A Command and a Promise

A Command and a Promise

(No. 3212)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
19, 1863.

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." James 4:8.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon, upon the same text, is #2795, Volume
48–THE DOUBLE DRAWING NEAR.]

NOTICE the sentences immediately preceding our text–"Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to
you." Wherever we are, we must come into contact with the unseen powers
either for good or evil. Go where we may, we cannot shut ourselves away
from them. If we could take the wings of the morning and fly to the
uttermost parts of the earth, spiritual beings would still be all
around us there. Doubtless there are many invisible spirits, good or
evil, in our midst at this moment, and when we go forth to our homes,
or tomorrow go to our business or other duties, they will still attend
us–the evil spirits seeking to lead our souls astray and the holy
angels carrying out their sacred commission–"to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation."

These spiritual beings are divided into two bands. One band is under
the leadership of that great fallen spirit– great, though fallen–who,
by his masterly genius, has secured control over multitudes of other
spirits who do his bidding and yield to his will with unquestioning
obedience. You also may surrender yourself to him if you will–he is
the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air–and you may,
if you will, be his slave. You may be girded with his chains, you may
serve in his servitude and you may earn the wage which he will pay you
at the last, for, "the wages of sin is death." But, surely, the
admonition of the practical Apostle James is a wise one and we shall do
well to take heed to it and revolt from our old master! Let us break
his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us! In the name of Jesus
let us resist the devil and he will flee from us. Jesus has a far
greater host of spirits under his leadership than Satan has and, at His
command, they shall keep us in all our ways, and bear us up in their
hands lest we dash our feet against a stone. His legions are far
mightier than those of the black Prince of Darkness and their services
shall all be at our disposal, whenever we need them–as soon as we have
renounced all allegiance to our former tyrant lord!

Now, having noted the connection of our text, I am going to apply it to
three classes of persons. First, to the Believer. Secondly, to the
backslider. And then, last of all, to the unconverted.

I. First, then, we have here, A MESSAGE TO THE BELIEVER. "Draw near to
God, and He will draw near to you."

In Scripture, drawing near has various meanings. First, it means, draw
near to God in worship, in prayer and in praise. When the hen sees a
hawk in the air hovering over her brood, she gives a peculiar warning
cluck, calling her little ones to come to her while, at the same moment
she, herself, draws near to them. In a far higher fashion, the voice of
God calls you to Him, warning you of the danger that lurks all round
you. And while you run to hide from peril beneath the shadow of His
wings, He, on His part, runs to meet you as the forgiving father ran to
meet his prodigal son. You draw near to Him in the fearfulness and
feebleness of your supplication and He draws near to you in the
faithfulness and al-mightiness of His everlasting love! I am afraid
that we often pray as if our God were at a distance from us–this can
never be prevailing prayer. I do not despise that prayer which is like
shooting an arrow up to the Throne of God, but I love still better the
prayer that grips the Angel of the Covenant, the prayer that stands
foot to foot with Him and wrestles with Him until the breaking of the
day, and even then cries, "I will not let You go, except You bless me."
If you can draw

near to your Lord in prayer like that, He will certainly draw near to
you and you will be like a prince who has power to prevail with God and
with men.

Let me encourage you, dear Friends, who have been backward in your
private prayer, or who have cried to Him as though He were a long way
off–"Draw near to Him." There are no bounds set around this mount of
Grace as there were around Mount Sinai. You may climb up to the place
called Calvary and clasp to your bosom the Christ who there died upon
the accursed tree, for He is your Brother, your Friend, your Savior,
your All-in-All, if you are truly trusting Him! So to you I say, as
Paul wrote to the Hebrews, "Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the
Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in
time of need." "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." Come
near to Him and you shall soon have an answer to your prayers!

It is the same with praise, but I am afraid that often we do not really
draw near to God when we are professing to praise Him. I know that,
sometimes, when we are singing God's praises in our great assemblies
here, we are drawn very near to the gates of Heaven. At such times I
have felt as though I were swimming in an ocean of sacred delight! It
should be so with everyact of worship–it should all draw us nearer to
our God. There are times when we feel more closely drawn to Him in the
closet of private prayer than in the public services of the sanctuary,
but still, there is a special blessing attending united prayer and
praise which is not to be realized elsewhere. I remember reading of a
Jew who would not open a business in a certain town because there was
no synagogue in it. I wish that Christians would always be as careful
to settle down, if possible, in a place where they would not lack
religious privileges, for prayer and praise, like the two wheels of the
chariot which carried Jacob down to Joseph, bring us near to our
Beloved Lord and Master! And He, at the same time, comes to meet us and
draws near to us.

But I find that in Scripture, the term, "Draw near to God," is often
used in the sense of asking counsel of God. Thus the Israelites, when
they were in perplexity or difficulty, consulted the priest and he,
wearing the ephod and the breastplate with the mysterious Urim and
Thummim, was able to interpret the will of God as it had been revealed
to him. And now, though no sacred ephod or breastplate is worn by
mortal man, though the ancient oracles are dumb and though no earthly
prophet speaks infallibly according to the will of God, you may still
draw near to God, Himself, in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son, and
seek the guidance of His ever-blessed Spirit! I hope you will do so at
every step of your life, for what step is there that is not important?
Those that seem to us to be of the least significance may be the very
ones that will the soonest lead us into mischief. But there are certain
periods in our history when it is absolutely necessary that we should
say to ourselves, "Let us consult the Lord about this matter." Many of
you would never have been in the trouble in which you now are if you
had but waited upon God before you took a certain course which has
brought you nothing but sorrow. We heedlessly run before the
fiery-cloudy pillar moves–and when we find that we have rushed into
the waste howling wilderness, we lay the blame for our own folly at the
door of God's Providence! Let it not be so with any of you, dear
Friends. Let every morning's plans be spread out before the Lord to see
whether they meet with His approval. And let every evening's joys and
sorrows be brought to Him that He may show you how to glorify Him in
all that happens to you! Solomon truly said, "He that trusts in his own
heart is a fool." And David just as truly said, "But he that trusts in
the Lord, mercy shall compass him about." You need never lack Divine
guidance, for you can have it by asking for it! God is willing to guide
you if you will only seek His guidance. See to it, then, that you
practice the text in the sense of asking counsel of God–"Draw near to
God, and He will draw near to you."

There is a third meaning to the phrase, "Draw near to God." It is used
in the sense of enjoying communion with God. There are some here who do
not understand what I mean by communion with God. They are completely
puzzled by the very simple language of the Apostle John, "Truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ." There
are hundreds and thousands of people constantly attending church or
chapel who do not know the meaning of the word, "communion." If you
were to ask them what they understand by it, they would probably say
that it means eating a piece of bread and drinking a little wine at the
Lord's Supper. And more than that, if they were to ask me to explain to
them what true spiritual communion with God means, I would probably
fail to make them comprehend it. Yet you who, by Grace, have been
enabled to drink of these cooling streams, know well what that
communion means! Some of you who have been the most deeply taught of
the Spirit could sing through the whole Song of Solomon and see your
Beloved in it all–while to others it is only an Eastern love song
which is to them quite incomprehensible. You know Christ, not only by
faith, but by a sort of second sense which makes Him very real to you.
You have drawn near to Christ and talked with

Him–and He has drawn near to you and talked with you–and He has been
nearer to you and dearer to you than any earthly friend has ever been!
Oh, what joy Believers know when they realize Christ's Presence! When
His left hand is under their heads and His right hand embraces them!
Talk of Heaven–such communion is Heaven begun below! When Heaven's
gates are opened wide and the celestial sunshine comes streaming
through, it falls upon the eyes that have been illuminated by the Holy
Spirit–that is true spiritual communion–and the glorified spirits
above do but know that bliss to the full in knowing God and rejoicing
in the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, my dear Brother, you have been reading Rutherford's letters
and you have said to yourself. "Alas, I cannot hope to enjoy such
communion with Christ as Rutherford enjoyed!" But why shouldn't you?
Read our text again. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."
You, my dear Sister, may have read the life of Madame Guyon and you
have said, "What an angel in human form that woman must have been!" But
if you draw near to God, you may have as much love to Christ as she
had! And you may enjoy as much fellowship with Christ as she had, for,
"He will draw near to you." You have envied Mary because she sat at
Jesus' feet, or you have wished that you had been John, to lean your
head upon your Master's bosom. Well, you may do both these things in a
spiritual sense–and that is better than the carnal! "Draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you." To you, even to you, the very feeblest
of those who resist the devil, will God draw near if you draw near to
Him!

I think, however, that there is another meaning in our text, and that
is, "draw near to God" in the general strain and tenor of your life. We
all know that the sun, the great center of the solar system has several
planets revolving around him. Some of them comparatively near, others
at a greater distance, and some still more remote. And Jesus Christ,
the great Sun of Righteousness, has His people revolving around Him as
the planets circle round the sun! Some of them are very near the great
central Luminary. Others are far away, at a vast distance from Him, and
others are neither very near nor very far off, but somewhere between
the two. There are some Believers who are like the planet Mercury. You
do not often see that fast revolving planet because it keeps so near
the sun that it is usually lost in his bright rays. So is it with some
Christians–the world knows little of them–they make no noise as they
move along in their appointed orbit and they keep so near to Christ
that they seem to be absorbed into His radiance! Their thoughts are so
much occupied with Christ, their heart's affection is so fully given to
Him, that they do not talk much about earthly things. Their great
desire is to live in close and hallowed fellowship with their Lord.
There are others who are like the planets that are far away from the
sun, yet some rays of light and heat reach even them. And those
Believers who are living at a distance from Christ have some of the
Divine Light and heat within them, but oh, so little compared with what
they might have! Oh, that you who are so far off from God, would leave
your distant orbits and draw near to Him–for then He would also draw
near to you!

You know, dear Friends, that there is almost as much difference between
some Christians and others as there is between Christians and
worldlings–I said, almost, for there is not quite the same difference,
though there is nearly the same. There are heights of lofty
consecration and of intimate communion with Christ to which some
Believers have attained, but of which others have not yet even dreamed.
There is an inner circle of fellowship into which only a few privileged
saints have ever entered–these are the elect out of the elect who have
been distinguished above all the rest of Christ's disciples by the
loftier Grace which has been their peculiar characteristic. Oh, that we
had many more such Christians in all our Churches! There are a few of
them scattered about Christendom, like grains of salt, but we need many
more of them–men who, like Moses, have their faces made to shine with
a supernatural brightness because they have dwelt with God upon the
mount of secret communion–men who are not afraid to die because they
have looked without alarm into the face of God, through Jesus Christ
their Lord–and men who have learned how to live as becomes the Gospel
of Christ–and there is no higher life than that!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, "draw near to God!" Press towards the
highest degree of godliness that is possible for you to obtain! Seek to
have the closest communion with Christ that mortals can ever know while
here on earth. Do not be content to be in the outer courts, the
lobbies, the ante-chambers of religion–strive to gain admission to the
very Holy of Holies, itself, for that is where your Lord would have you
to be! You know that there is a sort of border-land where many
professors live, where a man is thought to be a Christian, but all the
while he is not even half a Christian. He is counted among the saved,
yet he lives on the very borders of damnation! And if at the last he
issaved, we shall sorrowfully have to add, "yet so as by fire." In some
respects he is a righteous man, as Lot was, yet, like Lot, he dwells in
Sodom. He is in some ways a good man, as Noah was, yet, like he, he
falls into shameful sin. Oh, that we could all rise above this wretched
condition and live continually so close to Christ that men would take
knowledge of us that we had been with Jesus, and had caught something
of His spirit–and had been so changed by Grace that we were far more
like He is than we now are!

There I leave my text with the Believer. I would gladly draw you near
to God, Beloved, by my words, if I could. But I know that He must,
Himself, draw you by His Grace if the drawing is to be effectual. So
let this be your prayer and resolve this very moment, "Draw us, and we
will run after You."

II. Now, in the second place, we have in our text AN ENTREATY TO THE
BACKSLIDER. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." I must
speak but briefly on this point, but I need to be as earnest as I am
brief.

So, Backslider, you have come in here, tonight. A friend who is up from
the country persuaded you to accompany him, or you would probably not
have been here, for you have almost given up going to a place of
worship–you think there is no hope for you. Friend, do you know what
your doom will be if you continue as you are now? Have you ever read
the story of Judas? Do you know what became of Demas, Simon Magus,
Alexander the coppersmith and others who turned aside from the faith in
the days of the Apostles? Remember those terrible, yet Inspired words,
"If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the
adversaries." It would have been better for you never to have had any
knowledge of the Truth of God than to have known it and then sinned
willfully against it, and so, after all, to be a castaway! If you are a
true child of God, though a wanderer from His ways, you will be brought
back to Him and I pray that you may be brought back to Him this very
hour! But if you are an apostate, a backslider in heart, you will be
filled with your own ways! Having filled up the measure of your
iniquity, you will be driven from God's Presence into the place of woe
where hope and mercy can never come!

Yet listen to me, Backslider, this terrible sentence has not yet been
pronounced on you. The voice of God still cries to you, "Draw near unto
Me." Where are you flying, my Brother? Are you seeking to escape from
God's righteous judgments? That is impossible, for His thunderbolts
will soon overtake you and seal your eternal doom! Run not away from
Him, but draw near to Him! Cast down your weapons of rebellion and fall
prostrate before Him, seeking the forgiveness which He is willing and
waiting to bestow upon you. Let me take you by the hand and try to
encourage you to come near to the Lord this very moment. Do you ask,
"How can I come near to Him?" Come just as you came to Him at the
first! Perhaps you reply, "But I never really came to Him aright." Then
come to Him aright right now! I came to Him as a sinner and He gave me
a hearty welcome–and He will receive you just as graciously if you
only come to Him with wholehearted repentance for your sin and true
faith in Jesus Christ as your only Savior!

But here is one who did run well, yet she has been hindered.
Backsliding woman, remember that your God is married to you and that He
bids you return to Him! Backsliding man, you have turned aside from
your God, yet He still loves you and cries out to you, "Return, return,
return!" The Lord still says, as He did in Jeremiah's day, "Return, you
backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." Oh, that you
would reply even as they did–"Behold, we come unto You, for You are
the Lord our God"! I am sure that you are not happy in your present
condition. On the contrary, you are as sad and miserable as you can
possibly be. This very House of Prayer reminds you of your former
privileges and joys, of the days when you delighted in God and felt
that you were, indeed, on your way to Heaven. You cannot be content to
live in the far country among the swine that are not fit companions for
you! Leave the husks to the pigs–they can never satisfy your hunger!
Come back to your Father, poor prodigal! Though your clothes are in
rags, though you are steeped in filth, though you have sinned most
grievously, come back to your Father and He will receive you with open
arms and open heart! I will not act towards you as the elder brother
did to the prodigal, but I will welcome you as a Brother if you are,
indeed, a Brother. But if you are not a Brother, you are a sinner–and
"this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners," even the very chief! So,
"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Put your
soul's affairs into His hands! ask Him to be your Advocate to plead
your cause before the King! He never yet lost a case that was entrusted
to Him–and He will not lose yours!

III. I have almost anticipated the last division of my discourse, but I
must close by giving from my text AN INVITATION TO THE UNCONVERTED.
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."

The great Gospel rings out again and the same note sounds to the sinner
as to the saint–not that there is any implication in this text that
the sinner can draw near to God by his own unaided power, or that he
comes first, and God comes next, or that there is any natural
willingness in the sinner to come to God. The text seems to me to show
the difference between the Law and the Gospel. God even said to Moses,
the chosen leader of His ancient people, "Draw not near here: take off
your shoes, for the place where you stand is holy ground." But under
the Gospel, God says to the sinner, "Draw near here. It is true that
this is holy ground, but it is sprinkled with blood–the blood of My
only-begotten and well-beloved Son. And if the blood is also sprinkled
upon you, you may draw near and you cannot come too near, so come and
welcome, Sinner, come!" If it were a question of merit, or of
justification by the works of the Law, the sinner might well try to
flee from the avenging hands of Divine Justice. But on the ground of
Divine Love, and pity, and mercy, and free and Sovereign Grace, the
sinner may draw near to God though he has nothing to recommend him! He
may come just as he is and God, in mercy, will draw near to Him! Should
there be here a swearer, a drunk, or one who has committed the foulest
of sins–the text says to him in the sense in which I have explained
it–"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." Sinner, if you
repent of your sins and trust in Jesus as your Savior, God will not
spurn you and drive you from Him, but He will draw near to you as you
draw near to Him!

Then, next, the text shows the sinner what God means to do for him. He
means to draw the sinner near to Himself and then Himself to draw near
to the sinner! This is done in two ways. It is done, first, by what
Jesus did for us when He split the veil that separated us from God. And
it is done, next, by what the Holy Spirit does in us when He splits the
veil that hides God from us! There are, or were, these two veils–the
veil that concealed the visible manifestation of God from men, which
was torn asunder at the moment of Christ's death–and the veil that is
over our own hearts which conceals God from us until the Holy Spirit
takes it away and we see God in Christ Jesus reconciled to us by the
death of His Son. I fear that there are even some in this congregation
who are living just as if there were no God at all. If there really
were no God, you would probably not be any different from what you are
now. God is not in all your thoughts or if you ever do think of Him,
you say, with the fool of whom the Psalmist tells us, "No God. No God
for me. I need no God and, as far as I am concerned, there is no God."
Well then, if you are ever to be saved, you will have to be brought
near to God by a power altogether outside yourself! You will have to be
made to feel that God is One whom you must love. You will be reconciled
to Him by the death of His Son and your heart will be filled with love
to Christ through the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit!

The text further shows what God will lead the sinner to do for himself.
Ungodly man, if you are ever to be saved, you must draw near to God in
prayer! Go to Him at this moment, just where you are sitting, and
confess all your sin to Him. There is no need for you to utter a word
that any of us can hear, for God can read the language of your heart.
Then you must draw near to Christ by faith. Just as that poor woman in
the crowd touched the hem of His garment and was immediately made
whole, so must you, by faith, get into contact with Christ! Trust in
Him as your one and only Savior, and He will certainly save you! And
this shall be the grand result of it all–you will draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you. Oh, that you would now cry to Him, "God
be merciful to me, a sinner." That will be drawing near to God in
penitence and contrition and supplication–and He will draw near to you
in gracious acceptance and blessing. And then one day He will call you
to draw near to Him in Heaven, itself, to sit at His table in Glory, to
feast with Him in His Kingdom! Then shall you, even you, wear a crown,
and wave a palm and forever adore that matchless Grace which first drew
you near to Him–and then draw near to you!

If there is one here who will go home to pray, "Draw me near, O God!"
Or better still, if there is one anywhere in this vast throng, whose
heart is praying, "Lord, save me! Draw me with the cords of a man,
(even the Man, Christ Jesus, the Friend of sinful man), with the bands
of love. O God, draw near to me, for I would gladly draw near to You!"
If there is one here whose eyes have in them the tears of penitence, I
point that one to Jesus, hanging on the Cross, and say–

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One!

There is life at this moment for thee.

Then look, Sinner–look unto Him and be saved–

Unto Him who was nailed to the tree!" Remember that the Son of God, the
Lord of Life and Glory, suffered indescribable shame and ignominy and,
at last, death, itself, for sinners–for every sinner who trusts in His
great atoning Sacrifice! If you are trusting in Him, that is

proof positive that He dried for you, died in your place, died that you
should never die, for He bore all the punishment that your sin
deserved, so there is none left for you to bear! He drank to the last
dregs the cup of wrath that was your due, so there is not one drop left
for you to drink! He suffered all that could ever have been your
portion even in Hell, itself, for being Infinite, there was no limit to
His agonies. And now, for you, there is no Hell, no torment, no
condemnation! You may know assuredly whether Christ died for you or
not–do you trust Him? Will you trust Him now? Will you say–

"Just as I am–and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot.

To You, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come"?

If You have said that from your heart, you are now a saved soul and you
may go to your home rejoicing in the Lord, for your sins, which were
many, are all forgiven and you are on your way to Heaven! God grant
that it may be so, for Jesus Christ's sake!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JAMES 1.

Verse 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greet-ings.The Apostle James
evidently believed in no lost ten tribes, as some, nowadays, do. They
were never lost–the Israelites whom we see nearly every day belong to
some of all the 12 tribes, so James addressed his Epistle, "to the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings."

2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.
Or, trials. [See Sermon #1074, Volume 29–all joy in all

TRIALS.]

3-5. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But
let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom. That is just what most of
us lack–"If any of you lack wisdom"–

5. Let him ask of God. That is the short road to true knowledge–to
pray. Study is good, no doubt, for the acquisition of knowledge. But
praying is the best way to obtain true wisdom!

5, 6. Who gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be
given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing unwavering.For the very
essence of prayer lies in believing that God can and will give us the
things which we seek at His hands.

6. For he that wavers.The man who does not know whether prayer will
succeed or not–

6. Is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. [See
Sermon #2537, Volume 43–A warning to waverers.] You can never tell
what will become of the wave. It goes just

where it is driven–and there are many men who can be good, after a
certain fashion, if they are in good company–but they can be just as
bad if the wind blows from another quarter! But if we have true faith
in God and true faith in prayer, we shall not be "like a wave of the
sea driven with the wind and tossed."

7. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord. What the wild waves are saying, we know not. So is it with a man
who is "like a wave of the sea." He utters words without meaning and
his prayer dies away like the roar of the billows upon the shore when
the fury of the storm has abated. "Let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord."

8. A double-minded man. A man with two minds–a mind to the religious
and another mind to enjoy the pleasures of the world–such a man–

8. Is unstable in all his ways.There is nothing solid or substantial
about him, nothing enduring. You cannot rely on him, for he is blown
here and there, as chaff flies before the wind.

9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. For the
Gospel lifts him up out of his poverty and makes him a child of God who
is spiritually rich, even though he is poor in temporal things.

10. But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the
grass, he shall pass away. Let him not, therefore, rely upon his wealth
as though it were anything but a trust and a burden laid upon him, for
he will have to leave it and

he, himself, "as the flower of the grass, shall pass away" Let him
rejoice to get down to the Rock of Ages! Let him lay hold of eternal
things as if he had nothing else in which he could trust!

11, 12. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it
withers the grass, and the flo wer falls and the beauty of the fashion
of it perishes; so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Blessed is the man that endures temptation. [See Sermon #1874, Volume
31–A DISCOURSE UPON TRUE BLESSEDNESS HERE AND HEREAFTER.] Or, trial.
The man that holds on and holds out under it and does not give way
under it–blessed is the man that is tried–

12, 13. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which
the Lord has promised to them that love Him. Let no man say, when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God. Here we must take the word, "tempted," in
its dark meaning, for the Scriptural word, "temptation," means two very
different things. When we are drawn towards evil, that is the black
meaning of the word, "temptation." But when we are tested or tried in
order that it may seen that the good in us is real–that is the bright
meaning of the word, "temptation." In that sense, God did tempt (try or
test) Abraham, but not in the other sense.

13-15. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man:
but every man is tempted when he is drawn of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is
finished, brings forth death.There is the parentage and the progeny of
sin. Sin comes of unbridled desire. A man feels that he must have a
certain thing–right or wrong–he is determined to have it. Then there
comes of that determination the overt act of sin! And what comes of
that? Why, death–for every sin, in its measure, helps to kill us–to
destroy that which is the real life of our manhood. Every sin is a drop
of poison. There are sweets that are poisonous and the pleasures of sin
are of this kind. And leave the poison of sin alone, let it work in its
natural way and it will bring forth death! That man, therefore, who
lives in sin and loves it, has nothing before him but everlasting
death! He may well tremble!

16, 17. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above. It never comes from within our own hearts!
It does not even come by imitation of better men–it must come from
God.

17. And comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. As every sunbeam comes from
the sun, so all Grace and virtue must come from God with whom there is
neither parallax nor tropic, as there is with the natural sun. He never
declines, He never varies–He is always the same. Now, in proof that
everything in us comes from God, James says that our very spiritual
life comes from God.

18. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. True Believers have been
twice created. The second time we were begotten, again, by the Word of
God that became the living seed within our spirits–out of which the
new life grew–and now we are "a kind of first fruits of His
creatures." Just as the first ears of ripe corn were brought into the
sanctuary and dedicated to God, so are all true Believers consecrated
persons, the "first fruits of His creatures."

19, 20. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man works not the
righteousness of God.We never do much for the Truth of God or goodness
by getting angry about it. Whenever a man debates about the Truth of
God and loses his temper, he has also lost his cause! I have heard of
one who knew little of true religion, who watched a missionary and a
Brahmin disputing. And he decided that the missionary was in the right.
When he was asked why he thought so, he said, "Because he kept his
cool, and the other man flew into a passion." Although that may not
always be a good test of the truth of the matter in question, it
certainly is a good test of how the dispute is going!

21. Therefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted Word,

which is able to save your souk. [See Sermon #1847, Volume 31–BEFORE
SERMON, AT SERMON AND AFTER SERMON–Read/download the entire sermon,
free of charge, at http://www.spurgeongems.orgj That evil branch is cut
away–now be ready to have a branch of a better kind inserted into you,
even "the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls"–that you
may bring forth better fruit than the old crabbed stock of Nature can
possibly yield!

22-26. But be you doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. For if any is a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is
like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholds
himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man
he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and
continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. [See Sermons #1467-b,
Volume 25– Volume 56 www.spurgeongems.org 7

TWO SORTS OF HEARERS and #1848, Volume 31–THE LOOKING
GLASS–Read/download both sermons, free of charge, at
http://www.spurgeongems.orgj If any

man among you seems to be religious, but bridles not his tongue and
deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain. That which is in
the well will come up in the bucket, and that which is in the heart
will come up on the tongue. An unbridled tongue denotes an unrenewed
heart. Oh, that God would always give us Grace in our heart to move our
tongue aright! Then, as the water guides the whole ship, our tongue
will guide our whole body and the whole of our manhood will be under
holy government and control.

27. Pure and undefled religion before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world. [See Sermon #2313, Volume 39–CHARITY
AND PURITY–Read/download the entire sermon,

free of charge, at http://www.spurgeongems.org.] Oh, how much this
means–tenderness to others and tenderness of conscience in ourselves!
How much Divine Grace we need in order that these two virtues may shine
brightly within us!