The Golden Key Of Prayer
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1865,
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty
things, which you know not." Jeremiah 33:3.
SOME of the most learned works in the world smell of midnight oil. But
the most spiritual and most comforting books and sayings of men usually
have a savor about them of prison dampness. I might quote many
instances–John Bunyan's Pilgrim may suffice instead of a hundred
others. And this good text of ours, all moldy and cold with the prison
in which Jeremiah lay, has nevertheless a brightness and a beauty about
it which it might never have had if it had not come as a cheering word
to the prisoner of the Lord shut up in the court of the prison.
God's people have always, in their worst condition, found out the best
of their God. He is good at all times, but He seems to be at His best
when they are at their worst. "How could you bear your long
imprisonment so well?" said one to the Landgrave of Hesse who had been
shut up for his attachment to the principles of the Reformation. He
replied, "The Divine consolations of martyrs were with me."
Doubtless there is a consolation more deep, more strong than any other
which God keeps for those who, being His faithful witnesses, have to
endure exceedingly great tribulation from the enmity of man. There is a
glorious aurora for the frigid zone. And stars glisten in northern
skies with unusual splendor. Rutherford had a quaint saying that when
he was cast into the cellars of affliction, he remembered that the
great King always kept his wine there and he began to seek at once for
the wine bottles and to drink of the "wines on the lees well refined."
They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls. You know,
my companions in affliction, that it is so. You whose bones have been
ready to come through the skin through long lying upon the weary couch.
You who have seen your earthly goods carried away from you and have
been reduced well-near to penury. You who have gone to the grave these
seven times, till you have feared that your last earthly friend would
be borne away by unpitying Death. You have all proven that He is a
faithful God and that as your tribulations abound, so your consolations
also abound by Christ Jesus!
My prayer is, in taking this text this morning, that some other
prisoners of the Lord may have its joyous promise spoken home to them!
That you who are shut up and cannot come forth by reason of present
heaviness of spirit may hear Him say, as with a soft whisper in your
ears and in your hearts, "Call upon Me and I will answer you and show
you great and mighty things, which you know not."
The text naturally splits itself up into three distinct particles of
the Truth of God. Upon these let us speak as we are enabled by God the
Holy Spirit. First, prayer commanded–"Call unto Me." Secondly, an
answer promised–"And I will answer you." Thirdly, faith
encouraged–"And show you great and mighty things, which you know not."
I. The first head is PRAYER COMMANDED. We are not merely counseled and
recommended to pray, but bid to pray. This is great condescension. An
hospital is built–it is considered sufficient that free admission
shall be given to the sick when they seek it. But no order in council
is made that a man must enter its gates. A soup kitchen is well
provided for in the depth of winter. Notice is promulgated that those
who are poor may receive food on application. But no one thinks of
passing an Act of Parliament compelling the poor to come and wait at
the door to take the charity.
It is thought to be enough to proffer it without issuing any sort of
mandate that men shall accept it. Yet so strange is the infatuation of
man, on the one hand, which makes him need a command to be merciful to
his own soul! And so marvelous is the condescension of our gracious God
on the other–that He issues a command of love without which not a man
of Adam born would partake of the Gospel feast, but would rather starve
than come! In the matter of prayer it is even so. God's own people
need, or else they would not receive it, a command to pray.
Why is this? Because, dear Friends, we are very subject to fits of
worldliness, if indeed that is not our usual state. We do not forget to
eat–we do not forget to take the shop shutters down–we do not forget
to be diligent in business–we do not forget to go to our beds to
rest–but we often forget to wrestle with God in prayer and to spend,
as we ought to spend, long periods in consecrated fellowship with our
Father and our God. With too many professors the ledger is so bulky
that you cannot move it! And the Bible, representing their devotion, is
so small that you might almost put it in your waistcoat pocket.
Hours for the world! Moments for Christ! The world has our best and our
prayer closet the remnants of our time. We give our strength and
freshness to the ways of mammon and our fatigue to the ways of God.
Therefore it is that we need to be commanded to attend to that very act
which it ought to be our greatest happiness, as it is our highest
privilege to perform–to meet with our God! "Call upon Me," He says,
for He knows that we are apt to forget to call upon God.
"What do you mean, oh, Sleeper? Arise and call upon your God," is an
exhortation which is needed by us as well as by Jonah in the storm. He
understands what heavy hearts we have, sometimes, when under a sense of
sin. Satan says to us, "Why should you pray? How can you hope to
prevail? You say in vain, 'I will arise and go to my Father,' for you
are not worthy to be one of His hired servants! How can you see the
King's face after you have played the traitor against Him? How will you
dare to approach unto the altar when you have, yourself, defiled it and
when the sacrifice which you would bring there is a poor polluted one?"
O Brothers and Sisters, it is well for us that we are commanded to
pray, or else in times of heaviness we might give it up! If God
commands me, unfit as I may be, I will creep to the footstool of Divine
Grace. And since He says, "Pray without ceasing," though my words fail
me and my heart itself will wander, yet I will still stammer out the
wishes of my hungering soul and say, "O God, at least teach me to pray
and help me to prevail with You."
Are we not commanded to pray, also, because of our frequent unbelief?
Unbelief whispers, "What profit is there if you should seek the Lord
upon such-and-such a matter? This is a case quite out of the list of
those things wherein God has interposed and, therefore, (says the
devil), if you were in any other position you might rest upon the
mighty arm of God. But here your prayer will not avail you. Either it
is too trivial a matter, or it is too connected with temporals, or else
it is a matter in which you have sinned too much, or else it is too
high, too hard, too complicated a piece of business–you have no right
to take that before God!" So suggests the foul Fiend of Hell.
Therefore there stands written as an everyday precept suitable to every
case into which a Christian can be cast, "Call unto Me." "Call unto Me.
Are you sick? Would you be healed? Cry unto Me, for I am the Great
Physician. Does Providence trouble you? Are you fearful that you shall
not provide things honest in the sight of man? Call unto Me! Do your
children vex you? Do you feel that which is sharper than an adder's
tooth–a thankless child? Call unto Me! Are your griefs little, yet
painful, like small points and pricks of thorns? Call unto Me! Is your
burden heavy as though it would make your back break beneath its load?
Call unto Me! Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you!
He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
In the valley–on the mountain–on the barren rock–in the briny sea!
Submerged beneath the billows and lifted up by-and-by upon the crest of
the waves–in the furnace when the coals are glowing–in the gates of
death when the jaws of Hell would shut themselves upon you–cease not,
for the commandment forevermore addresses you with, "Call unto Me."
Prayer is still mighty and must prevail with God to bring you your
deliverance. These are some of the reasons why the privilege of
supplication is also in Holy Scripture spoken of as a duty–there are
many more–but these will suffice this morning.
We must not leave our first part till we have made another remark. We
ought to be very glad that God has given us this command in His Word
that it may be sure and abiding. You may turn to fifty passages where
the same precept is uttered. I do not often read in Scripture, "You
shall not kill." "You shall not covet." Twice the Law is given, but I
often read Gospel precepts, for if the Law is given twice, the Gospel
is given seventy times seven. For every precept which I cannot keep by
reason of my being weak through the flesh, I find a thousand precepts
which it is sweet and pleasant for me to keep by reason of the power of
the Holy Spirit which dwells in the children of God!
And this command to pray is insisted upon again and again. It may be a
seasonable exercise for some of you to find out how often in Scripture
you are told to pray. You will be surprised to find how many times such
words as these are given–"Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I
will deliver you." "You people, pour out your heart before Him."
"Seek you the Lord while He may be found. Call you upon Him while He is
near." "Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you." "Watch and pray, lest you enter into
temptation." "Pray without ceasing." "Come boldly unto the Throne of
Grace." "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." "Continue in
prayer."
I need not multiply where I could not possibly exhaust. I pick two or
three out of this great bag of pearls. Come, Christian, you ought never
to question whether you have a right to pray–you should never ask,
"May I be permitted to come into His Presence?" When you have so many
commands, (and God's commands are all promises and all enablings), you
may come boldly unto the Throne of Grace by the new and living way
through the rent veil. But there are times when God not only commands
His people to pray in the Bible–He also commands them to pray directly
by the motions of His Holy Spirit.
You who know the inner life comprehend me at once. You feel suddenly,
possibly in the midst of business, the pressing thought that you must
retire to pray. It may be you do not at first take particular notice of
the inclination, but it comes again and again and again–"Retire and
pray!" I find that in the matter of prayer I am myself very much like a
water-wheel which runs well when there is plenty of water, but which
turns with very little force when the brook is growing shallow. Or,
like the ship which flies over the waves putting out all her canvas
when the wind is favorable, but which has to tack about most
laboriously when there is but little of the favoring breeze.
Now it strikes me that whenever our Lord gives you the special
inclination to pray that you should double your diligence. You ought
always to pray and not to faint–yet when He gives you the special
longing after prayer and you feel a peculiar aptness and enjoyment in
it, you have, over and above the command which is constantly binding,
another command which should compel you to cheerful obedience. At such
times I think we may stand in the position of David to whom the Lord
said. "When you hear a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry
trees, then shall you bestir yourself."
That going in the tops of the mulberry trees may have been the
footfalls of angels hastening to the help of David and then David was
to smite the Philistines. And when God's mercies are coming, their
footfalls are our desires to pray. And our desires to pray should be at
once an indication that the set time to favor Zion is come. Sow
plentifully now, for you can sow in hope! Plow joyously now, for your
harvest is sure! Wrestle now, Jacob, for you are about to be made a
prevailing prince and your name shall be called Israel! Now is your
time, spiritual merchantmen! The market is high, trade much–your
profit shall be large. See to it that you use right well the golden
hour and reap your harvest while the sun shines.
When we enjoy visitations from on high we should be peculiarly constant
in prayer. And if some other duty less pressing should have first place
for a season, it will not be amiss and we shall be no loser–for when
God bids us specially pray by the monitions of His Spirit, then should
we bestir ourselves in prayer.
II. Let us now take the second head–AN ANSWER PROMISED. We ought not
to tolerate for a minute the ghastly and grievous thought that God will
not answer prayer! His Nature, as manifested in Christ Jesus, demands
it. He has revealed Himself in the Gospel as a God of love, full of
Grace and truth. And how can He refuse to help those of His creatures
who humbly, in His own appointed way, seek His face and favor? When the
Athenian senate upon one occasion found it most convenient to meet
together in the open air, as they were sitting in their deliberations,
a sparrow, pursued by a hawk, flew in the direction of the senate.
Being hard pressed by the bird of prey, it sought shelter in the bosom
of one of the senators. He, being a man of rough and vulgar mold, took
the bird from his bosom, dashed it on the ground and so killed it.
Whereupon the whole senate rose in uproar and without one single
dissenting voice, condemned him to die, as being unworthy of a seat in
the senate with them, or to be called an Athenian if he did not render
succor to a creature that confided in him. Can we suppose that the God
of Heaven, whose Nature is love, could tear out of His bosom the poor
fluttering dove that flies from the eagle of Justice into the bosom of
His Mercy?
Will He give the invitation to us to seek His face and when we, as He
knows, with so much trepidation of fear, yet summon courage enough to
fly into His bosom–will He then be unjust and ungracious enough to
forget to hear our cry and to answer us? Let us not think so harshly of
the God of Heaven! Let us recollect next His vast Character as well as
His Nature. I mean the Character which He has won for Himself by His
past deeds of Grace. Consider, my Brothers and Sis- ters, that one
stupendous display of bounty–if I were to mention a thousand I could
not give a better illustration of the Character of God than that one
deed–"He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for
us all." And it is not my inference only, but the inspired conclusion
of an Apostle–"How shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?"
If the Lord did not refuse to listen to my voice when I was a guilty
sinner and an enemy, how can He disregard my cry now, that I am
justified and saved? How is it that He heard the voice of my misery
when my heart knew it not and would not seek relief, if after all He
will not hear me now that I am His child, His friend? The streaming
wounds of Jesus are the sure guarantees for answered prayer. George
Herbert represents in that quaint poem of his, "The Bag," the Savior
saying–
"If you ha ve anything to send or write (I ha ve no bag, but here is
room) Unto My Father's hands and sight, (Belie ve me) it shall safely
come. That I shall mind what you impart Look, you may put it very near
My heart, Or if hereafter any of friends Will use Me in this kind, the
door Shall still be open; what he sends I will present and somewhat
more Not to his hurt."
Surely, George Herbert's thought was that the Atonement was in itself a
guarantee that prayer must be heard–that the great gash made near the
Savior's heart which let the light into the very depths of the heart of
Deity–was proof that He who sits in Heaven would hear the cry of His
people! You misread Calvary if you think that prayer is useless. But,
Beloved, we have the Lord's own promise for it and He is a God that
cannot lie–"Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will answer you."
Has He not said, "Whatever you shall ask in prayer, believe that you
shall have it and you shall have it"? We cannot pray, indeed, unless we
believe this doctrine–"for he that comes to God must believe that He
is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
And if we have any question at all about whether our prayer will be
heard, we are comparable to him that wavers– "for he who wavers is
like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that
man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." Furthermore, it
is not necessary, but still it may strengthen the point if we add that
our own experience leads us to believe that God will answer prayer. I
must not speak for you, but I may speak for myself. If there is
anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all
question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain. If no other
man here can say it, I dare to say it and I know that I can prove it.
My own conversion is the result of prayer–long, affectionate, earnest,
importunate. Parents prayed for me! God heard their cries and here I am
to preach the Gospel. Since then I have adventured upon some things
that were far beyond my capacity, as I thought. But I have never
failed, because I have cast myself upon the Lord. You know as a Church
that I have not scrupled to indulge large ideas of what we might do for
God. And we have accomplished all that we purposed. I have sought God's
aid and assistance and help in all my manifold undertakings! And though
I cannot tell here the story of my private life in God's work, yet if
it were written it would be a standing proof that there is a God that
answers prayer!
He has heard my prayers, not now and then, nor once or twice, but so
many times that it has grown into a habit with me to spread my case
before God with the absolute certainty that whatever I ask of God, He
will give it to me. It is not now a, "perhaps," or a possibility–I
know that my Lord answers me and I dare not doubt! It were, indeed,
folly if I did. As I am sure that a certain amount of leverage will
lift a weight, so I know that a certain amount of prayer will get
anything from God. As the rain cloud brings the shower, so prayer
brings the blessing. As spring scatters flowers, so supplication
ensures mercies. In all labor there is profit, but most of all in the
work of intercession–I am sure of this–for I have reaped it.
As I put trust in the queen's money and have never failed yet to buy
what I want when I produce the cash, so I put my trust in God's
promises and mean to do so till I find that He shall tell me just once
that they are base coins and will not do to trade with in Heaven's
market. But why should I speak? O Brothers and Sisters, you all know in
your own selves that God hears prayer! If you do not, then where is
your Christianity? Where is your religion? You will need to learn what
are the first elements of the Truth of God, for all saints, young or
old, set it down as certain that He does hear prayer!
Still, remember that prayer is always to be offered in submission to
God's will. When we say, "God hears prayer," we do not intend by that
that He always gives us literally what we ask for. We do mean, however,
this–that He gives us what is best for us. And that if He does not
give us the mercy we ask for in silver, He bestows it upon us in gold.
If He does not take away the thorn in the flesh, yet He says, "My Grace
is sufficient for you," and that comes to the same in the end. Lord
Bolingbroke said to the Countess of Huntingdon, "I cannot understand,
Your Ladyship, how you can make out earnest prayer to be consistent
with submission to the Divine will."
"My Lord," she said, "that is a matter of no difficulty. If I were a
courtier of some generous king and he gave me permission to ask any
favor I pleased of him, I should be sure to put it thus, 'Will Your
Majesty be graciously pleased to grant me such-and-such a favor–but at
the same time, though I very much desire it, if it would in any way
detract from Your Majesty's honor, or if in Your Majesty's judgment it
should seem better that I did not have this favor, I shall be quite as
content to go without it as to receive it.' So you see I might
earnestly offer a petition and yet I might submissively leave it in the
king's hands."
So with God. We never offer up prayer without inserting that clause,
either in spirit or in words, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
will. Not my will but Yours be done." We can only pray without an "if
when we are quite sure that our will must be God's will, because God's
will is fully our will. A much-slandered poet has well said–"Man,
regard your prayers as a purpose of love to your soul. Esteem the
Providence that led to them as an index of God's good will. So shall
you pray aright and your words shall meet with acceptance. Also, in
pleading for others, be thankful for the fullness of your prayer. For
if you are ready to ask, the Lord is more than ready to bestow. The
salt preserves the sea and the saints uphold the earth. Their prayers
are the thousand pillars that prop the canopy of Nature.
"Verily, an hour without prayer, from some terrestrial mind, were a
curse in the calendar of time, a spot of the blackness of darkness.
Perchance the terrible day when the world must rock into ruins, will be
one unwhitened by prayer–shall He find faith on the earth? For there
is an economy of mercy, as of wisdom and power and means. Neither is
one blessing granted unbesought from the treasury of good–and the
charitable heart of the Being, to depend upon whom is happiness, never
withholds a bounty, so long as His subject prays. Yes, ask what you
will, to the second throne in Heaven, it is yours, for whom it was
appointed. There is no limit unto prayer–but if you cease to ask,
tremble, you self-suspended creature, for your strength is cut off as
was Samson's–and the hour of your doom is come."
III. I come to our third point, which I think is full of encouragement
to all those who exercise the hallowed art of prayer–ENCOURAGEMENT TO
FAITH. "I will show you great and mighty things, which you know not."
Let us just remark that this was originally spoken to a Prophet in
prison, and therefore it applies, in the first place, to every teacher
and, indeed, as every teacher must be a learner, it has a bearing upon
every learner in Divine Truth.
The best way by which a prophet and teacher and learner can know the
reserved Truths of God–the higher and more mysterious Truths of
God–is by waiting upon God in prayer. I noticed very specially
yesterday in reading the Book of the Prophet Daniel, how Daniel found
out Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The soothsayers, the magicians, the
astrologers of the Chaldeans brought out their curious books and their
strange-looking instruments and began to mutter their abracadabra and
all sorts of mysterious incantations, but they all failed.
What did Daniel do? He set himself to prayer, and knowing that the
prayer of a united body of men has more prevalence than the prayer of
one, we find that Daniel called together his brethren and bade them
unite with him in earnest prayer that God would be pleased in His
infinite mercy to open up the vision. "Then Daniel went to his house
and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his
companions, that they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven
concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon."
And in the case of John, who was the Daniel of the New Testament, you
remember he saw a book in the right hand of Him that sat on the
Throne–a book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to
open or to look upon. What did John do? The book was by-and-by opened
by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who had prevailed to open the book.
But it is written, first, before the book was opened, "I wept much."
Yes, and the tears of John which were his liquid prayers, were, as far
as he was concerned, the sacred keys by which the folded book was
opened.
Brethren in the ministry, you who are teachers in the Sunday school and
all of you who are learners in the college of Christ Jesus, I pray you
remember that prayer is your best means of study–like Daniel you shall
understand the dream and the interpretation when you have sought God.
And like John you shall see the seven seals of the precious Truth of
God unloosed after you have wept much. "Yes, if you cry after knowledge
and lift up your voice for understanding: if you seek her as silver and
search for her as for hid treasures: then shall you understand the fear
of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."
Stones are not broken except by an earnest use of the hammer. And the
stone-breaker usually goes down on his knees. Use the hammer of
diligence and let the knees of prayer be exercised, too, and there is
not a stony doctrine in Revelation which is useful for you to
understand which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer
and faith. "Bene orasse est bene studuisse" was a wise sentence of
Luther which has been so often quoted that we hardly venture but to
hint at it. "To have prayed well is to have studied well."
You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayers.
Thoughts and reasoning may be like the steel wedges which may open a
way into the Truth of God. But prayer is the lever which forces open
the iron chest of sacred mystery so that we may get at the treasure
that is hidden there for those who can force their way to reach it. The
kingdom of Heaven still suffers violence and the violent takes it by
force. Take care that you work always with the mighty implement of
prayer and nothing can stand against you.
We must not, however, stop there. We have applied the text to only one
case–it is applicable to a hundred. We single out another. The saint
may expect to discover deeper experience and to know more of the higher
spiritual life by being much in prayer. There are different
translations of my text. One version renders it, "I will show you great
and fortified things, which you know not." Another reads, "Great and
reserved things, which you know not." Now all the developments of
spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common
frames and feelings of repentance and faith and joy and hope which are
enjoyed by the entire family–but there is an upper realm of rapture,
of communion and conscious union with Christ–which is far from being
the common dwelling place of Believers.
All Believers see Christ, but all Believers do not put their fingers
into the prints of the nails, nor thrust their hand into His side. We
have not the high privilege of John to lean upon Jesus' bosom, nor of
Paul to be caught up into the third Heaven. In the ark of salvation we
find a lower, second and third story. All are in the ark, but all are
not in the same story. Most Christians, as to the river of experience,
are only up to the ankles. Some others have waded till the stream is up
to the knees. A few find it chest high. And a few–oh, how few!–find
it a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch.
My Brethren, there are heights in experimental knowledge of the things
of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophical thought has
never seen. And there are secret paths which the lion's whelp of reason
and judgment has not as yet learned to travel. God alone can bear us
there, but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds
with which that chariot is dragged are prevailing PRAYERS. Prevailing
prayer is victorious over the God of Mercy. "By his strength he had
power with God: yes, he had power over the angel and prevailed: he wept
and made supplication unto Him: he found Him in Bethel, and there He
spoke with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel and
enables him to cover Heaven with clouds of blessing and earth with
floods of mercy.
Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah and shows him the
inheritance reserved. Yes, and it elevates him to Tabor and
transfigures him, till in the likeness of his Lord, as He is, so are
we! In this world, if you would reach to something higher than ordinary
groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you and look
with the eye of faith through the windows of importunate prayer. To
grow in experience then, there must be much prayer.
You must have patience with me while I apply this text to two or three
more cases. It is certainly true of the sufferer under trial–if he
waits upon God in prayer he shall receive much greater deliverances
than he has ever dreamed of– "great and mighty things, which you know
not." Here is Jeremiah's testimony–"You drew near in the day that I
called upon You: You said, Fear not. O Lord, You have pleaded the
causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life." And David's is the
same–"I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me and set
me in a large place…I will praise You: for You have heard me and are
become my salvation."
And yet again–"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." "My husband is
dead," said the poor woman, "and my creditor is come to take my two
sons as bondsmen." She hoped that Elijah would possibly say, "What are
your debts? I will pay them." Instead of that, he multiplies her oil
till it is written, "Go and pay your debts and"– what was the
"and"?–"live you and your children upon the rest." So often it will
happen that God will not only help His people through the miry places
of the way so that they may just stand on the other side of the
slough–but He will bring them safely far on the journey.
That was a remarkable miracle, when in the midst of the storm, Jesus
Christ came walking upon the sea! The disciples received Him into the
ship and not only was the sea calm, but it is recorded, "Immediately
the ship was at the land where they went." That was a mercy over and
above what they asked. I sometimes hear you pray and make use of a
quotation which is not in the Bible–"He is able to do exceeding
abundantly above what we can ask or even think." It is not so written
in the Bible. I do not know what we can ask or what we can think. But
it is said, "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or
even think."
Let us, then, dear Friends, when we are in great trial, only say, "Now
I am in prison. Like Jeremiah I will pray as he did, for I have God's
command to do it. And I will look out as he did, expecting that He will
show me reserved mercies which I know nothing of at present." He will
not merely bring His people through the battle, covering their heads in
it, but He will bring them forth with banners waving to divide the
spoil with the mighty and to claim their portion with the strong!
Expect great things of a God who gives such great promises as these!
Again, here is encouragement for the worker. Most of you are doing
something for Christ. I am happy to be able to say this, knowing that I
do not flatter you. My dear Friends, wait upon God much in prayer and
you have the promise that He will do greater things for you than you
know of. We know not how much capacity for usefulness there may be in
us. That ass's jawbone lying there upon the earth–what can it do?
Nobody knows what it can do. It gets into Samson's hands–what can it
not do? No one knows what it cannot do now that a Samson wields it! And
you, Friend, have often thought yourself to be as contemptible as that
bone and you have said, "What can I do?" Yes, but when Christ, by His
Spirit grips you–what can you not do?
Truly you may adopt Paul's language and say, "I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me." However, do not depend upon prayer
without effort. In a certain school there was one girl who knew the
Lord. She was a very gracious, simple-hearted, trustful child. As
usual, Divine Grace developed itself in the child according to the
child's position. Her lessons were always best said of any in the
class. Another girl said to her, "How is it that your lessons are
always so well said?" "I pray God to help me," she said, "to learn my
lesson." "Well," thought the other, "then I will do the same." The next
morning when she stood up in the class she knew nothing. And when she
was in disgrace she complained to the other, "I prayed God to help me
learn my lesson and I do not know anything of it. What is the use of
prayer?"
"But did you sit down and try to learn it?" "Oh, no," she said, "I
never looked at the book." "Ah, then," said the other, "I asked God to
help me to learn my lesson–but I then sat down to it studiously and I
kept at it till I knew it well and I learned it easily, because my
earnest desire, which I had expressed to God was, help me to be
diligent in endeavoring to do my duty." So is it with some who come up
to Prayer Meetings and pray and then they fold their arms and go away
hoping that God's work will go on. Like the Negro woman singing, "Fly
abroad, you mighty Gospel," but not putting a penny in the plate–so
that her friend touched her and said, "But how can it fly if you don't
give it wings to fly with?"
There are many who appear to be very mighty in prayer, wondrous in
supplications! But then they require God to do what they can do
themselves and therefore God does nothing at all for them. "I shall
leave my camel untied," said an Arab once to Mahomet, "and trust to
providence." "Tie it up," said Mahomet, "and then trust to providence."
So you that say, "I shall pray and trust my Church, or my class, or my
work to God's goodness," may rather hear the voice of Experience and
Wisdom which say, "Do your best. Work as if all rested upon your
toil–as if your own aim would bring your salvation. And when you have
done all, cast yourself on Him without whom it is in vain to rise up
early and to sit up late and to eat the bread of carefulness. And if He
speeds you give Him the praise."
I shall not detain you many minutes longer, but I want to notice that
this promise ought to prove useful for the comforting of those who are
intercessors for others. You who are calling upon God to save your
children, to bless your neighbors, to remember your husbands or your
wives in mercy may take comfort from this! "I will show you great and
mighty things, which you know not." A celebrated minister in the last
century, one Mr. Bailey, was the child of a godly mother. This mother
had almost ceased to pray for her husband who was a man of a most
ungodly stamp and a bitter persecutor.
The mother prayed for her boy and while he was yet eleven or twelve
years of age, eternal mercy met with him. So sweetly instructed was the
child in the things of the kingdom of God that the mother requested
him–and for some time he always did so–to conduct family prayer in
the house. Morning and evening this little one laid open the Bible. And
though the father would not deign to stop for the family prayer, yet on
one occasion he was rather curious to know, "what sort of an out the
boy would make of it," so he stopped on the other side of the door and
God blessed the prayer of his own child under thirteen years of age to
his conversion!
Said the mother, "I might well have read my text with streaming eyes
and said, 'Yes, Lord, You have shown me great and mighty things, which
I knew not! You have not only saved my boy, but through my boy You have
brought my husband to the Truth." You cannot guess how greatly God will
bless you! Only go and stand at His door–you cannot tell what is in
reserve for you. If you do not beg at all, you will get nothing. But if
you beg He may not only give you, as it were, the bones and broken
meat, but He may say to the servant at His table, "Take that dainty
meat and set that before the poor man."
Ruth went to glean. She expected to get a few good ears–but Boaz said,
"Let her glean even among the sheaves and rebuke her not." He said,
moreover, to her, "At mealtime come here and eat of the bread and dip
your morsel in the vinegar." She found a husband where she only
expected to find a handful of barley. So in prayer for others, God may
give us such mercies that we shall be astounded at them since we
expected but little. Hear what is said of Job and learn its lesson,
"And the Lord said, My servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I
accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that you have not
spoken of Me the thing which is right, like My servant Job…And the
Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also
the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before."
Now, this word to close with. Some of you are seekers for your own
conversion. God has quickened you to solemn prayer about your own
souls. You are not content to go to Hell. You want Heaven. You want
washing in the precious blood–you want eternal life. Dear Friends, I
pray you take this text–God Himself speaks it to you–"Call unto Me
and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you
know not." At once take God at His Word. Get home–go into your chamber
and shut the door and try Him!
Young man, I say, Try the Lord! Young woman, prove Him–see whether He
is true or not! If God is true, you cannot seek mercy at His hands
through Jesus Christ and get a negative reply. He must–for His own
promise and Character bind him to it–open Mercy's gate to you who
knock with all your heart! God help you, believing in Christ Jesus, to
cry aloud unto God and His answer of peace is already on the way to
meet you! You shall hear Him say, "Your sins, which are many, are all
forgiven." The Lord bless you for His love's sake. Amen.
[NOTE–In a former sermon, while denouncing the error of the
"non-confession of sin by Believers," we wrongly imputed that gross
heresy to the Plymouth Brethren. We have since learned that the persons
to whom we alluded have been expelled from that body and we therefore
desire to exonerate the community from a fault of which they are not
guilty. We are sorry to have made this charge, as it is far from our
wish to speak evil of any, but we were not aware of the expulsion of
the guilty persons.]