Withholding Corn
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 30, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"He that withholds corn, the people shall curse him but blessing shall
be upon the head of him that sells it."
Proverbs 11:26.
IF I dared, I would always preach upon the comfortable promises and
gracious doctrines of God's Word. I find it most delightful and easy
work to expatiate upon those themes of Revelation which abound in
sweetness and are full of savor and preciousness to the child of God. I
said, "If I dared," and you will ask me why I dare not? The answer is
because I have a solemn conviction on my mind that if I would be clear
of the blood of all men I must strive to make my range of ministry as
wide as the range of Revelation and I must not shun to declare the
whole counsel of God. I feel bound to go not where my wishes would lead
me, but where Holy Scripture has made a track for my feet.
There are certain texts in the Scriptures which are very seldom
preached upon because it is thought that there is little Gospel in them
and that the people, when they go home, will say to one another, "Well,
I wasn't fed this morning." Those who aim at pleasing men may well be
shy of such subjects. But I hold that since God, in His wisdom has
placed these passages in the Bible, He intends His servants, the
preachers of the Word, to expound them.
We are, it strikes me, not to preach from selections of Scripture only,
but from the whole of the Sacred Volume, for "All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness–that the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." I freely confess
that I do not know why I have selected this text this morning except
that it haunted and hunted me until I could not forbear to preach upon
it.
It seemed to force itself upon me and to bore its way into my soul like
a rifle shot. I thought it over and over and could not make much of it
until I yielded up myself to it, saying within myself, "If the Lord has
anything to say to the people out of my mouth, here it is–let Him use
it." If there should be any persons among our country friends, or our
corn-dealing townsmen who this morning feel at all touched by the text,
I cannot help it. Here is my Master's message to them and I can only
deliver it with the best intentions, hoping that those to whom it comes
home may be profited by it.
It will, however, soon be clear to you that the verse before us has,
besides its first meaning, a weight of very important spiritual
teaching in it to which we shall all do well to take heed. The text, as
it stands, has to do, as you clearly see, with owners of corn and
dealers in it.
In Solomon's days there were very frequent famines. Communication
between one nation and another was so extremely difficult that the
transportation of wheat in any large quantities was not attempted.
Therefore, if a failure in the crops occurred in one district, the
scarcity in that neighborhood was not compensated by abundance in
another and terrible famines prevailed. Certain persons in those days
not only stored up all the corn which grew in their own fields, but
purchased as much as they could of others, so as to raise the market
above its natural level. This, under the circumstances, was a very high
affront put upon God–for instead of bearing their part in His
judgments, these men enriched themselves by the poverty of their
starving neighbors.
There have been such people ever since Solomon's day and although the
present system of free trade has nearly put an end to that kind of
thing, there are doubtless some who would again withhold their corn,
even at famine prices, if they could rise the price still higher. How
does Scripture deal with this peculiar form of greed in trade? I cannot
but admire the wonderful reserve of Holy Scripture, for as Mr. Arnot
well observes, "in this brief maxim no arbitrary rule is laid down to
the possessor of corn that he must sell at a certain period and at a
certain price–and yet the hungry are not left without a protecting
law.
"The protection of the weak is entrusted not to small police
regulations, but to great self-acting providential arrangements. The
double fact is recorded in terms of peculiar distinctness that he who
in times of scarcity keeps up his corn in order to enrich himself is
loathed by the people, and he who sells it freely is loved. This is
all. There is no further legislation on the subject."
Our narrow wisdom might have wished for some definite law upon the
subject–something like a sliding scale–but the great Ruler of Heaven
and earth falls into no such error. Laws which interfere between buyer
and seller, master and workman by any form of law, are blunders and
nuisances. Parliaments and princes have hung on to the antiquated
absurdity of regulating prices, but the Holy Spirit does nothing of the
kind. All the attempts of men to control the price of bread and wheat
is sheer folly, as the history of France may well prove. The market
goes best when it is left alone and so, in our text, there is no law
enacted and no penalty threatened except that which the nature of
things makes inevitable.
God knows political economy, whether men do or not, and leaving the
coarse machinery of police regulations He puts the offender under a
form of self-acting legislature which is far more efficient. The text
seems to say, "Well, if you have no love to your neighbor and choose to
keep your wheat, I make no law to break open your granary or pull down
your ricks, but you will most certainly gain the hatred, contempt and
curse of the people among whom you dwell." You see, dear Friends, that
the man may do as he pleases about selling or not, but he cannot escape
from the curse of the people if he chooses to lock up his grain.
And on the other hand if he will sell at a proper price, or, as another
translation reads it, break his bread, that is to say, give it to the
starving if they cannot buy it, he will receive blessings not only from
the people but from Heaven itself. Brethren, it is a matter of fact
that any man of any observation must have seen–that there is no
transaction which ever brings such ill-will upon a man, such general
condemnation, especially from the poor–as withholding the corn. Common
consent condemns the hoarder and human nature revolts at his offense.
Ask anyone you choose to meet, except he is himself deep in the same
mire, and he will join you in crying out against it.
Of course there are many ways of defending the deed, but there is no
way of escaping the fact that the people curse the doer of it in their
hearts. "Well," says one, "it is my own corn, I may do as I like with
it." Just so, nobody said you could not. Nobody disputed your
rights–only you are warned that in hoarding it you are sure to get the
people's curse. You cannot alter that. It will follow and hang about
your heels, and as far as the fact is known it will make men curl the
lip at you and sneer if they are your equals–while the working men,
deep in their hearts–will abhor you. No matter how kind you may be to
the poor in other matters, nor how you may have given your money in
other ways–your holding the corn will be a scorn among your enemies
and an offense to your best friends.
It is not always an ill sign when the voice of the people is against a
man, but in this case Scripture endorses it and he who dares to run the
risk is none too wise. "Ah," says another, "I do not see the wrong of
withholding. There are laws of supply and demand and the preacher does
not understand political economy." The preacher, however, thinks he
does understand it and even if he does not a child can comprehend the
text before him and with what we have to deal just now. Solomon here
tells you that if you like to carry out political economy in the
withholding way, you will get cursed for it, and depend upon it, YOU
WILL!
Facts are stubborn things and this is one that withholding corn earns
me the curse of the people and that is what no Christian man would wish
to bear. "But what business is that of the preacher's?" He answers that
he thanks God that he has no share in it whatever, but he is set in his
place to rebuke what God rebukes and he is doing no more than
expounding God's own Word upon the matter. Whether you hear or forbear,
there is the Truth of God and may the Lord bless it to you.
"Well, we ought not to hear such things on Sundays." What? Not read our
Bibles on Sundays–not explain the meaning of a text on Sundays? You
would not have heard me on a Monday, some of you, and therefore you
have it today! Do not be angry with the text, but look at it and read
it–and then afterwards choose as you will. "He that withholds corn,"
God says, "the people shall curse him." And if you wish to have
ill-will and the bad word of thousands of poor cottagers and all others
who have human sympathies, then withhold your corn. Thank God, the
worst monopolizer cannot do much mischief nowadays, for, by the
gracious Providence of God which has burst the fetters of commerce we
are not likely to feel any very great shortage of bread in this
country.
Should our own crops fail, the harvests of other lands supply the
masses with their food. The crime is growing scarcer and scarcer. But,
if any cases still survive and men choose to follow so ruinous a
course, they will get cursed for it in mutterings deep, if silent, and
in sneers as bitter as they are well-deserved. By your leave I shall
now take a step above my text, using it as a ladder to mount to a yet
higher Truth of God. If it brings a curse upon a man to withhold the
bread which perishes, what a weight of curse will light upon that man
who withholds the bread of Eternal Life!
If the people shall curse the man who keeps back the bread which merely
sustains the body, what shall be the withering denunciations which
shall overwhelm the soul of him who deals deceitfully with the bread of
Eternal Life? That seems to me to be a fair deduction from the text and
at that Truth we will aim this morning.
First, I shall attempt to show the ways in which the Bread of Life may
be withheld from the people and the curse which will follow. Secondly,
I shall try to depict the blessedness of the man who "breaks it," as
another translation has it, to the people. And, then, thirdly we shall
conclude by opening our own granaries and breaking some of this bread
among the assembled multitude.
I. First, he that withholds the Bread of Life will surely get the
people's curse upon him. How CAN THIS BE DONE?
1. It may be readily accomplished by locking up the Word of God in an
unknown language, or by delivering and preaching it in such a style
that the people shall not comprehend it. The Romish Church for many
years kept the sacred Scriptures in an unknown tongue and resisted all
attempts to translate the Book of God into the vulgar language of the
people. What a curse Rome has had resting on her head! To those who
know the enormity of this wickedness in holding back the Word of Life,
it is scarcely possible to think of Rome without invoking judgment upon
her.
What myriads of souls went down to the pit perishing through lack of
knowledge during what were called the Dark Ages! What fearful
imprecations they must be uttering even now upon Popes and Cardinals
and priests who had the key of the kingdom, but would neither enter
themselves nor suffer others to enter there! They had the light but
they concealed it in a dark lantern and the nations were compelled to
sit in the darkness of profound ignorance and superstition because they
would not give them the light. Surely the people shall curse such
forever!
But are these the only offenders? Is not their crime prolonged by those
ministers who aim at delivering themselves in an oratorical style, with
flowers of rhetoric far too fine to be reached by the common people? We
have heard of some and we fear we know some who would rather round a
period than win a soul! To them it is the first and the last object to
deliver refined thoughts in elegant and elaborate language and, having
so done, having soared aloft on the spread-eagle's wing far out of
sight, they are content to have dazzled the many and displayed
themselves. Truly such men withhold the corn!
What can the poor countrymen and servants, who are sitting in the
aisles, make out of their eloquence? What can the workers who come in
to hear something that may do them good, make out of their outlandish
big talk? The terms of theology, the phrases of art, the definitions of
philosophy, the jargon of science are all unknown tongues to the young
godly farmer or praying shopkeepers. "Alas!" he says, "this does not
come to me–I cannot understand it." Possibly, in their ignorance, some
people think the high-flyers very learned men–but in reality they are
far from it–for plainness of speech is a better sign of learning than
high-sounding words and soaring sentences.
Oh, dear Friends, when we preach the Gospel plainly I am sure we have
our reward! When preaching in some village chapel or from a wagon in a
field, it is no small delight to watch the faces of the men in smock
frocks and the women in their print gowns, as they catch or feel the
force of an inspired Truth of God! Plain speech wins their blessing.
But to stand and talk right over the people's heads–what is it but
having the corn and keeping it from those who want it? Simplicity is
the authorized style of true Gospel ministry. "Having this ministry,"
says the Apostle, "we use great plainness of speech."
The common people heard the Master gladly–which they would not have
done if He had spoken in high-flown language. Whitfield, the Prince of
Preachers, was mainly so because of the market language which he used.
Let all of us who have the Bread of Life try to be very plain. You who
write tracts, or preach in the streets–or you that teach children–
break the large slices of Truth into small pieces and crack the shells
of the hard nuts. Take away the crust for the babes and pick out the
stones from the fruit. Beware, lest in seeking an excess of refinement
you withhold the corn and win the people's curses!
2. But secondly, we may fall into this sin by keeping back the most
important and vital Truths of Revelation and giving a prominence to
other things which are but secondary. My Brethren, if I were to stand
in this pulpit and for the next few months address you upon moral
precepts, the excellence of virtue, or the faultiness of vice–if you
could come out of this place and say, time after time, "We hear nothing
about Jesus Christ! We do not know whether there is a Holy
Spirit." If I were gifted with ever so much ability and if these were
my themes, however earnestly I pressed them, I should be guilty of
withholding the corn, the true food of souls.
Morality brings no food to hungry souls although it is a good thing in
its place. Dissuasives from vice are not the Bread of Heaven, though
well enough in their way. We need to have the great Doctrines of Grace
brought forward, for the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit and it
is by preaching the Truth as it is in Jesus that souls are won to Him.
I grieve to think how indistinct some preachers are upon the Doctrines
of Grace–they dare not say, "election," or if they do they tremble
directly and guard their words with shields so huge that the poor Truth
is crushed beneath them!
As to final perseverance, effectual calling, particular redemption, or
any of those grand Truths of God where the fatness and savor and marrow
of the Gospel is to be found–you may listen to some of them from the
beginning of January to the end of December without hearing a word!
This will not do–this is taking away the backbone from the spiritual
man–it is tearing away the vitals of the Gospel! It is giving to the
people husks for wheat and straw and chaff, instead of corn! Above all,
that ministry is an abomination which puts Jesus Christ in the
background.
My Brothers, we must not only hear something about Jesus Christ, but
our preaching must be mainly about Him. He must be its head and
feet–no, let me say, in some sense–He must be all that the preacher
has to preach. Christ Crucified must be the general summary of his
ministry. And he must he able to say, when he retires from it and is
called up higher, "I have preached Christ. Of the things which I have
spoken, this is the sum–I have preached my Master and what my Master
gave me."
my Brethren, what a guilty ministry is that in which the blood has no
place–the ministry which denies or undervalues the atoning sacrifice
of the great Redeemer! God have mercy upon us that we have not preached
this fundamental truth so earnestly as we ought to have done! But by
His Grace we can still plead before Him and say we have truly desired
to do it–
"Ever since by faith I saw the stream His flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming lo ve has been my theme, And shall be till I dee."
What is the use of any ministry of which that is not true? It is
withholding corn and in eternity the lost will curse their destroyer.
But we must not talk about ministers of whom there are not many
here–we will come down to you. Many of you are Sunday school
teachers–now you can sin in this way in the very same sense. Suppose
as a Sunday school teacher you are content with making the little ones
read through the lesson, satisfied with filling up the hour or the
hour-and-a-half and feeling you have done a good deal in making the
little fellows sit still and so on. Ah, my Brother and Sister, it is
very solemn work. You have undertaken to teach these young immortals
and if you are satisfied with just making them go through the routine,
take heed, lest when they grow up they come to curse you!
1 am afraid that many Sunday school addresses have no Gospel in them! I
do not see why the same Gospel should not be preached to children as to
grown-up people. I think it should. To stand up in a Sunday school and
say, "Now, be good boys and girls and God will love you," is telling
lies! I know the teachers of our school feel the importance of
delivering the Truth of God as it is in Jesus to their children and you
therefore tell them, "You are lost and ruined and your salvation is in
Jesus Christ–look to Him and live!"
The teacher whose general teaching is not full of Christ will be called
to a sad account in the day when Christ shall come. Dear Teachers of
the school, whatever you do not know, do know your Lord–and whatever
you cannot get into the youngsters' heads, do make it a matter of
prayer that you may get a knowledge of Christ and His atoning blood
into their young hearts by the Holy Spirit. The same is also true of
those of our beloved friends who conduct Bible classes, or who in any
way teach the people.
I do not know that I have any necessity to say this to the most of you
here, but still I will say it for the good of oth-ers–you must not, my
Brethren, get away from your great theme. It is of no use to go to the
people empty-handed. We must take them bread–we only mock them by
offering them stones–if we talk to them about the histories and
precepts of Scripture and forget the Cross. Let our teaching be full of
Grace and Truth–let us deliver our souls every doctrine as we find it
in Scripture and let us be determined that if men perish it shall not
be for want of knowing the way of salvation.
3. We may withhold the Bread of Life, dear Friends, by a want of loving
in our labor. The mere telling out the plan of salvation is of no great
service. God may bless it, but He does not often do so. That which God
blesses to the saving of sinners is Truth attended by the earnestness
of the speaker–the loving anguish of a heart which stirs the
preacher's soul. What shall I say here? For if I speak, I do but
condemn myself. Think of the preaching of Baxter. He preached for many
years but he said he never went into his pulpit without his knees
knocking together! And Martin Luther said the same.
Truly it is enough to make any man tremble when he feels that he is
God's mouth to immortal souls. "If they perish and you warn them not,
their blood will I require at your hands." Surely this ought to give a
melting heart and streaming eyes to God's ministers! But, I say, I
remember reading of Baxter's ministry–oh what pleading before was in
it! The man seemed as if he never would go out of the pulpit till his
hearers had received the Truth! He wept and sighed and sobbed unless
they came to Jesus Christ.
You know how he followed them to their houses, watched them through the
streets of Kidderminster, and would give them no rest till they thought
about eternal things and he was privileged thus to break the Bread of
Life to many thousands, although his body was as full of physical pain
as his heart was of holy anxiety! O for something of Mr. Baxter's
spirit to make us love the souls of men as he did! We are guilty of
withholding corn unless we preach with a sympathizing, loving, tender,
affectionate, earnest, anxious soul!
Brothers and Sisters, you are, most of you, doing something for Jesus
Christ. Let me, therefore, put this very plainly to you. If you get
through your work for God as a mere matter of form–however true may be
that which you have to say and however carefully you may deliver
it–yet still if the Truth you deliver is not delivered with holy
anxiety, with earnestness, with fervor, with love, with affection, and
above all, if it is not attended with prayer– take heed lest in some
day to come you get the curse of those from whom you withheld the
bread!
How would you like, Sunday school Teachers, to see a lad in your class
grow up and go into sin? How would you like to meet him some day on a
sick bed when his vices had at last brought him to his end? How would
you like that he should look into your face and say, "Ah, Teacher, you
were never earnest with me–you told me the Truth, but you told it to
me so coldly that I did not believe it! If I had seen one tear in your
eyes, I think there would have been one in mine. If I thought you felt
what you were saying, I sometimes think I should have felt it, too.
"But you merely kept me still and told me it all as if it were no great
matter. And so I doubted the whole and from doubt went on to unbelief
and ran into sin–and here I am. O that you had wept over me as
such-and-such a teacher did with my brother! How different is my
brother from what I am! He was in another class and his teacher took
him before God in prayer–prayed with him as well as for him–told him
the Truth of God! But he did more–he labored to drive it home as with
a great hammer, while he pleaded with him to lay hold on Eternal Life.
Teacher, would to God that you had been more earnest with me."
Beloved, seek to rid yourselves of any future regrets in this matter!
It is no small satisfaction when you hear the death-bell toll, to say,
"Well, I did all I could for that soul and whether it is in Heaven or
Hell, my conscience is clear." You cannot save, but still, God, who
works by means, may make you the instrument of conveying salvation to
sinners– or, on the other hand, you may be made instruments of
unrighteousness through whom Satan may harden these children's hearts,
even to their everlasting ruin.
I use the example of a Sunday school teacher, but I intend the remarks
for every worker. O let us work for God with our whole hearts! God make
us more awfully in earnest! Life is earnest, death is earnest, Heaven
is earnest, Hell is earnest, Christ is earnest, God is earnest–let us
be clad with zeal, as with a cloak–and go forth to serve the Lord with
all our soul and strength as His Holy Spirit shall enable us.
4. Fourthly, we may be found guilty of withholding corn by refusing to
labor zealously for the spread of the kingdom of Christ and the
conversion of sinners. I am afraid that the churches of the past were
not altogether without a curse because of their deficiency in the
matter of missions and home evangelization. During the pastorate of my
venerated predecessor, Dr. Gill, this Church, instead of increasing,
gradually decreased. And although the age in which he lived was honored
with many great and excellent men, yet the state of our own
denomination and the Presbyterian body and the Independent body in
England was most lamentable.
Many of the churches were gradually sliding into Unitarianism and the
simple Gospel of Jesus Christ was scarcely preached, or, where
preached, it was without any power whatever–and I take it that the
reason was very much that the churches were content to be edified
themselves, but had no hearts of compassion for the perishing
multitudes around and abroad.
But mark this–from the day when Fuller, Carey, Sutcliffe and others,
got together to send out missionaries to India, the sun began to dawn
of a gracious revival which is not over yet! Bad as the state of the
churches now is, yet it is marvelously an improvement upon anything
before the age of missions. Though not as zealous as we ought to be,
the zeal of Christendom is one hundred times greater than it was then.
And, as for what is done for winning souls, Brethren, the churches now
are like a garden of the Lord compared with what they were then.
I believe that the neglect of sending the Word to the heathen brought a
blight and a curse upon the churches which is now happily removed. Yet
even today we find professors who are always doubting. They never get
beyond–
" 'Tis a point I long to know."
There they stick and never know whether they are saved or not. Full
assurance is to be a tempting morsel which they have not yet tasted.
Their eyes do not sparkle with heavenly delight. They know not what it
is to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Their raptures
are very few, their joys very shallow. I will tell you why. In almost
every case these people do nothing for souls. They withhold the corn
and therefore they get this curse in their souls that they shall not
enjoy their own religion because they do not want to lead other people
into it!
If you put your hands into your pockets and say, "Well, glory be to
God. I trust I am one of the elect and whatever becomes of the rest of
mankind really is not my concern. Every man for himself, I say"–that
is such an unchristian spirit, so antagonistic to the whole life of
Jesus Christ–that if you get sorely whipped in Providence, I can only
hope you may be blessed by it! But I would not pray that the rod may be
removed until you are scourged into a better temper. Give me the
Christian who says, "I bless God I am saved! Now what can I do for
others?"
The first thing in the morning he prays, "God help me to say a word to
some soul this day." During the day, wherever he may be, he is watching
his opportunity and will do good if he can. He is concerned about his
children–it sometimes breaks his heart to think that they are not
saved. If he happens to have an ungodly wife, it is his daily burden,
"Oh God, save my wife!" When he goes to a place of worship he does not
expect the minister to make sermons always on purpose for him, but he
says, "I shall sit here and pray God to bless the Word," and if he
looks round the Chapel and sees one that he loves, he prays for him,
"God send the Word home to him."
When service is over, a man of this kind will waylay the unconverted
and try to get a personal word with them, and see if he cannot discover
some beginnings of Divine Grace in their souls. This is how earnest
Christians live. And let me tell you, as a rule, though they have the
griefs of other men's souls to carry, they do not have much grief about
their own. As a rule their Master favors them with the light of His
Countenance. They are watering others and they are watered themselves,
also. May this be your work and mine!
But some of you say nothing for Christ at all. You are too timid, you
say. And others of you are too indifferent, too thoughtless about
others. Oh, the opportunities many of you have lost! Oh, the many who
have died to whom you might have spoken, but you did not! Oh, the
people that are now in the darkness of ignorance who get no light from
you! You have light, but you keep it. They are dying and you have the
healing medicine but you will not tell them of it! May God deliver you
from the curse of those who thus withhold the corn!
We will only mention one more form of this evil. Some may be said to be
guilty of withholding the corn because while they themselves do not
speak for Christ, they do not help those who can. No Christian man
ought to go to bed with an easy conscience if he has thousands of
pounds which he does not need which are unused for God. There must be
many Christians in this rich country who have not consecrated their
substance to the Lord. When a man can say, "I have money which I really
do not need, and my children do not require it," and this is money
absolutely needed for God's cause, ought he to keep it from the Lord
Jesus?
Must you confess that so many missionaries might be sent out tomorrow
if you just wrote a check and handed it over to the proper
Society–then why not do it? A destitute neighborhood needs a place of
worship and if I can build it if I would, how am I to answer for it to
my Lord? I cannot understand how a man can love God when he only lives
to heap up riches! I can with great difficulty imagine such a case, but
I fear that such cannot be real piety. It seems to me that if I have
any religion in my soul, it will make me not only say with Dr. Watts–
" Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were a present far too small!
Love so amazing, so Divine
Demands my soul, my life, may all,"
but I think it would make me carry it out.
I will not propose to you that you should act indiscreetly in giving so
as to beggar your families, or deprive yourselves of what is necessary!
You know I am not so foolish. But I am speaking to many Christians who
have not only enough to spare, but who will continue to accumulate and
accumulate and accumulate and I cannot think that they can feel that
they are doing right in the sight of God. O God! This great city needs
preachers, needs the Gospel–thousands need even bread to keep them
from starving–and yet many of Your professing people are heaping their
coffers higher and higher!
Why surely, if I do this, I am heaping up wrath against the Day of
Wrath, and I shall find it come into my bosom hot and fierce from the
God of Sabaoth to whom my gold and my silver will cry out against me!
Let us not be guilty of this, but each in our own station, as far as we
can, let us be aiding others to preach the Word if we cannot preach it
ourselves. Dozens of young men are desirous to enter our College and
you can help them to go forth to preach, if you cannot preach yourself.
II. I am pleased to turn to the other subject for a minute or two. I am
to speak upon THE BLESSEDNESS WHICH
THOSE POSSESS WHO BREAK THE BREAD OF LIFE. To describe it is altogether
beyond my power, you must know and taste, and feel it, Beloved. There
are many blessings in doing good to others. God is a good Paymaster–He
pays His servants while at work as well as when they have done it. And
one of His payments is this–an easy conscience. If you have spoken
faithfully to only one person, when you go to bed at night you feel
happy in thinking, "I have this day discharged my conscience of that
man's blood."
You do not know how delightful a Sunday evening is to some of us when
God has helped us to be faithful! How sweet to feel, "I have made many
blunders, shown many infirmities of the flesh and so on, but I have
preached the Gospel and preached it with my whole heart to the best of
my ability." One feels' a burden taken off one's back and there is a
joy and satisfaction unknown to those who sit at home doing nothing.
You in your class at the Sunday school–I know you feel, when Sunday is
over, though it is a very hard day's work for some of you after the six
days' toil in the week, you feel–"I thank God I did not spend that
afternoon in lolling about at home, but I did speak a word for Jesus."
You will find such a peace of mind that you would not give it up for
all the world.
Then there is a great comfort in doing something for Jesus. Look into
His face–what would you not do for Him? When first converted did you
not think you could do ten thousand things for Jesus? The moment your
burden was off your back and your sins forgiven, how you felt you could
follow Him through floods and flames! Have you lived up to your
resolutions, Brethren? Have you kept up to your own ideas of Christian
duties? I do not suppose any of us can say that we have. Still, what
little we have done has been an unspeakable delight when we have felt
that we have been crowning His head and strewing palm branches in His
path.
O what a happiness to place jewels in His crown and give Him to see of
the travail of His soul! Beloved, there is a very great reward in
watching the first buds of conviction in a young soul! To say of that
girl in the class, "She seems so tender of heart, I do hope that there
is the Lord's work there." To go home and pray over that boy who said
something in the afternoon to make you think he must know something
more than he seemed to know! Oh, the joy of hope! But as for the joy of
success–it is unspeakable! I recollect the first soul that God ever
gave me–she is in Heaven now–but I remember when my good deacon said
to me, "God has set His seal on your ministry in this place, Sir."
Oh, if anybody had said to me, "Somebody has left you twenty thousand
pounds," I should not have given a snap of my fingers for it compared
with that joy which I felt when I was told that God had set His seal on
my ministry! "Who is it?" I asked. "Why, it is a poor laboring man's
wife! She went home broken-hearted by the sermon two or three Sundays
ago and she has been in great trouble of soul. But she has found peace
and she says she would like to speak to you." I felt like the boy who
has earned his first guinea! Like a diver who has been down to the
depths of the sea and brought up a rare pearl–I prize each one whom
God has given me–but I prize that woman most!
Since then my God has given me many thousands of souls who profess to
have found the Savior by hearing or reading words which have come from
my lips. Well, this joy, overwhelming as it is, is a hungry sort of
joy–you want more of it–for the more you have of spiritual children,
the more your soul desires to see them multiplied. Let me tell you that
to be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in this world and with every
soul you bring to Jesus Christ you seem to get a new Heaven here upon
earth! But what will be the joy of soul-winning when we get up above!
What happiness to the Christian minister to be saluted on his entrance
into Heaven by many spiritual children!
They will call him, "Father," for though they are not married nor given
in marriage, though natural relations are all over, yet spiritual
relations last forever. Oh, how sweet is that sentence, "Enter you into
the joy of your Lord." Do you know what the joy of Christ is over a
saved sinner? You cannot guess it! You would need to know the griefs He
suffered to save that sinner. O the joys He must feel when He sees that
sinner saved as the result of His griefs–this is the very joy which
you and I are to possess in Heaven–"Enter you into the joy of your
Lord."
Yes, when He mounts the Throne, you shall mount with Him! When the
Heaven rings with, "Well done, well done," you shall partake in the
reward! You have toiled with Him! You have suffered with Him! You shall
now reign with Him! You have sown with Him–you shall reap with Him!
You were despised with Him–you shall now be honored with Him! Your
face was covered with sweat like His, and your soul was grieved for the
sins of men as His soul was–now shall your face be bright with
Heaven's splendor as is His Countenance! And now shall your soul be
filled with beatific joys even as His soul is! He that breaks bread,
blessings shall be upon his head.
III. Now I have to open the GRANARY for a minute. Hungry Sinners
wanting a Savior, we cannot withhold the bread from you! You may never
come to hear the Gospel again. We, therefore, will open the granary
very wide. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, became Man to save men, and
inasmuch as God's wrath was due to sin, Christ took the sin of all who
have ever believed, or ever shall believe on Him and, taking all their
sins, He was punished in their place, so that God can now justly
forgive sin because Christ was punished in the place of sinners and
suffered Divine Wrath for them.
Now this is the way of salvation–that you trust this Son of God with
your soul. And, if you do so, then know that your sins are now forgiven
you and that you are saved! Concerning this salvation, hear just these
few words. It is a satisfying salvation. Here is all that you can want.
Your conscience shall be at ease forever if you believe in Jesus–your
biggest sins shall no longer trouble you! Your blackest iniquities
shall no longer haunt you. Believing in Jesus, every sin you have of
thought, and word, and deed shall be cast into the depths of the sea
and never shall be mentioned against you any more forever.
It is an all-sufficient salvation, too. However great your sins,
Christ's blood can take them all away. However deep your needs, Christ
can supply them. You can not be so big a sinner as He is a Savior. You
may be the worst sinner out of Hell, but you are not too great for Him
to remove–He can carry elephantine sinners upon His shoulders and bear
gigantic mountains of guilt upon His head into the wilderness of
forgetfulness. He has enough for you, however deep your necessity. It
is, moreover, a complete salvation. Sovereign Mercy does not stand on
the mountain and cry to you, "Climb up here and I will save you!"
Eternal Mercy comes down the valley to you just where you are and meets
your case just as it is–and never leaves you till it has made you meet
to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light!
Christ does not want you to pay one talent out of the hundred and
promise to pay for you the ninety-nine. He will discharge all your
debts of sin! All that you need to take you up to Heaven is provided in
Jesus. This is a present salvation–a salvation which, if it comes to
you, will save you NOW! You shall be a child of God this very hour and
before that clock shall strike again you shall rejoice in the peace
which the Spirit of God gives you, if you believe on Him.
It is an available salvation, freely presented to you in Christ Jesus.
Remember the text of two or three Sundays ago– "Whoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely." Jesus casts out none that come to
Him. Oh that you may be led to come this morning!
Thus have I tried to avoid the sin of withholding corn. And if any in
this House of Prayer have been guilty of it, I pray you avoid the curse
of the people and seek the blessing of the Most High God by this day
endeavoring to scatter everywhere the Bread of Life! Go and work for
God wherever you have an opportunity and help us in our prayers and
efforts to send forth more laborers into the harvest, for the harvest
truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Amen.