The Swiftly Running Word

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 3, 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"His Word runs very swiftly." Psalms 147:15.

A WORD is the expression of the mind. What a man has thought may live
and die within himself, but when he wishes his thought to live in the
outer world, he embodies it in a word and thus his thought is made
known. Thought without expression is as an arm uplifted, working
nothing, though it is the mainspring of action. But according to the
ability of the man, his thought is carried out into fact if he is able
to speak a powerful word of command. Hence, as the garment of thought
and the accomplishment of wish, a word is a very important thing. A
word is the manifestation of a man. Dry-den says–

"Speech is the light, the morning of the mind. It spreads the beauteous
images abroad, Which else lie furled and shrouded in the soul."

"Speak," said the old philosopher, "that I may see you." More of a man
is seen in his words than in anything else belonging to him. You may
look into his face and be mistaken. You may visit his house and not
discover him. You may scan his business and misunderstand him. But if
you hear his daily conversation, you shall soon know him! The heart
babbles out its secrets when the tongue is in motion. As the full
bucket betrays the water of the well, so is a man discerned by his
speech. Thus a word takes a most prominent place in reference to all
intelligent beings and this is peculiarly the case with the Lord our
God. God's Word is the manifestation of His secret thought. By it He
reveals His decrees. By it He manifests His Nature. By it He carries
out His purpose.

"He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast." If you wish
to know God, you must know His Word. If you wish to perceive His power,
you must see how He works by His Word. If you wish to know His purpose
before it is actually brought to pass, you can only discover it by His
Word. When you watch the events of Providence you are only observing
what the Word of God is accomplishing as He sends it forth into the
world. As He said to His servant, Ezekiel, so it is–"I am the Lord: I
will speak and the Word that I shall speak shall come to pass."

According to our text, "He sends forth His commandment upon earth: His
Word runs very swiftly." The Word, as it comes from God, takes several
forms. At first it came forth as a fiat–"Let it be"–and it was. When
there were no angels to hear Him. When matter did not exist to obey
Him. When there was nothing but Himself, the Self-Existent One, Jehovah
spoke and the things which are, began to be! Since then, He has spoken
to His creatures by the word of command, which should always be obeyed
even as David said, "I will delight myself in Your statutes: I will not
forget Your Word." The Word of the Lord comes forth in the form of a
precept from His Temple or a statute from His Throne and we ought most
reverently to treasure up every syllable that God speaks to us in that
form, for we are His servants.

He also speaks by way of teaching. He instructs us by revealing Himself
through His Word. All true doctrine is the Word of God and is to be
devoutly believed. Our prayer should be, "Give me understanding
according to Your Word." His Word is also spoken in the form of
promises rich and free and gracious, the Word on which His children
live. In this form it is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. It
flashes forth, also, like lightning flames in threats, when God dooms
the ungodly or warns them of what shall follow unless they repent.

Terrible, indeed, is the Word by which Justice takes vengeance upon the
wicked! But chief of all and above all is THE WORD of whom John
speaks–"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God: the same was in the beginning with God." This is He
of whom we read in Revelation, "He was clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood and His name is called the Word of God." That Word is the
Incarnation of God, wherein God has been pleased to manifest Himself
more fully than by all other words or works, for in His Son we see the
brightness of the Fa-

ther's Glory more than in all else besides, according to His own
testimony–"He that has seen Me has seen the Father." The name of God
is written in plain letters in the Person of Jesus, so that even
ignorant men may spell it out when their eyes are opened by the Holy
Spirit.

The Person, life, death, Resurrection and Glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ are the Word which speaks out the heart of God and in His
ministry, our Lord set forth the mind of God most fully, even as He
said of His disciples, "I have given them Your Word." To all these
forms of God's Word our text may be appropriately applied, for in each
case, "His Word runs very swiftly." I shall, first, ask you, by the
help of God's Holy Spirit, to learn the lesson of the text. Secondly,
let us look to the particular instances which illustrate the truth of
the text. And then, thirdly, as the Lord shall help us, let us see what
teaching we may individually gather from it for our own cases.

I. First, LET US LEARN THE LESSON OF THE TEXT–"His Word runs very
swiftly." We understand from this sentence, first, that the Word of
God, which operated of old, is still operating. "By the Word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the
water." But God did not create the world and then leave it, otherwise
it had crumbled back into the nothingness from which it came–"the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word, kept in store."
Creation is not like a watch which God has made and wound up to go by
itself, but every movement of every wheel of the machinery of Nature is
dependent upon the constant outgoing of power through the Word of
God–for of Him and through Him are all things–and "by Him all things
consist."

Our wise men are continually talking of the laws of Nature and we know
that there are such laws, or, in other words, it is a fact that God
usually acts in such-and-such a way. But to suppose that there is any
power in the mere laws of Nature is absolutely absurd! You may make
laws in your household that things are to be done in such-and-such a
way, but unless somebody carries them out, laws are nothing.
Locomotives obey certain laws of motion, but without steam to drive
them the laws of motion will allow them to rust in the engine house!
There is a law of gravity, but the force of gravity comes not from the
law, but from God. There is a law of growth, but the power by which
plants and animals grow is an energy which flows from God.

It may be a fact that force operates in such-and-such a manner, as a
stream runs in a certain channel, but, as the channel is not the
stream, so the rule of Nature is not the power of Nature. Man lives and
all Nature exists by the Word of God, for, "none can keep alive his own
soul." It is of our Lord that we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
"upholding all things by the Word of His power." The Word of power with
which God made the world is still pulsing through space. When we saw
the comet the other evening flaming through the sky, we saw as much of
the hand of God as did the angels when, for the first time, they beheld
the morning star heralding the dawn! The light of the stars which you
and I have seen so many hundreds of times is as much the result of
Divine power as if, for the first time, those lamps of Heaven were hung
out in the midnight sky.

The planets move in their mighty orbits with a force which is new every
moment. The Lord of Hosts orders their marching. The fixed stars abide
in their places because the hand which placed them in their sphere
preserves them in it! Order is the result of the Lord's might
constantly put forth, otherwise would all things run into a carnival of
chaos and dissolve into destruction. As the bubble on the breaker
bursts and is gone forever, so would the universe be dissolved at once
and lost in nothingness were You not there, O God! His Word still
operates and runs swiftly, even as of old. The heavens and the earth
would be dissolved were it not that His Word upholds the pillars
thereof. Well might they sing of old, "Your, even You, are Lord alone;
You have made Heaven, the Heaven of heavens, with all their host, the
earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is
therein, and You preserve them all; and the host of Heaven worship

You."

Let us go a step further. The Word of God which operated at the first
is still operating with the same degree of force. The text says, "His
Word runs very swiftly," that is to say, it keeps its ancient pace. It
has not begun to slacken its speed and we know what that was, for, "He
rode upon a cherub and did fly, yes He did fly upon the wings of the
wind." There might be a gradual slackening and decline in the forces of
Nature if they had been created by God and then set to drift by
themselves. But as God is, still, everywhere present, working in the
heavens and in the earth and in the seas, in all deep places and as in
everything–all power continually proceeds from the hand of God–and
there is no failure in anything.

Creation may, if God so pleases, wax old as does a garment, but the
hand which created it is as full of power as ever. The sun's light and
all else that is necessary for man will continue, according to the
Divine appointment, and will never

be exhausted while the Lord supplies them. If any natural force fails,
it simply means that the Divine power is being withdrawn from that
particular form of work. But the Word of power is the same. If science
could prove that any force is waning, we should only believe that God
is permitting certain created energies to slacken because He means to
bring them to their end, having answered His design by them.

Men are always ready to object to the doctrine of the Divine
working–"All things continue as they were," they say one day. And then
another day they say, "All things are declining." Neither declaration
is precisely true. There are great changes in the operations of God,
but there is no change in the hand that operates! And still, today, as
of old, God speaks and it is done! He commands and it stands fast. This
world shall abide as long as God pleases–but when the time shall come,
He that once spoke to the deeps and they deluged the world–will call
to flames of fire and the earth shall be wrapped in them and the works
of men that are therein shall be burned up. No palsy has seized upon
the eternal arm– the closing scene of the world's story will be as
grand as that with which the chapter of Creation opened!

"He faints not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His
understanding." Yet it is worthy of notice that the Word of God spoken
of in the text operates in a silent manner. We are told that He sends
out His Word and melts the ice, the frost, the snow. Did you hear that
Word of God? You have seen stern Winter yield to the breath of Spring
and you believe that the genial change was effected by God's Word–but
did you hear a whisper? No, and none heard it, for the Word of God in
Nature is the going forth of His silent will. "No speech, no language;
their voice is not heard; yet their line has gone out through all the
earth." Still it is called His Word and I want you to notice that fact
because you are apt to think that God in the kingdom of His Grace is
dependent upon men's lips and tongues and words.

I tell you that the Word of God which returns not to Him void is not
the word from my tongue, but the Word from His own mind. God can, if He
will, speak deep into the human heart without so much as a whisper from
the preacher! His Word can enter men's souls though not a single sound
is heard! We have known instances of persons who, when far away from
the means of Grace, have, nevertheless, been reached by the still small
voice of the Word of God in their spirits, which Word of God, "runs
very swiftly." If God uses tongues and voices, as He generally does,
let Him have all the Glory that He is pleased to link His potent Word
to such a feeble agency. But the secret Word of power which runs
swiftly is entirely independent of sounds and noises, of tongues and
ears!

This is a fact that should comfort us all and it should make some of
you who have been silent try to speak, since God's blessing does not
rest on oratory and talent and the like. Have you not marked in this
house–I speak without egotism–how, for more than 20 years the people
have come together at every service, crowding these aisles and God has
saved multitudes of souls? Critics say, "This man is not an orator!"
And they speak the truth. I have never cultivated the arts of
eloquence, or exhibited the elegancies of language. I speak what I know
of God's Word and bear my honest witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
in such words as come to hand. The almighty Word of God reaches and
renews the heart and the more it is allowed to work in an unencumbered
manner, in its own natural simplicity, the more victorious it will be!
The Word, of itself, "runs very swiftly" and carnal wisdom does but
hamper it!

Oh to let it lay aside every weight! I could wish that men would take
oratory by the ears and hang it up like a felon, for it has been the
plague and curse of the Church of God that men try to speak finely and
prettily, garnishing their sentences with poetic flowers and polishing
them with needless elaboration! Preach the Gospel, Sir, for that is
your business! We are not place-hunters, who must please if they would
win, but soul-hunters, who seek not to amuse men, but to save them!
Proclaim God's Word in such words as your heart suggests. Pluck up by
the roots the flowers that grow in God's fields and go not to the
conservatory of learning and art to gather your fine prose! God will
bless His own Word, for it is His Word which runs very swiftly!

Yet, note again, according to the text, God's Word is most effectual.
This is the meaning of the phrase, "it runs very swiftly." None can
deny this is the meaning of the phrase, "it runs very swiftly." None
can resist it, for God is in it. It is God's will and when God wills
it, what matters if all creation wills the contrary? "There are many
devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that
shall stand." The will of God would bear all opposers away as with a
flood and sweep them like sear leaves before the tempest. There is
little wonder that His Word runs very swiftly, for if God wills it, how
can it be hindered? As it cannot be prevented altogether, so it cannot
even be impeded if it is the very

Word of God.

There is a Word of God which may be hindered–His Gospel, as
proclaimed–it may be resisted and cast aside. But the veritable Word
of God, the inward Word, the secret will of the Highest is not
resisted–it sweetly conquers the human will without violating its free
agency and leads men captive in chains which they do not wish to
break–it holds them spell-bound by a force which they delight in! And
they yield, charmed by the music of the love of God! It is glorious to
think that God is still operating in the realm of Grace as well as of
Nature by a power which is Omnipotent and this power runs very swiftly.
There is no such thing as time with God, to whom one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. He may take centuries
to accomplish His purposes, but if He wills it, all can be done in an
instant! He may lengthen out the drama of Providence, even to thousands
of years, but this is not for lack of power, for when He pleases, "He
will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short
work will the Lord make upon the

earth."

God's Word is never slow or lame. Neither can it be said of Him as of
the hosts of Pharaoh, that His chariot wheels were taken off so that He
drove them heavily. The counsel of the Lord stands forever! "The Lord
of Hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand." Over your heads, O
mortal men, let the voice of this dread thunder roll–The Lord God
Omnipotent reigns! Think not because you boast of your free agency that
this can deprive Him of His almightiness– He still does as He wills
among the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of this lower
earth. Who can stay His hand or say unto Him, "What are You doing?"
Where the word of a king is, there is power, but what is the power of
the word of the King of Kings? It "runs very swiftly."

II. Thus I have tried to set forth the general Truth of God, now LET US
NOTICE THE PARTICULAR INSTANCES OF IT. First, God's "Word runs very
swiftly" in the matter of Creation. What says the first chapter of
Genesis about the making or fitting up of this world? It tells us that
in its present condition this world was arranged in six days and on the
seventh day the Lord rested from His work. Was ever such a word as
this? Was ever so vast a deed accomplished in such a space of time?

It is possible that the creation of the world had taken place long
before, for "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,"
but even for that first creation He needed no space of time, for His
Word could create the universe with a flash. The Lord may have allowed
ages upon ages to roll by before He ultimately came forth to perform
the last upholstering of it for mankind–yet all was done when He
spoke. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." He said,
"Let there be a firmament," and it was so. He spoke into being fish,
fowl and beast and it was so–"In six days the Lord made Heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is"–for His Word runs very
swiftly."

We still see, in the works of Nature, the changes which God works. The
wind may blow ever so fiercely from the north, but when the Lord
commands, it whirls about towards the south and the calm may be
profound. But almost in an instant the hurricane sweeps and tosses up
the mighty waves of the sea. The vast changes which God works in Nature
are, to us, gradual in their results, else we should be unprepared for
them and catastrophe would follow catastrophe. But still, as far as God
is concerned, He acts instantaneously when He wills and as He
wills–and His will in Creation is achieved the moment that it comes to
be an expressed Word!

Look further into the field of Providence and see how the Word of God
has been operating there and has run very swiftly. Consider His
providential judgments. God warned men that He would destroy them for
their sin. He gave them space for repentance and sent His servant,
Noah, to be a preacher of righteousness. He made the ark to be a
visible sermon to them. But when, at last, His patience was ended, it
did not take Him long to pull up the sluices from below and to open the
bottles of Heaven from above. How speedily did He cover the tops of the
mountains with the destroying waves! Peter tells us that by the Word of
God, the world which then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

Look further on to the cities of the plain. When they were ripe for
destruction, Lot saw the sun rise on Sodom and all was quiet and still
as on this Sabbath morning, but in an instant the Lord rained fire and
brimstone upon Sodom and destroyed it. When the Lord came to blows with
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, how thick and fast the strokes came till the
proud tyrant's will was broken and he let the people go! Yes, "His Word
runs very swiftly." Whether it is to turn the river into blood, or
cover the land with darkness, or destroy it with hailstones, or to slay
all the first-born of Egypt, "His Word runs very swiftly."

With a Word He slew the hosts of Sennacherib and stretched rider and
horse in the deep sleep of death. His judgments are amazing! Look at
Jerusalem–enquire for the ruins of her Temple–see how swiftly God
fulfilled His decree of

overthrow. Journey to Tyre, or Moab, or Edom. Get away to Babylon and
Nineveh. Go and search and see where mighty empires once rioted in
luxury. He told His Prophets that it would be so and lo, it has come to
pass, for "His Word runs very swiftly." Come, behold the works of the
Lord! What desolation He has made in the earth. He breaks the bow and
cuts the spear in sunder! He burns the chariot in the fire, "for His
Word runs very swiftly."

So also has His Word run very swiftly when it has been sent in peace.
When God has meant to bless men, how swiftly His angels have taken wing
to bring the gift from Heaven! Think of Israel shut up by the Red Sea
with mountains on either hand. Oh how speedily the Lord descended from
on high when He came to the rescue of His people!–

"On cherub and on cherubim

Full royally He rode,

And on the wings of mighty winds

Came flying all abroad."

He divided the Red Sea and led Israel through it like a flock of sheep
in the wilderness, swiftly coming, by His Word, to make a way for them
through the heart of the sea. So all through Scripture you will observe
that in the afflictions of God's people they have cried to Him and He
has sent His Word and healed them! Glory be to the name of our Covenant
God! In all His works, whether of judgment or of mercy, He tarries not
for man, but executes His purpose even as He pleases.

For a moment let us reverently think OF THE ESSENTIAL WORD, to whom I
referred, just now, whose name is to be always mentioned with deep
devotion. How swiftly He ran upon His Father's business. As our poet
puts it–

"Down from the shining seats above, With joyful haste He fled."

The life of Jesus upon earth reached little beyond 30 years and yet His
work was finished before He left this earth for Glory. The Redemption
of mankind, the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, the finishing
of transgression, the fulfilling of the Law–all was done in a short
season! No, you must shorten that, because the major part of His life
was spent in obscurity, doing, doubtless, much, but not doing that part
of His lifework which is perceptible to us. In some three years or so
His Father's public business was all accomplished!

With what diligence He worked! As to the actual Atonement, although I
conceive it embraced the whole of His life, yet the central part of it
lay in His passion and death. In the comet which has lately surprised
us, much of the brilliance lies in its streaming tail, but the starry
portion, or nucleus, is supposed to be the solid part of it. Even so,
the reconciling work of Jesus shines from the manger to the garden and
yet the more apparent parts of it are crowded into the few hours
between Gethsemane and the Cross. In that space was Satan bruised,
Death slain, Hell vanquished, sin wiped out forever, the saints
redeemed, God glorified and the earth purchased out of bondage! In a
few hours of agony and shame and death our Lord effected all. "His Word
runs very swiftly."

What a running that was when our Lord came forth as a Bridegroom out of
His chamber and rejoiced as a strong man to run His race! He ran so
swiftly for the joy that was set before Him, that He sweat, but not
such sweat as yours and mine–it was a sweat of blood–such was the
agony with which He ran to achieve the work which His Father had set
before Him! He was no laggard. Does He not reprove your tardy footsteps
and mine that, in so short a space, so grand, so infinite, so eternal a
work should have been achieved? "Truly He ran very swiftly." But now,
to leave that point, this is true of the Word of God in matters of
Grace–"His Word runs very swiftly." I shall be sure to have your deep
attention if you know the extreme importance of the Truth of God I am
about to proclaim, namely, that the Word of God, when it comes to work
effectually upon the hearts of men, is able to accomplish its end very
swiftly, indeed.

I conceive that conviction of sin is, in many cases, if not in all,
commenced in an instant! The unregenerated mind of man is like a flint
and you do not break a flint by degrees–by one blow it is shivered.
Here is the mind of man like a dark dungeon. God throws back the
shutters and in streams the daylight at once. Conviction is like a
wound–the mighty Spirit draws the great bow–away flies the arrow and
in an instant it has pierced the heart! Through coats of mail of
prejudice, that barbed shaft has gone and slain sin in the heart of man
and that in a second of time! "His Word runs very

swiftly."

I know that God works thus in regeneration. Regeneration is not a work
of years–from the necessity of the case the essential part of it is
worked in an instant. There must be a moment in which a man is dead and
another moment in which he is made alive! There can be no interval in
which he is neither dead nor alive. Quickening must be an instantaneous
operation. There must either be some life, however feeble, or else the
man is dead–and the line between life and death must be narrow as a
razor's edge. Though you and I cannot see any sharp line between the
line, yet there is such a line. A man is either dead or alive. The
quickening of a soul into spiritual life remains a proof that God's
Word "runs very swiftly."

So, also, with regard to justification. When a man believes in Jesus
Christ, he is justified at once. I can show you that this must be so. A
man may be guilty or not guilty, but he cannot be anywhere between the
two. He may, according to the legal language of Scotland, be in a
condition in which the charge is, "not proven but before God, who needs
no proof, a man must either stand condemned or pardoned, and there
cannot be an instant between the two." In one moment God says to the
guilty, "I forgive you." Pardon is an instantaneous gift. You can be
forgiven all your sins in half the tick of a clock and pass from death
to life more swiftly than I can utter the words!

How wonderful it is to see the change which the Grace of God makes in
the human heart in conversion! A man is not turned round and converted
all at once, but the commencement of that turn comes at some particular
moment and just at that moment it often happens that his most cherished
idols come tumbling down! The idolatry of his soul is effectually
rebuked. He cannot understand it, but the thing he once loved he begins
to hate, while the things he hated, all of a sudden he loves and there
is achieved in him a marvelous change! An objector declared, the other
day, that we make out that a character is produced in men in a few
hours. That a life-building is run up during a single service. I am not
about to deny the charge! The statement is not quite correct, but it
will suffice!

We have all heard of the minister who visited a dying woman and was the
means of bringing her to a joyful faith in Christ. But before he had
left the house she was dead–he was known to say that he found her in a
state of Nature, saw her in a state of Grace and left her in a state of
Glory–and all within an hour! And so we do not make much of the power
of God to accomplish wonders in a brief space of time! The new birth is
a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. It is
impossible under any other view of things. If this miracle could be
taken away from Christianity, what would remain?

Conversion and regeneration remain as the standing phenomena by which
Christianity is continually proven to be Divine. The Word of God all of
a sudden transforms the very nature of men and they enter into an
altogether new state of life out of which there comes a character which
glorifies God! The essence of that character is created in an instant!
The Seed of God out of which it will all come is implanted at once.
"His Word runs very swiftly" Adoption is also one of these rapid gifts.
A man is made a child of God in an instant, for he may not be a child
of God and he may be a child of God, but he cannot be half way between.
There must be an instant in which adoption is bestowed and that instant
I quote to illustrate the text–

"His Word runs very swiftly."

Note again, dear Brothers and Sisters, that this is not only true of
salvation at first, but it is true of the work of Grace in the heart
all along. Do you feel dull and heavy this morning? God can revive you
in a moment! "Before I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
Amminadib." Have you backslidden like Laodicea? Have you fallen into
lukewarmness? "Ah, it will take months," you say, "for me to get back."
It need not, for here is Christ's Word to Laodicea, "Behold, I stand at
the door and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Open the
door and let Christ come in and all will be healed! "His Word runs very
swiftly."

Are you desponding, are you despairing? He can take away your ashes and
put upon your head the coronet of beauty in an instant! What said the
spouse in the Canticles? "The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes
leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills." It need not take
a long time for you to be refreshed and restored–Jesus can come with
the riches of His Grace and straightway make you to rejoice in Him! Did
not Jesus work immediate cures on the palsied and the lame? Is He not
equally mighty to bless? Our Churches frequently require backsliders to
wait a long time before they can be received. If a Brother wanders, the
Churches generally deliver him for years to Satan and then, perhaps,
try to get him back.

But it should not be so! John looked after Peter directly after Peter
had been cursing and swearing and denying his Lord. And Jesus, Himself,
said, "Go, tell My disciples and Peter," within three days after Peter
had fallen. My Lord's forgiving love runs very swiftly! My Lord's
restoring Grace is swifter than an eagle's wings! As it is with
individuals, so it is with Churches. A whole Church can be revived on a
sudden–no, not only a whole Church, but a group of Churches!

No, not only that, but, if God wills it, all the Churches in
Christendom may be refreshed with showers of blessing within another
week. "His Word runs very swiftly."

Remember how it was at the first. Within a short time after Pentecost
all nations had heard the Word of God, so that Paul could say, "Have
they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the world." Like the coming of the morning, the
Word of the Lord shone forth under the whole Heaven right speedily! It
will be so again, but we must first be prepared for it. The vessels
must be purged before the Master can use them in His great work. If God
were to use most Christians and most Christian ministers in their
present condition as instruments with which to accomplish His work, we
might pass through centuries of centuries before it would be finished!
But He can change all this and make His servants to be like angels and
His ministers like flames of fire!

Many move along in Christ's work at a snail's pace, but if the Lord
were to visit the aforesaid trudging fathers and make them leap like a
hart with intense desire and bravery of faith–and then send His own
Word by them–what is there to hinder a great revival? Suppose all the
Church should wake up tomorrow with desires for days of prayer? What is
there to prevent God's hearing the united cry of His people? What is
there to hinder Him from raising up hundreds of ministers to preach
with tongues of fire? What is there to prevent missionaries going forth
to the utmost ends of the earth? Who can stay His hand when once He
makes bare His arm and comes forth to the fight?

Let us have greater belief in God! We scarcely believe in Him now! We
are always measuring the balance to the credit of the missionary
societies and counting up the agents. I believe in our excellent
societies, but I believe in God over the head of them all. I believe in
agencies, modes, systems, methods, but I believe much more in God, who
can do far more abundantly than we either ask or think! May the Lord
take us out into the deep and then we shall let down our nets for a
catch and take a great multitude of fish! Alas, now we paddle about
near shore and catch a few shrimp and boast of our wonderful success.

III. We shall close by noting WHAT IS THE TEACHING THAT YOU AND I MAY
GET OUT OF THIS SUBJECT? One lesson is this. The seeking sinner can be
saved now. If he seeks salvation at once, he can have it at once. Is
there a movement in any mind after God? Do you say, "I will arise and
go unto my Father"? Have you got as far as that? How long will it take
you to get to your Father? Well, I cannot tell you–it is a long
way–but let me whisper in your ear that there is another calculation.
How long will it take your Father to come to you? The parable proceeds
to say, "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and ran."

I cannot guess how fast the old gentleman in the parable could run, for
hearts are often stronger than legs, but I know that He to whom the
parable points when He runs, is not to be overtaken! If God runs, my
Brothers and Sisters, what a pace must be meant! Sinner, if you are
rising to go to Him, He runs to meet you! "His Word runs very
swiftly."–

"Oh, how swift Divine compassion

Runs to meet the mourning soul!

And by words of consolation

Makes the wounded spirit whole!" We read in the 107th Psalm of those
who drew near to the gates of death and in their extremity, at the last
gasp, they cried unto the Lord. Immediately, we read, "He sent His Word
and healed them." The cure was as speedy as it was complete! Why, the
Lord can outstrip time! Is it not written, "Before they call, I will
answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear"? This beats the
telegraph! You get an answer before you send the message, or while you
are writing the message, here comes the reply!

O poor Soul, be comforted! You may have immediate pardon, immediate
adoption, immediate justification! Mercy comes in a moment to you and
you may go your way saying, "I have it! I have it! Why have I been
looking so long for it, when the Word of God is near me, on my lips and
in my heart?" God grant you Grace to receive, at this moment, the Word
which saves the soul. Another lesson, and that has reference to our
work for the souls of others. If God's Word runs very swiftly, then it
can even overtake those who run away from it! Not only can the Lord
come quickly to those who seek Him, but He can overtake those who
hasten away from Him! I can see the sheep running away. At what a rate
they rush! Sheep never run so fast after the shepherd as away from
him–they are nimble enough when once they get through a gap. Away they
go!

They are over the hill and out of sight in no time. Will the shepherd
catch them? That blessed Word who is their Shepherd, can He overtake
the wanderers? Yes, "His Word runs very swiftly–"He can overtake the
runaways. If a sheep

has reached the brink of a precipice, the Great Shepherd runs so
swiftly that He can save it even now. I say this to you workers that
you may be encouraged to go to sick beds; that you may be encouraged to
speak to aged men and women; that you may not think anybody is too far
gone for Christ. If it were certain that without conversion a person
would be in Hell in five minutes, it would still be both your duty and
your privilege to preach the Gospel to him and to do it believing that
in the space offive minutes the Grace of God could save Him!

"Dangerous doctrine," says an objector, "people will be tempted to put
off conversion." Alas, if they did not forge an excuse out of this
Truth of God, they would manufacture it out of another, for when men
mean to do wrong, any perversion will serve their turn! I cannot deny a
Truth because wicked men pervert it; that would be ridiculous! A rope
is a good thing–would you have us destroy all the ropes in the world
because a few madmen hang themselves with them? We will proclaim it to
the ends of the earth that the Lord can save at the 11th hour! It is
not too late for any of you, however aged you may be. What if you are
to die tomorrow? I leave an impression that some here are not far from
their end, yet, "His Word runs very swiftly," and even now He can save
you!

The dying thief forbids the idea that any praying penitent shall apply
to Christ and find it too late. Postpone not salvation–but if you have
delayed for years, make haste at once and may God's infinite mercy come
to you at the same hour. I close with this further remark. If you and
I, dear Friends, are not numbered among the unconverted, but are really
saved this morning and yet we are very heavy of heart, there is comfort
here. The Lord can, at once, give us joy and peace. "I have a great
trouble," you say, "and if I do not get help by tomorrow night, I do
not know what will become of me." Well, God can deliver you by tomorrow
night–"His Word runs very swiftly."

"Oh, but I have a dread upon my heart and if I do not soon get rid of
it, I shall be driven to despair." He can console you at once, for the
Comforter is already given. "I should like to come to the communion
table," says one. "I have not been there for a long time, for I do not
feel fit and I do not think I can be prepared for the solemn service in
the short space of one afternoon." Oh yes, you may, for, "His Word runs
very swiftly." If Jesus washes your feet, you shall be clean every whit
and clean at once! He can bear you up to the heights of fellowship and
bring you into very close union with Himself in a moment of time. Limit
not the Almighty as to speed–limit Him not in any way–with God all
things are possible!

He can cause your dry rod to bud and blossom and bear fruit in an hour.
Commit yourself to Him and pray Him to make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His
sight and He can do it–and to Him shall be the praise forever and
ever. Amen.
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The Double "Come"