God’s Glorious and Everlasting Name

God's Glorious and Everlasting Name

(No. 2229)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 15, 1891.

"To make Himself an everlasting name…To make Yourself a glorious
name." Isaiah 63:12,14.

MAN'S chief end is to glorify and enjoy God. God's greatest and highest
objective is to make to Himself a glorious and an everlasting name.
Since God is God, it must be so, for He is full of love and kindness to
His creatures, and He cannot more fully bless His creatures than by
making Himself known to them. Everything that is good, true, holy,
excellent and loving, is in God. He is not only the Giver of "every
good and every perfect gift," but He is, Himself, the sum and substance
of all blessing! And it is for the highest good of all the creatures He
has made, that they should know their God. "Man, know yourself," is a
frequent exhortation of the philosophers of earth–and self-knowledge
is said to be the highest form of knowledge, but it is not. "Man, know
your God," is a far wiser precept, for knowledge of God as far excels
all other knowledge as the heavens are higher than the earth! It is
life eternal to know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He
has sent. Know your God, then, for here your hope, your comfort, your
holiness, your Heaven will be found!

God may well desire to make to Himself a name–that is to say, to make
Himself known–because He is worthy to be known. There is no name so
well worthy of publication. There is no Character like His. There is
none that can be compared to Him. Even among the gods of the heathen,
if they were gods, there is none like our God and, indeed, there is
none other. He can truly say, "I am Jehovah, and there is none beside
Me." He ought to be known and it is a worthy motive of His actions that
He should make unto Himself a great name.

This knowledge of God is the Heaven of the perfect! I believe they have
no higher joy in the Land of Light than to know God. The blaze of their
glory is the Presence of Deity. The height of their Heaven is that God
is near them and that they are near to Him. Heaven would be no Heaven
if God were not there. It would be a circle without a center, a sky
without a sun! The holy song of the seraphim would be hushed–they
would cease to veil their faces with their wings and the Hosannas of
the redeemed would languish if they could no longer raise the
hymn–"The Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Without the Presence of the
Eternal, Heaven would be shorn of the bliss for which we long–and
emptied of the Glory we have been led to anticipate! To know God
perfectly and to behold Him in righteousness will be all that any heart
can need–

"How wonderful, how beautiful, The sight of You must be! Your glorious
wisdom, boundless power, And awful purity."

While the knowledge of God is the Heaven of the perfect, it is the help
of the growing. Men can only get holier and better as they know more of
God. Here is the copy–look well at it, that you may write after it.
Here is that Character which you are to imitate, according to the
exhortation, "Be you, therefore, followers of God, as dear children."
Know God as He makes Himself known by His works and ways, that you may
grow to be like He. Continue to know Him until you shall be able to say
that He is the gladness of your joy and may join with the Psalmist and
say, "I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy."

The knowledge of God is also the great hope of sinners. O child of
earth, if you knew Him better, you would fly to Him! If you understood
how gracious He is, you would seek Him! If you could have any idea of
His holiness, you would loathe your self-righteousness! If you knew
anything of His power, you would not venture to contend with Him. If
you knew anything of His Grace, you would not hesitate to yield
yourself to Him. The more God reveals Himself to you and the more you
know of God, the more are you in the way of hope and mercy! "They that
know Your name will put their trust in You."

Therefore I do not attempt to defend my God, nor stand here to
apologize for Him when I assert that the one great end of all that He
does is to make to Himself a name–since it is by the making of that
name that men are blessed in the very highest degree–and helped to
holiness and happiness! I would rather ask you to praise Him who sits
upon the Throne, as He thus manifests Himself–for our good can only be
achieved by the glory of God's name–

"Who is a pardoning Godlike Thee, Or who has Grace so rich and free?"
In seeking to open up this subject, I shall say, first of all, that
God's design in making to Himself a great name has been accomplished.
Secondly, this design is still being accomplished. And, thirdly, the
design is, in itself, exceedingly delightful.

I. First, GOD'S DESIGN HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. From everlasting He was
God most glorious! He existed, but He had as yet no name. For a name is
that by which someone is revealed–and until His power called into
being the hosts of Heaven, God was God, and there were none to whom He
could be known! Then the angels lifted high His praise in their songs
and bowed low before His Throne. In creation His name was manifested
and magnified–when the foundations of the earth were laid, "the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
Man was made in the image of God for His own Glory and all things
existed for His praise. "He is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."
But our subject is how God has made His name glorious among men. Let us
consider it.

The text speaks of God as making to Himself a great and glorious name,
in redeeming Israel. When He poured His plagues on Egypt and afflicted
the fields of Zoan, proud Pharaoh would not yield. He thought himself
able to contend against Jehovah, but the tyrant trembled. He sought the
intercession of Moses and, at last, he was glad to let Israel go! God
triumphed over Pharaoh. When Pharaoh gathered up his spirit once
more–his heart being hardened–he pursued Israel to the Red Sea and
God permitted him to follow His people into the midst of the waters
until the waves returned, in all their might, and quickly swallowed him
up!

Then sang the children of Israel, "The depths have covered them: they
sank into the bottom as a stone." God's name was glorious that day
insomuch that they sang again, "Who is like unto You, O Lord, among the
gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders?" And not only that day, but as long as there is a man alive,
the song of the Red Sea will be remembered and our ears shall hear the
refrain of Miriam's song–"Sing you to the Lord, for He has triumphed
gloriously; the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea." All
the nations of the earth heard of that event, especially the heathen
races of Palestine! God intended to drive them out to make room for His
people and a fear took hold of them. They trembled as they heard what
God did at the Red Sea. He had made to Himself an everlasting name, for
that one event goes ringing down the centuries! Throughout eternity the
redeemed will continue to "sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb." Then God brought His people through the
wilderness, guiding them by His Presence, and He led them into the
Promised Land. The revised Version renders verse fourteen– "As the
cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused them
to rest: so did You lead Your people, to make Yourself a glorious
name."

Now, as God got to Himself a great name at the Red Sea, He has done
much more by the great works of salvation in the gift of Jesus. Ah,
here Egypt is eclipsed and the destruction of Pharaoh is no more to be
remembered! We were lost– sin had taken us captive, but God brought us
out with a high hand and an outstretched arm. But for our redemption it
was necessary that He should become Man, that in a human form God
should tabernacle on earth! Would He come to Bethlehem's manger? Would
He, the Infinite, come robed as an Infant? Yes, He came and made Heaven
wonder till the angels sang and sang again! They could not understand
the marvelous condescension of the Incarnation. Being here in fashion
as a Man, it was necessary, if He would save us, that He must bear the
wrath of God on our behalf. There must be a bloody sweat from that
blessed body! There must be a scourging of those sacred shoulders!
There must be a piercing of those dear hands and feet! There must be a
rending open of that loving and holy heart!

Shall it be done? Will the Son of God die like a felon on a gallows?
Will the Lord of Glory give His back to the smit-ers and His cheeks to
them that pluck off the hair? Will He yield His face to shame and
spitting? Will He, can He di'e?

Death, you have slain your millions–will you also slay the Son of God?
It must be so if we are to live–He must die, or we must die, or
justice must die! Which shall it be? Jesus solves the problem–He
deigns to die. As I see Him bow His blessed head and hear Him utter His
death-cry, "It is finished," I say that the Most High has gotten to
Himself an everlasting name, a glorious name–"For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." All other deeps are
shallow! This is an abyss! All other heights of goodness can be
climbed–but this–never! Pile Andes on Pelion, Alp on Alp, the
Matterhorn on Mont Blanc and the Andes on the Himalayas–all are not
great enough to be a symbol of His love! The Incarnate Son of God
condemned! The Son of God slain! The Son of God in the grave! And all
this for us! Truly, He has made Himself a glorious name! Saints on
earth and saints above unite to sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain!" And forever and ever we shall know no choicer song.

Furthermore, I am sure you will agree with me that He has made Himself
a glorious name by taking so many of the saints already into Heaven.
His design has been accomplished in the saints in Glory. Some of our
dearest ones are there, where no trouble can ever reach them again.
Yes, they are now beyond gunshot of the enemy! I am sure that they give
Him a glorious name. Oh, how they stand and wonder that ever they
should have been brought there! How they lie adoring at His feet,
marveling that by such a stoop of His love, they should be lifted to
such a height of Glory! Listen how their hearts ring out the
never-ceasing music! You sleep and your songs are suspended–but day
without night they circle His Throne rejoicing–and this is the strain
of all their music–"Glory, glory, glory unto the Triune Jehovah who
has brought us to stand before the Throne of God."–

"Father of Jesus, love's reward,

What rapture will it be!

Prostrate before Your Throne to lie,

And gaze, and gaze on Thee!"

When you and I get to Heaven, we will give God a glorious name, will we
not? I have often told you of the old woman who said that if Christ
saved her, He would never hear the last of it. Nor shall He ever cease
to receive the praises of us all when He once gives us an opportunity
of joining yonder happy choir! We will not wish to pause in the
perpetual outpourings of our adoration and worship. "I heard a voice
from Heaven," says John, "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder." I do not wonder at that description of the songs
of the redeemed, for when we all together shall praise His everlasting
and glorious name, our united thanksgiving will be like the sound of
oceans upon oceans piled, Atlantics upon Pacifics, Arctics upon these,
Indian Oceans upon them all–and all together roaring with the fullness
thereof in the majesty of praise unto the great Eternal! God has,
indeed, made Himself a name! There is no name like the name of
Jehovah-Jesus under Heaven, or in Heaven itself! At that name the
angels pause! To speak its praise they fly! All the earth worships You,
the Everlasting Father. To You, O God, we cry aloud with hearty voices
of praise and when we have paid our fullest homage, we feel that we
have scarcely reached the lowest note of the anthem we long to sing!
Faint is our song compared with what You deserve!–

"Weak is the effort of my heart,

And cold my warmest thought!

But when I see You as You are,

I'll praise You as I ought."

So much for the first point.

II. Now, secondly, GOD'S DESIGN IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED. In many ways the
grand work is still going forward. God is carrying out His gracious
plan. "My Father works hitherto, and I work," Christ might still truly
say, as He once said at Jerusalem. And the Holy Spirit, whom He has
given, also labors towards the same end–that the name of the Triune
God may be exalted!

This purpose is being fulfilled, first, in sparing the provoking. There
was one who said, "If there is a God, let Him prove it by striking me
dead." God proved His Godhead by letting that sinner live! Had He been
a man such as we are, He would have struck the blasphemer on the spot!
But God will not be provoked. He is "long-suffering, and plenteous in
mercy." Oh, if some of us had been treated with a thousandth part of
the hatred that men have poured on God, we would have struck out in
strength of indignation–and we might have been excused–but God has
borne it all! They have denied His existence. They have blasphemed His
Word. They have resisted His Spirit. They have questioned the Deity of
His

Son. What have they not done? And yet He has been patient to get to
Himself a name as the "God of Patience," and that name will stand
forever. Would that this long-suffering of God might lead men to
repentance!

Next, God gets to Himself a name in turning the rebellious to Himself.
Oh, I delight to see this done! It is the minister's joy! We know men
that have been, for years, set in opposition to God, and we had almost
thought it impossible that they should ever be turned, but, all of a
sudden, Christ has manifested Himself to them and we hear that they are
seeking after God! Such conversions very often surprise me, especially
when persons come or write to me out of families that have been famous
for unbelief, or out of wealthy families where there is all manner of
gaiety and worldliness, or out of poor families where there has been a
disregard of God's Holy Day. Such cases, in which the work is evidently
God's, seem to me like miracles of mercy!

Last Wednesday, when seeing those who came to join the Church, to one
after another I said, "Have you a godly father or mother?" and many of
them answered, "No, Sir." Then I said, "perhaps it was your brother or
sister who influenced you for Christ," to which several replied, "I am
sorry to say none of my brothers or sisters are Christians." In several
cases I asked further, "Have you, then, some friend who fears God?" and
often the answer was, "I do not know one of my family that has been
accustomed, even, to pay any outward reverence to religion." Yet the
Grace of God has come into that home and taken one of a family–to
bring that one to Zion–and it has sometimes happened that the least
likely has been the very one who has been called! I should not wonder
but some young man who came to this service to make fun of the whole
thing will find something better than fun before the service is
over–and be among those who shall preach the Gospel which once he
despised!

It has often happened that when men have gone far in sin, they have
been stopped by Grace. There is a strange incident in Bunyan's life
which tells us of the strange reason with which he comforted himself
about the next generation. He said that the young men of his day were
so wicked, that he hoped that God meant to make great saints of them.
It was an extraordinary way of looking at evil, but there is a basis of
the Truth of God in such a view. "Where sin abounded, Grace did much
more abound." Is it not written of the very offcasts and outcasts, the
enemies to God, those in the isles afar off, who have not heard God's
fame, neither seen His Glory, "I will also take of them for priests and
for Levites, says the Lord"? God will take these, in the Sovereignty of
His Grace, to conquer them and make to Himself a name! Then everybody
will say, greatly wondering, "Has that notorious blasphemer really been
converted? Has that gay butterfly actually become serious? Does that
careless, godless person at last begin to think of these things?" Ah,
glory be to God, it is by these conversions that He gets to Himself a
glorious name!

Again, He gets to Himself a name in forgiving the guilty. When the
great sinner comes, or the person who, though he has not openly
offended, is yet conscious of great inward sin–when these come and in
a moment are washed whiter than snow, and realize that their sin is put
away, forever, they cannot help crying, like a man in Scotland, of whom
I heard, who, when he spoke the praises of Christ who had saved him
from the wrath to come, said, in his joy–"Oh, He is a great Forgiver!
Oh, He is a great Forgiver!" You remember how the Prophet Micah writes
of this great Forgiver, "Who is a God like unto You, that pardons
iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His
heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in
mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will
subdue our iniquities and will cast all our sins into the depths of the
sea"? Hallelujah! Every soul that gets the pardon of all its sin must
magnify the Lord! And if you know to the fullest what that pardon is,
it will make you give God a great name–

"Here's pardon for transgressions past, It matters not how black their
cast. And, O my Soul, with wonder view, For sins to come, here's
pardon, too." Who would not give God glory when He gives such mercy?

Further, God glorifies His name in purifying the unholy. It is a great
honor to God when we see men and women who were once very wild and
self-willed, walking carefully and graciously. I do not know that I
have ever praised God more than I did in the case of a Brother of a
very savage temper who was, indeed, just like an incarnate devil at
times! But after he was converted, he became as quiet as a lamb and
just as gentle as he had formerly been ferocious. God got a great name
through that change–and such things happen a great deal more
frequently than some doubters imagine! The man who was so stingy that
he would have drawn the teeth of his motherless child to sell them if
he could, after he is converted becomes so generous that he can keep no
money in his pocket when there are any poor people in need! The Grace
of God

makes such a difference, turning things upside down and completely
altering the character! Grace renews the man and God is greatly
glorified thereby! It is, in fact, the fulfillment of the ancient
promise–"Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir tree, and instead
of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree." Instead of vice, lust,
passion and self-seeking, there comes up holiness, love to God, love to
men and every amiable virtue. Then God's name is glorified! Dear
Christian people, do try to glorify His name. May your life be such
that whoever watches you shall be compelled to say, "Truly, God's name
is glorified in them!" Let all behold the clear shining of your light
until they "see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
Heaven."

God also glorifies His name in preserving the tempted. Oh, what stories
each one might tell of himself! How God has kept us in the time of
great temptation! I know that some of you here are fiercely tempted.
God has brought you out from sin, but the devil pulls you back as far
as ever he can. And your surroundings do not help you. Your companions
would, if they could, drag you with them into Hell. Now, if the Lord
keeps you, it will be greatly to His Glory and He will get to Himself a
glorious name! I have noticed that Christian men who seem to live in
the greatest danger are not those who fall, but those who backslide are
often those whose circumstances appear to be peculiarly favorable. Yet
they wander and go astray. God will keep you if you stay yourself upon
Him, though your business sometimes leads you to the edge of a
precipice! God will keep you, if you rely upon His power, though your
position in society surrounds you with dangers.

Be of good hope and continue to put your trust in Him. In your case, He
will make to Himself a name, even now! And at the end what praise shall
be His when you are brought safely home! Here comes into Heaven the man
who has been between the jaws of death! He has walked right straight
between the lions–they sniffed at his heels and they would have
devoured him if they could. He went through the Valley of the Shadow of
Death where the hobgoblins were on either side, where the fierce
Apollyon met him and he had to fight him, foot to foot! But God has
brought him safely home. Hallelujah! Oh, what a name will God have in
saving His people from all their temptations!

To change the subject just a little–I believe that God gets a great
name to Himself in using weak instruments. If you go to hear a great
and learned man preach the Gospel–some doctor of divinity, some
famously eloquent man–if there are souls saved, you say, "Ah, well! He
is a wonderful man, a clever man. It is to be expected that great
blessing will come of such preaching." But if, on the other hand, if it
is some person by whom God is pleased to speak who makes no pretense of
learning, but who uses common words–and yet many are led into the
Light of God by him–you say to yourself, "Well, I could speak better
than that! What a wonder that God can do such a mighty work with such a
poor implement!" When God speaks by the feeble. When He uses the
insignificant, then does He not get to Himself a glorious name? I hear
almost every day in the week of souls converted to God by sermons
preached here, which go to the ends of the earth. And when I hear about
them, I always wonder that God should have blessed those sermons to
anybody. And any man whom God favors with His Presence and help will
marvel that God should use such a poor, dry stick! But He does and He
will, for, "base things of the world, and things which are despised,
has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nothing
things that are." And all this to make unto Himself a glorious name!

Sometimes our God makes to Himself a glorious name in doing great
things for His people by sending very wonderful seasons of refreshing
and reviving to His Church. Some misunderstood me the other day to
speak against revivals. I never did such a thing in my life! The more
revivals we have of a true sort, the better. What I do speak against is
the kind of thing which works people up into an excitement and then
lets them drop. I read only last night of a Methodist congregation, of
which the writer says, "They are a wonderfully nice people. They have a
revival about once in seven years and then everybody seems to feel
intensely, and you can preach with great power. But in between the
times of those revivals, they are as hard as old nails."

Well now, I do not want that kind of thing! Spasms of any sort are not
desirable things, least of all spasmodic religion! I want a revival
that keeps on every day in the year, all the years in the century! That
is the kind of revival that glorifies God–not a temporary ripple on
the surface–but a great swell that comes rolling up from the depths!
May God send it! He can do such a work by His Spirit and there are
indications that He is going to permit us to see greater things than
ever. All these many years, in this place, souls have been saved in one
continued stream by the preaching of the Gos-pel–scarcely ever more
and very seldom less–but oh, for a grand spring tide, a mighty flood
that shall bring many to Christ and to the Church! Then it shall be
that God will get to Himself a glorious and an everlasting name!

In this manner God is now accomplishing His gracious design and will,
still, in days to come, get to Himself a name most glorious. These are
but the beginnings of His ways–the fullness of them will overwhelm us
with their grandeur and majesty! Having begun to reveal His name and
Character, He will go on to do it. He will carve it deep on the history
of His redeemed. Blessed be His name for the seasons of revival we have
already had and are having, but our hearts look forward with high hope
to even better times when, as Peter preached after Pentecost, "Times of
refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord and He shall send
Jesus Christ." Then, indeed, the Lord will get to Himself a glorious
name! "The times of restitution of all things" will begin and, as
Habakkuk tells us, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

God has not ceased His working. He will go on doing great things. It is
His purpose to make to Himself an everlasting name, as well as a
glorious name. Everlasting and glorious! That can only mean to us
everlasting Glory! Beyond this, we have the promise of some Grace not
yet revealed, for it is written concerning the man who overcomes, "I
will write upon him My new name." Yes, God will yet accomplish His
purpose and fully manifest His Glory!

III. Having thus tried to show you how God carries out the purpose of
making to Himself a glorious name, let me go on, in the third place, to
say that GOD'S DESIGN IS VERY DELIGHTFUL. I will advance five reasons
why we should rejoice in this fact.

For God to save and bless men, in order to get to Himself a glorious
name, is a very delightful thing, first, because it hides pride from
men. And anything that does that is glorifying to Him. Remember these
words–"Not for your sakes do I this, says the Lord God, be it known
unto you; be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways, O house of
Israel." God did not choose His people because of anything in them.
Christ did not redeem His people because of anything in them. The Holy
Spirit does not call a man because of anything in him. We are not
justified because of our own merits– we are not accepted because of
our own excellence. It is all of Grace from first to last! "Where is
boasting, then? It is excluded." There is no place where pride can come
in. Salvation is "not of works, lest any man should boast."

The second reason is because it opens a great door for sinners. Now,
listen to this. Perhaps there is one here who says, "I am so guilty. I
am so unworthy. I am so vile that God cannot save me on account of
anything in me. I am everything that I ought not to be." Stand to that,
Brothers and Sisters! Tire not there. You have a hold of the Truth this
time! "Then why should He save me?" you ask. "It cannot be because of
any use that He can make of me, for I am ignorant. I am obscure and I
am weak-minded. God can never get much out of me–He cannot save me for
the sake of that." But look, Sir, He can save you that He may make a
great name for Himself, for if He pardons you, a great sinner, that
will bring great praise to His mercy! If He changes you, who has been
desperately set on mischief, that will bring great credit to His power!
If He takes you who are so insignificant and obscure, that will clearly
show the greatness of His condescension and the wondrousness of His
love!

I am not sure, but I think that if God were to save any of you, I
should not wonder at it so much as I often wonder that He should have
saved me! I sometimes ask myself whether I was converted because I was
so headstrong and obstinate, that God might show how He can overcome
obstinacy and how self-will can be made to sit at His feet. You
remember what the Scotchwoman said to Rowland Hill when she stood
looking at his face? He said, "Well, good woman, you have looked at me
a long while. What are you looking at?" She said, "I was looking at the
lines of your face." "Well, and what do you make of them?" he asked. "I
was thinking what an awful rascal you would have been if you had not
been converted," was her unexpected answer!

Now, I think that we might say the same of a good many, and if it is
God's intent to get to Himself a glorious name, I see hope for big
rascals! I see hope for great sinners! If a doctor has come into a
parish and needs to get a reputation. And if he can cure those who have
a finger-ache, those who have something the matter with a corn, he will
not get much credit by that. But here is a man who has cancer–here is
a woman ill in consumption. If he can cure these two, I guarantee you
that all the world will know of it before long! If he can manage these
desperate cases, that all the other doctors have given up, then he will
get to himself a name!

Now, is there some cancerous sinner here, some soul in a dread
consumption of evil? I pray you, come to Christ, for He wants to get to
Himself a name–and why should He not save you? Is there not reason to
believe that He is likely to begin with the worst, that He may get to
Himself glory out of such? Would God you would pick the comfort out of
this Truth of God, for there is a vast amount of consolation lying
hidden in it! Great sinners make great saints! God loves the

love of His people! And those who have been saved from deep sin are
often most fervent in their devotion. To procure such love to Himself
and such honor to His name, God lays hold of the rebellious sinner, who
afterwards sings–

"Love I much? I've more forgiven;

I'm a miracle of Grace!"

Next, this grand Truth that God does what He does for the Glory of His
own name, is delightful because it gives comfort to strugglers. You who
are laboring after holiness. You who are striving after purity, in full
obedience to the Divine will, do you not see that if God will help you
in your struggles and give you victory, it will be to the Glory of His
name? The weaker you are, the more glory to Him if He makes you strong!
And the more beaten you seem to be, the more nearly defeated, the more
glory to God if He will come to your rescue and help you through.
Therefore expect that He will do it! "The name of the Lord is a strong
tower, the righteous runs into it and is safe." Run into it and, for
His name's sake expect the Lord to keep you! At length He will deliver
us from our enemies and bring us into the place of peace–and "there
the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams;
wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall any gallant ship
pass thereby. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the
Lord is our King: He will save us." For the glory of His own name He
will do this.

The confidence that God is working out His designs is delightful,
again, because it sustains in trying times. I think that this ought to
gladden you very much. You should be delighted that God seeks His own
Glory, for He will find it in helping you in the time of trouble. "Call
upon Me," He says, "in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you
shall glorify Me." It is not for God's Glory to leave one of His poor
children to perish. It is not for God's Glory to leave the least lamb
in all His flock to be eaten by the wolf. If the devil could get one
who trusted Christ, what a triumph they would make in Hell over that
soul! "Here is one whom Christ could not save, or would not save," they
would mockingly shout. "Here is a soul who trusted in Christ and yet is
lost, after all!" Oh, the gibes and jests which would then be uttered
against the Savior who is mighty to save! But this shall never be! It
would make such a stain upon the honor, fidelity, Immutability and
Glory of God, that it cannot even be imagined! His Glory will never be
compromised in such a way as that–

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to his foes!

That soul, though all Hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!" And, once more, it is most
delightful that God should seek His own Glory, for you and I, and all
of us who know anything of His Grace, are seeking it, too. It answers
our chief prayer. We are the children of God and His honor is dear to
us. When we come to Him and say, "Our Father who are in Heaven," our
first desire is, "Hallowed be Your name." I speak to many who can add
their, "Amen," to this! If you could have your greatest, chief, highest
wish, would you not say, "I wish that God may be glorified"? I met a
dear Brother minister last week and he said to me, "My wife is sick and
ill, and I have a world of troubles, but I do not feel them half so
much as I do the burden of the present condition of the professing
Church. God is dishonored in His own Church and that weighs me down." I
could respond and say, "That is my case, too." The heaviest trouble of
my soul is to see things as they now are in Christendom–and if I might
have but one prayer, and pray it, it would be, "O God, glorify Yourself
in Your own Church and in the salvation of men!" And do you not think
that the desire of every true Christian is, "Let God be magnified"? Is
not this the wish of Heaven? What is Heaven, but a perpetual magnifying
of God? It will be the crown of all rejoicing to be able to–

"Crown Him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon His Throne."

Therefore we rejoice and think it delightful that God is aiming at the
manifestation of His own Character and, is in all His works getting to
Himself a great, eternal, and glorious name! Come, you sinners, poor
and wretched, come and glorify the bounty of God! Come, you that are at
Hell's dark door, arise and glorify the greatness of the love of God in
Christ Jesus! Whoever among you will believe in Christ shall have
eternal life! Trust the living Christ who is gone into the heavens to
intercede for sinners! Trust Him and you shall live and God shall be
glorified in your life. Come, saying–

"No preparation can I make,

My best resolves I only break!

Now save me for Your own name's sake,

And take me as I am."

He will do it! He will do it now! When He does it, He does it forever.
I pray the Holy Spirit to bless these words to the salvation of many,
that the Triune Jehovah may get to Himself a glorious and everlasting
name, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Isaiah 63. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–233, 245, 586.

LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON:

Beloved Friends–I was supremely thankful to telegraph to London that I
was not wearied by my journey of a thousand miles, but rather refreshed
by it. I wrote that this was "almost miraculous," and my dear brother
observed that I might wisely leave out the, "almost," and so save two
pence, which is the rate per word! Well, it does seem to me to be
beyond all that I could have asked or even thought. Blessed be the
healing Lord! I am waiting and watching for news from home as
remarkable in regard to a Tabernacle revival as these tidings from me
about my restoration to health. I now look for great things in
connection with Dr. Pierson's labors and those of all my friends at
home. Good news has already reached me as to the usefulness of the
printed sermons, but I long for more. To spread my sermons is to help
on the cause in the most efficient manner. To pray for a blessing is to
share in it. Why should we not see a renewal of faith, a
re-enthronement of the Truth of God, a deep and widespread revival of
religion at home and a grand advance of missions abroad? According to
your faith be it unto you, you heirs of the heavenly Kingdom! Your
fellow servant, Mentone, October 31, 1891. C H. SPURGEON.