Brought Up from the Horrible Pit

Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, August 13th, 1882, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my
cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he
hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall
see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.'Psalm 40:1-3.

THIS PASSAGE HAS BEEN USED with great frequency as the expression of
the experience of the people of God, and I think it has been very
rightly so used. It is a very accurate picture of the way in which
sinners are raised up from despair to hope and salvation, and of the
way in which saints are brought out of deep troubles, and made to sing
of divine love and power. Yet I am not certain that the first verse
could be truthfully uttered by all of us; I question, indeed, whether
any of us could thus speak. Could we say'I waited patiently for the
Lord.' Think ye, brethren, might it not read'I waited impatiently for
the Lord,' in the case of most of us? All the rest may stand true, but
this would need to be modified. We could hardly speak in our own
commendation if we considered our conduct in the matter of patience,
for that is, alas, still a scarce virtue'upon the face of the earth. If
we read the psalm through we shall see that it was not written
exclusively to describe the experience of God's people. Secondarily we
may regard it as David's language, but in the first instance a greater
than David is here. The first Person who uttered these words was the
Messiah, and that is quite clear if you read the psalm through; for we
fall upon such language as this: Sacrifice and offering, Thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering
hast Thou not required. Then said I, come I in the volume of the book
it is written of Me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law
is within my heart.' We need not say with the Ethiopian, Of whom
speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or of some other?' For we are led
at once by the plainest indications to see that He is not speaking of
Himself, but of our Lord and if we needed confirmation of this we get
it in Hebrews 10, where Paul expressly quotes this passage as referring
to the Lord Jesus. To Him, indeed, alone of all men can it with
accuracy be applied. So this morning I shall have to show that this
text of ours is most fit to be the language of the Lord, our
representative and covenant Head. When I have shown this, you will then
see how we can use the self-same expressions, because we are in Him.
Each believer becomes a mirror in which is reflected the experience of
our Lord; but it would be ill for us to be so taken up with the mere
reflection as to forget the express image by which this experience is
formed in us.

I shall ask you, then, at this time, to observe our divine Lord when in
His greatest trouble. Notice, first, our Lord's behavior'I waited
patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry':
then consider, secondly, our Lord deliverance, expressed by the phrase,
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay,' and
so forth: then let us think, thirdly of the Lord's reward for it'many
shall see, and fear, and trust in the Lord':'that is His great end and
object, and in it He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied.
We shall close, fourthly, by perceiving the Lord's likeness in all His
saved ones; for they also are brought up from the pit of destruction,
and a new song is put into their mouths. He is not ashamed to call them
brethren, since in each one of them his own experience is repeated
though upon a smaller scale.

I. First, let us think of OUR LORD'S BEHAVIOR. I waited patiently for
the Lord.' Here we greatly need the teaching of the Holy Ghost; may it
be given us abundantly. First, our Lord's conduct when He was under the
smarting rod was that of waiting. He waited upon the Lord all His life,
and this waiting became more conspicuous in His passion and death. He
went down into Gethsemane, and there He prayed earnestly; but with
sweet submission; for He said, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou
wilt.' Complete submission was the essential spirit of His prayer. He
rose up from prayer all crimson with His bloody sweat, and He went to
meet His foes, delivering Himself up voluntarily to be led as a sheep
to the slaughter. He did not unsheathe the sword as Peter did; much
less did He flee, like His disciples, but He waited upon the will of
the Most High, enduring all things till the Father should give Him
deliverance. When they took Him before Annas and Caiaphas, and Pilate
and Herod, hurrying Him from bar to bar, how patiently He kept silence,
though false witnesses appeared against Him. Like a sheep before her
shearers He was dumb, submitting Himself without a struggle. In the
omnipotence of patience He held His Peace even from good, because it
was so written of Him. When they led Him away to crucifixion through
the streets of Jerusalem He did not even encourage the lamentations of
the sympathizing women who surrounded him; but in His wondrous patience
He said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me.' He did not refuse to
bear His cross, or to let the cross bear Him. He did not complain of
contempt and contumely, since these were appointed Him. When they
nailed Him to the tree, and there He hung in the burning sun, tortured,
fevered, agonizing, the words that escaped Him were those of murmuring
and repining, but those of pity, pain, patience, and submission. Till
He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost, He bowed His whole being to
His Father's will, waiting His time and pleasure. He steadily took a
long draft at the appointed cup, and drained it to the bitter end. His
eyes were unto the Lord as the eyes of servants are to the hands of
their masters; He waited in service, in hope, in resignation, and in
confidence. He knew that God would help Him and deliver Him, He knew
that His head would be raised on high above the sons of men; but still
He waited for the Father's time, and meanwhile made Himself of no
reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and as a
servant yielded all His strength to the work which was given Him to do.
He was willing in the hour of His passion to be treated as the scum and
scorn of all mankind, nor did He hurry the hour when all the shame and
scorn should blossom into glory and honor. He went down in His waiting
even to the utmost of self-denial, and truly proved that He came not to
do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. Never man served
and waited like this man.

Our text adds to this word waited' the word patiently.' I waited
patiently.' If you would see patience, look not at Job on the dunghill,
but look at Jesus on the cross. Job, the most patient of men, was
assuredly impatient at the same time; but this blessed Lord of ours
gave Himself up completely, and showed not the slightest sign of
repining. Not a speck of impatience can be detected in the crystal
stream of our Lord's submission. His soul was all melted, and it all
flowed into the mold of the Father's will: no dross was in or about
Him, nothing which refused to melt and to run into the mold. One would
have supposed that He would have spoken an angry word to Judas, who
betrayed Him; instead of which He gently asked of Him, Friend,
wherefore art thou come?' It would not have seemed wonderful if He had
upbraided the Jews who so falsely accused Him, or the rulers who so
unjustly treated Him; but here is the patience of the saintly One, He
was perfect master of His own Spirit. His answer to His murderers was
the prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' So
meek and lowly in heart was He that to men He gave no sharp replies:
His answers were all steeped in gentleness; take for example His word
to the high priest: If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil;
but if well, why smitest thou me?' They sat down around the cross and
mocked Him, jeered at Him, insulted over Him, and made mirth even of
His cries and prayers; but He did not utter a single word of rebuke,
much less did He leap from the cross to dash His mockers in pieces, and
prove by their destruction that He was indeed the mighty Son of God. I
waited patiently,' saith He. No thought or word or deed of impatience
can be charged upon Him; waiting, He waited, and waited still. We are
in such a hurry when we are in trouble; we hasten to escape from it at
once; every minute seems an hour, and every day an age. Help me
speedily, my God!' is the natural cry of the child of God under the
rod; but our Saviour was in no ill haste to get from the chastisement
which came upon Him for our sakes: He was at leisure in His woe. So
thoroughly was He resolved to do His Father's will that even on the
morning of His resurrection He arose with deliberation, and quitted the
grave in order, folding His grave'clothes and laying the napkin by
itself. He steadily persevered in all His work of holiness and sorrow
of sacrifice, never accepting deliverance till His work was done.
Patiently He endured to have His ear bored to the door-post, to have
His head encircled with thorns, His cheeks disdained with spittle, His
back furrowed with the lash, His hands and feet nailed to the wood, and
His heart pierced with the spear. In His body on the tree patience was
written out in crimson characters.

Now, this was needful for the completeness of His atonement. No
expiation could have been made by an impatient Saviour. Only a perfect
obedience could satisfy the law; only an unblemished sacrifice could
put away our sins. There must not, therefore, be about our Substitute a
trace of resistance to the Father's will, nor as a sacrifice must He
struggle against the cords, or turn His head away from the sacrificial
knife. In truth, His was a willing, patient doing and suffering of the
divine will. He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them
that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and
spitting.' I waited patiently for the Lord,' saith He; and you know,
brethren, how true was the declaration.

But while the Saviour thus waited, and waited patiently, we must not
forget that He waited prayerfully, for the text speaks of a cry which
He lifted up, and of God's inclining Himself to it. That patience which
does not pray is obstinacy. A soul silent to God is apt to be sullen
rather than submissive. A stoical patience hardens itself against
grief, and asks no deliverance; but that is not the patience which God
loves, it is not the patience of Christ. He used strong crying and
tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death. Let Gethsemane
tell of that wrestling which infinitely excelled the wrestling of
Jacob: Jabbok is outdone by Kedron. His was a wrestling, not to sweat
alone, but unto sweat of blood: he sweats who works for bread, the
staff of life; but He sweats blood who works for life itself. What
prayers those must have been under such a fearful physical, mental, and
spiritual agony which were so fervent that they brought an angel from
the throne, and yet so submissive that they are the model of
resignation. He agonized as earnestly as if He sought His own will, and
yet He wholly resigned Himself to the Father, saying, Lo, I come: in
the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O
my God.' Our Lord was always praying: there never was a moment in His
life in which He was not in full communion with God, unless we except
the period when He cried, Why hast thou forsaken me?' He did often go
aside to pray a more special prayer, but yet even when He spoke to the
people, even when He faced His foes, His soul was still in constant
fellowship with His Father. But ah, when He came between the upper and
the nether millstones, when this good olive was ground in the olive
press, and all the oil of His life was extracted from Him, then it was
that His strong crying and tears came up before the Lord His God, and
He was heard in that He feared.

Now, brothers and sisters, look at your pattern, and see how far short
you have come of it. At least, I will remember with regret how far
short I have come of it. Have we waited? Have we not been in too great
a hurry? Has it not been too much our desire that the Lord might make
His will like our will rather than make our will like His? Have you not
had a will of your own sometimes, and a strong will too? Have you not
been as the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke? Have you not kicked
against the pricks? You have not waited, but you have worried. Can we
say that we waited patiently? Oh, that patience! Every man thinks he
has it until he needs it, but only let his tender point be touched, and
you will see how little patience he possesses. It is the fire which
tires our supposed resignation, and under that process much of our
palace of patience burns like wood, hay, and stubble. Old crosses fit
the shoulder, but let a new cross be laid upon us and we writhe under
it. Suffering is the vocation of a Christian, but most of us come short
of our high calling. Our Lord Jesus has joined together reigning and
suffering, for we read of the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ'; He
was the royal example of patience, but what are we? Remember, again,
that Jesus prayed importunately while He waited: being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly.' Have we not at time restrained prayer? Have we
not pleaded as an excuse for our feeble petitions the very facts which
ought to have been a spur to our earnestness? I felt too ill to pray.'
Coldest thou not pray for health with all the more fervency? I felt too
burdened to pray.' Shouldst thou not pray for help to bear thy burden?
Can we ever safely say to ourselves, I may be excused from supplication
now, for my sorrow is great.' Talk not so. Here is thy balm and
benediction, thy comfort and thy cordial: here is thy strength and
succor, thy constancy and confidence. Even in the midnight of the soul
let us arise and pour out our hearts like water before the Lord. O
tried believer, get thee to thy knees, and from above the mercy-seat
the glory of the Lord shall shine forth upon thee. Pray even as Jesus
did, and as all His saints have done, so shall you in patience possess
your soul. In due time the Lord inclined to the afflicted suppliant,
listening to his moaning from the bottom of the pit; of this it is high
time for us to speak. Yet let us not leave this first point till we
learn from the example of our Lord that patience is seen in waiting as
well as in suffering. To bear a great weight for an hour or two is
nothing compared with carrying a load for many a day. Patience knows
its letters, but waiting reads the page, and praying rehearses it in
the ears of God. Let us add to our patience waiting, and to waiting
prayer.

II. We come, secondly, to consider OUR LORD'S DELIVERANCE. In due time,
when patience had had her perfect work, and prayer had at last
prevailed, our suffering Lord was brought up again from the deeps of
sorrow. His deliverance is set forth under two images.

First, it is represented as a bringing up out of a horrible pit. It is
a terribly suggestive metaphor. I have been in the dungeon in Rome in
which, according to tradition, Peter and Paul were confined (though,
probably, they were never there at all). It was indeed a horrible pit,
for originally it had no entrance but a round hole in the rock above;
and when that round hole at the top was blocked with a stone, not a ray
of light nor a particle of fresh air could possibly enter. The
prisoners were let down into the cavern, and there they were left. When
once the opening was closed they were cut off from all communication
with their fellow men. No being has ever been so cruel to man as man.
Man is the worst of monsters to his kind, and his cruel inventions are
many. He has not been content to leave his fellows their natural
liberty, but he built prisons and digged pits in which to shut up his
victims. At first they would place a man in a dry well merely for
custody and confinement, or they would drop him into some hollow cavern
in the earth in which corn or treasure had been concealed; but
afterwards with greater ingenuity of malice they covered over the top
of these pits so that the prisoners could not be partakers of God's
bountiful air, or the merciful light of the sun, or the silver sheen of
the moon. Covered all over and shut in, the captives were buried alive.
Even in modern times we have seen what they call oubliettes, or
dungeons in which prisoners were immured, to be forgotten as dead men
out of mind, buried so as never to come forth again. Such unfortunates
as were doomed to enter these tombs of living men bade farewell to
hope. They were inhabitants of oblivion, dwellers in the land of death
shade, to remain apart from their kind, cut off from memory. These
worst of dungeons may illustrate our text'He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit.'

In the original we get the idea of a crash, as when some mailed warrior
in the midst of the battle stumbles into a pit, and there he lies
bruised and broken: and there is the thought of the fall of waters
rushing strangely, furiously, mysteriously. The Hebrew hath it, The pit
of noises,' or as some render it, the pit of destruction.' Such was the
condition of our dear Redeemer when He was bearing our sin and
suffering in our stead.

Just notice, first, that our Lord was like a man put into a pit, and so
made to be quite alone. Imagine yourself now confined in one of those
caverns, with the big stone rolled over the mouth of it. There would be
neither hearing nor answering. Now will you know the dread solemnity of
silence. You may speak, but no gentle whisper of sympathy will reach
your ears in return; you may cry again and again and make the dungeon's
dome echo to your voice, but you are speaking as to brass'no man cares
for your soul. You are alone; alone in a fearful solitude. Thus it
happened to our Saviour. All His disciples forsook Him and fled, and
what was infinitely worse, His God forsook Him too. He cried, My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Can any man tell me all that was
meant by that infinite lament?

Of course, a prisoner in such a pit as that was in total darkness. He
could not see the walls which enclosed him, nor so much as his own
hand. No beam of sunlight ever wandered into that stagnant air; the
captive would have to grope for the pitcher of water and the morsel of
bread which a cruel mercy would allot to him. Our Lord was in the dark;
midnight brooded over His spirit. He said'Now is my soul troubled.' My
soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.' His was a pit of gloom,
the region of the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness
itself

When a man is shut up in a pit he is, of course, full of distress. If
you were, any of you, to go into one of the solitary cells of our own
jails, I warrant you a short sojourn in it would be quite enough. These
cells some years ago were thought to be wonderful cures for all sort of
evil dispositions in men, but probably they have oftener destroyed
reason than conquered depravity. Go in, if you dare. Ask the warder to
shut to the door, and leave you in the dark all alone, that you may try
the solitary system for yourself. No, I should not advise you to try it
even for five minutes, for you might even in that short pace inflict
such an injury upon your nervous system as you would never recover. I
believe that many of the gentler ones here would be quite unable to
bear total darkness and solitude even for the shortest space. In the
grim gloom the soul is haunted with phantom fears, while horror peoples
the place which is empty of human beings; the heart is worried with
evil imaginations, and pierced with arrows of distress; grief takes
hold of the spirit, and alarm conquers hope. In our Lord's case, the
grief and sorrow which He felt can never be described, nor need it be
conceived. It was something tantamount to the miseries of damned souls.
The holy Jesus could not feel the exact misery which takes hold on
abandoned rebels, but He did suffer what was tantamount to that at the
judgment'seat of God. He gave a quid pro quo, a something which in
God's esteem, reckoning the dignity of His mighty person, stood instead
of the sinner's eternal suffering. He felt woe upon woe, night
blackening night. Do not try to realize His agony; He wills that you
should note, for He has trodden the winepress alone, and of the people
there we're none with Him, as if to show that none could understand His
sorrows, and that we can do no more than speak of His unknown
sufferings.'

But I must add, to complete the figure, that shut up in such a pit
there might be a great tumult above, like to the tramping of armed
hosts, or there might be a rush of waters underneath the captive deep
in earth's bowels. He could not tell what the noise was, nor whence it
came; and hence he would often be in terrible fear while he sat alone
in the thick darkness. Our lord had His fears, for we read that He was
heard in that He feared. Torrents of sin rushed near Him; floods of
wrath were heard around Him, and cataracts of grief fell upon Him.
Besides, there was a mystery about this anguish which intensified it'a
mystery not to be written or explained. Our Redeemer's spirit was cast
down within Him far beyond anything that is common to men; in that
horrible pit, that pit of destruction, He lay with none to pity or
sustain.

But, Oh, change the strain, and sing unto the Lord awhile, as we read
the verse, He brought me up out of a horrible pit.' The Lord Jesus
Christ was lifted up from all sorrow of spirit at that moment when He
said so bravely, It is finished,' and though He died yet was He lifted
up from death, as it is written, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.' His Spirit
ascended to God, and by-and-by, when the third day had blushed with
morning light, His body rose from the tomb, to ascend in due time to
glory. He came up out of the pit of the grave, delivered from all fear
of corruption, pain, or defeat. Now His sorrow is ended, and His brow
is clear from care. His visage is marred no more: He bears the scars
which do but illumine His hands and feet with splendor, but

No more the bloody spear,

The cross and nails no more,

For hell itself shakes at his name,

And all the heavens adore.

Sing ye unto the Lord, ye saints of His, as ye behold your Master
brought up again from among the sorrowful, the despised, the deserted,
the dead.

A second figure is, however, used here to express our Lord's grief and
deliverance from it'Out of the miry clay.' Travelers tell us that
wherever pits are still used as dungeons, they are damp, foul and
utterly loathsome; for they are never cleansed, however long the
prisoner may have been there, or however great the number of victims
shut up within them. You know what the prisons of Europe were in
Howard's days, they were even worse in the East in periods further
back. The imprisoned wretch often found himself sinking in more; he
found no rest, no hope of comfort, and when extricated he needed a hand
to drag him out of the thick clay. Our blessed Lord and Master found
Himself when He was suffering for us where everything appeared to give
way beneath Him; His spirits sank, His friends failed Him, and His
heart melted like wax. Every comfort was taken from Him. His blessed
manhood found nothing upon this earth upon which it could stay itself,
for He had been made sin for us, made a curse for us, and so every
foundation of comfort departed from Him. He was deprived of visible
support, and reduced to a sad condition. As a man who has fallen into a
slough cannot stir so as to recover himself, so was it with our
Redeemer, who says in the Psalms'I sink in deep mire, where there is no
standing.' Some morasses are so destructive that, if a man should once
fall into them, he might give up his life for lost unless some one came
that way to drag him out. So did the Saviour sink in the miry clay of
our sin and misery until the Lord Almighty lifted Him out. The clay of
sorrow clung to Him; it held to Him while He was performing the great
work of our redemption. But the Lord brought Him up out of it. There is
no mire upon His garments now: his feet no longer sink, He is not held
by the bands of death, He slides not into the grave again. He was
dragged down, as it were, by hearing our sin, but that is over, and He
hath ascended on high: He hath led captivity captive, and received
gifts from men. All honor be unto Him, and to His Father who delivered
Him.

As we read our text we pursue this story of out Master's deliverance,
and we are told that He was brought up out of the lowest deeps. Say the
words or sing them as you choose'He brought me up.' God upraised His
obedient Son from the depths into which He had descended on our
account. He was brought up, like Jonah who went to die bottom of the
mountains, and yet was landed safely on the shore. He was brought up
like Joseph, who rose from a pit to a palace; like David, who was led
up from the sheepfold to the kingdom. The king shall joy in thy
strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
His glory is great in thy salvation: honor and majesty hast thou laid
upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed forever: Thou hast made
him exceeding glad with thy countenance.'

Then we are told He was set on a rock, and oh, the glory of our blessed
Lord in this matter, for now He stands on a firm foundation in all that
He does for us. Judgment and truth confirm His ways, and the Judge of
all the earth approves His doings. Christ has no sandy foundation for
His work of mercy or His word of comfort. When He saves He has a right
to save: when He puts away sin He does it on indisputable grounds: when
He helps and delivers His people He does it according to law, according
to the will of the Highest. As Justifier, Preserver, and Perfecter of
His people, He stands upon a rock. This day I delight to think of my
Lord as settling His church with Himself upon the immutable foundations
of the covenant, on the decree of God, on the purpose of the Father, on
His own work, and on the promise of God that He would reward Him in
that work. Well may we say that His feet are upon a rock, for He is
Himself, by another figure, the Rock of ages, the Rock of our
salvation.

And now the goings of our glorious Christ are established. When He goes
out to save a sinner, He knows that He can do it, and has a right to do
it. When He goes up to His Father's throne to make intercession for
sinners, His goings are established, and the desire of His heart is
given Him. When He comes in among His church, or marches forth with his
people to the ends of the earth, His goings are established. For the
king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he
shall not be moved.' He shall surely come a second time without sin
unto salvation, for so has the Father decreed: His glorious goings are
as surely established as were those of His labor and suffering. We
shall never be without a Saviour: we shall never have a fallen or a
vanquished Saviour; for His goings are established for continuance,
certainty, and victory. Such honor have all His saints; for the steps
of a good man are ordered of the Lord'; and again, none of his steps
shall slide.'

Best of all, there is a new, song in the mouth of our Well-beloved. It
is grand to think of Jesus singing. Read the twenty-second Psalm, and
you will find Him doing it, as also in the Hebrews: In the midst of the
church will I sing praise unto thee.' Toward the end of His earthly
career you hear Him bursting into song. Was not that a grand occasion
just before His passion, when He was going out to die; we read that
after supper they sang a hymn.' If we had been bound to die that night,
as He was, we should rather have wept or prayed than sang. Not so our
Lord. I do not know what psalm they sang: probably a part of the great
Hallel, usually sung after the Passover, which consists of those Psalms
at the end of the book which are so full of praise. I believe the
Saviour Himself pitched the tune and led the strain. Think of Him
singing when near His hour of agony! Going to scorn and mockery,
singing! Going to the thorn-crown and the scourge, singing! Going to
death, even the death of the cross, singing! For the joy that was set
before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame! But now, what
must that new song be which He leads in heaven? They sang, as it were,
a new song before the throne'; but it is He that leads the heavenly
orchestra. How greatly He excels Miriam, the sister of Moses, when she
took her timbrel and led forth the women in their dances, saying, Sing
unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea.' This is called the song of Moses,
the servant of God and of the Lamb'; so I gather that the Lamb's new
song is after the same triumphant fashion: it is the substance of that
which Moses' song foreshadowed. In Christ Jesus the Lord our God has
led captivity captive. Let us praise Him on the high sounding cymbals.
Sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. The powers of
darkness are destroyed; sin, death, and hell are drowned in the atoning
blood: the depths have covered them: there is not one of them left. Oh,
sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.' Ascribe ye
greatness unto our God.'

III. Such is the exalted condition of our Lord at this hour; let us
turn and look upon THE LORD'S REWARD. The Lord's reward for having gone
down into the horrible pit, and having gunk in the miry clay for us, is
this'that Many shall see, and fear, and trust in the Lord. Many!' Not
all mankind, but many' shall look to Jesus and live. Alas! Vast numbers
continue in unbelief, but many' shall believe and live; and the Lord's
many' means very many. As I was thinking over my text, I thought, I
hope there will be some at the Tabernacle this morning that belong to
the I many who shall see and fear and trust in the Lord.' Many shall'
for the Lord hath promised it. But, Lord, they will not. But they
shall,' says God. Oh, but many refuse. But they shall,' says God and He
hath the key of men's hearts, and power over their judgments and their
wills. Many shall.' Do you, oh ye unbelievers, think that Jesus shall
die in vain? Oh, sinners, if you will nor have Christ, others will. You
may despise Him, but He will be none the less glorious. You may reject
His salvation but He shall be none the less mighty to save. He is a
king, and ye cannot pluck a single jewel from His crown. If you arc so
foolish as to provoke His iron rod so that He shall break you in
shivers with it, yet He will be ijorious in the sight of God, and He
will save His own. Notwithstanding your hardness of heart, be this
known unto you, oh House of Israel, that many shall see, and fear, and
trust in the Lord.'

What shall the many do? They shall see.' Their eyes shall be opened,
and they shall see their Lord in the horrible pit, and in the miry
clay, and as they look they shall see that He was there for them. What
joy this will create in their spirits! If they do not see the Lord
Jesus as their Substitute they shall, at any rate, be made to see the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. If when Jesus only takes imputed sin, and
has no sin of His own, yet He must be cast into the horrible pit and
sink in the miry clay; then what will become of men who have their owns
sins about them, provoking the fierce anger of the Lord? If God thus
smites His well'beloved, oh sinner, how will He smite you! Beware, ye
that forget Him, lest He tear you in pieces, and there be none to
deliver you. By the suffering Surety all covered with His own gore, I
do beseech you, provoke not God; for if His Only'Begotten must suffer
so, you must suffer yet more if you break His law, and next reject His
gospel.

Many shall see.' Do you wonder that it is added, and shall fear?' It
makes men fear to see a bleeding Christ, and to know that they
crucified Him. It makes men fear, however, with a sweet filial fear
that is akin to hope, when they see that Jesus died for sinner, the
Just for the unjust, to bring them to God. Oh, when they see the Lord
of love acting as a scapegoat, and bearing their sins away into the
wilderness of forgetfulness, they begin to hate their evil ways, and to
have a reverent fear of God; for so saith the Scripture, there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.'

But best of all'and this is the chief point'they come to trust in the
Lord.' They build their hope of salvation upon the righteousness of God
as manifested in Christ Jesus. Oh, I would to God that some of you
would trust Him at once. Beloved friend, are you trying to be saved by
your own works? That is a delusion. Are you hoping to be saved by your
own feelings? That is a lie. But you can be saved, you shall be saved:
if you will trust yourself with that blessed One who was alone in the
dark pit of noises for the sake of sinners, and slipped in the miry
clay for the ungodly, you shall assuredly be saved from wrath through
Him. Trust Him, and as surely as He liveth you shall be saved; for he
that trusteth in Him cannot perish. God's truthfulness were gone if the
believer could be lost. Hath He not said, He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved.' The throne of God must rock and reel before
the cross.

IV. Fourthly, let us see THE LORD'S LIKENESS in His people. This whole
passage, as I said in the beginning, has often been used by individual
believers as a description of their own deliverance. It is a true
picture, because we are made like unto our Head, and all the brethren
are partakers of that which the Head has endured. Do I speak to any of
my Master's servants in sore trouble? Dear friends, are you made to
wait, though your trial is sharp and severe? Is it so that your prayer
has not yet been answered? Then remember the waiter's place was once
occupied by the Lord Jesus, for He says, I waited patiently.' If the
Lord keeps you waiting for a certain blessing year after year do not
despair. He will give it at length if it be truly for your good, for He
hath said, no good thing will I withhold from them that walk
uprightly.' He kept His Son waiting, and He may very well keep you in
like posture, for how long did you delay, and cause the Lord of grace
to wait on you! Blessed are they that wait for Him.' I have seen people
very uppish when they have called on a public man and have had to wait
a little; they feel that they ought not to be kept in the lobby, but
suppose some young man said to them, I am his own son, and yet I have
been waiting an hour.' Then they are more patient. So when God keeps
you waiting do not be proud, and say, Wherefore should I wait for the
Lord any longer?' but remember It is good for a man both to hope and
quietly wait for the salvation of God.' Jesus waited'waited patiently.'
Seek to be like Him, and in patience possess your soul. I cannot see
how I am to be delivered.' Wait. Ah, this is such a heavy burden.'
Wait. But I am ready to die under this terrible load.' Wait! Wait on!
Though He tarry, wait for Him: He is worth waiting for. Wait' is a
short word, but it takes a deal of grace to spell out its full meaning,
and still more grace to put it in practice. Wait: wait. Oh, but I have
been unfortunate.' Wait. But I have believed a promise, and it has not
been fulfilled.' Wait; for you wait in blessed company: you may hear
Jesus saying, I waited patiently.' Blessed be His name, He is teaching
us to do the same by His gracious Spirit.

Next, the Lord may send you, His dear child, a very heavy sorrow: you
may fall into the horrible pit, and see no light, no comfort, and no
one may be able to cheer you or help you. Some that have a touch of
despondency in their nature have been brought so low as almost to
despair of life. They have sat in darkness and seen no light: they have
felt the walls of their prison and have not discovered a crack or
cranny through which escape was possible: they have looked up, and even
then they have seen nothing to console them. Ah, well, here is a word I
commend to you'the Saviour says it: He brought me up.' The Lord God can
and will bring up His troubled ones. You will have to write in your
dairy one of these days. He brought me up.' I was in the dark, I was in
the dungeon, but He brought me up.' I can personally say this with
gladsome gratitude, for He hath brought me up,' again and again. My
heart is glad as I reflect upon my past deliverances. I have often
wondered why I so often shut up in prison, and bound as with fetters of
steel; but I cease to wonder when I think of the many among you who are
called to wear the like bonds. This is my portion, that I may be a
witness-bearer for my God, and that I may be able to speak to the
experiences of God's tempted people, and tell how graciously the Lord
delivers His servants who trust in Him. Faith shall never be shamed or
confounded, world without end. God can and will hasten to the rescue of
the faithful. I set to my seal also that He brought me up'; and,
beloved brother in tribulation, He will bring you up; only rest in the
Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

Ah,' say you, But I do not know how to stand, for I sink as in miry
clay, through faintness of heart: I cannot find the slightest foothold
for my hope.' No, you are sinking in the miry clay like your Master;
but in answer to prayer the Lord will bring you up out of your hopeless
state, and He will set your feet upon a rock and establish your goings,
and give you joy, and peace, and delight. Wherefore see, and fear, and
trust in God, and give glory to His blessed name.

Lastly, do I address any seeking one who finds no rest for the sole of
his foot? Dear friend, are you sinking in the deep mire of your guilt?
The Lord can pardon you, for the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son,
cleanseth us from all sin.' Are you shut up by conscience in the
prison-house under a just sense of deserved wrath? Jesus will give you
immediate rest if you come to Him. Do you feel as if you cannot kneel
to pray, for your very knees slip in the mire of doubt? Remember, Jesus
makes intercession for the transgressors. Do you seem as if, every time
you move, you are burying your hope, and slipping deeper and deeper
into ruin? The Lord hath plenteous redemption. Do not despairs You
cannot not deliver yourself, but God can deliver you: you cannot stand
of yourself, but God can make you to stand. You cannot go to Him nor go
abroad among your fellow-men with comfort, but the Lord can make you to
run in His ways. You shall yet go forth with joy and be led forth with
peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Only
see Christ, and fear and trust your God, and you too shall sing unto
Jehovah your deliverer, and this shall be your song:'

He raised mc from a horrid pit,

Where mourning long I lay,

And from my bonds released my feet,

Deep bonds of miry clay.

Firm on a rock he made me stand,

And taught my cheerful tongue

I praise tire wonders of his hand

In a new thankful song.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'PSALM 40.

HYMNS FROM OUR OWN HYMN BOOK'196, 40, 332.
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Out Of Egypt