Spiritual Transformations

Spiritual Transformations

(No. 3044)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1907.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON A THURSDAY EVENING IN THE
YEAR 1865.

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" Isaiah 4:13.

For many centuries the Holy Land has been covered with thorns and
briers. Travelers tell us it is so exceedingly barren that except upon
the dreary desert of Sahara, you cannot find a more absolute sterility
than in many parts of Judea and Israel. But the land will not remain
forever thus unproductive. Even now, in spots where it can be
cultivated, it flows with milk and honey, and the day is coming when
the chosen people shall return to their own land which God has given to
them and to their fathers by a Covenant of Salt–and when again they
shall begin to irrigate the hills and to plant the valleys, to
cultivate the vineyards and to scatter the seed broadcast into the
well-plowed furrows! The Holy Land will again blossom–"Instead of the
thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come
up the myrtle tree." When this is done, the whole world will ring with
the fame thereof. They will say, "Is this the Zion whom no man sought
after? Is this the land which was called desolate? Is this the city
whose name was FORSAKEN?" Then shall Mount Zion again be "beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth." And then shall the whole land
flow with fertility–"and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

But the spiritual meaning of our text, to which we draw more immediate
attention tonight, is this–God, by His Grace, is able to work moral
and spiritual transformations. Men, comparable to thorns and briers,
are, by the Sovereign Grace of God, changed and renewed so that they
may then be compared to fir trees and to myrtles. This wonderful
transformation is to the glory of God and is to Him "an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off." Let us talk a little with one another,
first, concerning these transformations. Secondly, concerning how they
are worked. And, thirdly, let us contemplate their happy result–they
"shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall
not be cut off."

I. Let us talk CONCERNING THESE TRANSFORMATIONS.

It appears, from our text, that there are some men who may fitly be
compared to thorns and briers. The similitude may be applied to their
original Here we must all take our share. The thorn is the child of the
curse. The brier is the offspring of the Fall. There were no thorns and
briers to cause the sweat to flow from Adam's face until after he had
sinned. Then did the Lord say to him, "Cursed is the ground for your
sake; sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life, thorns also
and thistles shall it bring forth to you." And we, too, are the
offspring of the curse. What says David? "Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." We are born under sin.
We are subject to it from our very earliest moments and we go astray,
not merely by the imitation of bad example, but from the force of a
corrupt nature.

It may be that there are some here, this evening, who feel that they
are under the curse. You cannot look back upon your original without
discovering this. It may be, my Friends, that your parents taught you
to sin–you cannot remember ever having been instructed in the way of
God. It may be that this very moment you can recollect some of the
earliest training that you received–and you remember that it was such
as might fit you for the service of Satan, but could not lead you to
the Cross of Christ. You feel that you are under the curse and you have
met such afflictions and your own heart is so heavy that if I were to
write anyone down as a child of the curse, you would boldly say, "Put
my name in the list. Indeed, I am born of a traitor and I feel in my
blood the taint of his sin." There is comfort for us,

however, even though this is true of us! We are thorns, but the Lord
can transform us into myrtles. Jehovah knows how to remove the curse of
the first Adam by the blessing of the second Adam. He can tear up by
the roots everything that is vile, sinful and accursed, and can plant
in the place, thereof, everything that is lovely and of good
repute–and so we shall inherit His blessing. So be of good
comfort–though you are now under the curse, the Lord Jesus, who was
made a Curse for us, is able yet to pronounce you blessed!

Again, the thorn is the true image of the sinner because it is of no
sort of service. I suppose almost everything has its use, but I do not
know that there has been discovered any use for the thorn and the
brier. So has it been with many of us, and it is so with some of you
tonight. What have you done for God? Twenty years, young man, have
brought you to maturity, but what quit-rent has the Almighty ever
received from you? Perhaps 40 years have ripened your manhood, but,
hitherto, what songs of praise have gone up to Heaven from you? What
acceptable fruits have you laid upon God's altar? You are His
vineyard–what ripe grapes have ever come to Him from you? He has dug
about you. He has protected you by the wall of His Providence and
watched over you with tender care. How is it that when He looks for
grapes, you bring forth only wild grapes? When He expects to have some
return for the talent which He has committed to your care, how is it
that you have wrapped it in a napkin and have hidden your Lord's money?
You have been useless– not exactly so to your fellow men–your
children have received your care–you have been, perhaps, some help to
your neighbors and to your friends. But, as far as God is concerned,
the natural man is perfectly useless! He brings no harvest to the great
Owner of the ground. Did I say, just now, you were 40 years old? What
if there should be, in this place, some unconverted person of sixty,
seventy, or even eighty? And all these years, in vain has the light of
Heaven shone for you! In vain has the Divine long-suffering said,
"Spare him yet another year." In vain the preaching of God's Word to
you and all the ordinances of His House–you are still bare, leafless,
fruitless! You have only lived unto yourself and you have in nowise
glorified your Creator and your Preserver. You are a thorn and a brier!
Yet be of good comfort–if you have a heart for better things, God can
make you into the fir tree and the myrtle that yield genial shade and
gladden the gardens of the Lord! He can yet transform your uselessness
into true service and take you from among the idlers in the market to
go and work actively and with success in His vineyard!

The thorn, too, (we have only commenced upon this point), wastes the
genial influences which, falling upon good wheat, would have produced a
harvest The rain fell today, but it fell upon thorns and briers as well
as upon the green blades of the wheat. The dews will weep and they will
fall quite as copiously upon the thickly tangled thistles and matted
briers as upon the cottager's well-weeded garden. And when the sun
shines out with cheering ray, he will have rays quite as genial for the
thistle and for the briers as for the fruit trees and for the barley
and the wheat. So it is with you unconverted men and women! You have
received God's daily favors in as great abundance as the righteous
have. No, perhaps you have had even more! You have been sitting,
clothed in fine linen, like Dives, while God's own saints have been
rotting at your gates, like Lazarus. You have not pined for lack of the
outward influences of the means of Grace. Some of you are
sermon-hearers. You are constantly within God's gates. You frequent the
place where the proclamation of mercy is freely made. Your Bibles are
not unknown to you and yet, all this has been wasted on you. Are you
not near unto cursing? Visited by daily favor, rebuked by conscience,
awakened at times by the natural motion of your own heart, awakened by
God's Spirit, awed under His Word and yet, for all this, you are aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel! Yet despair not! If your souls seek
after better things, God is able to transform these wasteful thorns,
these briers that bear no fruit into fig trees that shall shower their
luscious fruit all around!

It was a foolish saying of a certain preacher that the tares would
never become wheat–what business had he to strain Christ's parable?
This I know–the brier can become a myrtle and the thistle can become a
fir tree by Divine Grace! Did the man mean to deny the possibility of
conversion? Did he mean to say that Almighty Grace could not turn the
lion into a lamb, the raven into a dove? If so, he uttered a direct
blasphemy, for there is no miracle of Grace which God cannot perform!
He can take the black lumps of ebony and make them alabaster! He can
cast the tree of the Cross into Marah's bitter waters and make them
sweet as the water of the well of Bethlehem for which David thirsted!
He can take the poison out of the asp and the sting out of the
cockatrice–and make them serviceable to God and man! The camel can go
through the needle's eye! Know for sure that nothing is too hard for
the Lord! He can accomplish whatever He pleases.

To continue our remarks upon the thorn and its transformation into the
fir tree–Is not the thorn a hurtful thing? It rends and tears the
passers-by. Sometimes, if I would pursue my path straight across to
yonder point, I must break through a hedge of briers–and how often has
the Christian been tormented and torn by the thorns of the ungodly? Let
the age of martyrs tell how God's saints have had their flesh torn from
their bones by these thorns and briers! And let a weeping mother tell
how her son has broken her heart and turned her hair prematurely gray.
And let a sorrowing wife tell how an ungodly husband has sent her to
her chamber with briny tears streaming from her eyes. And let us all
tell how sometimes our ungodly relatives have made our hearts beat fast
with dread anxiety for them! Lot cannot live in Sodom without being
vexed and David cannot sojourn in Mesech without crying, "Woe is me,
that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" But
remember, however much you have persecuted God's saints, however
harshly you may have dealt with the followers of Christ, the Lord is
able to transform you into one of them! Paul little thought, when he
was riding to Damascus, that it would be so with him. He had his
precious documents all safe. "I will harass the Nazarenes," he seemed
to say. "I will bring them to the whipping post. I will drag them out
of the synagogue and compel them to blaspheme!" Little do you know,
Paul, that you shall soon bend the knee to that very Jesus of Nazareth
whom you hate! A light shines about him, brighter than the noonday sun!
He falls from his horse. He hears a voice which says, "Saul, Saul, why
do you persecute Me?" Them meekly he asks, "Who are You, Lord?" And the
answer comes, "I am Jesus whom you persecute: it is hard for you to
kick against the pricks." Ah, Sinner, perhaps you do not know that you
are persecuting Jesus. You think that it is only your child, or your
wife, or your mother. But, in persecuting the members of the body of
Christ, you persecute the Head! Saul of Tarsus is lead by the hand to
Damascus and, after his conversion, who is more bold than he? The
preacher upon Mars' Hill, the witness before Nero, the aged man of God
sitting in the dungeon, the child of God with his head upon the
block–this is the man who persecuted the saints of God–but is now
full of zeal above all others for the spread of the knowledge of
Christ! The thorn is turned into a fir tree and the brier into a myrtle
tree.

Nor have I yet exhausted the figure. The thorn sows its own seed and
when the winds blows they bear upon their wings the thistledown–and
the seed is dropped here and there and everywhere! You cannot keep
thistles to themselves. If you grow them in your own garden, they will
be in your neighbor's garden before long. And if your neighbor grows
them, it will be difficult for you to keep them out of your plot. And
here is the worst point about an unconverted man. If you have been
doing mischief, your children grow up in your own image, or your
servants imitate their master. If you are an unscrupulous trader, you
assist to make other traders, if not palpably dishonest, yet
scandalously lax. Your language pollutes the air you breathe. Or if you
keep that tolerably right, your sentiments are not without their
influence upon your fellow men. You live not unto yourselves. If you
were to lead a hermit's life, your very absence from society would have
its influence. If you are literally a leper, I may shut you up and make
you cover your lips and cast ashes on your head and cry, "Unclean!
Unclean!" but with your spiritualleprosy, I cannot so seclude you. You
will taint the air wherever you go–it is not possible for you to do
otherwise than to spread pollution round about you. O thorn,
seed-sowing thorn, my God change you!

Do I tonight address some infidel who has been very earnest in the
propagation of his views? How would my heart leap if the Lord would
make you just as earnest in lifting up the Cross upon which you have
trampled! He can do it! I pray God that He may. Do I speak tonight to
one who has been furiously set against the things of God? Brethren, the
worst of sinners make the best of saints! And if the Lord shall please
to touch you, you shall be just as hot for Him as you now are against
Him. He that has much forgiven shall love much. No one could break an
alabaster box of precious ointment but the woman who was a sinner. John
Bunyan used to say that he believed there would be a great band of
saints in the next generation, for his own generation was noted for its
many great sinners and he did hope that as these great sinners grew up,
God would transform them into great saints. We could mention many names
of men who have been, as it were, the devil's sergeants, but who, when
God has once transformed them into His own soldiers, have made most
blessed recruiting sergeants for the Kingdom of Christ. Look at John
Newton, John Bunyan and other men of that stamp–and see what Sovereign
Grace can do in similar cases.

Yet once more. I cannot help remarking that it was the thorn and the
brier that composed the crown that pierced the Savior's temples. And it
is our sins, our cruel sins, that have been His chief tormentors. Every
soul that lives without Christ, after having heard of Him, is piercing
Christ's temples afresh. When you think that He is unwilling to forgive
you, that ungenerous thought wounds Him more than anything else. And
when you speak ill of His name–when you slander His people and despise
His saints, what are you doing but plaiting another crown of thorns to
put upon His head? Yet you, you who have pierced the Savior's brow, you
can yet become a myrtle to crown that brow with victory! The Savior,
having fought for you and won you–having bought you with His heart's
blood–will put you as a wreath about His brow "and i t shall be to the
Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not, be cut off."
The meaning of the whole is that God does, by the power of the Gospel,
transform His enemies into His friends. He turns men from darkness to
light, from the power of Satan to the Kingdom of Christ, from being
possessed with devils to become full of the Holy Spirit, from being a
den of dragons, full of sin, to be temples where every Grace shall
shine to reflect the Glory of the Most High. Some of you can bear
witness to this as a matter of experience–others of you contemplate it
with strong desire.

II. Secondly, we are to consider HOW THIS TRANSFORMATION IS WORKED IN
MEN.

It is worked by the secret and mysterious agency of God the Holy Spirit
Certainly, dear Friends, it can never be worked in us by the power of
man! Let us tremble if our religion rests upon any man, for that is a
poor, unstable foundation. I learn each day more and more my utter
inability to do good to my fellow men apart from the Spirit of God.
There come to me, sometimes, cases that completely stagger me. I try,
for instance, to comfort a broken heart. I seek, but in vain, all sorts
of metaphors to make the Truth of God clear. I quote the promises, bow
the knee in prayer and yet, after all, the poor troubled spirit has to
go away still unbelieving, for only God can give it faith! There are
other cases where we know of men who have lived in sin and God has been
pleased to put His afflicting hand upon them and we do not know what to
say to them. They profess repentance, but we fear it is only remorse.
They talk of faith in Christ, but we are afraid it is a delusion. We
would convince them of sin if we could. We remind them of the past and
they give an assent to every sentence we utter against them, but yet
they feel not the evil of their own ways. Oh, it is hard work to deal
with sinners! It needs a sharper tool than man can keep in his toolbox.
Only God Himself can break hearts–and when they are broken–only the
same hand that broke them can bind them up.

It is the Holy Spirit, then, who is everywhere in the midst of His
Church, who comes forth and puts Himself into direct contact with a
human spirit and, straightway, a change is affected. I cannot tell you
with what part of man the Holy Spirit begins, but this I can tell
you–He changes the whole man! The judgment no longer takes darkness
for light and light for darkness! The will is no longer obstinately set
against God but bows its neck to the yoke of Christ! The affections are
no longer set upon sinful pleasure, but they are set upon Christ! It is
true that corruption still remains in the heart, but a new heart and a
right spirit are given. There is put into the quickened soul a living
Seed which cannot sin because it is born of God–a living Seed which
lives and abides forever! "I don't know," said one, "whether the world
is a new world, or whether I am a new creature, but it is one of the
two, for, 'old things are passed away, and all things are become new.'"
When Christ descends into the human heart to reign, He seems to take
this motto, "Behold, I make all things new." Therefore is "a new Heaven
and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness," within that poor
sinner's heart! It is a complete change. You will observe that it is
not the thorn, somewhat trimmed and pruned–it is not the brier made to
grow upon a wall and trained into order–that is reformation. But it is
the thorn turned into a fir tree– this is a perfect re-creation, a
making anew of the man and this happens to everyone of us, by the power
and energy of the Divine Spirit, or else in the garden of the Lord we
shall never bloom, nor ought we to join the Church of God on earth, for
we have no part nor lot in the matter.

But, while I have said that it is the Spirit who works this change, you
are enquiring by what means He does it If you will kindly refer to the
chapter from which my text is taken, you will observe that the Lord
Jesus has to do with it– "Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to
the people, a Leader and Commander to the people." That verse comes
before my texts. We must know Christ before we can ever be changed.
Some people think they are to change themselves and then come to
Christ. Oh, no! Come to Jesus just as you are! It is the work of His
Spirit to change you. You are not to work a miracle and then come to
show the miracle to Christ, but you are to come to Chris to have the
miracle worked. It is Christ's work to begin with the sinner as the
sinner, even as the Good Samaritan did with the man who fell among
thieves. He did not wait for him to be cured before he helped him, but
he poured oil and wine into his wounds, lifted him upon his beast, and
then carried him to the inn. And Christ is able to save to the
uttermost all who come unto God by Him.

But the chapter seems to teach another lesson. You say, "I know that
the Holy Spirit brings Christ home to the heart and conscience, but how
am I to get at Christ?" The chapter tells you. It says that God's Word
shall not return unto Him void. The way by which Christ is discovered
and found by a sinner is by Christ being preached to him! "Hear, and
your soul shall live." That is the Gospel! The way by which Christ
comes into the soul is through Ear-gate. "Satan tries to stop up
Ear-gate with mud," says John Bunyan. But, oh, it is a glorious thing
when God clears away the mud of prejudice so that men are willing to
hear the Truth of God! There was an old man, a member of this Church,
who used to preach every Sunday in Billingsgate. Many persons tried to
begin a controversy with him, but he was an old soldier in more senses
than one and his answer, when anybody tried to dispute or enter into an
argument with him, was, "'Hear, and your soul shall live!' I have not
come to argue, but to preach the Truth of God–'Hear, and your soul
shall live.'" That was a plain answer, sure enough!

Now you know that simple trust in Christ is all that He asks of
you–and even that He gives you. 'Tis the work of His own Spirit. Hear
this, then, you thorns and briers, before God sets Himself in battle
array against you–before His fires devour you! Hear the gentle notes
of a Father's heart as He speaks in Gospel invitations to you, "Come,
buy wine and milk without money and without price." "Ho, everyone that
thirsts, come you to the waters." May you all be brought there! May
God's Grace bring you all to lay hold on Christ!

III. And then, to close–WHAT IS THE RESULT OF THIS TRANSFORMATION?

To whose honor shall so beneficial a change accrue? "It shall be to the
Lord for a name. "As soon as that great sinner gets converted, it makes
a buzz and a noise in the workshop where he goes. "What?" they ask,
"has that wretch become a saint?" He used to curse, but, "Behold, he
prays!" He could drink with the drunk, but now he walks in the fear of
God "in all temperance and sobriety." He could not be trusted, but now
temptation cannot turn him from his integrity. The name of Christ at
one time brought the blood into his cheeks, but now–

"Sweeter sounds than music knows Charm him in Immnanuel's name." I say
there is a buzz about the workshop–the men say to one another, "What
is the meaning of this? How came this about." And though they hate the
change, yet they gaze at it and admire it. They cannot understand it.
They are like the magicians of Egypt–they cannot do these things with
their enchantment and, therefore, they are compelled to say, "This is
the finger of God." If God converts some ordinary sinners, He does not
get half as much glory out of them as He does out of these
extraordinary ones. The man whose vile character was known in a whole
parish, whose name was foul in the court where he lived, who had
acquired a reputation for evil in the whole district–when this thorn
becomes a fir tree, then everyone wonders! If I had in my garden a
great brier which had once torn my hands, but one day when I walked
down I saw, instead of that briar, a fir tree growing and a genial
shade could be enjoyed under its branches, how astonished I would be! I
would naturally ask, "Who has done this? Who could have transformed
this brier into a fir tree?" And so, when a great sinner is converted,
the finger of God is recognized and God is glorified! Even the ungodly
are compelled to honor the name of the Most High when other ungodly
ones are saved!

And then as to the church, the members are, perhaps, at first rather
shy and cannot believe it is true. They hear that he who once
persecuted the Brothers and Sisters, now professes the name of their
Master and, at last, they get good evidence of the truth of it–and oh,
what hallowed glee there is among the sons of God! There is a church
meeting and he comes forward to confess his faith–they know how foully
he has erred and they rejoice to see him brought back again. There may
be one "elder brother" who is angry and will not come in but, for the
most part, the household is very glad when the prodigal returns! And
chief in joy among you all, when such a scene occurs, is the one who
has preached the Gospel to you. Oh, the joy of my soul when some of you
were brought to Christ! I remember the cheering nights I had and how I
went to my house rejoicing and triumphant in my God because of some of
you! You were once foul, "but you are washed, but you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit
of our God." And truly, there would be more of such joy if others were
brought in! Some of the best of the members of this Church are those
who were brands plucked out of the burning. May we have more such
sinners saved by the blood of Jesus!

Nor is this all. There was an angel present when the deed was done.
They are always present in the assemblies of the saints–hence it is
that the women have their heads covered–"because of the angels." If no
one else could see it, yet the angels, who cover their faces when they
bow before God, would have us come into His Presence in decency and in
order.

This angel hears us weep–a stream of light ascends to the regions of
the blessed. Straightway the bliss spreads throughout the celestial
field and, as the news is propagated, "A prodigal has returned, another
heir of Glory is born," they take their harps and tune their strings
anew! They bow with great reverence! They sing with loftier joy! They
shout with more glorious praise, "Unto Him that loved the souls of men
and washed them in His blood, to Him be glory, and honor, and power,
and dominion, forever and ever!" And thus the songs of Heaven are
swollen, made more deep, more mighty with tumultuous joy by sinners
saved on earth! Yes, they tell it in Heaven that the thorn-brake has
become a grove of firs, that the brier has become a myrtle and what,
shall I dare to say?–even the Divine Trinity break forth in joy. Their
joy cannot be increased, for God over all is "blessed forever." But
still, it is written, "He will rest in His love, He will joy over you
with singing." Is it not said that when the prodigal was yet a long way
off, his father saw him? Can it be that among the servants and friends
there was joy and none in the father's heart? Impossible! The Eternal
God, Jehovah, Himself, views with delight the chosen of His heart!
Jesus sees the purchase of His blood! The Spirit sees the result of His
own power and so, up to the very Throne of God, the impulse of a sinner
saved is felt! She came from the brothel. He came from the prison and
yet even Heaven thrills with the news! She had defiled herself with
sin. He had polluted others with his crimes and yet angels tune their
harps to Jehovah's praise because of them! Was that prophetic when the
woman broke the alabaster box and filled the house with the perfume?
Was that prophetic of what every repentant sinner does when his broken
heart fills Heaven and earth with the sweet perfume ofjoy because he is
saved? And when she washed the Savior's feet and wiped them with the
hair of her head, was that also prophetic? Did that show how Jesus gets
His greatest honor, His purest love, His fairest worship and His
sweetest solace from sinners saved by blood? I think it was so. May He
get such joy from us! Truly Jesus died for me and, at the foot of His
Cross, I now stand weeping to tell of His true love to sinners! And O
poor Sinner, Christ is able to save you! Whomever comes to Him, He will
in no wise cast out. Oh, that you would come! May Sovereign Grace
compel you to come in!

I sat, this afternoon, looking at one with a withered countenance and a
sunken cheek, marked out for death, once a member of this Church, but
foully fallen and gone far astray. And I remember two or three of his
age, once also professors who, strange to say, also went away from God
as he did. When I talked to him about the Lord and His infinite
compassion, I could but have in my mind's eye the prodigal who wasted
his substance with riotous living, and yet his father did not spurn
him, did not even rebuke him, but he–

"–was to his Father's bosom pressed,

Once again a child confessed,

From his house no more to roam." And I thought I would say to you
tonight–

"Come and welcome, Sinner, come." Do not think that God is harsh. Think
not that Christ is not tender. There is no breast so soft as His, no
heart so deeply full of sympathy. He cries over the very worst of you,
"How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How
shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is
turned within Me. My repentings are kindled together. I cannot destroy
you, for I am God, and not man." Oh, shall my Savior plead with you in
vain? Shall the tears of Jesus fall to the ground? Shall the love of
God have no attracting influence? Shall not Mercy, as it rings its
silver bell, draw you to the feast of love? Oh, why will you die? Is
sin so sweet that you will suffer for it forever? Are the trifles of
this world so important in your estimation that you will lose Heaven
and Eternal Life? I pray you "seek the Lord while He may be found: call
you upon Him while He is near," and think not that He will reject you,
for "He will abundantly pardon." Oh, may He do this tonight!–

"My God, I feel the mournful scene!

My heart yearns over dying men

And gladly my pity would reclaim

And snatch the firebrands from the flame!

But feeble my compassion proves,

And can but weep where most it loves–

Your own all-saving arm employ,

And turn these drops of grief to joy!"

O Lord, do it, for You can! Come forth, O Jesus! Mount Your chariot!
Hell shakes at Your majesty. Heaven adores Your Presence–earth cannot
resist you! Gates of brass fly open and bars of iron are snapped. Come,
Conqueror, and ride through the streets of this city and through the
hearts of all of us, and they shall be Yours, "and i t shall be to the
Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
May God command His blessing on you, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM84.

Verse 1. How amiable are Your tabernacles, O LORD of Hosts! "Though
they are only tabernacles, temporary structures that are soon to be
taken down and carried away, they are very dear to us. Your tabernacles
are so lovely to us because You meet us there."

2. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart
and my flesh cries out for the living God. A little starving brings on
an appetite for health-giving food–and a brief absence from the House
of God through sickness, or by reason of distance, makes a Christian
sigh and cry for the dainties of the Divine Table. Even the heavy
flesh, which is so slow to move, at last joins the heart in crying out
for the living God!

3. Yes, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for
herself, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O LORD of
Hosts, my King, and my God. He envies even the sparrows which have no
sort of bashfulness, but boldly enter God's House and find a house for
themselves there. O Lord, make me like the sparrows, blessed in finding
shelter in the courts of Your House! As for the swallow, she makes
God's House a nest for herself, and a place where she may lay her
young. And it is blessed when our children, as well as ourselves, love
the House of God–when they have been so nurtured and cherished that
they are at home there. We may well envy the sparrows and the swallows
when we and our families are unable to go up to the House of the Lord.
And it is as sad for those who have to go up to a place where there is
nothing good to be had, a place where the Gospel is not preached and so
their souls are not fed.

4. Blessed are they that dweel in Your House. The men who are always
occupied in the Lord's service, or those who are in God's House even
when they are in their own houses–the men who are always at home with
God, who feel that the canopy of Heaven is the roof of God's House in
which they dwell and who, therefore, never go away from God's House,
but always dwell there with Him–

It also brings to us–at least it does to me–a painful remembrance of
the time wasted–time spent unprofitably before our conversion when, if
we were not actually doing damage to the souls of others, yet we
allowed opportunities for doing them good to glide by unused. Oh, these
blessed hours, these precious hours, these more than golden hours in
which Christians may win souls for the Lord Jesus Christ! Angels never
had them and the spirits of just men made perfect have them no more.
Though they can render other and perhaps yet higher service to their
Lord, this special service of soul-winning is reserved for us who are
still living on this earth. We have, at the longest, only a few days,
or weeks, or months, or years allotted to us in which we may glorify
God by being a blessing to our fellow creatures after we have found the
Lord for ourselves! Yet some of us allowed many years to pass away
before we even gave earnest heed to these things for ourselves. Those
of us who were brought to know the Lord in our early youth, bless Him
for that, yet we

regret that we were not saved in our childhood. We wish we had given to
God the very first rays of the morning of our life as well as the
bright beams of the fuller day, so that we might have been made a
blessing to the Church and the world as soon as we had intellect and
understanding–and were capable of influencing the minds and hearts of
others.

There is another reflection which is also a sorrowful one and causes us
deep regret–namely that since the ever-blessed hour when the Holy
Spirit taught us to trust in Jesus and gave us new life in Him, we have
not been such a blessing to our fellow creatures as we ought to have
been. Not altogether in vain have we lived–we have not sown to the
flesh, but to the Spirit–yet how scanty has been our sowing of the
Good Seed of the Kingdom! And, in consequence, how small has been the
harvest that we have reaped! Oh, that we had availed ourselves of all
the golden opportunities we have had of serving the Lord Jesus Christ!
How much more good we might have done had we been earnest at all times,
fervent at all seasons, had we thrown spirit, soul and body entirely
into this holy service–and lived and breathed alone for our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ! If we had reached the ideal Christian life so that
we did eat, drink and sleep eternal life, having Christ living in us
and we living in Him, how much more we might have achieved than any of
us have yet done! The capacity to "be a blessing" to others was given
to all of us who have believed in Jesus at our conversion–but we have
left that precious talent unused to a very large extent. To some
Christians, and to some now present, this message must go home and this
question must be asked and answered–what have we done for Him who died
to save us? Alas, how little–at the most, how little–but by the most
idle, alas, alas, how little! God help you to turn your regret to
practical account while the glad sound of the text rings in your ears
like the music of a silver bell, "You shall be a blessing." Let your
tears fall plenteously as you recall the sad fact that before you knew
the Lord, you were a curse to others–and not a blessing–and that even
since you have known Him, you have not grasped the truth of the text
and realized the fullness of its blessed meaning as you should have
done, for such tears of regret will be likely to lead you to change
your course of action for the future!

II. Let us now notice, in the second place, that OUR TEXT IS CALCULATED
TO EXCITE INQUIRY as well as to quicken regret. Inquiries will come
something in this style from young Believers, "Will you kindly tell us
what we can do by which we shall be a blessing? We hear the promise of
the text, but how can we get it fulfilled in our own experience? In
what way can we be made a blessing to others?" Beloved Friends, there
are many ways in which God can make you the channels of blessing to
your fellow creatures if you are, yourselves, regenerated by the Holy
Spirit.

First, it will probably be by your consistent conduct that you will be
made a blessing to others more than in any other way. An unholy
professor is a downright curse both to the church and to the world and,
as for a church of inconsistent members, Satan himself could not devise
an instrument more fitted to carry out his diabolical purposes! A
community of ungodly men that is known by everybody to be a synagogue
of Satan is robbed of much of its power to do mischief–but if it is
misnamed a Church of Christ, it is potent for all manner of evil! An
unholy professor outside the Church of God may batter against the walls
with small effect but inside, he would be like the concealed soldiers
in the wooden horse who opened the gates of Troy to the besiegers. It
was only an Apostle who could be such a "son of perdition" as Judas
was, so beware, you who profess to be followers of Christ! You have
great capacities for usefulness, but your position gives you immense
capacities for doing damage to the cause of Christ. Only holy
Christians are useful Christians–and the preaching of Christ's Truth
must be backed up by the consistent living of Christ's followers if it
is to have its due effect upon the hearts and lives of the ungodly. No
doubt many a shaft has missed the mark because it has not been shot
from the bow of a consistent preacher, or because it has been turned
aside by inconsistency in the church of which he is the pastor. Oh, for
holy living! The honest tradesman who has just weights and measures.
The diligent domestic servant who sweeps under the mats and in the dark
corners. The laborious workman who may be trusted when his master is
absent. The man who would not tell a lie even though he could win a
fortune or a throne by doing so. The man who in all things acts justly
towards men and walks humbly before his God–these are the people who
"shall be a blessing" to all around them! If a man had no tongue and so
never spoke a word. If it were not in his power to bestow as much as a
farthing upon the poor. If he could not visit the sick or the
prisoners, yet his very presence upon the earth would be in itself a
blessing–a silent reproof, but none the less eloquent to ungodly
men–and a powerful example to such as wish to walk in the way of
righteousness. "Be you holy," for so shall you serve God and serve the
Church of Christ and, in the highest sense, serve your generation and
serve the world! I love to sing, with John Newton–

"Let worldly minds the world pursue, It has no charms for me! Once I
admired its trifles too, But Grace has set me free! Now, Lord, I would
be Yours alone, And wholly live to Thee!"

But, in addition to that, all Christians may be made a blessing to
others by instructing them in the Truths of the Gospel. The world is
still very dark, spiritually, though many people foolishly speak of
"this enlightened century." It has "light" of a certain sort–or
rather, of a very uncertain sort–within it. But the light that is in
it is almost entirely darkness! It is still true of the bulk of
mankind, as it was in Isaiah's day–they "put darkness for light, and
light for darkness.. .bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" Today the
scarcest thing in the whole world is true spiritual light and, where it
is revealed, men hate it and try to banish it from their sight!
Philosophy is exalted above Revelation. Science, falsely so-called, is
set up in the place of Christ who is the Wisdom of God, though true
science is never in conflict with the true Gospel. And anything that
pretends to be light is preferred by many to Him who is "the true
Light." Spiritual Light is mainly conveyed to the dark souls of men
through the proclamation of the Gospel–the good news concerning Jesus
Christ, the Savior of sinners. So, proclaim that–

"Old, old story

Of Jesus and His love"–

to as many as you can! Tell it to thousands, to hundreds, to
scores–tell it to one if you cannot tell it to more. Tell to all, as
far as you can, these precious things concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ–His Incarnation, His holy life, His wondrous Words, His perfect
example and His substitutionary death! Tell these things to your
children and charge them to tell them to their children–and to charge
their children to tell them to the generation following. Tell that
great central Truth of the substitutionary Sacrifice of Christ to the
man who sits beside you in the tram or train, or who calls at your
house on business! Seize every opportunity you can get of letting men
know, by the Inspired Word of God, or by the written or spoken message,
all that you can about "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood,"
"and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." And not
only justified, but also glorified! Every true testimony to Christ
brings glory to God and blessing to men. A preacher may halt and limp,
his elocution may be faulty, his theology may be open to criticism–but
if it is "the Gospel of Christ" that he proclaims, it will be precious
Truth to the saints who hear him–and sinners will be saved by it!

Not only by instructing men will you be a blessing to them, but also by
reproof. This is a far more difficult matter and probably nine out of
ten of us had better keep to the easier task of giving instruction. Yet
now and then there will come occasions when you must not see sin in
your Brother or Sister without rebuking it. If I hear blasphemy and am
able to condemn it, yet do not, my silence makes me a sharer in the
sin. I am always afraid lest when I hear God's name blasphemed, my
guilty silence should make me an accomplice of the blasphemer. A rebuke
need not be and should not be discourteous or disrespectful. And it
should not be unduly severe, but I am afraid that nowadays we are not
so likely to err by our harshness, as by failing to be faithful to our
conscience and our God. We must boldly stand up, at all costs, for God,
for truth, for purity. Shut your ear to the lascivious song–do not
allow it to be sung in your house–and let not scandal be spoken at
your table! Set your face like a flint against sin of every kind and,
God speeding your testimony, you "shall be a blessing."

More frequently, however, and much more pleasingly to yourself, you can
be a blessing by giving words of comfort. And often something more
substantial than words to the poor and afflicted ones with whom you may
come into contact. If you know someone who is fighting with a fierce
temptation, go and help to succor him. If you know another who is
struggling with a troublesome doubt, try to assist him to drive it
away. Your experience may be just what he needs to know, so tell him.
Be not backward or bashful in speaking of what the Lord has done for
you. I am always grieved when I hear of any persons coming to this
Tabernacle for a long time and nobody speaking to them–let it not be
so. Do endeavor, Brothers and Sisters–you who know Christ by
experience–to tell others of the sweetness that you have found in Him
and of the faithfulness of God to His promises–and of the power of
prayer and the reality of faith. You will thus bring many a poor soul
out of bondage who, but for you, might have lingered long in Doubting
Castle in the dungeons of Giant Despair. God grant you the Grace "to
speak a word in season to him that is weary." A word on wheels, as
Solomon calls, "a word fitly spoken," is like apples of gold on plates
of silver.

Besides that you can be a blessing by your actions, as well as by your
words. Some of you have the means with which you can assist your poorer
neighbors. Of all people who ought to be kind and neighborly. Of all
who should be sympathetic and generous, the Christian should be the
first! The tendency nowadays is to get everything under a cast-iron
code of law and I should not wonder if a law is passed, some day,
making it penal to give sixpence to a poor person who is starving.
Somebody said to me today when I was telling him how I had been
deceived by a vagabond whom I had relieved, "It is such as you who make
the vagabonds." If so, I shall go on making vagabonds sooner than let
the stream of charity in my soul be frozen into ice! It is better to be
taken in a few times than to let the heart become hardened like steel
against the real poverty that there is in London and many other places
besides–the gaunt, grim poverty that may soon be seen if we will but
take a little trouble to search for it. Be charitable, notwithstanding
all the mischief that unworthy applicants may make of your charity,
remembering the command of our Savior to His disciples, "Give to him
that asks you."

You can also "be a blessing" in many other ways which I need not
mention now. In such a vast city as this metropolis, there is work for
all to do. A Christian living in a remote hamlet might, perhaps, say to
his minister, "Sir, can you find me an opportunity of serving the
Lord?" But no person who lives in London ought to ask another person,
"What can I do for Christ?" If he is willing to do anythingfor the
Master, the work lies at his door! Floods of sin are surging all around
you–and sinners are sinking in them! Stretch out your hands to help
them–

"Rescue the perishing, care for the dying–

Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave." In such a city as this,
with hundreds of thousands–I might truthfully say, millions–needing
the Bread of Life and the Water of Life–and with many of them
literally needing bread and water–all of you can do something to
relieve them! And I beseech you, if you love your Lord and Master, do
the first thing that comes to hand and "whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might." Well did Dr. Horatius Bonar write–

"'Tis not for man to trifle!

Life is brief,

And sin is here.

Our age is but the falling of a leaf, A dropping tear.

We have no time to sport away the hours, All must be earnest in a world
like ours. Not many lives but only one have we, One, only one–

How sacred should that one life always be, That narrow span!

Day after day filled up with blessed toil, Hour after hour still
bringing in new spoil."

III. Now we must pass on to the third point which is that OUR TEXT IS
ALSO CALCULATED TO SUGGEST ENDEAVOR. It has quickened regret and
excited inquiry–now it suggests endeavor. But what endeavor?

Well, first I think it stirs us up to look for a blessing upon what we
have already tried to do for Christ and His Church. You, my Brother,
have been teaching a Sunday school class for two years–is it not time
that you saw some blessing? Go and look for it! Perhaps in looking for
it, you will be the means, under God, of bringing it to your scholars.
I think that an earnest, godly teacher, believing that God had blessed
his message, would be well repaid if he asked the boys or girls in his
class, "Has God blessed your souls through my teaching?" If he asked
that question with tears, it might be more effective than all his
ordinary teaching. And you, my dear Brother, have you been preaching in
some little mission-room in London or in the country and have you seen
no "fruit" from your sowing of the Good Seed of the Kingdom? Have you
asked, "Who has believed our report?" If so, I ask you–"Have you
believed the promise of my text, 'You shall be a blessing'?" If not, do
so at once and go and inquire if there has not been a blessing–and
never rest satisfied until you have it!

Next, the text bids us look for a blessing wherever we may be and
whatever we may do. What have you been doing just lately? You have
moved to a more suitable neighborhood? Then let one of your first
questions there be, "How can I

be a blessing here?" You have been recently married. I congratulate you
and suggest that you should ask, "How can I, in my new relationship, be
made a blessing?" You, my Friend over yonder, have gone down in the
world lately–well then, ask yourself, "For what purpose am I put in
this lower position? Is it not that I may be a blessing to some whom I
could not have reached under happier circumstances?" Are you a
commercial traveler? Are you not sent from town to town to be a
blessing to those you meet? Are you a tradesman? Are you not put behind
the counter to be a blessing there?

So I might go on addressing the members of various trades or
professions, but I want to remind you that there are some persons who
ought, above all others, to aim at being a blessing to their fellow
creatures. And I put, first of all, ministers of the Gospel. O my
Brothers in the ministry, if we are not a blessing, we are a double
curse! Every so-called "place of worship" in which the true Gospel is
not preached is a curse, for it is like a sepulcher full of rottenness
doing nothing but harm! Worldlings more often judge Christianity by
fruitless trees than by fruit-bearing trees. O preacher, be a blessing,
or never enter the pulpit again!

This rule should also apply to parents. What a blessing Christian
parents often are to their children! I can conceive of nothing more
natural and, at the same time, nothing more blessed than a father and
mother who, by precept and example, have trained up their children in
God's fear and whose loving instruction and earnest prayers have been
blessed by the Holy Spirit to their children's salvation! What greater
joy can we have than to see our children walking in the Truth of God?
God grant that you, fathers and mothers, may all diligently seek to be
a blessing to your offspring!

There may be some domestic servants here. If so, let me remind you that
you have great opportunities for being made a blessing. Good servants
can contribute much to the well-being of the family. By the faithful
discharge of their duties, they may be the means of preventing others
from committing sin. Whereas on the other hand, untidy and idle
servants create so much discord in the household that they are the
fomenters of sin! I do not know of any person who can have so much
influence for good as a godly maid who has the care of little
children–one who, instead of scaring them with wicked threats or silly
tales, talks to them discreetly concerning Him who said, "Suffer the
little children to come unto Me." I have known domestic servants who
were earnest Christians, who have gone to live where there was no
religion whatever, no family prayer and no Sabbath observance–and
without ever intruding beyond their proper place, they have worked a
blessed revolution in the house–and their masters and mistresses and
fellow servants have been brought to Christ by their godly example! Let
all Christian servants here endeavor to get the fulfillment of the
promise of our text, "You shall be a blessing."

I might speak thus to you who have the duty and privilege of
instructing the children in our schools, to you masters of large
factories, to you who, as workingmen, meet with great numbers of your
fellow men–all of you ought to aim at realizing this promise, "You
shall be a blessing." Dearly beloved in Christ, let me say to all of
you–Do, by God's Grace, maintain a holiness of walk with God and then
seek to be a blessing to others. Look at the six words before our
text– "So will I save you, and you shall be a blessing." It is only as
you yourselves are, in the fullest sense, saved–saved from falling
into sin, saved from inward corruption, saved from error–it is only as
you are conformed to the image of Christ that you can expect to be a
blessing to others. Do, I pray you, as members of this Christian
Church, always feel that you are to take your full share in being made
a blessing to others! There are some who hold that blessing comes to
men only through priests–that is what I hold! I believe that no
blessing comes to men except through priests! First, through the great
High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then through all who believe in
Him, who are, as Peter says, "a holy priesthood" and "a royal
priesthood," and whose song in Heaven shall be, "Unto Him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father–to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen."

The priesthood of the Christian Church is common to all the saints!
There is no other true priesthood but that of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
cannot discharge any of your religious duties or relieve you of any of
your responsibilities. My own are quite heavy enough for me to bear–I
will seek, as God gives me Grace, to discharge them–but I cannot
discharge the responsibilities of any other person in the world! You,
having been personally redeemed by Christ, personally washed in His
blood, personally saved by His Grace, are to render personal service to
Him. All proxy-religion must be abhorrent to Christ, "who His own Self
bore our sins in His own body on the tree." He did not seek to find
someone else to save you, for He knew that no one else could do it! He
tread the winepress alone and of the people there was none with Him.

So, to your personal Redeemer render your personal service. Give
liberally of your substance to help others to do their part of the
work, but give yourself–spirit, soul and body–for these are claimed
by Christ as "your reasonable service."

IV. Now I must conclude by trying to show you that our TEXT FURNISHES
US WITH MANY

CONSOLATIONS. "You shall be a blessing."

Some of you have to live in places where you are not comfortable.
Perhaps you are not in a neighborhood that you like. Possibly in the
very house where you live there may be others whose thoughts and
feelings are very different from yours and, sometimes, you are grieved
and perhaps perplexed because you have to live there. But if God put
you there, "you shall be a blessing." My dear Friend, Mr. Orsman of the
Golden Lane Mission, has often told me that the results of his work
will never be visible in Golden Lane because as soon as a man is
converted, he begins to save, he becomes industrious, wears a better
coat, seeks a better house, for he cannot live in that dirty room in
which he once lived and he cannot bear the foul language of the court
or alley–so, very properly and very naturally–he moves away!
Unhappily there are always others coming in to keep the place as bad as
ever. Now, when a Christian man is compelled to live in such a place as
that, let him conclude that he has been put there that he may be a
blessing. If that is your trying lot, my Brother, fight the devil where
you are placed, on his own ground! It is not fair that you should have
the pick of the spot where the great duel is to be fought. Fight the
devil where he has a firm foothold and beat him by God's Grace! I think
if I were a gas lamp and had the choice of the place where I should be
hung–and it was proposed to me that I should hang up somewhere in the
West End where there is already abundance of light streaming from the
fine shops–I don't know that I would particularly care to be put
there. But if there was a dark corner where thieves were in the habit
of meeting and where much mischief might be done if it were not for the
light of a lamp–I fancy I should ask to be hung up there where I
should be of the most use! At any rate, if you are placed, in the
Providence of God, in a dark neighborhood, let this be your prayer, "O
Lord, make me a blessing here!"

Perhaps, however, you are a member of an ungodly family. Now, you had
no hand in that matter. You were not responsible for your birth and you
cannot get out of that family into which you were born. Now, instead of
saying, "I wish I had a Christian mother and that our house were
ordered in God's fear," say, "God has called me, by His Grace. At
present I am the only one saved, but He must mean me to be a blessing
to my brothers, sisters and parents and, therefore, I am thankful that
He has put me where I am needed. I will try to do everything that shall
be kind to them–I will win their love if I can and I will also try to
win them for Christ." I am really thankful when some of you come to
join the Church and tell me that there is no other in the house who
cares for the things of God–for I look upon your conversion as getting
in the thin end of the wedge! If we get one who fears God inside the
house, I hope we shall get more, for, blessed be God, good example is
contagious as well as bad! God grant that since it is your unhappiness
to have ungodly relatives, it may be your happiness to "be a blessing"
to them!

It may be that you are persecuted, that you live in places where you
are sneered at, where the Doctrines that are dearer than life to you,
are regarded with contempt and Scriptural ordinances, in which you
delight, are held up to constant ridicule. Do not altogether regret
this, but say to yourself, "Perhaps I am put here in order that I may
be a blessing to my persecutors." Do not imagine that the unlikeliest
man to get a blessing out of you is the one who laughs most at you. I
sometimes think that the infidels who shout most loudly have more faith
than others and that because they are afraid they shall hear conscience
speak, they make a great clamor to try to drown its voice! When a man
bullies you, there is a great deal better opportunity for you to get at
him than when he says, as so many do, "Oh, yes, Sir, it is all
true"–and there the matter ends as far as they are concerned. But
there is something in a man who will stand up to oppose you and you may
yet be able to say a word for Christ that will be blessed to him. Why
should we want to run away because men mock us? If they say, "Come and
fight," let us go and fight–only with other weapons than theirs– with
the weapons of holy gentleness giving a good reason for the hope that
is within us with meekness and fear, for that is always the more
powerful way of speaking! Do not, therefore, fear persecution, but
rather thank God for it, and say, "I have to endure this that I may be
a blessing to those who revile and abuse me."

Brothers and Sisters, I think our text furnishes sweet consolation to
any who have been engaged in very arduous service. Have you a great
deal to do for Christ–a great deal too much to do, it often seems to
you? Are you incessantly occupied about the Lord's business? Then thank
God for it, for He has said, "You shall be a blessing"–and the more
you have to do for Him, the more blessing you are likely to be the
means of conveying to others!

Or on the other hand, are you passing through a very trying experience?
If so, you are being qualified for greater usefulness. Your dark
experience will only teach you more that you will be able to teach to
others concerning God and His dealings with His own. Believe that you
will become a blessing to others by means of your trials and cheerfully
bow your heads to overwhelming floods of sorrow in the confident
assurance that you will thus be made a blessing to others–and so bring
glory to God!

Yes, Beloved, and we may even be content to die if our last testimony
shall be more useful than any that we have borne before! If God will
enable us to glorify Him by being a blessing to others, we will be
content. I hope we can say that we desire nothing on earth compared
with this–to be blessed of God and to be made a blessing by God. We
covet not earthly wealth or position, but we do covet the honor of
being a blessing! Have an insatiable thirst for this honor, beloved
Brothers and Sisters in Christ–to be a blessing to tens, to hundreds,
to thousands, to the millions of this great city! Incessantly strive,
by your private prayer, by your generous alms, by your kindly deeds, by
your public testimony, to be a blessing and may God bless you more and
more–you and your children–for His dear name's sake!

But, alas, there are many who cannot be a blessing to others, for they
are not themselves saved. They are getting gray, but they are not
saved! Death will soon call for them. Hell opens wide for them and they
are not saved! May the Lord have mercy upon all of you who are not
saved and may He, by His Grace, constrain you to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and then to make the Scriptural profession of your faith,
for HE said, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." May God
grant that you may all "be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation," for Jesus' sake! Amen.