DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 1, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Son of man I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel:
therefore hear the word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me."
Ezekiel 3:17.
IN most places the seasons in the Church are the reverse of those of
Nature. Our wintry season generally comes when our hearers are busy in
the fields, or resting in their summer retreats. And our harvest time
for the ingathering of souls comes to us in the winter when, during the
long evenings, the people can come together and special meetings for
prayer and exhortation can be held. Just now, as the damp of autumn
begins to fall and the days are sensibly shortening, we ought to take
note of the signs of the times and begin sharpening our sickles for a
plenteous harvest. The time when kings go forth to battle is coming on
and we must muster the host. The season when we can, with special ease,
gather the people and hopefully labor for their conversion is now at
our doors and it is well that we gird up our loins for it!
I feel deeply anxious, dear Friends, that every time these seasons come
round, all Christians should be fully prepared for them! I feel that we
should make the best of every opportunity and use with
thorough-heartedness, every hopeful occasion if, by any means, we may
save some! Now is our time to use all our powers that we may be the
means of bringing glory to our Lord Jesus Christ and of setting Him on
high in hearts conquered by His love! We should all desire to take some
part in this gracious work! Of course there are and always will be, in
the Christian Church, special watchmen– chosen men who are set apart
by God for the warning of the people–whose one business it is to cry
aloud and spare not, whether men will hear or whether they will not!
Let us be thankful that the Lord gives us such men and let us beseech
Him to multiply their number. We prayerfully expect to have our
Ezekiels to whom the Lord shall say, "Son of man, I have made you a
watchman." But still, Beloved, when the camp is in imminent danger,
every man should turn watchman! And though the special sentinels must
keep their posts, walk their beats and must with double vigilance act
as if everything depended upon them–yet all the rest of the host must
also mount guard and aid in keeping the watches both by day and night.
It seems to me, Brother, that if the Lord has opened your eyes, you
have become a Seer. And when you have become a Seer and can see, you
should also become a watchman and watch for the good of the Church of
God and for the salvation of souls!
If this country were invaded, which may God grant it never may be, we
could not confine the defense to our professional soldiers. No, every
man would grasp such a weapon as he could reach and use it vigorously
to drive the intruder over our white cliffs! I might even venture to
say every woman would do the same–and matrons would become Amazons!
Dear are our hearths and homes and none of us would ask to be excused
in the defense of our beloved isle! Even so in the work of the
salvation of souls, every saved one longs to have a share! Can we let
sinners perish? Can we permit our own kinsmen to go down into the Pit?
No, not if our prayers, tears and earnest teaching can rescue them!
Jesus Christ, in mighty love has died to save sinners and He must be
honored for His glorious deed of Grace–can we suffer His name to be
trailed in the mire? Shall He still be despised and rejected by human
hearts? Shall even the members of our own family refuse His gentle
sway? No, not if our testimony may help to honor Him, nor if our
earnest pleading may gain Him a throne in some human heart! We feel
glad to think that Christ's battles are not such as require strength of
muscle and bone, nor do they need great mental capacity. Even the
appointed watchman is set only to warn the people–he has not to charm
them with eloquence, nor to electrify them with novelties of oratory!
He is simply to warn them and the most plain language may suffice for
that!
Surely it is a grave mistake of the present period that men think their
preachers are bound to be oratorical and poetical. Why is such
startling ability to be flaunted if the object is to warn a sinner to
flee from the wrath to come? I fear that my Brothers are forgetting
their real errand and are laboring to dazzle those whom the Lord sent
them to warn! If a
man is asleep and I have to wake him, I need not cultivate a fine tenor
voice with which to sing him out of his slumbers! I have but to call
with sufficient loudness and distinctness until he is startled. I am
glad that you Christian people can all take a share in the service of
your Master since that service is the warning of those around you! You
will never deliver sensational discourses and I am sure you need not
regret the inability! But you can give men warning from God. You can
warn children, your own children to begin with. You can warn your
neighbors. You can warn those of your own rank and age. You can warn
all who come in your path, for that is simply to tell of danger and to
recommend the way of escape. Brothers and Sisters, with but slender
knowledge and stammering utterance, we can warn and we will!
I am going to address you, this morning, upon the supposition that all
of you who are believers in Christ are panting to take a share in the
necessary and earnest work of warning men, lest they come to
destruction. May I not hope that this is the case? To me it seems as if
there is nothing else worth living for! It cannot be worthwhile to
linger in this land of sorrow and of toil unless God is to be glorified
by us! Nothing but the accomplishment of His gracious purposes can
compensate us for our exile from Heaven. No merely earthly object is
worthy of an immortal spirit. If we could win the Indies–what is
wealth? If we could compel the trumpet of fame to engross itself with
our exploits–what is honor? There is nothing beneath the sun worth a
man's lifting his hand for except the glory of God! And God is best
glorified by the conversion of men.
You believe that, my Brothers and Sisters, and therefore you mean to
have a share in it, if it is but the bringing of one poor child to
Christ! Therefore to you I speak with confidence, hoping that God may
bless my words so that we may begin a new campaign right well prepared
for it and so may achieve a greater success than any we have gained up
to now! What are the qualifications for serving God by warning men?
Ezekiel had them. What can we learn from the Lord's words to Ezekiel by
which we may better serve our Lord and act as watchmen to those around
us? Three things I shall speak of this morning. First, the ears to be
disciplined. Secondly, the tongue to be educated. Thirdly, a lesson in
the text to be practiced. May the Holy Spirit bless the whole subject
to us!
I. If we would be found really useful and serviceable for our Lord and
Master, THE EARS ARE TO BE DISCIPLINED. Read the text. "Son of man, I
have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the
word from My mouth." To train the tongue you must begin with the ear.
It is well known that no man is fit to command who has not first
learned to obey–and assuredly no man is qualified to teach who has
not, first of all, found pleasure in learning. You must be a disciple
and sit at the Master's feet before you can become an Apostle and go
forth to speak in the Master's name. To acquire eloquence we must train
the ears and especially to warn our fellow men we must, ourselves, hear
the voice of warning.
The text says, "Hear the word from My mouth." What does this mean? I
take it, first, that if we wish to be useful, our ears must be
disciplined to hear only God's Word. We must receive the Gospel as
God's own Word and go forth to proclaim it as such. I have lately met
pretty frequently with the following sentiment–it is one of the fungi
of this enlightened age of advanced thought–"The call is every day
more loud for teaching which shall not appeal to the authority of the
Bible but to the decision of the hearts and consciences of men! Our
religious teachers should fall back upon the truth which men have
gathered from their inner consciousness and should support their
instructions by argument's fetched from the experience of the
thoughtful and philosophical. It is too late in the day to be always
referring to a book and attempting to prove certain statements by the
stereotyped utterances of an antiquated volume."
That is the favorite notion and those who believe in it may go on and
dote and dream as much as they please! And those who think their
statements worth listening to may listen to them–they will, no doubt,
greatly please themselves and they will, for awhile, amuse the little
coteries who look up to them as little popes of a little party! They
may even worship them as little gods, for surely the creator and maker
of truth within himself falls not very short of deity! Brothers and
Sisters, we can afford to let this plague of flies pass away–the
nuisance is great, but it will not long endure! There will come an end
of all this trifling. Man's imaginations and reasoning are wood, hay
and stubble–and the Day comes which will consume them!
Vainglorious mortals would supplant the Eternal Testimony with their
maunderings, but this their way is their folly! Our assurance is that
the teaching which is needed for this age must come more and more
distinctly from the Bible and must court daily testing by the Bible!
Teachers, if they are to have power, must sustain everything with,
"Thus says the Lord." Ours it is to stand or fall by Revelation and to
declare, "We do not care one single farthing about your
imaginary consciousness and the manufacturing of your dreams, your
fancies and your whims! We declare to you that God has spoken and that
what He has said, you are bound to receive because the Lord has said
it!" This stands instead of all arguments–"The Lord has said it."
Believe Him, for He cannot lie. We come to tell you of what we,
ourselves, have received upon Divine authority and we demand that you
receive our testimony, not because it is ours, but because it is
supported by Divine authority and is, in fact, the echo of the Divine
Word! Only by this mode of utterance can we hope to succeed! On any
other footing we court failure and deserve it. Brother, do you say, "I
desire to spread my religion because it is my own opinion"? You will
never win anyone on such terms! How can you expect it? Your warning of
another man, apart from God's Truth, will be of no use to him, for your
opinion is as good as his and his opinion is as good as yours! And
neither is worth much!
Brother, do you say, "I regard my religion as my own views of things"?
Ah, then your views of things and my views of things and everybody
else's views of things are worth little enough–and there is no use in
making a stir about them! Any opinion which bears your name at the
bottom, or mine, might just as well not be written! What are our names?
What are our views? No, Brother, if you would speak as to affect the
heart and conscience and destiny of men, you must repeat what you have
received from God's own mouth as God's own Word–there is a value about
that, a permanence, a certainty and it goes forth with a supreme
majesty, involving woe upon any who dare reject it! It is power!
If it is, indeed, the Word of God, woe unto you if you do not speak it
faithfully! And woe unto your hearers if they receive it not
reverently! The very first thing, then, for us to remember, if we would
be useful in warning men and saving souls, is that we feel the full
conviction and impression that what we try to teach is God's own Word.
"You shall hear the word from My mouth." We must feel it to be clothed
with the imperial robe of Divine authority! We are not going to speak
it because it is the doctrine authorized by the creed, nor because it
is the doctrine of the community to which we belong, but because it is
the sure Word of the living God! Here is power–power which hard hearts
are forced to feel! Here is power before which even devils tremble! I
guarantee you if you put God's Word down among 50,000 words of men, it
shall be like a lion among a flock of sheep, tearing them in pieces and
it will prove by its own natural force from where it comes and where it
goes!
Secondly, if we would have our ears educated, we must not only receive
the Word as Divine authority, but to know what God's Word is. Beloved,
there are many who are willing to begin winning souls who had better
first commence learning Christ. "Go you into all the world and preach
the Gospel to every creature" was spoken to men who had been, for some
time, with Jesus and had learned of Him. For others who were to be
called it was provided that after Baptism they should be taught–that
in due season they, also, might go forth to instruct the nations. I
like not that a man should become so much a learner that he never
wishes to speak and to teach others. But I like as little that a man
should be so anxious to be a teacher that he runs before he is sent and
tries to bring others to a Savior of whom he knows next to nothing!
Fill yourself, Brother, before you ask to be poured out, else there
will not much come of your being poured out. Receive the bread and the
fish from the Master, else you will have very little to distribute
among the crowd. First of all get to know what it is you have to say,
or else how can you speak for God? If a messenger runs swiftly and is
out of breath at the end of his journey and then says, "I have
something to say for my master, but I know not what it is," he will be
laughed at for his pains. His swift running is of little consequence,
seeing he had nothing to carry. He should have waited till he knew the
tidings which he had to bring. Brother, hear the Word from God's mouth
and then deliver it in God's name!
What, then, shall we do? Let us study the Bible with diligence. Go to
that fountain of the Truths of God, I pray you, and never be satisfied
with a secondhand version of it. Go to the fountainhead and drink where
the streams have not been muddied by human blundering. We desire to
keep the Word of God pure, but we are conscious of infirmity–go to the
undefiled well where there is no mixture of human error! Search the
Inspired Book and desire to know everything which it teaches, for a
little error may do much mischief to good teaching, like a fly in the
pot of ointment. Even the omission of a Truth of God may injure a man's
usefulness to a very great extent.
The Lord does not bless some Churches as we would expect them to be
blessed because they are in grievous error upon certain points and,
though He will bless that part of the testimony which is true, yet the
other portion hinders. Probably one reason why Christianity does not
spread so rapidly just now as it once did is this–that it is so mixed
up in
most denominations with human tradition and opinion–and because, also,
there is so little willingness to examine doubtful points to see
whether or not they are according to the mind of God. The Church would
be one with itself if it were one with the Truth of God. It would be
impossible that there should be so many divisions if we all held to the
one Lord, one faith, one Baptism–but there are sad mixtures which are
allowed to go on from year to year unchallenged– and if any man is
honest enough to speak out, he is straightway charged with bigotry and
uncharitableness! While these things are so, the blessing will be
restrained.
My dear Brother, if you would be eminently useful, let your mind bow
before the doctrines of the Scripture! Seek to know all that the Bible
teaches, especially upon the main points of salvation, and yield
yourself to the mind of Christ in all things. Desire to tell your
fellow men just what the Lord tells you, no more and no less! And
endeavor throughout your whole life to follow after the revealed Truth
of God in its purity, rather than the dogmas of the fathers or the
decrees of the sects. The Truth of God as it is in Jesus, pure and
simple as we find it in the Word of God, should be our rule and guide.
This will greatly help us towards success. It does not seem a very
practical remark, but it is so.
The Holy Spirit first gives the Truth of God to our understanding and
then gives us Grace to impart it to others. Get your ears cleansed,
thoroughly cleansed, to hear God's Word as God's Word and be determined
to know thoroughly what God's Word has really taught and thus shall you
be instructed to speak as God's mouth to men. The great thing, I
believe, with a successful winner of souls is to hear God's Truth from
God's own mouth. What do I mean by this? I mean that a second-hand
message is sure to be weakly delivered. A Brother repeats a story which
somebody else has told to him! How cold it gets in passing from hand to
hand–he who first saw the fact told it with far more life and energy!
What you need to do, Brother, is to tell the message as God, Himself,
has told it to you by His Holy Spirit. Look how Ezekiel was prepared to
prophesy! He says, "The hand of the Lord was there upon me and He said
unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with
you." Yes, we must get alone with God and hear what He will speak, for
only can we fitly be His mouth to others! Do you want to know Christ's
way of making men useful? Turn to Mark 3:13-15 and read, "He went up
into a mountain and called unto him whom He would and they came unto
Him. And He ordained 12, that they should be with Him and that He might
send them forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to
cast out devils."
Do you see the order? He calls them to Him–you must not dream of
winning souls till you first come to Christ, yourself. Next we read,
"That they might be with Him"–you cannot go and teach Christ, or bring
others to Him unless you have first been with Him. Communion with Jesus
is training for service! To abide with your Lord must be your college
and your preparation class for teaching others. After the fellowship
comes the work–"That He might send them forth to preach and to have
power." The process requires that the man who is to have power for
Christ must first be with Christ. He cannot work miracles till He has
dwelt with the great Miracle-Worker. "You shall hear the word from My
mouth."
There lies the word in the Book. What infinite majesty is there! As I
read each letter in that Book of God, I worship the eternal mind which
dictated it! But oh, when a passage of Scripture leaps out of the Book
and enters into my soul by the Divine flame of the Holy Spirit, how
much more mighty it appears! When my inner ears hears God speak the
text, what energy there is about it! Sitting down with the Bible on my
knee, I say to myself, "This is no common book which lies before
me–there is Inspiration here, not the inspiration of Milton or of
Shakespeare, but Divine Inspiration–this is the language of the
Eternal as truly so as though I now saw Sinai on a blaze and heard out
of the thick darkness these accents ringing with trumpet tones and with
the deep thunder of, "Thus says the Lord."
When we thus consider, we are in a right mood to hear the Lord's Word
and to speak it to others. We must acknowledge and feel the majesty of
the Gospel and be conscious of its power, or we shall not rightly warn
men. Brothers, since this Book is God's Word to your own souls, take
care that you deliver it in deep reverence and holy awe to those whom
you aim to instruct! Is it not the voice of God to you? When it speaks
home to your heart, does it not move you as nothing else can do? I
confess that the words of Scripture thrill my soul as nothing else ever
can–they bear me aloft or dash me down! They tear me in pieces or they
build me up after an unrivalled fashion! The Words of God have more
power over me than ever David's fingers had over his harp! Is it not so
with you? Well, you will speak to others with power in proportion as
you continually feel the power of the Word of God over your own heart
and conscience.
This is very wonderful, this hearing the Truth of God newly spoken from
the Lord's mouth. Some will not know what I mean, but others of you
will. The Holy Spirit has a way of showing unto us the old texts in a
new light and applying them with new force–and this is what we greatly
need. "You shall hear the word from My mouth." I would like you
teachers, this afternoon, before you go to your classes, to go upstairs
and say, "Good Master, let us hear what we have to tell the children.
Let us hear it in our souls as from Yourself. We are going to warn and
instruct and invite them–be pleased to show us how. Master, say the
words to us! Make us hear Your voice and when we have heard Your
message from Your own lips, we shall talk to the children in quite
another style from that which is usual to us." Brothers and Sisters, in
Spirit maintain your fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ, and so will you warn souls with warm, loving admonitions which
God will bless! Let us have done with second-hand messages! Speak as
the oracles
of God!
Once more, to have our ears well tutored, we must feel the force of the
Truth of God that we deliver. Ezekiel had to eat the roll. It must
enter into himself before he could reveal its contents to the people.
So we must feel the force and power of the Gospel before we can
effectually declare it. Sin–are you going to talk about the evil of
it? Do you know the evil of it, yourself? Get back to the place of
repentance where you once wet the earth with your tears and talk to
children or grown-up people about sin in that spirit! Pardon–are you
going to speak about that? Do you know the sweetness of it? Go to the
place where you first saw the flowing of the ever precious blood and
feel, again, your load of guilt removed and you will speak of it most
sweetly!
The power of the Holy Spirit–are you going to speak about that? Have
you felt His quickening, enlightening, comforting and sanctifying
influence? Then according as you have felt, you will be able to speak
with effectiveness! It is poor work to preach a Christ you never knew!
It is terrible to talk of bread you have never tasted; of living water
you never drank and ofjoys you never felt! The farmer that labors must
first be a partaker of the fruits. Go home and ask the Lord to teach
you, but do not go on His errands till first you have sat at His feet,
for unto those whom He has not taught, God says, "What have you to do
that you should declare My statutes? First come and hear the word from
My mouth and then give the people warning from Me."
I think I have said enough to show how the ears are to be disciplined.
II. Secondly, THE TONGUE IS TO BE EDUCATED. That is, indeed, the aim of
the discipline of the ears. And to what end is the tongue educated? I
answer, first, to be able to deliver an unpleasant message. Any man's
tongue is swift in telling good things, at least it ought to be, or
where else is humanity? We are glad enough to tell you glad tidings of
good things, but he that is to be useful must be willing to speak
unpleasant things. Brothers and Sisters, are you ready when you meet
with careless people to tell them Truths of God that will be
unpalatable to them! And when they are awakened, are you willing, in
God's name, to try and beat to pieces their refuges of lies–to tell
them plainly of the mistakes that they are so fond of and point them to
the only way of salvation?
You and I cannot be useful if we want to be sweet as honey in the
mouths of men! God will never bless us if we wish to please men so that
they may think well of us. Are you willing to tell them what will break
your own heart in the telling and break theirs in the hearing? If not,
you are not fit to serve the Lord! You must be willing to go and speak
for God though you will be rejected! See the seventh verse, where God
says, "They will not listen unto you, for they will not listen unto
Me." If they reject the Master, will they receive the servant? They
took up stones to stone your own dear Lord and Master! And they finally
took nails to fasten Him to the Cross! Do you think they will listen to
you?
If God is to bless you, dear Friend, you must be willing to bear
witness for Him even if none should ever believe a word you
say–because in so doing you will deliver your soul! Take good heed,
all of you, to this danger of being guilty of the blood of others. Have
not some of you quite forgotten it? There is blood on your garments! Do
you see the spots? Some of you who never said a word for Christ to your
own children, I say there are big drops of soul-blood on your garments!
Soul-blood is worse than the blood of the body and you are smeared with
it! Can't you see the spots? Wash them out, I pray you! Oh, you say, it
is of no use warning them–they would only laugh at you! But you would
lose the blood stains if you did. Their blood would not be required at
your hands and, therefore, if you want to be useful, be willing to do
unpleasant duties in order to feel, "I have warned them and cleared my
soul."
Next, you need your tongue tutored to speak the Truth of God as having,
yourself, heard it. You know there are several ways of speaking. I was
trying to illustrate differences of speaking when addressing my
students the other day. I
said, "Suppose you saw, by the look of my face, while I was sitting
here, that I was in a terrible state of indignation when I rose to
address you? You would say, 'Now we shall have it! We can see by the
look of him that he will drive at us.'" Just so, when a man preaches,
or warns others–it ought to be in a living style which indicates that
something is coming. The man should be full of emotion, not moved by
anger, but by a sacred passion which awakens him and makes the people
feel that he is in awful earnest, carried out of himself, not
delivering set phrases and words from his mouth outwards, but speaking
from his inmost heart!
Now, if we were to meet with our Lord Jesus, Himself, and were then to
speak of Him in the state of mind in which His Presence left us, what a
style of speech that would be! I think I hear a mother who has been
with Jesus talking to her girl. She says, "Dear child, there is such
joy in loving Jesus that I pant for you to know it! He is so great and
good that my dear little daughter must not forget Him." I can imagine
that a father has met with the Lord Jesus and felt God's Truth sent
into his own soul by the Holy Spirit–and I am sure that when he gets
his boy, alone, he pleads with him in deep and tender earnestness which
commands the boy's ear and heart! He does not know what has happened to
his father–he is so earnest and pleads so seriously–but the secret
reason is that the father has listened to the Lord, Himself, and is,
himself, the echo of that voice!
Facts vividly brought before the mind greatly influence a speaker. A
sinner seen as lost touches the heart. Jesus seen as crucified affects
the speech! If I were to stand up in the council of a certain town to
urge them to look to their fire escapes, I should do it with tremendous
vehemence if I had just come out of the midst of that shuddering crowd
which saw a poor woman hanging out of the window in the midst of the
flames for lack of proper apparatus to reach her! Any man, fresh from
such a sight, would plead with energy! His whole soul would burn as he
thought of the poor perishing fellow creature in the midst of the fire!
Would not yours? It is just so when you come fresh from talking with
God–the Truth of God is vividly realized–an awe is upon you and holy
zeal and sacred ardor inflame your breast!
If you dwell away from God you do not feel the value of the Gospel
message, nor the weight of men's souls. The grandest of all the Truths
of God lose force when they cease to be realized facts–but their power
returns when we come, again, under their actual influence! When the
voice of Jesus' love is still ringing in your ears, then with a deep
awestruck solemnity your whole soul is poured forth at your mouth and
you speak as pleading with men that they would yield to God and accept
His great salvation!
The tongue must speak when the ears are tingling with the message of
the Lord! The tongue needs to be trained in the case of each one of us
to deliver the message as from God. I believe that God has given
commission to every Christian who knows the Truth of God, to tell it,
and that there is authority given to every man who has the living water
within himself to let it flow out, for it is written, "Out of the midst
of him shall flow rivers of living water." You see your calling,
Brothers. You may not all be called to the work of prophesying as
ministers are, but you are all called by some means to warn men of the
wrath to come and lead them to Christ–and I want you to feel that God
is at the back of you when you warn sinners.
You never pray for a soul; you never weep over a soul; you never drop
one kernel of Divine Truth into a human ear; you never utter one word
of warning or expostulation but what God is with you in so doing. God
will acknowledge His Truth, therefore never be ashamed of it. Make your
face like adamant if their hearts are like adamant–if they are not
ashamed to sin, do not you be ashamed to warn them! If they are not
ashamed of their unbelief, be not you ashamed of your faith in the
Divine Testimony! The hosts of Heaven are on your side, therefore be
not dismayed! Your faith may hear the noise of the wings of the living
creatures, the noise of the wheels and the noise of a great rushing,
for all Heaven is astir when the watchman moves to warn the people
(Ezekiel 3:13). If God is at your back, speak boldly and do not let
your testimony be silenced!
The Lord tells Ezekiel that the people would be a restraint to him and
how often they are so. Non-success often ties the preacher up so that
he can scarcely speak. "You, O Son of Man, behold they shall put bands
upon you and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among
them." But what a grand verse is the twenty-seventh–"But when I speak
with you, I will open your mouth and you shall say unto them, Thus says
the Lord God. He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let
him forbear: for they are a rebellious house." None can silence a mouth
which God has opened! May we henceforth feel that now, between here and
Heaven, we have souls committed to our charge and that we will be clear
of their blood!
Each one of you has his little plot of ground to sow. You must resolve
that it shall not lie waste. You will be called home very soon, my dear
fellow workers, therefore work while it is day. I who have to lead you
in this plowing may soon be called away. I feel it and I feel that the
same is true of each one of us–therefore, since these poor souls are
dying as well as we are and they are sinking into Hell forever, let us
be in earnest and may God help us to save them! Let us begin to weep,
for weeping, perhaps, may be the fittest beginning of a higher life as
it was the beginning of our natural life. Let us cry unto God! Let us
watch for opportunities and as they come, let us avail ourselves of
them, if by any means we may save some. We dare no longer fritter away
life. Dare we? We dare not furnish a continuation of man's foolish
history if, indeed, it is true that "all the world is a stage and all
the men and women merely players."
We do not believe that statement and if it is true we will alter it.
Let us upset the stage, tear off the masks and truly live. "Life is
real, life is earnest," as we shall know at the Judgment Seat of God!
How real will it look by the light of the Last Great Day! Come, let us
ask to have ears and tongue trained and let us begin, now, to serve our
Lord by warning our fellow men!
III. I finish my sermon this morning by, in the third place,
endeavoring to practice THE LESSON OF THE TEXT. I desire to speak to
those of you who are unconverted and to speak as if I had just come
from an interview with my Lord and Master, as I trust I have. I want to
speak as if I had just heard Him say what I am going to repeat to you.
Try and help me with your imagination and may God give you faith!
I have to say to you, dear Friends now present, that whatever may be
your natural excellence of character and whatever the religiousness of
your training, yet you must all of you be born again! You heard me say,
"You must be born again," but I want to say it as Jesus said it when,
one evening, He was visited by a ruler of the Jews, a man of spotless
character, of admirable reputation and of deep learning. Sitting alone
with Him, our Lord treated Him with great kindness, but yet with solemn
emphasis. He said, "You must be born again."
Yes, young Friend, there is much about you that is very admirable and
you know a great deal of Divine Truth, but, "You must be born again."
The Master would lay a strong tender emphasis upon the, "must." "You
must be born again." Jesus would not demand of us more than is
absolutely necessary, nor say a syllable that would tend to shut a soul
out of Heaven. If He says, "You must," why then we must! I want you to
admit that necessity.
Next I desire to introduce you to Jesus sitting at the well with the
woman of Samaria. You can see the smile upon His countenance as He
instructs her. I need you, now, to hear Him say these words–"God is a
Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth." I should like to say to you, dear Friend, that all the outward
forms of religion in the world will be of no value to you unless you
are spiritual. You must have a spiritual mind and a spiritual nature
through being born again–and then you must worship God in a spiritual
way, for mere outward religion is nothing in His sight. I desire to
warn you as to that fact, but I would rather you should hear my Master
say the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth, "for the Father seeks such to worship Him." You believe it, do
you not? Oh, ask that the Spirit of God would teach you how to worship
in spirit and in truth!
Now listen to my Master again. He is addressing the Jews and He uses
these words. I give them accurately translated–"You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life and they are
they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me that you might
have life." I am glad that you read your Bibles, but how is it that you
feel so easy when you have read your chapter every day? Do you think
you will get salvation by Bible reading? Alas, you are in error! You
must go further than that! You must go to Christ Jesus Himself! Oh,
that you would, by an act of faith, come to Him this morning! Do you
think this Truth of God is hard? I hope you don't, for it is the
teaching of Jesus and I have heard Him say it to my own soul. You must
come to Jesus, Himself, or the Scriptures will do you no good! The
Scriptures are a road sign pointing to Christ–it will never do to sit
down by the road sign–we must hasten on to find the Lord, Himself.
Listen to my Master once again. He says to the Jews, "If you believe
not that I am He, you shall die in your sins." I know, now, you will
say that I speak hard things! Perhaps I do, but not with a hard heart.
Now, my Lord is always tender, never man spoke like this Man and never
man wept as He did when He had a hard thing to say. Hear, then, His
declaration, "Except you believe that I am He, you shall die in your
sins." "Die in your sins"? Do you know what that means? To die in
irons, to die in a ditch, to die on the gallows–these are nothing
compared with dying in your sins!
I must tell you some other things which my Master says, because
nowadays the fine new theologians do not like to have them spoken. I
have heard Him speak them in my very soul and I must, therefore, warn
you of them. He says there are tares growing among the wheat and that
the Day will come when the angels will "gather the tares in bundles to
burn them." That is how He puts the destiny of the ungodly! Hear how
the modern theologians hiss between their teeth, "Dreadful language.
These horrible expressions are borrowed from Dante and Milton and the
old writers."
No Dante, Milton, or the old writers had existed then, but Jesus
Himself says, "The Son of man shall send forth His angels and they
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth." Such will be the lot of some of you
unless you repent! Though growing up among Christian people and hearing
the Gospel–and looking very much like Christians–you will be
separated from among the wheat to be cast into the fire! Some of you
are rich and enjoy yourselves a great deal. I must tell you what Jesus
said of one who fared sumptuously every day but cared not for his soul.
He said, "The rich man, also, died and was buried. And in Hell he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy
on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water
and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." My Lord, my
sweet Lord–my dying, my bleeding Lord–the Man who receives sinners,
it was thus He spoke! I would not speak less tenderly than He if I were
able, but I want to assure you rich people who have your comforts in
this life and yet are out of Christ, that this is what will happen to
you! Nor will this be for a time, but forever!
You will never be able to escape from torment, according to my Master's
teaching, for He says there is a great gulf fixed so that they who
would come from there cannot. I pray you, therefore, take warning, as I
would give you warning from His mouth! The last thing that was ever
seen of my Lord and Master upon earth was this. He stood on tiptoe on
this world which had treated Him so ill and around Him were gathered a
few disciples. Just before He rose out of their sight He addressed them
in loving tones and said, "Go you into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature." They stood with their ears and eyes open to
know how He would have them put the Gospel and He said, "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes not shall be
damned."
Did He say that? Yes, just before the cloud received Him out of their
sight, He said, "He that believes not shall be damned." It was He that
said it! I should have liked to have seen how He looked when He thus
spoke–the evident pain which crossed His mind and showed itself in His
eyes as He said in effect, "There will be some who will not believe,
but you must tell them plainly, "He that believes not shall be damned."
I do warn you of this, men and women, every one of you–if I am not a
believer in Christ, I shall be damned! And if you are not believers you
will be damned! I beseech you run not so dreadful a risk!
Trust yourselves with Jesus, right now, and you shall be saved, for it
is He that says it, not I–"He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved." And again, "He that believes in Him has everlasting life." I do
not think He meant me to try and put this in any pretty shape in order
to amuse you with it and so I have not tried to do so. I have spoken to
you His own Word as best I know how. May He be pleased to weed out my
frailties and throw them away, but may all that is His own live in your
souls and mine unto eternal life! Amen.