Those Who Desire
(No. 2714)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
11, 1880.
"O Lord, I beseech You, let now Your ear be attentive to the prayer of
Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear
Your name." Nehemiah 1:11.
NEHEMIAH was earnest in his prayer for the good of his sorrow-stricken
nation, but he did not make the mistake of thinking that he was the
only praying man in the world. He said, "Be attentive to the prayer of
Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear
Your name." In this one respect, I like Nehemiah better than Elijah.
They were both noble men and greatly concerned for the highest welfare
of their fellow countrymen, but, at one time at least, Elijah did not
have a true or a fair estimate of things as they really were. He even
presumed to say to God, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of
Hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown
down Your altars, and slain Your Prophets with the sword; and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." Nehemiah,
however, acted on another and a more hopeful principle. When he had
presented his own personal supplication, he felt certain that there
were others who were also praying to the Lord, so he said, "Be
attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your
servants, who desire to fear Your name."
You know, dear Friends, that Elijah was quite wrong in his calculation,
for God said to him, "I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the
knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not
kissed him." There were, hidden in caves, or in other parts of the
country, thousands who feared God and bowed the knee to Him alone. Let
not any of us fall into the mistake that Elijah made. Do not you, my
Brother, claim to be the solitary Prophet of God, and say, "I only am
left; and they seek my life, to take it away." There are quite as good
men as you are elsewhere in the world and there are other people who
are as earnest in prayer as you are. If you get to supposing that you
are the only man left who holds sound doctrine, you will become a
bigot. And if you think that you are the only praying man on the earth,
you will most likely prove to be self-righteous! If you fancy you are
the only man who has a deep spiritual experience, probably you will be
doing a great wrong to others of your Lord's servants and speaking evil
of those whom He has accepted. It is better far to believe, with
Nehemiah, that your suppliant voice is not a solitary one–and that
there are many who, like yourself, cry day and night unto God.
I think it would be better to go even a little further and to believe
that if you are earnest, there are others who are still more earnest,
and that if you possess a deep-toned piety, there are some who have
even more than you have. So, instead of separating yourself from your
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as though you stood first and
foremost–hope and believe that you are only one small star in a great
constellation–one tiny speck in the milky way of Divine Light with
which God still studs the evening sky of this world's history. Take a
hopeful view of things and you will be more likely to be near the mark
than if you judge others severely and imagine yourself to be the only
faithful servant of the Lord.
It is quite clear that Nehemiah valued the prayers of others, for he
pleaded with God, "Be attentive"–not only "to the prayer of Your
servant," but also "to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear
Your name." Beloved Friends, there is a great value in the prayers of
God's people, so we ought to set great store by them. If you ever wish
to do me a good turn, pray for me! And if you would be the means of
blessing your fellow Christians, incessantly pray for them! You may
think that your petition is of small account, but it is the many
"littles" that make up the great whole. A pinch of
incense from each worshipper will fill the House of the Lord with sweet
perfume. Small lumps of coal cast into the glowing furnace will still
further increase its heat. Do not think that we can afford to lose your
prayers, whoever you may be, but cheerfully contribute it to the
general treasury of the Church's devotion.
It seems to me that the persons to whom Nehemiah referred may be
regarded as rather weak servants of God, for they were those who
desired to fear His name. Perhaps it could not actually be said that
they did fear it, but they desired to do so. Still, Nehemiah felt
grateful even for their prayers and we cannot afford to lose the prayer
of a single godly child, or of the most feeble Christian among us. Do
not ridicule him about his shortcomings and say that his prayer is
useless. No, my dear weak Brother, we need your supplication! Even
Abraham could not afford to lose the prayer of Lot, for Abraham's
prayer, alone, did not save a single city of the plain–but poor
miserable Lot was able to bring just the last ounce of intercession
that turned the sacred scale–he contributed a very little prayer and
thus one city was saved from destruction. Well, then, if Lot's prayer
was needed at the back of Abraham's mighty plea in it, perhaps the
petition of the very least among us may, in God's judgment, suffice to
turn the scale in some other instance! The Lord may say, "The prayers
of My people have prevailed now that this last one has added his
request." If one of you should stay away from the Prayer Meeting and
thus not contribute your share to the supplication of the whole Church
because you think you are not a person of much consequence, it may be
that yours is the last prayer which is needed to complete the chain so
that it would prevail even as Lot's did. We shall certainly not lose
any blessing if you add your prayers to ours, but we shall gain by
them! We wish, therefore, to offer to God not only the prayers of any
servant of His who is strong, as Nehemiah was, but also the prayers of
any of His servants who desire to fear His name.
I am now going to speak concerning those of whom it is said that they
desire to fear God's name. I have already described them as being
rather feeble folk, yet all who are included in this class are not
alike weak. Still, as a rule, it does indicate an early stage of the
working of God's Grace when we can only say of them that they desire to
fear God's name. The two remarks I shall make upon the text are these.
First, that this description includes all who have any true religion.
And, secondly, that this description includes many grades of Grace.
I. First, then, THIS DESCRIPTION INCLUDES ALL WHO HAVE ANY TRUE
RELIGION–they desire to fear
God's name.
For, first, true religion is always a matter of desire. If you do not
desire to fear God, you do not fear Him. If you do not feel any desire
after that which is right in God's sight, you have not anything at all
right in your heart.
Some have a religion that is all a matter of custom. They go to a
certain place of worship simply because they were brought up to go
there. Their father went before them and their grandfather went before
him–so they follow in their steps as a mere matter of form. If we were
to say to them, "Now, do whatever you like. Do not take any notice of
what anybody else has done, or is doing, but just please yourself"–in
all probability they would not go any longer–or if they did, it would
be from sheer force of custom. These are the people who say that our
Sundays are very dull and that our religious services are–well, I need
not repeat what they say of them–but they do not enjoy them, for they
have in their hearts no desire towards fearing God, or towards His
worship in the public assembly. They would be far happier if they could
go to some place of worldly amusement, or idly loiter by the seaside,
for the worship of God's House is a weariness to them, and they are
glad when the Sabbath is past.
If this is true of any of you, dear Friends, do not deceive yourselves
about your real condition, for it is clear that you have not any
religion at all! If your presence in the sanctuary is not a matter of
your own deliberate choice. If you do not desire to fear God's name,
there is nothing in it that is acceptable to the Most High, for God
abhors the sacrifice where the heart is not found! What blessing can
result from your coming into His courts and rendering only hypocritical
worship? What are you doing, after all, every Sabbath, but sending into
God's House the mere pretense of a man, if your heart is not here! Your
coat is here. Your flesh is here. But not your very self and,
therefore, the form of worship is a mere mockery!
There are others, whose fear of God arises entirely from dread. They
dare not go to bed at night without offering some sort of prayer–not
because they have any real desire to pray, or to commune with God, but
through fear as to what might happen if they omitted their usual form!
They would not allow a Sunday to pass without attending the means of
Grace at least once–not because they have any desire to go, or any
delight in the services of God's House–but because they are afraid not
to go. Yet we must always remember that the religion of dread is not
the religion of Christ.
That which you do because you are afraid to act otherwise is no
evidence of a renewed heart–it is, rather, the proof that you are a
slave, living in dread of the lash, and that you would act far
otherwise if you dared! But the child of God loves his heavenly Father
and delights to worship Him. Oftentimes, when the Sabbath is about to
close, he says–
"My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this,
And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss!"
He delights in the worship of God! It is his element, his pleasure, his
treasure–and he loves it without measure!
So, dear Friends, by this test shall you judge yourselves, for true
religion is always a thing of desire. I do verily believe that
attendance at public worship in this Tabernacle is a thing of desire to
very many. I see people walking to some places of worship in such a sad
and solemn way that they look as if they were going to be flogged or
burned. But I notice how joyfully most of you trip along when you are
coming here. You are glad when the Sabbath arrives and you look forward
to it with delight. May it always be so with you, for you may rest
assured that there is no worship which is so acceptable to God as that
which we, from our heart, desire to render to Him!
And so, dear Friends, I come back to the assertion that all true
religion must be a thing of desire. And not only is this generally
true, but if you dissect piety and devotion, you will find that every
part of it must be a matter of desire. Take repentance, for instance,
and I am sure I may say that there never was a man who repented who did
not desire to repent. The Holy Spirit never makes anyone repent without
his desiring to do it–that would be an impossible thing. So is it with
faith–no man believes against his will–to the saving of his soul.
There must be a desire to trust Christ, or else there cannot be true
faith. In like manner, no man ever loves God without a desire to do so.
It would be an absurdity even to talk of such a thing! Indeed, there is
no Christian Grace which can be exercised without the desire to
exercise it. So, there is no act of worship which can be performed
aright unless it arises from desire. A man never really praises God
until he desires to do so. You cannot sit still and say, "I joined in
praising God involuntarily."
Desire is also the very life-blood of prayer. An unwilling prayer would
be a hollow mockery. If I pray that which I am forced to pray, I insult
God. So is it with the observance of the ordinances of the Christian
religion. The time was, you know–and not very many years ago–when no
man could be a member of a corporation, or could be employed in the
service of Her Majesty unless he would take what some people still
erroneously call, "the sacrament." Cowper truly said that they made the
ordinances of Christ into a picklock of office! But do you suppose that
a man who took "the sacrament" in order that he might be made into a
mayor, or a sheriff, or a member of Parliament ever had, in that act,
any real communion with Christ? It is all but blasphemous to suppose
such a thing! The right observance of the ordinance must be a matter of
a Christian's own free will–the Grace of God must make him desire thus
to show forth his Lord's death. Anyone who pretends to observe either
of the ordinances of Christ from any motive but holy desire makes a
mockery of them and certainly does not use them aright.
Desire must be at the back of every religious act, or else there is
nothing at all in it. It is so in the case of almsgiving. Always take
heed that you do not give to the poor, or to any charity, or to the
funds of the Church simply because you are asked to do so, for, unless
you really desire to give what you appear to present, you have not, in
God's sight, given it at all! If, in your heart of hearts you feel, "I
wish I had dodged round the pillar, or gone down the other aisle, and
so escaped having to give," you have not truly offered anything to God.
The shrewd Scotchman's remark was quite right when a man said to him,
"I have given a half-crown to the collection when I only intended to
give a penny," and asked if he could have it back. "No," said the
Scotchman, "when it is once in, it is in for good." "Well," said the
man, "I shall get credit for half-a-crown, at any rate " "Oh, no you
won't!" said the canny Scot, "you only intended to give a penny and you
will not get credit for any more than that."
There is another thing that is worthy of observation. That is, wherever
there is this holy desire, even if there is no power to carry it into
action, the desire is itself so much the very essence of true religion
that God accepts it. Desire is acceptable, for instance, in the matter
of almsgiving even where no alms can be given. According to what a man
has, and not according to what he has not, is the measure of acceptance
for his gift. David, you remember, wished to build the temple, but God
would not let him carry out that great work because his hands had been
stained with blood. Yet the Lord said to him, "Whereas it was in your
heart to build an house unto My name, you did well that it was in your
heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son that
shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house
unto My name." And God accepted the will for the deed and blessed David
accordingly. This principle may afford encouragement to any of you who
perhaps feels, "I cannot do much for the Lord's cause, but I am quite
willing to do all that I can." Be ready to give or to act whenever you
have the power–and God, our gracious Lord–will take the will for the
deed whenever your desire cannot be translated into action.
But remember one solemn fact, and that is that wherever there is a man
who has not even the desire to fear God, there is condemnation. Such a
man must indeed be dead in trespasses and sins! If that is your case,
my Friend, you have never repented and you say that you do not desire
to repent. You have never believed in Christ Jesus and you confess that
you have no desire to do so. You have never, in spirit and in truth,
worshipped the God who made you and you have no desire to do so. You
have never confessed your sin and sought pardon for it, and you say
that you have no desire to do so. Well, you scarcely need, I think,
that I should pronounce over you the sentence of condemnation which
God's Word declares to be yours! Does not your own conscience tell you
how far you must be from the right road when you are not honest and you
say, "I do not want to be honest"? What a confirmed rogue such an
individual must be! If a man says, "I am not chaste in life and I do
not want to be chaste," you know how debauched he must be when he not
only sins, but finds pleasure in the iniquity, and boasts that he has
no wish to be delivered from the evil! God have mercy upon you, my
Friend, if that is your case! But I pray you to stand convicted of your
guilt and to cry unto God to change your heart, and renew your will,
and make you at least to desire to be right, for where that desire is
really cherished, there is something good and hopeful about you. But
where there is not even a desire after that which is right and pure,
and holy– what can we say but, "Woe be unto you unless you repent"?
II. Now, in the second, place, I want to show you that THE DESCRIPTION
GIVEN OUR TEXT–"Your servants, who desire to fear Your name"–INCLUDES
MANY GRADES OF GRACE.
It does not, however, include some who would like to be included in it.
Here is, for instance, a man who says, "I am not a Christian, but I
sometimes desire to be one." Yes, my Friend, that is on Sunday night
when you are in the company of God's people. But what about Saturday
nights? What about Friday night when you received your week's wages?
You did not desire to be a Christian, then, I think–at least when you
got home to your wife and family, they could not suppose, from the way
you walked, that you had any desire of that sort!
Here is another man who says, "I desire to be a Christian," yet he is
contemplating attendance at some playhouse or other each night in the
week, and he is arranging to spend a great part of his time in the
company of the ungodly. I say frankly that I do not believe in that
man's desire to be saved. My Friend, your goodness is like the early
cloud or the morning dew–we sometimes have a faint hope concerning
you, but while your desires come and go as they have done, there is a
text of Scripture that just suits you, and we advise you to take it
home to yourself–"The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing."
You are like a man lying in bed and all the while saying, "I desire to
plow my field, but I do not mean to get up at present." The sun has
long risen. Indeed, it is high noon, but he still says, "I desire to
plow my fields, but I do not intend to get up just yet." And so he
sleeps on through the whole day. He keeps on saying that he desires to
plow his field and to sow it, but the weather is not favorable–it is
either too hot or too cold–it is too dry one day, and too wet another,
so he goes on desiring and does nothing. The man is a fool, or
something worse and, alas, we have many such foolish folk who are
always desiring, and desiring, and desiring and yet nothing comes of
their desires!
There is a tombstone erected in memory of a prince who died some little
while ago–I will not say where he used to live, but his principality
was badly managed, I should think, for he never did a good thing in his
life except by mistake. No one ever credited him with having done any
good. And when he was dead, they put upon his tombstone this
inscription, "He was a man of excellent intentions." Yes, and that is
all that will be able to be said of many others when they come to die,
"They were men of excellent intentions–sometimes."
Such people are very different from those to whom Nehemiah referred in
his prayer–"O Lord, I beseech You, let now Your ear be attentive to
the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who
desire to fear Your name." Who are those who are included in this
description?
Beginning at the bottom, I should say, first, the man who has an
earnest desire to be right I remember once asking a man if he was a
Christian, and he answered, "I am very sorry to say that I am not
saved. But, oh, Sir, I do wish that I were!" I looked at him with much
yearning in my heart and I saw how earnestly he meant what he had said.
And I then went on to enquire why he was not a Christian if he longed
to be one, because the great point is to get men to desire to be
saved–and when they do desire it, what is there to hinder them from
having the blessing? When a boat is guided by a rudder, it only needs
that the rudder should be turned in a particular way and the boat will
turn at once. And when a man's heart is so turned that he says, "I
really desire to be right with God, I long to be a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ"–when that is not merely a passing fancy, but when he can
truly say, "I am always desiring this. I earnestly and vehemently
desire it"–why, such a man is not far from the Kingdom of God!
There is, however, this remark to be added–he must not be content with
that desire, but must carry it into action. Suppose that it is time for
me to eat my dinner and that I sit down at the table with the meat
before me and say, "I desire to eat"–and yet I simply sit looking at
the meat? I have my knife and fork ready and I say that I am earnestly
desiring to eat–would not anyone who was near me say, "Then, why do
you not eat? There is the meat before you. Help yourself!" Ah, dear
Friend, that is what I have long tried to induce you to do in the
matter of food for your soul. Do you not know that all the provisions
of the Gospel are free to all who desire to partake of them? If you
have a willing mind, you may come and you will be heartily welcome!
There is nothing to hinder you, for all that there is in Christ is free
to all who will come to Him. Every soul that really desires to have
Christ can have Him!
Perhaps someone asks, "How may I take Him, then?" Why, simply by
trusting Him and entrusting yourself to Him. You know how I have often
put it to you, using that verse in which the Apostle Paul says, "The
Word is near you, even in your mouth." Then swallow it if it is in your
mouth! Let it go down into your inmost being–that is all you have to
do–take it into your very soul. I do not know of a more beautiful
emblem of faith, after all, than that idea of swallowing the Truth of
God, receiving it, eating and drinking it–taking Christ, who is the
Truth, into your inmost self. Only trust Him and you will no longer
cry, "I desire to fear the Lord," for it will be true that you do
really fear Him.
Now we will go up a stage higher. There are some, included in this
number of those who desire to fear God, who really do fear Him, but are
afraid they do not, so they dare not say that they fear God, but they
confess that they desire to fear Him. Now this is a kind of holy
modesty which, if it is not carried too far, is even commendable. The
first thing that certain men in Greece did was to call themselves
sophists, or wise men. When they grew wiser, they called themselves
philosophers, that is lovers of wisdom and, sometimes, a man who at
first calls himself by a very big name, when he gets to be really
bigger, is content with a smaller title. I have known some people who
have been very sure about their own conversion, but I did not feel
anything like so sure about them. And I have known others who were
never sure about their own safety, but always felt a sacred anxiety
lest they should not be right, yet I felt quite sure about them, for I
always saw in them the marks and evidences of deep sincerity and holy
watchfulness. There are many of God's true children who hardly dare
call themselves by that privileged name. But there are others who are
very sure about their position, to whom we would commend the words of
the poet, Cowper–
"Come, then, a still, small whisper in your ear– He has no hope who
never had a fear; And he that never doubted of his state, He may,
perhaps–perhaps he may–too late." There is such a thing as never
doubting when you ought to doubt. But, on the other hand, I do not want
our dear modest friends always to be saying, "I hope and I trust," yet
never to get any further. Why, surely the Word of God is very plain,
and the way of salvation is very simple! "He that believes on the Son
has everlasting life." Then, if you believe on Him, you have
everlasting life! The man who really trusts Christ loves and fears
God–and if you love Him and can say, "Lord, You know all things, You
know that I love You," then you are a God-fearing man. If you are
relying for salvation upon Jesus Christ and have no other trust, then
you need not say, "I hope I am saved." You may be sure that you are
saved. Still, God forbid that I should ever seem to condemn those whom
God accepts, so, if all you dare to say is that you desireto fear Him,
give me your hand, my Brother! Give me your hand, my Sister–though you
are weak and feeble, and your enjoyment of the things of God is but
slender, you are in the King's family, one of the redeemed and your
prayer is needed to be united with ours, so let us have it and God will
accept it!
Let us advance a step further. Those who desire to fear God are found
among those who know that they do fear Him and dare to confess it, but
who, nevertheless, are afraid that their imperfections are so abundant
that their religion still lies more in the region of desire than of
attainment. I remember being in the company of a person who was talking
very much about his own growth in Grace. If I remember rightly, he said
something about a higher life that God gives to all His people and he
boasted very much about his own attainments. There was another Brother
there who said nothing, so
the first speaker turned to him, and asked, "Have not you got any
religion." "Yes," he meekly replied, "but I never had any to boast of."
I would rather join with the second man than the first! The man who
does not believe that he might be any better has very little good at
present. He who thinks that he has got to the end of perfection is
probably at the wrong end of it. No, no, my Brothers and Sisters, those
of us who fear God most, also desireto fear Him! We have repented, but
we want to have a deeper repentance. We do believe in Jesus, but we
long to have a stronger faith. We hope to have a brighter, clearer hope
than we, at present, possess. We do serve God, but we wish to serve Him
ten times as much as we have ever done. Have I any zeal? Oh, that the
zeal of His house might eat me up! Am I a saint? Oh, that I might be
more fully sanctified and that sin might be more thoroughly overthrown!
There is yet very much left to be desired in the best of us–there is
great room for further progress and we must keep on pressing forward
toward that which is before, and forget that which is behind! In this
sense, then, we are all among those who desire to fear God's name even
when we do fear it.
Let us advance another step. There are some who desire to fear God's
name in a sense which, no doubt, was intended by Nehemiah. The poor
Jews at Jerusalem could not worship God as they wished to do–there was
no temple, no altar, no sacrifice. They could not carry out the
ceremonials and festivities which God had ordained, so they desired to
show that they feared God's name more publicly and more openly, and to
do it more thoroughly and with greater freedom and less hindrance. I
daresay I am speaking to some dear child of God who says, "That is just
my case–I desire to fear God's name, but I am hampered in many ways."
You have conscientious convictions and you are placed, just now, where
you cannot carry them out. You are as yet under age, perhaps, and
parental authority is interposed, and you say, "I cannot do what I
believe to be right, but I do desire to fear God's name." Hold on to
that, dear Brother, dear Sister, and do all that you can do, and God
will enlarge the place of your footsteps, by-and-by!
I have known servants who could not get out to the House of God and
other persons placed in positions in the family where they could not
enjoy the means of Grace, and persons living in villages where they
have been obliged, if they went to any place of worship at all, to go
where the Gospel was not preached. If that is your case, you may well
say that you desire to fear God's name and want more liberty and
greater scope. And though you may, at this present moment, be like
Naaman the Syrian, and have to bow in the house of Rimmon, I wish you
would not do it–I wish you would give up Rimmon and his house! But,
still, with all the imperfections with which your circumstances
surround you, I know some of you, who are God's true children, are in a
dreadful fix and do not know what to do. I want to include you within
the lines of those whom God will bless so long as you desire to fear
His name.
Cry mightily to God about it and He will yet bring you better days. The
Apostle Paul said that if a man who was a slave was converted to God,
and he could not lawfully get out of his position, he could glorify God
as a slave. And you may do the same wherever your lot may be cast. Make
it the subject of prayer that you may be able to serve God whatever
happens. Perhaps you dwell in Mesech. When you go home tonight, you
cannot gather at the family altar, you cannot mention Christ's name in
the house where you live without setting blasphemous tongues going,
directly. Let it be your desire that God will place you in other
circumstances–and if He does, then carry out what you desire. Do not
let the associations in which you are placed cause your piety to
degenerate, lest, when God gives you enlargement, you should not have
an enlarged heart at the same time and continue to live as you are now
when there will be no excuse for your doing so!
To close my discourse, let me say that the very highest form of
devotion we can ever reach is included in the description in the text,
"Your servants who desire to fear Your name," for I find that some of
our translators and expositors read it, "who delight to fear Your
name." There is not much variation in it, after all, because to desire
to fear God's name is much the same thing as doing it as a matter of
delight. Come, Beloved, God grant that we may all get to be of that
number who delight to fear His name! May we be of those to whom it is a
pleasure and a joy to be the soldiers of the Cross, the followers of
the Lamb–to whom prayer is recreation, to whom praise is Paradise, to
whom the service of God is Heaven! We are not now slaves, but happy
children who delight in God, and joy in Him! And we can sing with our
sacred poet–
"I need not go abroad for joys, I have a feast at home! My sighs are
turned into songs, My heart has ceased to roam.
Down from above the blessed Dove Is come into my breast, To witness
Your eternal love, And give my spirit rest."
O yes, we delight to fear God! Our misery is that we cannot fear Him as
we would. Our sorrow is if we ever fall into sin. A child of God cannot
find pleasure there. He may be led into sin, but he will be whipped for
it, and he will whip himself for it. He will groan, and cry, and sigh
to think how wrong he was to go astray. But his greatest delight is in
the Law of the Lord and in His Law does he meditate day and night.
Thus I have shown you that this description comprehends all ranges and
grades of Grace. God grant that we may all come in under the
description, and may we then take care to present our prayers with
those of all who fear God's name. Be at the Prayer Meetings whenever
you can and I beg you to pray at home, and to join the people of God
wherever prayer is offered, even though some of you, at present, only
desire to fear His name. And may the Lord bless you all, for His dear
name's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: NEHEJMAH1.
Verses 1, 2. The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to
pass in the month, Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan,
the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men
of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which
were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. Nehemiah was in a
high office in Shushan, the palace of King Artaxerxes, but his heart
was at Jerusalem. He therefore remembered the very date, "in the month
Chislev," when some of his brethren came from Judah to visit him, for
he was more interested in their coming than in any transaction of the
court in which he was, for a while, employed. Observe the subject of
this good man's conversation–"I asked them concerning the Jews that
had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning
Jerusalem." Whenever Christian people meet together, they ought to make
the subject of their mutual discourse an enquiry as to the progress of
the Kingdom of God in the place where they respectively dwell. If you
have come up from the country, we want you to tell us about the work of
God in your village, or in the town to which you reside– are there
many conversions there? We also will tell you about the work in London.
Thus should Christian brethren commune with one another and ask
concerning Christ's Kingdom among men, and the progress that His Gospel
is making.
3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity
there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of
Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with
fire. They gave a correct description of the real state of affairs in
Jerusalem. They did not color it, but they stated the actual facts. It
is well, sometimes, to tell our Christian brethren about the low estate
of Zion. Where things are not prospering as they should, it is best to
say so, and not to try to smother up the truth and give a false report.
4. And it came to pass, where I heard these words, that I sat down and
wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God
of Heaven, This good man was greatly affected by the sad news which he
heard. He was not indifferent to the condition of his countrymen. He
did not say, "We are getting on very well here. I am a Jew and I am in
the palace of Artaxerxes, but I cannot do anything to help my Brothers
and Sisters. You, who are away there at Jerusalem, must do the best you
can." No. Nehemiah said no such thing! He looked upon himself as being
part and parcel of the whole Jewish race, just as every true Believer
should regard all Christians as being near akin to himself. We are not
20 churches, Brothers and Sisters, nor two hundred–our Lord Jesus
Christ is the Head, and we are members of that one body which is His
Church. We ought to sympathize with all who are in Christ and,
especially, if the cause of God is not prospering in any place, we
should do as Nehemiah did–he wept, and mourned, and fasted, and prayed
before the God of Heaven. He tells us what he said in his prayer. These
are, as it were, the shorthand notes of his supplication.
5. 6. And said, I beseech You, O LORD God of Heaven, the great and
terrible God that keeps covenant and mercy for them that love Him and
observe His commandments: let Your ear now be attentive, and Your eyes
open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before
You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and
confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned
against You: both I and my father's house have sinned. This is quite a
model prayer. How earnest it is and how truthful! Nehemiah recognizes
the terrible side of God's
Character as well as His mercifulness. He evidently had right views of
God. Some people try to explain away all the passages of Scripture
which represent God as a terrible God. Whether they know it or not,
they will find this course of action to be a great source of weakness
to them in dealing with the ungodly. Nehemiah calls Jehovah "the great
and terrible God," but he adds, "that keeps covenant and mercy for them
that love Him." He tells us that he prayed before the Lord day and
night. Of course he had to attend to his daily duties, so that he could
not always be upon his knees, but his heart was praying even while he
was engaged with other matters. And as often as he could, he retired to
his room, so that he might cry out unto God. Please observe that he
makes a confession of "the sins of the children of Israel." It is our
duty as Christians, as it were, to take the great load of the sins of
the nation upon ourselves and to make confession of them before God. If
the guilty ones will not repent, we must repent for them. If they will
not confess their sins, we must confess their sins as though we stood
in their place. Nehemiah very pathetically says, "and confess the sins
of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against You." And then
coming still more closely home, he adds, "both I and my father's house
have sinned."
7-9. We have dealt very corruptly against You, and have not kept the
commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which You commanded
Your servant Moses. Remember, I beseech You, the word that You
commanded Your servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter
you abroad among the nations: but if you turn unto Me, and keep My
commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the
uttermost parts of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there, and
will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set My name there.
He quotes the Covenant and he pleads the promise of Jehovah! Now, there
is no means of getting a man to do us a favor so powerful as this, to
quote his own promise. "You said You would do it." So, here Nehemiah
says, "Remember, I beseech You, the word that You commanded Your
servant Moses."
10-11. Now these are Your servants and Yourpeople, whom You have
redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I
beseech You, let now Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your
servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear Your
name. And prosper, I pray You, Your servant this day, and grant him
mercy in the sight of this man. That is, in the sight of King
Artaxerxes to whom he was about to speak.
11. For I was the king's cupbearer. He counts this as a high privilege,
that he would be able to speak for his people to the great king who
would give him the opportunity to go and rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem.