Thy Redeemer
A Sermon
(No. 157)
Delivered on Sabbath Evening, October 4, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"And thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."–Isaiah 41:14.
AND WHY DOES it say, "and thy Redeemer?" What was the use of appending
the Redeemers name to this precious exhortation? By God's help it shall
be the business of this evening to show why there is a peculiar
blessedness in the fact that God hath not only said, "I will help thee,
saith the Lord," but has added, "and thy redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel."
You will please to notice that it looks as if this were a repetition by
three different persons. Israel was cast down, and Jehovah, for that is
the first word–(you will notice that the word "Lord" is in capitals,
and should be translated "Jehovah")–says to his poor, tried,
desponding servant, "I will help thee." No sooner is that uttered than
we think we shall not be straining the text if we surmise that God the
Holy Spirit, the Holy One of Israel, adds his solemn affidavit also;
and declares by oath and covenant, "I will help thee." Does not this,
we say, look somewhat like repetition? Was it not sufficient that
Jehovah the Father should declare that he would help his people! Why
did the other persons of the divine Trinity unite in this solemn
declaration? We think we shall be able, if God shall help us, to show
great usefulness therein, especially dwelling to-night upon that word,
"thy Redeemer," and marking how the repetition of the word by our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, adds a peculiar blessedness to the
exhortation–"Fear not, thou worm Jacob."
First, methinks this was added for amplification; secondly for
sweetness; thirdly, for confirmation.
I. First, when it says, "and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," it
was added FOR AMPLIFICATION. There are some preachers from whom you
will never learn anything; not be cause they do not say much which is
instructive, but because they just mention the instructive thought
once, and immediately pass on to another thought, never expanding upon
the second thought, but immediately passing on, almost without
connection, to a third–just casting forth, as it were, bare thoughts,
without opening them up, and explaining them to the people. Such
preachers are generally complained of as being very unprofitable to the
hearers. "Why," said the hearer, "it made no impression upon me; it was
good, but there was so much of it that I could not recollect it. I had
nothing to bring away." Other preachers, on the other hand, follow a
better method. Having given one idea, they endeavor to amplify it, so
that their hearers, if they are not able to receive the idea in the
abstract, at least are able to lay hold upon some of its points, when
they come to the amplification of it. Now, God, the great Author of the
great book, God, the preacher of the truth by his prophets, when he
would preach it, and when he would write it, so amplifies a fact, so
extends a truth, and enlarges upon a doctrine, says, "I will help thee,
saith Jehovah." That means Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "Ah! but," said
God, "my people will forget that, unless I amplify the thought; so I
will even break it up; I will remind them of my Trinity. They
understand my Unity; I will bid them recollect that there are Three in
One, though these Three be One;" and he adds, "thy Redeemer, the Holy
One of Israel. Jehovah–Redeemer–Holy One of Israel–three persons,
all included, indeed, in the word Jehovah, but very likely to be
forgotten unless they had been distinctly enumerated.
Now, brethren, suffer your thoughts for a moment to enlarge upon the
fact, that the promise contained in this verse, "Fear not, I will help
thee" (I will help thee), is a promise from Three Divine Persons. Hear
Jehovah, the everlasting Father, saying, "I will help them." "Mine are
the ages: before the ages began, when there were no worlds, when nought
had been created, from everlasting I am thy God. I am the God of
election, the God of the decree, the God of the covenant; by my
strength I did set fast the mountains, by my skill I laid the pillars
of the earth; and the beams of the firmament of heaven; I spread out
the skies as a curtain, and as a tent for man to dwell in; I the Lord
made all these things. 'I will help thee.'" Then comes Jehovah the Son.
"And I, also, am thy Redeemer, I am eternal; my name is wisdom. I was
with God, when there were no depths, before he had digged the rivers, I
was there as one brought up with him. I am Jesus, the God of ages; I am
Jesus, the man of sorrows; ' I am he that liveth and was dead, I am
alive for evermore.' I am the High Priest of your profession, the
Intercessor before the throne, the Representative of my people. I have
power with God. 'I will help thee.'" Poor worm, thy Redeemer vows to
help thee; by his bleeding hands he covenants to give thee aid. And
then in comes the Holy Spirit. "And I," saith the Spirit, "am also
God–not an influence, but a person –I, eternal and everlasting,
co-existent with the Father and the Son–I, who did brood over chaos,
when as yet the world was not brought into form and fashion, and did
sow the earth with the seeds of life when I did brood over it,–I, that
brought again from the dead your Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of the
sheep, who am the Eternal Spirit, by whose power the Lord Jesus did
arise from the thraldom of his tomb –I, by whom souls are quickened,
by whom the elect are called out of darkness into light–I, who have
the power to maintain my children and preserve them to the end–'I will
help thee.'" Now, soul, gather up these three, and dost thou want more
help than they can afford? What! dost thou need more strength than the
omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than
exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, and
more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring
hither thine empty pitcher! Sure this well will fill it. Haste! gather
up thy wants, and bring them here–thine emptiness, thy woes, thy
needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply. What canst
thou want beside? Stand up, Christian, in this thy might Jehovah
Father, Jehovah Jesus, Jehovah Spirit,–these are with thee to help
thee. This is the first thing. It is an amplification.
II. And now, secondly, concerning that word, "thy Redeemer," it is a
SWEETENING OF THE PROMISE. Did you never notice that a promise always
seems all the sweeter for having Jesus in it? All the promises are yea
and amen in him; but when a promise mentions the name of the Redeemer,
it imparts a peculiar blessedness to it. Brethren, it is something
like, if I may represent it by such a figure, the beautiful effect of
certain decorations of stained glass. There are some persons whose eyes
are so weak that the light seems to be injurious to them, especially
the red rays of the sun, and a glass has been invented, which rejects
the rays that are injurious, and allows only those to pass which are
softened and modified to the weakness of the eye. It seems as if the
Lord Jesus were some such a glass as this. The grace of God the
Trinity, shining through the man Christ Jesus, becomes a mellow, soft
light, so that mortal eye can bear it. My God, I could not drink from
thy well, if thou hadst not put there the earthen pitcher of my
Saviour; but with him living waters from thy sacred well I draw.
Heaven! thou art too bright; I could not bear thine insufferable light,
if I had not this shade with which I cover thee; but through it, as
through a mist, I do behold the halo of thy glory, undiminished in its
effulgence, but somewhat diminished in their potency which would be my
destruction. The Saviour seems to calm his glory, to tone it down to
our poor feeble frame. His name put into this wine of heaven, does not
diminish in the least degree its sparkling and its exhilirating power;
but it takes out of it that deep strength which might upset an angel's
brain, if he could drink to his full. It takes away the profundity of
mystery, which would make the deep old wine of the kingdom intoxicating
rather than cheering. Christ Jesus cast into the river of God, makes
all the streams more sweet; and when the believer sees God in the
person of the Saviour, he then sees the God whom he can love, and to
whom with boldness he can approach. Surely I love this promise all the
better, because I think I see my Saviour, with his hand all bleeding,
stamping his hand upon it, and saying, "And thy Redeemer," and there is
the blood mark left upon the promise. It does seem to me as if when God
uttered that promise to the poor worm Jacob, Jesus Christ could not be
still. He heard his Father say, "Fear not, worm Jacob;" and he saw the
poor worm, with his head on one side, with his eyes all flowing with
tears, with his heart palpitating with terror, and his arms folded in
dismay; and when his Father had said, "Fear not," he stepped from
behind, and whispered in a voice more soft than the voice of his
Father, "Fear not, worm Jacob, it is God that speaks;" and then the
soft voice says, "And it is thy Redeemer that speaks too." He says,
"Fear not." He who loves thee, who knows thee, who has felt what thou
feelest, who has passed through the woes which thou art now
enduring–he who is thy Kinsman and thy Brother, he also says "Fear
not, worm Jacob." Oh, it is sweet, it is precious to look upon that
word, as spoken by our Redeemer.
III. And now we come to the other point. I think this is put in by way
of CONFIRMATION. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses surely the
whole shall be established."
"Blind unbelief is sure to err."
It needs many witnesses to make such unbelieving souls as we are,
believe the promises. "Now," says God, "I will help thee. Unbelief!
wilt thou doubt Jehovah? Can the "I Am that I Am" lie? Can the God of
faithfulness and truth deceive thee? O unbelief! infamous traitor! wilt
thou dare to doubt him? Yes, and Christ knew it would; and so he comes
in and he says, "and thy Redeemer," as a second witness; whilst the
Spirit is the third. "Thy Redeemer," volunteers to be the second
guarantee, the other security to the faithfulness of this promise. The
Father will lose his honor if he breaks his word; and I too do give as
the security for the fulfillment of this promise, my troth and honor
also. "Thy Redeemer" engages that he will help thee, O thou worm!
And now, I want you to read the promise, recollecting that it says,
"Thy Redeemer ;" and then, as you read it through, you will see how the
word "Redeemer" seems to confirm it all. Now begin. "I will help thee;"
lay a stress on that word. If you read it so, there is one blow at your
unbelief. "I will help thee," saith the Redeemer. "Others may not, but
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and by the bands of my
lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 'I will help thee, though the earth
forsake thee; though thy father and thy mother forsake thee, I will
take thee up. Wilt thou doubt me? I have proved my love to thee. Behold
this gash, this spear thrust in my side. Look hither at my hands: wilt
thou but believe me? ' Tis I.' I said that on the waters, and I said to
my people, Be not afraid; it is I.' I say to thee, now thou art on the
waters, ' Be not afraid; I will help thee.' Sure thou needst not fear
that I shall ever forget thee. Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee.' I have graven thee on my
hands; thy walls are ever before me.' 'I will help thee.'" Now, you
must just suppose the Saviour standing here–that Man whose garments
are red with blood; you must suppose him standing where I stand
to-night, and saying to you, personally, "Fear not, I will help you." O
my Lord, I have ungratefully doubted thy promise many a time; but
methinks, if I could see thee in all thy woe and sorrow for me, if I
could hear thee say, "I will help thee," I should cast myself at thy
feet, and say, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." But though
he is not here to speak it, though the lips that utter it are but the
lips of man, remember that he speaks through me to-night, and through
his word, as truly as if he spoke himself. If some great man should by
a servant, or by a letter send to you this message, "I will keep you,"
though you had not heard his own lips declare it, yet if you saw his
own hand writing, you would say, "It is enough, I believe it; there is
the master's hand writing; it is his own autograph, it is written by
himself; behold the bloody signature! It is stamped with his cross, and
I his messenger am sent to-night to myself and to you, and I say to my
own heart and to you, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou
disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him; for
the Redeemer says, I will help thee," and if he saith "I will help
thee," who can doubt him? who dare distrust him?
And now let us read the promise again, and lay the stress on the
"will." Oh, the "wills" and the "shalls:" they are the sweetest words
in the Bible. "I will help thee." W hen God says "I will," there is
something in it, brethren. The will of God started worlds into
existence; the will of God made nature leap from chaos; the will of God
sustains all worlds, "bears the earth's huge pillars up," and
establishes creation. It is God's "I will." He lets the world live;
they live on the "will" of God; and if he willed that they should die,
they must sink as the bubble into the breaker, when its moment has
arrived. And if the "will" of God is so strong as that, may we not lay
a great stress upon it here–"I will help thee?" There is no doubt
about it. I do not say I may help thee peradventure. No; I will. I do
not say, that possibly I may be persuaded to help thee. No; I
voluntarily will to help thee. "I will help thee." I do not say that,
in an probability, ninety-nine chances out of a hundred, it is likely I
may help thee. No; but without allowing any peradventure, or so much as
a jot or tittle of hap or hazard, I will. Now, is there not strength in
that? Indeed, my brethren, this is enough to cheer any man's spirit,
however much he may be cast down, if God the Holy Spirit does but
breathe upon the text, and let its spices flow abroad into our poor
souls, "Fear not, I will help thee."
And now we lay stress on another word: "I will help thee." That is very
little for me to do, to help thee. Consider what I have done already.
What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help
thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not
do the less? Help thee, my beloved! It is the least thing I will ever
do for thee. I have done more, and I will do more. Before the day-star
first began to shine I chose thee. "I will help thee." I made the
covenant for thee, and exercised all the wisdom of my eternal mind in
the scheming of the plan of salvation. "I will help thee." I became a
man for thee; I doffed my diadem, and laid aside my robe; I laid the
purple of the universe aside to become a man for thee. If I did this, I
will help thee. I gave my life, my soul, for thee; I slumbered in the
grave, I descended into Hades, all for thee; I will help thee. It will
cost me nothing. Redeeming thee cost me much, but I have all and
abound. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee
already. It is no new thing. I can do it easily. "Help thee?" Thou
needst never fear that. If thou needest a thousand times as much help
as thou dost need, I would give it thee; but it is little that thou
dost require compared with what I have to give. Tis great for thee to
need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. "Help thee?" Fear not. If
there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would
not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing
but a tiny insect at the door of my all-sufficiency. All that thou
couldst ever eat, all that thou couldst ever take, if thou wert to take
on to all eternity, would no more diminish my all-sufficiency, than the
drinking of the fish would diminish the sea. No; "I will help thee." If
I have died for thee, I will not leave thee.
And now, just take the last word–"I will help thee." Lay the stress
there. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob; I will help thee." If I let the
stars fall, I will help thee; if I let all nature run to rack and ruin,
I will help thee. If I permit the teeth of time to devour the solid
pillars upon which the earth doth stand, yet I will help thee. I have
made a covenant with the earth, "that seed-time and harvest, summer and
winter, shall never cease;" but that covenant, though true, is not so
great as the covenant that I have made concerning thee. And if I keep
my covenant with the earth, I will certainly keep my covenant with my
Son. "Fear not; I will help thee." Yes, thee! Thou sayest, "I am too
little for help;" but I will help thee, to magnify my power; thou
sayest, "I am too vile to be helped," but I will help thee to manifest
my grace. Thou sayest, "I have been ungrateful for former help;" but I
will help thee to manifest my faithfulness. Thou sayest, "But I shall
still rebel, I shall still turn aside." "I will help thee," to show
forth my long suffering: let it be known, "I will help thee."
And now just conceive my Master on his gross bleeding there, looking
down on you and on me. Picture him, whilst his voice falters with love
and misery conjoined; and hear him. He has just now spoken to the
thief, and he has said to him, "To-day, shalt thou be with me in
Paradise." And after he has said that, he catches a sight of you and of
me, poor and depressed, and he says, "Fear not, worm Jacob; I will help
thee; I helped the thief–I will help thee. I promised him that he
should be with me in paradise; I may well promise thee that thou shalt
be helped. I will help thee. O Master! may thy love that prompts thee
thus to speak, prompt us to believe thee.
And now hear Him again. He is exalted on high; he hath "led captivity
captive and received gifts for men;"–now hear him, as in the midst of
the solemn pomp of heaven he is not unmindful of his poor relations. He
looks down, and he sees us in this world still struggling with sin and
care and woe; he hears us claiming kingship with himself; and he says,
"Worm Jacob! though I now do reign exalted high, my love is still as
great. I will help thee." I pray the Lord apply the sweetness of that
pronoun to your hearts, my brethren, and to mine. "I will help thee." O
surely when the husband speaks to the wife in the hour of darkness and
sorrow, and comforts her, you can easily understand what arguments he
uses, when he says, "Wife of my youth! my joy, my delight, I will help
thee!" You can easily conceive how he enumerates times of love, seasons
when he stood by her in the hour of trouble; you can easily think how
he reminds her of the days of their espousals, and tells her of their
struggles, and of their joys; and he says, "Wife, canst thou doubt me?
No; as I am a husband I will help thee! And now you hear the Saviour
speaking of his church. "Betrothed to me ere time began, I have taken
thee into union with my adorable person; and O my bride, though my
palace stand in ruins, and heaven itself should shake, I will help
thee. Forget thee? Forget my bride? Be false to my troth? Forsake my
covenant? No; never. I will help thee." Hear the mother speaking to her
little child in great danger; "Child," she says, "I will help thee;"
and then she reminds that child that she is its mother, that from her
breast the child drew its needed nourishment in the days of weakness;
she reminds it how she has nursed it, and dandled it upon her knee, and
how in every way she has been its solace and support. "Child !" says
she, and her heart runs over–"I will help thee!" Why, the child never
doubts it, it says, "Yes, mother, I know you will; I am sure of that, I
do not need to be told it, I was certain you would, for I have had such
proofs of your love." And now ought not we who love the Saviour just to
let our eyes run with tears, and say, "O thou blest Redeemer! thou
needst not tell us thou wilt help us, for we know thou wilt. Oh do not
suppose that we doubt thee so much as to want to be told of it again;
we know thou will help us; we are sure of it; thy former love, thine
ancient love, the love of thine espousals, thy deeds of kindness, thine
everlasting drawings, all these declare that thou never canst forsake
us." No, no; "I will help thee."
And now, brethren, we are coming down stairs to eat the body of Christ
and drink his blood in a spiritual manner; and I hope whilst we are
partaking of that bread and wine, the emblems of the Saviour, we shall
think we hear every mouthful of bread and every sip of wine saying out
in the Master's behalf, "I will help thee, I will help thee." And then
let us just frighten Satan, by cheering up our spirits through the
power of the Holy Ghost, and buckling on our armor, let us go forth
into the world to-morrow, to show what the Redeemer can do, when his
promise is applied by the Spirit. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye
men of Israel; I will help thee." Come, bring your fears out to-night,
and serve them in the worst way you can. Hang them here upon the
scaffold this night. Come now, and blow them away at the great guns of
the promises, let them be destroyed forever. They are renegade
mutineers; let them be cut off, let them be utterly destroyed, and let
us go and sing, "Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof." "I will help thee," saith the
Redeemer.
O sinners, I pity you, that this is not your promise. If this were all
that you did lose by being out of Christ, it were enough to lose
indeed. May God call you, and help you to trust in the Redeemer's
blood. Amen.