“Now Then, Do It”

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"You sought for David in times past to be king over you: now then, do
it: for the Lord has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of My servant
David I will save My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines,
and out of the hand of all their enemies." 2 Samuel 3:17,18.

You know the circumstances under which these words were spoken. God had
cast off Saul because he had not been faithful and He had appointed
David to be his successor, anointing him by the hand of Samuel. Yet
when Saul was slain in battle, Israel seemed determined to choose her
own king by selecting one of Saul's family–and under the leadership of
Abner, the majority of the tribes set up Ishbosheth, son of Jonathan,
to be king. Then commenced a civil war between the two parties and we
read that the house of David waxed stronger and stronger, but the house
of Saul grew weaker and weaker. In process of time Abner, the
commander-in-chief and prime minister who was at the head of Saul's
party, because it served his own purposes, changed his mind and
resolved that David should become king over the whole land.

Having so resolved, he began to persuade the tribes and argue with them
on David's behalf. And the words of my text are a part of a very
powerful argument which he used in order to induce them to give up the
king of their own choosing and offer the crown to the king whom God had
appointed, even David. I need say but very little, however, about the
circumstances of the case, for I am about to accommodate the words to
quite another people and another king. I desire, in all sincerity of
heart, to approach those of you whose minds are ruled by evil desires
and motives, all of which are alien sovereigns, hostile to the true
King whom God has anointed–and to remind you, this morning, that you
have, in times past, sought to have Jesus to be King over you.

Perhaps you have some desires towards Him lingering in your heart even
now and, therefore, I have hope of you that you will go further, and in
all sincerity, submit yourselves to His dominion. It is time that you
should go beyond mere desires and attain to something practical. In the
words of Abner I would say to you, "Now then, do it." If worth
desiring, it is worth performing. "Now then, do it." There are the best
of reasons why you should do it, for Jesus is God's appointed King,
anointed by the Holy Spirit, by whom alone He will save you from your
spiritual enemies. May God grant that His Word be successful, through
His Divine Spirit, in establishing the Kingdom of Christ in many
undecided hearts, this morning, and He shall have the praise!

The text gives me the following run of thought. First, I would remind
you of former impulses–"You sought for David in times past to be king
over you." Secondly, I would recommend decided action–"Now then, do
it." And thirdly, I would reason with a forcible argument for, only
changing names, I may read my text in this fashion, "The Lord has
spoken of Jesus, saying, By the hand of My only begotten Son I will
save My people Israel out of the hand of the powers of darkness, and
out of the hand of all their enemies."

I. First, then, my business this morning is to REMIND UNDECIDED PERSONS
OF FORMER IMPULSES. I would personally address each hesitating hearer
and call up the memories of His life. You are not a Christian, but many
times you have been upon the verge of it, for you have even gone the
length of seeking, after a fashion, to have Jesus for your King. Of
course the character and frequency of those impulses have varied
greatly in different individuals. Each man has had his own amount of
drawings and inclinings towards God. I cannot so speak as to describe
all at once and, therefore, I must go into particulars.

Many of you have been tutored in the ways and manners of the godly from
your youth up. The very first song you heard your mother sing, as she
hushed you to sleep, was sweetened with the name of Jesus. Probably you
cannot recollect a time when there were not some holy agencies at work
upon your heart. And you remember the effect they had upon

you, even at the very beginning, when as a child your little prayers at
night grew fervent and you sobbed yourself to sleep with grief for
having done wrong. Often did your childish heart sigh after, "gentle
Jesus," and long for His love. I think I see those tears upon your
little cheeks even now, when you had lately heard the story of Jesus,
or had been earnestly addressed concerning death and judgment to come.
When the sweetness and beauty of Christ and the happiness of Believers
were set before you in your youth, you often felt drawn to the Cross of
Christ.

Nor was it in childhood, alone, for as you grew older there were
agencies adapted for your growth prepared by infinite love. Some of you
fell into the hands of sincere Christian men and women who did not
cease to instruct you and to warn you. And sometimes, as you must
remember if you will but try to do so, you were like Agrippa of old,
"almost persuaded to be a Christian." You promised, you resolved, you
began even to pray, but, alas, your goodness was as the morning cloud,
as the early dew and soon passed away. But you do remember, don't you,
that it was there? Since then, though you have been immersed in
business cares, you have not been altogether without some thoughts
towards Jesus the Savior.

An earnest sermon has driven you home to your knees. Affliction has
frequently compelled you solemnly to consider. The death of others has
made you pause and forced you to hopeful resolves. Can you count up the
many times in which you have come to a dead halt and have raised the
question, "Shall I go further or shall I turn?" Your soul has been half
constrained to say within herself, "Things shall be altered. I will no
longer be an ungrateful child to my good God, but I will arise and go
to my Father." Why, there are some of you to whom continuance in
rebellion must have been very difficult, for you have had to stifle and
almost to strangle conscience! If you do not see, it is because you
have laid your fingers heavily upon your eyelids to keep out the
light–if you have not heard, it has been because you have stopped your
ears till they have become dull of hearing.

The knock at your door by your Lord's pierced hand has been kept up
year after year, almost incessantly, and even in the night watches you
have been startled with it. He whose head is wet with dew and His locks
with the drops of the night, has stood there these many weary months
knocking, knocking, knocking! In boundless patience of love He still
lingers and again lifts that scarred hand to knock again in tender
earnestness. You have been almost persuaded to rise from the couch of
your sloth to admit Him to your heart, but as yet you have not done so.
You sought for David to be king over you in times past, some of you,
but, alas, you have not crowned him yet.

There are others among you who have not been so highly favored with
religious advantages. Some of you, perhaps, come of an ungodly
household and your bringing up has been apart from the things of God. I
grieve to say that this is getting more frequent daily, especially in
our great cities. Children, nowadays, are not trained to the observance
of the Sabbath as they were! Multitudes in this great city seldom tread
the floor of God's House at all. Still, I can scarcely imagine that
there is one present but who has, at times, enjoyed holy impulses,
right convictions and pure desires. Conscience, though not enlightened
as we could have wished, has not been quite quit with you–you have
felt uneasy in your unconverted state and you are uneasy now.

You have been forced, sometimes, to think, and when a man who is
without God and without Christ begins to think, his thoughts must
trouble him and, being troubled, he is likely to desire the way of
peace. I cannot but believe that you who are thoughtful have sometimes
had intense desires to be Christians. You have longed to be pardoned,
renewed and sanctified. Would you not give all that you have for a sure
hope of Heaven? You know that occasionally, at least, pure aspirations
have come over you–and I wish that I could, by any means, so revive
your memories that you would all confess that you sought for Jesus in
times past to be King over you!

If you remember these things, I beg you, also, to consider that your
responsibilities have been increased in proportion to those impulses,
for every time you have checked conscience, or have held yourself back
when you were moved towards right, you have not only incurred a present
sin, but you have rendered all your future life the more censurable!
The more difficult it is to persevere in an evil course, the more
intensely sinful that perseverance becomes! So that I must charge upon
some here present that every day in which they live without repentance
and without faith is a day of aggravated iniquity, seeing that they
resist the Holy Spirit as did, also, their fathers!

You love darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil. None
are so blamable for ignorance as those who refuse to learn and none so
guilty in their sins as those who resist better impulses and do
violence to themselves in order to indulge their iniquities. The case
varies, however, as we have already seen. These impulses have been
usual in you at

certain times and these find a parallel in the case of Israel. The
tribes desired David for king on certain occasions. For instance,
whenever Saul was more than ordinarily oppressive, they sighed for the
son of Jesse who was of a gentler mold. Whenever sin begins to be
oppressive to a man, he has, for the present, some wish to escape from
its tyranny. Sin is a very hard taskmaster, especially some forms of
it.

Let a man pursue the sin of drunkenness and, "who has woe? Who has
redness of eyes" like he does? Let a man follow the lusts of the flesh
and his very body soon begins to smart beneath the lash of his despotic
vices. Even now the earnest of sin's wage is something dreadful for a
man to receive! Have you ever seen a spendthrift brought to beggary and
rags? Do you wonder that when his hungry belly accuses him, he promises
better things and, in a measure, is sincere in his good resolves?
Selfishness, itself, calls upon men to quit their evil ways which are
ruining them body and soul! It is not at all amazing that so loud and
near a voice should, for a time, be heard!

Some of you know well when it has been so, when your sin has lost its
pleasurableness, when the beaded bubbles of frothy joy have disappeared
from the cup of sin and it has become stale and flat–then you have
seen the hollowness of the world and cried, "I would gladly be a
Christian!" These Israelites, perhaps, in their hearts sought for David
to be king when they saw the joy upon the face of David's men. His
troops often had spoil to share and they always spoke well of their
captain. And whenever one of David's men was seen anywhere about Judah
or Israel, the people said, "Those warriors have a goodly heritage in
being under such a noble leader"–and they wished they had such a king,
themselves!

I do not doubt but sometimes when you hear Christ preached in all His
sweetness, your mouths begin to water after Him! "Is He so good, is He
so pleasant? Oh, that we knew Him!" And when you see Christians so
happy and especially when you see them in times of trouble so cheerful
and joyous under all their trials, I know you have had an inward wish
that you knew their secret and could share their peace. Has not it been
so? When you saw your mother die, did you not wish you had her Savior
to soften your pillow as He softened hers? When that dear little child
of yours who loved the Savior sang of Jesus as she departed, you almost
wished that you could die with her if you might as cheerfully meet the
Lord! Well, those were times when you sought David to be king over you
in days past.

I want, if I can, to bring them all up afresh. Perhaps if they would
all revive at once and come again, God might bless them and make the
united impulse strong enough, by His good Spirit, to carry you over the
frontier into the Kingdom of Christ. The Israelites, no doubt, often
wished that David had been king when they saw their enemies gradually
encroaching upon their territory and threatening to subdue them. They
sighed and said, "Oh, for an hour of David with his sling and his
stone. In the name of the Lord he brought down the haughty Philistine.
O that he were to the front again! Saul has fallen on the mountains and
Jonathan is slain upon his high places, and we, the people of the Lord,
are trod down by the uncircumcised! Oh for the son of Jesse, once
again, to lead our armies forth to successful war!"

Have you not, also, when you have seen the strength of your growing
sins and contemplated the ruin which they will bring upon you, longed
for a Deliverer? When you have perceived what sin will surely bring
upon you, by-and-by, in another world and how, even now, it holds you
in bondage, have you not wished for a Savior, yes, wished for the
Christ of God to come and destroy your sins and overthrow Satan and set
you free? I am sure you must have had such wishes when sickness has
made death appear to be approaching, when judgment has begun to be
realized and the terrors of wrath to come! You thought of Jesus in
times past to be King over you. And have you not, also, like Israel,
often longed for your true King that you might, at last, find rest?

The civil war must have inflicted much misery upon the nation and,
therefore, the people wished the strife to be ended through David's
being made king. So, too, you wish that your heart were peaceful and
quiet, for now you are ill at ease. You love your pleasurable sins, but
you are not easy in them. The bed is shorter than a man can stretch
himself upon and you know it! You wish that you enjoyed the solid
peace, the confidence and satisfaction which Believers possess! But you
know that you cannot have it apart from Christ and this reflection has
sometimes made you seek Christ, after your fashion, though, alas, it
has not lasted long enough to produce real allegiance to Him! I think
it right to remind you of these past feelings. How I wish they would
come back and rise to practical results. May the Holy Spirit renew them
in a deeper form than in the past, that you may, at once, with
eagerness, go forth and salute your King–the King who wore a crown of
thorns for your sake!

These seekings after David were sometimes vivid and strong with the
Israelites and so, too, impulses with undecided people are occasionally
very powerful. Though they do not actually lay hold on Eternal Life,
they have strong desires to

do so. They go beyond empty wishes and seriously sigh for an interest
in Jesus–and yet they pause there and go no further. The bud becomes a
tiny fruit and then withers from the tree. I have known unconverted
people to feel great terror at the thought of remaining unsaved. Under
this influence they have gone to their knees and begun to pray. They
have gone to their Bibles and begun to read. They have attended the
House of God with great regularity and listened with very solemn
attention–and they have even gone the length of mending their ways in
many points!

They have begun to frequent Prayer Meetings and, for a while, it did
seem as if Jesus would be King over them! Indeed, we hoped that they
were already the servants of the Lord, but, alas, our hopes were
disappointed–they turned back and walked no more with us. Oftentimes
the impulses which are put aside and stamped out by half-awakened men
are exceedingly difficult to overcome. Some of you have had to exert
yourselves fearfully to remain as you are. You have needed help of the
world, the flesh and the devil to overpower the force which held you,
for a while, in its grasp. Some men battle for damnation with a greater
force than others strive after Eternal Life! The way of transgressors
is sometimes hard, in this sense, that they find it difficult to
continue as they are–they are so persecuted by the persuasions,
warnings and entreaties of good men–and their conscience is so alarmed
as to give them little or no rest.

Alas, their neck is as an iron sinew and they are set on mischief! And
despite the inward calls which bid them seek Jesus for their King, they
turn a deaf ear to the most tender wooing and continue as they
were–but not without an awful increase of guilt. Listen to me, you who
are described in the language I have used! Listen and learn wisdom!
Nothing has come of all the seekings of your youth and your later days.
You sought for David in times past to be king over you, but nothing has
come of it! Nothing has come of it even to this day. You saw that
religion was right–you did not argue to the contrary! You admitted all
its reasons! You yielded your understanding so far that you would even
defend the Truth of God against opponents!

But what of all that? To admit a thing to be right is but a small part
of the matter, if you practically deny it by your indifference. You
have wished that you were a Christian–you have wished it hundreds of
times, but this, also, is vanity, if carried no further. "If wishes
were horses beggars would ride" and so, if wishes were Graces the
careless would be saved. You know, too, that you went beyond
wishing–you regretted that you were not already decided–you felt very
much ashamed of yourself for having resisted so long. If anybody had
told you that you would be hesitating, now, you would not have believed
it. Ten years ago, if anyone had said, "In ten years' time you will be
sitting in the Tabernacle just as undecided as you used to be," you
would have replied with indignation, "Is your servant a dog? I shall
never be so

foolish."

But it is even worse, for now you do not feel half so much as you once
did. You were more impressible years ago than you are now and, speaking
after the manner of men, you are now far less likely to be saved. You
know it is so and yet you did at that time, after a fashion, pray and,
after a sort, you were in earnest. But what of all that? Nothing has
come of it! Will anything ever come of it? The Israelites might talk
about making David king, but that would not crown him. They might meet
together and say they wished it were so, but that would not do it. It
might be generally admitted that he ought to be monarch and it might
even be earnestly hoped that one day he would be–but that would not do
it– something more decided must be done.

And oh, am I not, indeed, hitting the very center of the target when I
say of some of you that you have, scores of times, given up the whole
question as a matter of argument? Yes, and your heart has submitted
that it was wrong of you to continue as you are! And you have been
moved with strong resolutions towards repentance and faith and yet you
are the same as ever and not one inch closer to salvation! You are
still in darkness, still under the dominion of Satan, still the slave
of sin and so, I fear, you will be in 10 more years! And so you will be
to the end of life–and so forever and forever! May God grant that my
words may not be prophetic concerning any one of you, but that you may,
this very day, be moved by the Eternal Spirit to take decided action
through His Grace. "Now then, do it."

II. I therefore pass on to the second part, to RECOMMEND DECIDED
ACTION. "You sought for David in times

past to be king over you, now then, do it." No longer stand thinking,
questioning, hesitating, halting–but now then, do it! Do one thing or
the other! If God is God, serve Him! If Baal is God or the devil is
God, serve him. Do not sit down forever in this absurd condition of
believing a thing to be right and yet neglecting it–of feeling
yourself to be in danger and not seeking to escape by the way which you
admit to be safe and fitting! Come, now, to something like honest
dealing with yourself and with your Lord.

Note the business on hand–it is that Jesus should be King over you. It
was necessary that David should become king, or else he could not
rescue Israel from the Philistines and, in your case, Jesus must be
King or He cannot be your Savior. Thousands of people are quite willing
to be saved by Christ, but when it comes to the first step, namely,
that Jesus must be accepted as Ruler, Lawgiver, Master, King and Lord,
then they start back and reject Eternal Life–

"Yet know (nor of the terms complain),

Where Jesus comes, He comes to reign!

To reign, and with no partial sway–

Thoughts must be slain that disobey." The whole question of your being
saved or lost will turn on this–if Jesus is not your King, then the
devil will remain enthroned in your heart–and you will remain a lost
soul! But if your heart will yield itself up to the supreme authority
of King Jesus, then the work of salvation has already commenced and
Jesus will take care to purge your nature of all His enemies until you
shall be an empire in which He, alone, shall reign in holiness and
peace! Jesus must be king! What do you say, Sir, Madame–shall it be
so? Do you hesitate about it? He must be your Lord and Master. His will
must be your will. His commands must be law to you and His example
must, from now on, be the model of your life. Do you disagree, or will
you yield at once?

Next, notice that if Christ is to be your King, it must be by your own
act and deed. So says the text concerning King David–"Now then, do
it." David would not be king over Israel unless Israel was willing that
he should be king. And our Lord Jesus Christ is no forced monarch over
one single human heart–the promise is, "Your people shall be willing
in the day of Your power." The Kingdom of Christ over men's hearts is a
kingdom of love, not a kingdom of force! There must be the full assent
and consent of the will to the reigning power of Christ in the soul or
else He does not reign at all! What do you say–yes, or no? Are you
willing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should, from now on, rule
and reign over your entire nature as your heart's supreme Lord?

That is the question! Let it be settled once and for all! You have
sometimes sought to have it so, "now then, do it." And here is the
point, if Jesus is to reign, the old king must go down! It is of no use
trying to have Ishbosheth and David on the throne at the same time. It
is impossible to serve sin and to serve Christ! Favorite and
constitutional sins must be relinquished. I know many persons who say
that they are under concern of soul whose sincerity I more than
question, because they continue in known sin–and yet they complain
that they cannot find peace! How can they? If you meet with a person
who drinks, on the sly, and is frequently half intoxicated. If you hear
him say that he cannot find rest in Christ, do you wonder?

Do you not think that he is a hypocrite? How can men and women
continually fuddle themselves with drink and yet hope to be children of
God? Give up your abominable tippling! Do you think Christ is going to
save sots and let them continue to make beasts of themselves? To prate
about being saved and in secret worship the bottle is clear lying and
next door to blasphemy! Talk about having a Savior and continue to get
drunk? I marvel that you do not perish like Ananias and Sapphira!
Another man is carrying on his trade in a way which is dishonest and
yet he whines and cants about not finding peace with God. Do not his
own words condemn him? What has he to do with peace? How can he
continue in sin and yet be saved from sin? Oh, Sirs, be not deceived!
Your sins and you must part or Jesus will have nothing to do with you!

Do you think so badly of my Lord as to dream that He will pander to
your passions by giving you liberty to live in sin and yet go to
Heaven? For shame! Has Christ come to play the lackey to your lusts and
let you do the work of Satan and then receive the wages of the godly?
Oh no! There must be a clean sweep of the false to make room for the
true! We must have no Ishbosheth if David is to be king! Though you may
not attain perfection, yet in your desires you must be perfect–you
must, from your heart, put away every single sin–no matter of what
shape it may be or however pleasurable or painful it may appear. Off
must come the right arms and out must go the right eyes! It were better
for you to enter into life maimed and blind than that you should perish
in your transgressions. The main point, however, is to do it–really
and at once make Christ Jesus your King! And to this end we must
believe in Him or trust Him.

It is this trusting Jesus Christ which is the essential point, for out
of it grows the repentance which renounces every false way. When a man
fully and honestly trusts Christ with his soul, he is enabled, from
that time forward, to hate the sin which he once loved and so he wins
the mastery over it. He finds a joy in submitting to the holy reign of
Jesus because he has already trusted Him and believes that he is saved.
But, alas, many of you do not believe! Indeed you would not be

persuaded to believe though one rose from the dead! How many times have
I spoken from this platform to some of you about this matter? How many
times have you wished and resolved and all that?

We have had enough of this trifling! This morning I would push you on
to a decision and address you in these words–"Now then, do it! NOW
THEN, DO IT!" You reply that you wish you could. Away with your
wishes–"Now then, do it!" "But," you say–out with your "buts!" DO IT!
"But, Sir"–I say again, no more of your, "but, Sirs!" DO IT! DO IT,
and DO IT NOW! The blessed and eternal Spirit who has brought you to
this point, this morning, and who urges me to press this question upon
you waits to help you. When your whole soul wills to do it, He will be
with you and you will do it–and Christ shall be enthroned in your
hearts to reign there forever!

I fear that many do not mean to do it, at any rate not just now. They
will not say, "No," but they hesitate and that is much the same thing.
O, my Friend, the day will come when God will take your hesitation for
a final negative! I believe it often happens to men that though they
have not deliberately said, "No," yet having no heart for the Gospel
and only trifling with God by pretences, they mean to obey Him
by-and-by. But He has, at last, taken the meaning of their delay and
regarded it as final rejection and left them to themselves so that they
have perished in their sin. I beseech you, delay no more, but, "now
then, do it."

The sooner it is done the better. Until the deed is done, remember, you
are undone! Till Christ is accepted by you as King. Till sin is hated
and Jesus is trusted, you are under another king. Whatever you may
think of it, the devil is your master! You say you do not like him, but
he is your master and lord, for all that, since he leads you captive at
his will. Till Jesus reigns in your heart, you are, also, in the utmost
danger–in danger of death and eternal punishment! Let your breath go
the wrong way, or let your heart cease beating just for a little–and
you will be in Hell! My Friends, you will be in HELL! You who sought
for Jesus in times past, you who felt those good desires, you, the
beloved child of Christian parents, you the earnest hearer at the House
of God, you who are fond of sermons, but are, I fear, sermon-hardened–
you, even you–will sink down to Hell with all those privileges like
millstones about your neck!

"Well, Sir, I will think about it." Under cover of that promise there
lurks delay and that is exactly what I am afraid of. Do not so much
think, as ACT. "Now then, do it." I beseech you to make serious and
immediate business of it! Perhaps if it is not done at this moment, it
never will be done. For all these long years nothing has been actually
done– though so much has been proposed–and this mainly because of
your perpetual delays. What has come of all your fine resolutions? What
is the good of a mere resolve? A man resolves that he will be
industrious, but if he continues to lie on the bed of the sluggard, is
he any more thrifty? A man is sick and resolves to take medicine, but
leaves it untasted–is he benefited by his intention? A man resolves to
go on a journey, but does not take the trouble to get into the public
conveyance, or to use his limbs–what progress does he make? Does he
not abide just where he was?

All this bears upon your case! You know it does! All this, while Jesus
is being rejected! We do not sufficiently think of the dishonor done to
Jesus by base delays. All the while that Israel did not accept David as
king, David was being badly treated. He who fought the Philistines for
them. He whose valor was Israel's right arm, whose band of men was the
sword and shield of the nation against the Philistines was being kept
away from his rightful throne, his merits forgotten, his claims
ignored. Soul, by refusing Him His Throne, you are treating Jesus
badly! Your wavering between two opinions is setting Him in rivalry
with foul sin and a base world–and upon you daily guilt is coming–a
guilt which grows thicker and blacker as time rolls on.

Think of your previous impulses and as you consider them, answer me
this question–were they wrong? When, in your childhood, you felt such
strong desires after Christ, were they not commendable desires? Why,
then, do you not carry them out? If you were wrong in stopping them,
then why should you continue to act so unwisely? If they are returning
now, why not heartily entertain them? Remember, moreover, that though
you had these holy impulses, they passed away. Have you any reason to
hope that they will continue with you now? Will they not, again, melt
into thin air? Unless God, the almighty Spirit, at this time shall lead
you to take decided steps, you will resolve again today, and
re-resolve, but continue, still, the same! Of all things, the most
pitiable sight, to my mind, is a man who has light enough to know he is
wrong but not Grace enough to forsake the evil!

It is terrible to see a soul under impulses which urge it towards the
right and yet remaining a captive to that accursed free will which
enslaves it to the last degree. Alas, how many put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter and, therefore, will not come to Christ that they
might have life? Such is the state of man! Such is the state of some of
you! May God have

mercy upon you for Christ's sake! It is mine, however, to return
distinctly to the charge of my text and say, "Now then, do it." Oh,
Sirs, I wish you would do as one did a little while ago. I was
preaching and I said that if any man sincerely went to God confessing
his sin and just trusted Christ to save him–if He did not save him I
wished he would write me a note to let me know it, for I had been so
accustomed to declare that He would not cast out any that came to Him
that I should like to know if I was laboring under an error.

There was one in my audience who went deliberately home and, kneeling
at his bedside, he said, with all his heart, " I do confess my
guiltiness before You, O God, and I do now trust myself with Christ
that He may save me. Lord, cast me not away, for I believe in Your
Son." He found peace immediately and continued to feel the love of God
shed abroad in his soul! And he, therefore, thought it right to tell me
the good news. It greatly cheered me. Instead of being rejected, he was
welcomed by the God of Mercy and found immediate acceptance in Christ
Jesus! I remember to have said that if one believing soul was cast out
by Christ and sent to Hell, I would engage to lie side by side with him
in the quenchless fire forever and ever.

I repeat the pledge! If any of you perish repenting of your sin and
trusting in Jesus, alone, I will perish with you! I will be bondsman
for God, this morning, that if any one of you will humble himself
before the Lord and simply trust His Son whom you accept to be your
King and your Savior, He can no more reject you than He can cease to
be, for so it is written, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out." "Now then, do it." There is life in a look at the Crucified One!
The Lord help you to look at the Crucified One at once! "Now then, do
it." Dream not of believing tomorrow or next year–nor even in
half-an-hour's time–but cast your guilty soul on Christ at once! NOW
THEN, DO IT! While the Spirit of God now pervades this assembly, yield
yourself to the silver scepter which is held in the pierced hand of the
once crucified King and you shall live! Now then, do it!

III. Lastly, I have to REASON WITH STRONG ARGUMENTS. I will utter them
rapidly, for time fails me. Here they are in a condensed form. You,
dear Friend, need salvation! Sin has got the mastery over your nature
and you need a powerful arm to set you free from it. Nor is it sin,
alone, but punishment, also, which threatens you. Be you who you may,
you are in danger of eternal wrath and you need to be saved from it!
Now, it is evident that none can save you from eternal wrath but King
Jesus. Will you have Him for King?

Whether you will have Him or not, you must have a king. Every man in
the world has a master of some kind. Some principle or another has
dominion over you and the worst tyrant a man can serve is himself. Self
is the hardest and meanest of all despots! Seeing, then, that you must
have a king, can you have a better king than King Jesus, who is
Incarnate Love? Think of His Character and of the love He has shown to
men and tell me, could you have a better King? Have you not already had
enough, my Friend, of your old king? What benefit have you had in the
service of Satan? What advantage has sin been to you? What elevation of
mind, what delight of spirit have you found in the ways of
transgression? The times past may suffice you to have worked the will
of the flesh. Down with Ishbosheth and let David reign!

Here is the point about the King whom we preach to you–God has chosen
Him to be King and proclaimed it in His everlasting decree! He has
said–"You have to get My king upon My holy hill of Zion." Can man make
a better choice than God has made? The Eternal Father has looked upon
His Only Begotten and made Him to be King of kings and Lord of
lords–will you not say, "Hosanna! Blessed is He that comes in the name
of the Lord!" Will you not accept Him for your King, whom Jehovah,
Himself, proclaims as such? I want you to notice the promise of the
text, for this commends the Lord Jesus to all who are wise in heart. It
is through Him that God will deliver you from your enemies, even from
all of them.

Philistia's giants feared David, who cried, "over Philistia will I
triumph." Your sins, your sorrows, death, the devil–all these, the Son
of David overcomes for you. If He is accepted as King, you need fear no
adversary, for He will guard you with His great power and utterly
confuse your enemies. Oh, Sirs, kiss the Son! With the kiss of homage
accept the Prince of Peace! Crown Him with your heart's love. Bow at
His dear feet and be content to yield the utmost loyalty to Him. May
the blessed Spirit sweetly draw you while I am persuading you and may
you now approach the Throne of the Prince of the House of David and be
forever His joyful subjects!

Will you now turn to the 5th chapter of this second book of Samuel for
one minute and see if we cannot all join in a reproduction of the scene
which it describes. I wish and pray that the words of that passage may
come true–"Then came

all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron and spoke, saying,
Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. Also in time past, when Saul
was king over us, you were he that led out and brought in Israel. And
the Lord said to you, You shall feed My people Israel, and you shall be
a captain over Israel."

Many in this house will join with me in accepting our Lord Jesus, over
again, to be our King, and I wish some of you who have never yet
accepted Him would unite with us. We shall be glad to see others of the
tribes of Israel entering our ranks for the first time, while we salute
our King. May the blessed Spirit lead you to do so, while now I say, in
the name of all His people here present, "Glorious Lord Jesus, behold
we are Your bone and Your flesh, and we delight to acknowledge the
condescending kinship! In time past, when sin and Satan ruled over us,
You were still the lover of our souls and You did redeem us and make
war on our account. We bless You for the great love which You had to
us, even when we were dead in sin. The Lord has said to You, You shall
feed My people, You shall be a Captain over Israel, and we gladly
accept You as the Lord's Anointed. Feed us, O Shepherd of Israel! Lead
us, O Captain of the host! Behold, we enlist beneath Your banner–be a
Captain over us today, for we are Yours and Yours alone–and before the
eyes of God, Your Father, we give ourselves up, spirit, soul and body,
to be Yours forever and ever! We are, from now on, not our own, for You
have bought us with a price."

All this has long ago been done by many of us. We are only repeating
the declaration which we have made hundreds of times before. Oh that
some of you poor souls would hear the voice which says–"Now then, do
it." To give you words with which to do it, we will all sing the
verse–

"'Tis done, the great transaction's done!

I am my Lord's, and He is mine!

He drew me, and I followed on,

Charmed to confess the voice Divine.'"

May the Lord bless you. Amen.
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