"That King Ahaz"
(No. 2993)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
8, 1863.
"And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the
LORD: this is that king Ahaz." 2 Chronicles 28:22.
IT is absolutely certain, dear Friends, that whatever our personal
characters may be, we shall have to know, by practical experience, the
meaning of the word, "trouble." Saint or sinner, "man is born unto
trouble, as the sparks fly upward." The road to Heaven is rough and the
path to Hell is not always smooth. There are some tribulations which
belong especially to the people of God, yet it is also true that "many
sorrows shall be to the wicked." If a man, trying to escape from
sorrow, should take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost
parts of the sea, he would find that sorrow was even there upon the
sea! Should he go to the frozen regions of the North, he would find
sorrow there, for there have some of the fondest human hopes been
wrecked. Let him journey to the sultry South and trouble shall pursue
him there, for plagues, fevers and disease haunt that region and the
gates of death are near. Until we mount to Heaven, we shall never be
able to escape from sorrow and sighing–only there shall we obtain joy
and gladness, when our somber companions shall have fled away forever.
Since, dear Friends, the stream of sorrow is here, and we cannot make
it flow in any other direction, what shall we do with it? Let us try to
put it to profitable uses! Let us lift up our heart in prayer to God
that all our sorrows may be sanctified–that, with all other things,
they may work together for our lasting good–and that we, who are the
children of God, may be perfected in the image of Christ according to
the Divine Purpose. Let us remember, however, that sorrow will not of
itself be beneficial to us. It is possible to endure afflictions on
earth and afterwards to endure eternal damnation in Hell. Sinners may
go from beds of languishing to beds of flame, from toil and poverty
here, to torment and all despair hereafter. There is nothing at all in
sorrow that can burn out sin–there is no power in human suffering to
remove the wrath of God!
I. I shall commence my discourse with this very simple remark–IN THEIR
TIMES OF DISTRESS, GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE OFTEN FOUND VERY GREAT PROFIT.
Suffering is one of the things which is written in the Covenant of
Grace as a blessing. The rod was promised to us when we became the
children of God and we cannot escape it. And I think the poet Cowper
was right when he said that "the trueborn child of God" would not
escape it if he might. The distress of Believers, when it is sanctified
to them, loosens their hold upon this world. Trials cut the ropes which
fasten our souls to earthly things and so enable us to mount. They file
the chains which, as on the eagle's foot, will not let her spread her
wings and soar upward toward the sun. Trouble, like a sharp spade, digs
up the earth that is about our roots and then we bring forth more
fruit. Were it not for the thorns in our nest, we would be so content
with its soft lining that we would sit in it till we died. But the
sharp thorns prick our breasts and then we turn our eyes aloft and
learn to try our wings, ready for the time when they shall have fully
grown and we shall mount to joys above!
Afflictions, also, are often to the benefit of Believers in leading
them to search for sin. Our trials should be search warrants, sent to
us from God that we may search and find out the secret evil that is
within us–the offense that we have hidden, the lie that is in our
right hand. You know, Beloved, that it is not an easy thing to bring us
to self-examination. We are afraid of it–we are too apt to take things
as they seem to be, without testing and trying them to see what they
really are. But when the consolations of God grow small with us, then
we say, "Is there any secret sin within us?" A rough wind blows through
the forest and the rotten branches creak, and are torn from the oak,
where otherwise they
would have become a nest for all sorts of destructive insects and a
center of decay for the whole tree. So, our afflictions often drive
away some besetting sins, some darling propensities which otherwise we
might have carried in our bosom till they had done us grievous damage.
Do you not also know, dear Friends, how trials give new life to prayefi
Do we ever pray as well as when we feel the pricks of our Father's
sword? He never wounds us so severely as to kill us, but He does,
sometimes, just gently probe us to wake us up from our lethargy. Oh,
what fervent prayers we offer when in the furnace! And I may add, oh,
what grateful songs we sing when we come out! There is more life, I
think, in one's piety in times of sorrow than at any other season. I do
not wish to be laid aside from pulpit labor, but I must confess that I
have often felt unusual spiritual power when coming up to preach to you
after a season of sickness. And there have been times when I have heard
some of you say, "Our minister speaks more sweetly, now, than he did
before he was laid aside." Yes, the olives must go into the press if
the oil is to be squeezed out of them–and the grapes must be trod upon
with loving feet before the wine flows forth from them. The file must
be used upon us to bring out the true quality of the metal. There is no
hope that we shall ever be made into much fine gold unless we are often
put into the crucible–and unless that crucible is put into the midst
of the glowing coals! So I say that we get much good from our trials.
Have you not also found, dear Friends, that trials make your faith grow
stronger We who are but striplings in the Lord's army, enlist very
readily. We put the colors in our cap and we think that we are going to
do great things–to stir up the Church and to rout the world, the flesh
and the devil! But we soon find that we have to be drilled by the black
sergeant, Affliction, and afterwards we have to march out to the battle
of the warrior, "with confused noise and garments rolled in blood."
And, by-and-by, after many a conflict, we become hardened veterans and
we who might have turned our backs before, if it had not been for
trial, become bold as lions for the Lord our God! Brothers and Sisters,
there is no teaching, no ministry, even of the best-taught servant of
God, that can do you such good as sanctified experience! You must learn
for yourselves–under that blessed schoolmaster, Mr. Affliction–you
must study the sacred science of Divinity! It is good to go to his
school, for the lessons to be learned there are so beneficial. One of
his scholars wrote, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have
I kept Your Word."
We also get our sweetest comforts in the time of trouble. Do not
mothers often give their children, in their seasons of sickness, tokens
of love that they never give them when in health? I know that there are
kisses of Jesus' lips for His tried children that He gives not to those
who are without trial. "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and
carry them in His bosom." Then I would love to be a lamb, to ride so
near to His heart–"and shall gently lead those that are with young,"
and it is well for us, sometimes, to fake those pains and weaknesses
that we may have more of the gentle leadings of the tender Shepherd! I
think it was Rutherford who said that when Christ put him down in the
cellar of affliction, he knew that He kept His wine there, and he
groped about until he found the bottles–and then he drank and was
revived! Ah, there is rich wine of comfort in the lowest cellars of
affliction when Christ puts us down there! Even the joys of Heaven will
be all the sweeter because of our experiences of trial here, where we
often sing–
"Sweet affliction Thus to bring my Savior near." Christ is
superlatively sweet to us and the next sweetest thing in all the world
is Christ's dear Cross. He is, Himself, most precious, but next to the
kisses of His lips are the blows–the love pats–of His pierced hands!
II. Now I advance another step and remind you that VERY OFTEN, THROUGH
THE GRACE OF GOD,
UNGODLY PERSONS HAVE HAD REASON TO BLESS THE LORD FOR THEIR
AFFLICTIONS.
Not infrequently have I heard a story of this kind from a man who has
passed the prime of life, whose garments bear evidence, though he still
looks respectable, that he is one who has seen many sorrows and
trials–and who carries on his brow the marks of the plowshare of
grief. He has come to unite in fellowship with the Church and he begins
telling the story of his conversion, which is something like this–"I
was once a flourishing tradesman. I had a large business and was a
wealthy man, but, alas, I was foolish. Worse than that, I was wicked. I
misspent my time, I delighted in the ways of sin and became a
profligate. My companions thought me generous and I did not wish to be
less than they thought me to be, so I wasted my substance in riotous
living. My business suffered and, at last, there came a crash. All I
had went where all must go when a man squanders his time and money as I
squandered mine. I became poor. I had not previously known what it was
to eat the bread of dependence, but I did eat it for a few months.
Friends assisted me for a time, but they grew
tired of doing so and I was cast off by the world. And I felt, when any
looked coldly upon me, that I deserved it. I have been a fool, Sir, I
know that I have. But it was then, one cold, pitiless night, when there
was only one place where I could find shelter for my head–that place
was the pauper's last refuge–it was then that I thought upon my ways
and lifted my eyes to Heaven and breathed the prayer, "God be merciful
to me, a sinner." The man has told me that he blesses God for his
poverty, for that was the means of bringing him to Christ! And since he
has come to know the Lord, he has thought it a thousand mercies that he
was thus brought very low, for if he had not been, his proud spirit
would never have been broken and he would never have been humbled
before the Lord.
And some of you, my Sisters, know that you have told me and the Church
your story. You were happy mothers in your households, but you feared
not the Lord. You had your children around you and you and your husband
took what you called, "your pleasure," on the Sabbath, for you had no
fear of God before your eyes. But, by-and-by, one of your little ones
was taken ill. You watched, with anxious care, the pale cheek as it
grew still paler–and grim Death took your darling from you. Again his
shaft flew and a second one was taken–and your soul was melted because
of heaviness. There is one here who had four children taken away in
succession, till, at last, the mother's agonized soul, bereaved of all
earthly comfort, could go to no one else but Christ–and when she went
to Him, she found in Him what was better than 10 sons–His love, His
pardon, His acceptance, His free gift of eternal life!
Ah, Brothers and Sisters, there have been many who have thus, by a
series of bereavements, through the sanctifying influence of the Holy
Spirit, been brought to know the Lord! I need not stay to mention
instances of which I am constantly hearing. I believe that the black
angel of distress has brought as many to Christ as the bright angel of
tender mercy. In fact, if you look well at the black angel, as I have
called him, you will see that he is not black, but exceedingly bright,
for there is a gracious ministry in those loving sorrows! There is an
angelic kindness in those loving cruelties (as some term them) by which
God sometimes bring hardened sinners to Himself!
III. But now I come to the main point of my discourse which is that
although distress is often blessed to God's people, and is frequently
sanctified to the conversion of sinners, our text is a notable proof
that THERE IS NOTHING
IN TRIAL, ITSELF, WHICH WILL NECESSARILY SOFTEN THE HEART AND MAKE A
MAN REPENT. "In the
time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is
that king Ahaz."
If further proof were needed that trouble, affliction, sickness and
familiarity with death necessarily softened the heart, then those
people who have most to do with these things would have the most tender
hearts–but it is not so. Think of the man who has to deal with the
dead. Where will you find anywhere, as a class, a more hardened set of
men than undertakers often are? I know that anyone who is well
acquainted with them, must have observed how they joke over a corpse
and make mirth over the death of their fellow creatures, regarding a
fever rather as a blessing which brings them employment than as a
calamity which takes away the husband from the wife, or the parent from
the children. I do not speak without my book in this case, and it is
very much the same with other people. I think I said, one day, that if
a man or a woman were not converted before they became pew-openers at a
church or a chapel, it was probable that they never would be
converted–and I am still of the same opinion. I once said that I
thought even reporters of sermons, if they did not know the Lord before
they undertook that work, would very likely fail to get any good out of
the sermon and, therefore, it is always a great joy to me when I know
that those who have any share in the preparation of my sermons with a
view to their publication have realized the power of the Truth of God
in their own hearts so that, even while engaged in the mechanical
operations connected with reporting and printing the sermons, their
souls drink in something of the sweetness of the Truth which is
afterwards to be read by others.
Probably, however, the truth of the text will be best illustrated by a
Scriptural instance. Look at Pharaoh. Was any man ever more troubled
than he was? All the power of land, and water, and sky united to plague
him! It seemed as if all the frogs in the world had made Egypt their
rendezvous–and the locusts, and the lice, and the flies, and cattle
diseases, and boils, and the hail, and the thick darkness–and though
all these plagues came upon Pharaoh, he still hardened his heart and
would not let the people go! Affliction did not soften him. On the
contrary, it hardened him. And the case of Ahaz is another instance of
the same evil spirit, for the more trials came to him, the more did he
trespass against the Lord. The children of Israel, too, though they
were smitten many times, yet revolted again and again. They were hunted
about by marauders and delivered up to their enemies. Their crops were
devoured of locusts. Famine and pestilence came
upon them, but, for all that, they turned not unto the Lord, but
hardened their hearts against Him and were a stiff-necked generation,
even as they are unto this day!
However, I need not go on beating round the bush, for, if further
proofs that sorrow does not necessarily soften are needed, there are
plenty of such proofs here at this moment. There is that sailor over
yonder. He knows that he is a great deal worse than he was three or
four years ago. He had more pricks of conscience then, than he has now,
yet it is not many months since he escaped from shipwreck. He thought
the angry deep must surely swallow him up, so he cried unto God in his
time of trouble, and said, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come in
unto my soul!" God spared his life, but the trial he then endured had
no beneficial effect upon him and, as I have said, he is a worse man,
now, than he was years ago! Then there is that man yonder–whose
business has been going down. What effect has that had upon him? He is
growing harder and harder and is even cursing God for what he calls his
bad luck! In trying to improve his position, he is only plunging deeper
into the mire and he will be head over heels in the morass, presently,
unless the almighty Grace of God shall deliver him! But the man is not
softened in spirit by all that he has had to endure. That which would
have softened him had he been as wax, has hardened him because his
nature is like clay. May God yet have mercy on him, for I plainly
perceive that his briars, by themselves, will be of no use to him!
And you, too, who have come creeping out to this service–you have been
so ill that hospital after hospital has turned you away as incurable.
The doctors say that nothing more can be done for you, so you have come
limping in here, though you can scarcely keep your seat for
weariness–you are very ill and weak–yet your unhumbled spirit is as
proud as though your ribs were made of iron and your heart were strong
as steel! If you should be chastened any more, you would only revolt
more and more. You have already been smitten until your whole head is
sick and your whole heart is faint–from the crown of your head to the
soles of your feet there is no soundness in you, for you have become,
as the result of God's chastisements, a mass of wounds, bruises and
putrefying sores! Yet still is sin as strongly entrenched within your
soul as ever it was! What more shall the Lord do to you? Shall He give
you up as hopeless? Shall He make you as Admah? Shall He set you as
Zeboim? Shall He say concerning you, "He is joined unto his idols; let
him alone"? What else remains to be done for you where all this
affliction and trial will not break your heart?
I might go on pointing out you who are like king Ahaz, for my Master
knows all about you and He knows how to direct my tongue so that I
shall describe you. I feel a great yearning of heart, the throes of
strong convulsions in my soul over some of you who are here! I know
that I have a special message from God for some whom I am now
addressing. Who and where they are, the Lord knows. I do not, but I
pray that my message may now be accepted by them. As the Lord my God
lives, before whom I stand, if you turn not at His rebuke, O Soul–if
this last affliction shall not humble you, He will dash you in pieces
like a potter's vessel and break you with a rod of iron! "Turn you,
turn you, for why will you die?" Why will you draw destruction down
upon your own head? Why will you stain your garments with your own
blood? Why will you dash yourself to pieces upon the bosses of
Jehovah's buckler? Why will you run upon the edge of His sword? Why
will you leap into the fires of Hell? Why will you ruin your soul
forever? Pause, I entreat you! A brother's love bids you pause! You who
are like "that king Ahaz" who, in the time of his distress, trespassed
yet more against the Lord, I pray you to stop and consider, lest, at
your next step, your feet should hang over the awful darkness of the
Pit and your soul be hurled into the eternal depths!
I have thus, I hope, come somewhat near the mark at which I am aiming.
And I am getting to speak right home to those who have had afflictions
and trials, but are growing worse, rather than better, notwithstanding
all that has happened to them. I will turn from them to speak to some
of you who have the notion that you will repent and believe in Christ
some day, but you will not repent and believe in Christ just yet. You
have not made up your minds that you will go to Hell–oh, no, you mean
to be saved, one of these days! You have not decided when it shall be,
but still, you do mean it to happen one of these days! Your secret
thought is that one of these days you will be obedient to the heavenly
vision. You talk to yourselves in some such fashion as this, "I shall
be laid aside one day. Perhaps it may not be until I grow old and when
I am ill–then I shall have time to turn the matter over calmly and
quietly. I have heard my friends say concerning some who had lived very
bad lives, that they hoped it was all right with them at the last and,
therefore, may I not hope that it will be all right with me?"
Friend, I want to give you a warning word! Perhaps my meeting you here
and talking especially to you for a little while may be the means of
your eternal salvation! What makes you imagine that a time of sickness
is a suitable time for
repentance? Do you not think that you will have quite enough to do to
bear your bodily pains without having to think of the state of your
soul? When your head is aching, you cannot properly attend even to your
earthly business–so how can you hope to attend to your soul's business
when your head and your heart will both be aching? You find that your
worldly concerns need a healthy mind and body to conduct them
properly–so do you think that when the mind is becoming weak through
senile decay and physical infirmity–that then will be a fitting time
to think of these momentous and eternal realities?
In many diseases I believe that repentance and faith are scarcely
possible, for some of them bring such a lethargy of spirit that the
mind is hardly able to act at all. There are, doubtless, many persons
who are alive but who, for all practical purposes, are dead long before
they actually die. You know, too, how often the very thought of death
is so harassing to an unbeliever that he can hardly think of sin. A
murderer may repent that he has been brought to the gallows, yet not
repent of the murder that brought him there–just as, on their
deathbed, many repent of Hell, but not of sin! I fear that often the
sense of the wrath to come gets to be so vivid and so real that sin
hardly comes into the reckoning–and remember, Friend, that it is not
repentance of Hell that will save you, but repentance of SIN–not
repentance of the punishment, but repentance of the evil deed itself–a
sincere hatred of the very pleasure which sin would bring! O Sirs, take
my word for it–and I think that if there were physicians here, they
would certify that I am speaking the truth when I say that there are
other things to do on your deathbed than to talk of "making your peace
with God." I am uttering a solemn Truth of God, but it is one that must
be spoken! There may have been some few persons who have been saved on
a deathbed, but my own conviction is that they have been very, very,
very, very, very few! We only read in Scripture of one who was saved at
the last–the dying thief on the Cross–and it has been well said that
there was one so that none might despair–but only one that none might
presume! I do not know that there ever was another besides the dying
thief who was called by Grace at the eleventh hour! I repeat that I do
not know. I do not say that there have not been any–I hope there have
been many–but I do not know it. I have no revelation concerning it.
There is nothing in this blessed Book about it. Only this I know–there
was one–and therefore I hope there have been more. But since I only
know of that one, I would warn you not to put any confidence in a
repentance that may possibly come at the last. You may be saved on your
deathbed, but I think there is every probability that you who have
loved sin so long, will hug it to the last! I do not see any reason why
you would suddenly turn your backs on your former course. If there is
any such reason, let it operate upon you now. Surely it would have as
much force upon your conscience at this moment–while you are capable
of weighing the whole matter calmly and deliberately–as it will have
when you are tossing on your bed and your judgment has lost a great
part, if not all of its former vigor! May God bring you to Christ now!
But do not, I pray you, be dreaming about a deathbed on which you may
never lie, or of a repentance which you may never experience!
There was a man who was an awful swearer and whenever anybody spoke to
him about his not being saved, he used to say, "Oh, well, when my turn
comes to die, I shall just say, 'Lord, have mercy upon me,' and that
will be enough." It happened that one dark night, when going home on
horseback, drunk, his horse leaped the railing of a high bridge and
horse and rider fell right into the water. And the last word that the
man was heard to utter was an oath–so beyond all doubt he plunged into
a hopeless eternity! It is quite possible that you will never have the
opportunity to breathe a dying prayer, or if you could have such an
opportunity, it is quite possible that you would have no inclination to
utter it. Remember that "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation." May God, in His Sovereign Mercy, turn you to Himself
now!
Now I come back to you who have had many trials, but who have not been
bettered by them. My Friend over yonder, you do not often hear a
minister preach the Word of God and, therefore, now that I have you
here, let me deal very plainly and faithfully with you. Why do you
think that your trials were sent to you? I have shown you that distress
often has been blessed to others. Now, supposing you have had an
experience which has been blessed to others, but it has been no
blessing to you–what is the inference? If a man takes a piece of
quartz in which he thinks there is some gold, and puts it through the
usual processes for extracting gold–and when he has done that, sees
that there is no likelihood of finding gold in it, what is he likely to
do with it? Why, I think, before long, when he has tried all the plans
he can think of, he will throw it away and have nothing more to do with
it! And is it not likely that God will soon throw you away as utterly
worthless? Did you not say, the other night, that you wished God would
leave you alone? You would not have come in to this service if you had
thought that I should speak so pointedly and personally to you, would
you? You would like to see every church, and chapel, and mission-hall
destroyed–you would like to have no Sundays, and no religious people,
because they plague you–they get in your way, they stick pins in your
pillow, they will not leave you alone to sleep the sleep of death!
But do you not see that the fact that you want to be left alone is,
itself, a proof of your reprobate mind? God is beginning to leave you
alone, I am afraid, inasmuch as you are wishing to be left alone. I am
afraid that awful curse will come upon you and, possibly, it will come
upon you soon. Should your present condition continue much longer, I
can tell you what will happen to you–you will become an avowed
atheist. You will even deny the existence of God! You may even become
an open blasphemer, or you may become unconscious of any spiritual
emotion. Your conscience will never prick you and you will go on
sinning with a high hand until you come to die. Perhaps, even then, no
alarm or terror will disturb your false peace of mind. Even when you
dip your feet in the chilly stream of the River of Death, you will be
self-deceived to the last. But oh, Sir, what a change will come over
you when you once get into the world of eternal realities! When, at
last, you realize that you are a lost soul and that you have forever to
anticipate the wrath to come, what will you do then? O Man, how will
the blood boil in your veins and your nerves become burning tracks for
the wheels of pain to travel on! God help you! God save you! Only He
can do this, for I see the dread forecast of the flames of Hell in you
when you begin to ask God to leave you alone in your sin!
"Well," says one, "like that king Ahaz, I have transgressed yet more
and more against the Lord notwithstanding all my distress. But God, who
knows all things, knows that I would be saved if I could. While you
were singing that hymn just now, I thought I would act upon it. I said
in my heart–
"'Ican but perish if I go.
I am resolved to try
For if I stay away I know,
I must forever die.
Dear Friend, give me your hand! I feel that I may rejoice over you, for
if God the Holy Spirit has put it into your heart to say, "I am
resolved to try," or, better still, "I am resolved to trust Jesus
Christ as my Savior–though He slays me, I will trust in Him"–depend
upon it, He will not slay you! He would not do so even if you were the
blackest of sinners–one who had sinned till you had become the vilest
of all offenders! Jesus casts out none who come to Him by faith. Do, I
pray you, now say in your soul, "God helping me, I will now come to
Him–and who can tell whether there may not be a harp in Heaven even
for me, and a crown of glory for me? I trust that I may yet stand with
all the blood-washed host before the Throne of God above and join in
singing the everlasting song of praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And even here on earth, I may be among the children of God, I may be
forgiven, I may be saved, I may be accepted in the Beloved." If you
talk thus, and mean all that you say, I say unto you, not only that
this may be the case with you, but that it may be the case with you
this very hour–
"Oh, believe the promise true, God to you His Son has given!"
A loving Father waits with outstretched arms to welcome the returning
prodigal to His heart. Jesus waits by the fountain filled with His
precious blood to wash you from all your sinful stains. The Holy Spirit
is working in you even now–'tis He who bids you come! Let not Satan
persuade you that it is too late for you to come to Jesus–it is never
too late while the Messenger of Mercy continues to speak to you! Let
not the devil convince you that you are too sinful to be saved–often
the greatest sinners are the first to be saved! If the devil tells you
that you are an extraordinary sinner, tell him that Christ is such an
extraordinary Savior that He can save all sorts of sinners, ordinary
and extraordinary, too! Say not in your heart that you cannot be saved,
for, high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are God's
thoughts above your thoughts and His ways above your ways! My poor
Friend, if you feel your need of a Savior, join with me and with all
the people of God here in singing this verse! Sing it from your heart
and the great transaction's done–
"Nothing in my hands I bring:
Simply to Your Cross I cling!
Naked, come to You for dress–
Helpless, look to You for Grace!
Foul, I to the Fountain fly–
Wash me, Savior, or I die!"
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–509, 473, 514.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 THESSALONIANS 1; 2:1-4.
[This Exposition belongs to Sermon No. 2991, Volume 52–WHAT WE HAVE,
AND ARE TO HAVE–but there was not space available for it there.]
2 Thessalonians 1:1, 2. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the
church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. All nations have their special forms of salutation and this is
the Christian's greeting to his fellow Christians–"Grace unto you, and
peace." How much there is in this prayer! "Grace"–the free favor of
God, the active energy of the Divine Power. And,
"peace"–reconciliation to God, peace of conscience, peace with all
men! My Brothers and Sisters, what better things could I desire for
you, and what better things could you wish for your best beloved
friends than these, "Grace unto you, and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ"?
3. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren. We do not feel
this bond as much as we ought. We often feel ourselves bound to grumble
and complain, but I question whether we think enough about being bound
to praise God. And if we do not thank God as we ought for ourselves, it
is little marvel if we are very slack in the duty of thanking Him for
others. Herein, then, let us imitate this devout Apostle and let us
consider ourselves bound to always thank God for our Brothers and
Sisters in Christ.
3-7. As it is meet, because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the
charity of everyone of you all toward each other abounds; so that we
ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure; which
is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be
counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer: seeing
it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that
trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us. You will perhaps
say that this command is more easily given than carried out. And yet,
my Brothers and Sisters, the Grace of God always enables us to perform
what the precept of God commands! You who are troubled rest with us. If
you can get even a partial glimpse of the Glory that is to follow your
trouble. If you can see Christ suffering with you and realize your
union with Him. If the blessed Spirit who pledges Himself to be with
all the Lord's people, shall be with you, you will find it not hard
thing thus to rest. "You who are troubled rest with us."
7. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty
angels. This rest, then, it seems, is to be given to us mainly when
Christ shall come with His mighty angels.
8, 9. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of His power. I wonder what those persons who say that it is
not the duty of men to believe the Gospel, make of this passage? Paul
writes that those who "obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
shall be punished with everlasting destruction." Then, clearly, the
Gospel demands and commands man's obedience, and those who will not
believe it shall be punished, not only for their other sins, but for
this as their chief and damning fault–that they will not believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ as set before them in the Gospel of His Grace.
10. When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired
in all them that believe. Which passage means, I suppose, that as
Christ will be admired in His own Person, so His Glory, reflected in
all His children, will be a subject of admiration to the whole
intelligent universe. The saints of God shall be so pure, so
bright–such trophies of the Redeemer's power to save–that He shall be
admired in them! We know that in God's great temple of the universe,
everything does speak of His Glory and so, in the great spiritual
temple of His Church, every separate saint shall show forth the Glory
of Christ!
10, 11. (Because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Therefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you
worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the goodpleasure ofHis
goodness, and the word of faith with power. Ministers should be much in
prayer for their people. When John Welsh's wife found him on the ground
with his eyes red with weeping–and she found that he had been there
supplicating by the hour together–she asked him what ailed him and he
replied, "Woman, I have three thousand souls to care for, and I know
not how they all prosper; therefore must I wrestle with God for them
all." Oh, that we felt more the weight of our ministry! It is, perhaps,
the great fault of this age that so many who preach, yet preach with so
little earnestness and are not sufficiently alive to the value of
immortal souls! Oh, that the Holy Spirit would make our ministry to be
"the burden of the Lord" upon us!
12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and
you in Him, according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you
be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by
word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
In his former Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul had written as if he
expected Christ to come immediately. And the people seem to have taken
his words so literally as to have lived in expectation of Christ's
advent and, perhaps, to have exhibited some degree of fear concerning
it. He now calms their minds by telling them that Christ would not come
until certain events had happened. The history of the world was not
complete. The harvest of the Church was not ripe–neither had the sin
of man and especially the "man of sin" become fully developed.
3, 4. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin is
revealed, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. If this "man of sin"
is not the Pope of Rome, we cannot tell who is the antichrist!
Certainly, if this description were put in the Hue-and-Cry, and we were
police officers, we should at once arrest the Pope as the man whose
character agreed with the warrant in our hands! What does he call
himself? "Vicar of Christ on earth." What does he do but set himself up
to be adored and worshipped as though he were Divine, making himself
out to be the fountain and channel of all Grace? Beloved, this "man of
sin" has been revealed! Now we may look for the coming of the Son of
Man–but the day and the hour when He shall come, no man knows. No, and
not even the angels of God!