The Captive Savior Freeing His People
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 25, 1866, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Jesus answered, 'I have told you that I am He. If therefore you seek
Me, let these go their way,' that the saying might be fulfilled, which
He spoke, 'Of them whom You gave Me have I lost none.'" John 18:8,9.
THE whole story of our Lord's passion is exceedingly rich in meaning.
One is tempted to linger over every separate sentence of the narratives
given by the Evangelists. It is possible to preach several series of
sermons upon the whole story, and there is not a single incident,
though it may seem to be but accidental, which might not furnish a
wealth of holy thought to the careful student.
In looking through this chapter one was greatly tempted to speak awhile
upon the Master's selecting the place of His prayer as the place of His
agony and betrayal–the holy prudence and forethought by which He had,
as it were, cast up His entrenchments and made His defenses upon the
very spot where He knew He should meet the shock of the evening's first
onslaught. This is a lesson to us, Christians, not to venture out into
the day's battle without girding on our armor, nor make a voyage upon
the sea of life without having seen to it that the vessel is well
supplied against every possible danger which may be encountered upon
the storm-tossed sea. Jesus prays before He fights, and so must we if
we would overcome.
One is tempted, also, to dwell upon that remarkable expression, "Judas,
also, which betrayed Him, knew the place," to show the futility of
knowledge apart from sincerity. Oh, the injuriousness of knowledge, if
it is not attended with corresponding Grace! Had the traitor not known
he could not have betrayed, and had he not been an intimate friend, he
could not have been so base a wretch! Strange, but strangely true is
it, that the ability to become the child of perdition by betraying his
Master was found in the fact of his having been the near acquaintance
of the Savior. He could never have been so sevenfold an inheritor of
Hell if he had not been so largely a receiver of the privilege of
companionship with Christ.
Direful truth, that to be educated to take the highest degree in Hell
it is almost necessary to enter hypocritically into the school of
Christ. Terrible reflection, which should well check any of us who make
high professions without a corresponding weight of sincerity. But as
time does not allow us, like the bee, to gather honey from every
flower, we shall dwell upon the text. In this passage there is much
instruction and we shall endeavor to draw it forth. And then we shall
take the liberty to spiritualize it, to set the words in another sense
in order that we may still be promoting our great object of setting
forth our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. When we observe the words of the text, we notice upon the very
surface a sure proof of THE WILLINGNESS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST TO
GIVE HIMSELF TO SUFFER FOR OUR SINS. The voluntary character of
Christ's suffering makes it beam with a matchless splendor of love! He
needed not to have died. If it had been His good pleasure He might have
tarried gloriously among the songs of angels. He came not to earth to
win a crown because He had none, for all honor and glory are His by
right.
It was not to earn a dominion, or because He was not Lord of
principalities and powers, that He descended from the skies: "Who,
though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through
His poverty, might be made rich." It was a disinterested mission upon
which the Redeemer came to the abodes of sinful men. He had nothing to
gain– rather He had everything to lose–and yet let me say to correct
myself, by that losing He did gain, for as our Mediator, He is clothed
with a special glory of unrivalled Grace, unequalled by any other
manifestation of the Divine perfections.
The proofs that the Master went voluntarily to His death are very
abundant. He rose from supper when He knew that Judas had gone out to
betray Him, but He did not seek a hiding place in the corners of
Jerusalem, or retire to the calm retreat of Bethany. If He had chosen
to parry His betrayer's thrust that night and to wait until the day,
the fickle multitude would have gathered around Him and protected Him
from His foes, for they would soon have been won to His side if He
would have consented to become their king.
Instead of retreating, even for a moment, Jesus, attended by His
disciples, boldly advanced to the spot where Judas had planned to
betray Him. He went as calmly as though He had made an appointment to
meet a friend there, and would not be late when he arrived. He entered
upon His terrible sufferings with His whole heart, with the full
concurrence of His whole being having a baptism to be baptized with,
and being straitened until it was accomplished. What true courage is in
those words, "Arise, let us go from this place," when He knew that He
was going to the Cross! When the band came to take Him, it appears that
they did not know Him. "I am He." He said to them twice, "Whom are you
seeking?"
He had to reveal himself, or the lanterns and the torches would not
have revealed him. He was not, after all, taken by Judas' kiss–the
kiss was given–but in the confusion they may have missed the token.
Jesus had to ask, "Whom are you seeking?" And He had to twice announce
Himself plainly with the words, "I am He." He yielded Himself to His
bloodthirsty foes and went willingly with His tormentors! It is very
clear that He went willingly, for since a single word made the captors
fall to the ground, what could He not have done?
Another word and they would have descended into the tomb! Another, and
they would have been hurled into Hell! He put forth just that little
finger of His potency in order to let them feel what He could have done
if He had chosen to lay bare the arm of His strength and to utter but
one word of wrath against them. It is very sure that he went willingly,
for how could He have gone at all if not with His own consent? There
was no power on earth that could possibly have bound the Lord Jesus,
had He been unwilling. He who said, "Let these go their way," and by
that word secured the safety of all His disciples, it is certain could
have said the same of Himself and so have gone His way where He would.
Men might as well speak of loading the sun with chains, or holding the
lightning flash in bondage, or like the foolish king of old, fettering
the wild uproarious sea as to suppose that they could constrain the
Lord of Life and Glory, and lead Him a captive against His will! He was
led, and led bound, too, but He could have snapped those bonds as
Samson did the Philistines' bonds of old. There were other cords that
bound Him–invisible to carnal sense–the bonds of Covenant
engagements, the bonds of His own oath and promise, the bonds of His
love to you and to me, my Brothers and Sisters. There were the mighty
bonds of His marriage union to our souls which constrained Him, without
a word, to yield Himself as a lamb to the slaughter.
The willingness of Jesus! Let us see it clearly, and let us reverently
adore Him for it. Blessed Master! You go of Yourself to die for us! No
compulsion but that of Your own heart! Nothing brought You to the tomb
but Your almighty love to us! I do not intend to dwell upon this
thought, but having brought it before you, the practical use of it is
just this–Let us take care that our service of Christ shall ever be
most manifestly a cheerful and a willing one. Let us never come, for
instance, up to the place of worship unwillingly, merely because of
custom, or because it is the right thing to do–which we would gladly
avoid doing if we dare. Let us never contribute of our substance to the
Master's cause with a grudging hand, as though a tax collector were
wringing from us what we could not afford.
Let us never enter upon Christian exercises as a slave would enter upon
his labor, hearing the crack of the whip behind him. But let love put
wings to our feet and inspire our souls with a sacred alacrity, that as
the seraphs fly upon the high behests of Heaven, we may run upon our
Savior's commands with as much swiftness as mortals can command. Let
our duty be our delight! Let the service of Christ be a kingdom to us!
Let us count it to be our highest gain to suffer loss for Him, and our
greatest ease to be fully immersed in abundant labors for His sake. His
willing sacrifice ought to ensure our willing sacrifice. The Savior
bleeds freely like the camphor tree that needs no pressure–let us as
freely, from our very hearts, pour forth our love and all the kindred
graces and deeds of virtue.
II. Turning from this thought, I beg you, secondly, to notice OUR
LORD'S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE IN THE
HOURS OF HIS GREATEST DISTURBANCE OF MIND. "If you seek Me, let these
go their way." That word was intended, in the first place, to be a
preservation for His immediate attendants. It is singular that the Jews
did not surround that little handful of disciples, put them in prison,
and then execute them in due season. If they had done so, where would
have been the Christian church?
If they, the first nucleus of Christianity had been destroyed, as it
seems likely they could have been, where would have been the Church of
after ages? But those words, "Let these go their way," very efficiently
protected all the weak and trembling fugitives. Why did not the
soldiers capture John? He seems to have gone in and out of the palace
without even a single word of challenge. Why did they not seize Peter?
They were searching for witnesses, why did they not examine Peter under
torture, as was the Roman custom, in order to have extorted from him
some railing accusation against his Lord whom he so readily denied?
Where were the others? Timid, trembling folk, they had fled like harts
and roes when they first heard the baying of the dogs of
persecution–why were they not hunted up? The Jews did not lack for
will, for afterwards they were gratified when James was killed with the
sword, and pleased when Peter was laid in prison–why were they allowed
to go unharmed? Was it not because the Master had need of them? The
Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out upon them, and they were not
yet fit to be martyrs. They were like green wood that would not burn!
They were as yet unbroken to the sacred yoke of suffering. They had not
been endowed with that irresistible spiritual strength which made them
able to bear tribulation with rejoicing, and therefore that good
Shepherd, who tempers the wind to shorn lambs, tempered the wind to
these young beginners.
Those words, "If you therefore seek Me, let these go their way," were
like coats of mail to them, or those fabled, invisible garments which
concealed their wearers from their enemies. Under the more than bronze
shield of their Lord's words, the disciples walked securely in the
midst of the boisterous mob! We find John and others of the disciples
even standing at the foot of the Cross while those who gnashed their
teeth at Christ and laughed at Him, and revealed their savage malice in
a thousand ways, did not touch so much as a hair of their heads, or, as
far as we know, utter one jest against them. The words of Jesus proved
to be right royal words–they were Divine words–and men were
constrained to obey them.
The Lord had said, "Touch not Mine Anointed, and do My Prophets no
harm," and therefore, for the time, His disciples were safe. It strikes
me that the expression was not only a guard for the disciples for the
time, but, as no Scripture is of private interpretation, I believe that
such a royal passport has been given to all Christ's people in the way
of Providence. Fear not, you servant of Christ, you are immortal till
your work is done! When you are fit to suffer, and if needs be, even to
die, Christ will not screen you from so high an honor, but permit you
to drink of His cup, and to be baptized with His baptism! But until
your hour is come you may go and return secure from death. Though cruel
men may desire your ill, and devise mischief against you, you are safe
enough until the Lord shall be pleased to let loose the lion– and even
then you shall suffer no permanent injury.
It is wonderful, in the lives of some of God's ministers, how
strikingly they have been preserved from imminent peril. We cannot read
the life of Calvin without being surprised that he should have been
permitted to die peaceably in his bed, an honored man, surrounded by
the town councilors and the great ones of the very city from which he
had been once expelled! It seems astounding that a poor weak man whose
body was emaciated with diseases of all kinds, who had no arms to wield
against the furious hosts of Rome, should yet live in usefulness and
then die in circumstances of peace and comfort.
It is no less remarkable that the brave hero of the Cross, Martin
Luther, should seem as if he had carried a safe conduct pass, which
permitted him to go anywhere and everywhere. He stood up in the Diet of
Worms expecting to die, but he came out unscathed! He passed, as it
were, between the very jaws of death and yet remained unharmed. Though,
as I have said before, Christ has suffered many of His people to die
for Him, and they have rejoiced to do so, yet, when He has willed to
preserve any of His servants who were needed for a special work, as
Calvin and Luther undoubtedly were, He had a way of taking care of
them, and saying, "Let these go their way."
Take, for instance, another illustration, the life of our remarkable
reformer, John Wickliffe. Many times his life was not worth a week's
wages, and yet the old enemy of the Saints were robbed of their prey
and could never touch a bone of him until years after he had been
buried. When he was brought up for trial before the bishop at St.
Paul's, it was a very singular circumstance that John of Gaunt should
stand at his side, fully armed, proudly covering the godly man with the
prestige of his rank and the arm of his power!
When Wickliffe was faint with standing, and begged to be allowed to
sit, the bishop tells him that heretics shall have no seats, but John
of Gaunt with rough, uncourtly words swears that he shall sit when he
wills! And when the time comes the good man goes forth through the
midst of the rabble protected by his friend! I know not that John of
Gaunt knew the Truth of God, but yet God touched the man's heart to
protect His servant in the hour of peril. Vultures, when God has willed
it, have protected doves, and eagles have covered with their wings
defenseless children whom God would save. When the Lord wills it, if
all Hell should shoot such a shower of arrows as should put out the
sun, and if all those arrows were aimed at one poor heart, yet not a
single shaft would find its mark, but all would be turned aside by an
invisible but irresistible power from the man whom Jehovah ordained to
save!
We understand, then, that Jesus has issued a royal passport for all His
servants which enables them to live on in the midst of deaths
innumerable. Mystically understood, the words have a far deeper
meaning. The true seizure of Christ was not by Romans or by the envious
Jews, but by our sins. And the true deliverance which Jesus gave to His
disciples was not so much from Roman weapons as from the penalty of our
sins. How anxiously do I desire that those here this morning, whose
sins have been tormenting them, would hear the voice of Jesus, "If
therefore you seek Me, let these go their way." The Law of God comes
out to seek us who have violated it. It has many and just demands
against us, but Jesus, who stood in our place, puts Himself before the
Law, and He says, "Do you seek Me? Here I am. But when you take Me
prisoner let these, for whom I stood, go their way."
So then, Beloved, when the Law met with the Lord Jesus and made Him its
servant, and constrained Him to bear its penalty, all those for whom
Christ stood were, by His being bound, absolutely and forever set free!
Christ's suffering the penalty of the Law was the means of removing His
people forever from under the legal yoke. Now let me try to apply that
Truth to your case. A poor soul under distress of mind has gone to the
priest, and the priest says, "If you would be pardoned do penance."
While the poor soul is flogging his back and laying on the stripes most
earnestly I think I hear the Savior saying to the whole tribe of
priests, "Let these poor souls go their way. My shoulders have borne
all they ought to have borne. My heart has suffered all the griefs that
they were condemned to know. The chastisement of their peace was upon
Me, and by My stripes they are healed. Let these go!"
Put away your whip! Cease from your bodily tortures, they are of no
service! The Law has taken the Redeemer, it does not want you. You need
not suffer, Christ has suffered and all your sufferings will now be
useless and in vain! Christ has paid the debt, no need for you to
attempt it again. Another poor trembler has been sitting under a legal
ministry, and he has been told that if he would be saved he must keep
the Commandments. He has, therefore, endeavored to forego this sin and
the other, and as far as possible to be perfect in holiness. But he has
made no headway. His soul is as much in bondage as ever, unsaved with
all his exertions, destitute, still, of true peace notwithstanding all
his good works.
This morning my Master cries to the preacher who talks after this
fashion, "Let these poor bondaged ones go their way. Do not preach to
them salvation by their own doing! Do not tell them that they are to
earn admittance to Heaven. I have worked out and finished their
redemption! Their salvation is complete in ME! There is nothing for
sinners to do to win forgiveness. All they have to do is to receive
what I have done for them! All the righteousness they need to recommend
them before God is My righteousness–which requires not that theirs be
added to it–for why should their rags be joined to my cloth of gold?
All the merit a sinner can plead is the merit of My passion. Why should
they seek after merit through their repentance and their good works?
Why should such stagnant water be poured into the midst of the wine of
My merit?"
Away with your fancied good works! Away with your boasts, your
religions doings, your weeping, and your prayers–for if they are used
as a ground of confidence instead of the work of Jesus Christ, they are
things of nothing– mere rottenness and dung to be cast upon the
dunghill! Since Jesus was accepted and punished by the Law, sinners
believing in Him are free from the Law's exactions and may go their
way!
Perhaps there are some here in whose hearts the Law of God is making
terrible confusion. You feel that you have broken the Law and that you
cannot keep it. And now the Law is flogging you! It has tied you up as
they tie up soldiers in the army to the stocks and it has been laying
on the great cat-o'-ten-tails to your back–the Ten Commandments of the
Law–till you are smarting, smarting all over! Your whole conscience is
troubled. Now the Lord Jesus Christ says to the Law, "Put up, put up
that whip! Do not smite the sinner any more! Did you not smite Me, why
should you vex him?"
Sinner, the only way in which you can escape from the Law's whip is
this–hasten to Jesus Christ. You must flee to Christ! You must trust
in Jesus, and if you shall trust in Jesus He will cast His robe over
you! He will lift up the broad shield of His merit and protect you from
the shafts of the foe, so that you can say to the Law, "I am not under
the curse of the Law now, for I have fulfilled it in the Person of my
Surety, and I have suffered its penalty in the Person of my Savior–
"The terrors of Law and of God With me can ha ve nothing to do! My
Savior's obedience and blood Hide all my transgressions from view."
Jesus Christ, then, as He stands before the Law and is bound by the
Law, and flogged by the Law, and crucified by the Law, and buried by
the Law, says to you who trust in Him, "Go your way. The Law cannot
touch you, for it has struck Me instead of you. I was your Substitute,
and you may go free." Why you all know that this is simple justice! If
another person shall have paid your debts, you are not afraid of being
immersed again in those debts, are you? And if you are drafted for the
army and a substitute has taken your place, you are not afraid of being
drawn a second time, are you? So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Substitute for all His people, and if He was a substitute for you, the
Law has no further penal claims upon you! Christ has obeyed it. Christ
has suffered its penalty. You may rejoice in the Law as being, now, to
you, a gracious rule of life–but it is not to you a yoke of
bondage–you are not under it as a slave! You are free from its
dominion! You are not under the Law! You are under Grace!
What a blessing is this! Further, these words seem to me to bear such a
meaning as this–that as we are delivered from legal exaction so are we
also delivered from all penal infliction. I wish that some children of
God were clearer on this point. When you suffer tribulation, affliction
and adversity, do not think that God is punishing you for your sins,
for no child of God can be punished penally for sin. Let me not be
misunderstood. A man is brought before God, first of all, as a criminal
before a judge. You and I have stood there. Through Christ's blood and
righteousness we have been absolved and acquitted as before God the
Judge, and it is not possible for the Law to lay so much as the weight
of a feather upon us since we have been perfectly acquitted. In all the
pains and sufferings which a Christian may endure, there is not so much
as a single ounce of penal infliction. God cannot punish a man whom He
has pardoned!
And that criminal, being pardoned, is then adopted into the family and
becomes a child. Now, if he shall, as a child, offend against his
father's rule, he will be chastened for it. Everyone can see the
distinction between the chastening of a father and the punishment of a
judge. If your child were to steal, you would not think of punishing
that child in the light in which the judge would do it, who would
commit him to imprisonment for having broken the law. No, you chasten
your child yourself, not so much to avenge the law as for the child's
good, that he may not do this evil thing again.
So our heavenly Father chastens His people with the rod of the
Covenant, but He never punishes them with the sword of vengeance. There
is a difference between chastening and punishing. Punishing is from a
judge–Christ has suffered all such punishment–so that no penal
infliction can fall upon a soul that believes in Him. But we may have
chastisement which comes to us as the result of a father's love, but
not as the result of a judge's anger. We have felt such chastisement,
and have reason to bless God for it. Our Lord Jesus says with regard to
all legal penalty, "If you seek Me, I have borne it: let these go
free."
Once more, this text will have its grandest fulfillment at the last.
When the destroying angel shall come forth with his sword of fire to
smite the sinner. When the gulf of Hell shall open and vomit forth its
floods of flame. When the dread trumpet shall sound and shall make all
ears to hear the voice of an avenging God, Christ shall stand forth in
the front of all the blood-bought souls that came to trust under the
shadow of the wings of His mercy, and He will say to Justice, "You have
sought Me once, and you have found all you can ask of Me. Then let
these go their way." And up the glorious steeps of the celestial hills
the happy throng shall stream, singing as they pass through the gates
of pearl and tread the pavement of transparent gold, "Unto Him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood, unto Him be glory
forever and ever!"
Then shall the great freeing of the slaves take place because Christ
was bound! Then shall the deliverance of the captive come, because
Christ slept in the prison house of the tomb. "If you seek Me, let
these go their way." I would to God that some here would perceive that
the way of deliverance is for the Lord Jesus to be bound in their
stead. Trust in Jesus, and it shall be so.
III. Thirdly, but very briefly, notice why our Lord exhibited this
great care for His people. PONDER OVER HIS SAYING concerning them,
"That the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, Of them which you
gave Me I have lost none." Here is much of matter for thought at your
leisure. Do you know that that text was a prayer? Now here it is made
into a promise. What? Then is everything that Christ asks for
guaranteed to His people, so that His prayer is God's promise? It is
so!
Notice next, that verbally understood, this expression, which is quoted
from the seventeenth of John, could only relate to the souls of God's
people. But here it is taken as though it related to their bodies. From
which I gather that we are never wrong in understanding promises in the
largest possible sense. It is, I believe, a rule of law that if a man
should get a privilege from the king, that privilege is to be
understood in the widest sense, whereas a punishment, or penalty, is
always to be understood in the narrowest sense.
In the olden times, when princes and kings used to grant monopolies, if
a king had granted a monopoly upon all kinds of foreign fruits, if the
words had so run, you may rest assured that the person obtaining that
monopoly would have put everything down as foreign fruit that could
possibly bear the name–and he would have been justified by the law for
doing so. Now, when the great King gives a promise, you may encompass
everything within its range which can possibly come under the promise!
And we may be sure that the Lord will not run back from His word! God's
words are never to be taken with a rebate, or discount, but with such
blessed interest as your faith is able to put to them! The grant of
eternal life includes such providential protections and provisions as
shall be necessary on the road to Heaven. The house is secured for the
sake of the tenant, and the body because of the soul.
There is also one more remark I cannot help making, namely, that this
text is not in the form of a promise at all. "Of them which you gave Me
have I lost none." It relates to the past–but here it is used as a
reason why none should be lost of the present. From which I gather that
as Jesus has done in the past so will He act in the future, and that
all He ever was to His people He will be to them forever more. We may
look upon every past act of Divine Grace as being a token and guarantee
of future Grace, and we may gather from all our experience of the
Lord's goodness in the days that are gone, that He will do yet again
unto us as He has done, and still more abundantly until we see His face
in Heaven!
The gracious words before us read as follows: "Of all them which You
have given Me I have lost none." Then some are given. There is an elect
nation. Oh that we may be found in that happy number! Then Jesus keeps
those who are given! They cannot keep themselves, but He can keep them
and will. He so well preserves them that not so much as one is lost. I
have sometimes thought I might imagine such a scene as this at the
gates of Heaven when the great Shepherd comes to give His charge. "Here
I am," He says, "and the children which You have given Me." "But are
they everyone brought safely here?" "Yes," says the great Shepherd, "of
all whom You have given Me I have lost none."
"But where is Peter? Did he not deny You to Your face in the hall? Did
he not three times say, "I know Him not!" "Yes, but I made him go out
and weep bitterly, and then I washed him in My precious blood, and here
he is," and Peter sings as sweetly as any! Then, perhaps, the question
may be asked, "And where is such a one, the least of all the saints?"
Brother, you feel yourself to be the weakest, the meanest, the most
useless, but an enquiry will be made for you, and the answer will be,
"He is here! Of all whom You have given Me I have lost none."
Oh, happy sheep in the care of such a Shepherd! Oh happy, happy hearts
that can rely upon such a Keeper! Dear Hearer, is Jesus yours? Are you
depending upon Him? Say, have you cast yourself upon Him? Then do not
fear concerning your last days! It must be well at the last, if it is
well now. If you are now in Christ, He never did cast away any and He
never will. Oh if you have but come to Him and are now depending on
Him–
"His honor is engaged to save The meanest of His sheep! All that His
heavenly Father gave His hands securely keep."
He suffered for you and therefore you shall go your way, and the
Covenant shall be fulfilled. "Of those whom You have given Me I have
lost none."
I have thus used the text as briefly as I could. I shall want your
patience a few minutes while I apply this text in a sort of SPIRITUAL
SENSE. The first remark in this department of the subject is–many seek
Jesus but do not know who He is. So that Christ says to them, "Whom do
you seek?" Some here this morning are seeking rest, but they do not
know that Jesus is the rest. You feel an aching void in your hearts.
You are not happy. The theater does not give you the pleasure it once
did. Somehow life has grown insipid to you. There is a still small
voice within your soul like the voice of wailing–like Rachel weeping
for her children and refusing to be comforted.
You are seeking you know not what. You have begun to read your Bible.
You are eager to attend upon the preaching of the Gospel but you do not
know what it is you want. Ah well, it is a good thing to be a seeker.
Though you cannot tell what it is you need, if you do but desire and
lift up your voice to God sincerely and earnestly, He will be found of
you. We now note the fact that those who seek Christ will find Him, but
they find Him only because He reveals Himself to them. These men sought
Christ to kill Him, yet He came and said, "I am He."
There was a woman, if you remember, at the well of Sychar, who sought
Him for a very different purpose. She said, "I know that Messiah comes,
which is called Christ. When He is come He will tell us all things."
And Jesus said, "I that speak unto you am He." Whoever seeks Jesus,
Jesus will show Himself to them! They came with lanterns and with
torches, but they did not find Christ with lanterns and with torches.
And you, too, may come, dear Friend, with a great many of your own
inventions–a great many fancies and imaginings–but you will not find
Him. How could you expect to find the sun with a lantern?
No. Christ must come and reveal Himself to you, and if you seek Him He
will do so. Only continue to seek Him. Let not past disappointments
make you leave off seeking. As long as you have breath continue in
prayer. I charge you before the living God if you have sought in vain,
do not let Satan make you give up! Ask that Christ would lead you in
the right way, for if you did but know the right way you need not seek
long, for He is here now. Jesus can forgive this morning! Before you
leave that seat you shall have a full assurance of your interest in Him
if you are led to understand the way of salvation!
That way is simply to trust Christ! Simply to believe that He can and
will save you, and to trust yourself with Him. I will never believe
that He will let a sincere soul go hungering and thirsting after Him,
and let that soul die without Him! Though He may be pleased for a while
to let that spirit wander, even in apparent blackness and darkness, yet
He will at the last lift the veil from His blessed face, and ah, the
sight of that face will well repay you for all the sighs and cries with
which you sought Him! To hear Him say, "I have loved you with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you,"
will so wake up the music of Heaven within your soul that you will
think of the months of weariness and the nights of waiting as all too
little, and more than enough repaid!
One thing more. When Jesus is found there is always much to be given
up. "If you seek Me, let these go their way." There are always many
things that you will have to let go if you have Christ, and this is
very often the testing point. If a man keeps a public house which he
opens on Sunday, in which cursing and swearing abounds. If he has
encouraged all sorts of vice in order to increase his customers, can he
continue in this and yet have Christ? Impossible! Now that man would
like to go to Heaven, but if he would, he must let go of his evil
occupation. Yonder is a woman who has tasted the pleasures of sin. She
would gladly have a Savior, but if she will have a Savior she must let
her sins go.
There is a young man over yonder, proud, vain, giddy. If he would have
Christ, he must let all these evils go. Our sins must be abandoned or
we cannot receive a Savior. Christ Jesus will pardon sin, but He will
never dwell in the same heart with sin. Though you may have been as
base as base could be, it can all be forgiven you now–but if you
continue in it– there is no mercy for you. He that confesses his sin
and forsakes it shall find mercy–but not the man who with hypocritical
lip bewails it, and then with vicious heart plunges into it again. "If
you seek Me, let these go."
What? Can't you give them up? Silly companions, idle habits, foolish
songs, pleasure-seeking, so-called–are these too dear to be renounced?
Really, some of the things which give pleasure to men nowadays are so
absurd, so empty, so devoid of true wit that I wonder the swine do not
revolt against the moldy husks which they are fed with now-a-days! We
cannot wonder that swine eat husks–it is natural they should and we
would not deny them their native food. If I were a swine, I think I
should like to have husks that have some sort of substance in them, but
the world's pleasure grows more and more vapid and worthless–the
pleasure of idiots rather than of men.
Can't you give these poor things up? Are they such dear attractions,
such precious things, that you let Heaven go, and Christ go, sooner
than let them go? No, I hope it will be a voice of power to you, and
that you will say, "My Savior let them all go! What are they to me? I
shall find ten thousand times more pleasure, and more profit, too, in
following Christ than in following the best of them. So I let them go
forever, and may they never entice me again." Have you any
self-righteousness remaining? Are you in your own conceit better than
other people? Do you secretly trust in your works? Now if you want
Christ, you must let all that go!
Christ will tread the winepress alone, and of the people, there must be
none with Him. And if you seek to be saved by Christ it must not be by
the works of the Law, but by Grace alone. Would to God that there might
be a clean sweep made in some of your hearts, and that you would come
to Jesus all empty-handed as you are, and say, "Yes, Master, Your
precious blood, Your triumphant Resurrection, Your effectual
plea–these are our hope and these our joy. We would serve You in life,
and bless You in death. Yours we are, Son of God, and all that we have!
Take us and keep us, and Yours be the praise. Amen.