Unmitigated Prosperity
(No. 2963)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1863.
"The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hands." Isaiah 53:10.
You know that the whole verse says, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him; He has put Him to grief: when You shall make His soul an offering
for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands." The last words from
our text–"The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands."
It may be that the devil thought that the death of Christ was the
defeat of Christ. If so, how greatly was he mistaken, for when Christ
yielded up the ghost, He won an everlasting victory! Nor is He dead.
Jesus, who died, has left the dead, no more to die. He died, but could
not long be held a prisoner in the grave. Loosing His cerements, He
came forth in life and immortality and now is the promise fulfilled,
"He shall see His seed." From the heights of Heaven He looks upon the
multitude of His seed on earth. In eternal Glory He takes His solace in
the society of His seed above. As many as the stars of Heaven, as
countless as the dust of the summer are the seed of our Lord Jesus
Christ! He indeed lives to see His seed– while others die and their
children follow them, and they know not of their progeny–Jesus lives
to see, one after another, all the souls that He has redeemed, born
first to earth and then born a second time to Heaven.
"He shall prolong His days." More than 1800 years have passed since He
rose from the dead to His new life, yet He still lives. And His days,
we know, shall be continued while this earth shall stand. Yes, and at
the end, when He shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father,
He still shall prolong His days. "Your throne, O God, is forever and
ever." Youshall endure, though the mountains perish and though the
skies are rolled up like a vesture that is worn out.
"He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days." Nor shall His life
be a long one without usefulness. He shall have a work to do, Brothers
and Sisters–He still has that work to do and oh, how well He does it!
It is the joy of Heaven to know that Christ still stands hard and fast
to His Covenant engagements! It is a comfort to us on earth that our
Lord, for Zion's sake, will not stay His hands nor hold His peace until
He has perfected the Divine will and brought all the redeemed Home to
Himself!
This evening I propose to speak of our Savior's great work and of the
way in which it prospers in His hands. Coming close to our text, we
shall first examine this interesting description of Christ's work–it
is "thepleasure of the Lord. " We shall then notice how, and in what
respects, that work prospers in Christ's hands and, having done so, we
shall solicit a little consideration as to our connection with that
pleasure of God and that great "hand" and prosperity of which we here
read.
I. From our text it is very clear that THE WORK WHICH JESUS CHRIST HAS
UNDERTAKEN IS THE
FATHER'S GOOD PLEASURE. It is the work of bringing His elect out of
darkness into light, from nature to Grace and from Grace to Glory. Why
is this called "the Father's good pleasure"?
We answer, for many reasons. First of all, because God's good pleasure
is the source of all saving work For many centuries and ages, the
source of the Nile has been a theme of wonder. Many travelers have
spent their lives and lost them in endeavoring to track that mysterious
stream to its first fount–at last the deed has been accomplished to
the honor of our country. But the stream of Divine Grace, from where
does it spring? In what mountain does it take its rise? Arminian
theology, like all the ancient travelers, has failed to make the
discovery. But the Gospel, as it is revealed in Scripture, plainly
tells us that everything in salvation is according to the good pleasure
of the Divine will. If you ask some good Brother who is rather muddled
in his theology, "What is the cause why a man is saved?" He will say,
perhaps, "Well, he
is saved because he believes." You will then ask, "But why does he
believe?" He will say, "Because he hears the Gospel." You will say,
"Ah, but others hear it, too, and yet do not believe. How is it that
his hearing produces faith in him?" He will say, "it is because he
gives the more earnest heed." You will say, "Yes, but why does he give
the more earnest heed?" And there will come another question, and
another, and another, and another, and you will keep on beating around
the bush until, if you succeed in getting your Brother into a corner,
he will say to you, "Well, I do not know, but I think it must be the
Grace of God." Happy is the man who begins there–who says, without
going all the way round about to try and fight against a most precious
and blessed Truth of God–"Yes, the good pleasure of God is that
primeval source from where flows that first stream of electing love
which goes widening on, forever manifesting itself more and more
clearly–
''Till, like a sea of Glory, It spreads from pole to pole.'"
Grace is called, then, God's pleasure, because there it takes its
source!
It is the pleasure of the Lord, in the next place, because it is there
it finds its direction given to it I see the spring welling up, but in
which way shall it flow? To what man shall salvation come? There was
even an opportunity for election in the choice of the nation to which
it should come. What is there in this little island that we should be
favored with the Gospel? Why might not New Zealand, at the other end of
the world, have had it years gone by, and this nation been without it?
Why should it come to the descendants of barbarians, while the
inhabitants of Greece, who were cultured and enlightened when our
ancestors were naked savages, have not received the Light of the Gospel
as we have? Why should it not have glanced on China, or found a
congenial home amidst the islands of Japan? Why did it come here? It is
the Father's good pleasure that gave the stream of Grace the direction
toward this land! And in this land, why did Grace come to me? Why to
you? Why to your brother yonder? Was it that we were better than
others? In no wise! Did we seek it more than they? No, verily, for we
resisted its influence and would have none of its blessings when it
came to our door! Why, then, did it come to us? We know of no answer
but this–the good pleasure of the Lord! I know no other reason why
Abraham, an idolater, should be called out of the land of Ur. Or why,
to take a later case, Saul of Tarsus should be taken out of the college
of the Pharisees, while yet a persecutor, to be made an Apostle of
Christ. If I am asked to solve the question why these men are made
heirs of Heaven and distinguished possessors of Gospel Truth, I must
reply, "It is the Father's good pleasure." I know no other answer.
Therefore I think it is because God gives the direction and sends the
Gospel where He wills, that it is called the good pleasure of the Lord.
Further, the good pleasure of the Lord is the Gospel's vital force.
Upon what does the Gospel depend for its existence and its spread? Upon
the zeal of its bishops? Some of them deny the Gospel! Upon the fervor
of its ministers? Some of them are sound asleep! Upon the consistency
and energy of its professors? Some of them are hypocrites, many of them
lukewarm. Upon what, I say, does the cause of Christ depend? Upon the
influence of kings and princes? The kings of this world know it not!
Upon some alliance with the State–it scorns it! "My KKingdomis not of
this world." Brothers and Sisters, the vital force which gives the
Kingdom of God to the chosen flock is the Father's good pleasure! And
it is because God wills it that daily His Church stands, grows and
gathers strength. The world stands upon God's good pleasure–He may
truly say, "I bear up the pillars thereof." He hangs the golden lamps
of Heaven with their silver chains. He binds the Pleiades, or looses
the bands of Orion. All things depend upon His will! Much more does His
Church–His grandest, His most choice and peculiar work–depend, day by
day, upon His good pleasure, His predestination, His purpose and His
will for all its vital powers!
Nor is this all. The consummation of the Gospel is the Father's good
pleasure. Not simply its origin, its direction, and its sustenance, but
its consummation! Never–for we must now speak of God after the manner
of men–never shall the eternal God rejoice more than when He sees all
the company complete, the whole of His redeemed standing around His
Throne. At the very prospect of it, He will break forth into singing!
He will rest in His love. He will rejoice over them with singing and He
will never rest until He shall behold this consummation. From North and
South, from East and West, He will continue to send His heralds–nor
will He pause in sending forth His ambassadors and in giving them His
strength until He shall say, "Here they all are whom I gave to the
Messiah–He has lost none–the jewels of My crown all glitter here! The
rubies of My breastplate are all here! ALL those choice things have
been gathered by the hand of Jesus."
And, dear Friends, I ought to add that the great objective of all
saving Grace is the Father's good pleasure. What is God's objective in
everything that He does? It must be an objective equal to Himself and
there is no supposable objective equal to God, but God! God's
Glory–that is the end and aim of all that He does. He saves His
people. Why? For His great name's sake! It were unworthy of God to find
a motive for His actions in anything lower than Himself. But there can
be nothing but what is lower than God except God Himself! Therefore in
His own heart He finds His motive, and in His own Glory we perceive the
objective for which He acts. And you shall find, Beloved, in the whole
of the great drama of the Fall and Redemption, which shall have been
transacted when the curtain shall fall, that the result shall be,
"Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!" from all worlds where creatures
dwell, "unto that God who has manifested Himself to perfection in the
wondrous work of Grace perfected in the Person of His Son Jesus
Christ." When I read these words and began to think of them for the
first time, they ravished my heart with joy! To think that the
salvation of sinners was God's pleasure–how sublime! I can imagine a
physician taking pleasure in the healing of certain diseases and yet
there must be something irksome about his constant toil. If the disease
is something hideous, there must be an alloy mingled with the pleasure
of his philanthropy. But, in God's case, it is all pleasure! We even
read that "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him." God takes Divine
pleasure in everything which ministers to the salvation of His elect!
Christian, do you not see the drift of this? If it is God's pleasure to
save you, who shall destroy you? If it affords the Eternal delight to
see you saved, who can stand in His way! Who shall match himself with
Omnipotence? Will not God have His own way? Will He be thwarted in His
pleasures? What? The Infinite God robbed of His desires, balked in His
intentions, frustrated in His aims, foiled in His designs? It
cannot–it must not be! If it is the Father's good pleasure to give you
the Kingdom, "Fear not, little flock, be of good comfort," the Kingdom
of God you must and shall have!
Thus much, then, upon the first point–the work which Jesus Christ
undertakes is the Lord's pleasure.
II. Now, secondly, THAT WORK GOES ON PROSPEROUSLY IN THE HANDS OF
CHRIST since God has made His soul an offering for sin. Let me again
give some subdivisions.
That work has prospered in Christ's hands thus far, that all the great
difficulties towards its accomplishment have already been surmounted.
That work prospers, indeed, which is complete as to its main point. In
order that God's pleasure might be accomplished, it was necessary that
the gulf should be filled between God and man. It is filled and there
is fellowship this day between the almighty Father and His redeemed
children! It was necessary that there should be a Sacrifice made to
Divine Justice–the Sacrifice is made–Justice has received its full
demand and Mercy can now range without limit! It was necessary that the
sinner should become clean–the bath is provided for his washing. It
was necessary that he should be clothed with righteousness–the garment
is woven from the top throughout without seam. In that gigantic
enterprise which Jesus undertook–the forming of a great highway
through the vast bogs and morasses of human guilt and inability, the
constructing of that highway over the deep gulf of sin and across the
very flames of Hell up to the Throne of God–all that, with His Cross
in His hands, Jesus Christ has achieved and now, from the lowest depths
to the loftiest heights, the way to Heaven has no break! It has been
finished from the one end to the other–the great road that leads from
the City of Destruction to the City of Refuge is finished by Jesus
Christ! Child of God, see how this work prospers–you are ransomed, you
are washed, you are clothed, you are adopted, you are accepted, you
have been brought safely up to now–and all this has been accomplished
through Jesus Christ who has made the way so clear that you need not
miss it, but may rest assured that if you are trusting in Him, He has
made your Heaven secure! In this respect the work prospers.
Further, the work prospers in Jesus Christ's hands in the calling out
of each of the chosen by Effectual and Sovereign Grace. I was thinking,
this afternoon, what a book of wonders will be opened at the Day of
Judgment if the conversions of Believers shall all be published! In
what strange ways have men been brought to Christ! A sailor, whose
mother had been dead some 14 years, happened to have, one day, an idle
hour in London, so he stepped into St. Paul's Cathedral. Well, there
was not much there, I would think, except at the special services, that
was likely ever to convert a soul. That way of singing out the prayers
must always, one would think, rather excite a disgust at such religion
than not. I wonder whether they suppose that when the penitent publican
said, "God be merciful to me a sinner," he intoned it? It seems such a
strange, strange thing. But it so happened, that day, a lesson was read
in which these words occurred, "Pray without ceasing." Well, Jack went
away and forgot St. Paul's, forgot the text, forgot the lessons and the
prayers. Seven years afterwards, it was one bright moonlight night and
he was walking up and down the deck on his watch and, all of a sudden
something seemed to remind him of the words, "Pray without ceasing."
And as he walked up and down, he thought, "Where did I hear these
words–'Pray without ceasing'?" St. Paul's Cathedral came before his
mind. "'Pray without ceasing?' he said, "why, I have never begun to
pray! I have lived 40 years and I have never prayed in all my life." It
was the thin edge of the wedge. The consciousness that he did not pray
led to his remembrance that there were many other things that he had
left undone. He thought to himself, "I wish I had a Bible. I fear there
is not one on board the ship." So he walked on his beat, up and down
the deck, until he thought, "I wonder whether there is one in my chest?
I should not wonder but what my old mother put one in there." It was
over 21 years since the chest had been packed up– and at the bottom of
it lay a Bible, with a mother's prayer written in it. He took it out,
and as he read it, God spoke the words of joy and peace to his soul and
Jack became a believer in Christ! You would little have suspected that
there was any connection between his idly strolling into St. Paul's
Cathedral and his gloriously entering into the great Cathedral and
Temple of the living God where they praise Him day and night!
Here is another case that shows how the Lord can make His work prosper
in His hands. At Horselydown, a young man, in connection with a
Religious Tract Society, went on board a vessel to distribute tracts.
He saw nobody on board but one old gentleman who received his tracts
very gladly and said he liked to see tracts and religious truth
everywhere and anywhere. The tract distributor said he did not like to
see the Bible used as it often was at the butter shops–he did not like
to see pages of the Scriptures used to do up butter and cheese and such
like things. "Well," said the old man, "I am of a different opinion
from you upon that point. It is 12 years ago," he said, "and I was a
wonderful smoker. One day I went into a shop–I was a godless, careless
fellow–and bought an ounce of tobacco. It was done up in a leaf of the
New Testament and, while I smoked my pipe, I looked at the leaf–and
that was the means of making me a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so," he said, "I do not care what they do with it, as long as they
put it where people may read it." This was a strange instance of one
who would never have been caught by any ordinary means, but, just
indulging in his own habit, God meets with him and the Word of God
comes as truly from Heaven as though an angel had come into his chamber
and delivered the message! Truly, the Lord's work does prosper in
Christ's hands–by some means or other, He brings home His banished
ones!
You may remember, perhaps, the case of good Mr. Wilberforce, one of the
best, most excellent and noble of all modern Christians. When he was 23
years of age, Mr. Wilberforce was very far from being religious. He was
said to be the crown and glory of Doncaster races! His affable manners
and the geniality and humor of his bearing made him many friends among
men of the world. He went to Nice on a journey and, while travelling
there, he had for a companion, Dean Milner. They were talking about a
certain clergyman in Yorkshire. Mr. Wilberforce said he thought that
clergyman carried his religion a great deal too far. For his part, he
considered religion a very good thing if it was kept within bounds, but
he censured those who made too much of it. The dean said, "Mr.
Wilberforce, if you read your Bible a little more, you would not think
so, for I am persuaded there is no such thing as carrying religion too
far." Mr. Wilberforce said, "Come, now, you and I are together–I will
read the New Testament through if you will." "I will," said Milner, and
being both of them excellent Greek scholars, during their journey they
read the New Testament through in Greek. Happy, happy, happy thought
for Wilberforce! He who was to speak with voice of thunder–
"Thus says Britannia,
Empress of the sea,
Your chains are broken,
Africa, be free!"–
must first hear the Scripture speak to him, and say, "Wilberforce, be
free! Christ has borne your sins and carried all your sorrows. You are
saved!"
There are, then, odd ways, strange ways, all sorts of ways, yet
appropriate ways, fitting ways by which Jesus Christ brings His people
to Himself! And as I look about, or read the narratives of their
conversion, I can only say, "Truly, the pleasure of the Lord does
prosper in His hands."
Furthermore, you may see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in the hands
of the Savior in the keeping and preserving of everyone that has been
called. If to call the saints is a miracle, to keep them is a long
string of miracles! To what temptations and trials have not the saints
been exposed? In the olden times, they suffered from fire, the rack,
hot pincers, gloomy dungeons, the dropping of water–a most cruel form
of punishment–drowning, death in all its shapes and yet they stood
fast! They were more than conquerors through Him that loved them! In
this age, the children of God have had
to suffer laughter, scoffing, slander, obloquy, all sorts of
shame–then the devil has thrown them over to the other side and tried
them with prosperity, honor, esteem, worldly dignity–but still they
have not yielded. They have been tried in the furnace of temporal
distress, of bereavement, of mental despondency. They have been
forsaken by friends and often been subjected to labor too severe for
natural strength–but what can we say of the safeguard of all the
people of God? Not one of them is lost! Christ has kept them–they
have, all of them, been in the hollow of His hands. As the eagle covers
her nest and flutters over her young, and will not suffer the spoiler
to take away so much as one eaglet from the nest, even so has Christ
always kept and preserved His people! And He holds them fast even to
this day. In all this, we see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in
His hands.
And dear Friends, no doubt we see this very conspicuously in the
constant growth of the Redeemer's Kingdom. I sometimes feel sad to
think how very slowly the work of conversion is going on, but, on the
whole, this one thing we can say–if we do not make the progress we
should like to make, at any rate we are on the progressing side!
Idolatry advances not a step–it manifestly crumbles. Mohammedanism
makes but few converts. If our religion does not increase as fast as we
desire, it does increase and it seems to be, just now, in that state in
which we are laying mines and trains of Heavenly gunpowder so that when
the time comes and the match shall be struck, the work shall be done
suddenly and the battlements of evil shall fall with a crash to the
ground! But though I say we are not doing what we should, yet here and
there we see fertile spots. The Master is causing His Kingdom to come!
The seed does not rot under the clods. Heaven grants us revivals,
seasons of refreshing in the Presence of the Lord. We believe that the
good pleasure of the Lord is prospering in His hands.
And mark you, Brothers and Sisters, we shall see this, by-and-by, when
everyone among us shall begin to feel his own individual
responsibility. We shall, indeed, then see God's good pleasure
prospering! Suppose we were the House of Commons and some speaker
should rise and tell us that there was a world of filth in the City of
London, that the streets were very dirty, that people threw their
rubbish out of the front door every morning and that the road was
covered with all sorts of garbage? One wise member of Parliament would
propose that there should be a troop of orderlies and another would say
that there was a capital machine invented that ought to be tried. But
what would you think if some commonplace member of Parliament should
rise and say, "Don't you think the quickest way to sweep all London is
to make every householder sweep in front of his own door?" "Why," you
would say, "that is the thing! It would take months to do it in any
other way, but this would allow it to be done at once!" Now, when we
have once got the Church of God to feel that every man is to sweep in
front of his own door, that every convert is to try to make more
converts, every Christian man and woman to bring others to Jesus–then
I believe we shall see such a wonderful growth in the Church as we
never anticipated! And then the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in
Christ's hands.
Today there is too much leaving of the work to a few of us. I do not
think that is right. I love to see our friends give something to the
cause of God every week. I believe that principle of everyone giving
something and everyone laying by in store every week will provide the
Church with all the money that she needs. And then every Christian
doing something and everyone doing it constantly out of zealous love to
the Lord Jesus Christ–beyond a doubt we shall see a flood-tide of
Grace and a beginning of the tides of Glory which are yet to cover the
world! Only let us get the Church right and get the saints stirred up
and we shall see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in Christ's hands!
Now mark these words, for they shall surely come true–the work is so
sure to prosper in Christ's hands that it will not fail in any one
point. All along the line of battle there shall be victory. In every
point of His work there shall be success. The great Architect shall not
bring out beauty here, and leave deformity there, but the plan shall be
carried out without a single variance of the splendor of the first
design. You shall see each stone, yes, the very stone that was chosen,
dug out of the quarry, and put in its place. You shall see every sheep
of Christ's fold brought safely to the pastures on the hilltops of
Heaven. You shall see Christ defeated nowhere, but Conqueror
everywhere! He shall stand, at the last, in the midst of all the troops
that have fought by His side–they shall all wear the laurels of
victory! They shall all be conquerors and more than conquerors, through
Him that loved them! The cause of God is quite safe in the hands of
Jesus–it does prosper, it shall prosper, it must prosper forever!
III. I conclude by asking, WHAT IS OUR RELATION TO ALL THIS?
Alas, there are some who oppose the pleasure of God in the hands of
Christ. What we have to say to them is, "Mind what you are doing." He
that falls upon this stone shall be broken, but upon whomever this
stone shall fall, it shall grind
him to powder! You who oppose Christ might as well lay yourselves down
before the huge wheels of the car of Juggernaut in order to stop it. As
surely as you are a living man, if you stand in its way, Christ's
chariot will go on and crush you to powder! If you choose to go down to
the low-water mark on the shore and attempt to push back the sea, the
sea will come rolling over you–and its great billows, as they swallow
you up–shall seem to howl your funeral dirge. Had you not better
change your side? Is it wise to oppose the Irresistible? Is it prudent
to become an enemy of the Omnipotent? We sometimes hear a person say,
"I cannot be on Christ's side, for how do I know that such-and-such a
thing is true?" That excellent servant of God, Mr. John Williams, the
martyr of Romania, tells us that on one occasion, when a person of
skeptical turn had been questioning about Scripture and so forth, he
called together a number of the natives of the South Sea Islands. They
stood around him, little knowing what was to be done. Mr. Williams put
to them the question, "How do you know that the religion of Jesus comes
from God?" They had never been asked that question–they had accepted
it as Divine Truth without investigating evidences–but they were not
long at a non-plus, for one of them very properly answered, "How can
that religion be anything but Divine which has broken up an idolatry in
which our fathers lived from time immemorial–which turned us from
being cannibals to be Christians and which has brought us from the
depths of vice of every kind to sit clothed, in our right mind, at the
foot of the Cross?" And another of them said, "I know that this
religion comes from God because I have hinges in my body. If I want to
move my foot, there is a hinge to move it. If I want to move my hand,
there is a hinge to move that–there is a hinge for everything. Now,
the God who shows so much wisdom in the making of my body, shows just
as much wisdom in the making of the Bible to suit my case. I conclude,
therefore, it comes from the same place as my body did–that is, from
my God." This was not bad reasoning for a South Sea Islander!
The best way, I believe, to get men to believe that the Bible is true
is to get them to read the Bible. Someone asked me what book he should
read in order to put an end to his skepticism. My answer was, "Read the
Bible." But he said, "No, I need to know whether the Bible is true." I
said, "Then, read the Bible. The Bible is its own interpreter and its
own evidence. And, while you are reading it, may God breathe His Divine
Spirit upon it and may the good pleasure of the Lord prosper in
Christ's hands! Though you began by being an opposer, may you end by
being a friend!" There was a club of gentlemen who used to meet
together to discuss literary and scientific subjects and, after a long
discussion, they had agreed to burn the Bible–and one of them was
about to do it. They had selected about the boldest of them to do it,
but, as he was going to take it to the fire, his hands trembled and,
laying it down, he turned round and said, "I think we had better not
burn this Book till we find a better one." And I think we may say of
those who, in these days, are trying to kick against Scripture, they
had better leave it alone until they find a better one, or else they
will be something like Voltaire, who, when two of his disciples came to
see him to talk about atheism, said, "Hush, hold your tongue till my
servant has gone out of the room. I do not want to have my throat cut."
This was a sure sign that he dared not talk about his own disbelief in
the presence of those he thought not well instructed, lest they should
by it become hardened to sin and made capable of any and every crime.
Oh, you that oppose Jesus Christ, I wish you would just try Him! Take
His Book and read it–search it through and through and if, after that,
you still reject it, it is because you will do so, and on your head be
your blood!
But there are some of us, thank God, who are on the side of God's good
pleasure–on the side that prospers in Christ's hands! What, then,
shall I say to such? Why, dear Friends, let everyone of us be doing
something to make God's pleasure prosper! Mothers, I have told you one
story which should excite you to earnestness to do your children good.
Let me tell you another. In the old war between England and America,
there was a son who received a Bible from his mother. It was brought to
him by a comrade who said to him, "Your mother told me to say that, out
of love to her, she hoped you would learn one verse every day." So he
opened the Book and, with a laugh, he said, "Well, then, here goes."
Strangely enough, the verse that he opened was the only verse he ever
learned at the Sunday school, for he had been a bad lad, and could not
be made to learn. And he read it and it fetched tears in his eyes. It
was this–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." And the mother's prayers were heard to a mother's
joy! Go on, mothers, keep praying for your children, that the pleasure
of the Lord may prosper in Christ's hands!
And you Sunday school teachers, be more earnest than ever in teaching
your classes, but mind you keep to this point–the conversion of your
children as children. Do not be content to sow seed that may spring up
when they are fifty, but pray to God that it may spring up while they
are as yet perhaps under fifteen! Pray, O you Sunday school
teachers, that God's pleasure may prosper in Christ's hands with you!
My dear Friends in the catechumen classes, go on laboring with greater
earnestness than before. Young men who go forth from us to preach the
Gospel, we look to you and we trust that God will be pleased to give
you tongues of fire and hearts of flame. You that stand at the corners
of the streets, you that labor anywhere, be more and more
determined–let others loiter as they will–that you will labor with
both your hands for Christ!
I am often afraid lest, with such a Church as this, we should not do
what the Church at large and the world expect of us. We number 2300 or
more in church fellowship [in the year 1863] but if you are all idle,
or if the most of you are idle, it would be better for me to have had a
hundred or so of earnest workers! There is nothing one dislikes so much
as to be reputed to have what we have not. Why, I read, I should think,
in a dozen newspapers, some time back, the information that I received
from America £1,000 a year! I should like to see it! I said, as I read
it, "If it had been a thousand pence, I might have been better content
than to read it there and know it is not true." But just that kind of
feeling comes over me when people say, "What a church there is there!
What a deal they must do for Christ!" Ah, but if you do not, then what
a poor man your minister is to have the reputation of being so rich in
the efforts of his people, and then not to have them doing anything!
Oh, don't do that! I know you may say I am not worthy of you, but I
pray you, dear Friends, let us try to be worthy of one another! Let us
fight side by side for Christ and for His cause! Let us proclaim Christ
Crucified upon this neighborhood and let us make men know that there is
a Church in London that does pray, that does wrestle with God, that
does work, that does give to His cause and that will spend and be spent
until the members are willing even to lay down their lives upon the
altar of God for the promotion of His Kingdom!
May we all believe in Jesus and so be His friends! "He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved," He says. May we all be led to believe
in Jesus and, believing, may we be enlisted on His side–and, being
enlisted, may we fight even to the end and so be partakers of His great
reward! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 17:1-10.
Verse 1. Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible but that
offenses will come: but woe unto him through whom they come! Since the
Fall, we are so constituted that there are sure to be differences and
disputes. It is a great mercy when men dwell together in unity.
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is." It is a work of Divine
Grace! But nature has its lusting and lusting leads to striving. And
so, as long as the world is as it now is, "it is impossible but that
offenses will come: but woe unto him through whom they come." Let us
not, therefore, be either offense givers or offense takers. When anyone
offends us, let us say, "It is impossible but that offenses will come,"
and let us make light of it. And let us be very careful that we do not
cause others to offend. As for him through whom the offense comes.
2. It were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck,
and he be cast into the sea, than that he should offend. Or cause to
offend–
2-4. One of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If your brother
trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And
if he trespasses against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a
day turns again to you, saying, I repent: you shall forgive him.
Perhaps someone remarks, "It looks as if he would do nothing else but
keep on sinning and repenting." Well, suppose he does? That is
precisely what you are doing, except that you do not go often to repent
when you sin! So, possibly, the offender is rather better than you are,
after all, and if God is gentle in His dealings with you, you may well
be gentle in your dealings with your neighbor.
5. And the Apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. They seemed
so struck with the severity of this command that they asked for more
faith that they might be able to obey it. And, dear Friends, that is
always the best thing to do! Do not refuse obedience to the Lord's
precept, but say, "Lord, increase my faith that I may be able to obey
it. It can be done, or else You would not have given me the command. I
cannot do it as I am without an increase of strength, therefore, as
faith is the medium by which strength is received, Lord, increase my
faith."
6. And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
might say unto this sycamore tree, Be you plucked up by the root, and
be you planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Meaning that
anything and everything should be possible to our faith. But we need
much more of it than the most of us have. Remember how holy Bernard
said, "If you have a hard task, ask God to give you a hard resolution."
The diamond is difficult to cut, but it can be cut if you can find
something harder. So if there is a very difficult task set before us,
if we get faith that is more than equal to it, it will be accomplished.
"With God all things are possible," which means not only that God can
do all things, but that we also can do all things when God is with us!
7, 8. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle,
will say unto him, by-and-by, when he is come from the field, Go and
sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready
wherewith I may sup, and gird yourself, and serve me till I have eaten
and drunk; and afterward you shall eat and drink? This world is the
place of service–we are not to be expecting to have the festival here.
The great supper comes at the end of the day. This is the time for us
to serve, even as Jesus did when He was here–and we are to serve right
on till the close of the day, even as Jesus did.
9. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were
commanded him? I think not When the servant has done his day's work,
his master does not say, "I am very grateful to you, John, for what you
have done for me." He will have his wages–they will be his master's
thanks.
10. So likewise you, when you shallhave done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that
which was our duty to do. ' 'When you shall have done all those things
which are commanded you." Ah, but we have not come anywhere near that
yet! Even if we had, we would still be "unprofitable servants." In our
mind we should expect no thanks from our Master, but we should sorrow
that we had not served Him better.