The Climax of God's Love No. 2571
(No. 2571)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 22, 1898.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
1, 1883.
"And it shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me,
Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali. For I will take away the names
of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by
their name." Hosea 2:16,17.
You who have been here, on recent Thursday nights, will remember how
Israel was described at the time to which our text refers. [ See Sermon
#s 2564 and 2569–Strange Ways of Love, and The Backsliders Door of
Hope] She was represented as a woman who had been false to her marriage
vows, had left her husband and defiled herself in the most abominable
way. Being greatly inflamed with evil passions, she had gone astray
times out of number–and then the Lord Jehovah, who was Israel's true
spiritual Husband–in the abundance of His love, sought to bring her
back to Himself. He exercised her with severe discipline, taking away
from her many things in which she delighted, till she became poor, sick
and wretched. He hedged up her way with thorns and put obstacles in her
way so that she could not find her paths. And when she went after her
lovers, she could not overtake them. But, notwithstanding all that, she
still continued to go further and further away from Him to whom her
love was due–the God to whom she owed everything–the only living and
true God who had been so gracious and true to her.
At last the Lord tried other means of bringing her back to Himself.
Instead of driving her from Him, or threatening her with destruction,
He allured her into the wilderness and there He manifested Himself to
her in all the charms of His Divine Purity and Beauty. He drew her away
from all her old companions, brought her into a place of solitude and
then spoke to her very heart with a voice of Infinite Love so that He
won her, again, and brought her back to Himself. And then it was that
He once more gave her the joys which she had lost–and a great many
others–and made her rich with everything that could cause her to be,
indeed, blessed!
Now comes in this passage, which I have just read in your hearing, that
which appears to me to describe the climax of God's love. His Infinite
Mercy at last taught Israel to know Him in deed and in truth and, by
the mighty power of His Grace, she was clean delivered from all her
former idolatrous lovers and made to cleave in holy constancy to
Jehovah, her God! I want to speak to you about that work of love in the
heart of these wanderers which, at last, brought them to be right with
their God. And my hope is that our meditation upon the text will be
blessed in the same fashion to many others. When a man is truly right
with God, he is right everywhere. As long as he is wrong with God, he
may be right everywhere else, yet he is not right in the most important
matter of all! But as long as he is right with God, everything is put
in due order and everything will go on well with him in all respects.
Coming closely to our text, I want you to notice, first, the conquest
of love–"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call
Me, Ishi." That is, "my Husband." Secondly, I shall say a little upon
the jealousy of love. "At that day . . .you shall call Me no more,
Baali." Because that name had been defiled and God would not have His
servants use toward Himself a title which had been stained with sin.
Then, thirdly, I shall speak of the nearness of love, which is a point
that lies concealed within the text, but which I will try to bring out.
And, fourthly, I shall speak upon the vengeance of love, for true love
will lead us to take vengeance upon that evil which has brought so much
sorrow to our heart–"I will take away the names of Baalim out of her
mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name."
I. First, then, let us think for a little while upon THE CONQUEST OF
LOVE–"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me,
Ishi." That is, "my Husband."
They had never called God by that name. They had stood in awe and dread
of the Most High, but as to calling God, their Husband, that they had
never done, though He was truly a Husband to them, for He lavished on
them all the kindness and tenderness which a husband renders toward his
beloved wife. Yet God's people had never given Him that love which was
due in return–and they had never dared to call Him by so sweet and
endearing a name as that of Ishi, "my Husband." But the Lord said, "At
that day, you shall call Me, Ishi." Grace has really won us when it has
won our hearts! When we yield to God not a mere external obedience, but
the affection of our hearts, then all is won and all is well.
Note, first, dear Friends, that these people were so truly won back to
God that they had a new name for Him, a name which had never occurred
to them before. They had called Him, God. They had spoken to Him as
Jehovah, or as El, or as Elohim, but they had never thought to call
Him, "Ishi." But now they understand Him better and here is a new name
for Him who is, to them, practically a new Being, a new Person. Alas,
that still many men do not "know the Lord." There is a depth of meaning
in that expression and to multitudes God is quite unknown. It was said,
long ago, that it is the highest wisdom for a man to know himself–but
I deny that. The first, the highest, the best of all wisdom is for a
man to know his God. As for himself, he is but a speck, an atom, a
nothing. If he truly attains a knowledge of God, he will afterwards
know himself in the best possible way. Pope said that "the proper study
of mankind is man," but it is not so. His proper study is mankind's
Maker, the God who made us all! But man, until he is Divinely taught,
knows not God–he has not, by nature, a name for God. He borrows a name
out of the Bible and calls Him, "God." That is, "good" but he does not
mean what he says, for if he thought that God was good, he would love
Him. But inasmuch as he does not love God, he does not, in the highest
sense, know God.
But when a man comes to know the Lord. When God, in all His wondrous
majesty, draws near the heart and opens the eyes of the understanding
till the man sees his Maker and cries, "How dreadful is this place!
This is none other than the House of God and this is the gate of
Heaven"–when he feels that the Lord is there and he knows it, then,
straightway, he uses a right name for God! That is a very precious name
which Christ puts into our mouths when He bids us say to God, "Our
Father, which are in Heaven." And there is a wonderful sweetness when
we come to know that we may call Him our Husband. I do not like to
compare the two, or say which title is to be preferred–whether Husband
or Fa-ther–they are both unutterably sweet when they are enjoyed to
the fullest.
You see, then, dear Friends, that Grace had taught these people a new
name for God. David said to the Lord, "They that know Your name will
put their trust in You." In another Psalm, the Lord's response is
given–"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver
him: I will set him on high because he has known My name." So was it in
the day of which our text speaks.
Further, that name, Ishi, "my Husband," is a name of love. There is a
mutual engagement between the true husband and wife, they complement of
each other. So is it with Christ and His Church. Yet, as I read of it
in the Bible, it often astonishes me. Paul wrote to the Colossians, "It
pleased the Father that in Him," (that is, in the Divine Husband,
Christ Jesus), "should all fullness dwell." Then to the Ephesians he
wrote, "And has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the
Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him that fills all in all." It is marvelous that the saints should be
toChrist a fullness, but so it is! He is to be to us as the Husband and
we are to be to Him as the dearly-beloved object of that love, desiring
to return it as best we can, loving Him and Him, alone, with all our
heart, mind, soul and strength. What a sweet name that is for our
Divine Lord–our Husband! What but the Grace of God could ever have
given backsliding Israel courage to utter it? What but the Grace of God
could ever have taught us to know that we, also, might truthfully say
it? Yet I trust that many of us do say of God in Christ Jesus, "He is
our Ishi, our Husband." This name, then, is a name of love, suggesting
the mutual engagement between Christ and His people.
It is also a name of honor, involving obedience, ' 'for the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church. .
.Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be
to their own husbands in everything." In the relationship between
Christ and His people, everything is written in capital letters, for
truly He is the Head of His body, the Church. Therefore, dear Friends,
it is for us who belong to Him to be obedient to Christ in everything.
It was a wise word that the mother of Jesus spoke to the servants at
the marriage at Cana, "Whatever He says to you, do it." That is
exactlywhat we ought to do under all circumstances. Christ's will is
our law. His teaching is our doctrine. He, Himself, we call Lord and we
do well, for so He is. He has become everything to us, now, as the true
husband is to the true wife. It is a joy to us to obey Him. If a
command comes to us from Christ, our feet have wings, like the fabled
Mercury! If a word comes from Christ, our mind is wax to be stamped
with it, as with a seal! And we desire never to lose the impression. If
we know that Christ does but wish a thing, it shall be as the bonds of
law to us. We wish to do–no, we longto do His will and to have every
thought brought into captivity to the Law of Christ. I am sure, dear
Friends, it is a wonder of Grace when we can say this, for there was a
time when we never cared for Christ. A little while ago some of us did
not mind what His Laws were, or what His teaching was–He was nothing
at all to us. "He was despised and we esteemed Him not." But now, how
different it is! The faintest accent that falls from His lips has in it
a power and a majesty which we do not wish to question! He is our
Husband and we are His obedient spouse.
Husband, again, is a name of trust and expectation. A wife expects her
maintenance and all that she needs from her husband and she ought to
have it, too. It is the part of the husband to render to his wife all
that he can for her necessity and her happiness. All our expectations
are from Christ. Some wives bring their husbands a dowry, but we
brought Christ nothing but our poor selves. Sometimes a wife has
nothing but what she stands upright in, but we had not even that, for
we could not stand upright at all. We were like that infant whom the
Lord described by the pen of Ezekiel– cast out into the open field,
neglected, unwashed, unclothed–left there to die–but when our Lord
passed by, it was the time of love and He said to us, "Live." We had to
be indebted to Him for life and we have had to be indebted to Him for
everything since then! I have no doubt that some wives think it is a
fine thing to have their husband's purse to draw from, but I know that
it is glorious to have Christ's purse to draw from! "Of His fullness
have all we received, and Grace for Grace." And we expect to receive a
great deal more and sometimes we sing about what we are to have,
by-and-by–
"And a 'new song'is in my mouth,
To long-loved music set!
Glory to You for all the Grace
I have not tasted yet"
Yes, this name of husband is a name of trust and expectation and, in
God's case, as the Husband of His people, the trust and the expectation
are never disappointed!
But, best of all, it is a name of indissoluble union. I could not trust
myself to speak on this wondrous theme, for even Paul, when he wrote
upon it said, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh."
"This is a great mystery," added the Apostle, "but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church." It is, indeed, a great mystery that Christ
should have left His Father to become one flesh with His people! Think
of Him here on earth, hungry, weary, toiling and, at last, scourged,
crucified, faint and dying because He took upon Himself our flesh and
became one with us. And now there is such a union between every
Believer and Christ as can never be destroyed! Paul triumphantly asks,
"Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord?" There is no possibility of divorce between Christ and the
soul that trusts Him, for it is written, "The Lord, the God of Israel,
says that He hates putting away" and, therefore, He will never practice
it, nor will He ever banish from His heart one whom He has taken to be
His own. "Your Maker is your Husband," is a sentence full of comfort to
everyone who can claim that blessed relationship! This union stands
fast forever and ever. The Lord did not approve of giving a bill of
divorcement in the olden days, although Moses permitted it because of
the hardness of men's hearts, and He will never do what He did not
approve of, but He will cling to us forever. Once joined to Christ, we
shall never be divided from Him, but shall always be able to call Him,
"Ishi, my Husband."
Is not this, indeed, a conquest of love? That those who were utter
strangers to Christ–that those who were downright enemies to Him–that
those who lived year after year, and even when they thought a little,
did not give Him a thought? Or if they thought of Him, refused to yield
to Him–is it not wonderful that even these should come to be as much
in love with Christ as the newly-married wife is with her husband–and
that these people should be linked with Christ so as never to be
separated from Him, world without end? O Beloved, I think I said
nothing but the truth when I called it the conquest of love!
II. Now we come to the second part of the text, which speaks of the
JEALOUSY OF LOVE–"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you
shall call Me, Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali."
What does, "Baali," mean? It means, husband. It means the same thing as
Ishi. I will show you the point of difference, presently, but speaking
broadly, it is the same thing. Then, why not call Him, Baali, if it
means the same thing?
Was there anything wrong in the word, Baali? No, nothing, for the Lord
Himself uses it on other occasions. Why, then, does He say, "You shall
call Me no more, Baali," when He calls Himself so? Well, it was for
this reason–they had used the name for false gods, they had called
them, Baal–therefore they were not to use that title any more for
Jehovah. He said to them, "You have been accustomed to speak of Me as,
Baal, and to speak of this god, and that god, and all the gods as so
many Baals, or Baalim. Now, from this time forth, I will have a name to
Myself, and it shall be, Ishi, and you shall never again call Me,
Baali." This was the command of God and, moreover, it met with His
people's full consent. You may depend upon it that what God here
orders, His people were willing to carry out. They would no more call
Him by a name which had been dishonored by association with Israel's
idols and which, therefore, could not properly be applied to Jehovah.
I want you to listen very intently to what I am about to say. Some of
you have lately united with the Lord's people– may God give you great
love to Himself and may that love have a holy jealousy associated with
it! There are some things which, in themselves, may be right enough,
but having become connected with wrong things, you must not meddle with
them any more. If the word, Ishi, means, husband, and the word, Baal,
also means, husband, yet, inasmuch as that word, Baal, has been used
concerning idols and so has become defiled and despoiled of its beauty
and purity, you must not use it in reference to God. There is nothing
wrong in the word, itself, but there is evil in its associations.
Therefore, drop it. There have been other words that have fallen in a
similar fashion. The word, "tyrant," used to mean a lord or king–
there were so many little kings of Greece who were called tyrants and
who so misbehaved themselves, that at last nobody wished to wear such a
name as that of tyrant! It is no longer applied to a king simply
because he holds that office, but only to an oppressive tyrannical
despot. So, in the Latin, there is a word which used to mean, servant,
but now, if you turn to the dictionary, you will find that it means a
thief–and a servant is not called by that name, but it came to mean a
thief because, I suppose, in those days many servants were thieves. In
this way words get pulled down from their original meaning–and this
word, Baal, was just one of them. It is no use saying, "Oh, but there
was a time when it was a very proper word to use!" You have nothing to
do with that matter–is it a proper word to use now? For, if it is not,
do not touch it!
There are many things in the world of that sort. I am not going to
mention them, one by one, because you have your own senses and you can
apply a general rule to particular instances. There are a thousand
things which, today, in your minds and in the minds of all thinking
persons, are connected with evil. And if you have a truly jealous love
to Christ, you will say, concerning any of them, "I must not do this."
Avoid the very appearanceof evil, keep clear of it altogether! Just
picture to yourself a true Ishmaelite kneeling down to worship Jehovah.
I will suppose that he has been accustomed to speak of God under that
word, Baal, as his Husband and, as he worships,, with others, he cries,
"O Baal, hear us!" I can imagine that as God heard that prayer, He
accepted it–the man meant it rightly enough–He worshipped God under a
right name, one which the Lord had given to Himself. But supposing that
a heathen happened to stand where he heard the Israelite pray? He would
say to himself, "That man worships Baal the same as I do!" Well, if it
had been my case and I had risen from my knees, and heard such a remark
as that, I would have said, "I see that the title I have used is
calculated to mislead–I will never use it again–but what word shall I
put in its place?" The Lord, here, answers the question! "It shall be
at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me, Ishi; and shall
call Me no more, Baali," because the name, Baali, was likely to be
misunderstood.
For God's sake be pure, for nothing but purity ought to appear in His
Presence! For your own sake, be very care-ful–you cannot be too
precise and particular. Your tendencies are toward evil, keep them in
check and, for the sake of others, who, if they see you take an inch,
will take a yard, be you doubly careful and let not even a name which,
to you, may have been sacred and holy, come upon your lips if it has
been used in an unholy manner and would suggest a sinful idea to the
minds of others! That is the drift of the subject–that a man who loves
Christ should be jealous of himself to the last degree.
I never knew anyone who was too precise or too Puritan–I have heard
some people say that of certain men and whenever I have come to know
those who have been so described, I have found them such godly people
that I have wished to be like they! It is always better to be too
precise than to be too lax. Our chastity of love to Christ is a thing
that must not be questioned. Caesar's wife must not only be beyond
blame, but she must be above suspicion–and so must Christians try to
be. Oh, that we did always guard ourselves most jealously lest in
anything we should grieve our Lord! Better that I deny myself a
thousand things which I might take than that I should mislead one
person and lead him into sin! "If meat offends my brother, I will eat
no flesh while the world stands," said the Apostle Paul. He might
lawfully have eaten meat and he said that he felt free in his own
conscience to do as he pleased in that matter, but he had regard to the
conscience of others who might be caused to stumble through him.
Therefore he made himself weak that he might gain the weak and, lest
haply another man, doing what he might safely do, might be lost through
doing it. Take care, then, dear Friends, as to your influence upon
other people. Do not be among those who say, "We shall still use the
title, Baali. We always did before and it is a very proper title. God
has applied it to Himself and we are not going to use anything else.
What if other people do misuse it? We cannot help that–we are not our
brother's keepers." That is the way Cain talked! "Am I my brother's
keeper?" If there is such a man among us, I hope he will be very
uncomfortable until he has come to a better state of mind! Our feeling
is that we are our brothers' keepers and we desire, as much as lies in
us, only to do that which will be safe for others to imitate. God help
us to put the spirit and teaching of this passage into constant
practice in our daily life!
III. Now, thirdly, I want to prove to you that in our text there is a
reference to THE NEARNESS OF LOVE. It lies hidden there, as honey is
concealed within a flower, and the bee must dive right into the flower
to find it!
It appears, dear Friends, according to a great number of commentators,
that those two words, Ishi and Baali, though they both mean, husband,
yet mean, husband in a very different way. If a husband were to command
his wife in an imperious fashion, as I suppose the Oriental husbands
usually did, then the spouse might say, "My lord," or, "Baali." But
when the husband was kind, tender and loving, his wife might say,
"Ishi." Baali means, "my husband," "my lord," as Sarah obeyed Abraham,
calling him, "My lord," or, "Baali." Yes, but, Ishi, means, "My
husband," "My well-beloved," "My man," in that genial, loving, tender
sense in which that expression is used by a loving wife. Let us be
astonished as we learn that God would have His people call Him no more,
"Baali," or, "Lord," but, "Ishi," "My Man," "My Husband."
God is thus revealed to His people as ruling them not so much by law,
as by love. It is no longer "You shall," and, "You shall not," but a
sweet constraint is upon them by which they delight to do His will!
When the worldling dreads sin, it is because he is afraid of Hell. But
the Christian is delivered from all fear of Hell and he hates sin,
itself, because he fears to grieve the God he loves. In the Church of
God, the great rule is not, "Do this and you shall be rewarded; do the
opposite and you shall be punished." That is the way Hagar ruled
Ishmael, but that is not the way in which Sarah governed Isaac! The
Lord does not put us upon legal terms with Him. He does not say, "You
must do this and that, or else you shall have no Grace from Me, and I
will cast you off and destroy you." Nothing of the sort! You who
believe in Jesus are not under the Law, but under Grace! You are under
the sweet and blessed rule of gracious and generous love–
"'Tis love that makes our willing feet In swift obedience move."
The Law of God drives and scourges, but it gets nothing out of us. But
Love comes with its abundant gifts of all-sufficient Grace and
straightway we say, "Lord, enable us to serve You. Help us to be
obedient to You." Love accomplishes what Law never can–and when we
view God as Love, then He is Ishi–and no longer do we look upon Him as
ruling us by Law, for then His name would be Baali.
Further, this nearness of love changes servitude into honor When we are
under the Law and call God, Baali, life is servitude. Look at some who
are trying to serve God without really knowing Him–they must doso
much, they must felso much, they must prayso much, they must workso
much, they must go through such-and-such ceremonies–and all they do is
looked upon as being something required at their hands by a stern
taskmaster! Rowland Hill tells the story of one who said that she had
been preparing herself for the "sacrament"–she took a week to do it
and then she found out that she had mistaken the day–and she said that
through her mistake she had lost the whole week! That is the way they
act and speak to whom God is Baali! But the child of God, when he comes
to the Communion Table, if he thinks it right to spend the whole week
in getting himself in a right condition of heart for so doing, would
say, if the Table were not spread, "Well, I have had a blessing even in
preparing for it. Even if I cannot, just now, observe the outward
ordinance, I have been waiting upon God and so I have drawn near to Him
in spirit and in truth."
It is one of our highest pleasures to attend a place of worship, yet to
some people it is a self-denial. Well, I do not say to them, "Do not go
to the House of Prayer." But I do say, "You are not going in the right
spirit." I like to see the people coming here on the Lord's-Day, or on
a week-night. I can almost tell them by the way they walk. They trip
along joyously as if they were pleased to come and as if they came to
enjoy themselves, as I believe they do. That is how God would have you
worship Him–in the spirit of freedom–not in the spirit of slavery!
Does He want slaves to grace His Throne? In the old days of Legree and
the slave-drivers, a man might be thought great who had all his slaves
bowing down before him as he walked along, but what true man wishes for
that sort of servitude? To rule over free men should be the ambition of
a monarch–God will rule over spirits that love Him, that delight in
Him, that are perfectly free and that find their freedom in doing His
will. You shall call Him no more, Baali, counting it as servitude to
wait upon Him, but you shall call Him, Ishi. It shall be a joy and an
honor to serve your beloved Lord!
You know how a loving wife waits upon her husband–it is never a
slavery to her, but always a delight. She thinks of a hundred things
that she can do for his comfort–some of them things that are perfectly
unnecessary, they would never be commanded by any kind of law–but her
loving heart suggests to her that she should do them so as to give him
pleasure. So is it with the child of God. He tries to think of what he
can do for Jesus and he never imagines that he can do enough for the
Savior who has loved him and died to save him! Had he ten thousand
hearts and lives, he would like to spend them all–and the help they
bring with them–and the force they have in them for His dear Lord and
Master!
The name, Ishi, instead of, Baali, further means that, henceforth, the
Believer's life is not one of fear, but one of confidence. The slave is
afraid of the crack of the whip–look how the blood flies from his poor
cheeks, lest he should feel the cruel lash! That is the condition of
the man who thinks that his eternal safety depends upon his own
watchfulness, his own prayerfulness, his own doings and his own will!
But the child of God says, "I am trusting in Christ, I am everlastingly
saved and have no need to fear." And he adds–
"Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count but loss,
My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His cross." He is
now not at all afraid. What? Not afraid of sinning? Yes, he is, but not
on legalground. The true Christian reminds me of a little boy who had a
very kind and loving father and he was very fond of his father, too.
One day some boys agreed to go and rob an orchard and they said to him,
"Jack, you come with us." "No," he answered, "I cannot go with you, for
it would grieve my father." "Oh, but," they said, "your father loves
you and he won't beat you as our fathers will if they find out." "Ah,"
he replied, "that is the very reason why I could not go–because he
never beats me–he is so kind and loving that I will not do anything to
grieve him."
That is just the spirit that animates true Christians! If we live unto
God, we cannot bear to do what is wrong. Immortal principles forbid the
child of God to sin–he must be holy! Love binds him fast, crucifies
him, makes him dead to what he once loved and makes him live in newness
of life. You who prefer the bondage of the Law, may have it if you
please. You who like the crack of that whip, may live under it if you
will. But oh, if you once really knew the Love of God, you would never
want to go back to that servitude! You would never say, "Baali," and
crouch down, like a poor woman before a husband who was about to strike
her. But you would come to your Lord in loving confidence and say to
Him, "Offend You, my Lord? I cannot do it! I love You too well for
that. I would give all I am and all I have, that I might give You
pleasure, for You are my Ishi!"
O Christ, by your bleeding wounds and bloody sweat, by Your death and
resurrection, You are my Man, my Husband! You are Man and You have
become Man for me. My Man, to whom my soul is married, once and for
all, and I must love You and serve You till my life's last breath."–
"I will love You in life, I will love You in death, And praise You as
long as You lend me breath! And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my
brow, 'If ever I loved You, my Ishi, 'tis now.'"
IV. So to close, I want you, for a minute or two, to notice, in the
fourth place, THE VENGEANCE OF LOVE, for, when jealousy is stirred up,
love makes a clean sweep of everything that comes in its way–"I will
take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more
be remembered by their name."
What a sweeping vengeance i t is! "I will take away the names of Baalim
out of her mouth." The very name of the one we once loved shall be
taken away from us! One good effect of the long captivity of the Jews
was that after they returned to their own land, they never fell into
idolatry again–and I do not believe they ever will. They are clean
cured of that evil! I should think it is the rarest thing in the world
to find a Jew become a Romanist because it seems contrary, now, to the
very nature of Israel to bow down before a visible emblem. But what did
the Jews do? They took the name that they used to give to their false
god, Baal, and they applied it to the devil–hence you get the term
Beelzebub, or Baalzebub, the god of flies, the god of dung–a
caricature name which they applied to the devil himself. So, the things
you loved when you were in the world and made your god, are now to you
like the devil! What a change the Grace of God makes when it enters the
heart! Has your false god become your devil and what you despised
become your God? That is the meaning of the promise of the text–"I
will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth." When we pronounce
the word that once was sweet to us, it shall positively mean something
else. It shall be bitter to us even to think of it. There are some
words which were in our vocabulary when we were ungodly, but we never
use them now, or, if we do use them, they mean the very opposite to
what they meant before we came to love the Lord!
There are professors who talk a great deal about some things that are
better not mentioned. Paul says, "It is a shame even to speak of those
things which are done of them in secret." I always regret, when a
person tells the story of his past life, when he seems to think it
necessary to drag in some of the black bits. If you do so, my Brother,
mind that you rub in plenty of salt before you put any of the unsavory
meat, otherwise it may leave a bad smell behind. There may be mischief
done even by those who fancy that they are magnifying the Grace of God.
It is sometimes necessary to tell what we were, in our unconverted
state, but if we do so, we must be very careful not to take the name of
Baalim on our lips while we are trying to glorify our God!
The fact is, dear Friends, the Lord makes such a thorough change, such
a spiritual change, that it is true of past things, "they shall no more
be remembered by their name." That is the last clause of the text. You
cannot help remembering the things in which you delighted in the days
of your ignorance. You cannot quite blot them out of your memory, even
though you have forsaken them long ago. But you do not remember them by
their old name and you do not call them by that name now. You have
learned to call a spade a spade, and you do not know it, now, except by
that name. People talk about "seeing life," but if they were to say to
a Christian that he had been seeing life, he would not understand them.
He would say, "You do not see life in the places where you go–you see
corruption. To see life is to live unto God." "Oh, but," says one, "I
have been enjoying myself, I have been having pleasure." But, to the
Christian, those words do not mean what they mean to the ungodly man,
for sin would be no pleasure to him–it would be utter misery. The
swine find great pleasure in a few inches of filthy mud but if you
could change them into men and put them to sleep in nice soft beds, I
guarantee you that then they would have a good night's rest!
I daresay the devil finds himself at home in Hell, or wherever his
dwelling place may be, but if he could be converted into a seraph, he
would not stay in Hell for an hour! He would never want to go there
again for pleasure, of that I am certain. And when a man who professes
to be converted says that he goes into the world, and into sin, for
pleasure, it is as if an angel went to Hell for enjoyment! The Lord
give you Grace, Dearly-Beloved, so to love Him and to find such perfect
liberty in His service, that though you may be tempted to sin, you will
not yield, for invincible love binds you to His heart and holds you
fast forever!
Paul said, and it was a grand utterance, "I bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus." When a Roman had a slave whom he did not mean to
ever sell, or to part with–in his cruelty he branded him with his own
name. Suppose that it was Caesar? He took his slave and burned the name
of Caesar right into his flesh! So the Apostle says, "I bear in my body
the marks"–the brand–"of the Lord Jesus. I am His forever! I never
wish to run away from Him, nor can I." There are some friends about to
be baptized. I only trust that they will receive the spiritual brand
right into their soul. What a brand this Baptism is to a man! You see,
it is not on his arm–so he cannot cut it off–it is all over him. It
is a watermark that cannot be removed! You may go into sin, but you
have been baptized, and that fact shall rise against you in judgment!
Whatever you do, you have been professedly buried with Christ and if
you are not dead, you have no business to be buried! But if you have
lied to God and, during the rest of your life, if you turn away from
Him, yet that mark is still upon you. Woe unto you, for you have been a
deceiver!
But the true and genuine Christian does not mind what mark he has, to
tell to whom he belongs. "Set it on my forehead," he says, "for there I
hope to wear it, by-and-by." "His servants shall serve Him and they
shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads." God
grant that we may all come to that glorious condition, for our Lord
Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.