The Drawings of Love
(No. 3561)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1917.
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, Ihave loved you
with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn
you." Jeremiah 31:3.
From the context it is clear that this passage primarily refers to
God's ancient people, the natural descendants of Abraham. He chose them
from of old and separated them from the nations of the world. Their
election fills a large chapter in history and it shines with
resplendent luster in prophecy. There is an interval during which they
have experienced strange vicissitudes, been visited with heavy
chastisements and acquired an evil reputation for the perverseness of
their mind and the obstinacy of their heart. Yet a future glory awaits
them when they shall turn unto the Lord their God, again, be restored
to their land and acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the King of the
Jews, their own anointed King. Without abating, however, a jot or
tittle from the literal significance of these words as they were
addressed by the Hebrew Prophet to the Hebrew race, we may accept them
as an Oracle of God referring to the entire Church of His redeemed
family and pertaining to every distinct member of that sacred
community. Every Christian, therefore, whose faith can grasp the
testimony, may appropriate it to himself. As many a Believer has heard,
so every Believer may hear the voice of the Holy Spirit sounding in his
ears these words, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn you."
There are two things of which we propose to speak briefly tonight–the
unspeakable blessing–"I have loved you with an everlasting love." And
the unmistakable evidence–"therefore, with loving kindness have I
drawn you."
How exceedingly great and precious this assurance! How priceless this
blessing to be embraced with the love, the everlasting love of God! Our
God is a God of Infinite Benevolence. Towards all His creatures He
shows His goodwill. His tender mercies are over all His works. He
wishes well to all mankind. With what force and with what feeling he
asserts it! "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live"
(Ezekiel 33:11). And whoever of the whole human race, penitent for past
sin, will turn to Jesus, the Savior of sinners, he shall find in Him
pardon for the past and Grace for the future! This general Truth of
God, which we have always steadfastly maintained, which we never saw
any reason to doubt and which we have proclaimed as widely as our
ministry could reach, is not at all inconsistent with the fact that God
has a chosen people among the children of men who were beloved of Him,
foreknown to Him and ordained by Him to inherit all spiritual blessings
before the foundation of the world! As an elect people, they are the
special objects of His love. On their behalf the Covenant of Grace was
made. For them the blood of Christ was shed on Calvary. In them the
Spirit of God works effectually to their salvation. Of them and to them
it is that such words as these are spoken, "I have loved you with an
everlasting love"–a love far superior to mere benevolence–towering
above it as the mountain above the sea! A kinder love, deeper, far
sweeter than that bounty of Providence which gilds the earth with
sunshine, or scatters the drops of morning dew–a love that reveals its
pre-ciousness in the drops of blood distilled from the Savior's heart
and manifests its personal, immutable favor to souls beloved in the
gift of the Holy Spirit which is the seal of their redemption and the
sign of their adoption. So the Spirit, Himself, bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God! Now think for a little while
of–
I. THIS INESTIMABLE BLESSING.
Let us consider the text word by word. "I have loved you," Who is the
speaker "I," the great "I am," Jehovah the Lord! There is but one God,
and that God fills all things. "By Him all things were made, and
through Him all things consist." He is not far away, to be spoken of as
though He were at an infinite distance from us, though Heaven is His
Throne–for He is here with us. We live in Him, move in Him and have
our being in Him. Imagination's utmost stretch fails to grasp any true
conception of what God is. The strong wing of reason, though it were
stronger than that of the far-famed albatross, would utterly fail if it
should attempt to find out God. Incomprehensible are you, O Jehovah,
Your Being is too great for mortal mind to compass! Yet this we
understand–Your voice has reached us–from the excellent Glory it has
broken in tones distinctly on our ears–"Yes, I have loved you."
Believer in Christ, have you heard it? The love of any creature is
precious. We prize the love of the beggar in the street. We are
flattered by it. We cannot estimate it by silver or gold. Most men
court the acquaintance or esteem the friendship of those among their
fellow creatures who are in anyway distinguished for rank, for
learning, or for wealth. There is a charm in living in the esteem of
those who, themselves, are estimable, but no passion of our nature will
supply me with an adequate comparison when I ask what must it be to be
loved with the love of God! To be loved by Him whose dignity is beyond
degree, whose power to bless is infinite, whose faithfulness never
varies, whose Immutability stands fast like great mountains–to be
loved by Him who dies not, and who will be with us when we die, to be
caressed by Him who changes not in all our cares, to be shielded by His
love when we stand at the Judgment Seat and pass the last dread ordeal
that responsible creatures have to undergo! Oh, to be loved of God! Had
you the hatred of all mankind, this honey would turn their gall into
sweetness! It were enough to make you start up from the dungeon of
wretchedness, from the chamber of poverty–yes, or from the bed of
death! How like an angel you might feel–and know that such you are–a
prince of the blood Imperial! If this is true of you, my Friend, in
unspeakable joy you may emulate the bliss of blest spirits who see
Jehovah and adore Him before His Throne!
Who is loved? "Ihave loved you." Drink that in if you can, Christian!
Come to that wellhead–here is joy for you, indeed! Repeat the words to
yourself with fitting emphasis, "Yes, I have loved you." Is it not
amazing that the Mighty God should love any of the race of Adam–so
insignificant, so ephemeral, so soon to pass away? Did an angel love an
ant creeping on an anthill, it were strange, though the disparity is
comparatively trivial between these two–but for the eternal God to
love a finite man is a marvel of marvels! And yet had He loved all men
everywhere, save and except myself, it had not so amazed me as when I
grasp the Truth in relation to myself that He has loved me! Let me hear
His voice saying, "Yes, I have loved you," and forthwith I sit down
abashed with humility and overwhelmed with gratitude, to exclaim with
David, "What am I, and what is my father's house, that You have brought
me here? Why have You loved me?" Surely there was nothing in my natural
constitution, nothing in my circumstances, nothing in my transient
career that could merit Your esteem or regard, O my God! Why, then,
have You spoken thus unto Your servant, saying, "I have loved you"?
Oh, how well I could imagine His having rather said to one and another
of us, "I have despised you!" You were, perhaps, once a drunk, yet He
loved you! A swearer, yet He loved you! You had a furious temper, yet
He loved you! And you have, even now, infirmities and imperfections
that make you sometimes loathe yourself and lie down in shame, weary of
life, chafed with the conflict in which you have to fight with such
besetting sins day by day–evil thoughts and evil desires so degrading
to your nature, so disgusting to yourself, so dishonoring to your God.
Still, He says, "Yes, I have loved you." Come, Brothers and Sisters,
hear the Word of God and heed it! Do not fritter away the sweetness of
the text with annoying questions! Here it is. In large and legible
letters it is written. Come to this wellhead and drink! Take your fill
and slake your thirst with this Divine Love. If you believe in Jesus,
what though you are poor, obscure, illiterate and compassed with
infirmities which make you despise yourself, yet He who cannot lie
says, "I have loved you." These words have been said to a
Magdalene–they have been spoken to one possessed with seven
devils–they were whispered in the heart of the dying thief! Within the
tenfold darkness of despair, itself, they have sounded their note of
cheer. Blessed be the name of the Lord, you and I can hear the voice of
His Spirit, as He bears witness with our spirit, "Yes, I have loved
you." What a disparity by Nature, what a conjunction by Grace between
these two, the, "I," and the, "you"–the Infinite "I" and the
insignificant "you"–the first Person so grand, the second person so
paltry!
Whenever I attempt to speak about God's love, I feel that I would
rather hold my tongue, sit down to ponder and ask Believers to be kind
enough to join me in meditation rather than wait upon my feeble
expressions. If the love of God utterly surpasses human knowledge, how
much more a mortal's speech? What is it He bestows? That God should be
merciful to us is a theme for praise. That He should pity us is a cause
for gratitude. But that He should love usis a subject for constant
wonder, as well as praise and gratitude! Love us? Why, the beggars in
the street may excite our pity, and towards the criminals in our jails
we may be moved with compassion–but we feel we could not lovemany whom
we would cheerfully help. Yet God loves those whom He has saved from
their sins and delivered from the wrath to come! Between that great
heart in Heaven and this poor throbbing, aching heart on earth there is
love established–love of the dearest, truest, sweetest and most
faithful kind! In fact, the love of woman, the mother's love, the love
of the spouse–these are but the water–but the love of God is the
wine! These are but the things of the earth, but the love of God is the
celestial! The mother's love mirrors the love of God, as the dewdrop
mirrors the sun, but as the dewdrop compasses not that mighty orb, so
no love that beats in a human bosom can ever compass, as no words can
express the height, length and breadth of the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord!
"Yes, I have loved you." Oh, come near then, Christian! Your Father, He
that chastened you yesterday, loves you! He whom you forget so often
and whom you have offended so constantly, yet loves you! You know what
it is to love. Translate the love you bear to your dearest friend and
look at it and say, "God loves me better than this." Do you think there
are some you could die for cheerfully, whose pain you would freely take
if you could ease them of it for a while, upon whose weary bed you
would cheerfully lie down if a night of suffering could be spared him?
Your Father loves you better than that and Jesus proves it to you! He
took your sins, your sorrows, your death, your grave, that you might be
pardoned, accepted and received into Divine favor–and so might live
and be blessed forevermore!
Passing on with our meditation, let us observe that there is
incomparable strength, as well as inexhaustible sweetness in this
assurance, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." That word,
"everlasting," is the very marrow of the Gospel. Take it away, and you
have robbed the sacred Oracle of its most Divine part! The love of God
is "everlasting." The word bears three ideas within it. It has never
had a beginning. God never began to love His people. Before Adam fell.
Before man was made, or the mountains were brought forth. Before the
blue heavens were stretched abroad, there were thoughts of love in His
heart towards us! He began to create, He began actually to redeem–but
He never began to love. It is eternal or "everlasting" love which glows
in the bosom of God towards every one of His chosen people! Some of our
hearers, strange to say, take no delight in this Doctrine. But if you
know that everlasting love is yours, you will rejoice to hear it
proclaimed again and again! You will welcome the joyful sound. Ah,
God's love is no mushroom growth. It sprung not up yesterday, nor will
it perish tomorrow but, like the eternal hills, it stands fast. You
were loved of your God before He had fashioned Adam's clay, or ever
this round world was rolled from between His palm to spin in its mighty
orb! Long before the stars began to shine, before time was, when God
dwelt in eternity all alone, He loved you, then, with an everlasting
love!
The second idea is that He loves His people without cessation. It would
not be everlasting if it came now and then to a halt–if it were like
the Australian rivers which flow on, become dry and flow on again. The
love of God is not so. It swells and flows on like some mighty river of
Europe or America, ever expanding, mighty, joyous river returning again
into the eternal ocean from where it came. It never pauses. Christian,
your God's love to you is always the same. He cannot love you more! He
will not love you less! Never, when afflictions multiply, when terrors
frighten you or when your distresses abound, does God's love falter or
flag. Let the rod fall ever so heavily upon you, the hand that moves,
like the heart that prompts the stroke, is full of love! Judge not the
Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His Grace. Whether He brings
you down into the depths of misery, or lifts you up into the seventh
Heaven of delight, His faithful love never varies or fluctuates–it is
everlasting in its continuity.
And, being everlasting, the third thought is, it never ends. You will
grow gray soon, but the love of God shall still have its locks bushy
and black as a raven with the verdure of youth! You will die soon, but
the love of God will not expire. Your spirit will mount and traverse
unknown tracts but that love shall encompass you there! And at the bar
of judgment, amidst the splendors of the Resurrection Morning in the
Millennial Glory, and in the eternity that shall follow, the love of
God shall be your unfailing portion! Never shall that love desert you.
A destiny how splendid! For your soul an heritage, how boundless! Stand
tonight on your Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the north, and the
south, to the east and the west, for the infinite prospective that lies
before you is all your own inheritance! God began not to love you, nor
will He ever cease to love you! You are His and you shall be His when
worlds shall pass away and time shall cease to be! There is infinitely
more solace and satisfaction here than I can bring out. I must leave it
with you and commend it to your meditation. I am sure there is no more
delightful manna for the pilgrims in the wilderness to feed upon than
this
Doctrine applied to the heart! The love of God towards us personally in
Jesus Christ is an everlasting love. Now we come to the second point,
which is–
II. THE UNMISTAKABLE MANIFESTATION, the manifestation by which this
love is made known. Good peopleoften get puzzled with the Doctrine of
Election. In their simplicity they sometimes ask, "How can we know
whether we are the Lord's chosen, or ascertain if our names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life?" You cannot scan that mystic roll, or pry
between those folded leaves. Had you an angel's wing and a seraph's
eye, you could not read what God has written in His book! The Lord
knows them that are His. No man shall know by any Revelation save that
which the Holy Spirit gives according to my text. There is a way of
knowing and it is this–"Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn
you." Were you ever drawn? Have you been drawn with loving kindness If
so, then there is evidence that the Lord loved you with an everlasting
love! Be ready, therefore, to judge yourselves. You are challenged with
this pointed question–Were you ever Divinely drawn? Say now, Beloved,
have you experienced this sacred attraction that made you willing in
the day of His power? Were you ever drawn from sin to holiness You
loved sin once–in it you found much pleasure. There were some forms
and fashions of vice and folly which were very dear to your heart. Have
your tastes been changed and your track been turned by the Sovereign
charm of this Divine loving kindness? Can you say, "The things I once
loved, I now hate. And what gave me pleasure, now causes me a pang"? Is
it so? I do not ask you whether you are perfect and upright. Alas, who
of us could answer this question otherwise than with blushes of shame?
But I do ask if you hate sin in every shape and desire holiness in
every form? Would you be perfect if you could be? If you could live as
you like, how would you like to live? Is your answer, "I would live as
though it were possible for me to serve God day and night in His
Temple, without a wandering thought or a rebellious wish"? Ah, then, if
you have been thus drawn from sin to holiness by the way of the Cross,
no doubt He loved you with an everlasting love and you need not
discredit it! You may be as sure of it as if an angel should come and
drop a letter into your hands on which those words would be inscribed!
Yes, still surer, for the angel might have missed his way, but God's
Word cannot err! If you are thus drawn, He has loved you with an
everlasting love!
Listen again. Have you ever been drawn from self to Jesus? There was a
time when you thought yourself as good as other men. Had the bottom of
your heart been searched, there would have been found written there, "I
do not see that I am so great an offender as the most of my neighbors.
I am respectable, upright, moral. I should hope it would speed well
with me at the last, for if I am not, now, all that I should be, I
shall try to be good and by earnest endeavors, joined with fervent
prayers and repentance, I hope to fit myself for Heaven." Oh, that you
may be drawn away from all such empty conceit and led to rest your hope
solely on that blessed Man who sits at the right hand of God, crowned
with Glory, though He was once fastened to the Cross, despised and
rejected of men and made to suffer as a scapegoat for our sins! This,
Beloved, would be a sure sign that you had renounced yourself and
closed in with Christ. You must have been loved with an everlasting
love. It is as impossible for any of the elect of God to come to Christ
and lay hold on Him without Divine drawing, as it would be for devils
to feel tenderness of heart and repentance towards God! If you can say
from your heart–
"Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Your Cross I cling,"then His
drawing may suffice as the proving that He loved you with an
everlasting love!
Have you ever been drawn from sight to faith, from consulting your
creature faculties to confidence in God? You used to depend only on
what you called your common sense. You walked by the judgment of your
own mind. Do you now trust in Him who truly is, though He is
invisible–who speaks to you, though His voice is inaudible? Have you a
sense, day by day, of the Presence of One Supreme whom you cannot hear
nor see? Does the unseen Presence of God affect you in your actions? Do
motives drawn from the next world influence you? Do you, in the day of
trouble, lean upon an arm of flesh, or cry and pray, and make
supplication to the Almighty? Have you learned to walk in dependence
upon the living God, even if His Providence seems to fail you and gives
a lie to His promises? Know, then, that a life of faith is a special
gift of God–it is the fruit of Divine Protection so you are enabled to
walk with God–and He deigns to befriend you so you may humbly but
safely conclude that your name stands inscribed in the records of the
chosen! To be drawn into a life of faith is a blessed evidence of
Christ's love.
Are you, moreover, day by day being drawn from earth to Heaven? Do you
feel as if there were a magnet up there drawing your heart so that when
you are at work in your business, in your family with all its cares,
you cannot help darting a prayer up to the Most High? Do you ever feel
this onward impulse of something you do not understand, which impels
you to have fellowship with God beyond the skies? Oh, if this is so,
rest assured that it is Christ that draws you! There is a link between
you and Heaven–and Christ is drawing that link, and lifting your soul
forward towards Himself. I love that sweet hymn and I hope you love the
sentiment of it–
"My heart is with Him on the Throne.
And ill can brook delay!
Each moment listening for the voice,
'Make haste and come away!'"
If your heart is here, below, then your treasure is here. But if your
heart is up there–if your brightest hopes, your fondest wishes are in
the heavenly places–your treasure is manifestly there and the
title-deeds of that treasure will be found in the eternal purpose of
God whereby He ordained you unto Himself that you might show forth His
praise! Thus have I tried to show you that those who are thus drawn may
be assured that they were loved with an everlasting love. And now will
you further observe that it is with loving kindness they are drawn?
Some people are frightened into religion. Beware of any religion that
depends upon exciting your terror! Some people's religion consists
entirely of doing what they think they must do, though they do not like
it. They are afraid of punishment, or they are anxious for a reward.
Such is not the religion of Jesus Christ! It is said that the soldiers
of Persia were driven into battle and that the sound of the whips of
the generals could be heard even while the battle was raging– lashing
on the unwilling ranks to fulfill their part in the fray! Not so went
the Greeks to battle. They rushed like lions amidst a flock of sheep to
tear their prey. They fought for their country, for their temples, for
their lives, for all that they held dear–and right cheerily from such
an impulse within did they engage in the war. The difference between
the Greeks and the Persians is just the difference I want to describe
among the professed followers of our Lord. The genuine Christian serves
God because he loves Him, not that he fears Hell, for he knows that he
has been delivered from condemnation, being washed in Jesus' blood! He
serves God not that he expects to earn Heaven–he scorns the idea.
Heaven is not to be merited by our poor paltry works. And besides,
Heaven is his inheritance since Christ has given it to him, having made
his title sure! He serves God because he loves Him. He is drawn by a
sense of the love of God towards him to love God in return. Who is the
best servant? Not, surely, the man who only does what he is paid to
do–who serves you for his wage and who would betray your interest to
benefit himself! Rather is he the true servant who would cling to you
in all your fortunes or misfortunes, through good or through evil
report.
Some of the old-fashioned servants were so attached to their masters
that they were reckoned on and regarded as members of the family. Those
are the true servants of Christ who love Him and render Him their
services, not menially for the pay they count upon, but loyally because
their hearts are faithful and true to Him! They love Him so that they
could not turn aside from Him, or seek another Lord. Say now, are you
thus drawn with loving kindness? What a lovely word this, "loving
kindness," is! "Kindness," seems to be like some huge opal or some
sparkling diamond, a Koh-I-Noor, and love seems to be like fine gold to
encircle it! I think I could stand and look at that word, "loving
kindness," till with sacred enchantment I burst into a song! There is
such a charming sweetness and yet such an immutable stability in the
Grace of God which it reveals that our rapture is kindled as often as
we review it! Of that loving kindness I have tasted here below and of
that loving kindness I hope to sing in yonder skies in worthier notes
than this weak voice can now compass! The loving kindness of the Lord,
as it beams from His eyes, as it is communicated by His helping hands,
as it is expressed by His gentle, tender voice, quickens the soul in
the path of duty and restrains it from falling into sin! How can I do
this great wickedness, how can I sin against so almighty a Friend whose
kindness to me is so gratuitous, so constant, and so exceedingly
generous?–
"Now for the love I bear His name,
What was my gain, I count my loss!
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His Cross.
Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus' sake!
Oh, may my soul be found in Him And of His righteousness partake!"
Thus clearly and thus surely may you judge for yourselves whether you
are God's chosen or not. Are you drawn and how are you drawn? Is it
with loving kindness? These are the two points that melt and fuse in
experience. As before that God whose eyes of fire search you through
and through, I do conjure you to judge and righteously judge right now
as to your own condition! Be not satisfied to rest peacefully until you
can say, "Thanks and praise to God's eternal love, I am drawn by Grace!
By Divine Grace I am constrained. From now on I freely yield myself up
to Christ to be His servant, His disciple, His friend, His brother,
forever and forever. The Lord has appeared unto me, saying, 'Yes, I
have loved you with an everlasting love.'"
Do I hear a sigh come up from some in this assembly? A sigh which,
being interpreted, would say, "Alas, for me this sacred solace was
never mine! I was never drawn. I feel no love, no such melting favors
as your description of loving kindness ever dawned on me. But, ah, I
wish I were drawn, that I had a part among that blessed throng who
shall forever see His face! Oh, that I could believe that I, though the
meanest of them all, should find my name written in the Lamb's Book of
Life!" Why Friend, with you it would seem the drawing has begun! Surely
God's loving kindness has made your mouth water! I rejoice exceedingly
over those who hunger after the Bread of Life, for they shall speedily
be filled! Right well I know my Master will give it to them. If you
desire Christ, depend upon it, Christ desires you! No sinner was ever
beforehand with Christ. When you are willing to have Him, He is
evidently willing to have you! You had not put out one hand towards Him
if He had not already put two hands on you! Oh, if you will but trust
the bleeding Lamb–believe that He can save you–and trust in Him to
save you with unfeigned confidence, then you are already drawn! This is
proof positive that God has loved you from before the world's
beginning!
Oh, how I would that some might be drawn tonight! Some who have been
great and grievous sinners. There are many such among the chosen
vessels of mercy. God grant some of you young people may be drawn. And
you who, though no longer young, are still without the blessing, I
cannot bear the thought that you should tarry longer uncalled by
Sovereign Grace. May the Holy Spirit attract you! May you feel in your
heart the wish to belong to Christ–the desire to be counted among them
when He makes up His jewels. Turn that wish into a prayer! Bow your
head, now, and pray with this petition. God will hear your secret
sighs. He does not reject sincere prayers, however badly they may be
worded. If you can get no further than a sigh, it has its value in His
kind esteem. The tear that fell just now upon the floor of the pew was
not lost, for an angel tracked and treasured it and carried it on high.
God will accept you if you will accept Christ. If you trust Jesus now,
'tis done! You are saved! The moment a sinner believes and trusts in
Christ, he is saved–saved forever! In that moment his iniquity is
blotted out and he is accepted in the Beloved. From that moment he
might sing–
"'Tis done, the great transaction's done! I am my Lord's and He is
mine! He drew me and I followed on, Glad to obey the voice Divine!"
The Lord appear to you, speak to you and bless you, saying to you,
"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn you." Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 7:13-23.
13, 14. Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are which go
in there because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads
unto life, and few there are that find it Be up and on your journey.
Enter in at the gate at the head of the way and do not stand
hesitating. If it is the right road, you will find the entrance
somewhat difficult and exceedingly narrow, for it demands self-denial
and calls for strictness of obedience and watchfulness of spirit.
Nevertheless, "enter you in at the strait gate." Whatever its drawbacks
of fewness of pilgrims, or straitness of entrance, yet choose it and
use it! True, there is another road, broad and much frequented–but it
leads to destruction. Men go to ruin along the turnpike road but the
Way to Heaven is a bridle path. There may come other days when the many
will crowd the narrow way, but at this time, to be a popular road, it
must be broad–broad in doctrine, so-called, in morals and in
spirituals. But those on the strait road shall go straight to
Glory–and those on the broad road are all abroad. All is well that
ends well! We can afford to be straitened in the right way rather than
enlarged in the wrong way because the first ends in endless life and
the second hastens down to everlasting death! Lord, deliver me from the
temptation to be "broad," and keep me in the narrow way, though few
find it!
15. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves. We have need of our judgments and we
must try the spirits of those who profess to be sent of God. There are
men of great gifts who are "false prophets.'' These affect the look,
language and spirit of God's people, while really they long to devour
souls, even as wolves thirst for the blood of sheep. "Sheep's clothing"
is all very fine, but we must look beneath it and spy out the wolves! A
man is what he is inwardly. We had need beware. This precept is timely
at this hour. We must be careful, not only about our way, but about our
leaders! They come to us–they come as prophets–they come with every
outward commendation but they are very Balaams and will surely curse
those they pretend to bless!
16. You shallknow them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from
thorns, or figs from thistles?Their teaching, their living and their
effect upon our minds will be a sure test to us. Every doctrine and
doctrinaire may thus be tried. If we gather grapes from them, they are
not thorns. If they produce nothing but thistledown, they are not fig
trees. Some object to this practical method of test, but wise
Christians will carry it with them as the ultimate touchstone. What is
the effect of modern theology upon the spirituality, the prayerfulness,
the holiness of the people? Has it any good, effect?
17. 18. Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt
tree brings forth evil fruit A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Every man produces
according to his nature, he cannot do otherwise. Good tree, good fruit.
Corrupt tree, evil fruit. There is no possibility of the effect being
higher and better than the cause. The truly good does not bring forth
evil–it would be contrary to its nature. The radically bad never rises
to produce good, though it may seem to do so. Therefore, the one and
the other may be known by the special fruit of each. Our King is a
great Teacher of prudence. We are not to judge, but we are to know–and
the rule for this knowledge is as simple as it is safe. Such knowledge
of men may save us from great mischief which would come to us through
associating with bad and deceitful persons.
19. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast
into the fire. Here is the end to which evil things are tending. The ax
and the fire await the ungodly, however fine they may look with the
foliage of profession. Only let time enough be given and every man on
earth who bears no good fruit will meet his doom! It is not merely the
wicked, the bearer of poison berries, that will be cut down, but the
neutral, also–the man who bears no fruit of positive virtue must also
be cast into the fire!
20. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. It is not ours to
hew or to burn, but it is ours to know. This knowledge is to save us
from coming under the shadow or influence of false teachers. Who wants
to build his nest upon a tree which is soon to be cut down? Who would
choose a barren tree for the center of his orchard? Lord, let me
remember that I am to judge myself by this rule. Make me a true
fruit-bearing tree.
21. Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enterinto the
Kingdom ofHeaven, but he that does the will of My Father who is in
Heaven. No verbal homage will suffice! "Not everyone that says." We may
believe in our Lord's Deity and we may take great pains to affirm it
over and over again with our, "Lord, Lord"–but unless we carry out the
commands of the Father, we pay no true homage to the Son! We may
acknowledge our obligations to Jesus and so call Him, "Lord, Lord"–but
if we never practically carry out those obligations, what is the value
of our admissions? Our King receives not into His Kingdom those whose
religion lies in words and ceremonies, but only those whose lives
display the obedience of true discipleship!
22. 23. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name? And in Your name have cast out devils? And in
Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you: depart from Me, you who workiniquity!An orthodox
creed will not save if it stands alone, neither will it be sure to do
so if accompanied by official position and service. These people said,
"Lord, Lord," and, in addition, pleaded their prophesying or preaching
in His name. All the preaching in the world will not save the preacher
if he does not practice what he preaches! Yes, and he may have been
successful–successful to a very high degree–"and in Your name have
cast out devils"–and yet, without personal holiness, he who casts out
devils will be cast out himself! The success boasted of many have had
about it surprising circumstances of varied interest–"and in Your name
done many wonderful works"–and yet the man may be unknown to Christ!
Three times over the person is described as doing all "in Your name,"
and yet the Lord, whose name he used so freely, so boldly, knew nothing
of him and would not allow him to remain in His company! The Lord
cannot endure the presence of those who call Him, "Lord, Lord," and
then work iniquity! They professed to Him that they knew Him, but He
will "profess unto them, I never knew you." How solemn is this reminder
to me and to others! Nothing will prove us to be true Christians but a
sincere doing of the Father's will! We may be known by all to have
great spiritual power over devils and men–yet our Lord may not
acknowledge us in that Great Day, but may drive us out as impostors
whom He cannot tolerate in His Presence!