Blessed Promises For Dying Outcasts

Blessed Promises For Dying Outcasts

(No. 1753)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 2, 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"For I will restore health unto you, and I will healyou of your wounds,
says the Lord; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is
Zion, whom no man seeks after." Jeremiah 30:17.

THE promises of this verse will be exceedingly sweet to those who feel
their personal need of them. But those who boast that they are neither
sick nor wounded will take no interest in this comfortable promise.
Those who are charmed with themselves will see no charm in the beloved
Physician. I have heard of certain hungry travelers, lost in the
wilderness, who came upon a bag which they longingly hoped might yield
them a seasonable supply of food. They were near to death's door by
starvation and eagerly opened the bag, but, alas, it contained nothing
but pearls–which they poured out contemptuously upon the desert sand
as things of no use to them! Even so, when a man is hungry and
thirsting after the things of this life and all his thoughts are taken
up with carnal appetites, carnal sorrows and carnal joys, he will
reject as worthless the priceless promises of God, for he considers
that they are of no immediate use to him.

Let his hunger be of another sort; let his heart hanker after
unsearchable riches; let his soul pine for eternal love and then his
are views of things entirely changed–and to buy the pearl of great
price he would gladly sell all that he has! Oh, you that are sick at
heart, here is a word for you from the God of all Grace! Jehovah Rophi,
Himself, says, "I will restore health unto you." Oh, you that have felt
the shafts of God pierce your inmost souls, here is a word from Him who
heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds–"I will heal you
of your wounds, says the Lord." Here is music for your ears, honey for
your mouth, comfort for your heart!

But if you feel you have no sickness and no wound, no weakness and no
spiritual need, then the Words of sacred consolation will pass over
your ears as a meaningless sound, having no voice for you. Neither
shall we wonder at this, for the whole have no need of a physician!
Only they that are sick! Healthy men care not to hear of medicines and
remedies, for they feel no need of them. This thins my audience, but
improves it, for while it drives away the conceited, it draws the needy
to a more careful listening!

Our text describes a serious plight, mentions a special interference
and records a singular reason for that interference. When we have
spoken upon each of these, we shall close by giving you suitable
advice. May the Spirit of God bless the discourse.

I. First, then, taken in connection with the verses which precede it,
our text describes a class of men and women who are in A SERIOUS
PLIGHT. These people suffer under two evils. First, they are sick
through sin, for they need to have their health restored. And,
secondly, they are wounded for their sin by the chastisements of the
Lord, so that there is necessity for their wounds to be healed. They
are afflicted with the distemper of evil and, also, by dismal
disquietude of conscience. They have broken God's Commandments and now
their own bones are broken. They have grieved their God and their God
is grieving them.

Let us carefully look at the first part of their sad condition–they
are sick with sin and that disease is one which, according to the 5th
and 6th verses, brings great pain and trouble into men's minds when
they come to their senses and know their condition before God. At
first, iniquity numbs the conscience, and its tendency is to sear it as
with a hot iron. It may be compared to a stroke of paralysis, which,
when it falls upon a man's body, takes away from him all pain and makes
him as one dead in the parts which it affects. Sin paralyzes the
consciences of the ungodly. At first they do not know it to be an
exceedingly great evil. They trifle with it–it is a serpent whose very
look is poisonous and yet they sport with it as though it were a bird!
It is a deadly disease, causing the soul to be full of leprosy and yet
men will exhibit the marks of it as though they were the spots of God's
children.

But after a while, when the conscience is awakened by judgments, or
awakened by God's Word, then this disease ceases to stupefy and becomes
the source of intolerable pain. Read these Words–"For thus says the
Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. Ask
you, now, and see whether a man does travail with child? Why do I see
every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all
faces are turned into paleness?" The fiercest form of bodily pain is
here selected as the type of the anguish caused by strong conviction of
sin. Believe me, there can be nothing in the world so terrible as to
feel sin without feeling pardon–to know yourself to be guilty and not
to know how to get the guilt removed!

Conviction without faith is an earthly Hell! Brothers and Sisters, you
have, many of you, felt it, and you know that death itself, if there
were no hereafter, would be preferable to life under the pressure of
guilt. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded
spirit who can bear?" Sin is a disease of the spirit which embitters
the central fountain and wellspring of our life till gall and wormwood
flavor all things. Sin felt and known is a terrible killjoy–as the hot
wind of the desert smites the caravan with death and as the sirocco
withers every herb of the field, so does a sense of sin dry up peace,
blast hope and utterly kill delight! If those who hear me are oppressed
with the disorder of sin, they will rejoice greatly as they dwell upon
the Words of our text, "I will restore health unto you, and I will heal
you of your wounds."

This disease, moreover, is not only exceedingly painful when the
conscience is smarting, but it is altogether incurable, so far as any
human ill is concerned. We are told in the 12th verse, "Thus says the
Lord, Your bruise is incurable, and your wound is grievous." It would
be much easier to heal a man's body of leprosy than to heal a man's
soul of sin. It is a disease which takes such fast hold upon the nature
and so entirely impregnates the mind with a deadly virus, that it
abides in the very essence of manhood and can only be removed by a
miracle. It is far more possible for the Ethiopian to change his skin,
or the leopard his spots, than for a man who is accustomed to do evil,
to learn to do well–especially to love to do well and find pleasure in
it. If this were a matter of custom, or practice, it might be fought
with and overcome, but inasmuch as it is a matter of nature and the
whole head is sick–and the whole heart faint with it–no human power
can possibly effect a cure.

Some have wept over sin, but tears are a poor lotion for a disease
which penetrates to the core of the heart. Others have shut themselves
up alone and retired as hermits to escape from evil by solitude–but
they have found no secret place which evil could not enter! Where shall
we flee from the presence of sin? When it has once laid hold upon our
nature, if we take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost
parts of the sea, our depravity will still be with us. If we cover
ourselves with multiplied midnights, sin will only be the more
completely in its element. Where can we fly and what can we do to
escape from this terrible force, this ever-present mischief? This
poison has penetrated all our nature, so that we must confess–

"It lies not in a single part, But throughout my frame is spread! A
burning fever in my heart, A palsy in my head."

Neither body, soul, nor spirit is free from its taint. At all hours it
is our curse and plague. Over all places it casts its defiling
influence. In all duties it injures and hinders us. To those who know
this, there is a music sweeter than wedding bells in these words–"I
will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds." The
incurable shall be cured! The insatiable malady shall be stopped!

Further on we are told that this disease is one for which there is
neither surgeon nor medicine–"There is none to plead your cause, that
you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines. Why do you cry for
your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of your
iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things
unto you." What a disease this must be for which there is no physician!
The most dire forms of human disease have found, each one, its
specialist who has at least attempted to perform a cure–but here is a
sickness for which there is no physician! Bad men do not pretend to
heal the disease of sin. They do not consider it to be a disease and
they care not to make men holy. Good men are very far from thinking
that they can conquer sin in others, for they cannot even overcome it
in themselves and, therefore, they never set up to be physicians in
such a case as this. No human hand can bind up this wound! No earthly
skill can touch this deeply seated complaint! It is past all mortal
surgery. Yes, and the Prophet adds, "There is no healing
medicine"–none has ever been known!

The question is often asked, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no
physician there?" The answer to that question is, No, there is no balm
in Gilead; there never was! Balms for soul-mischiefs do not grow in the
fields of Gilead, no, nor on Carmel and Sharon. Physicians of sin-sick
souls are not to be found beneath the skies! The other question proves
it– "Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of My people
recovered?" If there were balms and physicians for her disease, she
would have been healed long ago! But neither salve nor surgeon can be
found among the sons of men. Search through all the lore of the
ancients and you shall discover no remedy for sin! Examine all the
inventions of the moderns and you shall light upon no medicine for the
love of evil!

Nothing can touch it but one thing, and that is not of earth. The Lord
from Heaven, upon the Cross, bled a balm that can cure this wound and
by His death He was the death of this disease! But apart from Him no
one can bind up our wounds, or mollify them with ointment. He is the
one and only Good Samaritan for the spiritually bruised! He, alone, has
wine and oil suitable for our wounds! Are my Hearers brought to feel
this? Are there any here who have not yet discovered God's way of
salvation and still are well aware that they have none of their own? I
am thankful you are brought so far! May it not be long before you go
much further and find the Lord Jesus able to heal you of every disease.
You are forever lost unless you go to Him, for your sickness is unto
death! Your wound is breeding corruption! No one can give you health
for your sickness, or healing for your wound but the Lord Jesus, who is
able to save unto the uttermost–

"When wounded sore the stricken soul Lies bleeding and unbound. One
only hand, a pierced hand, Can salve the sinner's wound."

This disease is exceedingly dangerous because it impregnates itself
into the heart and takes up its abode there. If apparently it is, for a
time, driven out, it returns when we least expect it. Like the tree
which is cut down, it will sprout and bud, again, at the scent of
water. It annoys us in every way–it hinders our aspirations–for how
to perform that which we would, we find not. It robs us of comfort and
makes us groan, being burdened. It enters into our holiest things,
chills our prayers, freezes our praise and hampers our usefulness. It
is evil, only evil, and that continually! How gracious is it on God's
part to pity a creature infected with this vile distemper! How good of
Him to regard our iniquity rather as a sickness to be healed than as a
crime to be punished!

I told you of a double mischief in this plight and the second mischief
is that this person has been wounded for his sin. His wounds are of no
common sort, for we are told in the 14th verse that God Himself has
wounded him. The Lord says, "I have wounded you with the wound of an
enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your
iniquity; because your sins were increased." God, in infinite mercy,
determines to make the sinner see and feel the evil consequences of his
sin. And in doing this He makes deep wounds, such as an enemy would
give who felt no pity, but only wished to cause pain. The Lord knows
that in this work, pity is of no avail and, therefore, He strikes home
and cuts deep. He does not play with consciences, but His chastisement
is so severe that men think Him cruel.

There is such a thing as cruel kindness and the opposite to it is a
loving cruelty, a gracious severity! When the Lord brings sin to
remembrance and makes the soul see what an evil it has committed in
transgressing against God, then the wound bleeds and the heart breaks.
You could not tell the blows of our greatest Friend from those of our
worst enemy if you only judged by present feeling. Under the Lord's
hands, the soul is well near driven to despair. Vain hopes are dashed
in pieces like potsherds! False lights are quenched in gloom and joys
are ground to powder! It is in love that the Lord thus judges us and
chastens us that we should not be condemned with the world. The smart
is sharp, but salutary. The Lord wounds that He may heal–He kills that
He may make alive. His storms wreck us upon the Rock of Salvation and
His tempests drive us into the fair havens of lowly faith.

Happy are the men who are thus made unhappy! But for the present they
know this not and, therefore, they need the promise, "I will heal you
of your wounds, says the Lord." The blows are not only on the
conscience, for when God is in earnest to make men flee from their
sins, He will smite them anywhere and everywhere. He takes away the
delight of their eyes with a stroke–the child, the husband, the wife,
or the friend is laid low–for the Lord will fill our houses with
mourning sooner than leave us in carnal security! He takes away the
silver and the gold, for He will make us beggars sooner than leave us
to worship the idols of the world. The oil vat is burst and the barn is
burned, for He will not permit us to bury our souls in earthly things.
He brings the body into sickness and the mind into distress. Health
departs and the robust worker is stretched upon a sick bed–he groans
and moans under the hand of God.

God is, in all this, smiting most cruelly according to the shortsighted
judgment of men–but in very truth He is tender and gracious–and is
working out the eternal good of the sufferers. Like the surgeon uses a
sharp knife and cuts far down into the flesh when he would eradicate
some deadly ulcer, even so does the Lord, in true severity, wound the
heart until He gets at the root of our self-love. Surely, a man is in a
wretched plight when he is diseased with sin and then bruised by Divine
chastisement! But, it may be he adds to this, wounds inflicted by
himself, for falls into sin are falls that break bones. Many a man will
have to go limping to his grave because of his transgressions.
Doubtless David did–he never recovered what he lost when he sinned
with Bathsheba.

Much pain comes of broken bones, especially when you have broken them,
yourself, through your own folly. When you cannot trace an affliction
to second causes, nor look upon it as an affliction from God–when you
hear Conscience whisper, "You have procured this unto yourself"–then
the wormwood is mixed with gall and the suffering knows no solace. If
you are poor because you have squandered your substance–if you are
sick because you have indulged your appetites or passions–who can give
you a word of cheer? If you have lost godly friends whom you did once
despise. If you are by sickness, prevented from going up to the house
of the Lord which was formerly a weariness to you, is there not a
special sharpness in your grief?

Now, put these three things together–bones broken through your own
sin; God dealing with you in the way of chastisement–and sin felt in
the conscience like a grievous disease–and I think I did not say too
much when I described the soul as in a serious plight! God help the man
who is in such a case, for none else can. The comfort is that the Lord
Jesus does help such, for so His gracious promise runs, "I will restore
health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds." May the Holy
Spirit bless this first head to many of you!

II. Our second consideration fitly falls under the title of A SPECIAL
INTERFERENCE. The poor creature is in desperate straits, but the God of
pitying Love comes in and I beg you to notice the result. This
interference is, first of all, Divine. "I will restore health unto you,
and I will heal you of your wounds." Only the Infinite Jehovah can
speak with that grand Ego and say, "I will," and again, "I will." No
human physician who was worthy of the name would speak thus. He would
humbly say, "I will attempt to give you health; I will endeavor to heal
your wounds." But the Lord speaks with the positiveness of Omnipotence,
for He has the power to make good His Words.

All others fail, but the Lord will do it. You can not heal yourself,
but the Lord will heal you. And who is this great "I" that speaks so
exceedingly bold? It is none other than He that made the heavens and
the earth and sustains all things by the power of His hands! It is the
"I AM," the everlasting Jehovah whose Word has boundless power in it.
He appears in the moment of man's extremity and when there is no
helper–His own arm brings salvation. Blessed be the Lord who forgives
all our iniquities, who heals all our diseases! Note that because this
interference is Divine, it is effectual! The Lord effectually heals all
those on whom He lays His hands. How could it be otherwise? What can
baffle the Lord? Can anything perplex Infinite Wisdom? Is anything
difficult for Almighty Power?

"If it is marvelous in your eyes, should it also be marvelous in My
eyes? says the Lord of Hosts." He speaks and it is done! He commands
and it stands fast! Therefore, when God says, "I will restore health
unto you," health will visit the wretch who lies at Death's door! When
He says, "I will heal you of your wounds," the deep cuts and gashes are
closed up at once! Glory be to the name of the Beloved Physician! Poor,
troubled Heart, where are you this morning? Do you say, "Nobody can
cure me"? You say truly but you can make one exception and that
exception is your God! I tell you He can heal you now, so that the
bones which He has broken shall rejoice! He can take away this disease
of yours and give you back wholeness as though your flesh were the
flesh of a little child! And you shall be clean–only have faith in
Him. He that made you can make you anew!

Do you believe this? Observe that this interposition performs a work
which is most complete, for it meets the twofold mischief. "I will
restore health unto you"–that is a great matter. When a man grows
healthy, he can bear a wound or two without being too much
overburdened. But God does nothing by halves, for having restored
health, He then adds, "I will heal you of your wounds." He will heal
both disease and wounds! There is no condition into which the heart can
sink but what the Lord is equal to the raising of it from the depths.
If you are on the borders of Hades, yet as long as you have not passed
the iron gates of Death, your salvation is possible with God! Yes,
simple and sure with God if you will but trust in His well-beloved Son!
What a mercy it is that the Redeemer does not half save us and leave us
to finish the work!

He does not commence and do a part of the cure and then say, "I must
leave Nature to work out the rest." No, the cure is absolutely
complete–"I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your
wounds." Oh, sick and wounded one, go just as you are and throw
yourself at Jesus' feet and say to Him, "Keep Your promise, Lord! I
have come with Your Word in my mouth and in my heart. Be as good as
Your own declaration and restore health to me! And heal me of my
wounds." Notice, too, how sovereignly free this promise is. It does not
say, "I will restore health unto you if–." No, there is no, "if," and
there is no mention of a fee! Here is healing for nothing! Jesus comes
to give us health without money and without price, without pence or
penance, without labor or merit!

I admire, for my part, the splendid, unconditional character of this
promise made by Jehovah to His Covenant people. Its tenor is, "I will."
There is no sort of condition or demand. "Perhaps" is banished–it is
not so much as hinted at! Come, poor guilty Soul, you who have no claim
on God, come and plead the Divine, "I will"! You can not have a better
handhold of the Covenant Angel in wrestling with Him! God's promise is
an unconquerable plea–to use it well will put you among the
invincibles. Come then, I pray you, and just say, "Lord, it is so
written in Your Word. Therefore, write it, I pray You, on the page of
my experience." Notice that although it is thus free and unconditional,
yet it is now a matter of Covenant certainty, for God has made the
promise and He cannot turn from it.

To every guilty sinner conscious of his guilt, who will come and
confess it before God, this promise is made today, "I will restore
health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds." To you, dear
fellow sinners, as much as unto Judah and Israel of old, is this
promise sent–if you will bring your sorrow and your sin before the
eyes of the all-merciful Father–and plead the precious blood of
Christ. No sick one shall be shut out from this hospital of love. If,
like Job, the sinner is covered with sores from head to foot and if he
only feels at home when he sits on a dunghill and begins to scrape
himself with a potsherd, yet the Lord says, "I will heal you"!

If your sins have made you loathsome to yourself till you cry out with
one of old, "My wounds stink and are corrupt," still the Lord Jesus is
able to save you–no, He promises to save you! Grasp the promise by the
hand of faith and you shall be made whole! All manner of sin and of
iniquity shall be forgiven unto men–yes, and all tendencies to sin and
all taint of iniquity shall be removed from men if they will trust the
power and promise of the faithful Lord! Sinner, His touch can make you
clean at once! Trust that touch, I say, and the miracle shall be
worked!

III. But now I come to a third point which is this–A SINGULAR REASON.
"I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds,
says the Lord; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is
Zion, whom no man seeks after." God never finds a reason for mercy in
the sinner's supposed goodness. He looked upon this sick one and He
could not find a redeeming feature of beauty by which the blessing
might be won. Therefore He did not look at the sinner at all, except to
pity him. Is it not a singular thing that the Lord will sooner find a
reason for mercy in the lying mouths of the wicked than He will attempt
to find it in the supposed righteousness of those who count themselves
righteous? He says not, "Because you were holy," or, "Because you had
good desires," but, "Because they called you an outcast"!

Who were they? Why, the jeerers, mockers and blasphemers! The Lord
actually transforms the venom of asps which was under the tongues of
the malicious into a reason for His mercy! This clearly shows how God
hates the very notion of man's merit–but it also shows that He will
find a reason for mercy somewhere! They called poor Zion, when God
seemed to have given up on her, "an outcast." They said, "Nobody goes
to Jerusalem–there was a temple there once, but it is a wretched heap!
Princes once dwelt there, but now the inhabitants of Jerusalem are a
set of beggars–no man cares to mix with them–they are the world's
castaways."

This awakened the Lord's pity. "Oh," He said, "has it come to this?
Have they dared to call My Beloved, 'an outcast,' and say that no man
seeks after her? Then I will seek her, and heal her, and restore her,
for I cannot endure such taunts." Now, if there is a poor sinner in the
world upon whom other sinners, who are just as bad in their heart,
begin to vent their scorn and say, "She is an outcast," then the God of
Mercy seems to say, "Who are you that you should talk like this? You
are as vile, yourselves, and yet you dare to look down upon this poor,
selected one, as if she were so much worse than you? Therefore I will
save that despised one and will have mercy upon the rejected." God's
tastes and man's differ very much. Whom man despises, God delights
in–and whom man delights in, God despises.

It often happens that when a transgressor has been put out of the
synagogue, Jesus finds him directly. When certain offenders happen to
transgress in a particular way, which particular way is observed and
denounced by the bulk of ungodly people and when. like so many hounds.
they unite to hunt the wretched being to death, the Lord Jehovah inter-

poses to save, as if He would say, "Why do you do this, you hypocrites?
Why do you denounce those whose sins are no viler than your own?" I
believe the Lord Jesus often stands as He did with the woman taken in
adultery, and cries, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast
the first stone at her." Still, He convicts men in their consciences
and in sweetness of mercy turns to the poor, condemned one, and says,
"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

Where are you, poor hunted Sinner? You are somewhere or other in the
crowd, I know. They told you yesterday that they would never associate
with you again. You do not deny your wickedness–still, it is not for
your fellow sinners to be hard with you, for they are not your judges.
By faith take this promise to yourself–"I will restore health unto you
because they called you an outcast." You may get a good deal out of it
if you have but faith to do so! Now that the world has cast you out,
the Church shall take you in! Now that the devil seems tired of you,
Christ shall begin with you! Now that the door is shut against you by
those who once delighted in you, Christ's door is open to receive you!
"Because they called you an outcast," He calls you to approach Him!

But this is not the full meaning of the text. I think it means that
God's jealousy is awakened against those who despise His people and
speak ill of them. Whatever Zion might be, it was still the palace of
God. However guilty Jerusalem might have become, it was still the Holy
City, the dwelling place of the great King. The Lord, for a while, when
He was very angry with Jerusalem on account of its great iniquity, gave
it over to the destroyer and it was laid waste and burned with fire.
But when He heard the heathen everywhere saying, "As for those people,
they are outcasts, and as for that city, no man seeks after it"–then
the Lord said to Himself, "But they are My people and I will not have
them called outcasts. And this is My city and I will not have it said
that no man seeks after it. Her name shall be called Hephzibah and her
land Beulah, for the Lord delights in her."

His love burned like fire and kindled into a flame of jealousy. And He
said, "I will restore health to her, and shut the mouths of her
adversaries." It is one thing for a father to chasten his boy, but if,
when he is out in the streets, a stranger begins to kick him, his
father declares that it shall not be. He awakens himself to defend his
child, the same child that just now he smote so heavily! A man might
complain of his wife if she has vexed him, but I suppose the quickest
way to put him in good temper with her would be for somebody else to
find fault with her! "What business is that of yours?" he asks. "I will
not have my wife abused–no man shall speak against her in my
presence." That is a fair parallel to the case of our God. He will
chasten His people in measure, but the moment that their enemies call
them outcasts, He turns His anger another way and releases His people!

Oh, how blessedly does good come out of evil! How graciously He causes
the wrath of man to praise Him! He restores health to Zion and heals
her wounds because she is called an outcast. I always have great hope
for the entire Church of Christ when the ungodly begin to rail and
revile. They say, "Christianity has lost its power! The Church is an
old effete institution! No people of culture and intelligence keep to
the old Book and the old faith. The religion of Jesus is a byword and a
proverb among learned men." And then I am confident that God will
return to His Church and magnify His truth! As surely as He lives, He
will give us bright days and glorious days because they call His true
Church an outcast, whom no man seeks after. I like to read in man's
black book, for man's reviling will lead to the speedier fulfillment of
God's glorious promises–

"Let Zion's foes be filled with shame– Her sons are blessed of God!
Though scoffers now despise their name, The Lord shall break their rod.
Oh, would our God to Zion turn, God with salvation clad, Then Judah's
harps should music learn, And Israel be glad."

Appropriate the text personally, any of you who have been made to feel
that you are outcasts. One said to me the other day, talking of her sin
and of her repentance, "Yet, Sir, I am an outcast." That word pierced
my heart like a dagger. I said, "Yes, but the Church of Christ was made
on purpose to be a home for outcasts–here is a new household for you,
new Brothers and Sisters for you, a new future for you–for now you are
one of the solitary ones whom the Lord will set in families." Some of
us were never called outcasts by other people, but we thought ourselves
such. I once felt like Cain, as if God had set a mark upon me, never to
bless me. I felt like an outlaw, condemned and cast away. But when I

reached that point, the Lord's mercy revealed itself to me! He seemed
to say, "Because you have called yourself an outcast, therefore will I
restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds."

I should like to say a word that would be comforting to poor hearts
that are greatly downtrodden. I do not feel able to preach at all, for
I am weak and weary. But I always find, when I am weak, the Lord says
something by me which is just the thing needed by some poor
devil-hunted soul that cannot find rest. I think the Lord puts the
trumpet out of order on purpose to draw from it a different note from
what it gives when it is in proper condition–a note that may precisely
suit some weary ears that could not listen to any other sound. May the
Holy Spirit cause it to be so now!

IV. I am going to finish, in the fourth place, by giving A LITTLE
SUITABLE ADVICE. I will suppose that I have those before me who have
felt their disease and their wound and have been healed by the God of
Mercy. I would recommend them to attend to certain matters. The first
thing is take care that you live very near your Physician. I notice
that patients come up from the country, when they are suffering with
serious complaints, and they take lodgings near a medical man who is in
high esteem for such cases as theirs. They leave the comforts of home
and let their business go because life is precious–and they need a
helper close at hand. No one blames them for this. In fact, we count
them wise. Let us learn wisdom from their example.

Now, the Lord has healed your wound and restored health to you,
therefore abide in Him. Never leave Him, nor live far away from Him,
for this old disease of yours may break out, all of a sudden, and it
will be well to have the Healer close at hand. It will be best to
constantly entertain Him beneath your roof and within your heart, for
His Presence is the wellspring of health to the soul. Abide perpetually
with Christ and then the sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon
by night! Dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, there shall be
no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
This disease of sin may cause eruptions when we least expect then–when
we suppose that the evil leaven will work no more, it may suddenly
gather force and the whole body of our nature will be in a ferment with
iniquity. The danger is near. Abide, therefore, near your Security.
Live with Him who renews your youth like the eagle's and restores your
soul!

I recommend you often put yourself under His searching examination. Go
to this great Physician and ask Him to look into your hidden parts–to
search you and try you–and see what wicked way may be in you, that He
may lead you in the way everlasting. A man may have a deadly disease
upon him and scarcely be aware of it because no skilled person has
looked upon him and observed his symptoms! And in spiritual things this
is a common mischief to which multitudes fall prey! Invite, therefore,
the eyes of the Lord Jesus, for in our most honest searches we miss
much and we are naturally prejudiced in our own favor, so that we are
pretty sure to give a verdict on our own side–and this may lead to
final and fatal self-delusion! If we entrust the search to Him whose
eyes are as a flame of fire, we shall not be deceived! I recommend to
you, from personal experience, to consult with this Doctor every day.

It is a wise thing, before you go downstairs into the world's tainted
atmosphere, to take a drink of His Elexir Vitae in the form of renewed
faith in Him. I am sure, at night, it is an admirable thing to purge
the soul of all the perilous stuff which has accumulated through the
day by full confession and renewed confidence. Lay bare your case
before Him! Conceal nothing. Beg Him to deal with you according to His
knowledge of your case. Make a clean breast that Christ may make a sure
cure. Conceal no symptom, however threatening, but tell Him the truth.
He cannot be deceived–do not attempt it–but tell every secret thing
before His all-surveying gaze. Entreat Him to search both thoughts and
affections, designs and motives. The evil may gather in secret places
unless His discerning eyes shall detect the growing danger and prevent
it by immediate action.

Then I very strongly recommend you always to obey the prescriptions of
the great Healer. "Whatever He says unto you, do it." Do not follow a
part of His orders and neglect the rest. The Lord Jesus must be
received as a whole, or not at all. Say not, "This is non-essential,"
for such a speech is flat rebellion! I do not believe in any Words of
our Lord being non-essential. They may not be essential to our
salvation, but every Word of Christ is essential to our spiritual
health! Neither can we disregard the least of His precepts without
suffering loss through our disobedience. Be very careful that you
follow the Lamb wherever He goes–no other kind of walking is safe in
such a world as this. Do what He bids you, as He bids you and it shall
be well with you.

Take care, also, to exercise great confidence in this Physician. Rely
upon Him without stint or question. Your cure is working wondrously
when you trust in Jesus heartily. Never doubt the Savior's power to
make you perfectly whole. Our

Lord can never be baffled–though all diseases should meet in one
person, He would overcome them all! Stick to this with unyielding
assurance. Let not the devil force you to doubt the boundless power of
your Lord. When our Lord Jesus set up to be Savior, He understood the
work upon which He entered. His is no apprenticed hand. He has never
had a failure! Never did a soul trust Him for salvation and remain
unsaved–and you shall not be the first to defeat His skill! Trust Him
with all your heart. There is no cause to doubt. Distrust is what you
have to fear–faith is your strength.

When you are healed, as I trust you are, already, speak well of your
Benefactor. Make a point of going round to your neighbors, if you find
them sick, and telling them how you have been healed! Thus will you
make to your Lord a name of honor and renown. Tell all men what the
Lord has done for you. I know you can tell them that story though you
are no orator. When you were restored from sickness the other day, you
were quite able to inform your friends as to that new medicine which
acted like a charm–and you found a tongue to speak well of your
doctor–and I am sure you have ability enough to declare the wonderful
works of the Lord in your case.

"Oh, but I could not embellish the tale!" Do not attempt to embellish
it, for that would only spoil it! Tell the story as simply as possible.
I think it is of Mr. Cecil that I have read the following incident. A
friend came from some distance to inform him of a medicine which was to
relieve him of his disorder. This friend told him all about it and,
having done so, entered into conversation upon the current matters of
the day. The result was that Mr. Cecil was greatly interested in the
talk and when his friend was gone, he quite forgot every ingredient of
the wonderful medicine. Beware of allowing the many things to drive the
one thing necessary out of your friend's mind! When we preach fine
sermons our hearers say, "That was prettily put." They do not so much
notice what we taught as how we taught it–and this is a great evil!
Even so, if you go and talk about your salvation to your neighbor and
narrate it eloquently, she will say, "Mrs. So-and-So has been here and
told me about her conversion in such beautiful language! I do not know
that I ever heard such elegant sentences. It was most delightful to
hear her." What did she say? "I do not know what she said, but it was
very beautiful."

Thus many a sermon or Sunday school address is overlaid and buried
under its own robes! Pity that those we seek to bless should be more
taken up with our pretty words than with our adorable Master! I hope I
have not, this morning, fallen into the evil which I lament. Lest I
should have done so in any measure I would make my text, my banner, and
display it again. The Lord has said, "I will restore health unto you,
and heal you of your wounds." I believed that Word of God when I was
sick and wounded and, "the Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will
sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in
the house of the Lord."