Saving Knowledge
A sermon
(No. 782)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, NOVEMBER 24, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who
it is that says to you, Give Me to drink; you would have asked of Him,
and He would have given you living water."- John 4:10.
THE matter will turn, this morning, upon those few words, "If you knew
the gift of God." The woman of Samaria, who was met by our Lord at the
well, was an object of electing love but she was not yet regenerated.
One difficulty alone lay in the way–she was willing to receive the
Truth of God, perfectly willing to be obedient to it–but ignorance lay
like a stone before the door of her sepulcher. "If you knew the gift of
God," says Christ, "then you would have asked, and I would have given."
There was the one barrier! If that could be removed she would be a
saved soul.
The impediment which lay so much in her way was ignorance concerning
the Lord Jesus Himself. She was not an un-instructed woman. She was
evidently acquainted, at least, with portions of Biblical history. she
could speak of "Father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank there
himself, and his children, and his cattle." She was versed certainly in
the peculiarities of her sect–"How is it that You, being a Jew, ask
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans."
She was equally well acquainted with the hopes, which were common to
her people and to the Jewish nation–"I know that Messiah comes, which
is called Christ. When He is come, He will tell us all things." She was
not, therefore, kept out of the kingdom on account of ignorance. In
these matters she was better instructed than, I am afraid, are some of
you–for, alas, in this age there are hundreds of people who are
educated in everything except their Bibles–who could answer questions
upon most sciences, but concerning Christ Crucified they know not even
so much as the very elements! But the point which kept this woman, I
say, out of the kingdom was this–that she did not know Christ–she
knew not "the gift of God," and who it was that said unto her, "Give Me
to drink."
And this, indeed, is enough to keep any of us out of peace, and life,
and joy, for, until we know God in human flesh, we cannot find peace
and comfort. The great riddle of, "What must I do to be saved?" remains
unsolved till we know Christ and are found in Him. We may go about and
we may study this, and that, and the other, but we shall remain fools
in the matters of eternal salvation until we come and sit at the feet
of the great Teacher, and know Him, and are known of
Him.
I shall attempt, this morning, as God may help me, to speak with you
upon spiritual ignorance. And then upon what would follow if that
ignorance were removed, hoping that I may be allowed to say a few
stirring things to some of you to induce you to get rid of any
ignorance which now bars you out of peace, and that others of you who
know the Truths of Jesus Christ may be more earnest to tell to the
unenlightened what you know yourselves, lest they should perish and
their blood should be required at your hands. I shall commence, then,
this morning, by some few remarks upon the gift of God and the
knowledge of it. And then, secondly, I shall turn to the "if of the
text, and what then? And thirdly, I shall take up the "if of the text
once more, and show what it has to do with the Believer.
I. First, our text speaks of A GIFT AND OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT. The
latter half of the verse informs us that the gift of God is no other
than the Man who spoke to the woman and said, "Give me to drink." In
fact, Jesus Christ is "God's unspeakable gift" for whom we should daily
and hourly lift up our hearts in gratitude to God. Christ was God's
gift to the fallen seed of man. Long before this world was made, He
ordained in the eternal purpose that Christ should be the Covenant Head
of His elect, their Surety, and their Redeemer. He gave Christ to us
before He spread the starry sky. He was the Father's goodly gift when
the fullness of time was come.
Many promises had heralded the Master's coming, and at last He appeared
a Babe of a span long in His mother's arms. His holy life and His
suffering death were the gifts of God to us, for "He spared not His own
Son, but delivered
Him up for us all." To the whole company of God's elect, Christ Jesus
is the priceless gift which the Father's love has bestowed upon them.
And when you and I receive Jesus Christ into our heart He evermore
comes as a gift. The faith by which we receive Him is a gift–the gift
of God is faith, but Jesus Christ Himself never comes to a soul that
has faith, as a reward. No man ever received Christ by the works of the
Law or the deeds of the flesh.
It is not possible, my Brothers and Sisters, that the highest and most
perfect obedience should ever deserve such a reward as the gift of the
Son of God! Conceive of any virtue and you will not dare to blaspheme
so much as to think that it could deserve the death of Christ. No, the
price is too great to be a recompense for any of our exertions. It is
the spontaneous gift of Heaven given to us, not on the footing of the
Law, but on the grounds of the Sovereign Grace of God who gives as He
wills to the unworthy sons of men.
If you come to God with a price in your hands, you shall not have
Christ. If you come to God thinking to force your way to Heaven, or
supposing that you could even contribute towards your entrance there,
you shall find the gates of the Law shutting you out forever. But if
you come humbly penitent, confessing your soul-poverty, and plead with
the Father that He would give to you His Son, you shall receive the
gift of God into your soul most freely. "The wages of sin is death; but
the gift of God is eternal life." "We are justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Man is dead in sin,
but Christ is a gift bringing life to the dead.
The text uses the definite article, "If you knew the gift of God,"
setting Christ as God's gift beyond all other gifts. True, the light of
the sun is the gift of God to us. There is not a piece of bread we eat,
nor a drop of water we drink but what it may be called the gift of God.
But the gift which comprehends, excels, and sanctifies all other gifts
is the gift of Jesus Christ to the sons of men! I wish I had the power
to speak as I should of this gift, but I am reminded by God's Word that
it is "unspeakable." "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." I
can comprehend God's giving the earth to the children of men–giving to
Adam and his seed dominion over all the works of His hands.
I think I can understand God's giving Heaven to His people, and
permitting them to dwell at His right hand forever and ever. But that
God should give the Only Begotten, "very God of very God," to take upon
Himself our nature, and in that nature actually to be "obedient unto
death, even the death of the Cross"–this we cannot understand, and
even the angels with their mightier intellects cannot grasp it fully!
They look into it, but as they gaze they desire to see more, for even
they feel they cannot search this out to perfection.
A depth unfathomable of Divine love is there in the condescending
loving kindness which gave Jesus Christ to die for us when we were yet
sinners. Beloved, it is an unrivalled gift! God has given to us such a
treasure that if Heaven and earth were melted down, the price could not
buy another like Jesus! All eternity cannot yield such a Person as the
Lord Jesus! Eternal God, You have no equal! And becoming Son of Man,
Your condescension has nothing that can rival it! Oh, what a gift! You
cannot conceive of anything that you can put side by side with it! It
is a gift, Beloved, which comprehends all things within itself. "He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Get Christ and you have the pardon of sin, the justification of your
person–in the heart of that redemption you shall find sanctification,
adoption, regeneration. Every Covenant gift is wrapped up in Christ
Jesus. "A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me." Not one sprig of
it, but a whole bundle! All things that can possibly be needed for the
Christian for time and for eternity are given to him in the Person of
the Lord Jesus. And as this gift comprehends all, so it sweetens all.
Temporal mercies without Christ are like ciphers without a figure. But
when you have these temporal mercies and Christ stands in front of
them, oh, what an amount they make!
Temporal mercies without Christ are unripe fruit–but when Christ
shines upon them, they grow mellow and sweet. Temporal mercies without
Christ are the dry rivers–Christ fills them to the brim. They are like
trees with leaves only, but Christ comes to give them fruit upon which
we may live. Brethren, what are all the mercies of this life to us
without Christ? Would they not make our souls hunger? "Whom have I in
Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You."
The full wine vat, or the barn that needs to be enlarged–what would
these be without a Savior? O God, take them all away if You will, but
give us more of Christ! Fill our hearts with the love of Christ, and
You may empty the cupboard and purse if You will.
Mercies are blessed when we have Christ with them, but if Christ is
gone, they are but empty vanities. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a gift most
precious, my Brothers and Sisters, because he who gets it is sure that
he has the favor of God. Other
mercies do not necessarily bring with them God's favor. God gives the
most of this world full often to wicked men. He pours the husks out to
the swine. As for His children, He often wrings out to them a full cup
of bitterness. This world is not our portion, as we know right well.
The wicked have their portion here, and they are full of fatness. Their
houses are full of provisions and they leave the rest of their
substance unto their babes.
But get Christ and you have God's favor–you are sure of it! This is
"The blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with
it." It is a right-hand and a left-hand blessing. Get Christ and it is
all blessing and no curse whatever. If you have Christ, as sure as you
live, God loves you for there never was a soul that had Christ's name
written upon its forehead but what eternal love had inscribed it
there–and in that writing had given a sure evidence and pledge of love
that could not end.
If you have Christ, again, you must prize the gift, because this is a
token of your everlasting salvation. Hell never did enclose within its
gates a single soul that rested on the Cross of Christ–and it never
shall–if you have Christ you have the melodies of Heaven. You have the
goodly land that "flows with milk and honey." You shall never bear the
wrath of God, Christ has borne it for you. You shall never hear it
said, "Depart, you cursed," for Christ has said, "You are blessed
forever and ever." Yes, and you shall be blessed!
We shall now turn to the further thought which stands linked to the one
I have thus tried to lay before you. In the text knowledge is put with
the gift: "If you knew the gift of God." Yonder woman in the wilderness
is sorely vexed, her heart is ready to break. She has left the abode of
her master and journeyed far. She is faint herself, but a far greater
trouble depresses her–her child, her only boy–lies under yonder
shrubs to die for need of a drop of water. Do you see the anguish
depicted on her face? Do you hear her bitter cries?
Ah, Woman, you may well wipe your eyes, your distress is causeless. You
have room for thanksgiving, and not for sorrow! Yonder is a spring of
water, dip your pitcher and refresh your child. But, Beloved, what was
the use of the spring of water to her if she could not see it? Till her
eyes were opened, Hagar could not see that God had provided for
her–she must suffer and her child must die till she could perceive the
supply. It is so with the gift of God. Beloved, until we know Christ,
we famish for Him but we find no relief. A sense of need is a very
blessed work of Divine Grace, but it will not save you! You must get
beyond knowing your need, you must perceive, accept, and enjoy the
supply, or else assuredly you will perish, none the less because of
your knowledge of your need.
Now, a knowledge of Christ is the gift of God. No man ever knew Christ
experimentally and truly except by the operation of the Holy Spirit
upon his heart. It is in vain for those who are the advocates of free
agency and human power to talk for wherever you meet with a gracious
spirit you will be sure to find the confession that it was as much the
work and gift of God to give us faith as to give us the Object of
faith–
" 'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That sweetly forced us in;
Else we had still refused to taste, And perished in our sin."
If God did nothing more for men than provide a Savior, and leave it for
them to accept–if He never operated upon their souls and affections by
His Holy Spirit–not one of Adam's race would ever enter into eternal
life! If you would have a knowledge of Christ you must have it through
the Holy Spirit, for this comes not by the works of the Law, nor by the
efforts of the flesh.
That which is born of the flesh is still flesh. Only that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit and can make you acquainted with spiritual
Truth. A saving knowledge of Christ is always personal. The man does
not take it at second hand. He does not catch it up from what his
mother told him. She may be the instrument–the happy instrument–but
the man learns for himself, or else he does not know savingly. Beware,
Beloved, of copying your religion out of other men's books. It must be
written with the pen of the Holy Spirit upon the fleshy tablet of your
own heart, or else you know nothing aright.
Observe also, that as this knowledge is spiritual, so, as it is spoken
of in the text, it immediately concerns Christ. All other knowledge,
whatever it may be, will fail to save unless we know the gift of
God–unless we are clearly acquainted with the Person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I say, with the Person, for let me insist upon it–it is
necessary for you and me to rest wholly upon the Person, work, and
righteousness of Jesus. You may know a great deal about His offices.
You may have read much about what He did, but you must pass through all
these and get to Him–"Come unto ME," He says,
"all you that labor and are heavy laden." At His feet your soul must
cast itself down, kissing the Son lest He be angry. Before Him, the
Great High Priest, you must present yourselves, desiring to be
sprinkled with His precious blood, and to be saved in Him.
Remember He is a Man like yourselves. Though "God over all, blessed
forever," yet is He Man of the substance of His mother. Let your soul
advance to Him in thought this morning. Lay hold upon Him! If you
cannot put your finger into the print of the nails, and your hand into
His side, literally, with Thomas, yet do it spiritually. Remember, it
is to know Christ and His Cross which is the saving
knowledge–everything short of this will leave you short of eternal
life. Brothers and Sisters, it must be spiritual knowledge. Any
acquaintance with Christ that can be derived from pictures or that may
come to us through the use of outward symbols will be all valueless.
We must know Christ, not after the flesh, by the eyes and ears–we must
comprehend Him by our inmost souls being acquainted with Him. Our heart
must trust Him. Put away the crucifix! Let your soul wear the cross,
not your body! Hang not up the picture of Christ on the wall, hang it
upon the walls of your heart–there let His image be stored. Bear about
you the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life and character and
let your contemplations and thoughts be continually exercised about
Him. This is the kind of knowledge of Christ–heart-knowledge,
spiritual fellowship–the knowledge of the most vital part of the man,
his soul, his newborn spirit.
Now, such knowledge as this, when God has once given it to us, becomes
very operative upon the entire man–he has found the great secret and
he feels inched to tell it! He has learned a great mystery and it at
once affects all the parts and passions of his nature, making a new man
of him. This knowledge he never loses–he may forget much, but he never
can forget Christ if he has once known Him. Like the dying saint who
had forgotten his wife, forgotten his children, forgotten his own name
and yet smiled sweetly when they asked him if he remembered Christ
Jesus! This is printed on the Believer's heart–the warp and woof of
his being bears this, like a golden thread, right through its center.
Jesus, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, and let my right
hand forget its cunning, but never shall my heart forget You who has
given Yourself for me! This is the knowledge which we should desire,
the knowledge spoken of in the text. Desire it, I beseech you, above
gold! Yes, seek it above much fine gold! O you that have it not, open
your mouths and pant after it! Hunger and thirst to know Christ and
take no rest, and get no satisfaction till you do know Him! If you ask
me how this can be, I remind you that God alone can reveal Him to you,
but yet you are to use the means.
"Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life,"
and these are they which testify of Christ. Attend a Christ-honoring
ministry! If you have been sitting under any minister who does not
extol Christ and lift Him up before you–however eloquent and
intelligent he may be, leave his ministry–it is not fit for poor dying
souls to listen to! You that need salvation can only find it in Christ!
Seek, therefore, a ministry that is full of Christ! Christ the first,
and Christ the middle, and Christ the last and without end.
Depend upon it, as men would think it folly to deal at a shop where the
bread (so called) was not bread–where the food that was given was so
adulterated as to yield no nutriment–so is it a sin on our part if we
do not seek out the pure unadulterated milk of the Word of God and
endeavor to grow thereby. Oh, how many souls are poisoned by listening
to a ministry that is not full of Christ! But oh, if you do get a
ministry that savors of the Lord Jesus, hear with both your ears! Drink
it in! Be like the thirsty furrows that do not refuse a single drop of
Heaven's rain. Receive with meekness the living Word.
Add to this an earnest prayer for illumination. Wait upon God each day
and say, "Show me Your Son. Lo, I would know Christ: I would know Him
so as to be saved by Him." And remember, "He that seeks finds; and to
him that knocks it shall be opened," "Ask and it shall be given you."
They that seek the Lord shall in due time be found of Him. "He that
calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
II. The first word of the text is "If." "If you knew the gift of God."
"IF." AND WHAT THEN? The "if" seems to me to wear a black side. It
supposes that there are many who do not know "the gift of God." Alas,
no supposition, but a fearful fact. Dear Hearer, may I ask you to look
to your own soul now? You are a Church member. You have been considered
to be a Christian from your youth till the present time. At least you
have reckoned yourself to be so. But ask yourself if you now know the
gift of God. Is Jesus Christ All in All to you?
Do you rest on Him as the unbuttressed pillar of your confidence? Do
you love Him? Is He your Master? Are you conformed unto His image? Have
you ever spoken to Him? Has He ever had communion with you–supping
with you,
and you with Him? As the Lord my God lives, before whom I stand, if you
know not Christ your high profession is but a painted pageant to go to
Hell in! Your fancied experience is a will-o'-the-wisp leading you to
destruction, and all your fond hopes shall come tumbling about your
ears like a house that is founded on sand which totters in the day of
storm! I pray you, then, dear Hearers, as you would be right at the
last, make heart-searching enquiries now, and let this be the question:
Whether you know the gift of God in your soul or not?
But we will deal better with the bright side. Knowing that there are
many here who do not know the gift of God at all, it is a mercy to
think that they may know it, for the, "If you knew," implies that some
who do not know it yet may know it before they die! And, thank God,
some of you shall know it and glorious results will follow at once. "If
you knew the gift of God." My dear Hearer, you who are not yet
converted, what a change would come over you! Let me single you out.
You are here, this morning, quite uninterested in religion. You have
come here this morning out of curiosity to look at the large assembly
and hear the strange preacher, but religion has no interest in it for
you. Life and death, and all the problems that connect themselves with
time and eternity are nothing to you. You are a butterfly, flying from
flower to flower. You have no deeper sense of things than a man of the
world who thinks to live and die, and so to come to his end.
Ah, but if you knew Christ, it would soon be different with you! That
vain mind of yours would soon be full of thoughts. These worldly toys
which are now so engrossing would then be put into their proper places.
You would become thoughtful, and, let me tell you, you would become
infinitely happier than you are now, for your present ease is a hollow
thing. You are afraid to try it. You dare not sit down and think for an
hour of your own state and future–you know you dare not. But, oh, "if
you knew the gift of God," you could endure sober thought, yes, it
would be your delight! And as for the future, you would dare to look
into it, too. Yes, it would be your greatest comfort to anticipate the
glories which God has prepared for them that love Him!
As I think on some of you indifferent ones, I could gladly weep over
you, not merely because of the Hell which will be your portion, but
because of the Heaven which you are losing even now. A Heaven below is
to know Christ, and you are missing this. Man of pleasure? Christ is
pleasure! Men who would have ease and peace? Christ is the true ease,
and if you knew Him you would find true peace! Possibly there may be
some few in this assembly to whom religion is not even a matter of
indifference, but worse–they have persecuted it. They are accustomed
to vent their sharpest wit upon anything religious. To them godliness
is always known by the name of cant, and if a man is known to be a
professor of religion, he is at once the butt of every joke.
Ah, but if you knew Christ, you would not do this. Saul of Tarsus
sought much the destruction of the people of God, but when once Christ
had said to Him, "Why do you persecute Me?" and he understood that
Christ was no other than God over all, the Redeemer of men, and he
said, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" Ah, Persecutor! You would be
just as warm for the cause as you are hot against it if you did but
know Christ! Man, you would not have the heart to spit into the face of
the Crucified–you would never crucify Him afresh who died for His
enemies. You would never be so cruel and barbarous as to trample on the
members of Christ when you know that Christ, out of pure love, suffered
for the sons of men. "If you knew the gift of God," Persecutor, it
would be otherwise with you than it is now.
Yes, and there are some here who would never persecute, but
nevertheless they trifle with religion. Many more belong to this class
than to the two I have just mentioned. I know many of you are impressed
when we are delivering the Truth of God earnestly, and you vow what you
do not pay. And you promise reformations which are never made. Ah, you
triflers, you who halt between two opinions, who, like Felix, would
wait for a more convenient season, "if you knew the gift of God," this
morning would be the convenient season! Oh, if God did but give you an
understanding of the pre-ciousness and sweetness of Christ, you would
not delay!
Who delays to be crowned when the time has come for him to receive a
kingdom? What heir would ever postpone the day in which he should enter
into the heritage? Does the bridegroom put off the hour of his
marriage? Do men wish their happiness to be removed far away? Oh, no!
And if you knew what Christ would be to your soul, and what joy and
blessedness you would have in receiving Him, you would say, "Now is my
time as it is God's time. O God, I give myself to You!" Trifler, may
you yet know the gift of God!
Alas, there are some here who are not exactly triflers. They have
serious thoughts, but they have some sin which they cannot give up. I
cannot particularize cases, but there are such here. There are men here
who would be Christ's, but the habit of taking intoxicating drink to
excess clings hard to them. Have I not talked to some of you who have,
with tears
confessed the sin, and longed to be delivered from the snare, but you
could not? Your besetting sins are too dear to you for you to give them
up. With some it may be filthier vices, still. With others it is the
thought, "Religion is too severe. To follow Christ is to give up so
much. I must have a little more indulgence. I must for a little time,
at any rate, drink of the wine of Satan's banquet."
Ah, "if you knew the gift of God," you would give up the sweetest thing
earth ever knew to know the greater sweetness of Christ. What? Will you
put my Lord and Master in comparison with the painted harlot of this
wicked world? Will you put the solid gold of Heaven's kingdom in
contrast with the filthy draft and dross of this world's merchandise? O
my Master, You are no more to be compared to the riches and enjoyments
of life than the sun is to be likened to a glowworm! Let Christ arise
in your soul and all your starry joys will be gone. You will find this
one great joy fills your spirit to the brim and overflows so that there
is an exceeding and eternal weight of glory too great for your spirit
to be able to handle! If you knew the gift of God, Sensualist, you
would turn from your tables to feed on Him! You would leave your gilded
couches of pomp and vanity, and everything else the world calls good or
great–you would leave it all, turning from ashes to feed upon angels'
food–even upon Christ the Lord, and the Redeemer of men!
There is another class here present, represented by some few who would
gladly be saved, but they fear they are too bad. They think that they
could never be saved after delaying so long and sinning so foully. "If
you knew the gift of God," you would never think that, for my Lord
Jesus loves great sinners! "This Man," it is said, "receives sinners,
and eats with them." When the woman that had been a sinner washed His
feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, He did
not utter an upbraiding word. The Lord is gentle and full of compassion
and tenderness and truth. He came not with a sword to slay, but He came
to be slain Himself, that we might not die.
You have only to come to Him, and let this encourage you. He has said
it, "Him that comes unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." He cannot
cast you out! He must receive you! His word binds Him to it–He cannot
deny Himself and therefore He cannot refuse you. If it were proper for
us to prolong this addressing of separate characters, I think there
would be in this suggestion, "If you knew the gift of God," something
for everyone. I am sure if any of us who are now at enmity to God did
but know what Christ is–if they could but know as with the knowledge I
have before described, the Person of the Lord Jesus–faith would
immediately follow! We should trust our souls to God and feel safe in
the hands of God's appointed Propitiation.
Faith would be sure to be followed by prayer–we should cry to Him whom
we now know–and prayer would be followed by His blessing. At the heels
of that would come holy love to Him. And holy love would prompt us to
serve! Service would be followed by increasing strength and increasing
strength would augment daily joy till we should go up Jacob's ladder,
gaining virtue after virtue by the power of the Son of God till we were
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light! Each
point in Christ's Character, if known, would work good to us. For
instance, "if you knew the gift of God," that He came to save the
vilest of the vile, how could you doubt or despair because of your
sins? If you knew that the salvation of Christ is finished by Him, and
not by us, how could you dream of adding to it, or think it necessary
to bring your own feelings, and frames, and doings to make the
salvation complete which Christ has finished altogether apart from you?
If you knew that Christ never forsook His people, would you be
trembling and fearing lest in the hour of temptation He should fail
you? If you knew how suitable Christ is to you, how ready He is to
receive you, how full of love He is to all His people, how He feels in
His heart all your pains and all your groans, how His honor is bound up
in your salvation, how He has pledged Himself to bring every one of the
saints to the Father's right hand–if you knew all this, Christian, you
would live above your doubts, and fears, and frames, and feelings–you
would live a heavenly life, like one who has seen Christ and then has
been made like unto Him.
Beloved, if we were to take a walk, this morning, through the streets
of London, how many cases we should see where we might say sorrowfully
of the persons we looked upon, "Alas for you! If you knew the gift of
God, what a difference would come over you!" Perhaps at this very hour
you will find the great mass of the working men in London in their
shirt sleeves. It has not struck them at all that going to a place of
worship is desirable. They will be lounging about. The penny paper has
been taken, and they have begun to read that–but as yet the public
house is not open–they feel as if there is nothing in the world to do
but just lounge about and let the time run on.
Ah, stepping into such a house you might say, "If you knew the gift of
God, your Sabbaths would assume quite a different appearance. You would
not talk about Pharisaic Sabbatarians, and the strictness of shutting
up the house of drink and only opening the house of worship. You would
feel the Sunday a delight, and the holy of the Lord honorable. Instead
of wasting your time, it would seem to you as though Sabbaths were too
short and opportunities and means of Divine Grace too few. If you knew
the gift of God, it would be otherwise with you, working man."
Step into the next Church or Chapel, I do not care which, and observe
the multitudes of the people going through the worship with mere
formality, confessing what they never felt, and professing to believe
what they know nothing of. Ah, we might look into the face of each
worshipper and say, "If you knew the gift of God, you would give up
this formalism, and worship God in spirit and in truth." We need not go
far. There are many of you here in that state. May you know the gift of
God, and forget formalities, and worship God in truth!
At some places you may step into the Church or Meeting House and listen
to the minister–an eloquent address, but altogether Christless–no
care about the souls of men, no dealing with human consciences. Pompous
sentences, sounding periods, high flights, climaxes, and I know not
what oratorical flower–but nothing concerning the weighty matter of
eternity, about the undying soul, and the precious cleansing blood, Ah,
Preacher, "if you knew the gift of God." If you had in your soul any
sense of the preciousness of the salvation of Christ, you would preach
in another fashion.
Step in where the Ritualist has dressed himself in all his gaudy
apparel, flaunting like a peacock before God Himself, and you may well
say to him," If you knew the gift of God" you would lay aside these
fooleries and come before God sooner in sackcloth than in your
tag-rags, humbling yourself before the Most High as a poor, guilty
sinner, most accursed of all the human race for having dared to call
yourself a priest! For priest you are not for your fellow men, for One
is Priest, even Christ Jesus, and no other is priest, save only that
all saints have a common priesthood which some cannot usurp to
themselves alone unless they dare to bring upon themselves the
vengeance of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who called themselves priests
and were not. "If you knew the gift of God," poor simpleton that you
are, you would doff that priestly array and bow before the great High
Priest of our profession and worship Him alone!
While going down the street, yonder, I might knock at a door after
leaving that ritualistic mass house, and might find the merchant in his
counting house. He looks a little disconcerted that I should call upon
him on Sunday morning and find him with his pen behind his ear. But he
says he has no time to cast up his accounts at any other period. Ah,
but "if you knew the gift of God," you would find other time and find
another occupation for this time, rather than spending upon yourself
what God claims to be His own. I pass on into the chamber of sickness,
and I see on the bed of death a sinner full of fears and dread about
the world which lies before him.
Listen to his groans. He has no hope! He has lived without Christ. The
world has been his portion, and now he has to leave it, and he is
unprepared to meet his Judge. All is dark as the pit where he is going.
How miserable his state as he feels he is parting with all he has
loved, and for which he has lived, and that there is nothing before him
but a dread unknown existence in another world! Ah, if he only knew the
gift of God, what a change there would be at once! What light, joy, and
peace would come into that chamber! All its gloom would pass away and
in the place of it would come such rapture as would lead men to say,
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like
his."
I shall not detain you longer. We might go down one street and up
another for many a day and we should find thousands to whom we should
say, "If you knew the gift of God, you would be another and different
man from what you are."
III. It seems to me to concern Believers this way. Evidently there are
tens of thousands who do not know the gift of God. Enquiry, then, of
the most solemn kind should at once be made, "Has this ignorance of
theirs been my fault? These men know not the gift of God–how can they
know it unless there is someone to teach them? How shall they hear
without a preacher? Is this ignorance to be laid at my door? Beloved,
in the name of Jesus Christ, I ask you seat-holders and members of this
place who know Christ yourselves–is there a person sitting next to you
in the pew who does not know Christ, and have you done your best to
tell him about Christ?
I pause, that conscience may give its reply. And you who do often speak
about Christ in the school or in the street, preaching or not
preaching, let me ask you–do you so talk about Christ that people can
understand you? Believe me, I try to use very simple words, but I often
hear of words I have uttered which have not been understood by people
present. I am always grieved when such is the case. God knows I would
speak the most vulgar words I could find if people could understand
them better. To me the finery of language is less than nothing! I would
sooner preach Christ's Cross in the
tongue of Billingsgate, if all would understand, than speak in the most
polished tongue so that the poor could not comprehend me.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, that a soul should go to Hell–lost
through our fine sentences–who shall be accountable for this? The
watchman is not to speak in Greek to those who only know English, or
even in good English to those who do not understand the language if it
is well spoken! Augustine, I believe, frequently preached in
exceedingly bad Latin because it was the common talk of the people. If
he had spoken classic Latin he would not have been understood. And so
must we do. If any man does not know Christ, have you told it to him in
all the ways which you can find out of making it plain and clear? If
you have not, then some responsibility lies with you.
Then next, suppose you have not. Will you, my Brethren, for the future
resolve in God's strength that if any man perishes for lack of
knowledge, it shall not in the future be your fault? Make no rash vows,
but do solemnly put it to your heart. And if you cannot speak as you
would, yet you will distribute such publications and give away such
tracts as may tell the Gospel simply. If you cannot do what you would,
O resolve, dear Brethren, to do what you can, that none here may be
without the knowledge of Christ!
And though a professor, I shall venture to say to you that the text
seems to say to you, Do you know the gift of God yourself? When I asked
you whether you told others about it, I think a question might have
been raised–if you have not told others, it is very questionable
whether you know it yourself. If you never weep for other men's sins,
and never desire their salvation, you are not a saved soul! One of the
first instincts of the saved soul is to say, "What can I do that others
may be saved, also?" Now, if you have done nothing, let a suspicion
arise! And to us all, I think, there may be this query put–judging by
my efforts, judging by my actions, judging by my inward feelings–may I
not often ask myself, Do I know this gift of God? And may I not come,
this morning, just as I did at the first, as a sinner, and look up to
the wounds of Jesus and cast myself again upon Him?
If I never did believe before, Lord Jesus, I trust You now. Up till now
if I have been a deceived one, here I am–
"My faith looks up to You, You Lamb of Calvary, Savior Divine! Now hear
me while I pray; Take all my guilt away. Oh let me from this day be
wholly Yours."
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Sermons From Saintly Deathbeds No. 783
A sermon