DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense,
and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early."
Hosea 5:15.
THE Lord does not always tell us what He will do. "Verily You are a God
that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior." He has told us that
"it is the glory of God to conceal a thing" and our Lord Jesus has
said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father has put in His own power." When He does make known to us what He
is about to do, it is not to gratify our curiosity but to direct our
conduct. In this case the Lord speaks aloud concerning His intentions.
He had grown weary with chastening His people and, therefore, He was
about to withdraw Himself from them and leave them alone, as a man
leaves a hopeless work, or as a judge leaves the bench and gives the
prisoner over to condemnation
He says, "I will go and return to My place," as if His waiting time was
over and He would no longer remain in their midst to be provoked by
their obstinacy. This withdrawal would occasion the non-acceptance of
their prayers and offerings, even as He had said in a former verse,
"They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord;
but they shall not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them." This
He tells them in order that they may be led to implore Him to remain
with them. Or that if He is already gone, they may, by hearty
confession of their sin and an immediate seeking of His face, prevail
upon Him once more to visit them in His Grace. If God is about to go,
then all is going, even hope itself is. The Divine departure is the
worst of calamities and, therefore, it is but right that those who are
threatened with such a judgment should put their thoughts together,
consider their ways and use the best means to hold Him by the skirts
before He has departed, or to bring Him back again before He has
effectually closed the door between Him and them. There should be an
eager desire to bring the King back so that once more the heart may sun
itself in the light of His favor.
Dear Friends, I shall speak, this morning, with the most anxious desire
to be practical. I am longing and praying in my heart that wherever sin
has begun to separate us and God, we may be stirred up to acknowledge
our offenses and to seek His face. And that where such a separation has
long existed there may arise an intense desire of the whole soul to
return from its banishment and draw near to God. We shall, this
morning, use our text, first, in reference to our national troubles,
for the words were originally spoken with regard to the national
troubles of Israel and Judah. Secondly, we shall use it in reference to
our personal trials as Believers. And then, thirdly, in its relation to
the personal trials of the unconverted. Instructive lessons may be
learned here in each of the three cases. May the Holy Spirit speak the
Truth of God home to our hearts.
I. And first, with regard to OUR PRESENT NATIONAL TROUBLES. I desire to
speak of these things as before God in all sincerity and simplicity. I
know it is impossible to touch upon such a subject without being
suspected of political bias, but I can truly declare that from all such
partiality I desire to be freed so that I may speak, not as a partisan,
but as the servant of the living God. Calmly and solemnly would I speak
words of soberness and truth and justice. It is a burden to my heart to
speak a hard word of my own beloved country and if I seem to do so it
is not in wantonness, but because of a pressure upon my conscience
which will not let me be silent.
Surely no one will deny that our country is passing through a season of
great and grievous adversity. We have been perplexed for many months
and even for years with perpetual rumors of wars. For a long time no
man knew, when he went to bed at night, but what the journal of the
morning would inform him that our nation had plunged into war with at
least one of the great powers of Europe. Our policy has been such,
whether wise or unwise, that we have been
constantly on the verge of conflict. It is amazing that we have escaped
from embroiling ourselves in a long and serious war, for many a time
the flames of contention have threatened a general conflagration.
This disquietude, itself, has been a serious injury to the prosperity
of our country, for trade and commerce make prosperous voyages upon the
waters ofpeace–but even before those waters are disturbed by the
storms of actual war– while only the threat of battle ruffles the
surface, they make small headway or are driven back. Commerce is timid
as a dove and is fluttered by every turmoil or whisper of coming
trouble. In a thousand ways political agitations stab at the heart of
national prosperity! In addition to this we have been actually engaged
in two wars at least–wars certainly expensive and questionably
expedient. In these two conflicts it is impossible for us to gain honor
since they are cases of the mighty assailing the feeble.
Laurels gained from nations so far inferior to us would have been
unworthy of a place upon the brow of a brave nation. We have invaded
one country and then another with no better justification than the law
of superior force, or the suspicion of future danger. Disaster has
followed upon the heels of disaster and at the end of it all there are
great expenses to be met. Our acts of aggression must be paid for, not
only with the blood of our soldiers, but with the sinew and sweat of
our working men.
Results of industry which ought to have gone to support the arts and
promote the comfort and advancement of the race have been thrown away
in wasteful feats of arms. The food which should have fed our children
has been flung into the mouth of the lion, to be devoured by war, that
its evil spirit may become yet more ravenous. Willful waste, it is to
be feared, will be followed by woeful need unless God, in His mercy,
shall interpose. We have meddled in many things and have threatened at
least three of the great quarters of the globe either with our fleets
or our armies. Nothing could content us till we had drawn the sword
against a brave, though savage people, whose fighting may well be
fierce, since it is for their invaded fatherland!
These wars, whatever their issue, are serious calamities. On the back
of all this war has come depression in trade. Everywhere there is
complaining and not without cause. Even the most cheerful of men who
have always been rejoicing when others have lamented, have begun, at
last, to look very serious and to admit that the times are threatening.
Striving tradesmen wonder whether they shall be able to "provide things
honest in the sight of all men." Many a man now plans and labors but
his care and toil earn but a scant reward. All trade is dull and some
trade is dead. Some branches of industry are already paralyzed and
there is but little prospect of their ever being revived.
The land mourns and men's hearts sink for fear. Matters are not so bad
as despondency would paint them, but even hope is unable to draw a
cheerful picture. It is a day of darkness and of gloominess–a day of
clouds and of thick darkness. As if all this were not enough, the
heavens refuse to assist the processes of our farmers. For the most
part, the hay crop, so necessary for the cattle, may be regarded as
lost and now great peril is upon the corn. In some places the corn is
too backward to have suffered much at present, but in others the
prospects are dark, indeed. It seems certain that a continuance of this
constant rain must deprive us of the most precious fruits of the earth.
Farmers are beginning to cry out bitterly and there is a demand that
prayer should be offered in all the churches for fair weather. May God
be pleased to look upon our land and deliver us in this hour of
trouble, for, indeed, it is a time of loss and ruin to thousands! If
ever prayer was needed, it is surely at this hour! You who live in
London do not know much about what is happening to the crops and what
the eye does not see, the heart does not rue–but to our agricultural
friends this ill weather is a matter of most serious
consideration–they are suffering very heavily. No one can doubt that
the badness of trade affects the farmer in common with the rest of the
community–and now comes the further burden of sunless skies, winter in
summer and the clouds returning after the rain.
In the first matter, that of a warlike policy, we may, by God's
goodness, make a change. It may be possible that before long better
principles will come to the front and we may no longer be made to
appear as a nation of snarlers and growlers, breathing defiance and
delighting in war. God grant it speedily! But as to the two other
matters, what can we do? We are powerless to quicken trade! We are
certainly powerless to stay the bottles of Heaven. If God wills it, the
clouds will gather from day to day and drench our fields with their
pitiless downpour. Deluge will follow deluge till the corn shall rot in
the fields if God so determines.
Prayer is therefore desired and well it may be! But by some, prayer is
desired as if it were quite certain that if certain pious words are
repeated the rain must necessarily cease and the weather become
favorable. I am not quite so sure! Let
prayer be offered, by all means, but only under certain conditions can
it prove effectual. I know of many reasons why it may be possible that
such prayers as are likely to be offered will not be heard, but instead
the threatened judgment of God may, nevertheless, come upon us. I
desire, this morning, to speak about prayer in the way of warning, lest
men should place an unwise confidence in the formality of reading a
form of prayer in churches, or uttering extempore formalities in
meeting houses.
Few men believe more thoroughly in the power of real prayer than I do
and I have tested and proved it in many remarkable ways so fully that I
have no doubts as to its efficacy and heartily magnify the name of our
prayer-hearing God. But we must still use our understandings, lest we
be deceived and come to expect what we shall not receive. I would call
to your recollection the fact that, under certain circumstances, God
does not answer prayer. Our text says, "I will go and return to My
place, till they acknowledge their offense." And, if this is the case,
there will be no answering of prayer till repentance is manifested.
Sometimes the heavens are brass, even to good men, and their cries
reverberate and come back into their own ears, not without a blessing
to themselves, but still without any visible reply as to the people for
whom their intercessions were offered. It is not every sort of prayer
that God will hear, for He says by His servant Isaiah, "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" (Isa. 1:15).
Intercession is sometimes useless, for Jeremiah tells us, "Then said
the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind
could not be toward this people" (Jer. 15:1).
Ezekiel also warns us that the presence of the godly may not, at all
times, avert judgment, for thus says the Lord, "Son of man, when the
land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out
My hand upon it and will break the staff of the bread thereof and will
send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though
these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver
but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God" (Ezek.
14:13, 14).
David, doubtless, prayed earnestly that he might escape from the
chastisement of his sin when he numbered the people, but it could not
be removed. He had a choice of three evils, but one of the three was
inevitable. When God has come to this point with a people, that He must
and will smite them, prayer is their only resource and even that may
fail to avert the threatened stroke. A child may have so transgressed
that his father may feel bound to punish him and then he will not spare
the rod because of his crying. I pray God that the rain may cease, but
if it should be continued, it will not be because the Lord cannot help
us, or has ceased to answer prayer.
Here is the secret of it all–I tremble as I quote the words–"Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear
heavy that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He
will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood" (Isa. 59:1-3).
Remember, too, that not only may God withdraw Himself in anger, but it
may be His determination to punish a people out of a far-seeing design
for their good. Perhaps, as a nation, we have had too much prosperity.
Ease and plenty have begotten pride and luxury and these may have
weakened the spirit of the nation. It may have become absolutely
necessary for this favored nation, if it is to still be the stronghold
of liberty and the fortress of Gospel Truth, that it should again
endure those northern blasts of adversity which have aforetime
strengthened it at heart.
It will not be the first time that our land has suffered for her good.
Bad harvests and decaying trade are not new things to Englishmen! There
linger among us now a few venerable men and women who can tell us of
the straits of the old war time–of how there was great scantiness of
bread, heaviness of taxation and frequent alarms from abroad and riots
at home. What a long and dreary time it was when the sound of cannon
might almost be heard across the straits and watch fires were ready on
every cliff and height! Yet good came of the affliction and since that
gloomy time the country has made rapid progress in many respects!
Especially in civil and religious freedom–may it be so again! I would
not wish ill to my country, but if our fellow men will not remember God
except in adversity, adversity, itself, might be desired by the kindest
heart.
If true religion is to be cast into the dust by boastful infidelity! If
a bastard popery is to be allowed to occupy our national churches! If
drunkenness is to remain shameless and almost universal! If the
language of the common people is to become filthy and obscene! If the
exaltation of one favored sect above its fellow Christians–a crying
deed of injustice– is to be perpetually endured! If our nation is to
shed the blood of weaker nations and send its armies into lands which
are
none of ours–then it will not be a strange thing if the Lord resolves
to punish–and it will be hard for the righteous man to find an
argument with which to plead for pity! When the offense is repented of,
the punishment will be withdrawn–but can we expect pardon on any other
terms? Can we even ask for it? The verdict of the sternly just would
rather be, "Let the rod fall," than, "Let it be withdrawn," if only by
severe means the nation can be made to put away its evil deeds!
In our text God declares that He will not give audience to His erring
people, but will retire into His secret place until they acknowledge
the offense and seek His face. It may be so with our nation at this
time. And if it is, we need to be exhorted to something more than
public prayer! There is need of a work more thorough and more difficult
than the public use of a devotional form! But, says one, "We hope we
shall have national prayer." I hope so, too, but will there be a
national confession of sin? If not–how can mere prayer avail? Will
there be a general desire to do that which is just and right between
man and man? Will there be a declaration that England's policy is never
to trample on the weak or pick a quarrel for her own aggrandizement?
Will there be a loathing of the principle that British interests are to
be our guiding star instead of justice and right? Personal interests
are no excuse for doing wrong! If they were so, we should have to
exonerate the worst of thieves, for they will not invade a house until
their personal interests invite them! Perhaps the midnight robber may
yet learn to plead that he only committed a burglary for fear another
thief should take the spoil and make worse use of it than he! Does the
footpad stop a passenger on the road for any other than his own
interests? When our own interests are our policy, nobility is dead and
true honor is departed–but I fear that only a minority are of this
mind.
Will the nation repent of any one of its sins? Will it settle itself
down like the people of Jerusalem during the great rain of Ezra's time
and do that which is right in the sight of God? Remember what they said
in that day–"The people are many and it is a time of much rain, and we
are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or
two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing." If stern
reformation went with supplication, I am persuaded that prayer would
prevail. But while sin is gloried in, my hopes find little ground to
rest upon. But will there be general prayer? No, there will not. I
speak sadly, but I speak no more than the truth.
There are numbers among us who say that prayer is of no use with regard
to the winds and the clouds, for certain laws govern the weather and
prayer cannot affect those laws. These men, therefore, will not pray
and there are multitudes of others of the same spirit whose atheism is
practical though it is unavowed. How, then, can prayer be general when
such vast numbers utterly disregard it? Turn your eyes to Nineveh! When
Jonah threatened that great city and, upon its repentance the judgment
was withdrawn, of what character was its humiliation? From the king on
the throne even to the beasts in the field–all were clothed with
sackcloth and fasted and cried out to God–and therefore we marvel not
that He heard them!
Will there be any such crying to God among us? I think not! A defiant
silence will seal millions of lips. But what of those who are supposed
to pray? Are all these men of the Elijah stamp, whose fervent prayer
could open or shut the windows of Heaven? We dare not put much
confidence in the prayers which will be offered. Will they be offered
in faith by a tenth of those who will repeat them? I wish I could hope
so. By many, the public prayer will be regarded as absolutely
ridiculous–and by many more as a mere matter of form which it is
proper to use–but in which no confidence, whatever, can be placed.
Do not, therefore, say, if the rain should continue by the month
together, that prayer was ordered by the Archbishop of Canterbury and
that God did not hear it and, therefore, all prayer is idle! No, but
see what kind of prayer it will be and how little connected it will be
with confession–and how little it will be general and how little it
will be sincere– and then you will not wonder if no comfortable answer
comes of it. It may be that my text will be the sole answer of the
Lord–"I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their
offense, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me
early."
What, then, is to be done? This much is to be done–all hope for a
country lies in the true Believers who dwell there! Remember Sodom and
how it would have been spared had there been 10 righteous men found
there and know that you, also, are the salt of the earth by whom it is
to be preserved! Loathe the spirit of those who say that because we are
citizens of Heaven we are to have nothing to do with the concerns of
men below. A more un-Christianlike sentiment, a more
selfish sentiment never degraded spiritual minds! Wherever the Jews
dwelt, in the days of their scattering, they were commanded to care for
the good of the people among whom they dwelt.
Here are the words of the Lord by Jeremiah–"Seek the peace of the city
where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the
Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace." Surely
Christians are not to be less generous than Jews! Happily we are not
under a despot! In England we are our own governors and the man, who,
in this land does nothing to secure the good government of the country
is, by his silence, on the side of wrong! You cannot shirk your
responsibility except by clearing out of the land altogether–and then,
if it suffers by your absence, you will still be found guilty. You are
part and parcel of the nation, for you share in its protection and
privileges and it is yours, as Christian men and women, to feel that
you are bound, in return, to do all you can in the midst of it to
promote truth and righteousness.
What then? What course should we now pursue? Let us make confession of
sin on behalf of the people as Moses and Jeremiah and Daniel did! You
may not consider that to be sin which I judge to be so, but, my
Brothers and Sisters, you see sin enough all around you of one sort or
another. Take it to yourself and, as the high priest went in to the
Holy Place to plead for the people, so you act as a priest before God
in your quiet personal devotions! Confess the sin of this nation before
God! If it will not repent, repent for it! Stand as a sort of
consecrated sponsor before God and let the sin be on your heart till
you fall on your face before the Most High! Remember, the saints are
intercessors with God for the people! You are God's remembrancers and,
as you are called to make mention of His name, keep not silent day nor
night, but in this hour of trouble pour out your hearts before Him!
Get up to your Carmels and cry aloud, you that know how to cry unto
God, that He may send deliverance! And when you have prayed for this
people and asked the Lord to forgive its sin and also to take away the
chastising rod, then all of you promote, by your daily lives, your
precepts and your actions, "whatever things are true, whatever things
are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report." Be on
the side of temperance and sobriety–be on the side of peace and of
justice–be on the side of everything that is according to the mind of
God and according to the law of love! Love God and your fellow men and
seek to promote all interests which look that way.
I believe that a country can never have a larger blessing, a truer
safeguard for the present, or a firmer security for its future
greatness than a band of praying men and women who make mention of it
before the Throne of God! English history, from the first day till now,
is as full of instruction as the history of Israel from Egypt even to
Babylon. Did you ever read Cowper's wonderful description of the care
which God has taken of this little island? How He has favored and
protected it? When all the nations were in arms against it, they could
not touch its shore for God was there! And, on the other hand, the Lord
has laid us low and made us suffer when we have boasted of our fleets
and armies. Our nation has been as much under the peculiar and especial
Providence of God as were the descendants of Jacob themselves and,
therefore, God deals with us as He does not deal with other nations!
The smothering of black men with smoke in the caves to which they had
fled. The burning down of human habitations and the hunting of men as
if they were wild beasts is greater iniquity with us than it would have
been in savages, or even in Papists or Mohammedans! Our religion is
higher, nobler, purer than theirs! We ought to be ashamed to act as
they do! Bloodshed, by some nations, God winks at, for they know but
little better–but a country which has in it the very sun of the Gospel
shining in the fullness of its strength should set to the world an
example which it can follow and, if it does not, it may expect to have
trouble after trouble and blow after blow from the hand of God!
Thus have I spoken what was burdening my heart. Make what you will of
it–it is the warning of an honest lover of his country who fears the
Lord and fears none besides! Judge me to have spoken with political
bias or not and censure me as you choose. I could say no less, or I
would gladly have held my peace. Before God I am clear in this thing of
any attempt but an upright one. May God grant that my feeble protest
may touch the hearts of those who ought to feel its truth. I am not
very confident that it will be so, for we have fallen upon evil times
and the heart of the people has waxen gross.
II. And now, secondly, let us view the text in reference to our
PERSONAL TRIALS AS BELIEVERS. Brothers and Sisters, let us now commune
with one another concerning the ways of God with our own souls. The
Lord will not cast off His people–notwithstanding their faults, they
are His own children and they shall be His children forever. But when
His children sin, God is sure to chasten them for it. "You only have I
known of all the people, therefore will I punish you for your
iniquities." He leaves His enemies alone for a while, but He smites His
sons. His foes shall go unpunished till the end shall be–but as for
His beloved, He is exceedingly jealous over them and He will make them
smart when they sin.
Has the Lord been chastening any of us of late? Has the moth been in
our estates, or has the lion been tearing our peace? Let us turn at His
rebuke! Let us say unto the Lord, "Show me why You contend with me.
Lord, if You are smiting me, I would not be as the horse or as the mule
which have no understanding, but I would turn unto You at once, before
You smite me again." It is good to repent at once and seek our heavenly
Father's face. For, note next, when chastisements are of no avail,
withdrawment follows!
The Lord has promised that He will not forsake His people, nor will He
utterly do so, but there are withdrawments which are not included in
that promise. God may so hide Himself from His servants that they may
have no conscious fellowship with Him, no enjoyment of His Word, no
power in prayer. In fact, they may pray and He may shut out their
prayer. Their life may be sapless and spiritless; joy and peace may
flee. They may possibly try, at such times, to make up for their loss
by enjoying the world. They may run after carnal pleasures and vain
amusements, but they cannot fill their minds with them–they have no
joy with such empty vanities–Grace has made them incapable of finding
soul food in the corn and wine of earth. They must have their God or
die!
Let me tell you most solemnly that it is a very sad thing when God has
withdrawn from a believing spirit and the more holy a man has been, the
more sadly will he lament that he is now under a cloud and the more
earnestly will he cry, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I
might come even to His seat!" When these withdrawments of God are
painfully felt, then we should begin most eagerly to search out the sin
which has caused them, for sin is at the bottom of it all. If,
Believer, there is a quarrel between your Beloved and yourself, is
there not a cause? Our Lord Jesus is no fitful lover who, in a moment,
will leave the soul which is espoused to Him merely to indulge a whim!
Far from it! He never trifles with us, but treats our love as a sacred
thing. There is some grave cause whenever the Beloved frowns.
Then is the time for a thorough search, a sweeping of the house and a
cleansing out of all things that offend. Throughout the heart, the
understanding and the lips, let a thorough search be initiated and if
any sin is detected–and it will not be long before it will be–let it
be brought to light and judged. Set it in the light of God's
Countenance and there confess it and lament it. Offer no excuses and
explanations, but honestly confess the wrong and leave it! Have you
restrained prayer? Confess it! Have you neglected the reading of the
Word of God? Confess it! Have you been neglectful of your children and
your family as to training them in the nurture of the Lord? Confess it!
Has there been laxity in your contact with the world? Have you given
way to flippancy and levity? Have you been proud? Have you been
slothful? Have you indulged too much in the pleasures of the table? Has
your heart set itself upon your wealth? Then bring the idols out and
let your heart see the wounds which they have given you and what it is
that you have doted on and what these things are which have come
between you and your God! Surely you will be ashamed of them when you
consider that their love is the price for which you have parted with
your Savior's Presence! Is this a goodly price that your Lord was
exchanged for by you? Judas's pieces of silver were not more
contemptible than these poor paltry bribes! Lament the treachery of
your heart and hear Him ask you, "Do you love Me?" Do not hesitate to
answer, "Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You."
But, Beloved, when you have obtained a sense of the sin or sins which
separate you from God and have made a full confession, then take care
that you seek the Lord with hopefulness and confidence, for,
notwithstanding all this, you are still His child and must not give way
to a paralyzing despair. You are married to Christ and there is no
divorce with Him, "for the Lord, the God of Israel, says He hates
putting away." He will not cast off forever, nor put away His erring
spouse. Come, therefore, to Him with humble confidence! He has torn and
He will heal. He has struck and He will bind us up. Seek His face, for
His face is towards you! The very face of God is Jesus Christ! The Son
of God is He in whom we see the Father! Even as you see a man in his
countenance, so God is seen in Christ! Seek God in Christ Jesus, for
thereby good shall come unto you.
Do not say, "It is of no use, I have backslidden and revolted again and
again and He will now refuse me totally." No, He will not reject you!
You are not out of reach of His love–He will turn, again, and have
compassion on you, for He delights in mercy! If He withdraws, it is
only that you may sigh after Him and seek after Him. A nurse, when her
little child will go away from her and fall into danger, will sometimes
hide herself from it to teach it better. She still sees the
child, though the little one cannot see her. She is near to help, but
the child cannot find her and so it begins to cry for her and does not
rest till she is found. The child will not so soon wander again.
Even so may the Lord hide His face to make us cry after Him, but He is
very near us, all the while, and He will yet be found of us. "Behold,"
says He, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man open to me I will
enter in." It is not much, is it, to open the door? That is all He
asks. Open and let Him in, for He adds, "and I will sup with him." "Ah,
Lord," say to Him, "we have no provision fit for You." But know
assuredly He brings His supper with Him and we sup with Him and He with
us! He only wants you to lend the house, by opening your heart, for He
has brought the food! Yes, He is, Himself, our Bread from Heaven!
Now, to whom is this spoken? To sinners? No, no, it is spoken to the
Church of Laodicea, which was "neither cold nor hot." Her Lord was
ready to spit her out of His mouth and yet in mercy He cries, "Behold,
I stand at the door and knock." O Backslider, Jesus waits to be
gracious to you! He longs to restore you! Only acknowledge your
transgression and return to Him! Be of good cheer as to acceptance, for
He casts out none who come to Him. End this backsliding for there need
be no more misery! God help you to rise, this very day, into a closer
walk with Him and may He keep you by His side forever! To be out of
fellowship with God is for the heart to be in a state of spiritual
disease. Things must be wrong within when we are wrong with God. When
we do not walk in the Light, as God is in the Light, there is some evil
in the eye of the soul. Dread the evil and cry for healing!
To be away from God is to be in a state of spiritual weakness. Samson
may shake himself as at other times, but he can do no deeds of strength
when the Lord has departed from him. God is our strength and God's
hiding makes us weak as water! If the Lord should leave us, we cannot
plead with Him and prevail, nor can we plead with men and win them for
Christ. Our strength has departed–both towards God and towards
man–when our fellowship with God is suspended. Our heart cannot leap
like a young roe upon the mountains–our spirit limps as one whose
bones are broken. We cannot even gaze through the gates of pearl to see
the Glory which the Spirit reveals, for our eyes are dim so that we
cannot see afar off when Jesus is away.
If you are in this condition, you are in an evil case–carking care
invades you, anxieties annoy you, your temper gets the mastery, Satan
accuses–and conscience trembles! Your spirit is like that of a carnal
man and you are apt to speak unadvisedly with your lips and to be
readily moved by every external influence. What is worse, when a man is
out of fellowship with God, he is in danger of presumptuous sins!
David, on the terraces of his palace, had not been walking with God, or
else the sight of Bathsheba had not caused him so grievous a fall. Lose
communion with Christ and you are on the verge of a folly which will
stain your character and terribly mar your life! It is only when we are
near to God that we are safe–therefore let a sense of danger drive us
to Him at once!
I speak from a widespread observation as well as from an inward
experience. There is but a step between distance from God and the
nearness of temptation and sin. If God thinks much of you, He will have
you near Him, or else He will make you miserable. He will not permit
you to rejoice except in Himself! If your love is not worth His having,
you may love whom you like. But when He loves you much, He will be very
jealous over you and if He finds you are content to be without His
company, He will make you suffer for such wantonness ingratitude! That
By-Path Meadow business–that going down the green lane to get off the
pebbles of the right road; that getting away from Christ to have a
taste of the world's sweet delusions; that coming down from our high
places as if we had grown weary of being happy and were discontented
with an angelic life–all that means a succession of afflictions and
regrets which can only, at the very best, end in our getting to Christ,
again, with broken bones.
Such wanderings are painful, end how they may! David's life, before his
sin–how different it was from his life afterwards! You can always tell
which Psalms he wrote before his transgression–they are so jubilant,
so full of holy rejoicing! But afterwards, when he sings, it is in a
bass voice. He sweeps his harp, but the strings are disordered. He
loves his God, but it is the solemn, tearful love of repentance rather
than the bright sparkling love of delight in God. Do not err, my
beloved Brothers and Sisters, for error brings sorrow. "Little
children, keep yourselves from idols." If you have gone aside to evil,
then seek early the face of God and He will be found of you in Christ
Jesus!
III. And now my time is almost spent. I have but a few minutes to use
on the third head and I would, therefore, speak few words, but speak
them very earnestly, indeed. We shall now think of THE PERSONAL TRIALS
OF THE SINNER. Oh, you that are unconverted, if God means to save you,
He will, before long, begin by chastening you in body or in
mind. You will have trouble! You are a wandering sheep and God will
send His black dog after you to fetch you to the fold. If one trouble
does not do it, you will have another and another and another! Perhaps
I speak to some who, as the result of Providential chastening and the
work of conscience on their spirit, have already been awakened–let
them take heed of trifling with their awakening!
After that earnest sermon, or after reading that stirring book, you
began to pray, but your desires and feelings have now subsided. I would
have you greatly grieve over this. Let me warn you that God may
withdraw Himself from you altogether. Some have been sitting in this
Tabernacle, now, for years from whom I fear God has withdrawn Himself,
for you used to feel much moved by the Gospel, but it is not so now!
You would not come when you were called and admonished, but you
revolted more and more–and now His mercy is growing weary of you. You
were smitten again and again, but you still rebelled and now God says,
"Let him alone." This is a more terrible calamity than you suspect–
unless it is averted, it will be your ruin!
I may be speaking to some strangers here who, at one time, had a
disturbed conscience, but they have grown very callous of late. You are
in danger of eternal wrath but you are amazingly carefree! You can even
make jokes about religion, can't you? Poor souls! I fear the Lord has
given you over for a time, at least–I hope not forever! Do you ask me
what you should do? I reply that according to our text it is high time
for you to seek the Lord! You were smitten before you tried
self-righteousness, Church-going, Chapel-going, sacraments and so
forth–as the Prophet says, you went to king Jareb, but he could not
heal you of your wounds. You must now return to your God or you will
never be right. It is vain to look to priests, or sacraments, or
religion–all these things put together are nothing!
You must have personal dealings with your God and you must confess your
sin to Him, or you will be eternally undone. Go and do it this morning!
Tell Him all that you know about your sin and ask Him to have mercy
upon you for Jesus' sake. Seek to know Him as He manifests Himself in
Jesus. Be willing to believe whatever He pleases to reveal. Be anxious
to be reconciled to Him. Long to be at peace with the great God who
made the heavens and the earth. Why should there be a quarrel between
your Creator and your soul? The way of reconciliation is by the blood
of His Son, Jesus Christ. You must, therefore, trust Jesus and then you
shall find the peace of God. Oh may His Spirit help you to do this now!
Seek Him and seek Him intensely, resolving that you will never cease to
seek till you find God full of mercy and love to you. Come, I pray you,
and turn unto the Lord, now, and may the Holy Spirit aid you in doing
so.
He has torn and He will heal you. He has struck and He will bind you
up. After two days He will revive you. On the third day He will raise
you up and you shall live in His sight! God Himself must heal you, or
you will never be healed! He who has broken your heart must give you
comfort or you will never have any! Hasten to your chamber at once and
then upon your knees cry out unto God with the prayer of faith. Be not
content with your own sense of sin. Do not say, "I am doing fine, for I
have felt my guilt." No, your sense of sin may be but the first drop of
a shower of eternal remorse. Get away to God in Christ and rest not
till you are there.
Oh, if I had the power to put this into fitting and forcible words I
would implore every man and woman that I look upon not to live without
God! He made you and you cannot be happy without Him. While He is angry
with you, you cannot be at peace! He bids you come to Him. The blows of
His Providence are meant to separate you from the love of sin and drive
you to your God! In Jesus Christ, the great Father stretches out His
arms to you and says, "Come now, and let us reason together: though
your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Believe in Jesus and live! "Seek you the Lord while He may be found!
Call upon Him while He is near! Let the wicked forsake his ways and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and He
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." God bless you, my beloved Friends, for His name's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Hosea 5. HYMNS FROM "OUR 0WN
HYMN BOOK"–605, 620, 614.
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Our Motto