Spiritual Convalescence

Spiritual Convalescence

(No. 3260)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
17, 1864.

"And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and
down in His name, says the LORD." Zechariah 10:12.

ACCORDING to our own natural conceit, we are very strong–it is as hard
for us to part with our belief in our own strength as with our trust in
our own righteousness! It is a very painful cut which severs us from
confidence in ourselves. But when the Spirit of God performs that most
necessary operation, then we discover that our supposed strength is
utter weakness and that our righteousness are but filthy rags! If our
eyes have been opened to see ourselves as we are in God's sight, we
know that we are weak as water and that from us, unassisted by Divine
Grace, there can never come any good thing. Our past experience might
have been sufficient to teach us this lesson. The feeble way in which
we have performed any duty that devolved upon us, the sad manner in
which we have met any temptation that assailed us, the impatient and
murmuring spirit in which we have endured any affliction that has come
upon us–all these must have shown us that even after we are renewed by
Divine Grace, though "the spirit indeed is willing," yet, "the flesh is
weak." And though to will is present with us, yet how to perform that
which is good we find not. We are not now like a stone which lies on
the ground and cares not to stir, but we are like a bird with a broken
wing which longs to soar into the clearer air above the clouds, but
which is quite unable to reach that higher atmosphere. We know
something of our weakness, but we probably do not yet know how weak we
are and, I suppose, it will be one of our life lessons to learn by
experience how great our weakness is.

Perhaps some of you have been discouraged by the consciousness of your
weakness and, in looking forward to the future, you have been greatly
distressed. You are anticipating some important duty for which you feel
quite unfit, or it may be that the shadow of some impending trial is
just beginning to fall upon you. Possibly you have come to the verge of
the Valley of the Shadow of Death and you know that the way to the
Celestial City lies thought it and you intend to press through it–but
you are half afraid of what will happen to you, there, for you know how
weak you are. And, perhaps, just at this juncture, Satan may have
whispered in your ear, "It is no use for you to try to get through! You
have started on a wild-goose chase and look how you already limp! Your
arm is so weak that you will be no match for the giants you will have
to fight. Give it up, Man–how can a poor timid creature such as you
are ever pass by the lions' dens and the mountains of leopards? Such
weakling as you are should not go on pilgrimage–leave that task to
those who are stronger and braver than you are!" Well, if such a
temptation as that has come to you, the message of the text is
peculiarly timely to you! It does not deny that you are weak–it
implies that you are–it would not have you for a moment forget your
weakness, it even reminds you of it! There would be no necessity for
this promise if you were strong! "I will strengthen them in the Lord;
and they shall walk up and down in His name, says the Lord."

There are three things for us to notice in the text. First, Divine
strengthening promised. Secondly, Christian activity predicted. And,
thirdly, both blessings Divinely guaranteed.

I. First, then, is DIVINE STRENGTHENING PROMISED–"I will strengthen
them in the Lord."

Observe the discrimination of the promise, or what is not promised in
it. It is not said, "They shall have no work to do. I will take them
out of the vineyard in the middle of the day and bid them sit down in
the cool arbor and rest and refresh themselves." No, there is no such
promise as that! The Lord does not say, "I will take you away from your
labors," but, "I will strengthen you, so that you will be able to
perform them." I do not remember any promise that the waters of trouble
shall be dried up! But you all remember this one, "When you past
through the water, I will be with you; and

through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." I have no
recollection of any promise that the fires of trial shall be quenched,
but the Lord has said, "When you walk through the fire, you shall not
be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you." If you had not to
trudge along the pilgrim way. If you had not to carry your cross and
fight for the crown, you would not need this promise. The Lord would
not strengthen you in order that you might sit still, or put "the
everlasting arms" beneath you so that you might lie down in blissful
laziness. Oh, no! But as you are bid to "put on the whole armor of
God," you may be certain that there is stern fighting before you–and
as the Lord promises to strengthen you, there must be no relaxation of
watchfulness and no cessation of activity on your part! So, Christians,
seek the promised strength, for you are sure to need it! Seek it now,
for you may need it tonight! Seek to get as much of it as you can, for
when you have the most of it that you can get, you will find that you
will need it all!

Then notice, next, the comprehensiveness of the promise–"I will
strengthen them in the Lord." You may view this promise in many
different lights. Perhaps you have fallen into such a state of
despondency that you question your interest in Christ. Possibly you
have almost begun to doubt the veracity of your God or His faithfulness
to His promise. Well then, in your case the promise of the text will
apply to your faith! Come to God at this moment and say, "Lord, You
have said, 'I will strengthen them.' Will you not graciously strengthen
my faith which is now like a reed shaken by the wind, so that it shall
become like an oak of the forest which fears not the stormiest wind
that blows?"

Or it may be that your hope has grown dim–you cannot see far off, you
cannot–

"Read your title clear To mansions in the skies."

Well then, take this promise to the Lord and ask Him to fulfill it to
you! He will give you some heavenly eye-salve and as soon as your eyes
are anointed with it, your vision will become clear and strong–and you
will be able to see the land of far distances where, in due time, you
shall arrive and "see the King in His beauty!"

Possibly it is your courage that has declined. The fear of man has
ensnared you–you cannot now face a hostile multitude as you once
could–indeed, you are half ashamed to go back to the home where you
are laughed at because of your religion! You are not now inclined to
nail your colors to the mast. You would rather sail away to some
peaceful shore than remain to fight the foe. O my Brothers and Sisters
in Christ, plead this promise, "I will strengthen them," for so shall
you get your courage renewed until you, who are now timid as a deer,
shall become bold as a lion!

Is it your zeal that is flagging ? Do you who once gloried in being in
the thickest of the fight, now try to hide away among the baggage? Then
pray to God to restore to you your former fervor and devotion to His
cause and, pleading this promise, you shall surely get your heart's
desire! The promise is such a comprehensive one that it not only
includes the strengthening of any special part of our spiritual being
that is weak, but also the thorough restoration and strengthening of
the entire spiritual constitution! Lord, I would be made strong, not
only in the hands of my faith, but also in the feet of my obedience! I
would be so strengthened in the vitality of my spiritual life that my
eyes should be able to see much that is now invisible to me, that my
ears might hear the music of Your matchless voice, that my heart might
dance at the sound of Your name and that I might be like Elijah when he
girded up his loins and ran before King Ahab because he heard the sound
of an abundance of rain–the promise of those welcome showers which the
Lord was about to pour down upon the thirsty land.

But we must not forget the provision that is made for the fulfillment
of this promise. "I will strengthen them in the Lord." We know that it
is the Holy Spirit's work to strengthen Believers and I trust that many
of us have experienced His mysterious operations. We have sometimes
felt so despondent that we did not know what to do–and then, though
perhaps we had not been specially engaged in prayer, and had not been
up to the House of God to worship–all of a sudden our spirits have
become elastic as we have felt some precious promise applied with power
to our soul–and the burden which threatened to bow us down to the
earth has become light as a feather! And we have stood upright and
rejoiced "with joy unspeakable." There is no grief which the Holy
Spirit cannot relieve! That Divine Comforter knows so well how to get
at the secret springs of our sorrow and to put the comfort right into
the spring, itself, that there can never be a grief which can elude
Him, or which can baffle His skill!

Usually, however, the Holy Spirit is pleased to work by the use of
means. And you know, dear Friends, how often you have been strengthened
in this way. What a strengthening cordial is prayer! When you have gone
to cast your burden upon the Lord, many a time you have gone upstairs
groaning, but you have come down signing! Oftentimes you have

received strengthening through this blessed Book. When you have opened
it, your eyes have been full of tears, but as you have lighted upon
some precious promise that has exactly met your case, your tears have
all vanished and your soul has been filled with joy! God has spoken to
you through His Word and so you have been strengthened. Or you have
come up to the House of the Lord and you have found something there
that has strengthened you. I know that many of you find spiritual food
in the services here on the Sabbath–but by the time that Thursday
night comes round–your soul is very hungry and you are well-near
famished! But the Holy Spirit graciously applies the Word to your heart
and you go out to meet the trials and engagements of the week feeling
strong through the strength you have received from Heaven! Yes, the
Master is pleased, in the assembly of His saints, when we break the
Bread of Life, to feed the multitude to the fullest and they go away
refreshed! This is especially the case when we gather around the Table
of the Lord. I wish that all the saints would meet for Communion on
every "first day of the week." I cannot conceive it to be possible for
them to meet thus too often. As for myself, unless sickness keeps me
away, I find it most helpful to come to the Lord's Table every
Lord's-Day, for although we believe neither in transubstantiation nor
in consubstantiation, yet there is a very real sense in which we do
spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man and so
become "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."

Nor are the means of Grace the only channels by which we are
spiritually strengthened. Christian society will often produce the same
blessed results. Some Christians live too much alone. It is true that
there is an evil of an opposite character, for some professors spend
far too much time in one another's houses, wasting precious hours in
idle gossip and chatter! But Brothers and Sisters in Christ ought to
find opportunities for profitable conversation concerning their Lord
and His work at home and abroad. Some of us might derive great benefit
from the Christian experience of those who are older than we are, or
who have been more deeply taught in the things of God. While others of
us might be able to impart some spiritual gift to those who are less
favored than we are. In the olden days, "they that feared the Lord
spoke often, one to another." Let this good practice be revived, for
thereby, depend upon it, many will be strengthened in the Lord!

Still, dear Friends, the best way of obtaining a renewal of spiritual
strength is by getting near to Christ, and staying near to Him! He who
lays hold of Christ has grasped "very God of very God!" He who can come
so close to Christ as to lay his head upon Christ's bosom and say, "Let
Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth," must grow stronger and
stronger every moment that he is in the immediate Presence of his Lord!
We grow in Grace as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ! The clearer view we have of Christ, the firmer confidence
we have in His faithfulness and His power to save, the stronger will
our spiritual nature grow and the more like our Lord shall we become!
They who live near to Christ must derive strength from Him. Having
waited upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength, they shall mount
up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint.

Before I pass from this point, I would like to emphasize the words of
this part of the text. There are not many of them, but they are all
significant–"I will strengthen them." You cannot strengthen
yourselves, and your minister cannot strengthen you–it is God who
first gives you spiritual life and then sustains it by His Grace! In
fact, He is, Himself, as David says, the strength of our life. It is
still true that power belongs to God, and that power He imparts to all
as He pleases. Note, too, that He says., "I will strengthen them in the
Lord." They are not strengthened in themselves–there is no Christian
who grows stronger through the force of his own personality. But he
derives more and more strength from the Lord–he learns how to draw
continually from the inexhaustible supplies of Omnipotence and so is
himself strengthened in the Lord. Perhaps someone says, "I have been a
Christian for 30 years, but I am not spiritually any stronger than I
was when first I knew the Lord." No, nor will you be any stronger if
you live for another 30 years unless you depend upon God to strengthen
you! Is anyone here more able than in the past to live by faith upon
the Son of God and to drink deeper draughts from the fountain of
infinite fullness? Then it is clear that in your case, my Brother or
Sister, the promise of the text has been fulfilled, and you have been
strengthened in the Lord!

Now lay the emphasis on the Divine, "I will." "I will strengthen them
in the Lord." This promise was true more than 2,000 years ago and it is
just as true today! It has been fulfilled many thousands of times since
then, but it is just as full of force, as when it was first given!
Suppose I take a note to the Bank of England and get five pounds for
if? That note will be cancelled and I cannot get the cash for it a
second time. But it is not so with God's promises! You may take a
promise to the Bank of Heaven in the morning and cash it, as it were.
And you may take the same promise in the afternoon and cash it again!
And you may take it again at night, and once more get the full value
for it. You may have pleaded that promise when you were a young man of
twenty, but it is just as true now that you are an old man of eighty!
And at the very last moment of your life, you shall find that the
promise shall be fulfilled in your experience! "I will strengthen them
in the Lord."

Note, too, the comprehensiveness of the promise. The Lord does not say,
"I will strengthen them up to such-and-such a point," but it is implied
that the strength will be sufficient for all their needs. So it will,
my Brother or my Sis-ter–"as your days, so shall your strength be."
You shall always have strength enough but you shall never have any to
spare! If you had any superfluous strength, you would only do mischief
with it. But you will have all that you really need. When you come to
the last river, you may feel, "If there is another river after this to
be crossed, I shall be unable to cross it," but there is not another
and your strength shall fail when you have no more need of it, but not
before! Your strength shall be like the widow's oil–as long as there
were any empty vessels, the oil kept on running–but as soon as her son
said to her, "There is not a vessel more," the oil stopped! And until
your life's task is complete, the Lord will strengthen you! The manna
kept falling until the children of Israel entered Canaan–and the manna
of Divine Grace shall keep on falling into your heart until you shall
enter the heavenly Canaan! Therefore be of good courage, Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, for you shall have just as much strength as you will
require! Your Lord's promise concerning you is, "I will strengthen them
in the Lord."

II. I must speak but briefly upon our second point which is, CHRISTIAN
ACTIVITY FORETOLD. "They shall walk up and down in His name, says the
Lord."

How strongly some people read their Bibles and how wickedly they
pervert its plainest teaching! They learn that salvation is all of
Grace and then they say, "Therefore, as it is all of Grace, we need not
do anything at all! It is God which works in us both to will and to do
of His good pleasure, so we can also leave the working out to Him. God
begins this work of Grace, God carries it on and God completes it, so
we can be as careless and indifferent as we please." If they do not
actually put their thoughts into words, this is practically what they
think. They seem to imagine that Divine Grace is an excuse for human
laziness, but I have never yet found any passage of Scripture to
warrant such an assumption as that! Certainly our present text does not
support that idea–"I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall
walk up and down in His name." According to the lazy system, it ought
to read, "I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall be carried
to Heaven in a sedan chair," for that seems to be some people's notion
of how they are to get there! May our tongue cleave to the roof of our
mouth before our preaching shall ever lead our hearers into such a
state of spiritual slumber as that! Our Doctrine may be as high as the
Scripture warrants us in teaching, but we shall never find there any
ground for the infamous deduction that because God works in us, we are
to lie inert as if we were logs or stones. Oh, no! That is not His will
concerning us, for the Apostolic injunction is, "Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which works in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

So true Christians are to be active–"they shall walk up and down in
His name, says the Lord." Christianity has its meditative side and it
has its passive stage, but these are the necessary preparation for an
active life. A devout contemplation of the Doctrine of Divine
Sovereignty will be like the underlying rock which supports the good
rich mold of holy gratitude and love which yields an abundant harvest
both to God and man. True Christians delight in sacred activity! In
that respect, they are like the angels of God, "that do His
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." And like the
glorified saints above, who "serve Him day and night in His temple." A
life of Christian activity down here is a fitting prelude to a life of
heavenly activity up there! The best Christians are those who serve God
the most. Ask the gardener which is the best apple tree in the garden
and he will tell you that it is not the one which has the best shape,
but the one which yields the most fruit! And he is not the best
Christian who occupies the highest position, or who talks the most
about Divine things, but it is he whose life is most fruitful in good
works to the Glory of God!

Further, Christian activity is, as far as it is possible, incessant.
This is implied in the phrase, "they shall walk up and down," as though
they were never to be inactive and certainly never to be idle. The true
Christian, when he is in a healthy spiritual state, has always some
good work on hand–something on the anvil, or something heating in the
fire, or something cooling in the water–something that he is planning
for the future, something that has yet to be completed, or something
that is just finished and ready to be presented to God–a prayer to
offer, a hymn to sing, the sick to visit, the poor to relieve, the
ignorant to instruct. He advances from one duty to another while he is
about in the world and serves his God. And when he gets home, he still
serves his God by gathering his family and servants together for
prayer! As Sa-

tan is represented as a restless spirit continually going to and fro,
walking up and down in the earth, so is it with the true Christian–he
is constantly traversing the world, not seeking to do evil, but like
His Master, going about doing good!

The expression, "they shall walk up and down," also implies variety of
service. They shall not only walk up, they shall also walk down. There
are some departments of Christian service that we like and others that
we do not like. Many would far rather glorify God by preaching to
hundreds or thousands from the pulpit than by lying alone in the
chamber of affliction. Some like to serve God in what they regard as a
respectable sort of way, but they do not care to work for Christ in the
back slums, the cellars, or the attics! But true Christians will be
just as willing to go down as to go up! We must be ready to go anywhere
and to do anything for Christ! It is just as great an honor to be
employed in Christ's kitchen as to serve Him in His Temple! If He
allows us to wash His feet even with our tears, let us count that as
high a privilege as to anoint His head with oil! Happy is that servant
who shall be permitted to kiss his Master's feet, but equally happy
should he be who is bid to unloose the latchet of His shoes. It should
be a matter of no consequence to us whether we go up or down as long as
we are doing our Lord's will!

But do not forget to notice that all is to be done in God's name–"they
shall walk up and down in His name." It is Jehovah who is speaking here
and it is in His name, under His authority, at His command, and to His
praise and Glory that all our service is to be rendered! It is all to
be done as unto the Lord, and not unto men. I rejoice that so many whom
I am now addressing are occupied in various forms of Christian
activity–and I hope that each one of us who loves the Lord will
continue thus to walk up and down in His name until He calls us to
serve Him in the upper sanctuary!

III. Now I close by briefly reminding you that BOTH THESE BLESSINGS ARE
DIVINELY GUARANTEED. "I

will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in
His name, says the Lord."

Perhaps some Christian Brother or Sister here is thinking sorrowfully,
"I can never be made strong enough to serve God as I would like to
serve Him." But, my dear Friend, here you have a triple guarantee from
the Lord, Himself! Here is the Divine "I will" of Omnipotent Grace! The
Divine "they shall" of consecrated free agency! And the Divine "says
the Lord" of Infallible faithfulness! What more can you need? Is not
God's declaration of more value than the oaths of all the men who ever
lived? Would you not sooner rely upon His Divine Assurance than trust
to anything that you can see? Possibly you say that you would, but I am
half afraid for you. When things go very pleasantly with you, it is
easy for you to believe–but it is another matter when the sun has set,
it is very dark and there are no stars to be seen! O Beloved, seek to
have a faith which can trust God as well in the dark as in the light!
What a grand life that man leads who lives upon whatever is guaranteed
to him by, "Thus says the Lord!" He never gets any poorer because,
"Thus says the Lord" never fails him and he never needs to get any
richer for, "Thus says the Lord" is all that his spirit can possibly
crave! Here is one of the promises which is guaranteed to us by, "Thus
says the Lord"–"All things, whatever you shall ask in prayer,
believing, you shall receive." That is enough for me! I will take that
promise and plead it at the Throne of Grace, and I know I shall not be
sent away empty! Will you not, dear Friends, do the same with the
promises in our text? You need supernatural strength for the service to
which your Lord has called you and here He has promised it to you!
"Thus says the Lord" is surely sufficient for you! So, seeing this
Divine Seal attached to the promise, do not be slow to secure the
fulfillment of it, but tonight, before you retire to rest, seek the
strength you need from the Strong One and then, tomorrow go forth and
walk up and down in His name!

But there are some here, I fear, who never think of God's promises–and
that is a strange and sad state for anyone to be in. To one who has
been brought out of Nature's darkness into God's marvelous Light, it
does seem amazing that anyone can live without a thought of God and His
many exceedingly great and precious promises. It is most extraordinary
that an immortal being, created by God, can be content to go on from
day to day and from year to year without any care about pleasing his
Creator! But if anyone here is feeling, "Oh, I wish that I could get to
God! I would not for all the world have Him as my enemy, and I long to
know how I can come to Him." I am thankful that you feel like that and
I am glad that I am commissioned to tell you the way to come to Him.
"No man comes unto the Father but by Me," said Christ. "There is one
God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus." Look
first at the crucified Christ lifted up upon yonder tree, for–

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One There is life at this
moment for you."

Trust Him as your Mediator, your Advocate with the Father, and you will
find that God will then receive you for Christ's sake! He will
strengthen you in the Lord and you shall walk up and down in His name
and, by-and-by, you shall dwell with Him forever! God grant it, for
Jesus' sake ! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 12:1-17.

May the Spirit of God graciously instruct us while we read this
Chapter! You know that in the 11th Chapter, the Apostle has pictured
the ancient worthies and their victories. Imagine that you see them
mounting in their chariots of fire up to their seats in Heaven! Behold
them going from the mouths of lions, from the deserts, mountains, dens
and caves of the earth up to their glorious thrones on high where they
recline in ease and honor!

The Apostle then introduces us to a racecourse in which he represents
all these conquerors as sitting upon seats all around the course,
watching those who are about to run. And thus he begins–

Verses 1, 2. Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race
that is set before us, looking unto

Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. [See Sermon #2037, Volume
34–THERE RULES OF THE RACE.] It was no excitement to run if there were
no onlookers. The spur to the racers and wrestlers in the Grecian games
was found in the eyes of those who gazed, in the clapping of their
hands, in the shouting of their applause, as well as in the prizes that
awaited the winners! Behold, my Brothers and Sisters, even our most
private acts are looked upon by the millions of eyes of the great cloud
of witnesses! Angels tell the news of how we run the great race and
they rejoice when we prosper. Let us "run well" because so many are
looking at us and, just as the Grecian runner stripped himself of his
clothes before he started, so "let us lay aside every weight"–the
weight of sin, the weight of care, the weight of grief, the weight of
worldliness and everything else that might hinder us. Above all, let us
beware of that sin which, like a trailing garment, might entangle our
feet and trip us up, for if we fall, our opponent will certainly win
the prize! Look well to that sin to which you are the most liable. We
all have some besetting sin–let us especially be on the watch against
that. While we keep all the wall with diligence, let us set a double
guard at the most vulnerable point.

"And let us run with patience" or, "endurance." There is to be a
combination of the active and passive in the Christian–he must be able
to endure and yet be able to still work. "Let us run with
patience"–run when we are out of breath, run when our bones ache, run
when the prize seems to be further off than ever and to be hidden from
our eyes, run when the hot sun makes us thirsty. Still, "let us run
with patience the race that is set before us," for it is he that
endures unto the end who shall be saved–not merely the starter in the
race, for there are many who begin, but who begin not in the power of
the Spirit of God and who, therefore do not persevere unto the end. By
this sign shall the true children of God be known, that they run with
endurance unto the end, "looking unto Jesus." As the wife of the
Persian nobleman said, when her husband asked her what she thought of
Darius, that she had not looked at him, she had no eyes for any man but
her husband, so the Christian has no eyes for any but Christ–"looking
unto Jesus"–keeping his eyes always upon Him and so running the
Christian race!

Jesus is here delightfully called "the Author and Finisher of our
faith." In most of the arts, there is a division of labor–one man
begins and another completes–there is scarcely anything that is
completed by one man. But the stupendous work of our salvation was not
only commenced, but it was also completed by the Lord Jesus Christ
alone! Let us look unto Him then. This will help us to persevere to the
end because He persevered to the end.

2. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God. It
was this joy that made Christ strong to endure in the day of His
sorrow. And joy must make you also strong to endure unto the end. He
had the joy of anticipated victory. It "was set before Him," and so He
"endured the Cross, despising the shame." He ran with a heavy Cross on
His back and yet He ran faster than you or I have run–He ran because
He had more joy than we have! So, my Brothers and Sisters, let us live
in the joy of Heaven, let us live in the joy of ultimate victory–and
this will enable us to bear all the toils and trials of our present
life.

3. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Luther says,
"When I think of what Christ suffered, I am ashamed to call anything
that I have endured, suf-

fering for His sake." He carried His heavy Cross, but we only carry a
sliver or two of it! He drank His cup to the dregs and we do but sip a
drop or two at the very most. "Consider Him." Consider how He suffered
far more than you can ever suffer and how He is now crowned with Glory
and honor–and so you are to be like He, descend like He into the
depths of agony, that with Him you may rise to the heights of Glory!

4-7. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And
you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto
children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when you are rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and
encourages every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father
chastens not? Here is a little variation in the subject. First we have
the trials which come from the world–these we are to endure looking to
Christ for Grace to enable us to overcome them. Now we have the trials
which come from God and here Nature becomes an assistant to Grace. We
are reminded that children have to be chastened and, therefore, if we
are the children of God we must expect to be chastened by Him.

Note in the 5th verse, the two evils of which we are in danger–either
of deepening God's chastening or else of fainting under them–either of
thinking too little or too much of them. Happy is the Christian who
always takes the middle course and never despises the chastening of the
Lord, nor ever faints under them.

Note, in the 6th verse, that we are to expect sharp blows from God's
chastening hand. That word "encourages, "is an incorrect word–"Whom
the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives."
The scourge was always a most severe form of punishment. God will not
spare His children when they need to be chastened–they shall have some
blows as hard as He can well lay on them, that is to say, as hard as
such a loving heart as His will permit Him to give. They shall have
such blows that each one of them shall have to cry out, "I am broken in
sunder, my heart is smitten and withered like grass." And this is to be
the treatment for every son whom God receives–not for some of them,
but for all–"He scourges every son whom He receives."

8. But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then
are you bastards, and not sons. He does not say, "then are you alone."
He is speaking about those who profess to be the children of God,
writing concerning those who claim to be members of the Lord's
family–and he stigmatizes with one of the most dreadful of names,
those who may escape without chastisement. But, Brothers and Sisters
who among us would have the pleasure of carnal ease if with it we are
to have the shame of spiritual illegitimacy?

9, 10. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us,
and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection
unto the Father of Spirits, and live? For they, verily, for a few days
chastened us after their

own pleasures. [See Sermon #1073 Volume 18–A HONEYCOMB.] There was,

possibly, much of their own temper mixed with their chastisements. They
let off their wrath upon us sometimes by the medium of chastisement,
but God never chastens His children merely out of anger.

10-12. But He for our profit, that we might bepartakers ofHis holiness.
Now no chastening for thepresent seems to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them who are exercised thereby. Therefore lift up the hands which
hang down, and the feeble knees. Let not your service to God slacken.
Lift up to God that which was idly hanging down through despondency.
Let not your prayers grow weak through grief, but strengthen the feeble
knees!

13-15. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with
all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking
diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God; lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many are defiled For,
alas, under the means of Grace, there are many who "fail of the Grace
of God." They get something that they think is like Grace, but it is
not the true Grace of God and they ultimately fall from it and perish!
What we need is to have unfailing Grace and power to hold on to it so
that, at the last, we may inherit the crown of life. But for this we
must look diligently, for the best of us has good cause to suspect
himself, and in Church fellowship we ought to be very watchful lest the
Church as a whole should fail through lack of the true Grace of God,
and especially lest any root of bitterness springing up among us should
trouble us and, thereby, many are defiled.

16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for
one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Those who seek the pleasures of
the flesh rather than the pleasures of a higher world are here put side
by side with Esau. Now Esau sold the right to his future heritage for a
present mess of pottage–and many there are who do something very like
that–sell their souls for a little Sunday trading, or for a little
carnal company, a little of that fool's mirth which is like the
crackling of thorns under a pot. They are willing to damn themselves to
all eternity because they cannot bear the jeers and sneers of a ribald
world. O Brothers and Sisters, let us not be like they or like Esau!

17. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the
blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though
he sought it carefully with tears. He never repented of his sin, but
only of the consequences of it. He never sought pardon of God, but only
sought to inherit the blessing. And there will be many who have lived
for this world, and loved it, who, when they wake up in another world,
will begin to seek the blessing, but they will be rejected! This may
happen even in this world. If they only seek to die the death of the
righteous and seek not the pardon of their sin, they shall hear the
Lord say to them, "Because I have called, and you refused. I have
stretched out My hand and no man regarded: but you have set at nothing
all My counsel, and would none of My reproof, I also will laugh at your

calamity. I will mock when your fear comes." [See Sermons #528, Volume
9–CHASTISEMENT–NOW AND AFTERWARDS, and #2902, Volume 50– HOLINESS
DEMANDED.]