salvation upon
what Christ has done, you may not only say that it is, upon the whole,
safer than trusting in what you do, yourself, but you may be sure that
it is altogether the better, the more Divine, the truer way–for among
many other blessings, it gives you peace and rest–which the other
system never does and never can! To be continually flogged, like the
galley slave tugging at the oar and to have your conscience always
crying, "Do, do, do this and you shall live! Fail in doing this and you
shall die," is to live a dog's life, a slave's life–no, it is to
remain dead in trespasses and sins! But when you come to the Gospel
plan of salvation–"Believe and live! Trust Christ and you are both
accounted righteous and made righteous! Rely upon what Jesus Christ has
done and suffered and is still doing"–then you have God's Word to rely
upon! More–"he that believes on the Son has everlasting life." "He
that believes on Him is not condemned." "He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved." When I have complied with the conditions God
lays down, that is, when I have believed in Jesus and have been
baptized, I say, "It is enough, my Lord! Your servant is saved–here I
find rest unto my soul." O Beloved, ask for the old path of pardon
through the Savior's Sacrifice, and walk in it, and you shall find rest
unto your souls!
Another old way that I want you to walk in is the way of believing the
Word Of God like a little child. Here is this blessed Book and I can
honestly declare that, as a rule, I see only one meaning to it. Yet, as
I read it, I find that there are some difficult passages which I cannot
understand. I try all I can, but if I fail, I rejoice that my Heavenly
Father will not condemn me if I do not understand them. How can a
little child understand all that his father knows? I am glad that there
are some difficult passages, because they are a trial to my faith! Yet
all that is essential for me to know, it seems to me, is as plain as
possible when I just read it as I would read another book. But there
are some people who always read
the Bible through red or green spectacles–and they see there some
wonderful system of theology which I have never yet discovered. In
fact, they can find in a text of Scripture what no ordinary person ever
would see. I think they must put it there before they find it, though I
suppose they do not think so. Then there are others who read the Bible
philosophically. I do not know, often, what they mean, nor can I make
heads or tails of what they say–one needs to have been born in Germany
in order to understand some of their remarks. They seem to enshroud the
Bible with a cloud of smoke, so that they do not see in it what I
perceive, but they see something very wonderful, indeed! Ah, well,
Brothers and Sisters! I believe that you do not get any peace for your
soul out of God's Word either by trying to clip it down to fit in with
some system of your own making, or by spiriting it away in some
metaphysical incomprehensibility. But if you just take the Bible in its
plain sense and say, "That seems to me to be what my Heavenly Father
means by this passage. It looks very simple and clear to me. I, an
unsophisticated person, reading it after seeking the Holy Spirit's
instruction and guidance, think it is so and I believe it, and I act
upon it," you will find peace and rest of heart in that way of studying
the Scriptures.
Everybody wants to have an anchorage somewhere or other. Many have gone
over to Rome because they foolishly imagined that they would find there
an Infallible church, but if you believe in an Infallible Bible and in
an Infallible Spirit explaining it, you have all the Infallibility that
is necessary for mental and spiritual rest! And let me assure you that
if you will but determine that you will believe whatever God says
simply because He says it, whether you understand it or not, and if
this Book becomes to you the standard of appeal on all disputed points,
you shall find rest unto your souls instead of the disquietude which is
bred so abundantly by so-called "thinking" gentlemen, in these modern
times, and which is fed by the articles in Reviews which spread all
sorts of doubt on every hand! If you will just come to the Bible and
say–
"This is the Judge that ends the strife, Where wit and reason fail"–
you will find rest unto your souls! That is another good old way in
which I urge you to walk.
A third way I can recommend to you for giving peace of mind and heart
is the way of living daily by faith in God. A great many persons fall
into the idea that life is to be divided into two parts–so much is
secular and so much is religious. That is a gross error! The whole of a
Christian's life should be religious. It should be just as much a part
of his religion to deal honestly in trade as to be orthodox in his
creed. We are to live unto Christ! We are, as an old saint expressed
it, to eat and drink and sleep eternal life. "We are Christians," would
have been the answer of the first disciples of Christ if you had asked
them what they were. Are you a tent-maker, Paul? "I am a Christian."
But you make tents, do you not? "Yes, but I do it all for Christ." How
so? You take the money for the tents and live upon it. "That is in
order that I may not be chargeable unto any, that thereby the Gospel of
Jesus Christ may be freely proclaimed among the heathen. Every stitch I
take through the hard canvas is done for Jesus Christ, my Lord and
Savior. While I live, I live unto Him and when I die, I shall go to be
with Him forever." Well, now, Beloved, your whole life should be like
that–you should spend it all for Christ!
See that the whole of it comes under the governance of faith in God.
Have faith in God about everything–even about that little child that
is evidently sickening–trust the child with God. Have faith about that
doubtful customer whose bill is running up so high–I do not mean have
faith in him, but trust in God, and then use the right means to prevent
the man from robbing you. Bring everything to God by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving. It is wonderful how differently the
days roll round when they are prayed over, to what they do when you
enter upon them entirely by yourself. If you ask God's guidance even
about little things and especially about the things in which you think
you do not need any guidance–for that is, often, where you need it
most–your days shall be spent in peace and restfulness. If you have
learned to bring every burden to the Lord, every care, every trial and
every loss–yes, and every joy–then you shall find rest unto your
souls, for this is the good old way of living by faith in which Abraham
walked–and it is the way of peace and rest.
Another good old way is the way of obedience to the Divine commands.
You can be your own master if you like, but that is not the way of
peace. If God is your Master and you consult His will in everything and
say, "I might have preferred to do that, but instead, I shall do this
because I see that it is in agreement with the command of God," you
will have peace of mind and heart in doing it. But you would have found
no peace in doing the other thing. Suppose that do-
ing right should involve you in trouble? You will be able to bear it
very cheerfully because you will say, "this comes through no fault of
mine, and it is a pleasure to suffer for doing right." I saw, the other
day, a picture of John Bradford, the martyr, kissing the stake. He was
represented as standing against the stake by which he was to be burnt
alive and he was embracing it and kissing it! How could he do that? It
is no joyous matter to be burned to death, but he felt that as he must
die for the Truth of God, and for faithfulness to his God, it was a
sweet thing so to die! There is not much stake-kissing, I am afraid,
among us now, but it ought to come to that–and it does when a man,
conscientiously, and at all hazards, resolves, "I will say the right
and do the right, whatever happens."
If you begin to tack about and to be guided by policy, not by
principle. If you say, "I shall make just a little nick in my
conscience here, and another nick there, but I shall make it right,
by-and-by," you will lose rest. When you get to bed at night, you will
not look back upon the day's proceedings with pleasure. When trial
comes, you will have nobody to help you. But, on the other hand, if you
can say, "In the name of God I have gone forward in all simple honesty,
resting and confiding in Him," you shall find that the Lord will not
let you be a loser through trusting Him. You shall be borne up and
brought through–and you shall bless and praise the gracious Master who
is such a good Paymaster and who so well rewards those who diligently
seek Him! That is another good old way in which I advise you to walk.
I will mention one other good old way and that is, the way of close
communion with Jesus Christ Oh, what a blessed way that is! If you walk
in it, you will say, from your inmost soul, unto the Lord, "If You go
not with me, carry me not up hence." You will cry, "I must have Jesus
with me or I dare not leave my chamber in the morning!" I must have the
assurance of His gracious company, or I shall fear to fall asleep at
night." You will sing that delicious hymn, "Sun of my soul," and you
will pray to Him and get the prayer answered–
"When the soft dews of kindly sleep
My wearied eyelids gently steep,
Be my last thought, how sweet to rest
Forever on my Savior's breast!
Abide with me from morn till eve,
For without You I cannot live:
Abide with me when night is nigh,
For without You I dare not die." So you will find such rest for your
soul as you could never have known in any other way! The sheep must
rest when the shepherd is near. The spouse must rest when her Beloved
brings her to the banqueting house and waves the banner of His love
over her. So, keep near to Jesus, for you may be certain that there you
will be in the good old way where you will find rest unto your souls!
I wish I had the tongue of the eloquent that I might worthily describe
the rest which belongs to the people of God. Do not tell me that there
is no rest for us till we get to Heaven! We who have believed in Jesus
enter into rest even now– why should we not do so? Our salvation is
complete! The robe of righteousness, in which we are clad, is finished!
The Atonement for our sins is fully made! We are reconciled to God, we
are beloved of the Father, we are preserved by His Grace and supplied
by His Providence with all that we need! We carry all our burdens to
Him and leave them at His feet! We spend our lives in His service and
we find His ways to be ways of pleasantness, and His paths to be paths
of peace. Oh, yes, we have found rest unto our souls! I remember the
first day that I ever rested in Christ and I did rest that day, and so
will all of you who trust in Jesus as I trusted in Him! To a laboring
man, rest is indeed sweet. Suppose a man is called, through some sudden
emergency, to work for 24 hours at a stretch? Oh, how every bone in his
body seems to bless God when he, at last, is able to rest! It does not
matter much if his bed is only the hard floor–he throws himself down
and every limb, as he stretches out, seems to say, "Thank God, thank
God. Now I can rest!" That is just how a poor burdened one feels when
he comes to Christ! Till he gets to Him the bed is shorter than a man
may stretch himself upon it–but when once he trusts in Jesus, he may
stretch as much as he likes and he shall find that he can satisfy his
soul in the abundance of peace and rest that he finds laid up for him
in Christ!
II. Now, secondly, I want to speak upon this theme–REST FOUND BY
WALKING IN "THE GOOD OLD WAY" IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL.
Possibly, somebody says, "I can understand that you Christian people,
who believe that you are saved through faith, and who sing, as you
often do–
'Yes, I to the end shall endure, As sure as the earnest is given! More
happy but not more secure, The glorified spirits in Heaven'–
I can understand that you enjoy rest, but is that rest good for you,
because, you know, that rest very soon degenerates into laziness?" I
have known a man who said that it would take a great deal of rest to
knock him out and I am fully aware that there are some who,
spiritually, like the idea of rest because, as they misinterpret the
term, it means downright laziness to them. Nothing to do precisely
suits their constitution! So, let me just show you that no evil
consequences ever flow from the rest which God gives to our soul when
we walk in the good old way!
For, first, it brings satisfaction, but not self-satisfaction. Somebody
says, "If I knew that I were saved, I would feel as proud as Lucifer. I
would say then, 'That is quite enough for me! I do not need to go any
further, for I am all I ought to be.'" Yes, my dear Sir, I do not
controvert your statement that, very likely, you would say that. While
you are what you are, I believe you would talk so–but when God makes a
man a new creature, such an idea as that does not enter his head! When
he says, "I am saved from condemnation," he also says, "Now I desire to
be saved from every propensity to go back to be what I was before! Now
that I am clear of guilt, I desire to be saved from ever again living
as I formerly did. God has given me salvation, but He means me to work
it out–that is to say, He has worked it in me by His gracious Spirit–
and I am to work it outin my life and so let others see, by my walk and
conversation, that I am really saved."
If you were to proclaim liberty to a man who was in prison–if you went
and opened the door and said to him, "Now, my good fellow, out of pure
grace, Her Majesty freely pardons you, and orders you to be set at
liberty"– according to your theory, that man would sit still, and say,
"Well, I have got my pardon, I do not need anything more." You know
that he would not talk like that! The first thing he would do would be
to want to get out and go home and see his wife and family. And the
very first thing that we feel, when we are saved, is that we want to
see our Father who is in Heaven. We want to know our dear Brothers and
Sisters in Christ and we want to do something to show the gratitude
which we feel towards God for His abounding mercy towards us! I tell
you that the Grace of God breeds no self-satisfaction, for we think
less of ourselves after we are saved than we ever did before! Yes, and
the more sure we are that we are saved, the deeper is our sense of our
own unworthiness, and the more we groan out, "O God, deliver me from
the sin that still dwells within me!" He who has to work out his
salvation by his own merits and good deeds may be content to live in
sin–but he who is saved feels that he must no longer be the slave of
sin, yet he groans that he is often under bondage and he cries to God
for something better, higher, nobler!
"Yes" says another objector, "but if a man knew he were saved, it would
breed sloth in him, he would not want to do anything." Again I reply
that if the man was what men are by nature, that iswhat would happen.
But when a man gets changed by Divine Grace, it is very different. You
think, you sons of Hagar, children after the flesh that are under the
Law, that nobody will do anything unless he is paid for it. You suppose
that there is no motive in the world but self-interest–to escape from
Hell and to win Heaven. That is the only argument that can have any
effect upon you, for you are slaves–you are bond-servants and that,
probably, is all the argument we can use with you at present. But if
you ever become children of God, you will find better arguments than
these–nobler and more worthy of men redeemed by the precious blood of
Christ! You will, each one, then say, "I am saved. I have nothing to do
in order to be saved, that is all done. I am saved to a certainty. Now,
for the love I bear my Savior's name, I will do a hundred times as much
as I ever could have done under the threat of damnation, or the offer
of entrance into Heaven! Now, by His Grace, I am going to live
according to the Law of Love which–
'Makes my willing feet, In swift obedience move'–
and I will prove to all mankind, by my life, that the impulse of love
can produce greater results than the impulse of fear, threat, and
self-interest!" Oh, yes, we get a new set of motives! The old ones
cease to influence us and we get other and higher motives which enable
us to overcome the sloth to which, by nature, we are all too prone.
"But," says yet another friend, "if I believed that I was really saved,
I would say, 'Now I may live as I like.'" Ah, my Friend! There is
nothing I should like better than to live as I like–and do you know
how I would live if I could live as I liked? I would never sin again!
If I could live as I liked, you would be able to call me a strait-laced
old Puritan with whom you could not find a fault except that I was too
strict! That is what I would be if I could live as I liked. But if you,
as an unconverted man, live as you like, I should not like to read the
record of your life! But we are not talking about men in general, but
about renewed men–those who have been changed by Divine Grace and who
have become children of God–and who like to live after a very
different fashion!
"Well," you say, "but if I thought that God never could and never would
cast me into Hell, and that I was eternally saved, I should go and live
in sin." No, no, no! Come now, you are quite bad enough, I am sure, but
I will not believe even that to be true of you! I cannot think so badly
of you as that. There was a little boy who had a very kind father. And
there were some bad boys, living on the same street, whose father used
to horsewhip them and treat them very cruelly. But this boy's father
was the soul of love and kindness. There was an orchard that the bad
boys wanted to rob, so they proposed to this other lad that he should
go with them. "No," he replied, "I shall not go, for I do not want to
grieve my father." "Oh!" they said, "you know that if we are caught, we
shall catch it! But your father is so fond of you that he will not beat
you, so you may freely go and do it." "What?" he exclaimed, "Do you
think because my father loves me, that therefore I will go and do wrong
because of that! No, I will do nothing of the kind."
You sympathize at once with the boy, and say, "That is right." Very
well, I hope you will sympathize with him so much that you will feel
that this is the way a Christian acts. He has received so much love
from God that he cannot do that which would grieve the One who has been
so good and so kind to him! Our God forgives our transgressions and
blots out the sin of His people because He delights in mercy! Therefore
that love of His has more influence over His redeemed ones than all the
thunders and threats of the Law will ever have over the ungodly! We
enjoy this blessed rest, but we shall always be ready for service,
still be watchful against sin and constantly be pressing forward
towards growth in Grace. It is a rest which a man may safely have and
come to no harm thereby!
Beloved, the man who has rest in his own soul is the man who can best
serve God. Queen Elizabeth once said to a great London merchant, "I
want you to attend to some important business for me at the Hague."
"Your Majesty," he said, "I am your humble servant, but I have a large
business here at home and, while I have that to attend to, I am afraid
I could not discharge Your Majesty's business." She said, "You go to
the Hague and see to my business there, and I will attend to your
business here." Well, now, that was enough said by the Queen that
allowed the man to go, with a free mind, to attend to Her Majesty's
business! And the Lord Jesus Christ seems to say to us, "You go and
serve Me in the world, and I will see to the matter of your salvation."
The man to whom He thus speaks can give all his thought and care to
living to the Glory of God and to His service!
More than that–I will venture on a strong assertion–no man is capable
of virtue, in its highest sense, until he knows that he is saved. Just
think, if a man simply does that which is right because he expects to
be rewarded by God for it, whom is he serving? Why, himself! Are you in
the habit of taking your hat off to your employees at night and saying
to them, "Much obliged to you, Gentlemen"? Do they work out of pure
love to you? Well, not many of them, I reckon. I do not think there are
many masters who are so specially attractive that anybody wants to
serve them without a thought of salary or wages! No, I know that you
thank no man for what he does if he is to be paid for it. Suppose you
try to live a good life in order to get to Heaven by it? You are simply
serving yourself–it is selfishness at the top, and at the bottom, and
throughout it all!
But the man who comes, and says, "I am a saved man. Eternal Love has
brought me to Jesus' feet, washed me in His blood and clothed me with
His righteousness. No condemnation do I dread for this day, or for all
the days that are to come–for none can separate me from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord." He begins to serve God with all
his might, he loves his fellow men and seeks to promote everything that
is pure and holy and good. What is his motive? Gratitude, not
self-interest! Love to God, not love to himself! No longer is the
slave-driver's whip cracked in his ear! No bribe of a glorious Heaven
to be won by merit is held before him. It is already his! Now he is
capable of the highest virtue! Oh, that you all knew this blessed rest,
for then I am sure you would serve God! You may have it, for Jesus
says, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Why will you not have it? "Why do you spend money for
that which is not bread? And labor for that which satisfies not?"
I have only time for just this final word to you who have this rest.
ENJOY IT. Enjoy it now. You are coming to the Communion Table–this
place of sacred feasting and holy joy. You are not coming to kneel at
it as if you were to adore the bread–you are to sit around the table,
like persons at a common meal–yet all the while to be feasting with
the great King of Kings! So be sure that you enjoy Christ, who is your
Rest. Are you satisfied with Christ? If you are not,
you do not really have Him. If you have Him, He is everything to you.
"Ah," you say, "satisfied with Him? Satisfied with Him? That is a very
cold word–I am charmed with Him! No music is like His charming name.
My soul is overflowing with love to Him."
The other day I saw a little cup suspended under a flowing fountain, so
that the stream came right into it. The cup was quite full and as the
stream kept flowing, the cup remained brimming over. And as I stood and
looked at it, I thought, "That is very much like myself beneath the
flowing of the Savior's love. I cannot hold much, so it soon fills me,
but I can pour it out to others as fast as it comes into me!" O come,
Beloved, come all of you who know the Lord, and put yourselves, like
little cups, under the flowing fountain and be filled with all the
fullness of God! What a word that is! I do not know whether you
understand it–I don't–"filled with all the fullness of God." Why, you
cannot get all the fullness of God into you, can you? Suppose that a
bottle were taken and held down into the sea till the water had filled
it– then, when it is quite full, of course it sinks down to the bottom
of the ocean. Now think that the sea is in the bottle and the bottle is
in the sea, and that the bottle is full of all the fullness of the
sea–it contains all it can hold and then it has all the rest to hold
it! Now, just so, get as full as you can of the love of Christ and then
sink into the Godhead's deepest sea–be plunged into His immensity and
dwell there, filled with all the fullness of the ever-blessed God! The
Lord bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.