Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 30th, 1876, by
C.H. SPURGEON,
At the [6]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God." James 4:7
THIS ADVICE SHOULD NOT NEED much pressing. "Submit yourselves unto
God" is it not right upon the very face of it? Is it not wise? Does
not conscience tell us that we ought to submit? Does not reason bear
witness that it must be best to do so? "Submit yourselves unto God."
Should not the creature be submissive to the Creator, to whom it owes
its existence, without whom it had never been, and without whose
continuous good pleasure it would at once cease to be? Our Creator is
infinitely good, and his will is love: to submit to one who is "too
wise to err, too good to be unkind," should not be hard. If he were a
tyrant it might be courageous to resist, but since he is a Father it is
ungrateful to rebel. He cannot do anything which is not perfectly just,
nor will he do aught which is inconsistent with the best interests of
our race; therefore to resist him is to contend against one's own
advantage, and, like the untamed bullock, to kick against the pricks to
our own hurt. "Submit yourselves unto God" it is what angels do, what
kings and prophets have done, what the best of men delight in there is
therefore no dishonor nor sorrow in so doing. All nature is submissive
to his laws; suns and stars yield to his behests, we shall but be in
harmony with the universe in willingly bowing to his sway. "Submit
yourselves unto God" you must do it whether you are willing to do so
or not. Who can stand out against the Almighty? For puny man to oppose
the Lord is for the chaff to set itself in battle array with the wind,
or for the tow to make war with the flame. As well might man attempt to
turn back the tide of ocean, or check the march of the hosts of heaven
as dream of overcoming the Omnipotent. The Eternal God is irresistible,
and any rebellion against his government must soon end in total defeat.
By the mouth of his servant Isaiah the Lord challenges his enemies,
saying, "Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I
would go through them, I would burn them together." God will be sure to
overthrow his adversaries: he may in his infinite patience permit the
rebel to continue for a while in his revolt, but as surely as the Lord
liveth he will compel every knee to bow before him, and every tongue to
confess that he is the living God. "Submit yourselves unto God." Who
would do otherwise, since not to submit is injurious now, and will be
fatal in the end? If we oppose the Most High, our opposition must lead
on to defeat and destruction, for the adversaries of the Lord shall be
as the fat of rams, into smoke shall they consume away. For the man who
strives with his Maker there remains a fearful looking for of judgment
and the dread reward of everlasting punishment. Who will be so
foolhardy as to provoke such a result?
"Submit yourselves unto God" is a precept which to thoughtful men is a
plain dictate of reason, and it needs few arguments to support it. Yet
because of our foolishness the text enforces it by a "Therefore," which
"Therefore" is to be found in the previous verse, "He resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to
God." His wrath and his mercy both argue for submission. We are both
driven and drawn to it. The Romans were wont to say of their empire
that its motto was to spare the vanquished, but to war continually
against the proud. This saying aptly sets forth the procedure of the
Most High. He aims all his arrows at the lofty, and turns the edge of
his sword against the stubborn; but the moment he sees signs of
submission his pity comes to the front, and through the merits of his
Son his abounding mercy forgives the fault. Is not this an excellent
reason for submission? Who can refuse to be vanquished by love? Who
will not say as our hymn puts it
"Lord, thou hast won, at length I yield;
My heart, by mighty grace compell'd,
Surrenders all to thee;
Against thy terrors long I strove,
But who can stand against thy love?
Love conquers even me."
If resistance will only call forth the omnipotent wrath of God, but
true submission will lead to the obtaining of his plenteous grace, who
will continue in arms? I shall not tarry to carry the argument further,
but aim at once to press home this precept upon you as God the Holy
Ghost may enable me. I believe it to be addressed both to saint and
sinner, and therefore I shall urge it home first upon the child of God,
and say to all of you who love the Lord, "Submit yourselves to God;"
and then we shall take a little longer time to say in deep solemnity to
those who are not reconciled to God by the death of his Son, "Submit
yourselves to God" if ye would be saved.
I. To THE PEOPLE OF GOD, "Submit yourselves unto God." He is your God,
your Father, your friend, yield yourselves to him. What does this
counsel mean? It means, first exercise humility. We do well to
interpret a text by its connection: now the connection here is "God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble," and therefore
the submission here meant must include humility, even if it be not the
chief thing intended. Brothers and sisters, let us take our right place
before God. And what is that? Is it the highest seat in the synagogue?
Is it the place of those who thank God that they are not as other men
are? I scarcely need reply, you who are the children of God will not
dream of occupying such a position. If by reason of temporary
foolishness you ever boast, I am sure, my dear friends, when you think
over it in the watches of the night you are very much ashamed of
yourselves, and would be glad to eat your own words. A pardoned sinner
boasting! A debtor to sovereign grace extolling himself! It is
horrible. Nothing can be more out of place than boasting upon the lips
of a child of God. If I heard Balaam's ass speak I should impute it to
a miracle that it should use the language of man, but that a man of God
should use the braying of vanity is a miracle another way, not of God
but of Satan. Is it not one of the fundamental truths of our faith that
we are saved by grace? And what says the apostle? "Where is boasting
then? It is excluded." The word "excluded" means shut out. Boasting
comes to the door, it knocks, it pleads for admission, but it is
excluded. Possibly through our unwatchfulness it gains a momentary
entrance, but as soon as ever the grace of God within us ascertains
that the intruder is within our gates it ejects him, shuts the door in
his face, and bars him out, and in answer to the question "Where is
boasting then?" free grace replies, "It is excluded, by the law of
grace." If all the good we have has been given to us freely by divine
favor, in what can we glory? If we possess the highest degree of
spirituality, if our life be perfectly clear from any open fault, and
if our hearts be wholly consecrated unto the Lord, yet we are
unprofitable servants; we have done no more than it was our duty to
have done. But, alas, we fall far short of this, for we have not done
what it was our duty to have done, and in many things we fail and come
short of the glory of God. The right position of a Christian is to walk
with lowly humility before God, and with meekness towards his fellow
Christians. The lowest room becomes us most, and the lowest seat in
that room. Look at Paul, who knew far more of Christ than we do, and
who served him far better. It is edifying to notice his expressions. He
is an apostle, and he will by no means allow any one to question his
calling, for he has received it of the Lord; but what does he say? "Not
meet to be called an apostle." What can be lowlier than this? But we
shall see him descending far below it. He takes his place among the
ordinary saints, and he will not give up his claim to be numbered with
them, for he has made his calling and election sure; but where does he
sit among the people of God? He styles himself "less than the least of
all saints." There is no small a descent from "not meet to be called an
apostle" to "less than the least of all saints;" but he went lower yet,
for at another time he confessed himself to be still a sinner, and
coming into the assembly of sinners where does he take his position? He
writes himself down as "the chief of sinners." This is submission to
God, the true surrender of every proud pretension or conceited claim.
If, my brethren, the Lord has called us to be ministers, let us ever
feel that we are not worthy of so great a grace: since he has made us
saints, let us confess that the very least of our brethren is more
esteemed by us than we dare to esteem ourselves, and since we know that
we are sinners let us look at our sins under that aspect which most
reveals their heinousness, for in some respects and under certain
lights there are evils in our character which make us guiltier than the
rest of our fellow sinners. The stool of repentance and the foot of the
cross are the favourite positions of instructed Christians.
Such humility is not at all inconsistent with believing that we are
saved, nor with the fullest assurance of faith, nay, not at all
inconsistent with the nearest familiarity with God. Listen to Abraham:
"I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, I that am but dust and
ashes." He has drawn very near to the Lord, and speaks with him as a
man speaketh with his friend, and yet he says "I am but dust and
ashes." His boldness did not destroy his humbleness, nor his sense of
nothingness hinder his near approach to the Lord. My dear brethren, we
know that in Christ we are accepted, we know that we are dear to God
and loved with an everlasting love, we know that he hears our prayers
and answers us continually, we know that we walk in the light of his
countenance; but still our posture should always be that of deep
humiliation before the Lord, and in the attitude of complete submission
we should sit at the Master's feet and say, "By the grace of God I am
what I am." May the Holy Spirit work this gracious submission in every
regenerated soul.
Let us next observe that our text bears a second meaning, namely, that
of submission to the divine will: that of course would strike you in
the wording of the verse "Submit yourselves therefore to God." Beloved
Christian friends, be willing to accept whatever God appoints. Let us
each pray to be
"Simple, teachable and mild,
Awed into a little child;
Pleased with all the Lord provides,
Wean'd from all the world besides."
Is it indeed so with us? Are you not some of you very far from it? Are
you quite sure that you are submissive to the divine will as to your
rank in society? Have you accepted your position in the scale of
worldly wealth? Are you satisfied to be sickly, obscure, or of small
ability? Are God's appointments your contentments? Too many professors
are quarrelling with God that they are not other than they are. This is
evil, and shows that pride is still in their hearts, for were they
conscious of their own deserts they would know that anything short of
hell is more than we deserve, and as long as we are not in the pit of
torment gratitude becomes us. It is a happy thing when the mind is
brought to submit to all the chastisements of God, and to acquiesce in
all the trials of his providence. Knowing as we do that all these
things work together for our good, and that we never endure a smart
more than our heavenly Father knows to be needful, we are bound to
submit ourselves cheerfully to all that he appoints. Though no trial
for the present is joyous, but grievous, yet ought we to resign
ourselves to it because of its after results. Even the beasts of the
field may teach us this. I read the other day of an elephant which had
lost its sight: it was brought to the surgeon, and he placed some
powerful substance upon the eye, which caused it great pain, and of
course the huge creature was very restless during the operation. After
a while it began to see a little, and when it was brought the next day
to the operator it was as docile as a lamb, for it evidently perceived
that benefit had resulted from the painful application. If such a
creature has enough intelligence to perceive the benefit, and to accept
the pain, how much more should we! Since we know that we owe infinite
blessings to the rod of the covenant we ought to be willing to bare our
own back to the scourge, and let the Lord do as he wills with us. Yea,
I go beyond this, even if we did not know that good would come of it,
we ought to submit because it is the Lord's will, for he has a right to
do whatever he wills with us. Can you subscribe to this? As a true
child can you make a complete surrender to your Father's good pleasure?
If not, you have not fairly learned the mind of Christ. It is a great
thing to have the soul entirely submitted to God about everything, so
that we never wish to have anything in providence other than God would
have it to be, nor desire to have anything in his Word altered: not one
ordinance of the church of God, not one doctrine of revelation, not one
precept or warning other than it is. We shall never be at rest till we
come to this. It is essential to our happiness to say at all times,
"Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt." Brothers and sisters,
ought it not so to be? Who ought to rule in the house but the Father?
Who should govern in the body but the Head? Who should lead the flock
but the Shepherd? We owe so much to Jesus, and so entirely belong to
him, that even were it put to the vote, all of us would give our
suffrages so that the Lord Jesus should be King, Head and Chief among
us; for is he not the Firstborn among many brethren? Submit, then, my
brethren. Beseech the Holy Spirit to bow your wills to complete
subjection. You will never be happy till self is dethroned. I know some
of God's children who are in great trouble only because they will not
yield to the divine will. I met with one, I believe a good sister, who
said she could not forgive God for taking away her mother; and another
friend said he could not see God to be a good God for he had made him
suffer such terrible afflictions. Their furnace was heated seven times
hotter by the fuel of rebellion which they threw into it. So long as we
blame the Lord and challenge his rights, our self-tortured minds will
be tossed to and fro. No father can let his boy bend his little fist in
defiance, and yet treat that child with the same love and fondness as
his other children, who submit themselves to him. You cannot enjoy your
heavenly Father's smile, my dear brother or sister, till you cease from
being in opposition to him, and yield the point in debate; for he has
said that if we walk contrary to him he will walk contrary to us. It
will be wise for you to cry, "My Father, my naughty spirit has rebelled
against thee, my wicked heart has dared to question thee; but I cease
from it now: let it be even as thou wilt, for I know that thou doest
right." So the text means first humility, and then submission to the
Lord's will. Lord, teach us both.
It means also obedience. Do not merely passively lie back and yield to
the necessities of the position, but gird up the loins of your mind,
and manifest a voluntary and active submission to your great Lord. The
position of a Christian should be that of a soldier to whom the
centurion saith "Go," and he goeth, and "Do this," and he doeth it. It
is not ours to question, that were to become masters; but ours it is to
obey without questioning, even as soldiers do. Submission to our Lord
and Savior will be manifested by ready obedience: delays are
essentially insubordinations, and neglects are a form of rebellion. I
fear that there are some Christians whose disobedience to Christ is a
proof of their pride. It may be said that they do not know such and
such a duty to be incumbent upon them. Ay, but there is a proud
ignorance which does not care to know, a pride which despises the
commandment of the Lord, and counts it non-essential and unimportant.
Can such scorn be justifiable? Is that a right temper for the Lord's
servant to indulge? Can any point in our Lord's will be unimportant to
us? Can the wish of a dear friend be trivial to those who love him? Has
Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and shall I treat
them as matters of no moment? No, my Lord, if it were the lifting of a
stone from the road, if it were the moving of a sere leaf, or the
brushing away of a cobweb, if thou ordainest it, then it becomes
important straightway, important to my loving allegiance, that I may
by my prompt obedience show how fully I submit myself to thee. Love is
often more seen in little things than in great things. You may have in
your house a servant who is disaffected, and yet she will perform all
the necessary operations of the household, but the loving child attends
to the little details which make up the comfort of life, and are the
tests of affection. Let your love be shown by a childlike obedience,
which studies to do all the Master's will in all points.
I am afraid there are some who do not obey the Master because they are
proud enough to think that they know better than he does; they judge
the Lord's will instead of obeying it. Art thou a judge of the law, my
brother? Art thou to sit on the judgment-seat and say of this or that
statute of the law, "This does not signify," or, "That may be set aside
without any loss to me"? This is not according to the mind of Christ,
who did his Father's will and asked no questions. When next you pray,
"Thy will be done in earth, even as it is in heaven," remember how they
do that will before the throne of God, without hesitation, demur, or
debate, being wholly subservient to every wish of the Most High. Thus,
dear brethren, "Submit yourselves to God."
The expression, however, is not well worked out unless I add another
explanation, and perhaps even then I have not brought out its meaning
fully. "Submit yourselves to God" by yielding your hearts to the
motions of the divine Spirit: by being impressible, sensitive, and
easily affected. The Spirit of God has hard work with many Christians
to lead them in the right way, they are as the horse and the mule which
have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.
There is the stout oak in the forest, and a hurricane howls through it,
and it is not moved, but the rush by the river yields to the faintest
breath of the gale. Now, though in many things ye should be as the oak
and not as the rush, yet in this thing be ye as the bulrush and be
moved by the slightest breathing of the Spirit of God. The
photographer's plates are rendered sensitive by a peculiar process: you
shall take another sheet of glass and your friend shall stand before it
as long as ever he likes, and there will be no impression produced, at
least none which will be visible to the eye; but the sensitive plate
will reveal every little wrinkle of the face and perpetuate every hair
of the head. Oh, to be rendered sensitive by the Spirit of God, and we
can be made so by submitting ourselves entirely to his will. Is there
not a promise to that effect? "I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."
Sometimes the Spirit of God whispers to you, "Retire to pray." At such
times enter your closet at once. Remember how David said, "When thou
saidst unto me, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face Lord
will I seek." The Spirit of God will sometimes impel you to a duty
which involves self-denial, which will take up much of your leisure,
and will bring you no very great honor as a reward. Be not disobedient
to his call, but go about your work speedily. Say with the Psalmist, "I
made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments." The Spirit will
at times urge us to deep repentance on account of faults in which we
have been living, he will rebuke us for some ugly temper which we have
indulged, or for some hard word which we have spoken against a brother,
or because of the worldliness of mind into which we have fallen. Oh,
brother, bestir thyself at such times, and examine and purge thy soul.
Let a hint from the Holy Spirit be enough for thee. As the eyes of the
handmaiden are towards her mistress, so let your eyes be to your Lord.
The handmaid does not require the mistress to speak: it will often
happen when she is waiting at table, and there are friends, the
mistress nods or puts her finger up, and that is enough. She does not
call out "Mary, do this or that," or speak to her loudly a dozen times,
as the Lord has to do to us, but a wink suffices. So it ought to be
with us; half a word from the divine Spirit, the very gentlest motion
from him, should be enough guidance, and straightway we should be ready
to do his bidding. In this matter it is not so much your activity as
your submission to the Holy Spirit which is needed; it is not so much
your running as your willing to be drawn by him. There is to be an
activity in religion: we are to wrestle and to fight, but side by side
with that we are to yield ourselves to the Spirit's impulse, for it is
he that worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure; he
striveth in us mightily, and if we will but resign ourselves, and no
longer be obstacles in his divine way, he will carry us to greater
heights of grace, and create in us more fully the likeness of Christ.
"Submit yourselves unto God." Learn the sweetness of lying passive in
his hand, and knowing no will but his: learn the blessedness of giving
yourselves up entirely to his divine sway, for in so doing you will
enter into heaven below.
II. Now we come to that part of our discourse in which we must
earnestly pray God the Holy Spirit to help us doubly. I desire now to
address myself TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT SAVED, but have some desire to be
so. I am thankful to God that there should be even the faintest wish of
the kind. May it grow at once into an impetuous longing; yea, may that
longing be fulfilled this very morning, and may you go out of this
house saved. You tell me that you have been anxious about your soul for
some time, but have made no headway. You have been putting forth great
efforts, you have been very diligent in attending the means of grace,
in searching the Scriptures, and in private prayer, but you cannot get
on. It is very possible, my dear friend, that the reason is this, that
you have not submitted yourself to God; you are trying to do when the
best thing would be to cease from yourself, and drop into the hand of
the Savior who is able to save you though you cannot save yourself: For
a proud heart the very hardest thing is to submit. Do you find it so?
"No surrender" is the stubborn sinner's motto. I have known men who
would give their bodies to be burned sooner than yield to God. Their
high stomach has stood out long against the Most High, and they have
been little Pharaohs till the Lord has brought them to their senses.
"Must I yield, must I bow at his feet?" they could not brook such
humiliation. If the gospel had tolerated their pride and given them a
little credit they would have rejoiced in it; but to be tumbled in the
dust, and made to confess their own nothingness they could not bear.
"Submit" is wormwood and gall to haughty sinners, yet must they drink
the cup or die. Hear then, ye stout-hearted, you can never be saved
unless you submit, and when you are saved one of the main points in
your salvation will be that you have submitted. I desire to whisper one
little truth in your ear, and I pray that it may startle you: You are
submitting even now. You say, "Not I; am lord of myself." I know you
think so, but all the while you are submitting to the devil. The verse
before us hints at this. "Submit yourselves unto God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you." If you do not submit to God you never will
resist the devil, and you will remain constantly under his tyrannical
power. Which shall be your master, God or devil, for one of these must?
No man is without a master: some power or other is paramount within us,
either good or evil is supreme in our hearts; and if we will not be
mastered by the good, the evil has already gained the sway.
"How then am I to submit?" says one: "To what shall I submit, and in
what respects?" Well, first, submit thyself, if thou wouldest be saved,
to the Word of God. Believe it to be true. Believing it to be true,
yield thyself to its force. Does it accuse thee? Confess the
accusation. Does it condemn thee? Plead guilty. Does it hold out hope
to thee? Grasp it. Does it command thee? Obey it Does it guide thee?
Follow it. Does it cheer thee? Believe it. Submit thyself to him who in
this blessed page proclaims himself the Savior of all such as will
throw down the weapons of their rebellion and end their futile war by
relying upon his power to save them.
Yield thyself, next, to thy conscience. Thou hast quarelled with thy
conscience, and thy conscience with thee. It persists in speaking, and
thou desirest it to be quiet. After dissipation, in the lull which
comes after a storm of evil pleasure, a voice is heard saying, "Is this
right? Is this safe? Will this last? What will the end of this be?
Would it not be better to seek some better and nobler thing than this?"
God speaks often to men through the still small voice of conscience.
Open thine ear, then, and listen. Thy conscience can do thee no hurt;
it may disturb thee, but it is well to be disturbed when peace leads on
to death. He was a fool who killed the watch dog because it alarmed him
when thieves were breaking into his house. If conscience upbraid thee,
feel its upbraiding and heed its rebuke. It is thy best friend;
faithful are its friendly wounds, but the kisses of a flattering enemy
are deceitful.
God also sends many messengers. To some of you he has sent the
tenderest of monitors. Hearken to their admonitions and regard their
kind warnings, for they mean good to thy souls. Is it hard, O son, is
it hard to submit when the message comes by a mother's loving lips,
when her tears bedew each word she speaks? It must have been difficult
for some of you in your young days to stand out against a mother's
entreaties when she not only pointed you to heaven, but led the way;
not only spoke of Jesus, but reflected his love in her daily walk and
conversation. You have a sister, young man, whom you love and respect:
you could hardly tell how much an object of admiration she is to you.
Now, that letter of hers, which you turned into a joke; you did feel
it, after all. Yield to its pathetic pleadings, yield to its tender
entreaties. Remember, God has other messengers whom he will send if
these loving ones do not suffice. He will soon send thee a sterner
summons. If thou listen not to the gentle word, the still, small voice,
he can send to thee by the rougher messengers of disease and death. Be
not so foolish as to provoke him so to do.
Moreover, submit yourselves to God, since he has, perhaps, already sent
his messengers in sterner shapes to you. It was but a few days ago that
you lost your old friend. Many a merry day you have spent together, and
many a jovial night too; he was in as good health as yourself,
apparently, but he was struck down, and you have followed him to the
tomb. Is there no voice from that new made grave to you? Methinks your
friend in his sudden end was a warning to you to be ready for the like
departure! You have also yourself suffered from premonitory symptoms of
sickness; perhaps you have actually been sick, and been made to lie
where your only prospect was eternity; a dread eternity, how surely
yours. You trembled to gaze into it, but the very tones of the
surgeon's voice compelled you to do so. You feared that you would have
to leave this body, and you could not help saying to yourself, "Whither
shall I fly? My naked spirit, whither must it go when once it leaves
the warm precincts of this house of clay?" It is not my business
one-tenth as much as it is yours but I charge you, hear the voice of
these providences, listen to these solemn calls. The angel of death has
stood at your bedside and pointed to you and said, "Young man, it is
the fever this time and you may recover, but the next time you will
never rise from the bed on which you lie: or, you have been rescued now
from a dreadful accident, but the next time there will be no escape for
you. Because I will do this, prepare to meet thy God."
Above all, I pray you submit yourselves, if you are conscious of such
things, to the whispers of God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit does
not strive with every man alike. Some have so grieved him that he has
ceased to strive with them, or does so very occasionally and then they
so resist his strivings that they are never very long continued. The
worst man that lives has his better moments, the most careless has some
serious thoughts; there are lucid intervals in the madness of carnal
pleasure. At such times men hear what they call "their better selves."
It is hardly so. I prefer to call it the general reprovings of God's
Spirit in their souls. He says to them, Is this right? Is this wise?
This trifling, this time-killing, this depraving of the soul by
allowing the bodily appetites to rule, this lowering of the man to the
level of the brute, can this be right? Is there no eternity? Is there
no immortality, no God, no judgment to come?" The Holy Spirit sometimes
opens the man's eyes as he did the eyes of Balaam, and makes him see
the certainty of the judgment day and the nearness of its approach. The
man is led to anticipate the trumpet's sound which heralds the assize,
the coming of the Judge upon his great white throne, the gathering of
the multitudes of quick and dead, the opening of the books, the
dividing of the throng, the driving away of the goats to their
everlasting punishment, and the reception of the righteous to their
everlasting joy. Oh, when you are made to feel all this, I pray you
submit yourself to it. It costs some men a great deal of trouble to be
damned. Many a man who blasphemes and talks infidelity, merely does so
to conceal his inward struggles. Like the boy who whistles as he goes
through the churchyard to keep his courage up, they talk blasphemy to
divert their mind from its own fears. He who is most fierce in the
utterance of his disbelief is not the greatest disbeliever. When the
heathen offered children to Moloch they beat their drums to drown the
cries of the victims, and even so these men make a great noise to drown
the voice of conscience. The man knows better, and I charge him to let
that better knowledge come to the front and lead him to his God and
Father. It will be a blessed thing for him if it shall be so even this
day. "Submit yourselves to God."
If you ask me again, "In what respect am I to submit myself?" I answer
as briefly as I can, first submit yourself by confessing your sin. Cry
peccavi. Do not brazen it out and say "I have not sinned." You will
never be pardoned while that is the case. "He that confesseth his sin
shall find mercy." Sinner, choose between one of two things; judge
yourself, or be judged of God. If you will judge yourself and put in a
plea of guilty, then will the Great Judge grant you forgiveness, but
not else. Condemn yourself and you shall not be condemned. Confess the
indictment to be true, for true it is, and to deny it is to seal your
doom.
Next, honor the law which condemns you. Do not persevere in picking
holes in it and saying that it is too severe, and requires too much of
a poor fallible creature. The law is holy, and just, and good. Put thy
lips down and kiss it, though it condemn thee, and say, "though it
charges me with guilt and convicts me of deadly sin, yet it is a good
law, and ought not to be altered, even to save me."
Next, own the justice of the penalty. Thy sins condemn thee to hell: do
not say "God is too severe; this is a punishment disproportionate to
the offense." Thou wilt never be pardoned if thou thinkest so, but God
will be justified in thy condemnation: the pride of thy heart will be a
swift witness against thee. Confess with thy heart, "If my soul were
sent to hell it is no more than I deserve." When thou hast confessed
the guilt, and honored the law, and acknowledged the justice of the
penalty, then thou art nearing the position in which God can be
merciful to thee.
Submit yourself, sinner I pray you do it now submit yourself to God
as your king. Throw down your weapons; lower your crest and cast away
those robes of pride. Surrender unconditionally and say, "Lord God, I
own thee now to be king, no longer like stout-hearted Pharaoh will I
ask, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?' but like one
brought to his senses I yield as reason and grace suggest." It will go
well with you when you make a full capitulation, an unconditional
surrender. Fling wide the gates of the city of Mansoul, and admit the
prince Emanuel to rule as sole sovereign in every street in the city.
Dispute no longer his sovereignty, but pray to be made a loyal subject,
obedient in all things. Thou shalt find grace in the sight of the Lord
if thou wilt do this.
Furthermore, submit yourself to God's way of saving you. Now God's way
of saving you is by his grace, not by your merits; by the blood of
Jesus, not by your tears and sufferings. He will justify you by your
simply trusting Jesus now. Your proud heart does not admire the Lord's
way of salvation; you stand up and say, "How is this consistent with
morality?" As if you were the guardian of morality, as if the King of
Heaven and earth could not take care of the moralities without
assistance from you. Who are you to be all of a sudden the champion of
morality? How dare you dream that the thrice holy God will not take
care of that? He bids you trust his Son Jesus; will you do so or not?
If you will not, there is no hope for you; if you will, you are saved
the moment that you believe, saved from the guilt of sin by trusting
Jesus.
You must also surrender yourself at discretion to his method of
operating upon you. One says, "I would believe in Jesus, sir, if I felt
the horror and terror which some have experienced on account of sin."
What do you demand of God that he should drag you through horrors and
terrors before you will believe? Submit yourself to be saved in a
gentler way. "But I read of one," says another, "who had a dream: I
would believe if I saw a vision too." Must God give thee dreams? Must
he play lackey to thee, and save thee in thy way? He tells thee
plainly, "If thou believest on the Lord Jesus Christ thou shalt be
saved." Wilt thou believe or no? For if thou dost not, neither dreams,
nor visions, nor terrors, nor anything else can save thee. There is
God's way, sinner: I ask thee, and perhaps thy answer will settle thy
fate for ever, wilt thou follow that way or not? If thou wilt not, thou
hast chosen thine own destruction; but if thou wilt have it, and wilt
submit thyself to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, it is well
with thee. I know there are some in this place who feel ready to burst,
for their broken hearts are saying, "I yield at once. Oh, if he would
but save me." How glad I am to hear you say so, for "he giveth grace
unto the humble." I recollect the time when I have stood and cried to
God, "O God, if I must lie on a sick bed till I die, I care not if thou
wilt but have mercy on me; if thou wilt but conquer my proud will, and
make a new man of me, thou mayst do whatever thou pleasest with me;
only save me from the guilt, the power of sin." It was when the Lord
brought me down there that he enabled me to see life and salvation in
Jesus Christ; and if he has brought you down to that point, sinner,
then you have nothing to do but simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you are assuredly saved.
When he brings you to submit he has given you his grace. Submission to
his divine will is the essence of salvation. Now, who will yield? Who
will yield at once? The Master has come among us, the King himself is
here, your Maker, your Redeemer: see the marks of his wounds, see the
scars in his hands and feet and side! He asks of you, "Will you yield
to me? Will you throw down your weapons? Will you end the war? Will you
surrender at discretion?" If so, he gives you his hand and says, "Go in
peace; there is peace between me and thee." Kiss the Son lest he be
angry, and ye perish from the way, while his wrath is kindled but a
little. I prayed the Lord to give me many souls, and I believe I shall
have them this morning. I feel sure of it. Grant me this favor: if you
submit yourselves to Christ let me hear of it, and do not delay to
unite yourselves with those who rejoice to be led in triumph as the
captives of his grace.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON James 4.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 181, 578, 654.
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Trial by the Word