The Oft-Repeated Invitation
(No. 2685)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 29, 1900.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
10, 1881.
"And let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take the water
of life freely." Revelation 22:17.
Our morning's discourse [Sermon #1608, Volume 27–THE DOUBLE "COME"]
was upon the first part of this verse–"The Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that hears, say, Come." I tried to show that everyone
who has truly heard the Gospel call is bound to go forth and, in his
turn, cry to others, "Come to Jesus." But if every hearer of the Gospel
is to say, "Come," certainly every preacher of it is especially called
to repeat the invitation again and again. I seemed, this morning, to
have it laid upon my own heart that the very next time I entered the
pulpit, I must take care to make this call the burden of my discourse,
as I ask you, dear Friends, also to make it the burden of yours. "Let
him that hears say, Come." But let him that preaches say it with a more
distinct emphasis than anyone else! So, tonight, I daresay that my
message will appear to some of you to be monotonous, for I shall strike
the same note again and again, and again, and bring out from it only
this one sound, "Come, Come, Come!" Yet let me tell you that if God
shall bless that invitation, and sinners do come to Christ, there will
be more music evoked from this note than if my sermon had been as
brilliant as the highest human eloquence could make it, for angels in
Heaven and God, Himself, will rejoice if sinners are brought to the
Savior!
People used to say of George Whitefield–who commonly finished up his
discourse by crying, "Come to Jesus," with his hands uplifted and his
eyes streaming with tears–that when he was hard up for an idea, he
always cried, "O Sinners, come to Jesus!" God be praised if all
preachers imitate him in that respect when they are hard up for an
idea, for I know of no idea that could possibly equal in value an
earnest, simple, loving Gospel invitation! How that man of God would
stand on Kennington Common or Moorfields and cry, in trumpet tones,
"Come, O come! Why will you not come? Come now to Jesus"! The best of
it is that his cries were not in vain, for the people did come–they
came by hundreds and thousands unto Him who said, "All that the Father
gives Me shall come to Me; and him that comes to Me I will in no wise
cast
out."
I. In handling my text, I am going to make a few remarks, and this
shall be the first of them. I call upon every unconverted person here
present who hears the message of my text, to notice THE GREAT SOLEMNITY
OF THE INVITATION. "Let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him
take the water of life freely."
To my mind, the solemnity of this invitation lies partly in the fact
that it is placed at the very end of the Bible and placed there because
it is the sum and substance–the aim and objective of the whole Bible.
It is like the point of the arrow and all the rest of the Bible is like
the shaft and the feathers on either side of it. We may say of the
Scriptures what John said of his Gospel, "These are written"–all these
books that are gathered together into one grand library called the
Bible–"these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you might have life through
His name." So far as you are concerned, this blessed Book has missed
its purpose unless you have been led by it to come to Christ!
It is all in vain that you have a Bible, or read your Bible, unless you
really "take the water of life" of which it speaks. It is worse than
vain, for if it is not a savor of life unto life to you, it shall be a
savor of death unto death! Therefore it seems to me that this is a very
solemn invitation because all the books of the Bible do, in effect, cry
to sinners, "Come to
Jesus." All the Prophets of the Bible, all the Apostles of the Bible,
all the threats of the Bible, all the promises of the Bible gather
themselves up and focus themselves into this one burning ray, "Come to
Jesus! Come, and take the water of life freely." Oh, that it might burn
its way right into your heart! It is the very end of the Bible,
then–the end of the Bible in two senses–its end and its objective
that you should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The solemnity of my text lies also in another thing, for it might have
been something very different I t says, "You thirsty ones, come and
drink the water of life." But shall I tell you what it might have said?
Let me read to you the 11th verse of this chapter. "He that is unjust,
let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
still." I am devoutly thankful that I have not to come to this railing
and to say to you, "My unconverted Hearers, you may listen to me if you
like, but it will be of no use. You are unconverted and so you always
must be! You are unjust and you always must be unjust. You are filthy
and you always must be filthy!" God might have sent me with that heavy
message of woe, but it is a sweetly solemn thought to my heart that,
instead of doing so, He has bid me say, "You unjust, come to the Just
One and be made just by Him. You filthy, come to the Water of Life and
wash and be clean."
God is not yet dealing with you according to His infinite Justice–it
is mercy that rules this hour! Mercy is flowing through this place like
a life-giving river–will you not drink and live? No axe is yet
uplifted to smite the sinner–it is still bound up in the rods that
Mercy has tied around it and there is no order to unfasten the cords.
Love, Grace, Welcome–these are the sort of words we can still use–and
I pray God that you may be glad that it is so and give most earnest
heed to these words lest you should have to listen to a message of
quite another character. Look, for instance, at the 15th
verse–"Outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie." Did I
hear you say, "We are not dogs, nor sorcerers," and so on? Perhaps you
are not, yet you may be loving and practicing a lie–and you are doing
so if you are trusting in your own righteousness and cherishing the
notion that you do not need a Savior!
If you who are unconverted do not need a Savior, then the Gospel is a
monstrous folly and the death of Christ upon the Cross was a
superfluity, not to be praised, but to be condemned! O Sirs, do not
love or practice that lie, but NOW, while Christ is freely preached to
you, come, I pray you, and listen to His wooing words! Take Him now and
have Him forever!
Suppose that, instead of my having to say to you, "Come to Jesus," you
heard a voice, loud as the thunder when the very heavens seem to crack
and rend, shouting to you, "Come to judgment.." Suppose you heard the
trumpet of the archangel announcing that Christ had come from Heaven
with His mighty angels, "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"?
You wilhear it one day–you may hear it within the hour! You must hear
it before long–and this will be the chief note of it–
"Come to judgment! Come to judgment, come away!" Would to God that you
would listen, now, to the voice that cries, "Come to mercy! Come and
find mercy now, that you need not fear the great Day of Judgment, come
when it may."
That, then, is my first remark–that the invitation of the text has a
very solemn setting.
II. Now, secondly, I want you to notice, in the invitation before us,
THE SUITABILITY OF ITS PROVISIONS. "Let him who thirsts come. And
whoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
That is just what you need–your greatest need is life. Merely to
breathe, eat and drink is not, according to God's notion, living. That
is a mere animal kind of life and there is a far better and higher life
than anything that men know about until God's Grace quickens them and
makes them truly live. Life is needed by every unconverted man and
woman. Life–not merely an outward change of life, or a
reformation–but the reception of a new lifeby regeneration, as our
Lord said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." There are some things
that you may be or may not be, but this is a must be–"You must be born
again."
Our text speaks of "the water of life" which men are bid to take and
which God most freely gives. It is called "the water of life" because
it quenches thirst A man may scarcely know what thirst of soul really
is even when he has begun to experience it. He has a sense of unrest
and a desire for something that he does not possess. He does not know
what that something is, but he knows that something is lacking–that is
one indication of thirst of soul. And when the Spirit of
God comes and deals with a man or woman, he or she gets a still more
intense sense of uneasiness and unhappiness–and the pangs of desire
are still more acute within.
Thirst is a very strong form of desire. Hunger may be somewhat appeased
by various expedients, but I have been told that the pangs of thirst
are terrible in the extreme. When it really burns a man, it is like a
fierce fire raging within him. So, when a soul needs, desires, longs
and pines for this unknown gift, it does not know what it really does
need, but its one need is a Savior. It needs renewal, it needs
forgiveness, it needs life and God, here, in our text, presents the
blessing to mankind under the figure of, "the water of life," which
removes the thirst of the soul, refreshes the drooping spirit and
cleanses the whole life. Oh, that men would but take it–and take it at
once!
My dear Hearer, let me assure you that, in the Gospel, there is exactly
what you require. Have you been trying to make yourself better and yet
you are conscious that you are no better? The Gospel, received by
faith, will make you better. Are you unhappy? Do you long to find
something that will give you peace? The Gospel would give you peace if
you would only believe it! You say that you want to get away from your
old sinful self and to be made anew. Well, in the Gospel, that great
work is provided for and many here can testify that, by its means, they
have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus. There is a black past in
your history that you would gladly forget–and in the Gospel there is
revealed the Fountain that can wash out all its stains. Perhaps some of
you are dreading the dangerous future–in the Gospel there is ample
protection for all that lies before you. Possibly, to some of you, the
present is a time of great darkness–in the Gospel there is light for
the present–yes, joy even for this moment in which you seem to be
driven almost to despair! When I preach about the water of life, so
freely given by God, I mean just this–that all you need between here
and Heaven, Christ is ready to give you! All that your soul can
possibly require to enable you to stand in the Presence of God without
fear and to dwell in the bosom of God forever, made perfectly like to
God by His Grace–all that is in the Gospel for you! And we are
commanded to invite you to partake of it in the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord!
I think the thought of the suitability of the provision of the Gospel
for me is one that is worth dwelling upon. I have always felt, since I
believed the Gospel, that it was made on purpose for me. If it does not
suit any other man, it exactly fits me. And if you try it, my Hearer,
you will find that it exactly fits you, also! The Lord knows your
measure and He has made it just the right size and shape for you–there
is not a particle of your being which the Gospel cannot cover. There is
not a wish in your heart, which ought to be there, that the Gospel will
not gratify! If you accept it, it will fill you to the brim with
happiness and you shall overflow with exceeding joy of heart in the
treasure which Christ has brought to you!
III. But I must hasten on to notice, in the third place, THE FREENESS
OF THIS GIFT, because our text says, "Whoever will, let him take the
water of life freely."
The Gospel is priceless in value, but it is to be had "without money
and without price." The salvation of God can never be purchased. I am
amazed that anyone should ever cherish the idea of a man buying a place
for himself in Heaven. Why, the very streets are paved with exceedingly
rich and rare gold, and a rich man's whole fortune would not buy a
single paving stone in those golden streets! There is nothing that you
can ever bring to God as the purchase-money for salvation! He is
infinitely rich–what does He want of yours? If you are righteous, what
do you want from Him? The impossibility of salvation by human merit or
good works ought to be clear to every thinking man. If we do all that
God bids us do, we are doing no more than we ought to do–and even then
we are unprofitable servants!
You may offer whatever terms you please, but God will never sell
Christ. Judas did that, but the Father never will. He gives Him freely
to all who are willing to have Him, but He will never sell Him. He will
never barter and haggle with you concerning Him–so much alms and so
much repentance, and then you shall have Christ? No, Sirs, I tell you
again that my Lord will never degrade His well-beloved Son by
bargaining with you about Him! Will you have Him for nothing? I hear
people say, sometimes, that certain things cannot be had "for love or
money." Well, God will not give Christ for money, but He will give Him
out of pure love to you! If you will have Him freely and for nothing,
the great transaction is done–He is yours and you have Him! But if you
bring anything to pay for Him, you cannot have Him. If all the stars in
the sky were worlds of gold and you could carry them all in your belt
and then take them out and throw all those starry treasures down upon
the floor of Heaven as the price of a single gleam of Divine Love, you
could not buy it!
Solomon said, "If a man would give all the substance of his house for
love, it would be utterly despised." And if a man could give the whole
universe, he could not purchase the love of God! No–yet you can have
Christ for nothing–
now, at once, just where you are if you will take him on God's terms!
Will you have Him? Oh, that we would as freely takeas God freely gives!
And why, since God is willing to give, should I be unwilling to
receive? O my Heart, my Heart, my Heart, why are you unwilling to
receive–unwilling to be saved–unwilling to be pardoned–unwilling to
have Christ for nothing? Fool that you are, I might truly say this of
myself if I were unwilling to accept God's free gift! If I had some
gold to give away tonight, I would not need to say much to induce you
to have it. The other day I saw a diamond which was said to be worth a
hundred thousand pounds–and if I had it here and said, "Dear Hearer,
you may have it, and have it for nothing," the only conceivable reason
why any of you would hesitate to take it would be because you might not
believe me. Otherwise, you would all cry out at once, "Thank you, Sir!
Pass it over here! Have you anymore diamonds to dispose of on the same
terms?"
Everybody would be willing to accept it for nothing. But when we preach
Christ and His Gospel, then men want to buythe priceless treasure–they
want to feelsomething, or to besomething, or to dosomething, or else
they will not have Him! I have no warrant to offer Christ to any man in
exchange for the payment of even a penny, but I do declare that He is
to be given freely, according to my text, "Let him who thirsts come.
And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
IV. Now I pass on to make a further remark concerning THE WONDERFUL
SIMPLICITY OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. Two words describe it here. "Let
him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take."
Surely everybody understands those two words. Take the first–"Come" If
a physician should advertise that every person who was sick might come
to him, you would know what that meant. If you were sick, you would
soon be at his door if you could get there. And you would put yourself
into his hands if you believed him to be able to cure you. Treat the
Lord Jesus Christ as you would treat an eminent physician, that is, go
to Him. "Where is He?" you ask. "I know how to go to an earthly
physician, I either walk or ride to his house or consulting room."
Well, you can stand still and yet come to Christ because we reach Him
by mental traveling, not bodily traveling. Think of Christ–that is the
way to come to Him. Think much of Christ–that is still further on the
way to Him. Believe Him, believe in Him, believe on Him–that is,
trustHim, and all is done. As soon as you have trusted Christ, you are
a saved man, or woman, or child. That very trust of yours is an
evidence that your heart is changed–you would never have trusted the
Son of God with your soul if salvation had not already come to your
house! Now, that is coming to Christ–just putting yourself into His
hands.
The other word is quite as simple–"Take." Everybody knows what it is
to take something. To take water, for instance, the text says, "Whoever
will, let him take the water of life freely." Well, what does a man do
when he takes water? Perhaps he has a hand that trembles so much that
he can hardly hold the glass or cup that contains the water, yet he
takes it. Anybody can take water. There is no need to send a child to
school to teach him how to take it. He puts it to his mouth and it
flows down. That is all–and that is exactly how, in a spiritual'sense,
we take the water of life, and take Christ, Himself. There is another
passage, you know, which says, "The word is near you, even in your
mouth," and, as I have often told you, when anything is in your mouth
and you want to keep it, the proper thing to do with it is to swallow
it, that is all. I do not know how to make the process of receiving
Christ more simple than that. You smile, dear Friends, but the very
essence of the Gospel lies in receiving Christ like that–it is taking
into yourself what God freely gives to you–that is all.
"Come…take." "Come…take." "Come…take"–not run, fly, leap,
bring–no, but, "come…take." Oh, that you could all see how simple is
this wondrous plan of salvation! The other day there passed away one
who had, as I judge, been a Believer for years, but it had always been
a question with her friends whether she was a Believer or not. And she
said to my brother, when upon her death-bed, "The simplicity of the
Gospel has been a stumbling-block to me all my life, but now that I am
about to die, instead of being a stumbling-block, it is my delight, for
what would I do, now, without the simple Gospel, 'Believe and live'?"
She was a very good Churchwoman, one of the best I ever knew. She
always observed all fast days and feast days and did all manner of good
things. She never seemed to do anything wrong, but always to do what
was right. Yet those are just the people who find it difficult to yield
to Christ, because of their self-righteousness.
But whoever you may be, you will have to come down to God's terms if
you wish to be saved! There is only one door to Heaven and but one way
for the worst and for the best. You must bow down and accept Jesus as
the sinners' Savior, or
else you cannot have Him at all! God's terms are, "Come…take." So, do
not try any other plan. Do not say, "Well, I will bring something." Do
not bring anything! It is not what you bringto Christ, but what you
take ofChrist that will save you! Therefore hear and heed the message
of the text. God make you to hear it in your very soul! It is the true
Gospel message–"Come…take."
V. My fifth remark is this, NOTICE THE BREADTH OF THE GOSPEL
INVITATION. "Let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take
the water of life freely."
I will suppose that I am addressing a person who is very anxious about
his soul–one who has been for weeks or perhaps for months seeking
salvation, but who has not found it. I take him by the hand and I say,
"My dear Friend, you are the very individual to whom my text refers.
You know that the first part applies to you–'Let him who thirsts
come.' You have an earnest desire to be saved, you have that thirst of
which the text speaks, so come and take the water of life
freely."
Yet even while I am speaking, I can see another Brother and I know that
he is groaning and saying, "Oh, I wish I had that thirst! I wish I had
that desire, but I have not any. I do not feel anything! All that I
feel is that I wish I did feel, but I do not feel at all." Come along,
my Friend, you are another of the very men that I am sent to seek, for
the second part of the text says, "Whoever will, let him take the water
of life freely." The first net has somewhat wide meshes, so some little
fish slip through it, but the second one has very small meshes. I wish
it would catch the very smallest fishes–the sprats or the whitebait–I
mean those persons who have the least possible desire to be saved.
"Whoever will." "Whoever will." "Oh, I am willing enough," says one,
"but perhaps, after all, I am not one of those persons who are
invited!" Oh, but it says, "Whoever will." I am very fond of that word,
"whoever." I think that the translators have left, "whoever," out in
some places–may the Lord forgive them and teach them better! But we
shall always keep it in even if they leave it out– and I am sure it
ought to be here–"whoever will." It is a word that the Holy Spirit has
blessed to thousands of souls and He has not blessed a lie or a
blunder, so I am quite sure that it is "whoever will!" We will stick to
that, we must have that glorious Word of God–"whoever will, let him
take the water of life freely."
"Oh, but he is a very poor man!" What does that matter? "Whoever will."
"But he is a very ignorant man, he does not even know his letters!"
What has that to do with the text? "Whoever will." "Ah, but he has been
a very bad man!" Well, what about that? It is, "whoever will." Does he
will to trust Christ? Is he willing to take the water of life? Then,
"let him take the water of life freely." "Oh, but," says one, "he is
altogether an out-of-the-way sinner! You do not know how shamefully he
has behaved." No, and I do not want to know! But I do know that if he
will but take the water of life, he may do so, for the text says,
"whoeverwill."
There is no limit to the mercy of God to all who trust His dear Son!
And there is no limit to you but that which your own will imposes. If
you nilit, that is, make nothing of it, then it shall be nil, that is,
nothing, to you. But if you willit, it is God's will that you should
have it! When your will is brought to accept the Savior, then, depend
upon it, it is God's will that you should have Him! "Whoever will."
"Whoever." I cannot conceive, in any language, a wider sweep of word
than that, so come along, poor troubled Sinner, come to Jesus Christ!
Accept Him and you shall be saved here and now!
VI. Now I close with the last remark, which concerns THE EARNESTNESS OF
THIS CALL ON GOD'S PART– "Whoever will, let him take the water of life
freely."
Who is the Person that invites? Listen. First, it is the Holy
Spirit–gentle, loving, tender, gracious, mysterious, adorable, Divine.
He says, "Come." The Spirit that brooded over the chaos in the first
creation and brought forth order, says, "Come, and be made new in
Christ Jesus." Who is it, next, that says, "Come"? "The bride"–that
is, the entire Church of God. All the people of God cry to you, "Come!"
Those on earth and those in Heaven, too–if you could hear them speak
out of the excellent Glory, you would know that the very joy they have
in Christ moves them to call you to join them! They are leaning over
the battlements of Heaven and beckoning you to Christ. The bride, that
is, the whole Church in Heaven and on earth, says, "Come, come!"
And then, next, everyone who hears the Gospel is bid to say to you,
"Come." Because the Lord knew how hard you would be to convince, He has
told everybody who hears the Gospel to try and bring you–"Let Him that
hears say, Come." If you were to receive an invitation to a feast, it
is possible that you would go the first time you were asked. But if you
had a dozen letters inviting you, tomorrow morning you would say, "Dear
me, this is very remarkable! I have 12 letters, from 12 different
people, all inviting me to this banquet." Suppose, when you went out of
your door in the morning, there was a servant who stood there, and
said, "Sir, I have come to invite you to the banquet." "Why, dear me!"
you would say, "I have already been invited a dozen times." During the
day, there comes a telegraph inviting you to this same banquet–perhaps
you do not think much of that, but when you get home, your wife says,
"Dear, I want to invite you to go to that banquet." You smile and
possibly you even put her off, but there comes in a dear child of
yours, and he says, "Father, I have been to that gentleman's house to a
banquet and he has asked me to give you an invitation, and I do so want
you to go to it." You could hardly refuse that! And if, every time you
met 50 or a hundred people, they all invited you to go, you would, at
last, say, "Well, I really must go, for it seems such a strange thing
that everybody is inviting
me."
That is just the case with some of you here. We mean never to let you
have any rest till you come to Christ! I have heard that there are some
friends about this Tabernacle who "bother" people concerning their
souls–and I hope they will keep on "bothering" them! They will not let
them come and go out of this building without having an earnest word
with them–I hope it will always be so. We have some Brothers and
Sisters here who are sharpshooters–they are just now lying low in the
rifle-pit, taking aim at some of you–and they will shoot at you before
you get away tonight! I hope they will hit you, too, because whoever
hears the Gospel is bid to say to others, "Come." You will get girdled
round with a ring of invitations, for God means to bless you and,
therefore, if you escape one, He will not let you escape another!
Listen further. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, ' 'Come." On one
occasion, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me, and drink." And
another day our blessed Master said, "Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." So, here is Jesus
calling, and the Holy Spirit calling, and His people calling–even the
Prophet Isaiah is still calling! Dear good man, he has been in Heaven
for thousands of years, yet at this moment he cries out of the holy
Book, "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that
has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." Why, it is like the old ages, the
ancient centuries come back again to call to you to come to Christ! I
hear that call from Heaven. I hear Christ calling from the Throne of
God. I hear the Spirit calling. I hear the bride calling. I am calling
as one of those who have heard the Gospel for myself. Listen, then, oh,
listen! Was there ever such a chorus of united invitations? Did ever so
many hearts combine before about any one thing? Will you not come? Will
you not come? Why will you die? Why will you die when the water of life
flows at your feet?–
"Stoop down and drink, and live!" May God lead you so to do, for
Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH1:1-20.
This is a chapter which, I think, teaches an important lesson to those
of us who desire the salvation of men, for it shows us how God sets
about that work. He begins by exhibiting the sinner's sin to him before
He proclaims mercy to him–and if we want to be the means of doing good
to men, it will not be by merely crying to them, "Believe, believe,
believe"–there must be a laying of the axe at the root of the tree of
self-righteousness and a cutting away of all trust in self. A man must
realize his danger before he will desire to escape from it and it is a
mistaken kindness which refuses to set before him the peril in which he
is. God, who is infinitely tender and inconceivably merciful, shows us,
in this chapter, how to go to work with sinners.
Verses 1, 2. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
andHezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, andgive ear, O earth: for
the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they
have rebelled against Me. "If they were simply My subjects, I could
bear their rebellion better than I can, now, for they are my children.
I have nourished them and brought them up and, after long and
persevering kindness towards them, I might have expected some affection
from them in return, but, 'they have rebelled against Me.'"
3. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel
does not know, My people do not consider See how the Lord still
acknowledges the children of Israel as His people, though He contrasts
their conduct with the behav-
ior of the ox and the ass. So we see that, however far God's people may
have gone into sin, they are still His people and He does not deny
their relationship to Him. "Israel does not know, My people do not
consider."
4. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
evildoers, children that are corrupters. What a terrible picture! A
nation burdened with iniquity, as full of sin as their fathers were,
and their offspring growing up like themselves. By hereditary
transmission they have received a predisposition to evil that cannot be
taken out of the blood except by Divine power!
4. They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One
ofIsrael unto anger, they are gone away backward. What a description
this is of the state of the unregenerate–even of God's elect among
them who are still crushed under the ruins of the Fall! Perhaps, as I
am reading this chapter, some poor soul here is saying, "That just
describes me." Well, let it describe you, but lament, mourn and
humiliate yourself before the Most High as you realize what is your sad
condition! You have acted worse towards God than an ass does to its
master. You have behaved shamefully towards Him and thus you have
provoked Him to anger. Do not think lightly of your sin, but let it
weigh heavily upon your spirit, as you are "laden with iniquity," God
grant that it may be a heavy burden to you! The Lord next goes on to
exhibit the sin of the people in the light of His chastisement. When a
child sins and does wrong, a wise parent uses correction to see whether
he cannot overcome the evil tendencies, but alas, there is no
correction that will ever get sin out of the sinner! See what God did
with these people, and what came of it.
5, 6. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and
more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint From the sole
of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds,
and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment' 'You are already in this
terrible plight and your sufferings are the direct result of your
sins."
7, 8. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your
land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as
overthrown by strangers. And the daughter ofZion is left as a cottage
in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Now, to translate all this into plain English, I have known men who
have been chastened fortheir sins and bytheir sins. God has chastised
them and they have been severely chastised–but no obedience, no
repentance has followed upon the chastisement. Men have been brought,
by their sin, from wealth to poverty, from competence to actual need.
Have we not seen them, by drunkenness, brought to rags, and by vice
brought to rottenness? Have we not seen men brought to the very gates
of Hell by their iniquities, yet still they have clung to those
iniquities? They have begun to drink the cup of their own damnation
and, even when they realized what they were doing, they have still
clutched the burning chalice in their hands and have willingly drained
it to the last dregs! Oh, it is horrible, it is terrible, to see at
what a cost men will ruin their own souls! They go to Hell as if they
were at a steeplechase–no hedge is too high and no brook too wide for
them–and they ride to destruction at a desperate pace. If we who are
God's people were half as earnest in serving Him as the ungodly are in
their efforts to be lost, what great service we should render to Him!
God reminded these people of all that He had done to them by way of
chastening–yet no good had come of it.
9. Except the LORD ofHosts hadleft us a very small remnant, we
shouldhave been as Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah. I am
afraid that this verse applies to London at the present time. To what
an awful extent has the sin of the people gone–and among those who
commit it are many of the great ones of the earth. It is a crying
iniquity which may well make God angry. I marvel not that there are
alarms, and all sorts of frightful rumors in the city which has become
like Sodom and Gomorrah of old.
10. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the
Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. Isaiah next goes on still
further to expose the sin of the people and, anticipating that they
would say that they had been very religious, that they had attended the
means of Grace, that they had been observant of the outward ritual of
God's sanctuary, he admits the truth of it all–and then shows what is
the real value of it.
11. 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me?
says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of
fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or
of he goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this
at your hand, to tread My courts?Have not some of you at times felt as
if the Lord had said to you, "What right have you to be among My
people?" For years you have been worshipping professedly, but not
sincerely. It is a wonder that the seat you sit on bears you up when
your worship has been all hypocrisy–a delu-
sion–you have only given to God the external husk of devotion! The
kernel of true heart-worship has never been there
at all.
13, 14. Bring no more vain oblation; incense is an abomination unto Me;
the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot
endure–away with them; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your
new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a trouble
unto Me; I am weary to bear them. When God is wearied by a man's best
things, what must His feelings be concerning the man's worst things?
15. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you:
yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full
of blood. When even a man's prayers become an abomination in the sight
of God, what must the man, himself, be? As long as men live in sin and
love it, God will not hear their supplications. Whether their hands are
stained with blood, or whatever other sin it is of which they are
guilty–until they forsake the evil, God will not answer their prayers.
The Lord, having thus set before the people their sin and the
aggravation of that sin in that they had continued in it after severe
chastisement, and the further aggravation of it in that, all the while,
they had professed to be true and faithful servants of Jehovah, though
they had been in constant rebellion against Him, He yet goes on to
speak to them in this gracious fashion–
16, 17. Wash you, make yourself clean; put away the evil of your doings
from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. That
is to say, "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance, so that it may be
seen that your heart is really changed and that you desire better
things, and things more pleasing in My sight." Then listen further to
this marvelous message–
18. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your
sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are
red like crimson, they shall be as wool There is not as much music to a
poor convinced sinner's ears in a whole oratorio of Handel as there is
in this one verse of Scripture! But your ears must be attuned to this
music before you can appreciate its blessed sweetness. He only knows
the music of mercy who knows the misery of sin! I think that I must
read this precious verse again–"Come now, and let us reason together,
says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet"–we will not dispute
about them, they are all you think they are, and much worse–"though
your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they
are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
19. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the
land.' 'You shall not any longer be 'as a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers, as a besieged city.' You shall be no more desolate, but,
'you shall eat the good of the land.' I will take away from you My
chastisement when I take away your sin. I will take care to feed you if
you will but come back to Me. There shall be feasting, music and
dancing, instead of starving, sighing and sorrow, if you will only
return to your Father's house. 'If you are willing and obedient, you
shall eat the good of the land.'"
20. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword:
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. So the Lord has mercy in His
right hand for those who will turn from their sin–but He has a sword
in His left hand for those who will continue to live in their
iniquities. God grant us Grace, now, to yield to the sweet reasoning of
His love, and to turn from our sins, for His dear Son's sake! Amen.