Self-Humbling
A sermon
(No. 748)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, MAY 5, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God
when you heard His words against thisplace, and against the
inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your
clothes, and wept before Me; Ialso have heardyou, says the Lord."- 2
Chronicles 34:27.
JOSIAH was very earnestly engaged in a devout work for God–he was
cleansing, beautifying, and repairing the Temple at Jerusalem. While
this was being done, a copy of the Book of the Law being found, it was
carried to the king, and the king at once diligently perused it. While
reading it he discovered certain terrible penalties threatened to
idolaters and other offenders, and knowing that his subjects had for
successive years been guilty of the offenses thus condemned, he felt
persuaded that the righteous judgments of God would come upon them.
Greatly alarmed, though himself personally innocent of the guilt, he
tore his clothes, wept, and humbled himself before the Most High.
Now, it seemed a strange thing, did it not, that so good a man,
personally clear from blame, engaged in one of the holiest of works
with a sincere heart devoting himself to the cause of his God, should
meet with so sad and depressive a discovery just in the very midst of
his prosperous labors? Was there not another time that the Law could
have been sent to him with its condemning power? Were there not other
offenders far more grossly erring than he who might have been humbled?
Why need this king, with his large, royal, tender heart all consecrated
to God, to be set a weeping and to be made to go softly in the
bitterness of his soul just in the very moment of enthusiastic and
successful labor?
I take it that the reason was this–God had much love towards Josiah,
and, having honored him to rebuild the Temple, He knew the natural
tendency of the human heart to pride, and therefore, with a holy
jealousy for one whom He loved so well, He sent him this discovery of
the Book of the Law to keep him humble at the time when otherwise he
might have been exposed to peril by the lifting up of his heart. You
remember, beloved Friends, the case of Hezekiah, when God raised him up
from the sick bed. It is said he rendered not recompense to God
according to the benefit received, for his heart was lifted up within
him. And then God sent him a message by the Prophet to tell him that
the treasures of his house should be carried away into Babylon and his
sons should be captives to serve the king of Babylon. Thus the Lord
administered a check after the sin had broken out.
But in the case before us, the Lord preferred a preventive to a cure,
and sent a check before the mischief had occurred, and so the holy
worker became also the humble penitent–and there was blended in the
life of Josiah, like the blending of the drops of rain with the gleams
of sunlight–a fair rainbow of many virtues. For you see him toiling
for his Lord with all his might and yet bowing himself in dust and
ashes, as an humble suppliant before the Throne of heavenly Grace.
Learn from this that you and I, in the midst of a career of success
from God, when our heart is most pure and most right, must not
therefore expect that all things will go smoothly, but may rather, for
that very reason, expect to experience humiliating circumstances.
Like Paul, when favored with an abundance of revelations, we may expect
a "thorn in the flesh," lest we should be exalted above measure.
Disclosures of our own weakness and sinfulness are often made to us at
the very time when God is honoring us most. In order that our vessel
may be able to endure a strong and fair wind of Divine favor, the Lord
in infinite wisdom causes us to be ballasted with grief or trial. This
morning I cannot enter into the whole of my text, but I shall ask your
attention to Josiah's humbling himself. In this matter we shall note,
first, the acceptable act. Secondly, the powerful reasons which exist
for our imitating it. And, thirdly, the encouraging results which
followed–some of them are clear in his case, and others we may expect
in our own.
I. First, we have to speak upon THE ACCEPTABLE ACT which Josiah
performed. I say an act, not a Grace or a state. It is not said that
Josiah was humble. He was so, or he would not have trembled at God's
Word. All Graces are in
all Christians in a measure. In every Christian there is the germ of
every virtue. Just as in every well-formed child there is every muscle
and sinew, and nerve and bone. Although all are far from being
developed, yet they are there. So in each Christian there exists
humility, with all the kindred Graces, though it is as yet in some
scarcely perceptible, and in others is far removed from perfection.
Josiah certainly possessed the Grace of humility. It is not said that
his soul was in a state of habitual humility, although he ought to have
been. We ought always to be, in a certain sense, in the valley of
humiliation. Pride is never to be excused in the Believer. There is
never a moment when we may safely be lifted up. Always lowly should we
be in our own esteem. He that thinks himself to be something when he is
nothing, deceives himself. And as we are always nothing in ourselves,
it would be well for us to know and to feel this, and not to be
self-deceived or lay a flattering unction to our hearts. What is
mentioned in the text is an act, not a Grace, not a state, but an act.
We have before us the Grace of humility in Josiah, acting after its own
nature to produce the state of humility in his soul.
He humbled himself, that is, he set to work to cure himself of any
remaining pride, and to educate in himself the humility which the Grace
of God had worked in him. He humbled himself. He confessed his share in
the sin which God condemned. He acknowledged on his own part the
justice of God in threatening such punishments. He stripped himself of
his royal array. He made no mention of services which he had rendered
to God in the Temple. He mentioned not his own generosity in having
given of his treasures to the decorations of the House of the Lord. He
came as that poor publican is described as coming in our Lord's famous
parable, not "daring to lift so much as his eyes towards Heaven, but
smiting upon his breast, and crying, God be merciful to me a sinner."
So that, Brethren, I want you, this morning, not so much to enquire
whether you have humility, for I know that if you are Believers,
humility is somewhere in your heart. I do not ask you whether you are
in an humble state this morning–it may be you are not. But I want you
to accompany me in an act of humiliation–in the bowing of your souls
before the Lord–each man and each woman, according to the experience
of each, bowing low and reverently before the majesty of the Most High
that we may obtain from God the mercies which each of us may need.
1. Concerning this action, then, I have to mention, in the first place,
that it was a real and personal act. The text says, "Because your heart
was tender, and you did humble yourself." You did not talk about
humbling yourself, but you did humble yourself. You did not bid others
do it, but you did humble yourself. It became to you a personal matter
of obligation, and you did not postpone that obligation, or look at it,
and commend it, and say, "When I have a more convenient season, I will
send for you." You did humble yourself, really, sincerely, truly, and
in very deed–you did, in your own proper person, bow yourself to the
very dust before the Most high."
Brethren, I fear lest the habit of preaching to you may lead me to
forget my personal share in this and other holy exercises. I pray God
it may not! And on the other hand it is possible that you may criticize
the style in which I address you, and so may forget that my style is
not the business in hand. We are now to have respect to a very solemn
obligation of which our text reminds us. I pray you let us come
honestly to the work, and may God's Holy Spirit help us, and may each
one here be willing now to have it said of him, "You did humble
yourself."
2. Observe, too, that as the work was real and personal, so it was
voluntary. "You did humble yourself." It is not said that God humbled
him, by which it is not implied that the Grace of God did not assist
him, that the Spirit of God was not the author of his humility, but it
is implied that God did not by any overt and open judgment of
Providence cause Josiah to be humbled. Have you ever noticed the
difference between being humble and being humbled? Many persons are
humbled who are not humble at all. Pharaoh was humbled, oh, how
humbled, when he saw that even the flies and lice could vanquish both
himself and his men-at-arms!
How humbled was he when he found that the God of Heaven could send
plague after plague upon him, and make the proud lips that said, "Who
is Jehovah that I should obey His voice?" cry, "Entreat the Lord that
there be no more mighty thunderings and hail!" He must have been
humbled, but he was not humble! And when the chill waters rolled over
him in the Red Sear and he died with a proud spirit he had been
humiliated to the last degree. Even so, God may humble some of us. He
may take away our property, and we may be humbled by being poor. He may
be pleased to strip us of that which is now the object of our boasting,
and we may be humbled by its loss.
But the duty to which I call you this morning is that of humbling
yourselves before judgment comes to deal with you, as, mark you, it
surely will unless you attend to the gracious precept, and humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of
God. We must all either break or bow. Let us bow cheerfully. "Let us
kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and we perish from the way." It is a
voluntary humiliation of soul which is inculcated by the example of
Josiah, and may the Spirit of God make us willing in the day of His
power, that we may willingly humble ourselves before God.
3. It was, moreover, a sincerely devout act on the part of Josiah. He
humbled himself, we are told, "before God." It is true he did put on
sackcloth and tear his clothes, and his humiliation was apparent to
men, but the soul of his humbling was before God alone. It is vain to
put on sackcloth and to bow your head like a bulrush before man, unless
your heart abases itself before God. Outward mourning and fasting are
not humiliation–neither does God care for them if the heart is absent.
"Tear your hearts, and not your garments." Let your souls be humbled
and your spirits contrite.
Dear Friends, we need more and more to walk in our religion before God.
Away with that holiness which consists in respect to the forms and
customs of society! Away with that religion which flaunts itself before
the staring eye of a fellow mortal. We need that Divine Grace which has
respect to the God who sees in secret! We need more and more, in fact,
of spiritual worship, for they who worship God the Spirit must "worship
Him in spirit and in truth." Your hymns are no songs of praise unless
they are sung unto God! Your prayers are no prayers unless you seek the
face of the God of Israel! And your humbling is nothing but another
form of pride unless your souls have a reverent and deep respect unto
the Lord.
4. Once again, the act on the part of Josiah was a very deep and
thorough one. He did not try to humble himself, but he did it. This I
gather from the repetition of the fact in the text. Where Inspiration
mentions a thing twice, it is because God would have our notice drawn
to it. It is written, "You did humble yourself before God." And again,
"And humbled yourself before Me." It was not garment-tearing merely, it
was heart-breaking! Josiah was really broken in heart. He did not
struggle to get himself down where he should be–he was down–at the
foot of the Mercy Seat he cast himself as a true broken-hearted
penitent.
Brethren, it is an easy thing to say, "I would be humble," but to be
humble before God is another thing. To begin the sacred work of
humiliation before the Most High is no great thing. But to continue in
it until at last you can say, "Out of the depths have I cried unto You,
O God"–this is a blessed work, and you need the assistance of the
Spirit of God in it! We are all, at certain times, conscious of our
weakness, but we forget the humbling fact–our humility is like the
morning cloud and the early dew which passes away. To have this
inwrought into the spirit till the whole heart becomes thoroughly
self-mortified and pride is excluded and shut out–this it is that we
want–and this it is that will win the blessing.
Beloved Friends, let me say to you that the Grace of humility, of which
I spoke in the first place, is exceedingly sweet before God, and where
it does not exist, a man cannot humble himself. Let me also remark that
the state of humility is much more blessed than the mere act of
humiliation and should be the condition of every Christian at all
times. We ought always to walk humbly before the Lord. But if we are
not in the state of humility, we must exercise the act of humility in
order to bring us into it.
We ought always to be clean but as we are not always so, through
contact with this evil world, there must be a time for cleansing. So we
ought to be always humble, but as we are not so, there must be a time
for humbling ourselves. Now, let no man or woman in this place be
exempt from the work before us, for here is a king, an eminent person,
and yet he humbles himself! Sons of the earth, will not you do the
same? Here is one engaged in the greatest of works, yet he humbles
himself! Let no pastor, no minister, no elder, no deacon–let no
earnest evangelist, let no successful laborer as a private Christian,
fancy himself excused. Josiah bowed! Who dares stand erect?
Let each heart in its own place bow before the Most High. Here is one
who was pure in his life. He feared God and died in the act of
fulfilling his treaty with his eastern allies–defending his country
against the tyrant Pharaoh-Necho– who sought to keep him from the
battle by pretending to have been sent by God. He lived a saint, and
died as a patriot king might wish to die, and yet he humbles himself
before the Most High! O Friends, do not we perceive that this example
demands of us immediate imitation? The Lord lead us into it.
II. Grant me your earnest attention while I give a few POWERFUL REASONS
why we should perform the same act as this, which is recorded of
Hezekiah.
1. My Brethren, reasons for humbling ourselves are more abundant than
the time allowed me in which to urge them upon you. In the first place,
a deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the
punishment which it deserves
should make us lie low before the Throne of God. We have sinned. We
have erred and strayed from His ways like lost sheep–we who are now
present. We have sinned as Christians. Alas that it should be so!
Favored as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful–privileged beyond
most we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who among us,
though he may long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, will not
blush when he looks back upon the past?
As for our days before we were regenerate, may God blot them out–may
they be forgiven and forgotten. But since then, though we have not
sinned as before, yet there has been this peculiar aggravation of our
sins that we have sinned against light and against love–light which
has really penetrated our minds, and love which we have been able to
recognize and in which we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of
a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins, to my mind, cheaply,
compared with the sin of one of God's own elect ones, who has had
communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus' bosom.
Look Brethren, at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look
at his repentance and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans
out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears as they fall upon the
ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music
of his harp! We have erred. Let us, therefore, seek the spirit of
penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter's denying his
Master. Remember, it is written, "He wept bitterly." Have we no such
offenses to weep over? Are there no denials of our Lord to be lamented
with tears?
Think, Brethren, these sins of ours deserve nothing less than the
hottest Hell! These sins of ours, before and after conversion, would
consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire if it were not for the
Sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands
from the burning! Is there no help here towards the work of
soul-humbling? My Soul, bow down under a sense of your natural
filthiness and worship your God!
2. Let us reflect upon another humbling subject–our origin and our
end. Here are we, the offspring of a day! We are unclean things brought
out of an unclean thing–children that are corrupters–the seed of
evildoers! What are we at the best but mere animated earth? And before
long we shall be brought into that lowly bed where the worms shall be
under us, and the worms shall cover us! We shall become a puff of wind,
a handful of brown dust–and shall we glory? We who sprang from
nothing, and must go back to nothing, shall we boast in ourselves? O
worm of the dust, know yourself, and cease from pride!
3. I would remind you also, my dear Brothers and Sisters, of that
Sovereign Grace which has made us to differ. I frequently find that a
sense of God's amazing love to me has a greater tendency to humble me
than even a consciousness of my own guilt. Think, my Brethren, what you
are by Grace! You were chosen of God according to His purpose–chosen,
not for good in you, but chosen because He would choose you–because,
"He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have
compassion on whom He will have compassion." You were "not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious
blood or Christ."
You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God's
only-begotten Son! Think of that! And, as Jesus stooped for you, bow
yourselves in lowliness at His feet. You are now a child of God! A
favorite of the skies, on the road to Glory–with a heritage beyond the
black river which shall be yours when suns and moons have paled their
waning light. You are to dwell forever near to God and to be like He!
Surely the thoughts of such amazing goodness will make the vessel,
laden so heavily with mercy, sink in the water even to its bulwarks!
Surely you will feel that you must bless and magnify God, because you
are less than the least of all His mercies.
4. Further, let me ask you to think of the greatness of God. It is not
in my power by words to bring before you that tremendous subject. But
if I could put you in the position of Job, when he said, "I have heard
of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You," you would
be certain to add with that Patriarch, "Therefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes."–
" Great God, how infinite are You! What worthless worms are we!"
5. Once more, think of the life and death of the Savior. See your
Master taking a towel and washing His disciples' feet! And, follower of
Christ, will you not humble yourself? No, see Him all His life long. Is
not this sentence the compendium of His biography–"He humbled himself?
Was He not here on earth always stripping–taking off first one robe of
honor and then another, till, naked, He was fastened to the Cross, and
then emptied out His inmost self, pouring
out the floods of His life-blood from His heart, and giving up all for
us, till they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave?–
"His honor and His breath Were taken both away, Joined with the wicked
in His death, And made as vile as they."
How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand,
my beloved Brothers and Sisters, at the foot of the Cross and count the
purple drops by which you have been cleansed! See the crown of thorns!
Mark still the relics of the spit on those blessed cheeks! Go round the
Cross and mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrim-soned
rills! See hands and feet given up to the rough iron and His whole self
to mockery and scorn! See the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes
of inward grief showing themselves in His outward frame! Hear the
shrill shriek, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and if you
do not lie prostrate on the ground before that Cross, you have never
seen it. If you are not humbled in the Presence of Jesus, you do not
know Him.
I pray the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, and I know our
position will no longer be that of the inflated, pompous man of pride,
but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much, because much
has been forgiven him. I would, however, warn the inexperienced
Believer concerning this act of humbling–do not make mistakes about
it. Do not mistake sham humility for real humility. There is a cant of
humility which is infamous. People will say in prayer, "Your poor
dust," and use all sorts of depreciating expressions when they are as
proud as Lucifer! They will say before the Lord things concerning
themselves which they are very far from believing, for from their
manner and bearing it is clear that their estimate of themselves is far
from being too low.
There are others who think that laziness is humility. They cry, "Oh, I
could not do this! I could not do the other!" when they might do it,
and should do it, and ought to do it, and could do it, God the Holy
Spirit helping them. But they shirk every duty because they have a
sense of inability, and they cover their idleness with the mantle of
supposed humility. Moses was rebuked by God very strongly when he made
excuses and would gladly have avoided going into the great work to
which the Lord had called him. Let us not raise questions with our God
when He calls us to labor, but let us say, "Here I am, send me." Do not
fall into that miserable counterfeit humility, but like men, use all
your strength for Jesus!
Again, do not mistake unbelief for humility. "I hope I am." "I trust I
am," and expressions of that kind, savor far more of distrust of God
than of humility of spirit, for the best form of humility is compatible
with the highest degree of faith. In fact, that is not true faith, but
spurious, which is not humble. And that is not genuine humility of the
loveliest type which is not confident in God. Faith and humility should
always walk together. Let the Grace in you be real Grace, and to that
end ask the Spirit of God to work it in you.
Let me add, dear Friend, if you find it difficult to humble yourself
before God, stand to it the more earnestly, for the more difficult it
is, the more you need it. If your soul were humble it would easily
humble itself, but because it is proud, it needs humbling. And for this
reason it finds the duty irksome and displeasing to the flesh. Mortify
your pride, my Brothers and Sisters! Let your souls be mortified on
account of sin! And if you cannot yourself do it, you know where your
strength lies–fly to your Master for strength and you shall have
enabling Grace.
Again, let me say, in order to humble yourselves exercise all your
faculties. Let your memory bring before you your past offenses. Let
your understanding form a proper judgment of your position as a
creature, as a sinner, and now as a dependent servant. Your
understanding will greatly help you, for true humility is forming a
just estimate of oneself– and to humble oneself is to bring oneself
down to the place where one ought to be. Let your hopes and your fears,
let your affections and your passions, let all the powers of your
intellect and heart agree to this–that now before God you will humble
yourself as Josiah did. I have given you the reasons. May God apply
those reasons with power by His Holy Spirit!
III. Lastly, I have to encourage our friends to this duty by
ENCOURAGING RESULTS. I think it was Bernard, or one of the preachers of
the Middle Ages who said, "There is one thing to be said for humility,
that it never can by any possibility do one harm." If a man goes
through a door, and he has the habit of stooping his head, it may be
the door is so high there is no need for stooping, but the stooping is
no injury to him. But if the door should happen to be a low one, and he
has the habit of holding up his head, he may come into sharp contact
with the top of the door! True humility is a flower which will adorn
any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of
life, and you will find an
improvement in every case. Whether it is prayer or praise, whether it
is work or suffering, the salt of humility cannot be used in excess.
1. But there are positive advantages connected with it, for, first,
humiliation will often avert judgment. How many times in the history of
the Israelites, when they were given over to their enemies, their
humbling themselves at once drove away the invaders and set them free
from the scourge? Perhaps some of the most remarkable cases which I can
quote are those of wicked men, for their cases show the power of
humiliation with God where there is nothing else to work upon
Him.
Rehoboam had set up a false worship, and "did evil in the sight of the
Lord." Therefore God was provoked with Rehoboam and with Judah, and
Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up and ravaged Judea, and was about to
capture Jerusalem. But we read that Rehoboam and Judah humbled
themselves before God, and the Lord said that Shishak should not touch
Jerusalem, and moreover the Lord visited the land with favor, and it is
said, "also in Judah things went well." This mercy was granted, not
because of any good thing in Rehoboam or his people, but only because
they humbled themselves.
A more remarkable case, still, is that of Ahab. Ahab had killed Naboth
to obtain his vineyard. And when he entered that vineyard, stained with
innocent blood, Elijah met him with the cutting question, "Have you
killed, and also taken possession?" And Ahab's proud and haughty spirit
was cowed with fear of Elijah, and he cried, "Have you found me, O my
enemy?" Elijah delivered the terrible sentence of God to him, that the
whole of his household should die, and that Jezebel should be eaten by
dogs in that very vineyard. Ahab could no longer, after hearing that
sentence, keep up his bronze countenance. And we read, "And it came to
pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went
softly."
Then the Lord said unto Elijah, "Do you see how Ahab humbles himself
before Me? Because he humbles himself before Me, I will not bring the
evil in his days." So that this basest of all men, this wicked Ahab,
whose name stands infamous in the Chronicles of the Kings, yet obtained
a blessing from God when he humbled himself! As for God's people, when
the Lord has been about to strike them, He has usually stayed His hands
when they have humbled themselves. See the case of Hezekiah, which we
have already mentioned. Hezekiah humbled himself, it is said, because
of the pride of his heart, and the Lord said this evil should not be
brought upon him in his day. And Josiah, in this case, also turned
aside the sword of the Lord from the Israel of his own day because he
humbled himself.
My dear Friends, you are under the paternal discipline of God and He
will make you feel His chastening rod! But if you humble yourselves,
you put the rod away. You know, with your own children, if you feel
compelled to chasten, yet, when you see softness and tenderness of
heart and a sweet readiness to confess the fault, it goes against your
heart that the rod should be used, and you put it away, for humble
sorrow is all that you wanted to produce. And if the effect is there
already, there is no need of further sternness. So the Lord turns away
the chastisement from His people when they humble themselves.
2. Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. The
old philosophers were accustomed to assert, as a law of matter, "Nature
abhors a vacuum." This old dictum is out of date nowadays, but it is
still true spiritually. So, then, if you and I empty ourselves, depend
upon it, God will fill us! Divine Grace seeks out and fills a vacuum.
Make a vacuum by humility, and God will fill that vacuum by His love.
He who desires sweet communion with Christ should remember the words of
the Lord, "To this man will I look, even to Him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembles
at My Word."
"He has respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knows afar off."
Stoop, my dear Friend, if you would climb to Heaven! Do we not say of
Jesus, "He descended that He might ascend"? So must you! You must go
downwards, that you may grow upwards, for the sweetest fellowship with
Heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. I believe that
God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. "Blessed are
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven," with all its
riches and treasures. The whole treasury of God shall be made over by
deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive
it without growing proud because of it.
3. Further, my dear Brethren, the act of humiliation will be very
blessed to you and to me because it will improve our spiritual health.
To humiliate yourself is as necessary in this wicked world as it is for
traveler's through African jungles to take, every now and then, a
draught of quinine. The bitterness of humility is a tonic to the
spirit. I know of no
man who is so courageous before his fellow man as he that bows before
his God. My knee shall bend to God, and God alone. But if my knee never
bends to God, you may depend upon it, it will soon be bending when I do
not want it to do so–it will tremble before the face of man.
If you fear God with a deep and powerful fear, you shall fear nobody
else. You should be able to say, before a fierce tyrant like
Nebuchadnezzar, with the three holy children, "Be it known unto you, O
king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image
which you have set up." The fear of God is the death of every other
fear. Like a mighty lion, it chases all other fears before it. Nothing
makes a man so vigorous and strong, with the exception of faith, as
humility! And even faith itself cannot be strong where humility is
weak.
4. Once more, usefulness will be promoted by humility. There are some
professors whom God cannot bless because they would grow intolerably
proud if they were blessed. I heard a dear Brother say that he believed
God blessed us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it was
safe for Him to do, and I believe He does so. If you do not get a
blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one! If our
heavenly Father were to let you be successful in His holy war, you
would run away with the crown yourself–and meeting with an enemy you
would fall a victim–and so you are kept low for your own safety.
When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures so much as to touch
a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do
for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of Grace, and
fits us to deal with our fellow men. Everybody gets as far as ever he
can from a proud man. I confess, myself, I have a great pleasure in
seeing proud men–when I can hardly discern them with a powerful
telescope! Nearer than this would be far less agreeable. We mind not
how near we come to gentle and meek spirits, for these are company for
angels.
Proud spirits do not like to deal with great sinners. "Stand by, I am
holier than you," is not the language for a man who would be useful.
What do you think, would a Pharisee make a city missionary? Look at the
fine gentleman, bloated with self-importance! What a useful preacher he
would make, would he not? Send him after the poor fallen girls at
midnight meetings! Better send a peacock! "Stand by, I am holier than
you." Why the man who feels thus is out of place in the service of
God–he is more fit to play lackey to the world's vanities, than to
talk of being a soldier of the Cross.
Just as the excess of pride disables, so an abundance of humility of
spirit will fit you for any kind of Christian work to which the Holy
Spirit may call you. Let us humble ourselves then, dear Friends, that
God may exalt us in due time by giving us to see the result of our
work. I know not how to plead any further, but I commend to the Holy
Spirit for fulfillment. My deeply anxious desire for myself and for
you, my Brothers and Sisters in the common faith, is that we may all be
brought, like Josiah, to humble ourselves before God.
There is yet a word which I desire to speak to those who are not saved.
I do not say to you, begin with humbling yourselves. Your hope lies in
Jesus Christ. "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all you ends of the
earth." That is the Gospel. Your salvation lies not in you but in
Jesus. At the same time, an humble and a contrite spirit will be a very
ready way of leading you to Christ, and therefore I beseech you,
cultivate this spirit. There is a story narrated in the classic history
of Augustus Caesar that a most troublesome pirate had destroyed many of
the Roman vessels, and therefore Caesar, having hunted him in vain for
some time, offered a reward of ten thousand talents for the pirate's
head.
Now the pirate, knowing the case to be hopeless, and perhaps somewhat
relenting, came himself before Caesar and laying his head down before
him in the dust, he said, "Ten thousand talents! I have brought the
pirate's head." Caesar looked at him with astonishment, and said, "You
have trusted the generosity of Caesar, and no man shall trust that in
vain. You are pardoned. Here are the 10,000 talents, too." Now, Sinner,
I would advise you to follow his example. Shrewd and sensible was
that–be you as wise. God will have your head of you, no, your
soul–but go yourself with it, submit yourself!
After that evil May day in our English history when the apprentices had
done so much mischief by destroying the foreigners' houses and burning
them, in a riot, a commission sat to try them, and a number of them
were summoned to the Guildhall. But when they appeared with ropes about
their necks, confessing that they deserved to be hanged, a free pardon
was accorded to very many of them. Come, poor Soul, the Lord will never
swing you up if you will put the rope round your own neck. If you will
bring your own head, He will never take it off your shoulders. Come
just as you are, confess the wrong, and trust to the liberality of God
in Jesus Christ and you shall not find Him condemning. You proud ones
who are self-righteous will perish, but you who are humble, by trusting
in Jesus, shall be saved!
Yonder is a sinking ship! The vessel is going down rapidly, and I see
two men equally anxious for life. One of them puts on his garments,
heavy with gold lace. He loads himself with jewels. He fills his
pockets with his gold and his silver, and leaps into the sea. You know
what will become of him! He has weighted himself for destruction. But
here is another who takes off not only such jewelry as he may have upon
him, but he strips himself even to his last rag and then casts himself
naked into the sea. If any man can swim, it is he.
So you do the same, poor Soul! If you have a rag of self-righteousness,
off with it! If you have anything whatever of your own to depend upon,
off with it! And if any man can swim in the sea of Divine Love, you are
the man! And, let me add, a naked spirit was never drowned there. Lay
hold on Jesus with nothing of your own in your hands, and "you shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck you out of His hands." May
God bless these words to us all for His love's sake. Amen.
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The Righteous Holding On His Way
A sermon