The "Beau Ideal" of Life
(No. 2987)
A SERMON ESPECIALLY TO YOUNG MIEN, PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 17, 1875.
"O satisfy us earl/ with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad
all our days." Psalm 90:14.
MOSES saw, with deep regret, that the great host which came out of
Egypt would have to die in the wilderness. Every day there were many
funerals, for a vast multitude of men, women and children had to be
buried in the wilderness. And tears of sorrow and sympathy must
continually have stood in the eyes of the great leader of the children
of Israel. After speaking about their days being passed away in God's
wrath, Moses offered a prayer which, under the circumstances, was most
natural and most wise. It was in substance this–"Lord, if we must die
in this desert. If this whole generation (except Caleb and Joshua) must
pass away in the wilderness, then, at any rate, give us the fullness of
Your favor now, that we may spend all our remaining days–whether they
are to be few or many–in gladness and rejoicing." Now, seeing that we,
also, are all passing away and that whether young or old, we, too, must
be carried to the grave unless the Lord should first return, this seems
to me to be a very wise prayer for us to put up–"Lord, satisfy us with
Your mercy now, that we may waste no more of our life in sinful
dissatisfaction, but that from this hour to the last moment of our
life, we may be filled with Your favor, and may rejoice and be glad all
our days.
I. Just for a minute or two, I want, in the first place, to show you
that Moses has here set before us THE "BEAU IDEAL" OF LIFE.
If one could have just such a life as he desired, could he desire
anything better than to be satisfied early with God's favor? Would it
not be a very delightful thing if the whole of his life could be spent
exactly as it ought to be and could be spent in the enjoyment of the
highest degree of happiness of which we are capable? "O satisfy us," is
the prayer of the text–"O satisfy us early with Your mercy." If the
young man–instead of seeking after something which he will still
continue to seek after if he is spared to reach the prime of life–and
will still seek after even when he grows gray, could get that which
would content him at once. If he could get something which would
immediately fill his soul and make it run over with thankfulness and
joy–would it not be a great blessing to him, especially if he could
get it, as Moses says, "early"–soon–in the very beginning of his
life? Many men, even good men, have wasted the early morning of their
days. And some have had the painful experience of looking back, in the
afternoon of life, upon the best part of their day and even the
noontide, all gone–and there has been for them only the evening and,
sometimes, only a very short evening to spend in complete satisfaction
and real joy. It is a pity that so many Christian's lives should, for
all practical purposes, be influential at the end of their stay on
earth–that as far as their influence upon others is concerned, they
should be merely like the candle-ends that we put upon the
save-alls–but the whole candle has never been consumed in giving light
in the sanctuary of God. It is a thing to be desired beyond measure
that from the first to the last of life, God's blessing should rest
upon us and that we should enjoy peace and happiness without any
intermingling of the distress which is caused by sin. This, as I have
said, seems to me to be the beau ideal of life–and I think that all
Christians, at least, will agree with me.
It is a poor way of building a house to have a flaw in the foundation,
for, however carefully we may build the superstructure, we can never
make a satisfactory building because of the flaw down below. It is poor
weaving on the part of the man at the loom, when he has a flaw at the
beginning of his work–however carefully he may weave the latter
portion of it, he will always know that he cannot get that old flaw
out–that the piece of cloth will never be perfect. In
contrast to this kind of building and weaving, it would be a blessed
thing to have such Grace and such wisdom given that the very first
course of the foundation of the house of life should be well and truly
laid, and that the whole building should be to the praise and glory of
God! And it would be equally blessed that the very first throws of the
shuttle of the web of life should be in accordance with the right rules
for weaving, so that the whole piece of cloth might be pronounced
perfect after its kind. I think this is the meaning of the prayer of
the text, "O satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and
be glad all our days."
II. Secondly, as we judge this satisfaction to be the beau ideal of
life, let us consider HOW SOME PEOPLE HAVE SOUGHT TO ATTAIN IT.
I do not hesitate to say that the first part of the text is the cry of
all men–
"O satisfy us, satisfy us, satisfy us!" But there is a kind of
horse-leech in every man's soul that is not easily satisfied. It is
like death, the grave and the sea. Whatever may be cast into the mouth
of death, it is as hungry as it was before! And the sepulcher is never
satisfied and, throw what you will into the sea, it is always ready to
receive more. So is it with the hearts of men. "O satisfy us," is the
world's cry as the heathens shout to their idol gods and as the priests
of Baal cried to their lifeless image. "O satisfy us," is the world's
cry today, for man's hunger is insatiable, though he disdains the only
food which would satisfy his cravings. "O satisfy us," is the cry which
is heard in every quarter of the globe–alas, not ascending to Heaven,
as it should, but going out to the things of time and sense! Still do
men seek satisfaction in that which Solomon calls "vanity of vanities."
Wise young men pray, in the words of the text, "O satisfy us early.''"
They want to get that which is to be the source of their joy, not when
they can no longer enjoy it, but now, so they cry, "satisfy us early."
They do not ask for God's mercy merely as a sort of pension for their
old age, but they want to have it now. At any rate, I know that I did,
for I wished to obtain whatever of gladness and joy could be had even
in my youthful days. There is nothing wrong in desiring to be happy.
There is nothing wrong in offering the prayer, "O satisfy us early," so
long as that prayer is completed in the way in which my text completes
it–"O satisfy us early with Your mercy."
Many have tried to satisfy themselves by gaining money. This is a
pursuit in which a man may lawfully engage if it is not the chief
objective of his life, as so many make it. They believed that they
would be satisfied when they had acquired a certain amount, but they
were not. I might confidently ask every man of wealth, now in this
world, whether he was satisfied when he reached the amount which he had
himself fixed as the limit of his desire? Did he not then feel that he
must have more than that amount? Of course he did! So he set before him
another sum and he said that when he had accumulated thatamount, he
would be content. But was he? Is not the desire for wealth a thing
which grows with that it feeds upon, so that the more a man has, the
more he wants? There never did live and there never could live, a man
whose entire nature could be satisfied with his worldly possessions.
You know that we call the man who delights in hoarding up riches–a
miser. Why do we call him by that name unless it is because he is truly
miserable? The very name for the man who is engrossed with avarice
signifies unhappiness–and when you need to describe somebody who is
both aged and wretched, you say, "He is like an old miser." Yes, so he
is. Men may amass as much wealth as they will, but if, with the money,
they have not acquired something better than the best metal that ever
came from the mint or the mine, they will still go on crying, "O
satisfy us! O satisfy us!" The Indians of South America believed that
the Spaniards' god was made of gold and well they might when they saw
the strangers' devotion to their idol! They once poured molten gold
down a Spaniard's throat, saying, "You have thirsted for it, now you
shall have enough of it." But if a man could eat gold, drink gold,
sleep with gold, walk with gold and be robed in gold, yet, still, what
is there in that metal which could satisfy the cravings of the highest
part of man's nature–that mysterious spiritual thing which is called
the soul? No, there is no solid satisfaction for the soul in all the
wealth in the world!
Others have despised this gross pursuit and they have said that
satisfaction is to be found in fame. We, all of us, like respect,
esteem, honor. It is false for any man to say that he does not like
praise, for he does. And if anyone is pleased at being told that he
does not like flattery, he is there being more highly flattered than at
any other time of his life–and he is enjoying the sensation! Some men,
to gain honors and distinction in various ways, have made complete
slaves of themselves. They have supposed that if they could but get the
honors–perhaps the honor of a degree at the university, or the honor
of a certain rank in the profession of the law, or even in the church,
they would be satisfied. But no man was
ever yet satisfied with honors. They are but as a puff of wind which
can never fill an immortal soul. If you read the histories of those
statesman who have risen to the greatest heights of fame, you will, as
a rule, find that the most famous man in the kingdom is generally the
greatest slave. He has, from the very weight of his honors, the heavier
burden of responsibility to bear. As "uneasy lies the head that wears a
crown," so, in its degree, uneasy lies the head that wears the laurel
or the crown. There is no contentment to be found in fame, as those
have proved who have won the most of it. There was a time when the
flattery of two or three poor people in a village would have satisfied
them, but now the plaudits of a whole nation seem as nothing to
them–and when the whole world is ringing with their renown, they sit
down in despondency, wring their hands in misery, and cry, with
Solomon, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
Others have said, "But surely there is something solid and satisfying
in learning." Well, there is more to be said for this than for either
of the other two things that I have mentioned and, as far as I am
concerned, I would sooner seek satisfaction in my library than in the
marble halls of the wealthy or in the courts of kings! To study, to
read, to make discoveries, to furnish the brain, to enrich the
mind–there is something worth doing in all this, yet Solomon, who
carried out this idea as far as it could be carried out in his day,
recorded his very emphatic verdict concerning it, "Much study is a
weariness of the flesh." "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," is very
apt to also be your utterance with regard to study, for you always have
the dreary thought that even if you could know more than all other men
in the world, when your turn came to sleep in the grave, there would be
no difference between you and the peasant of whom Wordsworth wrote–
"A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was
nothing more."
If the peasant rises no higher than that, however learned any of us may
be, we have only risen a little above him for a time–and in the common
dust we, too, shall sleep with him! If there were no eternal futures,
what would all the joys of earthly knowledge be worth to us?
Others seek satisfaction in pleasure. I may be addressing some young
man who says, "I do not care for wealth. I shall never trouble myself
to hoard it. On the contrary, I love to spendit! I do not want to use a
rake–give me a shovel and I will soon scatter all my father's
substance!" There are some men who are very proficient in scattering
what others have gathered with great diligence. These people say
concerning study, "Let us get out of these crowded rooms into the pure,
fresh air! We mean to go in for pleasure and to enjoy ourselves while
we can." This looks, at first sight, as if it were a prudent thing to
do and, certainly, there is a deal more sense in enjoying ourselves in
a rational fashion than there can be in pinching and starving ourselves
in order to hoard up money for heirs who will ridicule if they do not
actually curse those who have provided so bountifully for them!
Remember what Solomon says about others who seek what they call
pleasure–"Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has
babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? They
who tarry long at the wine; they who go to seek mixed wine." There is
no satisfaction there! The merriest man who ever lived–the man who
drained the wine-cup of mirth even to its dregs–has dashed it to the
ground in his fierce indignation and cursed the day in which he tried
to find satisfaction there! Look at those who have gone to the house of
the strange woman and see what comes of their sinful sojourning
there–even if it is only for a little while. Does not dissipation
bring disease and decay upon nature sooner than necessary? There is no
satisfaction there, young man! So, if you want to really enjoy
yourself, there is a nobler and a surer way of doing so. The way of
so-called "pleasure" is a delusion and a snare, and the end thereof is
sorrow, suffering and woe! Alas, that so many should continue to walk
in a way which has such a sad end!
When a man plays the fool, let him do it for something that is worth
having. Some time ago, when we were looking for a place for Messrs.
Moody and Sankey to preach and sing, two of our Brothers went to see
whether a certain building could be rented and, while they were waiting
there, a man came up to them and presented his card–"Mr. So-and-So,
clown." He thought our Brothers had gone to engage the place for some
amusements! They told him that they had come to engage it for religious
services and one of them said to him, "What a pity it is that you
should play the fool for money!" I think the clown made a very sensible
remark in reply, for he said, "You had better go and talk to those who
play the fool and make nothing by it, for there issome sense in playing
the fool for money." To play the fool and make nothing by it, is a very
mild description of the folly of which I have been speaking! But how
many play the fool and lose
money by it?What is it that clothes so many people in rags? What is it
that makes so many have red eyes, trembling limbs and even delirium
tremens What is that but playing the fool and losing by it? And what
will it be when such a man comes to die–a man who has lived without
God, without Christ and who will be without hope in his death? That
will be playing the fool with a vengeance! And the Truth of God will
come home to him that the eternal ruin of his soul is the cost of his
folly!
If you were to realize what this kind of "pleasure" means, you would
have nothing to do with it! When Mount Vesuvius suddenly began pouring
forth its lava upon Pompeii, most of the inhabitants were assembled in
the amphitheatre. I have seen the ruins of the place where they were
gathered. I do not know what spectacle was on at the time, but however
interesting it may have been, there was not a man, or woman, or child
who did not run as fast as they could to wherever they hoped they might
find a place of refuge! A few persons remained in their habitations, or
were unable to escape–and there they are to this day. Some of their
bodies have been lately discovered in the very positions in which they
were overtaken by the eruption. If men were wise, the merriest play
that ever was acted upon the face of the earth, the richest golden
gains that ever lay before a merchant, the choicest pleasures that ever
tempted the human heart would never induce them to tarry till they were
forever lost–but they would be up and away and never rest till they
had escaped from the wrath to come!
Some seem to have no real objective in life. I think I hear someone
say, "Well, I have cared for none of those things that you have
mentioned." Where then, my Friend, have you tried to find satisfaction?
"Oh, I have not troubled my head about that! I just plod along from day
to day, working hard to earn my daily bread. I do not know that I have
any ambition in this world except to pay my way, have enough to eat and
to drink, and clothes to put on, and bring up my children as well as I
can." Rest assured, my Friend, that I do not despise you for having
such desires. At the same time, I do think that it is a pity for an
immortal soul not to have some aim and objective higher and brighter
than that, for it is pretty nearly the objective of a mill-horse that
goes round and round in its daily course and never aims at anything
higher. Your objective is very much like that of a swallow, or a
sparrow which builds its nest, and lays its eggs and hatches them, and
sees its young flying off on their own account. Your ambition might be
suitable for a dog, or a horse, or a cat, but it is not worthy of
you–a being of a higher order! When I look at you and remember that
you were made in the image of God, I think that, surely, there must be
something worth living for–something nobler than this poor ambition of
yours! I ask you honestly to say whether you have found satisfaction
there–and I am fully persuaded that you have not.
There are some who argue that the Gospel cannot bless them. I
frequently hear this kind of talk from poor working people. One says,
"Well, Sir, if I were well-to-do, then I think I ought to be a
Christian, but religion is not for the poor." That is in direct
opposition to the declaration of Christ, Himself, that "the poor have
the Gospel preached to them." And to the Inspired question, "Has not
God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith?" Yet many people will
have it that the Gospel is not for them because they are so poor!
I have also heard some say that they are so ignorant that they cannot
be saved. One says, "I cannot read," and another says, "I can read, but
I cannot understand what I read in the Bible. And when I go to hear a
sermon, I cannot make out what is meant by it." They make out that they
are almost idiots with regard to spiritual matters, yet, on any other
subject, they would stick up for themselves and try to prove that they
are almost philosophers! Yet their plea that ignorance prevents them
from being saved is directly contrary to Scripture, for the Apostle
Paul, Inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote to the Corinthians, "For you
see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised,
has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nothing
things that are: that no flesh should glory in His Presence."
Then, again, others say that they are too busy to be saved! At least
that is the practical meaning of their excuse. One says, "Now, do not
bother me about religion, for I really have not time to think about
such things as that. See, I have to be up early in the morning and to
work hard till late at night." Another says, "My business cares are so
numerous that I cannot get away from the counting-house to go to a
Prayer Meeting." Ah, dear Friends, but how many people who have not
been able to find time to pray, have had to find time to die? And how
very frequently do we see that the very people
who say that they have not had time to think about the things of God,
have found plenty of time for indulgence in vice and sinful pleasures!
That excuse, like the others I have mentioned, will not avail any of
those who make it. There is time enough for the most hard-worked man to
lift his eyes to Heaven and to cry, "O Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake,
accept me, for I come to You trusting in His atoning Sacrifice!" With
many, the excuse is only an excuse, for they do not want Christ and
they do not believe that there is anything for them in Christ and,
therefore, they make these vain excuses.
I have known some even to say that they are too sinful to come to
Christ–other people may be saved, but they could never be–they have
gone too far into sin and they are too much involved in sin. They are
so old and they have so many friends and connections on the side of
evil. Perhaps they are in a business that is not honest and they are so
interlaced with bad men that they cannot get out of it. So they
say–and they will say anything so as to hide that which is really at
the bottom of their hearts–which is that they do not want Jesus Christ
to save them. They would rather that He should leave them alone to go
quietly on their own way, even though that way will inevitably lead
them to everlasting destruction!
III. Now, in closing my discourse, I want to tell you WHERE REAL
SATISFACTION CAN BE FOUND. It came in answer to the prayer of the text.
"O satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad
all our days."
Let me try and teach you, as plainly as I can, the way to find solid
satisfaction. Friend, you are young and life is before you. You would
gladly make it a whole life, altogether happy. Begin, then, by
realizing that there is need for you to seek satisfaction from God. If
you were an animal, you could be easily satisfied. Sheep and oxen are
perfectly satisfied if you turn them into a field where there is plenty
of grass. They never stand and cry, "O satisfy us," but they eat as
much as they need and then they are perfectly content. But you, though
placed in a world of wondrous beauty and though, as a man, you are made
capable of great happiness, have not obtained it! So you may as well
begin your search for it by the confession that you are a fallen
creature. You have lost the peerless jewel of innocence. Your first
father, Adam, lost it as your representative and you have also lost it
on your own account. If you had not lost it, you would not need to pray
to God, "O satisfy us early with Your mercy," for you would already be
satisfied! Adam was satisfied as long as he kept from sinning against
God–and you, also, would be satisfied if there were no sin in you. Let
this confession be made by each one of you, "Lord, I am unsatisfied
because I am unholy. I have not attained to satisfaction because I have
not attained to perfection."
Then, remember that if you are ever to get satisfaction, you will have
to get it from God–and it must come from Him as the gift of His mercy.
The text says, "O satisfy us early with Your mercy." God has so made us
that we cannot get on without Him. It is both a blessing and a curse
that it is so–it is a blessing that we cannot be satisfied without
God, for that necessity helps to draw us to Him–but it is a curse if
we continue to try to be satisfied without Him. As the planet needs the
sun, so man needs his God. As the eye is nothing without light, so your
spirit is nothing without God. You must have God! Yet, up till now,
some of you have not even thought of Him. Getting what you needed here
below has occupied all your attention! But as for God, perhaps you have
not thought of Him, or if you have thought of Him, you have only done
so to wish that there were no God. The thought of God has been a
troublesome subject to you–you wish you could dismiss it altogether
from your mind. But, my Friend, if you are ever to get satisfaction,
this state of things must be altered! You must recognize that, as a
creature, you must be at peace with your Creator. I do not ask you to
take my word for this assertion, but I do urge you to search the
Scriptures to see whether it is not so. There you will learn that until
the quarrel between you and God is ended–until you submit to God and
are at peace with Him–your soul cannot find rest any more than Noah's
dove could find rest as she flew over the wild waste of waters and
discovered no place for the sole of her feet to rest.
Do not forget that you cannot come back to God unless God shall display
His mercy to you! If you appeal to Divine Justice, you will find that
it must punish you, for, young as you are, you have broken God's holy
Law. You have committed sins which have provoked the Lord to anger and
jealousy–and before you can be reconciled to Him and have His love
shed abroad in your heart, these sins of yours must be forgiven. They
can be forgiven, for God delights in mercy! They can be forgiven now,
for He waits to be gracious. They can be forgiven without money and
without price, for He freely pardons all those who put their trust in
Jesus Christ, His Son!
But suppose your past sins were all forgiven? You could not, even then,
get satisfaction because there would still be in you a natural tendency
to sin. You can, all of you, sin without being taught to do it. There
is no need to found an institution for the purpose of teaching the
practice of vice, or to employ agents to excite men to commit crime–he
natural bias of the human heart is in that direction! Now, as long as
you love sin and your heart has a bias towards evil, God and you cannot
walk together. Thousands of years ago He asked the question, "Can two
walk together except they are agreed?" It is necessary, therefore, that
there should be a complete change in your nature, for it can never be
content as it is. Whatever God might give it, even if He were to give
it Heaven, itself–your nature would never be satisfied while it
remained as it now is. Your nature is diseased and must be
healed–otherwise it will be with you as it would be with a sick man if
you piled up his room with gold, or heaped up learned volumes all
around him and bade him study them! They would not take away his
pains–it is the disease, itself, that needs to be cured.
So is it with the malady of your spirit. You must be make right with
God or, as Christ Himself put it, you must be born-again. Now, if you
could be made a new creature with a will perfectly conformed to God's
will, with a heart that loved what God loved and hated what God hated,
with a spirit within you as pure as God, Himself, is, with a mind which
sought only after purity and abhorred everything that was evil, and if,
in addition to that, all your past sins could be forgiven, would not
that be a grand and a blessed thing? There is many a man who has lived
a life of crime and shame, who, when he sees a little curly-headed boy
kneel down to say his prayers at his mother's knees, remembers when he
did the same and wishes that he could be put into a mill and be ground
young again. That is the kind of thing that would give you
satisfaction–and that is just what Jesus Christ came to do for those
who believe in Him, for He has come into the world to "save His people
from their sins." That is, not merely to save them from being punished
for sin, but to deliver them from the sin itself! He can give you, my
Friends, a new heart and a right spirit. He says, "Behold, I make all
things new," and those who believe in Him are made new creatures in
Christ Jesus!
"Oh," says one, "I wish I were a new creature in Christ." Why should
you not be? He that believes in Jesus has the witness of the Spirit
within his heart and this is a sure sign that he is a new creature in
Christ Jesus, for the first result of regeneration is true saving
faith! So, if you trust in Jesus, that is a positive proof that you are
born-again. Then see what will come of this great change. You will
begin your new life with a new nature, a nature that loves God and
hates evil–a nature that longs for conformity with the will of God!
You will begin your new career "accepted in the Beloved," with a life
within you that can never die and with a pardon granted to you that can
never be reversed! You shall be so completely saved that you shall
never return to the old follies and sins in which you formerly lived
because you will not be saved because somebody has persuaded you to
live in a different fashion, but because you have been made altogether
a new creature!
"What?" asks someone, "Shall I be perfect when this change comes?" No,
there is a nature in you which will still remain and with which you
will have to fight and wrestle. But the new life, which Christ will
give you, will enable you to overcome it. "Well," says one, "I do not
see how that is to bring me satisfaction." But it will! This is a great
mystery, but it is a great Truth of God. Possibly you are dissatisfied
because you cannot bring the contents of your pocket up to the height
of your wishes. But if you bring your wishes down to the level of the
contents of your pocket, you will be satisfied with what you now have!
You cannot get all that you want, but suppose that your wants are
reduced to your actual needs? How will it be, then? You cannot, at
present, expect to have all that your heart desires, but suppose your
heart is renewed by Grace so that you do not desire what God does not
see fit to give you–will not that be the way for you to obtain
satisfaction? If the mountain cannot come to Mahomet, Mahomet had
better go to the mountain! And if we cannot change our outward
circumstances, we had better be content with such things as we have.
We have been born into a world where there is much sin and much sorrow,
where no man can have all that he wishes–and it is a grand thing when
our wishes get changed, our desires get altered and we become
altogether different from what we used to be! This is the path that
leads to satisfaction! Some people seem to think that if they had what
I have, they would be perfectly content. But I am quite certain that if
they had it, they would be utterly dissatisfied with my portion! Yet I
am perfectly satisfied with it–not perfectly satisfied with myself,
for that I never shall be while I am down here–but I am perfectly
satisfied with what God does for me and with me. That satisfaction is
what every Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a right to enjoy! And
when he lives as a Believer should live, he doesenjoy it, and he can
sing with good Mr. Watts–
"I would not change my blest estate For all that earth calls good or
great!
And while my faith can keep her hold, I envy not the sinner's gold."
The garden of such a man as I am just now describing is a very little
one, but he walks in his rich neighbor's park and he thanks God that it
does not belong to him, for he has not the trouble and expense of
keeping it in order, yet he can probably enjoy it quite as much as its
owner can! He goes to the top of a hill and he knows that all he can
see is in a certain king's dominions, but he is glad that he is not the
king, for he does not want the trouble of ruling a kingdom! He thanks
God for the beauties of Nature which are all his–he knows that the
mountains and the valleys, the sea and the sky are all his because they
are his Father's, so he may enjoy them to the fullest. He thanks God
that he does not need to put the sun into his pocket, nor to keep the
moon in a cupboard all to himself–all things in the world are his as
much as he needs them, but he rejoices to know that his fellow
creatures may also enjoy them as much as he does.
He is brought, by the Grace of God, into such a state of mind that the
joy of others is his joy, and that the sorrow of others is his sorrow.
And he would not wish to forego this enlargement and expansion of his
mind. The Grace of God has put him into such a condition of heart and
soul that, on the land or on the sea, on a bed of sickness or walking
about with the elasticity of health, he says, "It is all right, for my
Father has ordained it all. He gives or He takes away. He kills or He
makes alive and as He does it, all is well and I am perfectly satisfied
with it–and as long as I live, I will bless His holy name." Now, that
is the truly happy man and this is the only way to be really happy!
Trust in Jesus, rest wholly upon Him and He will renew your spirit and
change your heart–and with that change of heart He will give you
capacities for happiness which you never can have in any other way!
My dear young Friends, I want to speak these last few words especially
to you. If my older friends here are not yet converted, I pray that
they may soon be saved and I thank God that we have seen many such
saved. No old man or old woman has any need or reason to despair! I
have seen people of 70 and 80 years of age–and more than
that–converted to Christ. He does not limit His Grace to any age. If
you were 5,000 years old, I would be bound to preach the same Gospel to
you as if you were a little child–whatever your age, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! But, at the same time, we
cannot make you old people begin life again. We cannot take you back to
the years of youth. Possibly you wish that we could! But as for you
young people, we long for you to be satisfied early with God's mercy,
that you may rejoice and be glad all your days! Are you fifteen, or 16
years of age? There was a time, I daresay, when you thought your
brother was wonderfully old because he had got into his teens–but you
do not feel very old, do you? But you think you will have reached a
great age when you get to be forty! Perhaps, then, you will think that
it is the people of sixty, or seventy, or eighty, or 90 years of age
who are getting old, and not you! But let me assure you that now, now,
NOW is your time!
I would not, God knows, deceive you about this matter for all the
wealth there is in the world. I have known the Lord, blessed be His
name, since I was 15 years of age, and there has never been a moment
since then, in which I have regretted putting my trust in Him. A great
many times I have mourned that I did not trust Him sooner and that I
have not trusted Him better–but never once have I wished to go back to
my former condition and leave my dear Lord and Master! You know that we
sometimes hear servants speak well of their master before other
people's faces–when they think their master will hear of it. But when
they get together, a lot of them around the fire, no telling what they
say about their master, then! But when you gather around the fire, or
when you meet with any of my particular friends, ask them whether they
ever heard me say a word, in public or in private, against my Master!
On the contrary, I love to tell everybody how kind and good He has been
to me–and to my most intimate friends I delight to relate all that I
know about Him. I can tell you one thing, if a man serves a master who
treats him badly, he will not be likely to bring his boy to that place
of business–but it is my greatest delight to see my two boys serving
my dear Lord and Master! If He had been a bad Master to me, I would
have said to them, "Now, boys, do not, either of you, make the mistake
that I have made in serving the Lord Jesus Christ as I have done." Oh,
no, they have never heard me talk like that! They know how I rejoiced
when I found them believing in Jesus Christ and afterwards beginning to
do what they could in His service! Young people, your godly mothers and
fathers would not be anxious to make you miserable. You have no idea
that they want you to be wretched and sad, have you? No, but it is
because they have found such supreme delight in the service of God that
they want you to find your delight in it, too! I have gone up and down
this country and traveled a good deal in other countries, too, and I
think I may say, without exaggeration, that I have talked with many
thousands of Christians
and I have heard some strange things from some of them–but, up to this
moment, I have never met with any Christians who have said to me, "We
are all mistaken, after all. There is no solid satisfaction to be found
in Jesus Christ."
I have seen some of these Christians at the time when men's hearts
speak out, if ever they do! I have seen them die. I have visited the
dear consumptive girl in her last hours and I have been with the
gray-headed saint who has passed his fourscore years, when the time
came for him to die! It has been my lot to stand by many death beds and
I can honestly say that if I wanted to enjoy the most intense pleasure
that is possible on earth, I would seek out some dying saint that I
might witness his rapturous joy and hear his gladsome and cheering
testimony to his Lord and Savior! A man usually speaks the truth when
he comes face to face with death and eternity is opening before him.
Most men put off their masquerading, then, and appear in their true
colors. And it is then that Christians speak best concerning Christ!
And often the loudest songs and the sweetest praise that they have ever
given to Him, they lay at His feet, then, just before they go away from
earth to go to be with Him forever!
Dear young Friends, the way of the highest happiness is the way of
absolute trust in Jesus, giving yourself up to the renewing of the Holy
Spirit that you may become new creatures in Christ Jesus! May God, in
His Infinite mercy, grant that this great work of Grace may be worked
in every unsaved soul in this assembly before you leave this building!
And it will be if you simply rely upon the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who will then take you by the hand and make all things
new to you. God grant it, for His dear Son's sake! Amen.
–Adapted from The C. HI. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.