The Secret Spot
A sermon
(No. 780)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, NOVEMBER 10, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Their spot is not the spot of His children.."- Deuteronomy 32:5.
THERE are frequently great difficulties in identifying the persons of
men even when they have been distinctly seen. Our police courts have
given us, during the last few weeks, most serious evidence that men may
be utterly deceived as to the identity of individuals. They may be
prepared, and honestly, I believe, to take an oath that such-and-such a
person is the man whom they saw discharging firearms or throwing
stones, and yet that person may have been many miles away. A slight
change of dress, another color in the necktie or a different shape of
the hat–or some trifling alteration of the hair may throw a witness
entirely off his guard.
It was said to be almost dangerous for persons of a certain height, and
of a certain color of hair, to be passing the police courts lest they
should be arrested, and marched in with others to be identified by
witnesses who were extremely anxious to identify somebody or other.
This fact seems very clearly established–that the judgment of men,
even with regard to the identity of their fellow creatures–is very far
from being infallible.
Turning to the moral universe, identity there is far more difficult to
be made out, for both the moral and religious world swarm with
pretenders. You cannot know for certain who among your acquaintances is
a Christian and who is not. This is known to God and may be revealed to
each man for himself. But deception is so easy and is nowadays
practiced in so masterly a manner that I know it is difficult to know a
son of God from a son of Belial. You may sit down and commune with an
Apostle and find he is a Judas! You may walk side by side with one who
seemed to be a Simon Peter and prove him to be a Simon Magus. Yes, what
is worse, you may be deceived about yourself, and whereas you may have
thought your body to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, you may suddenly
discover it to have been made a den of thieves.
Yet this is a very important matter, for if men are not right and
cannot clear their consciences that they are right, they live in a
state of perpetual unrest–never at any moment possessing safety. We
ought to know–we should never be at peace till we do know–whether we
are the children of God or not. And since the outward aspect so often
deceives, and visible signs are not to be relied upon, it becomes
imperative upon us that we should search deep, and look for signs that
will not deceive us–prying into the very core and marrow of our
being–till we have resolved the weighty question, whether we are the
children of God or the heirs of wrath.
You see the text talks about certain secret spots. These are tokens in
which men cannot so readily deceive as to their identity. The mother
will be able to tell whether this is her child or not by the spot which
is known to none but herself. The pretender may be very like her
child–the voice may be the voice of Jacob, and the hands may not be
dissimilar and he may be able to relate many things concerning his
youth which it would seem that none but the real child could know–but
the mother remembers that there was a secret spot. And if that is not
there she turns the pretender aside. But if she discovers that private
token, she knows the claimant to be her child.
I want, this morning, for us to remember that there are secret marks
upon every Christian, and if we have not the spot of God's child, too,
it will little avail us how fairly in our outward garb and manner we
may conform ourselves to the members of the heavenly family. We have
before us a whole host of persons who profess to be the children of the
Most High. They are exceedingly confident because they come before us
in the garments of God's people. But their robes do not deceive us.
Immediately we tell them that we cannot judge by the outward
appearance, for a religious profession is very easily procured. The
very brightest colors may be flaunted and a man's garments may be
outwardly spotless and fair to the eye, and yet for all that he may be
the basest of pretenders.
None wash their hands more often than the Pharisees, and yet they are
sepulchers full of rottenness. None say longer prayers than the
Scribes, and yet none more ready to devour widows' houses. The outward
garb of religion is no crite-
rion by which to judge a man in an age so full of deception as the
present–which has been fitly called the era of shams. If a devout
exterior will not satisfy us, these professors address us in the
language of piety. They use the holy speech which is thought decorous
among the people of God. But we straightway tell them that albeit if we
lived with them, we have no doubt their speech would betray them when
the old brogue of Babylon would come out unawares, yet still their
outward public speech can be no rule of judgment to us, for those often
talk loudest who know least.
The bell rings men to Church but says no prayers itself. There may be
the sign of the angel hanging over the inn door but the devil may be
the landlord within. That sepulcher which is most whitewashed may be
most full of dead men's bones. Should both garb and language fail to
convince us, those who would make a fair show in the flesh point us to
their actions, and, "In this" they say, "surely we cannot deceive, for
'by their fruits you shall know them.'" We confess that it is even
so–we can only judge men by their fruits and we are not allowed by
God's Word to judge any further.
But men must judge themselves other than by merely outward acts–they
must examine their motives and the design and scope by which those acts
were dictated and directed. Otherwise they may only possess that
superficial morality which is deceptive because it springs not from the
depths of the heart, but is a mere stagnant pool and not the clear
crystal living water welling up from the inmost soul of the man. Men
may be externally washed, but not internally quickened. They may be
covered with the flowers of righteousness, but those flowers may have
no root, and by-and-by may wither away because the heart is not right
in the sight of God.
Sirs, we will not be content, this morning, with examining your
clothes, nor listening to your speech, nor even with touching your
hands–for all these signs may deceive you, if they do not deceive us.
We ask you to come with us into the stripping room and let us search
for the spots, the secret spots, without which you cannot know to a
certainty that you are the true children of the living God. This
morning, as we may be helped by God the Holy Spirit, in solemn
downright earnest we mean if we can, first of all, to take you to the
examination of the secret spots. Secondly, to make a declaration from
God's Word of what the true spot is. Thirdly, to discriminate among men
as to those public and defiling spots which, alas, are to be found in
all of us. And, then, fourthly, an exhortation upon the whole subject.
I. First, then, at the mention of private spots which are to be the
insignia of the regenerate, there are thousands who say, "We do not
shirk that examination. Truly the signs of saints are in us! Are others
Israelites? So are we. We bear in our bodies the marks of the Lord
Jesus–we challenge an investigation."
Be it so, then! LET US COMMENCE A MINUTE EXAMINATION. I am not now to
deal with anything that is public. We are not speaking, now, about
actions or words, but concerning those secret things which men have
judged to be infallible marks of their being saved. Here is a friend
before us, and as he lays bare his heart he indicates to us the spot
which he thinks proclaims him to be a child of God. I will describe it.
This man has embraced sound doctrine. He has managed by some means to
become thoroughly Calvinistic.
He holds the doctrine of Election in all its length and breadth. He
would fight to the last moment of life for any one of the five points
of the Calvinistic confession. You cannot find a man more determinedly
orthodox. He abhors all teaching which he judges to be uncertain in its
soundness. And within his heart he believes that he is therefore saved.
"Surely," whispers his vain heart, "surely a man with such a sound
creed cannot be cast into Hell!" He delights to hear the preacher deal
a heavy blow at Arminians, or Ritualists, or any other people who
differ from him because he feels, then, that the privilege which he has
monopolized in his own conceit is thus defended and preserved from all
intruders. "Ah," he says, "I am saved. I have received the Truth of God
and hold it with all my might."
Everywhere he goes his whole talk is of his favorite Shibboleth, "The
Truth of God! The Truth! The Truth!" Not that the aforesaid Truth has
ever renewed his nature! Not that it has ever changed his moral
character! Not that it has at all made him a better husband or a kinder
father! Not that it influences him in trade! Not that you could
perceive any sanctifying effect proceeding from his creed if you lived
with him! But still, this is it–orthodoxy, thorough orthodoxy, holding
the Truth of God and holding it firmly, too, and denouncing all
others–this is his balm of Gilead to heal all disease! This is his
crown of rejoicing in life and his passport to the skies!
Now, Sir, we do not hesitate to say concerning you that, although you
will not be pleased with us for it, that your spot is not the spot of
the children of God! It is a good thing to be sound in the faith, but
that virtue may belong to the vilest sinner out of Hell. There have
been some men who have been orthodox to the core and yet they have been
detestable hypocrites, and not one atom better, as their outward life
has shown. No form of doctrine, however Scriptural, can ever
save the soul if it is only received by the head and does not work in
its mighty energy upon the heart. "You must be born again," are the
Savior's words. And unless you are born again your carnal nature may
hold the Truth of God in the letter without discerning its spirit. And
while the Truth shall be dishonored by being so held, you yourself
shall not be benefited thereby.
But here is another waiting to be searched. He also believes that he
has discovered in himself the spot of God's child. It is this–not so
common a spot, I believe, in this congregation as in some–a knowledge
of inward corruption. "Ah," says one, "I know that I am an heir of
Heaven because I am aware of the sinfulness of my nature. I know my
heart to be horridly depraved. I believe my nature to be detestable and
vile, and sometimes I am the subject of frightful blasphemous thoughts
and have inclinations towards the most horrible iniquities. Surely I am
a quickened child of God or I should not have so vivid a conviction of
indwelling sin! I should not feel that I was so bad as I am if I had
not been first of all quickened and awakened!"
Now, believe me, there are thousands who are under the delusion that
this spot is the spot of God's children! But let me assure them very
affectionately that it is no such thing. God's children do have a sense
of sin. They groan because of the body of this death. They daily lament
the plague of their own heart–but a full persuasion of their own
sinfulness may be found in thousands who are not God's children! It is
a preposterous assumption that for a man to know himself to be a sinner
proves him to be a saint! Let me ask the physician whether a sense of
sickness proves a man to be cured. Let me ask a drowning man whether a
sense of sinking proves that he is rescued! Let me ask a bankrupt
debtor whether a sense of being penniless proves that he is rich.
You know better! Common sense teaches you better! It is not a discovery
of your sin that will save you, but hearty faith in the Savior! And if
you have not gone further than a mere conviction of sin–which may be
nothing but a legal conviction and a natural alarm at the awful
punishment of sin–if you have not gone further than mere alarm or
remorse you have not the spot which marks you out to be a child of God.
You may be a Judas crying, "I have sinned," and you may even hang
yourself through terror of conscience, and be none the less, but rather
all the more, a son of perdition! A cutting Truth is this, but it must
be told, lest any be misled.
I see before me at the door of the stripping room a third class of
persons who say, "Surely we have this spot, for we are full of
confidence that we are saved! We believe that we are saved–firmly
believe it. We are not among those sinful people who indulge in doubts
and fears. We know that we are saved. We have known it for years and we
have never had a doubt about it. If ever a question is raised, 'Do I
love the Lord or not? Am I His or am I not?' we throw the question
out–we believe it to come from Satan to mar our peace and spoil our
comfort. Self-examination we have long ago given up as an unnecessary
disturbing of the peace of our spirits. We have made up our minds that
we are saved and it gives us great peace to believe that we are."
Yes, but, my Hearers, such a spot is not the spot of God's children,
for after this fashion the foolish cry, "Peace, peace, where there is
no peace." Remember how easy it is to daub with untempered mortar–how
readily you may build upon a sandy foundation and how the
superstructure may be run up with marvelous speed if you build with
wood, hay, and stubble–much more a fair show may you make with
perishable materials than if you waited till you had gold and silver,
and precious stones, slowly to build the edifice. But remember that for
you to believe that you are saved does not prove that you are saved!
The poor lunatic in Bedlam believes himself to be a king, but no man
owns his sovereignty!
Your undisturbed conscience may be no evidence of Divine Grace, but
rather a token of reprobation, for there are some who have received a
strong delusion to believe a lie that they maybe damned. They are
fooled by Satan into the delusion that they are the people of God,
whereas they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of
iniquity. Hope is our anchor, but what is the use of an anchor if it
has nothing to lay hold upon? "I hope," said one, when he heard of his
neighbor's death, "I hope he is all right." And yet he knew that he
died drunk!
Now, if that man had said, "I wish that there may have been found a way
by which it is possible for him to be saved," I could understand it.
But to say "I hope," where there was no ground and foundation for hope,
was to speak as the foolish speak! You and I ought not to have a hope
which will not bear the test. Oh, instead of shirking self-examination,
practice it daily! Ask for the strong wind from the wilderness to come
and smite the four corners of your house, for if it is built upon a
rock it will not fall. But, oh, if it is but a sand-built house, it
will be far better that it should come down now
than that you should dwell in it for awhile with groundless comfort and
find it fall about your ears to all eternity! No, the self-confident
assumption that you are saved is not the spot of God's children.
Frequently I meet with others who will say, "We certainly have the
private mark of gracious souls, for we are so happy! We have such happy
feelings when we are worshipping God. We feel so delighted with going
up to the assemblies of God's people. Sometimes at the Prayer Meeting
we get so happy and excited we hardly know what to do! And when we sing
those delightful revival tunes we feel so exceedingly blessed." Now
this may or may not be from the Spirit of God. God's children are made
glad in the House of Prayer, but remember, others are made glad beside
God's children–for doubtless there have been thousands who have
received the Word with joy, as our Savior tells us–who are like the
seed sown on stony ground which sprang up rapidly because it had no
depth of earth, but afterwards when the sun had risen, it withered
away.
Beware of being stony-ground hearers, and above all, let me say to you,
beware of placing the slightest dependence upon your attitude and
feelings. The most desponding feelings do not prove that your soul is
in peril, for some of those who before God were surest of Heaven have
been the least assured of it in their own feelings. The highest and
most rapturous feelings of delight do not prove us to be the children
of God. Some have had no fear in their death, and their strength has
been firm. They have not been in trouble as other men, neither have
they been plagued like other men and yet for all that their end has
been destruction! Moab was settled upon his lees and was not emptied
from vessel to vessel, but how terrible was his end! Never, therefore,
put any dependence upon your attitude and feelings–let them be what
they may. Go deeper than the froth of feeling–search in the depths of
principle for the priceless pearl of infallible evidence. This spot is
not the spot of God's children.
There are others, and many, too, who will say, "But at least we can
bring a mark which is not to be counterfeited, a sure and certain mark
of conversion! There was a happy day when we experienced most
extraordinary things." As soon as some people of an excitable
temperament begin to narrate their treasured story of marvels you may
anticipate that they are going to tell you that they heard a voice, or
saw a vision, or were impressed with this, or saw that–all which may
be true or may be imagination according to the truthfulness and common
sense of the speaker. And all this may have a connection with their
being saved, for there is no doubt that many have been impressed in
dreams and I will even venture to say by visions and voices.
Many men's first religious thoughts have been awakened in them by
strange impressions, and, therefore, these things are not to be laughed
at. Whether they are freaks of the imagination or not I care not, so
long as men's minds are aroused the mode matters but little. But if
anybody shall say that the experience of singular impressions or
remarkable emotions proves men to be Believers I must most gravely and
solemnly disagree! Alas, there have been thousands who profess to have
seen angels who are now with devils! And I do not doubt there are tens
of thousands who have fought with devils who are now with angels of
light! It is not what you see with these eyes, nor hear with these
ears, nor feel with flesh and blood–our religion is spiritual, and is
spiritually discerned–not a thing of rhapsody, excitement, and
imagination but a matter of sober thought and meditation. And if you
have not something more than a mere day or night of singularities to
look back upon, your evidences of Divine Grace are worthless.
I do delight to look back upon the day when I was converted to God.
Many of you do and I hope you always will look back upon that happy
hour with pleasure when you first turned to the Lord. But I have known
what it is to feel that if I had no reason to believe that I was saved
except the remembrance what I felt that day, I should have no solid
ground at all. The fact is, Brothers and Sisters, the spot of God's
children is not a thing of yesterday, but an abiding and continual
token. The true spot is far more than any memory of the past, as I
shall show you. And if you have not that, you may have all that you can
imagine or invent, but God will repudiate you at the last, saying, "I
know you not from where you are. Depart from Me, all you workers of
iniquity."
II. We now come to the second head. WHAT IS THE TRUE SECRET SPOT WHICH
INFALLIBLY IDENTIFIES
THE CHILD OF GOD? Beloved, it were vain presumption and blasphemous
arrogance for me to set myself up as able to tell you this of my own
judgment. But God's Word reveals it to us and therefore we may tread
surely where we have Revelation to be our guide.
Now, we are told in the Gospel according to John, concerning our
Lord–"As many as received Him, to them gave He power [or privilege] to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." Here it
is, then! If I have re-
ceived Christ Jesus into my heart, then I am a child of God! That
reception is described in the second clause as a believing on the name
of Jesus Christ. If, then, I believe on Jesus Christ's name–that is,
simply from my heart trust myself with the crucified, but now exalted,
Redeemer, I am a member of the family of the Most High! Whatever else I
may not have, if I have this I have the privilege to become a child of
God. But if I have not this, I may have all the other spots I have been
speaking of this morning–which may seem to some to be very great
beauty spots–but they are not the spots of the children of God.
To strengthen the text we have already given you, let us remind you of
another: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."
That is, whoever takes Jesus to be to him his anointed Priest, anointed
to offer sacrifice of atonement for him, such a soul is born of God. He
who takes this man or that to be his priest, or sets up to offer
sacrifice for himself is no child of God, be he what he may. But he who
takes the Most High Lord, once slain, but now ever living, to be an
anointed Priest unto him may conclude at once that he has the spot of
God's child upon him. Our Lord Jesus puts it in another way. "My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Here is the matter
in a nutshell!
Christ appears as a Shepherd to His own sheep, not to others. As soon
as He appears, His own sheep perceive Him. They trust Him. They are
prepared to follow Him. He knows them and they know Him–there is a
mutual knowledge. He guides them, and they follow Him–there is a
constant connection between them. If to put this Truth of God
positively is not enough, let me remind you how our Savior puts it
negatively. When the Jews were rioting around Him, instead of listening
to His earnest voice, He turned to them and said, "You believe not,
because you are not of My sheep, as I said unto you." As much as to
say, it is because I have not chosen you, and My Divine Grace has never
looked upon you. It is because the Divine life has never throbbed in
your bosoms that you do not believe on Me. If you had the life of God,
and were God's children, you would accept Me at once. This is the one
mark, the sure mark, the only infallible mark–a hearty faith in the
appointed Redeemer!
My dear Friends, I doubt not many will say, "That is very simple." My
reply is, "Glory be to God. It is simple!" The more simple the plan of
salvation the more evidently it is of God. Are we not told that
Babylon, the mother of harlots, has written upon her brow,
"Mystery"?–mystery is the mark of the Roman Catholic faith–and the
sure symbol of Antichrist. That Gospel which is so plain that he who
runs may read it–that the wayfaring man, though a fool–need not err
therein! This Gospel which is preached unto the poor. This Gospel which
may be understood even by a child–this is the Gospel, the glorious
Gospel of the blessed God which is committed to our trust! What says
the Apostle? "Seeing then," he says, "that we have such hope, we use
great plainness of speech."
Here is the root of the matter and if you trust Jesus Christ with all
your heart–if you rely upon Him to save you, and if your reliance is
such that it touches your heart and makes you love the Man who shed
great drops of blood for you. If your faith is such that it operates
upon your moral character, constraining you no longer to be an enemy to
your good and generous God–then you are saved, for you have the spot
of God's child! But "without faith it is impossible to please God." I
tell you solemnly that all your generosity, your almsgiving, your
Sabbath keeping, your repentance, your prayers, your tears–all are
nothing without faith in Christ! Go heap them up till they make a
pyramid as great as that which casts its mighty shadow far down the
Libyan desert–but they are as nothing, things of nothing!
All human excellencies, without faith, will fly as chaff before the
wind when the hour of trial shall come. If trusted in, they are as
smoke in the nostrils of the Most High because they rival the Cross of
Christ. Go humbly to the Cross! Look up to Him who suffered there. Rely
on Him and you shall live! But gad you about as you may to this shrine
and to that, and scourge yourselves and deny yourselves this and that,
and practice all the austerities you please–you shall be further,
still, from God than at the first, if you despise the salvation of
Jesus Christ.
Going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness which is of God by faith
and therefore their spot is not the spot of God's children. But coming
simply to Jesus and resting alone in Him they have glorified God, and
they are themselves proved to be the children of the Most High.
III. I shall now, in the third place, turn to another view of the
subject which concerns THE DISCRIMINATION OF DEFILING SPOTS. The term
"spot," as used in the text, will not be read usually as we have read
it this morning. It will, no doubt, to most readers suggest the idea of
sin, and very properly so–then the text would run thus: the sin of the
people mentioned here is not the sin of God's people.
There is a difference between their guilt and the offenses of the
Lord's chosen. This brings me to the point–there is a discrimination
to be made, even as to sinful spots. When God's children are mired and
bespattered with filth, still there is a difference between them and
others. An unhappy thing it is–we cannot mourn too much over it–that
evil remains even in the hearts of the regenerate, and that the much
fine gold sometimes becomes dim and the glory departs. God's people are
a holy people, but they are not a perfect people.
They aspire after perfection, but they have not yet attained it.
Sometimes, alas, they fall. We believe they never fall finally nor
totally–but they often fall sorrowfully and foully. But yet the
ungodly may not take comfort from the sins of God's people for their
spots are not the spots of God's children. Let us very briefly–we
cannot enter into the subject in full this morning–show that there is
a difference between the sin of God's people and the sin of others. God
forbid that you should imagine that I wish to excuse the sins of
Believers!
In some views, when a Believer sins, his sin is worse than that of
other men because he offends against greater light and knowledge. He
revolts against greater love and mercy. He flies in the teeth of his
profession. He does despite, in a measure, to the Cross of Christ, and
he brings grievous dishonor upon the name of Jesus whom he professes to
serve! Believers cannot sin cheaply. The very least speck on a
Christian is more plainly seen than the foulest blot on the ungodly,
just as a white dress shows the dirt the clearer. The more clean the
paper, the sooner is the mark perceived–but if the paper is black,
there may be many marks and stains and yet they may not be perceptible.
God forbid that we should palliate, excuse, or extenuate the faults of
God's people! Sin is a horrible thing and it is above all things
detestable when it lurks in a child of God! Yet the sins of God's
people do differ from the sins of other men in many important respects.
They do not sin with deliberation and with cool determination–meaning
to sin–and sinning for its own sake. The ungodly man knows a thing to
be wrong and therefore does it. He plans it upon his bed. He takes
counsel with himself when he shall enjoy this pleasure or indulge that
lust–knowing at the same time that the pleasure is evil, and the lust
is iniquity.
The Believer possibly falls into the same sin as the unbeliever, yet
not through evil aforethought, but through force of a strong and
violent temptation. Had he paused awhile he would have despised the
evil and turned from it with hatred. But there came upon him a sudden a
rush of diabolical power, and he seemed borne away by it to his own
intense grief– a grief which makes him go with broken bones for many a
year afterwards. We do not sin willfully nor deliberately. We do not
love the way of transgression–blessed be God, we could not run in it
with all our heart–for if we saw the evil distinctly before us as
such, our spirit, in calm consideration, would recoil from the mere
shadow of it.
The child of God does not sin with the pleasure and gusto of other men.
When the sheep stumbles, as it may do, into the mire, it is up again
and on. But if the swine should fall there, it rolls over and wallows
as in its element. A sinner in his sins is a bird in the air, but the
Believer in sin is like the fish that leaps for awhile into the air but
must be back again or die. Sin cannot be satisfactory to an immortal
spirit regenerated by the Holy Spirit–it is poison to it and very soon
that poison must be thrown out of the system–for the living child of
God cannot endure sin to fester within him. If you sin, you "have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But if you sin
and love sin, then you are the servant of sin, and not the child of
God.
Again, the child of God cannot look back upon sin with any kind of
complacency. The ungodly man has this spot that after the sin he even
boasts of it! He will tell others that he enjoyed himself greatly in
his wicked sport and he will gloat over its sweetness, turning the
morsel over and over, and rolling it under his tongue like an epicure
delighting in a dainty dish. "Ah," he says, "how sweet it is!" As for
its being contrary to God it makes it all the sweeter to him, or else,
"God is not in all his thoughts."
But no man of God ever sins without smarting. Very soon conscience
wakes, and, as the Word of God puts it, "David's heart smote him." It
is a horrible knock that the heart gives when it begins to smite! All
the men in the world may say what they please so long as my heart does
not speak against me. But when conscience says, "It is true. You did it
and you have played the fool exceedingly," then a man hangs his head
and retires into the shades to hide himself awhile, for he is ashamed.
If you can sin and not weep over it, you are an heir of Hell! If you
can go into sin and afterwards feel satisfied to have done so, you are
on the road to destruction! If there are no pricks of conscience, no
inward torments, no bleeding wounds–if you have no throbs and heaves
of a bosom that cannot rest–if your soul never feels filled with
wormwood and gall when you know you have done evil–you are no child of
God!
But if your sins plague you and your soul abhors them, and takes them
with weeping to the Cross of Jesus, then the sins which you hate shall
never destroy you. That which you loathe shall not be brought against
you to condemn you. This shall be set down to the account of your
Surety and not to you, seeing that He was delivered for your offenses
and is raised again for your justification. The child of God also has
this difference in his spots from others–when he knows the spot, and
is led to repent of it–it makes him more careful in the future,
especially in that respect in which he has erred.
Have you not seen him afraid to put one foot before another for fear he
should do wrong? He had a fall the other day and he goes very tenderly,
very softly. He is almost afraid to open his mouth now, because he
spoke so unadvisedly the other day. His prayer is, "Lord, open my lips!
I dare not open them." He used to be very fast and confident, but
notice him now–he has a broken spirit and speaks with bated breath. He
does not hold his head up loftily as he used to do. He thanks God that
he is forgiven, feels that he has peace, and he blesses God for it–but
he is jealous of himself with holy jealousy. You will not find him
mingling with that company which led him astray. He is a burnt child
and dreads the fire.
You will see him much more precise with himself than he used to be. He
used to be precise with other men and lax with himself–now it is
different–he can make excuses for others, but he makes none for
himself. His heart now pants to be eminent for that very Grace in which
he failed and he gives particular attention to keep watch and ward over
that part of the wall through which the invader found entrance. But I
need not enlarge. You who are the children of God must have noticed a
difference between your sins now and your sins as they once were. And
you cannot but observe, day by day, if you look within, that Divine
Grace has made a change even in those sins in which our evil nature
exercises most dominion.
But, Beloved, the best thing we can do is to keep as far away from evil
as possible! We have no right to say, "I may be a child of God and yet
do so-and-so." No! The heir of Heaven does not desire to approach the
appearance of evil. I am much afraid for some of you who are asking,
"Is this wrong, and that wrong?" Do nothing about which you have need
to ask a question! Be quite sure about it or leave it alone. Know you
not that inspired Word, "Whatever is not of faith is sin"? That is,
whatever you cannot do with the confidence that you are doing right is
sin to you! Though the deed may be right to other people, if you have
any doubt about it yourself it is evil to you. God grant, dear Friends,
that we may not be "conformed to the world," but be "transformed by the
renewing of our minds."
If I knew that there was a leper colony anywhere in the country, I do
not think I should want to build my house near it. I should not send
for the physician and say, "Sir, how far do you think the effect of
pestilence might spread? I should like to get as near as I could
without actually catching the disease." "No, no!" You say, "if there is
a plot of land to be bought where there is no disease in the
neighborhood, there let my tent be pitched. It is best to dwell far off
from evil." O may God separate us from evil in this world, as we hope
to be separated from it in the world to come! There will be a great
gulf fixed between it and us in the next world–may there be a wide
demarcation now.
IV. My close is AN EXHORTATION, an exhortation to myself and to you to
make sure work for eternity, and to make it clear to your own
consciences that you are, indeed, the children of God. Ah, my dear
Hearers, it is not possible for me to be earnest enough in this matter!
I wish I had a tongue like the pen of a ready writer, that I might
speak to you with power this morning. Yet, perhaps, feebleness of words
may give but the greater power in spirit if God the Holy Spirit will
press upon the conscience of you all the need and duty of an earnest
heart-searching self-examination.
A famous case is now pending in which a person claims to be the son of
a deceased baronet. Whether he is or not I suppose will, before long,
be decided by the highest authorities. Meanwhile the case is pending–a
very weighty case for him–for upon the decision will hang his
possession or non-possession of vast estates and enormous property.
Now, in your case, you, many of you, profess to be the children of
God–and Heaven hangs upon the question of the truthfulness of your
profession.
Heaven? No, there is a dread alternative–Heaven or Hell must hang upon
the truth or the falsehood of your profession! Yes, moreover about
those two things there is flung a golden chain of eternity, making each
of them more weighty than they otherwise would be. A child of God? Then
your portion is eternal life! An heir of wrath, even as others? Then
your heritage will be eternal death!
For a moment conceive that you are passing into the next world. What
will be the trepidation of your spirit if it is then a matter of
question? With what alarm will you await the decisive ordeal? "Shall I
ascend on wings of joy up to the realms where angels dwell? Or must I
sink with devils as the companions of my woe, to dwell forever in
Hell?" What hor-
ror to have that question still unanswered! Is it uncertain now, my
Hearer? Is it uncertain now, whether you are a child of God or not? Is
it uncertain whether your spot is the spot of God's children? Then let
not an hour pass over your head till you have said, "Search me, O God,
and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is
any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"
Trifle not here, I plead with you! If you must trifle anywhere, let it
be about some secondary matter–your health, if you will–or the title
deeds of your estates. But your souls! Your never-dying souls and their
eternal destinies? I beseech you be in earnest here, for you will be in
earnest soon–earnestly praising God in Heaven–or earnestly moaning
out your never-ending dolor in the pit where hope can never come! God
grant us wisdom, then, since so much hangs upon it, not to play the
fool by taking things at second hand but to search to the very roots
and foundations of the matter to know whether we are saved or not.
This duty is much more easy to explain than to enforce, and more easy
to enforce than to practice. We all shun it. The preacher naturally
says to himself, "Have you not preached to others? You may surely
excuse yourself." The old member of the Church who has long maintained
an honorable outward profession whispers to himself, or Satan whispers
to him, "You are an old experienced Christian, why need you go back to
the beginning and do your first works?" The young professor in the
heyday of his zeal says within himself, "I know that it is right with
me." But ah, I pray you remember, he who takes things too quickly as
being what he desires them to be will be deceived in the end. "The
heart is deceitful above all things," says the Prophet, "and
desperately wicked," and will you not believe it?
Examine it and cross-examine it, for it is a lying witness! Believe it
to be dishonest and try to prove it so! And if haply you should be
unable, then what a comfort to you! But to believe your heart to be
honest and sound–why this is to begin where the fool does–at the
wrong end of the chapter! Suspect yourself and go to Christ this
morning as a sinner. Doubt yourself, and go to Jesus. Never doubt Him.
Confess yourself now to be undone and ruined if it is so, but go to Him
who is still the Savior able to save to the uttermost.
Still guilty, still lost, still defiled–go, still to the "fountain
filled with blood!" Go, still, to the open-handed Savior, and ask Him
to press you to His bosom and to save you now! This is the quick way,
the sure way, the blessed way of finding out the secret spot–to go at
once to Christ! If I never came before, O bleeding Savior, now I come,
and if I have often come and put my trust in You, I come again–accept
a guilty sinner who casts himself alone on You, and save him for Your
mercy's sake. Amen.
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Christus Et Ego
A sermon