Zealots
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 16, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
Simon called the Zealot." Luke 6:15.
SIMON called the Zealot has apparently two surnames in Scripture but
they mean the same thing. He is called Simon the Canaanite in
Hebrew–not because he was an inhabitant of Cana or a Canaanite, but
that word, when interpreted, means precisely the same as the Greek
word, Zelotes. He was called Simon the Zealot. I suppose that he had
this name before his conversion. It is thought by some that he was a
member of that very fierce and fanatical political sect of the Jews
called the Zealots, by whose means the siege of Jerusalem was rendered
so much more bloody than it would have been.
But this does not seem very probable, for the sect of the Zealots had
scarcely arisen in the time of the Savior. And therefore we are
inclined to think with Hackett in his exposition of the Acts, that he
was so called because of his zealous attachment to his religion as a
Jew. There were some in the different classes of Jewish society who
were so excessively full of zeal as to gain the name of zealot. But it
strikes me that he must have been a zealot after conversion, too, for
within that sacred circle which surrounded our Lord, every word was
truth and the Master would not have allowed any of His disciples to
have worn a surname which was not expressive or truthful.
He was Simon the Zealot while in the darkness and blindness of his mind
he knew not the Messiah. He surely could not have been less Simon the
Zealot when, gifted with the Holy Spirit, he went forth to cast out
devils, heal the sick and to proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven was at
hand. I should be glad if many among us would earn the same title by so
living that men would call us zealots, or even "fanatics," for this is
so sleepy an age concerning religious things, that to be called
fanatic, nowadays, is one of the highest honors a man can have
conferred upon him! May we so act and live that we might truthfully
wear the title of Christian zealots.
We shall occupy your time, this morning first of all by some like
description of the unconverted zealot and then, secondly, by some few
remarks upon the Christian zealot.
I. LET US PORTRAY THE UNCONVERTED ZEALOT. Zeal frequently expends
itself on other things than religion. You will find many zealots not
religious in any sense of the word. We have seen lately a few political
zealots. The one important matter of their lives is the defense of the
Whig or the Tory interest. It appears as if they would sacrifice their
business, no, in their furor they think everything a trifle so long as
they can but vindicate some favorite opinion. Such was Saul, the king
of Israel. He was such a zealot for Israel and for Judah that in his
zeal he slew the Gibeonites.
He was politically a zealot. He thought that the Gibeonites, being in
the land, ate the bread which belonged to the sons of Israel and
occupied the cities which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Therefore,
violating all covenants and solemn oaths–and bringing upon the nation
a great judgment–he slew the Gibeonites. Many are scientific zealots.
They will sacrifice health in sitting over mixtures of deleterious
drugs to examine chemical combinations. Or they will pass through
feverish countries among savage men to discover the source of a river,
or measure the height of a mountain.
We can readily find business zealots–their shop windows scarcely need
shutters, for business is never over. Sunday itself is not enclosed for
worship. They steal that day for keeping their books. They make haste
to be rich and they are not innocent. They plunge into this speculation
and the other. They often bring their bodies to sickness and their
minds to madness in their zeal for riches. You do not find that the
world cries out against zeal in business and in science and in
politics!
No, men can admire it there, but the moment you bring it into the court
of the Lord's House, then straightway they hold up their hands with
astonishment, or open their mouths with blasphemy! Men cannot endure
that we should make eternal things real and spend our strength for
them. They would have us reserve our energies for the matters in which
they take so deep an interest. Brethren, we would not condemn the use
of zeal in the common affairs of life, for zeal is essential to
success. We only wish that Christians would copy worldly men and be
half as earnest and half as ambitions to maintain and increase the
kingdom of their Lord and Master as some men are after petty trifles or
selfish aggrandizements.
Understand, then, that a man may be a zealot and yet there may not be a
trace of religion in him for his zeal may run in quite a different
channel. The unconverted zealot, should his zeal expend itself upon
religion, is generally exceedingly boastful. Look at Jehu, as he bids
Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, ride with him in his chariot
vain-gloriously exclaiming, "Come with me and see my zeal for the
Lord." He cannot kill the worshippers of Baal without someone standing
by to admire how he devotes himself entirely to Jehovah. Unconverted
men, when full of zeal, are almost all Jehus. They must have some
admiring eyes. The clap of approbation is essential to the life and
vigor of their earnestness.
Not so the true Christian! He is as zealous for his Master when he
stands alone or in the midst of derision as in the time when religion
is honorable. Let us take care to ever avoid all boastfulness! Let us
serve our Master as Jehu did and better than he, but let us never say,
"Come, see my zeal for the Lord."
As you travel over the mountains and become thirsty you look for the
cooling stream. But the traveler who has often passed the hills never
stoops to drink of the little streamlets which run uncovered down the
mountain side–he knows that their exposure to the heat of the sun has
warmed the water and taken away its grateful freshness and coolness! He
looks for the trickling rill which gushes fresh from the rock or
bubbles up as a spring, or has found its way under the moss and great
stones all hidden from the light. He loves to satisfy himself there!
It is thus with our gifts and graces. If we expose them to public view
they lose their acceptability with the Most High God. But if we keep
ourselves as much as possible from all ostentation and seek to serve
God humbly and quietly, Jehovah Himself finds delight in the gracious
works of His own beloved people. May the Lord keep us, then, from being
boastful zealots! The unconverted zealot is generally an ignorant
zealot. "I bear them witness," says Paul, "that they have a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge."
The Pharisees were very fanatical. They were ignorant of God's
righteousness and they went about to establish their own. They had not
learned the feebleness of the principle of the Law, and therefore they
struggled on and on to attain eternal life by it. They did not know the
force and strength of the great principle of Divine Grace working
through faith and therefore they neglected it–and with all their
struggling they came short of the kingdom of Heaven. Let us beware of
an ignorant zeal. How much there is of it nowadays. Probably there is
more zeal to be found among the professors of false doctrine than among
the followers of the Truth!
How they will garnish their churches as of old the Pharisees garnished
their sepulchers! How diligently will they bedeck their altars and load
them with ornaments and millinery! To what an extent of effort do they
go! What asceticism will they practice! What infamy, what abuse are
they not willing to endure in defending the cause of their idols and
bringing back again the old superstitions of Rome! If those who are
orthodox had as much zeal as the Papist and the Puseyite, it would be
well for England. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, shun an ignorant zeal! And
at the same time labor to blend zeal with your knowledge lest your
knowledge, lacking force, should cease to be operative in the land!
Let it be forever remembered that if we are ever so zealous in a wrong
faith, that zeal does not make the false true nor make us right in its
prosecution. I may drink poison, devoutly believing it will do me good,
but it will poison me, no matter what I believe! And so I may believe a
lie ever so earnestly, but it will be a lie nevertheless and the poison
of the lie will work my soul's ruin just as surely as if I had not been
so fervent in its belief.
Do not believe in the idea that every man who is sincere in his
religion will be right at last. Not so. If a man is sincere and travels
due North he will not reach a town in the South–and if he spurs his
horse ever so much towards the East, he will not arrive at his
destination, if that destination is a city in the West. Seek to be
right. Get an understanding of the Truth as God has revealed
it–otherwise all your zeal will be but wildfire which will do mischief
rather than good. The zeal of unconverted men is generally partial. It
may be a zeal for something good, but not for everything that is good.
How zealous the Pharisee was for frequent ablutions–he would not eat
bread, if ever so hungry–till he had washed his hands. How excessively
zealous he was to tithe the mint–it did not come to three farthings in
a year–and the anise and the cummin–all these little matters must be
attended to! I think I see the man looking earnestly while he strains
at the gnat! How he shudders lest by any means that horrid and
monstrous insect should get into his wine! If it should possibly go
down his throat, what pollution he would incur!
But mark the hypocrite as he turns his head the other way and he
swallows a camel in the twinkling of an eye! While he can pay his mint
and his anise and his cummin in full tithe, he can at the same time
devour a widow's house and cry out against the Lord of Life and Glory
and plot and plan against the Savior till he has dragged Him to the
Cross! This is the unconverted zealot! Zealous he is for sect and party
when the whole that the sect may hold is not of more value than the
gnat and yet great fundamental doctrinal Truths of God are forgotten,
as though they were of no value whatever. Brethren, may we be earnest
men of God, but I pray that we may be zealous for all the Truth of God!
We must count no Truth of God to be despicable, but take the whole Word
of God as far as the Spirit of God shall reveal it unto us and stand up
for it in its entirety and completeness–and not be willing that the
very least of Christ's Commandments should be neglected or despised.
The zealot, again, while unconverted, is generally, (if it is in his
power), a persecutor. "Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church." Paul
verily thought that he was doing God a service when he drove men and
women to prison and to death. And I doubt not there are many in this
age most sincere zealots, who, if they would not quite delight in the
sweet sacrifices of Smithfield, would, at any rate, like to pass a few
repressive laws to put down "those wicked Dissenters" and ordain one or
two salutary penalties by which "those quarrelsome Baptists" might have
their tongues clipped a little shorter–that they might not speak out
quite so plainly concerning the infamies of the State Church!
Doubtless there is a tendency with us all to wish to impose our own
opinions upon others by all available means. The exaggeration of
anxiety for our fellow men would lead us to adopt wrong means to make
them of a right opinion! We forget that men's consciences and judgments
are never touched by such rude or vulgar means as threats or penalties.
We should always feel that consciences and hearts are under the
jurisdiction of the Most High and in no sense whatever are they to be
brought under the jurisdiction of Pope or potentate, or of any of us,
no matter how orthodox we may conceive ourselves to be. Strive
earnestly for your faith, but strive lawfully. Contend zealously for
the Truth, but let the only fire you use be love and the only sword the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
But zealots without Grace are generally persecutors. Without Divine
Grace zealots are very bitter towards their professed Brethren. We read
in the Epistle of the Apostle James of some who were full of strife and
envy and were yet members of the Church. From such zeal may the Lord of
Hosts deliver us! Our Brethren in the fellowship with us are not to be
convinced of their errors by being knocked on the head, but by having
the candle held to their eyes. If we can teach them the Truth as it is
in Jesus, it shall be well. But as for carnal contention and
persecution–let it be far from us.
This picture of the zealot without Christ is not complete unless we
remark that often his aims are sinister. We read of some in the Epistle
to the Corinthians who did zealously affect the Corinthians, but not
well, for they slandered the Apostle Paul. They denied his Apostleship.
They said that his bodily presence was weak and his speech was
contemptible. And yet they appeared very zealous, indeed–far more
zealous than Paul–because they wanted to alienate the mind of the
Corinthian Church from the Apostle and get themselves to be made
masters in God's heritage. Let us beware of a zeal for lifting up
ourselves.
Brethren, if we preach Christ with a view to get ourselves honored by
it we prostitute the sacred things of God and are guilty of that very
sin which was accursed in Belshazzar, when he took the golden cups of
the sanctuary to drink in them to his own delight. Zeal must be pure.
It may be fire, but it must be fire from off the altar or else if we
minister with any other fire, like Nadab and Abihu, we may be slain
before the Lord. O that we would search our heart so as to be quite
sure that we have no aim in all the world but Christ–"God forbid that
I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
You may shoot well, you brave archers, but if you aim at the wrong
target you will not win the prize. If you aim at anything but your
Lord's honor you shall never hear it said, "Well done, good and
faithful servant." To close this very sorry account of the unconverted
zealot–he is generally but temporary in his zeal. If the zeal is good,
it dies out before long. The Apostle Paul says, "It is good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing." Some of you are mightily
zealous at a Prayer Meeting and grow intensely warm-hearted after a
season of revival–you are consecrated to God most marvelously for a
month or two! You live consistently for a few weeks–you are diligent
in the use of the means of Grace for a short time.
And then–well, you have had enough of it, I suppose, and you think
enough to be as good as a feast and so you would have done with
heavenly things–the wind blows from another quarter and therefore,
like the weathercock, you are turned by it in another way. Some of you
would go to Heaven, but you get plucked by the sleeve Hell-wards and
cannot bear a hard pull–and so you turn away from Christ. One would
think when you are sick that you were ripe for Heaven, but when you get
well, ah, how different! "When he was sick," says an old legend, "the
devil a monk would be," but when he got well you know how he gave up
his fine intentions.
There are many now of the same sort. For a time they threaten to take
the kingdom by storm! They censoriously rebuke the coldness of others.
They vow to conquer Hell and enter Heaven, pushing the world before
them and dragging the Church after them! But in a short time where are
they? They have relapsed into their former lethargy, or perhaps they
have taken their zeal with them into the camp of the adversary. Such is
the unconverted zealot.
Suffer two or three more words before we leave him. There is much about
him to imitate. Unconverted as he is, mischievous as his zeal may
be–if we could pluck that sword out of his hand–of how great a use
might it be to us! If sinners are zealous in their sins, should not
saints be zealous for their God? If the things of time can stir the
human passions, should not the realities of eternity have a greater and
more tremendously moving force? If these men will spend and be spent,
and stretch every nerve and run the race merely for the crown of
politics or of ambition, where are we? What idlers, what laggards we
are that we pursue the things of God with but half a heart!–
"Dear Lord and shall we always live At this poor dying rate?"
Bear this other word, also, namely that we ought to look upon these
zealots with hopefulness. When a man serves Baal thoroughly, it is a
great pity and a thing to be deplored. But I think he is a man worth
catching and to be sought after. We know a sort of people who will
never make much at anything. They are not very forward in sin. The
devil himself cannot respect them much, they are such poor servants to
him. If they ever become Christians, into the rear rank they must go.
They need to be pressed forward and receive from the strength of the
Church, for they can never impart power to it.
But when you get a man who is vigorous in the cause of Satan and when
Sovereign Grace brings him down–what a trophy he becomes of its power
and how gloriously he contends for the Gospel of Christ! Look at Saul
of Tarsus! No man more zealous against the Gospel than he, and he is
second to none when he becomes a preacher of the Word! Look at John
Bunyan on the village green–never second, always the leader! Whether
it was the game of cat on Sunday, or ringing the Church bells, or
blasphemy–he was a prince in the devil's camp! And when he became a
Christian there was none like John Bunyan in thundering out the Law, or
preaching–fearless of pains and penalties–the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Master Bunyan says in his "Grace Abounding" that he was very hopeful
for England because the young men of his age were so very bad, since if
God would convert them, they would make such good Christians by-and-by.
And I feel a little of his mind–when I see a man come in here who is
known to be a down-right sinner, I hope he may make an upright saint.
Some have come in here who have been ringleaders and have exceeded
others in their sin, but instead of saying, "Their case is hopeless," I
have thought–now let us pray with might and main that Sovereign Grace
may overcome his sin–who knows what he may be able to accomplish for
the Church if he is converted?
II. Now for a more pleasing picture, namely, THE TRUE CHRISTIAN
ZEALOT–how his zeal manifests itself, how it is kept up, and what is
to be said in commendation of it. The Christian zealot–how his zeal
manifests itself! First, it manifests itself in his private dealings
with God. The unconverted zealot is a hypocrite–he does not come to
God in private. He may use a form of private prayer, but he has no true
communion with God alone. The unconverted zealot has a religion on the
surface, but there is no Divine Grace within.
How different is it with the Christian! That is a remarkable passage in
the Revelation where zeal is coupled with repentance. "Be zealous,
therefore, and repent." I may take this as an indication that when a
true Christian is zealous he is zealous in repentance–his tears come
welling up from his heart! Sin is not a little distasteful, but is
exceedingly disgusting to him. His faith, too, is not merely a
trembling recognition of the Truth of God, but it is a firm grasp of
everlasting verities. The Christian zealot, when he is alone with God,
throws his whole heart into his service. Whatever may be the Grace
which is in exercise, he seeks to have it thoroughly and actively at
work.
If his heart is given to God, it is a heart full of holy fire, like a
sacred censer. If he devotes himself in private to any hallowed deed of
fellowship or communion with God, his heart wanders not–or if it
wanders, he contends with it until he has bound it with cords–even
with cords to the horns of the altar! Brothers and Sisters, I wish you
and I were more zealous! Alas, I have to complain of myself that when I
try to pray, full often I cannot. When I would do good in the closet,
evil is present with me. I wish I had power to walk with God as Enoch
did, but the cares of the Church, let alone the vanities of life, will
creep in and the soul comes out of the closet unrefreshed, very much
because it has had no zeal in its closet exercises.
The true Christian zealot seeks, above all things, to make his private
religion intensely energetic, knowing that it is the vital point of
godliness. The Christian zealot may be recognized very manifestly by
his prayers. Hear his utterances in the Prayer Meeting. It is no
repetition of a set of sacred phrases, no going over the metaphors
which have become time-worn and tedious–he prays like a man who means
it–he comes up to Heaven's gate, grasps the knocker and knocks and
knocks and knocks again, waiting until the door is opened! He gets hold
of the gates of Heaven and labors to shake them to and fro as though he
would pull them up–bolts and bars and all, as Samson did the gates of
Gaza–rather than not prevail with God.
These men, like Elijah, have power to shut up Heaven or to open its
gates. Oh, that we had more of such in our midst! We have a few who, as
soon as they stand up to pray, fire our hearts by their
earnestness–may they be multiplied! The like is true, of course, of
the private prayers of the Christian as well as of his public ones. Oh,
Brothers and Sisters, we need more resolve when we go before God that
we will have the blessing! We need more determination that we are
asking what is according to His mind and we will take no denial, but
will say to the angel, "I will not let You go except You bless me."
Christians, seek to be zealots in prayer–pouring out your hearts like
water before the Lord and crying out with sighs and tears till, like
your Master, you have been heard in that which you have petitioned.
But the zealot does not stop here. The Christian zealot is manifested
in his jealousy for God's honor. The word jealous in its sound and
sense is akin to the word zealous. Hear how Elijah uses it. He says, "I
have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts." He saw Baal
worshipped everywhere throughout Israel and his heart was ready to
break. So the stern old man said, "Let me die–I am no better than my
fathers." How sternly he slew Baal's priests! What a spectacle was that
when, after having mocked them because no fire came on their sacrifice,
he stretched out his hands and cried, "Let it be known who is God"! And
when the flame had come and his own sacrifice had been consumed, he
said with a rough voice, "Take the Prophets of Baal. Let not one of
them escape."
Here was zeal for the Lord of Hosts springing from an awful
overwhelming jealousy for God's honor and a hatred of the idols which
usurped His Throne. See the same in Moses. With holy jealousy he dashes
the tablets of stone upon the ground, takes the golden calf, grinds it
to powder and makes a rebellious people drink of the bitter draught.
Look at Phineas, again, when he saw the people committing adultery as a
part of the unclean rites with which they worshipped the gods of Moab!
He seized a javelin and ran them through–and so it is said the zeal of
Phineas made an atonement before the Lord.
We want something of that kind–a zeal for God which will smite all
error with a ruthless hand! The iconoclastic zeal which will break to
pieces images of silver and of gold, however prettily they may be cast
or engraved–which will tear down the toys of Popery and tread the
whole in the mire as things worse than worthless because they come in
the way of the Lord God of Hosts. Away with the softness which will not
let some of my brethren denounce an error lest they should violate
charity! The velvet in their mouths prevents their dealing with
Antichrist as it ought to be dealt with. The day is come in which the
Romish and Anglican Antichrists are to have no tender words used
towards them!
It must be war to the knife for God and for His Truth against the lie
which in modern times has impudence enough to show its face again–I
mean the lie that the sacrament can save–that Baptism can regenerate,
or that the Lord's Supper is a channel of salvation! Up with Divine
Grace and down with Sacramentarianism! Up with the Truths of God
forever and down with falsehood! A man is no zealot and cannot be
called Zelotes unless he has a holy jealousy for the honor of Christ
and His crown and His Truth!
Nor is this all. True zeal will show itself in the abundance of a man's
labors and gifts. Paul commends the zeal of the Corinthians because
they were always ready to minister to his necessities. He says,
"Concerning the ministering of the saints, you have no need that I
speak unto you." Zeal labors for Christ. My Brethren, if you want a
picture of zeal, take the Apostle. How he compasses sea and land!
Storms cannot stop him! Mountains cannot impede his progress! He is
beaten with rods, he is stoned–he is cast into prison–but the
invincible hero of the Cross presses on in the holy war until he is
taken up to receive a crown of glory! We do little or nothing, the most
of us–we fritter away our time. O that we could live while we live!
But our existence–that is all we can call it–our existence, what a
poor thing it is! We run like shallow streams– we have not force
enough to turn the mill of industry and have not depth enough to bear
the vessel of progress! We have not flood enough to cheer the mends of
poverty. We are dry too often in the summer's drought and we are frozen
in the winter's cold. O that we might become broad and deep like the
mighty stream that bears a navy and gladdens a nation! O that we may
become inexhaustible and permanent rivers of usefulness through the
abundant springs from where our supply comes–even the Spirit of the
living God!
The Christian zealot may be known by the anguish which his soul feels
when his labors for Christ are not success-ful–the tears that channel
his cheeks when sinners are not saved! Do not tell me of zeal that only
moves the tongue, or the foot, or the hand! We must have a zeal which
moves the whole heart! We cannot advance so far as the Savior's bloody
sweat–but to something like it the Christian ought to attain when he
sees the tremendous clouds of sin and the tempest of God's gathering
wrath! How can I see souls damned, without emotion? How can I hear
Christ's name blasphemed, without a shudder? How can I think of the
multitudes who prefer ruin to salvation, without a pang?
Believe me, Brothers and Sisters, if you never have sleepless hours, if
you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they
would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous!
You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of
Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief
and yet must beat high with holy ardor! The heart must be vehement in
desire, panting continually for God's Glory, or else we shall never
attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us know.
And to close this point of how zeal manifests itself, let me say that
it is always seen, where it is genuine, in a vehement love and
attachment to the Person of the Savior. This is why we have not more
zeal–because often the Christ preached is not a personal Christ. Have
not I frequently said in this pulpit that nothing can make a man
zealous like attachment to a person? When Napoleon's soldiers won so
many victories, and especially in the earlier part of his career, when
against such deadly odds they earned such splendid triumphs, what was
the reason?
The "little corporal" was there, and whenever it came to a desperate
rush he was the first to cross the bridge or charge the enemy, always
exposing himself to danger. And their attachment to his person and
their love and admiration of his valor made them follow at his heels,
swift to victory! Have not we heard of those who threw themselves in
the way of the cannon ball to save his life? There could not have been
such triumphs if there had not been a man who knew how to govern men by
attaching them to himself.
And oh, the Person of the Savior! What attachment can there be equal to
that which binds a Christian to his Lord? What person can there ever be
out of whose lips come such golden chains to bind all hearts? When we
see Him our hearts glow with sacred fervor! When we think of Him our
soul is all on fire! What can we not do in His Presence? What will we
not suffer when He cheers us? There are no impossibilities–no, even
difficulties have ceased to be when Jesus Christ shall come and our
hearts are full of love to Him! It is a constant and unfailing sign of
a true zealot that his attachment to his Master's Person is deep and
fervent and he cannot forget Him who redeemed him by blood.
This brings us now, in the next place, to think awhile of how this zeal
is maintained and kept up. To keep up a good fire of zeal we must have
much fuel. The fire will partake of the quality of the fuel so that it
must be good firing to make holy zeal. If I understand aright, zeal is
the fruit of the Holy Spirit and genuine zeal draws its life and vital
force from the continued operations of the Holy Spirit in the soul.
Next to this, zeal feeds upon truths like these–it is stirred by the
ruin of sinners. The very sight of sinners makes a right-hearted man
zealous for their conversion.
Ride mile after mile through our streets. Turn down the narrower
streets, enter the courts, go down the alleys–do not be disgusted with
those tumbling houses–go in and go upstairs! See how many there are in
one room. Mark what poverty, what squalor, what filth! Go into certain
quarters and see what ignorance, what crime! I think the city
missionary has constantly before him enough to keep his zeal at fever
heat and if we, ourselves, went more often into some of the lowest dens
of this huge city we should go back to our closets, crying, "Gracious
God! I have not thought of these people as I ought to do, for instead
of being up and doing with all my might, I have been trifling and
wasting my time."
Well, but what is London? This nation of London–what is it? It is only
a drop in the bucket compared with the millions that are still in
darkness. Let any man think upon Hindustan. Let him reflect, if he
will, upon China. Let him take any one country and consider that there
is not a missionary to a million in many of those places and that the
missionaries who are there might, many of them, as well have been at
home–for they are missionaries who Christianize people by baptizing
them and know little about the Spirit's work upon the soul!
What is said about many of the converts made by mere ritual preaching
and by baptismal ceremonies? Why it is well known that in some parts of
heathendom the worst scoundrels are the nominal Christians–the reason
being because they were not made Christians by being converted–but by
being baptized and so an indelible dishonor is put upon Christ by
carrying on missionary operations on the principle of baptizing people
who are not Christians and labeling them the people of Christ while in
their hearts they are more deceitful than the heathen themselves! We
must think only of the need there is for a sound, honest preaching of
the Gospel–the preaching of the doctrines which really do change the
soul– and the coming down of the Holy Spirit to deal personally with
individuals.
All wholesale conversion of tribes and nations by calling them
Christians when they are merely civilized is an evil and an
abomination! The needs of the age are enough, if a man has any sense of
what eternal realities are, to make us zealous–zealous to the highest
pitch. And next, Christian zeal feeds itself upon a sense of
gratitude–
"Loved of my God, for Him again, With love intense I burn, Chosen of
Him before time began, I choose Him in return."
Look to the hole of the pit from where you were dug and you will see
abundant reason why you should spend and be spent for God! Zeal for God
feeds itself upon the thought of the eternal future. It looks with
tearful eyes down to the flames of Hell and it cannot slumber–it looks
up with anxious gaze to the glories of Heaven and it cannot but bestir
itself. Zeal for God thinks of death and hears the hoofs of the white
horse with the skeleton rider close behind. Zeal for God feels that all
it can do is little compared with what is needed, and that time is
short compared with the work to be done–and therefore it devotes all
that it has to the cause of its Lord.
Above all, zeal for God feeds itself on love to Christ. Lady
Powerscourt says somewhere, "If we want to be thoroughly hot with zeal,
we must go near to the furnace of the Savior's love." Get to know how
Christ loved you and you cannot but love Him! Do but know how He was
spit upon and despised and how He bled and died for us and we cannot
but feel that we can do and bear all things for His name's sake. Above
all, Christian zeal must be sustained by a vigorous inner life. If we
let our inner life dwindle, if it begins to be dwarfish–if our heart
beats slowly before God–we shall not know zeal! But if all is strong
and vigorous within, then we cannot but feel a loving anxiety to see
the kingdom of Christ come and His will done on earth, even as it is in
Heaven.
I have to close by commending zeal. Let my words be few, but let them
be weighty here. In commending zeal, let me say I think it should
commend itself to every Christian man and woman without a word of mine.
But if you must have it, remember that God Himself is zealous. We read
that when Christ comes as the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, then the government is to
be upon His shoulders and of His kingdom there is to be no end. But
Scripture adds, "The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this."
God has been zealous in judgment. Ezekiel tells us that God was zealous
when He came forth to destroy His foes, but oh, how zealous He is in
Divine Grace! It is a wonderful thing that we should use such language,
but the Scripture is our warrant! When God puts His hands to the work
of saving the elect He is filled with zeal! There is no slumber, no
lack of diligence with God in the work of conversion and saving! For
Zion's sake He never rests! Nor will He rest till Christ shall see of
the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. God is earnest, God is
zealous! Children of God, be imitators of Him!
Christ was zealous. We read of Him that the zeal of God's House had
eaten Him up and when He took the scourge of small cords and purged the
temple, John tells us that it was written of Him, "The zeal of Your
House has eaten Me up." A Prophet tells us that He was clothed with
zeal as with a cloak. He had not zeal over a part of Him, but was
clothed with it as with some great cloak covering Him from head to
foot. Christ was all zeal. "Do you not know that I must be about My
Father's business?" is one of His utterances, while yet a Child. And
from the very first to the last it was His meat and His drink to do His
Father's will.
At what a rate He drove! How swift the chariot wheels of duty went with
Him till the axles grew hot with speed! Brethren, you have Christ for
an example. Does not this suffice you? Surely I can only descend in
argument, but not ascend–see the holy angels who are to be your
blessed companions–are they not flames of fire? Are they not called
ser- aphs because they fly like flames upon their Master's errands? Be
not slow where angels are like flashes of lightning if we would see any
success come to the Church–and I know that is dear to us! If we would
see souls converted–and I know it is the object of our daily prayers!
If we would hear the cry that "the kingdoms of this world have become
the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ"–and I know that this is our
passionate desire!
If you would see crowns put upon the head of the Savior and His Throne
lifted high–and I know this is your great ambition! If you would see
Jehovah, your Father, glorified even to the ends of the earth–then be
filled with zeal! Under God, the way of the world's conversion must be
by the zeal of the Church. Simon the Zealot must lead the van. The rest
may follow in their places–knowledge, patience, courage, prudence,
every grace shall do exploits–but this shall be first, this shall bear
the standard high! Zeal for God, zeal for His Truth–this shall be in
the van, and may you stand side by side with the most zealous in the
day of conflict, that you may be there in the hour of victory.
I cannot, this morning, address you as I would desire, for I cannot
feel my own zeal to be what I would have it be. O for the zeal of
Wesley and Whitfield! The zeal of men who were always preaching or
praying, men who seemed as if they knew no weariness, or shook it off
as dust from off their feet! Oh, to have the zeal of apostolic times
again, when the very least among you should be ready to be martyrs for
Christ if need be! And when all of you should testify of Him, wherever
you were called to go. Oh for more zeal in the household, that you
might seek more anxiously the conversion of your children! More zeal in
the workshop, that you might communicate to your fellow workmen the
spirit which actuates and moves you!
Oh for more zeal in the Church and Church Meetings and Prayer Meetings,
that everything might be done with spirit! Above all, oh, for more zeal
in the pulpit! Holy fire come down! We have the wood, we have the
altar, we have the sacrifice– but we need the fire! Have you not
remarked, Brothers and Sisters, how much a man may do who is clothed
with zeal? Some of our Brethren in the ministry to whom we have
listened have stirred our passions, have made our blood boil after a
sacred fashion and yet their talents have been very few and we felt
while they were speaking that they made better use of one talent than
some have made of ten.
Believe me, it is not the extent of your knowledge, though that is
useful. It is not the extent of your talent or tact, though these have
their place. It is your zeal–your ZEAL that shall perform God's work!
May I entreat you, as members of this Church, not to let your zeal die
out. What Prayer Meetings we have had! Shall we ever forget Park
Street–those Prayer Meetings when I felt compelled to let you go
without a word from my lips because the Spirit of God was so awfully
present that we felt bowed to the dust–and any language of mine would
have been a mere impertinence?
What zeal you have had! Some of you have sought for the conversion of
souls. When I look upon some of you I know you are spiritual mothers
and fathers in Israel–not to ones or twos, but scores! Shall your zeal
relax? We have, by God's Grace, lived to see many of our enemies
clothed with shame. We have preached the Word till that Word begins to
tell and make the solid rocks of error shake. Will you draw back? Will
you lose your force? Will you slacken in prayer? Will you refuse to
receive the blessing which awaits you? Will you take your heads from
the crown when it is ready to descend? I pray you do not so! Let us be
banded together as one man! Let us contend earnestly for the faith once
delivered to the saints! Let us pray with fervor! Let us live in
holiness! Let us preach constantly and preach with fire! And let us so
live that we may impress our age and leave our footprints on the sands
of time.
As for some of you who never were zealous–who are the fathers of no
spiritual children. As for some of you–whose religion gets into a very
narrow compass and is good for very little when it gets there–I pray
you bestir yourselves. If your religion is a lie, do not profess it! If
it is a farce, do not enslave yourselves to it!
But if there is anything in religion, it is worth everything! It cannot
sit second at the table–it must have the first place. The Christian
man is to be, first of all, a Christian man! Next to that a tradesman
or what you will–but first of all a Christian man. The first thing
with the Believer is his Lord. Christ will be nowhere if He is not
first and chief and that religion is vain and void which does not fill
the soul and take up the throne of the heart.
May God allow us, then, to wear the character, if not the name of Simon
the Zealot, and then we will wait at His footstool and serve Him after
such sort as He shall help us to do and His shall be all the praise.
But, ah, we must be converted first! So let the sinner remember that
his first business is with this text–"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved"–that is, trust Jesus, for it is written, "He
that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes not
shall be damned." God grant you Divine Grace to trust Christ and then
to be zealous for Him. Amen.