The Destroyer Destroyed
A Sermon
(No. 166)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 6, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil"–Hebrews 2:14.
IN GOD'S ORIGINAL empire everything was happiness, and joy, and peace.
If there be any evil, any suffering and pain, that is not God's work.
God may permit it, overrule it, and out of it educe much good; but the
evil cometh not of God. He himself standeth pure and perfect, the clean
fountain out of which gusheth forth ever more sweet and pure waters.
The devil's reign, on the contrary, containeth nought of good, "the
devil sinneth from the beginning," and his dominion has been one
uniform course of temptation to evil and infliction of misery. Death is
a part of Satan's dominion, he brought sin into the world when he
tempted our mother Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, and with sin he
brought also death into the world, with all its train of woes. There
had been likely no death, if there had been no devil. If Satan had not
tempted, mayhap man had not revolted, and if he had not revolted he
would have lived for ever, without having to undergo the painful change
which is caused by death. I think death is the devil's masterpiece.
With the solitary exception of hell, death is certainly the most
Satanic mischief that sin hath accomplished. Nothing ever delighted the
heart of the devil so much as when he found that the threatening would
be fulfilled, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die," and never was his malicious heart so full of hellish joy as when
he saw Abel stretched upon the earth, slain by the club of his brother.
"Aha!" said Satan, "this is the first of all intelligent creatures that
has died. Oh how I rejoice! This is the crowning hour of my dominion.
It is true that I have marred the glory of this earth by my guileful
temptation; it is true the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain by reason of the evil that I have brought into it; but this, this
is my masterpiece; I have killed man; I have brought death into him,
and here lieth the first–the first dead man." Since that time Satan
hath ever gloated over the death of the human race, and he hath had
some cause of glory, for that death has been universal. All have died.
Though they had been wise as Solomon, their wisdom could not spare
their head; though they had been virtuous as Moses, yet their virtue
could not avert the axe, All have died; and therefore the devil hath
boasted in his triumph. But twice hath he been defeated; but two have
entered heaven without dying, but the mass of mankind have had to feel
the scythe of death; and he has rejoiced because this, his mightiest
work, has had foundations broad as earth, and a summit that reached as
high as the virtues of mankind could climb.
There is something fearful in death. It is frightful even to him that
hath the most of faith. It is only the gildings of death, the
afterwards, the heaven, the harp, the glory, that maketh death bearable
even to the Christian. Death in itself must ever be an unutterably
fearful thing to the sons of men. And oh! what ruin doth it work! It
darkens the windows of the eyes; it pulls down the polished pillars of
the divine architecture of the body; it turns the inhabitant the soul,
out of its door, and bids it fly to worlds unknown; and it leaves in
place of a living man a corpse whose appearance is so wretched that
none can look upon it without emotions of horror. Now, this is Satan's
delight. He conceives death to be his masterpiece, because of its
terror, and because of the ruin which it works. The greater the evil,
the better doth he delight in it. No doubt he gloats over our
sicknesses; he rejoices himself in our sin; but death is to him a theme
of as much delight as he can be capable of in his eternal misery. He,
as far as he can, shouteth for joy when he witnesseth how, by one fell
deed of his, one piece of treachery, he hath swept the world with the
besom of destruction, and hurried all men to the tomb.
And death is very lovely to the devil for another reason–not only
because it is his chief work on earth, but because it gives him the
finest opportunity in the world for the display of his malice and his
craft. The devil is a coward, the greatest of cowards, as most wicked
beings are. A Christian in health he will seldom attack; a Christian
who has been living near his Master, and is strong in grace, the devil
will leave alone, because he knows he will meet his match then; but if
he can find a Christian either weak in faith, or weak in body, then he
thinks it a fair opportunity for attack.
Now when death comes with all its terrors, it is usual for Satan to
make a fierce inroad into the soul. Usually with many of the saints, if
not in the last article of death, yet some little time before it, there
is a ferocious onslaught made by the great enemy of souls. And then he
loves death, because death weakens the mind. The approach of death
destroys some of the mental power, and takes away from us for a season
some of those spirits by which we have been cheered in better days. It
makes us lie there, languid, and faint, and weary. "Now is my
opportunity," says the evil one; and he steals in upon us. Hence I
believe for this reason he is said to have the power of death, for I
cannot conceive that the devil hath the power of death in any other
sense but this, that it was originated by him, and that he at such time
generally displays the most of his malice and of his power. For it is
certain my brethren the devil has not the power over death so as to
cause death. All the devils in hell could not take away the life of the
smallest infant in the world, and though we lie gasping and sick, so
that the physician despairs of us, it is nothing but the fiat of the
Almighty that can cause us to die, even in the extremity of our
weakness As far as the cause is concerned, the devil is not the cause
of death. We rejoice to believe with Dr. Young, that an angel's arm
cannot hurl us to the grave, even though it be the arm of that fallen
archangel Lucifer; and we rejoice to know that afterwards a myriad
angels cannot confine us there. So that neither for the unlocking of
the door, nor for the securing of it afterwards, hath the devil any
power whatever over the Christian in death.
Why, there are many persons here present who have such notion of
religion that they conceive it to be a thing of happiness and pleasure,
and delight, and living near the fountain of all bliss, that is their
God, their path is filled with sunshine, and their eye sparkles with
perpetual happiness. They bear the trials of this life manfully as
Christians should; they take afflictions from the hand of God with all
resignation and patience. Now the devil says, "It is of no use my
meddling with that man with doubting thoughts; he is too mighty for me;
he is powerful on his knees, and he is powerful with his God." "Hands
off!" says the Christian to the devil then. But when we begin to be
weak, when our mind through the influence of the body begins to be sad,
when we have either been starving ourselves by some wicked religious
asceticism, or when the rod of God hath bruised us, then in our evil
plight the foe will beset us. And for this reason the devil loves
death, and hath the power over it, because it is the time of nature's
extremity, and therefore is the time of the devil's opportunity.
The subject of our discourse this morning is this. Jesus Christ through
his death, hath destroyed what power the devil hath over death. Ay, and
to add a second truth which shall be our second head, he hath not only
by his death destroyed the power which the devil had over death, but he
hath destroyed the devil's power entirely in every respect by the death
which he died.
I. Let us begin, then, at the beginning. BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST THE
DEVIL'S POWER OVER DEATH IS TO THE CHRISTIAN UTTERLY DESTROYED. The
devil's power over death lies in three places, and we must look at it
in three aspects. sometimes the devil hath power in death over the
Christian, by tempting him to doubt his resurrection, and leading him
to look into the black future with the dread of annihilation. We will
look at that first, and we will endeavor to show you that by the death
of Christ that peculiar form of the devil's power in death is entirely
removed. When the poor spirit lieth on the verge of eternity, if faith
be weak, and if the eye-sight of hope be dim, the Christian will most
likely look forward into what? Into a world unknown, and the language
of even the infidel sometimes rush into the lips of the most faithful
child of God.
"My soul looks down on what?
A dread eternity; a dreary gulf."
You may tell him of the promises; you may try to cheer him by reminding
him of the certain revelations of the future; but apart from the death
of Christ, I say, even the Christian himself would look forward to
death as being a dreary goal, a dark cloudy end to a life of weariness
and woe. Whither am I speeding? An arrow shot from the bow of God's
creation! Whither am I speeding? And the answer cometh back from blank
nothingness thou camest, and thou art speeding to the same; there is
nought to thee; when thou diest thou art lost. Or if reason has been
well tutored it may perhaps reply to him, "Yes, there is another world,
but reason can only tell him that it thinks so. It dreams of it. but
what that other world shall be, what its tremendous mysteries, what its
gorgeous splendors, or what its horrible terrors, reason cannot tell."
And the sting of death would be to such a man, who had no view of
immortality in Christ, the thought that he was to be annihilated–not
to exist–or if to exist that he knew not how, or where. But, beloved,
by the death of Christ all this is taken away. If I lie a-dying, and
Satan comes to me and says, "Thou art to be annihilated, thou art now
sinking beneath the waves of time, and thou shalt lie in the caverns of
nothingness for ever; thy living, leaping spirit, is to cease for ever
and be not." I reply to him, "No, not so: I have no fear of that; O
Satan, thy power to tempt me here faileth utterly and entirely. See
there my Saviour! He died–he died really and actually, for his heart
was pierced, he was buried, he lay in his grave three days; but, O
Devil, he was not annihilated, for he rose again from the tomb on the
third day, and in the glories of the resurrection he appeared unto many
witnesses, and gave infallible proofs that he was risen from the dead.
And now, O Satan, I tell thee, thou canst not put an end to my
existence, for thou couldst not put an end to the existence of my Lord.
As the Lord the Saviour rose, so all his followers must. I know that my
Redeemer liveth,' and therefore I know that though the worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.' Thou tellest me, O Satan,
that I am to be swallowed up, and be a thing of nought, and sink into
the bottomless pit of nonenity. I reply to thee, thou liest. My Saviour
was not swallowed up, and yet he died, he died, but could not long be
held a prisoner in the tomb. Come, death, and bind me, but thou canst
not destroy me. Come on, O grave; open thy ghastly mouth, and swallow
me up; but I shall burst thy bonds another day. When that all-glorious
morning shall dawn, I having a dew like the dew of herbs upon me, shall
be raised up and shall live in his sight. Because he lives I shall live
also." So, you see, Christ, by being a witness to the feet of the
resurrection, has broken the power of the devil in death. In this
respect he has prevented him from tempting us to fear annihilation,
because, as Christians, we believe that because Christ rose again from
the dead, even so they that sleep in Jesus will the Lord bring with
him.
But now for a more common temptation–another phase of the devil's
power in death. Full often the devil comes to us in our life-time, and
he tempts us by telling us that our guilt will certainly prevail
against us, that the sins of our youth and our former transgressions
are still in our bones, and that when we sleep in the grave our sins
shall rise up against us "They have many of them," saith he, "gone
before you unto judgment, and others shall follow after." When the
Christian getteth weak, and his heart and his flesh do fail him, were
it not, I say for the great doctrine of the death of Christ the devil
would be able to tempt him thus "Thou art about to die. I dare not tell
thee that there is no future state, for if I do thou replies to me,
'There is, for Christ rose from the dead and therefore I shall,' but I
will tempt thee another way. Thou hast made a fine profession, but I
charge upon thee that thou hast been a hypocrite. Thou pretendest that
thou art one of the Lord's beloved: now look back upon thy sins:
remember on such-a-day how thy rebellious lusts arose, and thou wast
led if not quite to indulge in a transgression, yet to long after it.
Recollect how often thou hast provoked him in the wilderness, how
frequently thou hast made his anger wax hot against thee." The devil
takes up our diary, and he turns over the page, and with black finger
points to our sins; and he reads scornfully, with a leer upon his
countenance. "See here saint" he says. "Saint! Aha! a fine saint you
were. There! Sabbath breaking. There! evil thoughts of unbelief. There!
departure from the living God." And he turns over page after page, and
he stops over some very black page, and says, "See here!" And he twits
the Christian with the thing. "Ah!" saith he, "David, remember
Bathsheba. Lot, remember Sodom and the cave, Noah, remember the
vineyard and the drunkenness." Ah! and it makes even the saint quiver,
when sin stares him in the face–when the ghosts of his old sins rise
up and stare upon him. He is a man that has got faith indeed that can
look sin in the face, and still say, "The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth me from sin." But were it not for that blood, were it not for
the death of Christ, you can easily conceive what power the devil would
have over us in the hour of death, because he would fling all our sins
in our teeth just when we came to die, But now see how through death
Christ has taken away the devil's power to do that. We reply to the
temptation to sin, "In truth O Satan thou art right; I have rebelled, I
will not belie my conscience and my memory; I own I have transgressed.
O Satan, turn to the blackest page of my history, I confess all,
'Should he send my soul to hell
His righteous law approves it well.'
But O fiend, let me tell thee my sins were numbered on the scape-goat's
head of old. Go thou, O Satan, to Calvary's cross, and see my
substitute bleeding there, Behold, my sins are not mine; they are laid
on his eternal shoulders, and he has cast them from his own shoulders
into the depths of the sea. Avaunt, hell-hound! Wouldst thou worry me?
Go thou and satisfy thyself with a sight of that Man, who entered the
gloomy dungeons of death, and slept awhile there, and then rent the
bars away, and led captivity captive as a proof that he was justified
of God the Father. and that I also am justified in him." Oh! yes, this
is the way that Christ's death destroys the power of the devil. We can
tell the devil that we care not for him, for all our sins are passed
away, covered in the thick cloud, and shall not be brought against us
any more for ever, "Ah!" said an aged saint once who had been much
teased by Satan, "at last I got rid of my temptations, sir, and I
enjoyed much peace," "How did you do it?" said a Christian friend who
visited him, "I showed him blood, sir; I showed him the blood of
Christ." That is a thing the devil cannot endure. You may tell the
devil, "Oh! but I prayed so many times." He will sniff at your prayers.
You may tell him, "Ah! but I was a preacher" He will laugh in your
face, and tell you you preached your own damnation You may tell him you
had some good works, and he will lift them up and say, "these are your
good works–filthy rags: no one would have them at a gift." You may
tell him, "Ah! but I have repented." He will sneer at your repentance.
You may tell him what you like, he will sneer at you, till at last you
say,
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;"
And it is all over with the devil then; there is nothing now that he
can do, for the death of Christ has destroyed the power that the devil
hath over us to tempt us on account of our guilt. "The sting of death
is sin:" our Jesus took the sting away, and now death is harmless to
us, because it is not succeeded by damnation.
Once more, you may suppose a Christian who has firm confidence in a
future state. The evil one has another temptation for him.."It. may be
very true," saith he, "that you are to live for ever and that your sins
have been pardoned; but you have hitherto found it very hard work to
persevere, and now you are about to die you will be sure to fail. When
you have had troubles you know you have been half inclined to go back
again to Egypt. Why, the little hornets that you have met have worried
you, and now this death is the prince of dragons; it will be all over
with you now. You know that when you used to go through a cart-rut you
were crying for fear of being drowned: what will you do now that you
have got into the swellings of Jordan? "Ah!" says the devil, "you were
afraid of the lions when they were chained: what will you do with this
unchained lion? How will you come off now? When you were a strong man
and had marrow in your bones, and your sinews were full of strength,
even then you trembled at me: now I shall have at you, when I get you
in your dying-time and your strength fails, and if I once get the grip
of you
'That desperate tug your soul shall feel,
Through bars of brass and triple-steel.'
Ah! you will then be overcome." And sometimes the poor feint-hearted
Christian thinks that is true; I shall surely fall one day by the hand
of the enemy. Up gets the Arminian divine, and says, "that is a very
proper sort of feeling, my friend; God often does desert his children
and cast them away." To which we reply "Thou liest, Arminian; shut thy
mouth, God never did desert his children, neither can he, nor will he."
And having answered the Arminian we turn to answer the devil, and we
say to him, "O fiend, thou temptest us to think that thou wilt conquer
us; remember Satan, that the strength that has preserved us against
thee has not been our own; the arm that has delivered us has not been
this arm of flesh and blood, else we had long since been overcome. Look
thou there, fiend, at him that is Omnipotent: his Almightiness is the
power that preserves us to the end; and, therefore, be we never so
weak, when we are weak then we are strong, and in our last hour of
peril we shall yet overcome thee."
But please to notice, that this answer springs and arises from Christ's
death. Let us just picture a scene. When the Lord Jesus came down to
earth, Satan knew his errand. He knew that the Lord Jesus was the Son
of God, and when he saw him an infant in the manger, he thought if he
could kill him and get Him in the bonds of death what a fine thing it
would be! So he stirred up the spirit of Herod to slay him; but Herod
missed his mark. And many a time did Satan strive to put the personal
existence of Christ in danger, so that he might get Christ to die. Poor
fool as he was, he did not know that when Christ died he would bruise
the devil's head. Once, you remember, when Christ was in the synagogue,
the devil stirred up the people, and made them angry; and he thought,
"Oh! what a glorious thing it would be if I could kill this man; then
there would be an end of him, And I should reign supreme for ever." So
he got the people to take him to the brow of the hill, and he gloated
over the thought that now surely he would be cast down headlong. But
Christ escaped. He tried to starve him, he tried to drown him; he was
in the desert without food, and he was on the sea in a storm; but there
was no starving or drowning him, and Satan no doubt panted for his
blood and longed that he should die. At last the day arrived; it was
telegraphed to the court of hell that at last Christ would die. They
rung their bells with hellish mirth and joy. "He will die now," said
he, "Judas has taken the thirty pieces of silver. Let those Scribes and
Pharisees get him, they will no more let him go than the spider will a
poor unfortunate fly. He is safe enough now." And the devil laughed for
very glee, when he saw the Saviour stand before Pilate's bar. And when
it was said, "Let him be crucified," then his joy scarce knew bounds,
except that bound which his own misery must ever set to it. As far as
he could he revelled in what was to him a delightful thought, that the
Lord of glory was about to die. In death, as Christ was seen of angels,
he was seen of devils too; and that dreary march from Pilate's palace
to the cross was one which devils saw with extraordinary interest. And
when they saw him on the cross, there stood the exulting fiend, smiling
to himself. "Ah! I have the King of Glory now in my dominions, I have
the power of death, and I have the power over the Lord Jesus." He
exerted that power, till the Lord Jesus had to cry out in bitter
anguish, "My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?" But ah! how
short-lived was hellish victory! How brief was the Satanic triumph! He
died, and "It is finished!" shook the gates of hell. Down from the
cross the conqueror leaped, pursued the fiend with thunder-bolts of
wrath; swift to the shades of hell the fiend did fly, and swift
descending went the conqueror after him; and we may conceive him
exclaiming–
"Traitor! this bolt shall find and pierce thee through,
Though under hell's profoundest wave thou div'st,
To find a sheltering grave."
And seize him he did–chained him to his chariot wheel; dragged him up
the steps of glory; angels shouting all the while, "He hath led
captivity captive, and received gifts for men." Now, devil, thou saidst
thou wouldst overcome me, when I came to die. Satan I defy thee, and
laugh thee to scorn! My Master overcame thee, and I shall overcome thee
yet. You say you will overcome the saint, do you? You could not
overcome the saint's Master, and you will not overcome him. You once
thought you had conquered Jesus: you were bitterly deceived. Ah! Satan,
thou mayest think thou shalt overcome the little faith and the faint
heart; but thou art wondrously mistaken–for we shall assuredly tread
Satan under our feet shortly; and even in our last extremity, with
fearful odds against us, we shall be "more than conquerors through him
that loved us."
You see that thus, my brethren, Christ's death has taken away from
Satan the advantage which he has over the saint in the hour of death;
so that we may joyfully descend the shelving banks of Jordan, or may
even, if God calls us to a sudden death, glide from its abrupt cliffs,
for Christ is with us, and to die is gain.
II. But now, I want just a moment or two, whilst I try to show you that
not only has Christ by his death taken away the devil's power in death;
but HE HAS TAKEN AWAY THE DEVIL'S POWER EVERYWHERE ELSE OVER A
CHRISTIAN. "He hath destroyed," or overcome, "him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil."
Death was the devil's chief intrenchment: Christ bearded the lion in
his den, and fought him in his own territory; and when he took death
from him and dismantled that once impregnable fortress, he took away
from him not only that, but every other advantage that he had over the
saint. And now Satan is a conquered foe, not only in the hour of death,
but in every other hour and in every other place. He is an enemy, both
cruel and mighty, but he is a foe who quakes and quails when a
Christian gets into the lists with him; for he knows that though the
fight may waver for a little while in the scale, the balance of victory
must fall on the side of the saint, because Christ by his death
destroyed the devil's power.
Satan, my brethren, may to-morrow get much power over you, by tempting
you to indulge in the lusts of the flesh, or in the pride of life; he
may come to you and say, "Do such-and-such a thing that would be
dishonest, and I will make you rich; indulge in such-and-such a
pleasure, and I will make you happy. come," saith Satan, "yield to my
blandishments; I will give you wine to quaff that shall be richer than
ever came from the wine-vats of Holy Scripture; I will give you bread
to eat that you know not of. Eat thou the tempting fruit; it is sweet;
it will make thee like a god.". "Ah!" saith the Christian, "but Satan,
my Master died when he had to do with thee, and therefore I will have
nothing to do with thee. If thou didst kill my Lord, thou wilt kill me
too if thou canst, and therefore away with thee! but inasmuch as thou
layest down silver for me, and tellest me I can have it if I do wrong,
lo, Satan, I can cover thy silver with gold, and have ten times as much
to spare afterwards. Thou sayest I shall get gain if I sin. Nay, but
the treasures of Christ are greater riches than all the treasures of
Egypt. Why, Satan, if thou wert to bring me a crown, and say, There!
thou shalt have that if thou wilt sin.' I should say, Poor crown! Why,
Satan, I have got a better one than that laid up in heaven, I could not
sin for that, that is a bribe too paltry," In he brings his bags of
gold. and he says, "Now, Christian, sin for them." The Christian says,
"Why fiend, that stuff is not worth my looking at. I have an
inheritance in a city where the streets are paved with solid gold; and,
therefore, what are these poor chinking bits to me? Take them back!" He
brings in loveliness, and he tempts us by it. but we say to him, "Why,
devil, what art thou at? What is that loveliness to me? Mine eyes have
seen the King in his beauty and the land that is very far oft; and by
faith I know that I shall go where beauty's self, even in her
perfection, is excelled–where I shall see my Saviour, who is the chief
among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.' That is no temptation
to me! Christ has died, and I count all these things but dross, that I
may win Christ and be found in him." So that you see, even in
temptation, the death of Christ has destroyed the devil's power
"You will not yield, will you?" says the devil "You cannot be tempted!
Ah! well," says he, "if you cannot be drawn aside, I'll pull you aside.
What are you, that you should stand against me? A poor puny man! Why, I
have made angels fall, and I am not afraid of you. Come on!" And he
puts his foot to our foot, and with his dragon yell he frights the
echoes till they dare not reply. He lifts his blazing sword, and thinks
to smite us to the ground. You know, my brethren, what the shield is
that must catch the blow. It is the shield of faith in Christ that died
for us. He hurls his darts, but his darts hurt not, for lo, we catch
them also on this all-powerful shield, Christ and his cross. So that,
let his insinuations be never so direful, the death of Christ has
destroyed the devil's power either to tempt or to destroy. He may be
allowed to attempt either the one or the other, but he can be
successful in neither. The death of Christ has "destroyed him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil."
Some people say they don't believe in a devil. Well, I have only to
tell them I don't believe in them because if they knew themselves much
they would very soon find a devil. But it is quite possible that they
have very little evidence of there being any devil; for you know the
devil never wastes his time. He comes up a street, and he sees a man
engaged in business, hoarding, covetous, grasping. He has got a widow's
house in his throat, he has just swallowed the last acre of a poor
orphan's lands. "Oh," says the devil, "drive by, I shall not stop
there; he does not need me; he will go to hell easily enough." He goes
to the next house: there is a man there, a drunkard. spending his time
in riotousness: he marches by, and says, "There's no need for me here;
why should I trouble my own dear friends? Why should I meddle with
those whom I am sure to have at last? There's no need to tease them."
He finds a poor saint upon his knees, exercising but very little power
in prayer. "Oh!" says the devil, "I shant have this creature at last;
I'll howl at him now." There is a poor sinner just returning from his
evil ways and crying, "I have sinned and done evil in thy sight; Lord,
have mercy upon me " "Losing a subject," says Satan; "I'll have him;
I'm not going to lose my subjects like this." So he worries him. The
reason why you don't believe there is a devil, very likely is, that the
devil very seldom comes to you because you are so safe that he does not
take any trouble to look after you, and you have not seen him, because
you are too bad for him to care about, and he says, "Oh no, there's no
need for me to waste time to tempt that man, it would be carrying coals
to Newcastle to tempt him, for he is as bad as he can be, and therefore
let him alone." But when a man lives near to God, or when a man's
conscience begins to be aroused, then Satan cries, "To arms! to arms!
to arms!" For two good reasons: first, because he wants to worry him,
and secondly, because he wants to destroy him. Well, we bless God that
though the devil may direct his utmost scorn and craft and malice
against the Christian, the Christian is safe behind the rock Christ
Jesus, and may rest secure.
And now, in conclusion, suffer a word or two of comfort to the people
of God, and a warning to those that know him not.
O children of God! death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power
over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Thou knowest what death
is: look him in the face, and tell him thou art not afraid of him. Ask
grace from God, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy
Master's death, thou mayest be strengthened for that dread hour. And
mark me, if thou so livest, thou mayest be able to think of death with
pleasure, and to welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is
sweet to die: to lie upon the breast of Christ, and have one's soul
kissed out of one's body by the lips of divine affection. And you that
have lost friends, or that may be bereaved, sorrow not as those that
are without hope; for remember the power of the devil is taken away.
What a sweet thought the death of Christ brings us concerning those who
are departed! They are gone, my brethren; but do you know how far they
have gone? The distance between the glorified spirits in heaven and the
militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far
from home.
"One gentle sigh the spirit breaks,
We scarce can say tis gone,
Before the ransomed spirit takes
Its station near the throne."
We measure distance by time. We are apt to say that a certain place is
so many hours from us. If it is a hundred miles off and there is no
railroad we think it a long way; if there is a railway, we think we can
be there in no time, But how near must we say heaven is? For it is just
one sigh and we get there. Why, my brethren, our departed friends are
only in the upper room, as it were, of the same house; they have not
gone far off; they are up stairs, and we are down below.Yea, more as
the poet says,
"Ten thousands to their endless home,
This solemn moment fly,
And we are to the margin come,
And soon expect to die."
And then he describes them.
"Part of the host have crossed the flood."
There they are, on the other side the banks. Here is another part, deep
in the stream. Here are we on the margin, just about to step down. They
are all one army; there is not one gap, right down from Abel to the one
that is now departing; and they never shall be but one, till the pearly
gates are shut for ever, and they are all secure.
"E'en now by faith we clasp our hands
With those that went before,
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands
Upon the eternal shore."
And now I close by saying this word to the sinner O thou that knowest
not God, thou that believest not in Christ, death is to thee a horrible
thing. I need not tell thee that; for thine own conscience tells it to
thee. Why, man, thou mayest laugh sometimes at religion; but in thine
own solitary moments it is no laughing thing. The greatest brags in the
world are always the greatest cowards. If I hear a man saying, "Oh, I
am not afraid of dying, I don't care about your religion," he does not
deceive me; I know all about that. He says that to cover up his fears,
when he is alone of a night. You should see how white his cheek is if a
leaf falls against the window When there is lightning in the air you
should look at him. "Oh that flash" he says. Or if he is a strong man
perhaps he does not say a word, but he feels in such horror all the
time the storm is on. Not like the Christian man: not like the man who
has courage. Why, I love the lightnings; God's thunder is my delight. I
never feel so well as when there is a tremendous thunder and lightning
storm. Then I feel as if I could mount up, and my whole heart sings. I
love then to sing–
"This awful God is mine
My Father and my love,
He shall send down his heavenly powers
To carry me above.
Yes, you are afraid of dying I know; and what I shall say to you is
this _ You have good need to be afraid of dying, and you have good need
to be afraid of dying now. Because you have escaped many times you
think you shall never die. Suppose we should take a man and tie him to
that pillar, and a good marksman should take bow and arrows and shoot
at him. Well, one arrow might glance and strike some one that sits at
the right, and another might glance and strike some one that is to the
left; one might go above his head, and another beneath his feet, but
you cannot suppose that man would laugh and mock, when the arrows were
flying about his ears, and if he was quite certain that it only wanted
the marksman to take an aim at him, and he would be shot, then, my
friends, you cannot conceive how he would tell you what terror he would
experience. But certainly there would be no laughter. He would not say,
"Oh! I shall not die, see, the man has been shooting all these others."
No, the risk of dying would be enough to steady him and the thought
that that marksman had an eye so true and a hand so steady that he had
but to pull the string, and the arrow would certainly reach his heart,
would be enough at least to sober him, and keep him always watchful;
for in a moment, when he thought not that arrow might fly. Now, that is
you to-day, God puts the arrow to the string: your neighbor is dead on
the right, and another on the left; the arrow will come to you soon, it
might have come before, if God willed it. Oh, mock not at death, and
despise not eternity, but begin to think whether you are prepared for
death, lest death should come and find you wanting. And remember, death
will make no delays for you. You have postponed the time of thought:
death will not be postponed to suit you, but when you die, there will
be no hour allowed for you in which then to turn to God. Death comes
with its first blow; damnation comes afterwards, without the hope of
reprieve. "He that believeth and is immersed shall be saved; he that
believeth not shall be damned." Thus do we preach the Gospel of God
unto you as God would have us. "Go ye into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature." "Go ye and teach all nations, immersing them
in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Behold,
I tell you, faith in Jesus is the soul's only escape; profession of
that in immersion is God's own way of professing faith before men. The
Lord help you to obey him in the two great gospel commandments, for
Jesus' sake. Amen.
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