The Reward Of The Righteous
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 21, 1866,
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"When the Son of Mian shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then He will sit upon the throne of His glory. All the
nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He willset
the sheep on His righthand, but the goats on the left. Then the King
will say to them on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
for I was hungry, and you ga ve Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me
drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked, and you
clothed Me; was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came
to Me." Matthew 25:31-36.
IT is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present
evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and
the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us
and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud, carnal. It is well for
us to cut down these thorns and briars, for heavenly seed sown among
them is not likely to yield a harvest. I do not know a better sickle
with which to cut them down than thoughts of the kingdom to come.
In the valleys in Switzerland many of the inhabitants are deformed and
dwarfish, and the whole of them wear a sickly appearance for the
atmosphere is noxious, and is close and stagnant. You traverse those
valleys as rapidly as you can and are glad to escape from them. Up
yonder on the mountain you will find a hardy race who breathe the clear
fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It
would be well for their frames if the dwellers in the valley could
frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists and
get themselves up into the clear atmosphere above.
It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this morning!
May the Spirit of God bear us as upon eagles' wings that we may leave
the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety and all the ills which
gather in this valley of earth, and get ourselves up to the mountains
of future joy and blessedness where it is to be our delight to dwell
world without end! Oh may God disentangle us now for a little while,
cut the cords that keep us here below, and permit us to mount! We sit,
some of us, like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike
the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came
really to the test, loath to have it snapped.
May God now grant us Divine Grace if we cannot at once escape from the
chain of mortal life as to our bodies, yet to do so as to our
spirits–and leaving the body like a servant at the foot of the hill,
may our soul, like Abraham, go to the top of the mountain–and there
may we have communion with the Most High! While expounding my text, I
shall ask your attention this morning, first, to the circumstances
which surround the rewarding of the righteous. Secondly, to their
portion. And thirdly, to the persons themselves.
I. There is MUCH OF TEACHING IN THE SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES. We read,
"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory." It appears, then, that
we must not expect to receive our reward till by-and-by. Like the
hireling we must fulfill our day, and then at evening we shall have our
penny. Too many Christians look for a present reward for their labors.
And if they meet with success, they begin doting upon it as though they
had received their recompense.
Like the disciples who returned saying, "Lord, even the devils are
subject unto us," they rejoice too exclusively in present
prosperity–whereas the Master bade them not to look upon miraculous
success as being their reward, since that might not always be the case.
"Nevertheless," said He, "rejoice not in this, but rather rejoice
because your names are written in Heaven." Success in the ministry is
not the Christian minister's true reward–it is an earnest–but the
wages still are in the future. You must not look upon the praise from
your fellow men as being the reward of excellence, for often you will
meet with the reverse–you will find your best actions misconstrued,
and your motives ill interpreted.
If you are looking for your reward here I may warn you of the Apostle's
words, "If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most
miserable." Because other men get their reward–even the Pharisee gets
his–"Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward"–but we have none
here. To be despised and rejected of men is the Christian's lot! Among
his fellow Christians he will not always stand in good repute. It is
not unmitigated kindness nor unmingled love that we receive even from
the saints.
I tell you, if you look for your reward from Christ's bride, herself,
you will miss it! If you expect to receive your crown from the hand,
even of your Brethren in the ministry who know your labors, and who
ought to sympathize with your trials, you will be mistaken! "When the
Son of Man shall come in His glory," then is your time of
recompense–not today, nor tomorrow, nor at any time in this world!
Reckon nothing which you acquire, no honor which you gain to be the
reward of your service to your Master! That is reserved for the time
"when the Son of Man shall come in His glory."
Observe with delight the august person by whose hand the reward is
given. It is written, "When the Son of Man shall come." Brethren, we
love the King's courtiers–we delight to be numbered with them
ourselves. It is no mean thing to do service to Him whose head–"Though
once was crowned with thorns, is crowned with glory now." But it is a
delightful thought that the service of rewarding us will not be left to
the courtiers. The angels will be there and the Brethren of the King
will be there–but Heaven was not prepared by them–nor can it be given
by them!
Their hands shall not yield us a coronation–we shall join their songs,
but their songs would be no reward for us! We shall bow with them and
they with us–but it will not be possible for them to give us the
recompense of the reward–that starry crown is all too weighty for an
angel's hand to bring, and the benediction all too sweet to be
pronounced, even by seraphic lips!
The King Himself must say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." What
do you say to this, my dear Brothers and Sisters? You have felt a
temptation to look to God's servants, to the approval of the minister,
to the kindly look of parents, to the word of commendation from your
fellow worker. All these you value, and I do not blame you–but these
may fail you–and therefore never consider them as being the reward.
You must wait till the time when the King comes, and then it will
neither be your Brethren, your pastors, your parents, nor your helpers,
but the King Himself who shall say to you, "Come, you blessed."
How this sweetens Heaven! It will be Christ's own gift! How this makes
the benediction doubly blessed! It shall come from His lips which drop
like myrrh and flow with honey! Beloved, it is Christ, who became a
curse for us, who shall give the blessing to us! Roll this as a sweet
morsel under your tongues. The Character in which our Lord Jesus shall
appear is significant. Jesus will then be revealed as truly "the King."
"When the Son of Man shall come." It was to Him as King that the
service was rendered, and it is from Him as King that the reward must
therefore come.
And so, upon the very threshold a question of self-examination
arises–"The King will not reward the servants of another prince–am I,
therefore, His servant? Is it my joy to wait at the threshold of His
gates and sit like Mordecai at the courts of Ahasuerus–at the entrance
of His door? Say, Soul, do you serve the King?" I mean not the kings
and queens of earth–let them have loyal servants for their
subjects–but saints are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of
kings–are you so? If you are not so, when the King comes in His glory
there can be no reward for you.
I long in my own heart to recognize Christ's kingly office more than I
have ever done. It has been my delight to preach to you Christ dying on
the Cross, and, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross."
But I want, for my own self, to realize Him on His Throne, reigning in
my heart, having a right to do as He wills with me! I want to get to
the condition of Abraham, who, when God spoke, though it was to tell
him to offer up his own Isaac, never asked a question, but simply said,
"Here am I."
Beloved, seek to know and feel the controlling power of the King, or
else when He comes, since you have not known Him as King, He cannot
know you as servant! And it is only to the servant that the King can
give the reward which is spoken of in the text–"When the Son of Man
shall come."
Now pass on. "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory." The
fullness of that is impossible to conceive–
"Imagination's utmost stretch, In wonder dies away."
But this we know–and it is the sweetest thing we can know–that if we
have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we also shall be sharers
with Him in the luster which shall surround Him. Are you, Beloved, one
with Christ Jesus? Are you of His flesh and of His bones? Does a vital
union knit you to Him? Then you are today with Him in His shame–you
have taken up His Cross and gone with Him outside the camp bearing His
reproach.
You shall doubtless be with Him when the Cross is exchanged for the
crown! But judge yourself this morning! If you are not with Him in the
regeneration, neither shall you be with Him when He shall come in His
glory! If you start back from the black side of communion, you shall
not understand its bright, its happy period when the King shall come in
His glory and all His holy angels with Him. What? Are angels with Him?
And yet He took not up angels–He took up the seed of Abraham.
Are the holy angels with Him? Come, my Soul, then you can not be far
from Him! If His friends and His neighbors are called together to see
His glory, what do you think if you are married to Him–shall you be
distant? Though it is a day of judgment, yet you cannot be far from
that heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted
you into union. Has He not said to you, O my Soul, "I have betrothed
you unto Me in faithfulness, and in judgment, and in righteousness"?
Have not His own lips said it, "I am married to you, and My delight is
in you"? Then if the angels, who are but the friends and the neighbors,
shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His own beloved
Hephzibah, in whom is all His delight, shall be near to Him and shall
be a partaker of His splendor!
It is when He comes in His glory, and when His communion with angels
shall be distinctly recognized–it is then that His unity with His
Church shall become apparent! "Then will He sit upon the throne of His
glory." Here is a repetition of the same reason why it should be your
time and my time to receive the reward from Christ if we are found
among His faithful servants! When He sits upon His throne it were not
fit that His own beloved ones should be in the mire! When He was in the
place of shame they were with Him–and now that He is on the throne of
gold, they must be with Him, too.
There were no oneness–union with Christ were a mere matter of talk–if
it were not certain that when He is on the throne they shall be upon
the throne, too. But I want you to notice one particular circumstance
with regard to the time of the reward. It is when He shall have divided
the sheep from the goats. My reward, if I am a child of God, cannot
come to me while I am in union with the wicked. Even on earth you will
have the most enjoyment of Christ when you are most separated from this
world! Rest assured, although the separated path does not seem an easy
one–and it will certainly entail upon you persecution and the loss of
many friends–yet it is the happiest walking in the world!
You conforming Christians who can enter into the world's mirth to a
certain degree–you cannot–you never can know as you now are, the
inward joys of those who live in lonely but lovely fellowship with
Jesus. The nearer you get to the world the further you must be from
Christ. I believe the more thoroughly a bill of divorce is given by
your spirit to every earthly object upon which your soul can set
itself, the more close will be your communion with your Lord. "Forget
also your own country and your Father's house; so shall the King
greatly desire your beauty, for He is your Lord, and worship you Him."
It is significant that not until the King has separated the sheep from
the goats does He say, "Come, you blessed." And though the righteous
will have enjoyed a happiness as disembodied spirits, yet as risen from
the grave in their bodies, their happiness is not fully accomplished
till the great Shepherd shall have appeared to separate them from all
association with the nations that forget God, once and for all, by a
great gulf which cannot be passed.
Now then, Beloved, these circumstances all put together come to
this–the reward of following Christ is not today, is not among the
sons of men, is not from men, is not even from the excellent of the
earth, is not even bestowed by Jesus while we are here–the glorious
crown of life which the Lord's Divine Grace shall give to His people is
reserved for the second advent, "when the Son of Man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him." Wait with patience! Wait with
joyful expectation, for He shall come, and blessed be the day of His
appearing!
II. We have now to turn to the second point–THE PORTION ITSELF. Every
word is suggestive. I shall not attempt to exhaust, but merely to
glance at all of them. The reward of the righteous is set forth by the
loving benediction pronounced to them by the Master, but their very
position gives some foreshadowing of it. He put the sheep on His right
hand. Heaven is a position of the most elevated dignity authoritatively
conferred and of Divine complacency manifestly enjoyed.
God's saints are always at His right hand according to the judgment of
faith, but hereafter it shall be more clearly manifested. God is
pleased to be close to His people, and to place them near to Himself in
a place of protection. Sometimes it seems as if they were at the left
hand–they certainly have, some of them, less comfort than the
worldlings. "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading
himself like a green bay tree. Their eyes stand out with fatness, they
have more than heart could wish."
Whereas His people are often made to drink waters of less than a full
cup, and their meat and their drink are bitter with wormwood and gall.
The world is upside down now. The Gospel has begun to turn it the right
way uppermost, but when the day of Grace is over, and the day of glory
comes, then shall it be righted, indeed! Then those that wandered about
in sheepskins and goatskins shall be clothed in glittering apparel,
being transfigured like the Savior upon Tabor! Then those of whom the
world was not worthy shall come to a world that shall be worthy of
them!
Then those who were hurried to the stake and to the flames shall
triumph with chariots of fire and horses of fire, and swell the
splendor of the Master's pompous appearing! Yes, Beloved, you shall
eternally be the object of Divine complacency, not in secret and
unknown communion, but your state and glory shall be revealed before
the sons of men! Your persecutors shall gnash their teeth when they see
you occupying places of honor at His right hand, and themselves, though
greater far than you on earth, condemned to take the lowest room!
How shall Dives bite his fire-tormented tongue in vain as he sees
Lazarus, the beggar on the dunghill, made to sit at the right hand of
the King eternal and immortal! Heaven is a place of dignity. "There we
shall be as the angels," said one, but I know we shall be even superior
than they! Is it not written of Him who in all things is our
representative, "You have put all things under His feet"? Even the very
seraphs, themselves, so richly blessed–what are they but "ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation"?
But now, turning to the welcome uttered by the Judge, the first word is
"Come." It is the Gospel symbol. The Law said "Go." The Gospel says,
"Come." The Spirit said it in invitation. The Bride said it in
intercession. "Let him that hears" say it by constantly, laboriously
endeavoring to spread abroad the good news! Since Jesus said, "Come,"
we learn that the very essence of Heaven is communion. "Come!" You came
near enough to say, "Lord, we believe, help You our unbelief!"
You looked to Him on the Cross and were lightened. You had fellowship
with Him in bearing His Cross. You filled up that which was behind of
the sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church.
Still come! Ever, come! Forever come! Come up from your graves, you
risen ones! Come up from among the ungodly, you consecrated ones! Come
up from where you cast yourselves down in your humiliation before the
Great White Throne! Come up to wear My crown and sit with Me upon My
Throne! Oh, that word has Heaven lurking within it! It shall be to you
your joy forever to hear the Savior say to you, "Come."
I declare before you that my soul has sometimes been so full of joy
that I could hold no more when my beloved Lord has said, "Come," to my
soul! For He has taken me into His banqueting house and His banner of
love has waved over my head. And He has taken me away from the world
and its cares and its fears, and its trials and its joys, up to "the
top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon," where He manifested
Himself to me! When this, "Come," shall come into your ear from the
Master's lips there shall not be the flesh to drag you back! There
shall be no sluggishness of spirit, no heaviness of heart–you shall
come eternally, then–you shall not mount to descend again, but mount
on and on in blessed joy forever and forever!
The first word indicates that Heaven is a state of communion–"Come."
Then it is, "Come, you blessed," which is a clear declaration that this
is a state of happiness. They cannot be more blessed than they are!
They have their hearts' desire and their hearts have been enlarged and
their desires have been expanded by entering into the Infinite. And
though they are rid of the cramping influences of corruption and of
time, yet even when their desire shall know no bounds they shall have
all the happiness that the utmost stretch of their souls can by any
possibility conceive. This much, and this is all we know–they are
supremely blessed!
Their blessedness, you perceive, does not come from any secondary joy
but from the great primary Source of all good. "Come, you blessed of My
Father." They drink the unadulterated wine at the winepress itself,
where it joyously leaps from the bursting clusters! They pluck
celestial fruits from the unwithering boughs of the immortal tree! They
shall sit at the well-head and drink the waters as they spring forth
with unrivalled freshness from the depths of the heart! (If Deity, they
shall not be basking in the beams of the sun, but they shall be, like
Uriel, the angel in the sun. They shall dwell in God, and so their
souls shall be satisfied with favor, and full and more than full with
His Presence and benediction.)
Notice, once again, that according to the words used it is a state
where they shall recognize their right to be there–a state, therefore,
of perfect freedom and ease and fearlessness. It is–"inherit the
kingdom." A man does not fear to lose that which he wins by descent
from his parents. If Heaven had been the subject of earning, we might
have feared that our merits had not really deserved it and therefore
suspect that one day a Writ of Error would be issued and that we should
be ejected. But we do know whose sons we are! We know whose love it is
that makes glad our spirits, and when we "inherit" the kingdom we shall
enter it not as strangers or as foreigners, but as sons coming to their
birthright.
Looking over all its streets of gold and surveying all its walls of
pearl we shall feel that we are at home in our own house, and have an
actual right–not through merit but through Divine Grace–to everything
that is there! It will be a state of heavenly bliss! The Christian
shall feel that law and justice are on his side and that those stern
attributes have brought him there as well as mercy and loving kindness.
But the word "inherit" here imports full possession and enjoyment. They
have inherited in a certain sense before, but now as an heir, when he
has arrived at fall maturity begins to spend his own money, and to farm
his own acres, so do they enter into their heritage. We are not full
grown as yet and therefore are not admitted to full possession. But
wait awhile! Those grey hairs betoken, my Brethren, that you are
getting ripe. These, these, these my still youthful locks show me,
alas, that I may have to tarry for a little longer! And yet I know
not–the Lord may soon permit me to sleep with my fathers. But later or
earlier, be it as He wills, we shall one day come into possession of
the goodly land.
Now if it is sweet to be an heir while you are in youth, what is it to
be an heir when arrived at perfect manhood? Was it not delightful to
sing that hymn just now, and to behold the land of pure delight whose
everlasting spring and never-withering flowers are just across the
narrow stream of death? Oh you sweet fields! You saints immortal who
lie down there! When shall we be with you and be satisfied? If the mere
thinking of Heaven ravishes the soul, what must it be to be there? To
plunge deep into the stream of blessedness? To dive and find no bottom?
To swim and find no shore? To sip of the wine of Heaven, as we
sometimes do, makes our hearts so glad that we know not how to express
our joy!
But what will it be to drink deep and drink again, and sit forever at
the table and know that the feast will never be over and the cups will
never be empty and that there will be no worse wine to be brought out
at the last, but if possible better, still, and better still in
infinite progression?
The word "kingdom," which stands next, indicates the richness of the
heritage of saints. It is no petty estate, no alms rooms, no happy
corner in obscurity. I heard a good man say he should be content to win
a corner behind the door. I shall not be! The Lord says we shall
inherit a kingdom. We would not be satisfied to inherit less, because
less than that would not suit our character. "He has made us kings and
priests unto God," and we must reign forever and ever, or be as
wretched as deposed monarchs!
A king without a kingdom were an unhappy man! If I were a poor servant,
an alms room would be a joy, for it would consort with my condition and
degree. But if I am made, by Grace, a king–I must have a kingdom, or I
shall not have attained to a position equal to my nature! He who makes
us kings will give us a kingdom to fit the nature which He has bestowed
upon us. Beloved, strive after, more and more, that which the Spirit of
God will give you–a kingly heart! Do not be among those who are
satisfied and content with the miserable nature of ordinary humanity. A
child's glass bead is all the world is to a truly royal spirit! These
glittering diadems are only nursery toys to God's kings!
The true jewels are up there! The true treasury of wealth looks down
upon the stars. Do not stint your soul! Be not straitened! Get a kingly
heart–ask the King of kings to give it to you–and beg of Him a royal
spirit. Act royally on earth towards your Lord, and for His sake
towards all men. Go about the world not as mean men in spirit and act,
but as kings and princes of a race superior to the dirt scrapers who
are on their knees, crawling in the mud after yellow earth. Then, when
your soul is royal, remember with joy that your future inheritance
shall be all that your kingly soul pants after in its most royal
moments. It will be a state of unutterable richness and wealth of soul.
According to the word "prepared," we may conceive it to be a condition
of surpassing excellence. It is a kingdom prepared–and it has been so
long a time prepared, and He who prepares it is so wondrously rich in
resources–that we cannot possibly conceive how excellent it must be!
If I might so speak, God's common gifts which He throws away as though
they were nothing, are priceless. But what will be these gifts upon
which the infinite mind of God has been set for ages of ages in order
that they may reach the highest degree of excellence?
Long before Christmas chimes were ringing mother was so glad to think
her boy was coming home, after the first quarter he had been out at
school, and straightway she began preparing and planning all sorts of
joys for him! Well might the holidays be happy when mother had been
contriving to make them so. Now in an infinitely nobler manner the
great God has prepared a kingdom for His people! He has thought, "that
will please them, and that will bless them, and this other will make
them superlatively happy."
He prepared the kingdom to perfection! And then, as if that were not
enough, the glorious Man, Christ Jesus, went up from earth to
Heaven–and you know what He said when He departed–"I go to prepare a
place for you." We know that the infinite God can prepare a place
fitting for a finite creature, but the words smile so sweetly at us as
we read that Jesus Himself, who is a Man and therefore knows our
hearts' desires, has had a finger in it! He has prepared it, too. It is
a kingdom prepared for you upon which the thoughts of God have been set
to make it excellent, "from before the foundation of the world."
But we must not pause. It is a "kingdom prepared for you." Mark that! I
must confess I do not like certain expressions which I hear, sometimes,
which imply that Heaven is prepared for some who will never reach
it–prepared for those who will be driven as accursed ones into the
place of torment. I know there is a sacred expression which says, "let
no man take your crown." But that refers to the crown of ministerial
success, rather than of eternal Glory. An expression which grated on my
ear the other evening from the lips of a certain good man ran something
in this fashion: "There is a Heaven prepared for all of you, but if you
are not faithful you will not win it. There is a crown in Heaven laid
up for you, but if you are not faithful it will be without a wearer."
I do not believe it! I cannot believe it! That the crown of Eternal
Life, which is laid up for the blessed of the Father will ever be given
to anybody else or left without a possessor, I do not believe! I dare
not conceive of crowns in Heaven and nobody to wear them! Do you think
that in Heaven, when the whole number of saints is complete, you will
find a number of unused crowns?
"Ah, what are these for? Where are the heads for these?" "They are in
Hell!" Then, Brother, I have no particular desire to be in Heaven. If
all the family of Christ are not there, my soul will be wretched and
forlorn because of their sad loss, because I am in union with them all.
If one son that believed in Jesus does not get there I shall lose
respect for the promise and respect for the Master, too. He must keep
His word to every soul that rests on Him. If your God has gone the
length of actually preparing a place for His people and has made
provision for them and been disappointed, He is no God to me, for I
could not adore a disappointed God!
I do not believe in such a God! Such a being would not be God at all.
The notion of disappointment in His eternal preparations is not
consistent with Deity. Talk thus of Jupiter and Venus if you please,
but the Infinite Jehovah is, as far as human speech can dishonor Him,
dishonored by being mentioned in such a connection! He has prepared a
place for you! Here is personal election. He has made a distinct
ordinance for every one of His people that where He is, there shall
they be. "Prepared from before the foundation of the world." Here is
eternal election appearing before men were created, preparing a crown
before heads were made to wear it!
And so God had, before the starry skies began to gleam, carried out the
decree of election in a measure which when Christ shall come shall be
perfected to the praise of the glory of His Divine Grace. "Who works
all things after the counsel of His will." Our portion, then, is one
prepared from all eternity for us according to the election of God's
Grace–one suitable to the loftiest character to which we can ever
attain! One which will consist in nearness to Christ, communion with
God, and standing forever in a place of dignity and happiness!
III. And now I have very little time to speak, as I hoped to have
spoken this morning, about THE PERSONS WHO SHALL COME THERE. They are
recognizable by a secret and by a public character. Their name
is–"blessed of My Father"–the Father chose them, gave His Son for
them, justified them through Christ, preserved them in Christ Jesus,
adopted them into the family–and now accepts them into His own house.
Their nature you have described in the word "inherit." None can inherit
but sons. They have been born again and have received the Nature of
God. Having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust,
they have become partakers of the Divine Nature–they are sons. Their
appointment is mentioned–"inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
before the foundation of the world."
Their name is "blessed." Their nature is that of a child. Their
appointment is that of God's decree. Their doings, their outward
doings–these we want to speak upon a minute. They appear to have been
distinguished among men for deeds of charity, and these were not in any
way associated with ceremonies or outward observances. It is not said
that they preached–they did, some of them. It is not said that they
prayed–they must have done so or they would not have been spiritually
alive.
The actions which are selected as their type are actions of charity to
the indigent and forlorn. Why these? I think because the general
audience assembled around the Throne would know how to appreciate this
evidence of their newborn nature. The King might think more of their
prayers than of their alms, but the multitude would not. He speaks so
as to gain the verdict of all assembled. Even their enemies could not
object to His calling those blessed who had performed these actions. If
there is an action which wins for men the universal consent, it is an
action by which men would be served. Against this there is no law.
I have never heard of a state in which there was a law against clothing
the naked and feeding the hungry. Humanity at once, when its conscience
is so seared that it cannot see its own sinfulness, yet detects the
virtuousness of feeding the poor. Doubtless this is one reason why
these actions were selected. And again, they may have been chosen as
evidences of Divine Grace, because, as actions, they are a wonderful
means of separating between the hypocrite and the true Christian.
Dr. Gill has an idea, and perhaps he is right, that this is not a
picture of the general judgment, but of the judgment of the professing
Church. If so, it is all the more reasonable to conclude that these
works of mercy are selected as the appropriate discerner between the
hypocrite and the sincere. I fear that there are some of you high
professors who could not stand the test. "Good praying people" they
call you, but what do you give to the Lord? Your religion has not
touched your pockets! This does not apply to some of you, for there are
many here of whom I would venture to speak before the bar of God that I
know their substance to be consecrated to the Lord and His poor, and I
have sometimes thought that beyond their means they have given both to
the poor and to God's cause.
But there are others of a very different disposition. Now here I shall
give you a little plain English talk which none can fail to understand.
You may talk about your religion till you have worn your tongue out,
and you may get others to believe you! You may remain in the Church
twenty years and nobody ever detect in you anything like an
inconsistency. But if it is in your power and you do nothing to relieve
the necessities of the poor members of Christ's body, you will be
damned as surely as if you were drunkards or whoremongers! If you have
no care for God's Church, what I am about to say applies to you–and
you will as surely sink to the lowest Hell as if you had been common
blasphemers!
That is very plain English, but it is the plain meaning of my text, and
it is at my peril that I flinch from telling you of it. "I was hungry,
and you gave me"–what? Good advice? Yes, but no meat. "I was thirsty,
and you gave me"–what? A tract? And no drink. "I was naked, and you
gave me"–what? Your good wishes? But no clothes. I was a stranger
and–you pitied me, but you did not take me in. I was sick–you said
you could recommend me a doctor, but you did not visit me. I was in
prison, I, God's servant, a persecuted one, put in prison for Christ's
sake and you said I should be more cautious! But you did not stand by
my side and take a share of the blame and bear with me reproach for the
Truth for God's sake!
You see, this is a very terrible winnowing fan to some of you cowardly
ones whose main object is to get all you can and hold it fast! But it
is a fan which frequently must be used. Some may deceive you and spare
you–but by the Grace of God I will not–but will labor to be more bold
than ever in denouncing sin. "Well," says one, "what are those to do
who are so poor that they have nothing to give away?" My dear Brothers
and Sisters, do you notice how beautifully the text takes care of you?
It hints that there are some who cannot give bread to the hungry, and
clothes to the naked, but what about them? Why, you see, they are the
persons spoken of as, "My Brethren," who receive the kindness, so that
this passage comforts the poor and by no means condemns them!.
Certain of us honestly give to the poor all we can spare, and then, of
course, everybody comes to us! And when we say, "Really, I cannot give
any more," somebody snarls and says, "Call yourself a Christian?" "Yes,
I do. I should not call myself a Christian if I gave away other
people's money. I should not call myself a Christian if I gave away
what I have not got–I should call myself a thief–pretending to be
charitable when I could not pay my debts." I have a very great pity,
indeed, for those people who get into the Bankruptcy Court. I do not
mean the debtors. I have seldom much sympathy with them–I have a good
deal for the creditors who lose by having trusted dishonest people!
If any man should say, "I will live beyond my means in order to get a
good character," my dear Brothers and Sisters, you are wrong. That
action is in itself wrong. What you have to give must be that which is
your own. "But I shall have to pinch myself," says one, "if I do it."
Well, pinch yourself! I do not think there is half the pleasure in
doing good till you get to the pinching point. This remark, of course,
applies only to those of us of moderate means who can soon distribute
our alms and get down to the pinch point.
When you begin to feel, "Now, I must go without that. Now I must
curtail these in order to do more good," oh, you cannot tell–it is
THEN when you can really feel–"Now I have not given God merely the
cheese parings and candle ends that I could not use, but I have really
cut out for my Master a good piece of the loaf! I have not given Him
the old crusts that were getting moldy, but I have given Him a piece of
my own daily bread, and I am glad to do it if I can show my love to
Jesus Christ by denying myself!"
If you are doing this. If you are thus, out of love to Jesus, feeding
the hungry and clothing the naked, I believe that these are put down as
tests–because they are such blessed detectives between the hypocrites
and the really godly people. When you read "for" here, you must not
understand it to be that their reward is because of this, but that they
are proven to be God's servants by this. And so, while they do not
merit it because of these actions, yet these actions show that they
were saved by Grace, which is evidenced by the fact that Jesus Christ
worked such works in them. If Christ does not work such things in you,
you have no part in Him! If you have not produced such works as these
you have not believed in Jesus.
Now somebody says, "Then I intend to give to the poor in the future in
order that I may have this reward." Ah, but you are very much mistaken
if you do that. The Duke of Burgundy was waited upon by a poor man, a
very loyal subject, who brought him a very large root which he had
grown. He was a very poor man, indeed, and every root he grew in his
garden was of consequence to him. But merely as a loyal offering he
brought to his prince the largest his little garden produced. The
prince was so pleased with the man's evident loyalty and affection that
he gave him a very large sum.
The steward thought, "Well, I see this pays! This man has got fifty
pounds for his large root. I think I shall make the duke a present." So
he bought a horse and he reckoned that he should have in return ten
times as much for it as it was worth, and he presented it with that
view. The duke, like a wise man, quietly accepted the horse and gave
the greedy steward nothing. That was all. So you say, "Well, here is a
Christian man, and he gets rewarded. He has been giving to the poor,
helping the Lord's Church, and see he is saved! The thing pays, I shall
make a little investment."
Yes, but you see the steward did not give the horse out of any idea of
loyalty, or kindness, or love to the duke, but out of very great love
to himself–and therefore had no return. And if you perform deeds of
charity out of the idea of getting to Heaven by them, why it is
yourself that you are feeding! It is yourself that you are clothing!
All your virtue is not virtue, it is rank selfishness! It smells strong
of selfhood, and Christ will never accept it! You will never hear Him
say, "Thank you" for it. You served yourself, and no reward is due.
You must first come to the Lord Jesus Christ and look to Him to save
you! You must forever renounce all idea of doing anything to save
yourself! But being saved, you will be able to give to the poor and so
on without selfishness mixing with your motive–and you will get a
reward of Divine Grace for the love token which you have given. It is
necessary to believe in Christ in order to be capable of true virtue of
the highest order. It is necessary to trust Jesus and to be, yourself,
fully saved, before there is any value in your feeding the hungry or
clothing the naked.
God give you Grace to go to my Master wounded yonder and to rest in the
precious Atonement which He has made for human sin. And when you have
done that, being loved at such a rate, may you show that you love in
return! Being purchased so dearly, may you live for Him that bought
you! And among the actions by which you prove it, let these gleam and
glisten like God-given jewels–the visiting of the sick, the comforting
of the needy, the relieving of the distressed, and the helping of the
weak. God accept these offerings as they come from gracious souls, and
to Him be praise evermore. Amen.