The Sequel to Divine Sovereignty
(No. 3284)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 4, 1866.
"The LORD reigns; let the people tremble." Psalm 99:1.
"The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice." Psalm 97:1.
No Doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of
mankind than the truth of the absolute Sovereignty of God. [See Sermon
#77, Volume 2–DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY.] The
fact that "the Lord reigns" is indisputable–and it is this fact that
arises the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart. "The kings
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their
bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." We know what the
Lord thinks of their rebellion against Him–"He that sits in the
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall
He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure."
Let us, Beloved, not be among those who refuse to believe this great
Truth of God, but may we humbly bow before that dread Sovereign who
does as He wills among the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants
of this lower world–
"God is a King of power unknown;
Firm are the orders of His Throne!
If He resolves, who dare oppose,
Or ask Him why, or what He does?' God has the right to act thus, first,
because He is the source of all created existence. "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth," and everything else that exists
is the product of His creative power! As the writer of the 100th Psalm
says, "It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves." So He has the
absolute right to do with us whatever He pleases. It rested with Him to
make us or not to make us. And when He determined to create, it was
according to His own will that He made one creature a worm and another
an eagle, one an ant crawling upon its little hill and another a
leviathan making the deep to boil. It was by His decree that there were
almost boundless variations among the great family of mankind. In
constitution, disposition and temperament–in the very appearance of
our bodies, in the strange diversities of our mental capacities, in our
position upon the globe or our place and circumstances in any
particular country and nation–we see traces of the Sovereign purpose
and will of God. It is true that our ancestors, parents and
surroundings have exerted certain influences upon us, but there are
peculiarities about each one of us which can only be ascribed to the
Sovereign good pleasure of God. That one should be a silent and
unobtrusive traveler through life's pilgrimage, and that another should
be so eloquent as to speak in words that find an echo the wide world
over–that one should sweat and toil all his days, and that another
should be dandled upon the knee of luxury–we may say what we will
about all this, but whether we agree with it or not, we cannot deny
that it is according to Divine appointment and order and, therefore, we
must submit to it–
"The Lord is King; who them shall dare Resist His will, distrust His
care, Or murmur at His wise decrees, Or doubt His royal promises? The
Lord is King, child of the dust, The Judge of all the earth is just–
Holy and true are all His ways, Let every creature speak His praise."
Not only do we believe that God being the Creator, has the right to
make His creatures according to His own will, but we also believe that
He has another right over us acquired from our sinful nature. We may
say, though we speak it with bated breath in the Presence of His awful
Majesty, that even creatures have their rights at their Creator's hand.
For instance, every creature may claim from its Creator that it should
not be punished if it does not offend–and that it should be made happy
if it is obedient to His commands. Such rights Jehovah has always
acknowledged and has never violated. But you and I, dear Friends, have
lost all the rights of creatureship, for we have all sinned! A subject
of this realm has the right of freedom to go where he pleases and do
what he pleases as long as he does not offend against the law of the
land. But if he commits high treason, or robbery, or some other crime
and so is brought under the condemnation of the law, he immediately
loses all right to his freedom and is put in prison with other
criminals.
Now the Law of God's universe, a most equitable and just Law, runs
thus, "The soul that sins, it shall die." And we have all sinned–the
sentence of death is recorded against every soul born of woman–and
that any of us are still permitted to live is due to the clemency of
the great King! Some of us, blessed be His holy name, have been
pardoned by Him. And having been pardoned, we shall never again be
condemned–but others are put off during their Majesty's pleasure and
that respite is an act of Divine Sovereignty. Had He executed the
sentence pronounced upon us as soon as we had sinned, we might have
bewailed His severity, yet we could never have impeached His Justice,
for we should have deserved the utmost penalty that could have been
demanded by His righteous Law! So that, by virtue of our sinnership,
God has the right to punish us if He pleases to do so. But if He can
consistently, with the principles of Eternal Justice, pardon us, He has
the right do so! You noticed that I said, "consistently with the
principles of Eternal Justice," for God will never violate those
principles. He can always do as He wills, but He always wills to do
what is right and, by the Atonement of His dear Son, He has made a way
by which He can satisfy all the claims of His inflexible Justice and
yet can take infinite delight in bestowing His mercy upon the guilty!
Then surely, as mercy is not only God's prerogative as King, but also
had to be so dearly bought by the precious blood of His well-beloved
Son, we ought not to be backward in confessing that He has the right to
bestow that mercy whenever He pleases. At all events, whether we
believe it or not, this declaration is still thundered forth from the
Throne of the Eternal, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Observe then, three rights which belong to God–as Creator, as Judge,
having the right to punish the guilty. And as the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, having the right to pardon sinners and to do it
without, in the slightest degree, violating His Justice. These are high
Doctrines from which some turn away in despair. It is true that they
are high, as high as the Throne of God Himself! When I think of them, I
feel like the Prophet Ezekiel when he looked upon those wheels that
were so high that they were dreadful. Yet, Beloved, as they are true,
let us bow before them with awe-stricken spirits, yet with believing
hearts knowing that the Judge of all the earth is certain to do that
which is right!
Moreover, the Sovereignty of God is also displayed in His distribution
of gifts among His own people–and surely He has the right to do this
because the gifts are His own. If we could claim them as ours, they
would not be gifts–they would be rightly due to us like anything else
that belonged to us. If any man has a valid claim upon God for mercy,
then it is not mercy that he should claim, but justice! If any man, by
virtue of his own works, deserves to be saved, then salvation is of
works and not of Grace–but this the Scriptures distinctly deny! If you
come to God expecting to receive from Him spiritual gifts because of
certain rights vested in yourselves, you come to Him on a footing that
He cannot tolerate for a moment! He will say to you, "May I not do as I
will with My own?" And He will give nothing to you who claim it as a
right. But He will give all they need to those who come to Him
confessing that they have no right to His mercy and entreating that it
may be bestowed upon them through the riches of His Grace in Christ
Jesus–
"Justice upon a dreadful Throne Maintains the rights of God While mercy
sends her pardons down, Bought with a Savior's blood."
I have thus reminded you of the Truth of God which is not only stated
in our two texts, but is revealed in many other Scriptures–the Truth
that "the Lord reigns." As He reigns in Creation and Providence, so
does He reign in the realm of His Grace. Taking the two texts together,
I want, earnestly and affectionately, first to address the unsaved
sinner And
then to speak to the saved Believer, endeavoring to invoke in each soul
the twin emotions of rejoicing and trembling– "The Lord reigns, let
the people tremble." "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice." I. So,
first, LET ME SPEAK TO THE UNSAVED SINNER.
Sinner, it is an unspeakable mercy for you that the Lord reigns, for it
is because He reigns that you are yet alive. If God were not King, the
sentence of Justice must be executed swiftly, surely, mercilessly! And
every sinner, the moment that he sinned, must die. But, Sinner, He who
is King is very gracious and He says to the officer of Justice, "Spare
that man. Let him live." He has spared some of you thirty, forty,
fifty, sixty–it may be even 70 years! You would not have spared any of
your fellow creatures who had offended you as long as that. If a man
provoked you to your face, your anger would wax hot against him long
before 20 years! Some of you would not bear with him even for 20
minutes–yet you have provoked the Lord year after year–but the
long-suffering patience in the heart of God has borne with you even
until now! He has said concerning you, again and again, "Spare him!
Spare her!" When fever shot its hot darts at you, God turned them
aside! And when the poison of disease was actually in your blood, He
removed it with His healing hand. The Lord who reigns has spared
you–therefore rejoice!
Yet tremble at the same time, Sinner, for this great King can as
readily slay as He can spare. One turn of His hand, no, not as much as
that–He need not even lift His little finger–He has but to will your
death and then where would you be? He who has been so strong to spare
can be just as strong to smite! He has not yet taken up the axe, but
when once He lifts it and its sharp edge falls upon the tree that is
still barren, what will become of it? "The Lord reigns; let the people
tremble." If He were to come to you tonight and lay judgment to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, it would be all in vain for you
to attempt to resist Him! The breath of your nostrils is so absolutely
under God's control that all the physicians in the world could not
extend the lease of your life if He were to say to you, "This night
shall your soul be required of you." So tremble at the recollection
that "the Lord reigns," for you are as completely in His power as a
moth would be in yours if you held it in your hand knowing that you
could crush it any moment that you pleased!
Another instance of Divine Sovereignty which may cause you both to
rejoice and to tremble, is this–God has sent the Gospel to you. Think
of this fact, my Hearer! There are millions upon millions of your
fellow creatures who have never heard the Gospel and who are going down
to their doom in utter ignorance of the great salvation! Their idol
gods cannot save them. Their blocks of wood and stone cannot hear their
cry of hopeless sorrow. But unto you is the word of this salvation
sent! Many in this great London of ours are born and nurtured amid
scenes of vice and iniquity–they never enter the House of Prayer and
possibly even the voice of the street preacher never reaches their
ears. But some of you heard the name of Jesus mingled with the hush of
your first lullaby! You were dandled on the knee of piety, and carried
even as a baby in the arms of earnest prayer. It is a most gracious
Sovereignty that has accorded you such great privileges as these! It is
the Lord, the Lord who reigns, to whom you owe all this! Therefore
rejoice, yet tremble as well, for these high privileges involve
corresponding responsibilities–and He will require of you a strict
account of the way in which you have used these advantages which others
have not possessed. One of these days He will make inquisition and will
say to you, "I gave you light–did you rejoice in it? I sent the Gospel
to you–did you listen to the joyful sound, or did you shut your ears
to it and turn away from it with contempt and provoke Me to anger
against you?" Besides, Sinner, although you are able to hear the
Gospel, today, you may not be allowed to hear it tomorrow! Instead of
the message to you being as it is today–"Believe and live," tomorrow
it may be–"Depart you cursed." Instead of the entreaty being addressed
to you as it is today, "Turn you, turn you, for why will you die?"
Tomorrow the dread sentence may be pronounced by Jehovah the King,
"Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek
Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would have none of My
counsel: they despised all My reproof." Mercy's day lasts not forever!
God's Gospel shall not always be trifled with! You may for a time
remember to listen to the loving, tender, wooing voice of the Savior,
but I would have you remember that He will not always quietly submit to
your rejection of His gracious invitations! Tremble, I beseech you,
lest the music of the silver trumpet of the Gospel should give place to
the harsh clangor of the knell announcing that you have been driven
from the Presence of the King to that dread prison where the voice of
love and mercy shall never be heard! Thus I bid you rejoice in your
present privileges, but also tremble, lest if you do not prize them and
use them aright, they may rise up in judgment to condemn you!
There are many in this place who may well thank the King for His
Sovereign Mercy to them for they are the subjects of the strivings of
His Holy Spirit There are many here who cannot listen to the Gospel
without being, to some extent,
impressed by it. They have been seen to shed tears because of their
consciousness of sin– and there have been times when it has been
exceedingly difficult for them to continue in the service of Satan.
Some of you cannot sin with impunity as others can, and it has
sometimes been a question with you whether you dare occupy these seats
unless you resolve to give up your darling sins! Well, if the Holy
Spirit has thus strived with you, thank God, for this is another
instance of His Sovereignty! Yet remember how early in the history of
mankind God had to say, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man."
In a moment the Sovereignty of God may take away all those melting and
gracious influences! And do you know what would happen to you then?
Your conscience would be seared as with a hot iron and your natural
hardness of heart would be followed by a judicial hardness which would
be still more terrible! You might then continue to hear the Gospel, but
it would be as though it were being preached to the dead–you would sit
in your pews and experience no more feeling than a row of statues
could–and you would live only to walk away and forget that you had
been listening to the Truth of God. I tremble as I look around upon
some of you! I cannot help fearing that you have already reached this
dreadful state and that God has said concerning you, "They are joined
to their idols, let them alone." I see some here who once made a
profession of religion and who would even speak in God's name, but they
turned aside! Then they professed to repent, but afterwards turned
aside again. And now no message ever seems to startle them. They have
listened to the Gospel until they have become Gospel-hardened–that
which should have been the means of their salvation has become the
means of their damnation! That same Gospel which has been a savor of
life unto life to many others, has become a savor of death unto death
to them! Take heed, Sinner, for He who melts can harden–and if you
have long resisted the strivings of the Spirit, it may be that the Lord
will allow you to go on sinning unrebuked–until you have filled up the
measure of your iniquity and received the due reward of your evil
deeds!
Let me also remind those of you who are unconverted that you have a
further proof of Divine Sovereignty in the fact that God has promised
to hear prayer There are many promises like these, "Ask, and it shall
be given you; seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened
unto you: for everyone that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds,
and to him that knocks, it shall be opened." God in mercy invites you
to come to Him–and this is a subject for heartfelt rejoic-ing–but it
is also a cause of trembling, for the door of His mercy will not always
remain open and, "when once the Master of the house is risen up and has
shut the door and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door,
saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us! He shall answer and say unto you, I
know not who you are." TonightJesus is lifted up in the preaching of
the Gospel as once He was lifted up upon the Cross, and He bids us cry
to you, "Look and live! Look and live," for it is still true that–
"There is life for a look at the Crucified One! There is life at this
moment for thee. Then look, Sinner, look unto Him and be saved, Unto
Him who was nailed to the tree."
But if you refuse to obey the Gospel invitation, what must become of
you? Surely Captain Execution, with the sharp axe in his hand, will
come forth and take you to your well-deserved doom! If God were to deal
with you according to your deserts, what hope would there be for you?
Yet He bids you repent and He speaks to us as He said to Ezekiel, "Say
unto them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn from his way and live:
turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house
of Israel?" Isaiah's message is still true– "Seek you the Lord while
He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near: let the wicked
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him turn
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He
will abundantly pardon." Sinner, I am happy in standing here as the
ambassador of my King–and yet while I rejoice, I tremble lest you
should reject the message that He has sent to you in the greatness of
His Grace, for my King is not to be trifled with–He deals severely
with those who spurn His mercy! Nothing provokes Him more than slights
cast upon His dear Son! To turn away from the blood of His atoning
Sacrifice will bring down upon you the indignation of the Most High!
Oh, venture not upon such a perilous course, but with those trembling
lips of yours kiss the Son, trust in Him, depend upon Him and you shall
find salvation now to the praise and Glory of God's good Grace!–
"Long the Gospel you have spurned,
Long delayed to love your God,
Stifled conscience, nor have turned
Wooed though by a Savior's blood!
Wretched, ruined, helpless soul,
To a Savior's blood apply– He alone can make you whole, Fly to Jesus,
Sinner, fy"
II. Thus have I spoken to sinners. Now I am briefly TO SPEAK TO THE
PEOPLE OF GOD.
You "precious sons on Zion, comparable to fine gold," look by faith to
your King as He sits upon the Throne! And first, rejoice that you are
His. It is the King who has saved you! Your pardon is signed by the
royal hand–it would be worthless to you if it were not so signed! It
is Sovereignty that puts the crown upon every other attribute of God!
It is the King who has chosen you, the King who has saved you!
Yet, Beloved, while I bid you rejoice, I would have you rejoice with
trembling while I suggest to you the question– are you sure that the
Lord has saved you? I put the question to myself–My Soul, are you sure
that the Lord has saved you? Have you made your own calling and
election sure before exhorting others to seek the Lord? It is well for
all of us to examine themselves and see whether we are in the faith or
not. My Brothers on the platform, you who are officers in the Church, I
evoke you to make sure work for eternity! You fathers in Israel,
presume not upon your gray hairs, but search yourselves, or, better
still, let each of us pray David's prayer, "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." You parents who have
been for years members of the Church–and you young men and maidens who
have not long joined our ranks–rejoice with trembling and each one of
you pray, "O Lord, by Your Holy Spirit witnessing with my spirit,
assure me that I am born
to God!"
I have been thinking of these two texts in connection with ourselves
who are members of this Church. What a notable instance of Sovereignty
is exhibited in the usefulness of the members of this Church! Some of
us have, in a very distinguished manner, been made the parents of
spiritual children and our seed has become very numerous. Here is
Sovereignty in which I, for one, do exceedingly rejoice! And there are
Brothers and Sisters here who also rejoice in it. But I, for one, must
tremble as well as rejoice. What if the Master should take back the
power which He has up to now lent us? What if our preaching should
become sapless and savorless to God's people and lifeless and powerless
to sinners? O my God, let me die before that should become my unhappy
lot! I could never endure to live as some ministers seem content to do.
To be a cumberer of the ground, to see no sign of God's hand being made
bare–oh, this would indeed be misery! May the Lord preserve us from
ever having that sad experience! I trust, dear Brothers and Sisters,
that you all feel that it would be far better for you to die as far as
your bodies are concerned than to die in the sense of being no longer
spiritually fruitful. Therefore, while we rejoice over the great
blessing with which the Lord has so long enriched us, let us tremble
lest we give Him cause to withhold it for the future! Unless we put
every wreath of laurel upon the King's own head, He will speedily
withdraw any power with which He entrusted us–and we shall be as weak
as Samson was when the Spirit of God had departed from him.
What a remarkable instance of Divine Sovereignty we have in this
Church, itself, as well as in individual members of it! We were among
the least in Zion, but the Lord has multiplied us greatly. Why is this?
Why has He blessed us so won-drously and passed by others who scarcely
ever hear the cry of a newborn convert? What other reason can we give
than this–because it seemed good in His sight? Therefore let us
rejoice, but let us also rejoice with trembling lest the Lord should
take away from us such blessed experiences! Well do I recollect the
words of that man of God who is now in Heaven–dear Mr. Jonathan
George–at the opening of this building. Quoting Jeremiah 33:9, "They
shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity
that I procure unto it." He said that the more blessing and prosperity
the Lord gave us, the more humble must we be–and the more anxious not
to provoke Him to jealousy–or else He would take away His Presence
from us. I trust that many of you, Beloved, cherish this holy anxiety
lest we should grieve the Spirit and drive Him away from us. At all
events, I know one who, without being unbelieving, is always very
anxious that "Ichabod" ("the Glory is departed") should never be
written on these walls. What if the Lord should allow your zeal to grow
cold, your doctrines to become unsound and your lives unholy? What if,
instead of ardor there should be lethargy? Instead of love there should
be bickering? Instead of harmony there should be division and instead
of mighty wrestling with the Most High there should be sad contentions
with one another? May these eyes be sealed in death before such a
wretched state of things as that should come! And I know that many of
you are saying, "Amen," as far as you, also, are concerned! Yet all
this is possible, for the King who gives can take away, and He who now
blesses can withhold the blessing! And He will do it unless as a
Church, we are faithful and true to Him. Go you now to the cities of
Asia Minor where
once the seven golden candlesticks brought such Glory to God, and how
much light will you find there? Where is Perga-mos? Where is Laodicea?
Where are the Churches of Philadelphia and the rest? Have not the most
of them ceased to be because they left their first love and turned back
unto the world? If we have any Achans in the camp, we would not stone
them, but we would pray for them–and we would plead with them to
repent and turn again unto the Lord–lest the whole Church should
suffer through them as Israel did through the sin of Achan.
This solemn Truth of the Sovereignty of God rests very heavily on my
heart. Let it rest very heavily on yours, also, so that together we may
rejoice because of all the goodness that the Lord has bestowed upon us
and, at the same time, let us tremble lest we should in any way provoke
Him to anger and cause Him to withdraw His Presence from us, and say to
us, "I will work no more through you, but I will leave you to your own
devices that you may find out what you can do when I have gone away
from you." God forbid that this should ever happen to us!
Now as we come to the Table of our Lord, let us come with deep
solemnity remembering that there is Sovereignty here, also. The
observance of this ordinance may be very dull and dreary to you–or God
make it a time of most blessed fellowship with Him and with one
another. The means of Grace are not always equally profitable to us.
The pipes are always golden, but the holy oil does not always flow in
our direction. There is blessing to be had at all times, but you cannot
always get it. Ask the King to give you Divine Grace to recognize His
right to give or to withhold the blessing– and then plead with Him,
for Jesus' sake, to remember you for good! God grant that it may be so,
for His dear name's sake! Amen!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 72
A Psalm for Solomon.
This was David' s dying bequest to his son, Solomon–but a greater than
Solomon is here, for this Psalm concerns the reign, triumph and
everlasting dominion of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Verses 1, 2 Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness
unto the king's son. He shall judge Your people with righteousness, and
Your poor with judgment It is the distinguishing mark of Christ's
Kingdom that He cares so much for the poor–whereas in other kingdoms
they are generally pushed to the wall–and men of great estate and
consequence get all the good positions. In Christ's Kingdom the poor
are exalted!
3. The mountains shall bring peace to Your people and the little hills,
by righteousness. Those mountains, in whose caves robbers lurked, and
from whose heights enemies often came down and swept away the little
estates of the lowlan-ders–even these shall bring peace and comfort–
"No strife shall vex Messiah's reign." When Jesus Christ comes a second
time to this earth, we shall see these prophecies literally
fulfilled–but until then we delight to know that the reign of Christ
is a reign of peace!
4-6. He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children
of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor They shall fear
You as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water
the earth. After being mown, the grass is tender–should there be a
long period of burning sunshine–the roots left exposed might soon be
dried up and the lower portion of the stem, bereft of moisture, might
become hard. Never does rain seem so refreshing to the grass as just
after the mowing! So is it in Christ' s Kingdom. Upon you whose broken
hearts are like mown grass. Upon you who have been cut down by the
sharp scythe of affliction and who have seen your hopes withered before
your eyes–Jesus shall come on gently like rain upon the mown grass.
And as the showers fertilize the barren earth, so shall the Presence of
Christ make your hearts to be fertile and fruitful. If any of us are
like the parched earth or the mown grass, may we have this gracious
promise fulfilled to us!
7. In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so
long as the moon endures. Under other kings sinners have flourished and
great oppressors have walked in public. But in Christ' s days, the
righteous shall flourish, "and abundance of peace so long as the moon
endures." There have been some times of truce. There have been some
periods when the temple of Janus has been shut. But when Christ comes,
the Lord shall break the bow and cut the spear in
sunder–not lay them by in store for days of warfare in the future–but
break them up as there will be no further use for them!
8, 9. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river
unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow
before Him and His enemies shall lick the dust. The Arabs, the
wandering Bedouin tribes, un-conquered and untamable, "shall bow before
Him." And His enemies shall not merely be beaten once or twice, but
they "shall lick the dust"–they shall be so entirely broken that there
shall be no fear of their rebelling in the future!
10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents.
Britain and some of her sister islands shall do homage to this great
Solomon.
10. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Ethiopia shall
stretch out her hands unto God. And men of swarthy skin shall
acknowledge the King of the Jews as Lord over all!
11. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve
Him. There is a great future for you, Christians, a glorious future for
our holy religion! The handful by the side of the lake shall yet become
an all-conquering host! As it was when that cake of barley bread fell
into the midst of the camp of Midian and overthrew the tent, so that it
lay along, and as it was when the shout was heard, "The sword of the
Lord, and of Gideon," so shall it be with us before long. God's people
having no strength of their own shall, nevertheless, break the power of
their enemy when the war-cry shall be heard, "The sword of Christ and
of the Lord of Hosts!"
12. 13. For He shall deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also,
and him that has no helper He shall spare the
poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. [See Sermon
#1037, Volume 18–THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND.] Now, needy one, here is a
promise for you! Is there one here that has no helper? Then let that
one know that Christ is the Friend of the friendless and the Helper of
the helpless!
14-16. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and
precious shall their blood be in His sight. And He shall live, and to
Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for
Him continually; and daily shall
He be praised. There shall be an handful of corn on the earth–[See
Sermon #717, Volume 12–PRAY FOR JESUS.] Only a handful? O you birds of
the air, how you long to eat it all up! O you thorns, how soon would
you choke it to death! It is only a handful of corn–
16. Upon the top of the mountains.That is a bad place for corn–surely
it will die there–the winter snows will chill it and, exposed to every
stormy blast it will never fill the arms of the reaper. But is it so?
Listen–
16. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. Just as there are
peculiar noises heard in a great forest when the wind sweeps through
it–there is an allusion to this in the Hebrew–there should be such an
abundance of fruit from this handful of corn that as when the forest
bows its head before the whirlwind, so shall there be heard a sound as
of God rushing among the multitude of His saints!
16. And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. They
shall be so many that one might as well attempt to count the blades of
grass as to reckon the number of God's saints!
17-20. His name shall endure forever: His name shall be continued as
long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall
call Him blessed. Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only
does wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name forever: and let
the whole earth be filled with His Glory. Amen, and Amen. The prayers
of David, the son of Jesse are ended [See Sermons #27, Volume 1–THE
ETERNAL NAME; #2187, Volume 37–JESUS–"ALL BLESSING AND ALL BLESSED";
#2451, Volume 42–"BLESSED IN HIM" and #129, Volume 3–DAVID'S DYING
PRAYER.] He had nothing more to pray for! He had his heart's highest
and best wish and, therefore, he closes his prayer where God had given
him all that he could ask.