A Wonder Explained By Greater Wonders

A Wonder Explained By Greater Wonders

(No. 1812)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 7, 1884,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"You drewnear in the day thatIcalled upon You: You said, Fear not."
Lamentations 3:57.

How different are our experiences from our fears! This man of God had
said, "When I cry and shout He shuts out my prayer." He had said again,
"You have covered Yourself with a cloud, that our prayer should not
pass through." He had added to that, "Surely against me is He turned."
But now he corrects his misapprehensions. Neither was prayer shut out,
nor had God turned against him, for he joyfully confesses, "You drew
near in the day that I called upon You: You said, Fear not." As much as
to say–"Not only did You hear me, but You did come to me! Not only did
You hear me speak, but You did speak, Yourself, and I heard You
say–'Fear not.' Not only were You not turned against me as an enemy,
but You did prove Yourself my Friend by being my loving and tender
Comforter."

Brothers and Sisters, if our experiences have, so far, exceeded our
expectations and belied our doubts, let us take care that we record
them! Do not let us suffer our lamentations to be written in a book and
our thanksgivings to be spoken to the wind. Write not your complaints
in marble and your praises upon the sand! Let the record of mercy
received be carefully made, accurately measured, distinctly worded,
correctly dated and so preserved that in years to come you may turn for
your encouragement to it. Jeremiah tells us that on such a day the Lord
drew near to him. David remembered God from the Hermons and the hill
Mizar–time and place are elements of interest in the memory of the
Lord's great goodness.

Note the particulars, dwell on the details–abundantly utter the memory
of the Divine loving kindness! Maybe your children and your children's
children may read the story of your experience for their learning–and
nothing can be more fitting than that the fathers should thus lay up
for their children. Even though that record should contradict yourself
and bring the blush of shame to your cheek to think you should have so
calumniated your God, yet write it clearly and let it stand to the
Lord's praise and glory–and your own comfort in some future hour of
need. Write it, write it in capital letters, "I said I am cut off, but
I found it was not so. You drew near in the day that I called upon You:
You said, Fear

not."

Jeremiah seems to record this fact with a considerable amount of
surprise. He marvels that God should have drawn near to him, for his
condition was a very pitiful one. He was so low that life seemed ebbing
out and he groaned, "He has set me in dark places, as they that are
dead of old." In my own estimation I give one of the chief places among
mortal men to the Prophet Jeremiah. He was sent of God to do a most
painful duty which could not bring any honor to him, nor win for him
the love of those to whom he ministered. He was sent to prophesy among
a willful and disobedient people who would reject his admonitions. Like
Cassandra, he spoke true tidings and sad tidings, but he was not
believed. He pleaded with erring Israel–oh, how he pleaded! No Prophet
is more pathetic than he. I sometimes read the book right through and
it is a good thing to do that, with the books of Scripture, so as to
get the run of them–if you will do this with Jeremiah, you will be
borne away with the torrents of grief which swept over the Prophet's
soul.

Yet how constant and steadfast he was in love to the very people who
provoked and persecuted him. How he cries to God and pleads with Him on
their behalf, as affectionately as if they had been the most grateful
of children and he had been the most rejoicing of parents! He was a
grand man, that Jeremiah. He was as a mountain torrent, familiar at
once with great heights and profound abysses, deriving force from his
deep descents of woe. When he penned the words of our text, his sorrow
had come to a climax. They had put him into an underground cistern–I
was about to say into a dry well, only it was not dry. He sank in the
mire up to the armpits! Reservoirs which, at one season of the year
were filled

with water, were frequently used at other seasons as dungeons–and poor
prisoners were let down, far beyond all reach of light or fresh air,
into such horrible pits which were often knee-deep in miry clay.

Maybe the time of water floods would come on and the captive would hear
the rushing of the waters down the sides of his prison and feel it
flowing over the floor into some lower reservoir–so it would seem to
have been with the Prophet, for he writes, "Waters flowed over my
head." The Prophet's case was deplorable! He was cut off from all sound
of human voices and, let him cry as he might, there was none to have
any pity upon him. He was alone, forgotten, forsaken, refused by the
many and abhorred by the few who were in power. Doubtless his spirit
sank and we cannot wonder at it. A strong-minded, passionate patriot
who would have saved his country, saw himself put aside, even, from the
opportunity to rebuke and to exhort in the crisis of national calamity!
When he felt most necessary to his people, he was put away.

Then it was that the Lord drew near to him. When he was most reproached
and most persecuted of men, he had the sweetest sense of the nearness
of the Lord whom he served! Beloved, I think we have read enough of the
history of God's dealings with His people to understand that this is
His way–that if He ever is absent from His people, it is not in their
time of direst need–and if ever He reveals Himself to them as He does
not unto the world, it is when they are forsaken of all outward
consolation and, for His sake, are made to bear tribulation. The
tortured martyr, the banished Puritan, the hunted Covenanter, could
each say, "You drew near in the day that I called upon You: You said,
Fear not." The fainting sufferer, the weary worker, the dying Believer
has each, in like manner, joyed in the nearness of the Lord! Is it not
written, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through
the fire you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon
you. Fear not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God"?

Whatever wonder there was in the heart of Jeremiah that God should draw
near to him, you and I must have felt even greater wonder whenever God
has drawn near to us! We have cried out, like David, "What is man, that
You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You visit him?" It is
to us a standing miracle that the great and glorious and thrice holy
God should ever come and reveal Himself in a way of love to us
insignificant, dishonored, guilty sons of men!

This morning my subject is, first, an explanation of this wonder, that
God should draw near to us. And then, secondly, a further enlargement
of that wonder. I hope many of us can say, "You drew near in the day
that I called upon You." May the Holy Spirit refresh us while we call
this experience to mind.

I. Let us set forth some sort of AN EXPLANATION OF THIS WONDER. God
does draw near to men. He that fills all things communes with those who
are less than nothing and vanity! The Eternal converses with the
creatures of a day! He who is inconceivable in the majesty of His
Nature, nevertheless permits us, who are but dust and ashes, to speak
with Him as a man speaks with his friend! Why is this? I shall not
abate the wonder if I somewhat explain it by mentioning other facts
equally wonderful–great things and unsearchable, drawn from the vast
deeps of the Divine working.

The first thought I would suggest to you is that men have always been
in the thoughts of God. As we are taught by the Word of God, God has
always had a very singular regard to man. Of the eternal Wisdom we
read, "My delights were with the sons of men." Long before man was
created, it was in the eternal purpose that such a singular and
specially favored being should be formed–and all things concerning
Covenant purposes and designs were written in that book into which
angels may not look. I believe that from of old, the creation and the
sanctification of elect manhood was the apex of the great pyramid of
the Divine Purpose, the focus of the Divine Glory, that for which all
other things were made. There never was a time in which God, in the
thoughts of His heart, was not familiar with man! Of old there was a
Covenant of Peace on man's behalf and love everlasting dictated every
line. "How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O

God!"

When the time came for man's actual creation, those thoughts began to
take a visible effect. You must have noticed what a different tone
there is in the language of Moses when he reaches the creation of man.
The world, the lights of Heaven, the trees, the beasts, the birds, the
fish start into life at the almighty bidding–but when it comes to man,
a council is convened and the three Persons appear, saying, "Let Us
make man." Here is a clearer revelation of the Godhead and of the
inter-communion in the Divine Unity. It is added, "Let Us make man in
Our image, after Our likeness." There is something of the image and
likeness of God in all that He makes, for the work always bears some
trace of the

Worker. But, "Our image, after Our likeness"–is not for the lion or
the eagle, nor for the stars or the sun, but only for man!

I read not concerning seraphim, nor any of the angelic hierarchy, that
they bear the image and the likeness of God, but so it is written of
man–"Let Us make man in Our image." There was always about man some
high intent of God not then apparent and, indeed, never seen till He
appeared who is at once God and Man. In the creation of man, the Lord
always had an eye to that Man of men, the Lord Jesus, up to whom all
things lead. In the formation of man, God widened His communion with
His creatures–He began, for the first time, to hold communion with a
being who is only in part spiritual and, as to a part of his nature is
linked with materialism. God communed with Adam and thereby placed him
in an honor, in which, alas, he continued not. It was a wonderful
thing, that creation of man–I shall have to tell you a little more
about it before I have done–but in the very fact that man was made in
so special a manner, there was a drawing near of God to man.

Afterwards all the Providences of God worked for the creation and
conservation of a chosen seed–the fetching out and the maintaining of
a people separated from the world–a peculiar people, richly favored,
towards whom all the thoughts of God were thoughts of love. "When the
Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated
the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the
number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32:8). Whether it was Shem, or
Ham, or Japheth–these and their descendants were sent here and there
where they might best subserve the interests of the Kingdom of God. At
this moment the whole conformation of humanity on the face of the globe
bears a direct relation to the ultimate Church of God. Thrones and
crowns must all be subordinate to the main purpose of God concerning
His elect–it has been so and it shall be so–even to the end!

Depend upon it, the ultimate result of everything in politics has to do
with the eternal purpose of God in reference to His Church! Whether
there are wars, or rumors of wars, or famines, or pestilences–whatever
armies shall come or go, or dynasties shall rise or fall–all works to
the one end. The wheels within wheels, all full of eyes, revolve not
without purpose, but they move always in a straight line towards this
end–the accomplishment of the design of God in reference to His own
elect! I do not, therefore, wonder that God should draw near to His
people when I see Him always doing so and, when I perceive that they
are most upon His mind and nearest to His heart!

But secondly, remember that God has drawn nearer to us than we have as
yet hinted at, in becoming tenderly near in nature. There was a day, in
the fullness of time, when the Son of God took our nature upon Himself.
Marvel of marvels! He that made all things became a babe at Bethlehem,
bore all the weakness and infirmity of infancy, passed through all the
growth of boyhood, arrived at a toilsome manhood and then finished His
life-course! Jesus did not wear a nature like ours, but He bore our
actual nature–our flesh and blood! Sin is not of the essence of
manhood and Jesus had no sin– but all that is really manhood belongs
to the Son of Man who is, also, "over all, God blessed forever." He
became verily and assuredly Man of the substance of His mother–and
this day, the next of kin to every Believer is the Lord Jesus

Christ!

We say of Him sweetly what Naomi said to Ruth concerning Boaz, "The Man
is near of kin unto us." Jesus is our next kinsman! If I were in
trouble in a foreign land, it would be pleasant to hear the voice of an
Englishman, but it would be even more encouraging to spy out a
neighbor, a fellow citizen of the same town. But most of all it would
be cheering to perceive that a dear friend, a brother, a husband was to
the front on our behalf. Such a near and dear Friend is Jesus to each
one of those the Father has given Him! Look, here is your Brother, O
Believer, a Brother of such tender sensibilities and of such quick
sympathies, that in every pang that tears the heart, He takes His
share! Do you wonder, therefore, that when you call upon Him, He draws
near to you? It were not like He to hide Himself from His own flesh! It
were not like the Son of David to wear a heart of stone towards His
poor afflicted brethren! His Nature is love, itself! He will, He must,
come to you that are in sorrow–and sorrow with you and thus cheer your
hearts–for not in vain does He wear your nature and not in vain, in
that Nature, has He suffered and died for you.

Nor is this all. The Lord Jesus was especially near to His people in
the days of His life on earth. He was no mere observer of men, passing
through our midst as an English traveler might pass through China or
Tartary, seeing everything, but sharing nothing. It is very beautiful
to my mind to reflect upon the nearness of Christ as Man to men, for
there are certain men who, by temper, spirit and behavior, are a long
way off from the rest of mankind. Look at your princes and

your autocrats–they are scarcely to be seen with a telescope! They do
not appear to be persons of like feelings with ourselves. Look at your
exquisites, your men of pride, your men of pretended culture who bear
their heads above the clouds.

But Jesus was the most manlike of all men. I could propound to you,
today, the theory that Jesus was an Englishman–and prove it from many
points of His Character if I did not know that He was of the seed of
Abraham. Jesus of Nazareth is a Jew, but there is no Jewish peculiarity
about Him. He is a Man in the broadest, truest sense. It matters not to
you or me what nationality He actually came from, for the most
cosmopolitan of men was the Christ of God! I know several excellent men
whom I love and revere, but I despair of imitating them–the color of
their virtue has a tint in it peculiar to themselves. I am not made of
such stuff as would ever work up into their fashion, admirable though
it is. But I never thought thus concerning the Lord Jesus! I always
feel that, by His Grace, I can become like He. He is infinitely
superior to those admirable friends of whom I have spoken and yet He is
more imitable! The hill is higher, but in His case there are ways and
steps which invite–in the other cases there are crags which warn us
off. I have known good men with whom I shall never be thoroughly at
home until we meet in Heaven–at least we shall agree best on earth
when they go their way and I go mine! One never feels so with regard to
the all-glorious Lord Jesus. There our cry is, "Nearer, my Lord, to
You. Nearer to You." He draws us to Himself and the nearer we come, the
more fully we appreciate Him. If Jesus came thus near to men in His
life on earth, do you wonder that He draws near to them now?

Carefully notice that this was a nearness to sinful men. For, being
here on earth, He did not select for His companions persons of high
religious repute, men who practiced austerities, or severed themselves
from common life. He went down among the fishermen of Galilee. He
associated with poor people, uncultured and simple-minded. Yes, He
dwelt among the sinful people–"Then drew near unto Him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear Him." He ate and drank with them till
men said, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them!" He was at
ease at the social board where sat disreputable persons. He ate what
they ate, drank what they drank and kept up no distinction such as the
religious teachers of His day judged to be decorous and necessary.

You and I are sinners, too, and our Redeemer's nearness to the sinners
of Judea meant nearness to us. Oh, it is wonderful, that blessed
nearness of Christ to men and women! There were no moats and walls
separating Him from men, but all comers were received! They advanced
right up to His heart, unchallenged, and they spoke into His soul as
though they were familiar friends! Do you think it amazing that today
Jesus should draw near unto His own people when they are in their time
of sorrow? I do not. Remembering the sweet familiarities of the
Nazarene, it seems natural that He should manifest Himself to His own
redeemed. With holy adoring gratitude would I say, "You drew near in
the day that I called upon You"–a favor to be exceedingly valued, but
not altogether unexpected from such an One as the Friend of sinners!

Further, dear Friends, Jesus Christ came still nearer to us in His
death. How wonderfully near Jesus came to sinful men when He was
delivered up to His enemies to suffer death! To die at all was, for
Him, the closest fellowship with man, for death–say what you like
about it–must always remain a penalty for sin. And as such our Lord
endured it. He did not pass through death as a necessity of Nature, for
it was no necessity of Nature to Him. He died of set purpose for the
bearing of our sin and the putting away of it by the endurance of the
death penalty. Just think of it! Would you have supposed that Christ
would come so near to us that He would be found in the felon's dock?
Yet there He stood! Do you seek Him? Would you speak with Him? Will you
go to the palace of the King, asking for Him? If you do, you must enter
the Judgment Hall, for there He stands–bound, accused and tried!

They charge Him with sedition and blasphemy. "He was numbered with the
transgressors." There had been an entry made in the imperial registry
of His name as a child, born at Bethlehem, and now a second
registration must be made of Him! And He is entered in Pilate's book as
a malefactor–one of three who, on the same day, were given up to be
hanged upon crosses for their crimes. He was numbered with the
transgressors in so effectual a way that He suffered with them. Not
only was the registration made, but the decree of Pontius Pilate was
carried out–Jesus died in the common place of execution between two
thieves! They put Him in the middle because it was the place of
pre-eminence–He was judged to be the chief criminal. In the end of His
life, He draws so near us that He dies among transgressors–"He made
His grave with the wicked."

When they took down the carcasses of the thieves, they removed His
body, also, and His remains were given up to His friends as the remains
of one who had paid the last penalty of the law. It was not merely in
appearance and name that all this was so, for though no sin ever
touched the blessed Person of Christ so as to defile it–and He remains
forever One of

whom the Apostle says, "In Him is no sin." Yet there was a passing over
of sin to Him and, by way of imputation, He was justly numbered with
transgressors–and justly put to death with them. "For the
transgression of My people was He stricken." "He bore the sin of many."
He was made "sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him." This is coming wonderfully near to us!
Sin is, of all things, the greatest divider between a holy God and an
unholy creature–and if Jesus comes as our Beloved, leaping over the
mountains of transgression and skipping over the hills of sin–what is
to divide Him from His poor, suffering, but sanctified and justified
people? I wonder not that it is written, "You drew near in the day that
I called upon You."

He is now in Heaven! Turn your thoughts up to Him there. In Heaven He
is still perpetually near us. Beloved, He has carried our nature into
Heaven! The body of the Lord Jesus in Glory is the same as that which
was laid in the tomb! He sits on the Throne of the Highest in that
humanity which He received of Mary. The nail prints were visible while
He was here after His Resurrection and they are still manifest. "He
looks like a Lamb that has been slain." His wounds forever remind the
saints of His finished sacrifice. And what is He in Heaven? He is there
as our Representative. He is member of Heaven's high Parliament for the
sons of men and He holds His seat as such. He is head over all things
to His Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in
all! What is He doing in Heaven? He is not only representing us, but He
is preparing a place for us–making a niche in Heaven for you, a place
in Heaven for me–and all the while He is continually offering
intercession for His people. "He bore the sin of many and made
intercession for the transgressors," therefore, "He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
lives to make intercession for them."

Oh, You blessed risen Christ, I am not astonished that You come even to
my bedside and make the watches of the night bright to me with the
Glory of Your Presence, since even the sublimities of Heaven and all
the sonnets of the seraphim cannot take Your mind off, for a single
moment, Your own chosen people! Remember how our Lord said of old–
"For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I
will not rest until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns"? Always bearing our
names upon His breastplate, always beholding us as engraved upon His
hands, He is constantly so near to us that He cannot be nearer!

I have thus shown you, I think, why Jesus so readily draws near to us
at the voice of our cry. But there is one more matter of which I would
speak and that is so deep and mysterious that I would especially seek
the guidance of the Spirit of God before I speak upon it. Far be it
from me to set forth mere imaginations! I would only speak as the
Scripture warrants me. Jesus may well come near to His people, for
there is a mystical union which ensures it. A Divine doctrine, this, of
which Paul says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church"–and this in relation to the marriage union. As
sometimes in the worship of the heathen they cried, "Far hence, you
profane," for only the initiated might draw near to that special
mystery, so I feel inclined, when I am speaking upon this, to warn off
all wanton ears and careless minds.

There is a union between Christ and His Church which can only be
shadowed out by the union between a husband and his bride. I scarcely
dare speak of it in words, it is so holy and Divine. It has been said
and thought–and I think cor-rectly–that though Adam and Eve fell by
the same sin, yet they came to it by different ways. Paul tells us in
his Epistle to Timothy that, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman,
being deceived, was in the transgression." She fell by being tempted
and misled. But why did Adam eat? Was it not probably from excessive
love of the creature, a love of his wife beyond his God–as great a sin
as the other and, perhaps, more deliberate? Milton, we believe, was no
dreamer when he pictured Adam as meeting Eve after she had eaten the
forbidden fruit, and saying to her–

"I with you have fixed my lot,

Certain to undergo like doom:

If death consorts with you,

Death is to me as life

So forcible within my heart I feel

The bond of Nature draw me to my own

My own in you, for what you are is mine.

Our state cannot be severed; we are one,

One flesh. To lose you were to lose myself."

It was a desperate thing for Adam to do, to disobey his Maker and defy
His wrath–but he felt he was so one with her that he would share her
destiny. Will you now think of Him who is called the Second Adam? He
could not sin, nor in any shape or form become partaker with iniquity.
But when that Church of His, which was His bride, that God had given
Him to be His forever, had fallen, He resolved to maintain the bond
which bound Him to her and to suffer all the penalties which would
inevitably follow–

"Yes, said the Lord, with her I'll go,

Through all the depths of pain and woe.

And on the Cross will even dare

Her bitter cup of death to share." And so, never polluted, never,
Himself, a sinner, yet out of infinite love–that love bottomed upon an
eternal, mystical union between Himself and His elect–the great Head
of the Church came and deliberately took our nature and all the
consequences of our sin, that He might be one with us forever. He went
down to the depths with us, that He might bring us up into the heights
with Himself–that there His enthroned bride should be forever with
Him–a queen more glorious than eternity had ever seen! The Church was
taken out of the side of Christ and, in her case, it may be fitly said,
"The woman is of the man. The man is the image and glory of God: but
the woman is the glory of the man." Christ and His Church are no longer
two, but one by a strange, mysterious union which He thus describes–"I
in them and they in

Me."

Who shall separate what God has joined together? Now do you wonder that
Jesus draws near unto His people? I should marvel if He did not, for
would any of us wish to be away when our dear spouse is suffering? When
her heart is heavy, is not ours heavy, too? In a true, conjugal love,
such as I trust many of you feel, there is a degree not merely of
similarity and of communion, but even of identity between the two that
have become one. Now, we that are joined unto the Lord are one spirit,
one by eternal union and He must, therefore, draw near to us in a way
of sympathy and fellowship.

II. I have tried to set forth this mystery as best I can. Now I ask
your attention for the few minutes that remain to THE WONDER ITSELF.
What I have said makes it less surprising and yet fills us with greater
surprise. In one respect it makes it not wonderful, but in others it
makes it more wonderful than ever, that God, Himself, in Christ, should
draw near to us! In desiring you to notice the wonder itself, I would
remind you, first, that by no means is this wonder at all contrary to
expectation, when expectation is founded upon an enlightened
understanding. It is natural, it is necessary, that Christ should come
near to a people whom He loves so well. Love is attractive. It may be
that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but a fond heart hates
absence as it hates the fiend–and so the heart of Christ desires not
the absence of the Beloved and will not have it, either–for the blood
of Christ gives access to Christ and the heart of Christ, out of which
that blood comes, is never content until there is constant, intimate,
unbroken fellowship between the redeemed and the Redeemer. Do you not
hear Him say, "Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me,
be with Me where I am"? I say it is a great wonder that God should
dwell with men, but it is not a wonder contrary to expectation.

But, dear Friends, if you have ever enjoyed this communion, let me help
you to describe it, that you may wonder at it. What is the manner in
which God draws near to His people in their time of trouble? At times
He draws near to us by a secret strengthening of us to bear up when we
are under pressure. We may have no marked joys, nor special
transports– but quiet, calm, subdued joy rules the spirit. To my mind,
the best of states is the deep calm which comes of the peace of God
which passes all understanding. I care not so much for brilliant and
gaudy-colored joys–neutral tints of quiet joy suit my soul's eyes far
better. I will not ask to see the sun above me, but I will be content
to feel that, "underneath are the everlasting arms."

Do you not remember that when the burden came, you feared it, but did
not feel it, for the shoulder had grown stronger? When the need came
which you dreaded so terribly, it turned out to be no need at all–for
He who refused the meal also removed the hunger–He who denied the
garment took away the cold. The secret sustenance of the soul by God is
very precious. It is not observed of men, but therein the saints are
made to magnify their God. That unseen casting on of oil upon the fire,
behind the wall, is what we need–and it is a very charming way of the
Lord's drawing near to us in the time of trouble.

Furthermore, the good Lord often vouchsafes to His people in their time
of great pain and weakness and weariness a doubly vivid sense of His
love. It is not merely that they believe in that love as they find it
recorded, though that is a very

delightful matter, but they feel this love in the delight of it. They
know beyond all doubt and they feel beyond all question–"He loved me
and gave Himself for me." The alabaster box which they were accustomed
to hold firmly in the hand of faith is now broken, by love, and poured
out by enjoyment, so that the smell which was before latent, now
perfumes all the soul! It is wonderful what you can bear in suffering
and what you can go through in labor when, "a secret something sweetens
all"–that secret something the love of God!

It is dark, it is very dark. "No," says that inner spirit that dwells
behind the eyes, "I see clearly the Lord's wisdom and love even in this
dispensation." It is cold and chill. "No," says the soul, "I am warmed
and comforted by the love of Jesus, the fire of love burns within me, I
am even consumed therewith." Do you know what it is to have the love of
God shed abroad in your soul by the Holy Spirit? If so, then you know
what it is for God to draw near in the day when you call upon Him. At
such times the Lord grants us a sensible assurance of His sympathy with
us. We feel that every stroke of the rod comes distinctly from a
Father's hand who does not willingly afflict. We look up into His face
and feel that like as a father pities his children, so does He pity us.
We enter into the sorrow of our Father's heart while He is causing us
grief–with greater grief to Himself. We come to feel what it is to be
bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord Himself.

Extraordinary expression, is it not, where one said, "The soul of my
lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God." We
are joined unto the Lord and know it by feeling His heart beat with our
heart! It is a high degree of Grace to be so in sympathy with God, in
His afflicting us, that we would not have Him cease for our crying. Let
Him continue to do His will even though He crossed our wills! Let our
vine be pruned, yes, as sharp as may be, till it bleeds again, if the
Vinedresser sees that thus the clusters will be multiplied. Whenever
you get there, you will have well-near reached the end of your
chastisement–it has already produced the desired fruit!

The Lord draws near to His people's souls, sometimes, by a very speedy
and remarkable deliverance out of the trouble under which they groan.
He can draw near to you when you are plunged in poverty and He can
suddenly lift you to competence. When everything goes against you, He
can, in a moment, raise up a friend. When it appears that no chance nor
change can set you free, He can, Himself, be your Deliverer. Did He not
bring up Joseph out of the prison and set him on the throne of Pharaoh?
He can do the same with you if He wills, before your sun has gone down!
Nothing is impossible with God. The deliverances which He has promised
to His people, not only in ancient times, but in modern times, are such
as to make us feel we dare not doubt, much less despair. "Trust in the
Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

I am not quite done. I want you to notice the text again–will you,
please? If you will look at it, you will notice that in the record
there seems to be some surprise concerning the memorable graciousness
of God. "You drew near in the day that I called upon You." Then, I
suppose, there were other days in which he had not called upon God, or
at least had not done so so memorably. But in the first day when I
called upon You, You drew near to me. Does not that give us a hint, as
if he said, "I had neglected my God. I had failed to apply to Him. My
faith had been asleep but, as soon as I awoke, the Lord drew near to
me"? Come, then, you that have treated the Lord badly–do not stand
back through guilty shame! Though you believe not, He abides
faithful–He cannot deny Himself. All your sins and all your wanderings
have not alienated His great heart from you! Return repentingly and
begin again–begin from this day and you shall find that He will at
once bless you!

There seems to me to also be a Nota Bene here, a kind of hand in the
margin to point out the promptness of God. "You drew near in the day
that I called upon You"–the very day he called, God came! No sooner
the prayer, than the answer! Oh, the blessed quickness of God! When
David cried to Him, he says, "He rode upon a cherub and did fly, yes,
He did fly upon the wings of the wind." No pace is too swift for God to
come to the deliverance of His people! He is slow to anger, but He is
swift in mercy. Try it, you downcast and broken-hearted ones! Try it,
today, and then come and tell us if it is not so. "You drew near in the
day that I called upon You." I shall expect to see some of you coming
forward to join the Church, saying, "It was so, Sir. I no sooner began
to pray than the Lord appeared to me! He brought me up out of the
horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and
He has put a new song into my mouth and established my goings!"

One thing more–observe the extreme tenderness of all this. "You drew
near in the day that I called upon You, and said, Fear not." You
remember that text, "He gives liberally and upbraids not"? Here is an
illustration of it! Why, I

should have thought that when God came near to Jeremiah, He would have
said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" It would have
been a very gentle rebuke, but I should have expected as much as that.
And if the Lord had come to Jeremiah and said, "You neglected to call
upon Me and, therefore, you fell into this trouble," who would have
wondered? But no! The Lord's whole thoughts were about His dear child
and so He said nothing to him to wound him, but everything to comfort
him! Tenderly He cried, "Fear not!"

You mothers leave your children, for a little, to play together when
you are at work in the house, and presently you hear a crash and a cry.
One of the children has met with a heavy fall. He was climbing where he
ought not to have gone and he has had a serious tumble. One child
cries, "Mother, Johnny is killed!" Well, you know if you enquired into
the matter you would find that Johnny deserved blame, but you do not
enquire. You rush to pick him up. You notice that bruise on his
forehead and you are fearful for his legs and arms. You are ready to
faint as you notice that he is bleeding. Do you scold him? Ah, no! You
fall to kissing the poor child–his fault is ignored–you only think of
his pain! Your only concern is about himself.

And so with our gracious God! He comes to His poor, suffering, downcast
people and what He says to them is not– "You should not have done
so-and-so. This is very wrong of you. I must terribly correct you." No,
but He says, "Fear not, I have forgiven you and I will deliver you."
Remember the father in the parable when the prodigal came back? Did he
lecture him upon his immoralities? Did he say a word about his
ingratitude and folly? He did not notice his pimpled face and point to
his blotches as the result of his excess in wine with his riotous
companions. He did not point to his rags and tell him that these came
from his profligate expenditure. No, he said not a word of upbraiding,
but only, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on
his hands and shoes on his feet."

That is just what the heavenly Father will do and say if we call upon
Him! Therefore let us call upon Him in truth from this moment, before
we leave the pew, and may the Lord cause us, before long, to say, "You
drew near in the day that I called upon You, and You said unto me, Fear
not." God bless you dear Friends, for Jesus' sake. Amen.