Harvest Joy

Harvest Joy

(No. 2265)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 17, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
6, 1890.

"You have magnified the nation, and increased the joy: they joy before
You according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they
divide the spoil." Isaiah 9:3.

NOTICE that I make a correction in the version from which I am reading.
The Authorized Version has it, "You have multiplied the nation, and not
increased the joy." This is not consistent with the connection. The
Revised Version has very properly put it, "You have multiplied the
nation, You have increased their joy." I have not any learning to
display, but I think I could show it to you, if this were the proper
time, how the passage came to be read with a, "not," and I could also
prove to you that, in this instance, the Revisers were right in making
their alteration.

Tonight, there are about 82 persons who have confessed Christ before
the Church, have been baptized and who are to be received into our
fellowship. We feel very grateful for this large addition to our
members and, all the more so, because it is no strange thing, but month
by month, all the year round, they continue to come, though not in such
large numbers as at this time. God be thanked for thus blessing us! We
cannot allow these occasions to pass over without joying before the
Lord as men rejoice when they gather in their sheaves of corn!

To bring out your joy, think of how we would feel if we did not have an
increase in the Church, or very few were ever added. The good old
people seem quite content to be very few. Their notion is that the way
to Heaven is very narrow, as, indeed, it is, and that, therefore, they
must not expect many to find their way. I remember a Church where the
good old deacons used to say of the converts, "Summer them and winter
them. Keep them out till we have tried them for a very long time." It
came to pass, after the process of, "summering and wintering," that a
great many of them never came forward at all! Though they were very
excellent people, they never summoned courage enough to join such a
Church. Did you ever hear a farmer say of his wheat, "Summer it and
winter it, and then take it into the barn"? No, farmers are not such
fools! But these good men were so very wise that they became otherwise,
so they said, "Keep the corn out in the field; else you will bring in
some poppies, or some cornflowers, and we do not want them. Keep the
converts out of the Church till you are sure that there are no
hypocrites among them."

Well, dear Friends, we are not at all of this mind! We try to use every
caution and great prudence–and our friends do not come into this
Church without experiencing an examination–some of them even think it
to be an ordeal–yet I find that the more difficult it is to get into a
Church, the more people want to come into it! And whenever the barriers
are lowered and you tell people that they may come without any test as
to the state of their souls, nobody cares to come! Well, we have taken
pains and care, and have sought only to welcome the worthy, that is,
those who are trusting in Je-sus–and yet we have had a great number
come, by His Grace! But suppose that we had none? Well, I hope every
Christian man and woman here would be troubled about it. I should not
wonder if the question arose, "Had we not better put somebody else on
the platform?" That somebody who is now here would be the first to say,
"If I am doing no good, let somebody else come and try, for it would be
sad and sickening business to be fishing for souls and never catching
anything."

Last winter, at Mentone, I went out in a boat where I was assured that
there were shoals of fish. And I had a line, I should think it was 150
feet long–and after waiting hour after hour and never feeling the fish
bite–I gave up the useless occupation. I think every minister is bound
to give up the spiritual fishery in any particular place if, after many
days'

toil, he has caught nothing for Christ. Rachel says, "Give me children,
or I die!" Christ's servant says, "Give me converts, or I die!" Indeed,
we are dead as far as our ministry is concerned unless God blesses it.

We also feel that we ought to be glad when others are joined to the
Church because we look back, with exquisite pleasure, upon our own
joining of it. I remember the trouble it cost me to join the Church. I
think I went to see the pastor some four or five days running–he was
always too busy to see me–till, at last, I told him it did not matter,
for I would go to the Church Meeting and propose myself as a member.
And then he, all of a sudden, found time to see me– and so I managed
to get into the Church and confess my faith in Christ! Oh, dear
Friends, that was one of the best days' work I ever did, when I openly
declared my faith in Christ and united myself with His people! I think
many here could say the same–they remember when they united with the
people of God, and publicly avowed their faith. You do not regret it
Brothers and Sisters, do you? I am sure you feel that it was a happy
day when you could say–

"'Tis done! The great transaction's done– I am my Lord's, and He is
mine!" By the peace of mind which has come to us from joining with the
people of God after believing in Christ, we feel glad to see other
young soldiers stooping to take up the Cross of Christ and following
Him, "outside the camp, bearing His reproach."

I. Looking at our text, I notice in it, first, A WORD OF
DISCRIMINATION. If you look carefully at the passage, you will soon see
it–

"You have multiplied the nation, and increased the joy."

Observe, first, that conversion must be the Lord's work. The only
multiplication of the Church of God that is to be desired is that which
God sends–"You have multiplied the nation." If we add to our Churches
by becoming worldly, by taking in persons who have never been born
again. If we add to our Churches by accommodating the life of the
Christian to the life of the worldling–our increase is worth nothing
at all–it is a loss rather than a gain! If we add to our Churches by
excitement, by making appeals to the passions rather than by explaining
the Truth of God to the understanding. If we add to our Churches
otherwise than by the power of the Spirit of God making men new
creatures in Christ Jesus, the increase is of no worth whatever!

A man picked himself up from the gutter and rolled up against Mr.
Rowland Hill one night as he went home, and he said, "Mr. Hill, I am
pleased to see you, Sir. I am one of your converts." Rowland said, "I
thought it was very likely you were. You are not one of God's converts,
or else you would not be drunk." There is a great lesson in that
answer. My converts are no good. Rowland Hill's converts could get
drunk–but the converts of the Spirit of God–those are really renewed
in the spirit of their mind by a supernatural operation! And these are
a real increase to the Church of God. "You have multiplied the nation."
Pray hard that the Lord may continue to send us converts! He never
sends the wrong people. However poor they may be, however
illiterate–if they are converted, as they will be if the Lord sends
them–they will be the very people that we want. May God send us
thousands more!

The text also teaches us, with a word of discrimination, that
conversion must be such as the Lord describes in this chapter–"The
peoples that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that
dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light
shined." When God brings men to the Church, they are the people who
have undergone a very remarkable change. They have come out of
darkness, palpable, horrible–into light, marvelous and delightful! God
sends no other than these. If you are not changed characters. If you
are not new creatures in Christ Jesus. If you cannot say, "One thing I
know, whereas I was blind, now I see," the Church cannot receive you as
you are and God has not sent you! Now, who can turn us from darkness
unto light but God? Who can work this great miracle within the heart?
Darkness of heart is very hard to move. Who but God can make the
eternal Light of God burst through the natural darkness and turn us
from the power of Satan unto God?

Next, conversion must have a distinct relation to Christ. Look down the
chapter, just a little way, and you come to this wonderful
passage–"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the
government shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace." We need converts who know this Christ–men and women
to whom He is "Wonderful," to whom He has become the "Counselor." We
need no additions to the Church of those who cannot call Him, "The
Mighty God. The Everlasting Father." We need men and women to whom
Christ has become, "The Prince of Peace." If these are added to us, the

Church grows exceedingly! If others are added, they do but increase our
burden. They become our weakness. In many cases they become our
disgrace. Dear Hearers, you know whether you are trusting Christ or
not. If you are, come and confess Him! If you are not, weep in secret
places, and cry to God the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to you as the
Wonderful, Counselor, and The Mighty God, and then, when you know Him
as your Lord and Savior, come and join yourself to His people, and God
will, in your case, have multiplied the nation!

Once more, about this discrimination, the joy must be such as God
gives. The text says, "You have multiplied the nation, and increased
the joy." The joy that we ought to have tonight–the joy of any growing
Church–will be joy such as God gives! That is the kind of joy we
desire to have. If anybody wishes to see the Church grow that we may
excel other Churches, that is not the joy that God gives. If we like to
see converts because we are glad that our opinions should be spread,
God does not give that joy. If we crave converts that we may steal them
from other people, God does not give that joy, if it is a joy. I do not
think God is the lover of sheep stealers–and there are plenty such
about. We do not desire to increase our numbers by taking Christian
people away from other Christian communities. No, the joy which God
gives us is clear, unselfish delight in Christ being glorified, in
souls being saved, in the Truth of God being spread and in error being
baffled! God give us a joy over those who are added to us which shall
be pure, Christlike and heavenly! Oh, that He might increase such joy!
I think that He has increased it.

Did you ever worship in a place where there were more pews than people?
Did you ever go to a Church or Chapel where the preacher could preach
upon anything except the Gospel of Christ? Where you might hear about
anything except the precious blood of Christ? The minister would be
sure not to mention that. Then I think I see you go grumbling down the
aisle after every service, or you sit there and look up at the pulpit
and long for what you never hear till the Sabbath becomes more
wearisome than any day of the week. Oh, dear! Few people; little to be
learned; very little to be given; a terrible "starvation camp" where
every man looks at his fellow and wonders who is going to die next!
Well, now, we ought to thank God that it is not so with us. Look on
this company gathered here tonight. Think of the congregation we had
this morning–remember the deep attention and think in how many cases
God has blessed the Word to the hearers. I never, personally, felt so
weak, or felt as great a burden in preaching–yet I never had so large
a blessing–there are more converts than ever! Glory be to God, this is
the kind of joy that comes from Him–in His Word, in His power–that
out of weakness makes His servant strong! So much by way of
discrimination.

II. Now, secondly, notice a WORD OF DESCRIPTION, which is the main part
of the text. The joy of the Church in receiving converts may be
compared to the joy in harvest. In all nations, the time of reaping the
corn and gathering it into the garner has been regarded as a festival.
What is the joy of harvest?

Well, it is a joy which we ought to expect. The farmer expects a
harvest. He says, "It is so many weeks to harvest." He sows his seed
with a view to harvest. He hires men to clear out the weeds with a view
to a harvest. Well, now, every Church should be looking for a spiritual
harvest. One said to me, once, "I have preached for several years and I
believe God has blessed the Word, but nobody ever comes forward to tell
me so." I said to him, "Next Lord's-Day say to the people, 'I shall be
in the vestry when the sermon is finished, to see friends who have been
converted." To his surprise, 10 or 12 came in–and he was quite taken
aback–but, of course, quite delighted. He had not looked for a
harvest, so of course he did not get one!

You know the story I tell of my first student, Mr. Medhurst. He went
out to preach on Tower Hill, Sunday after Sunday. He was not, then, my
student, but one of the young men in the Church. He came to me and
said, "I have been out preaching now for several months on Tower Hill
and I have not seen one conversion." I said to him, rather sharply, "Do
you expect God is going to bless you every time you choose to open your
mouth?" He answered, "Oh! No, Sir! I do not expect Him to do that."
"Then," I replied, "that is why you do not get a blessing." We ought to
expect a blessing! God has said, "My Word shall not return to Me
void"–and it will not! We ought to look for a harvest! He who preaches
the Gospel with his whole heart ought to be surprised if he does not
hear of conversions–and he ought to begin to say in his heart, "I will
know the reason why," and never stop till he has found it out. The joy
of the harvest is what we have a right to expect.

The joy of harvest, next, is a joy which has respect for former toil.
He is bound to rejoice in a harvest who has sorrowed in plowing, in the
sowing of the seed, in watching his crop when it was in the ear–and
when frost, blight and

mildew threatened to destroy it. Brothers and Sisters, many of us here
can rejoice with the joy of harvest, because, in those converted to
Christ, we see the fruit of our soul's travail! I thank God, first, and
I thank many of you, next, that when I sit to see enquirers, I find
that I am very generally the spiritual grandfather of those who come,
rather than their father in the faith, for I find that you, whom God
gave me in years past are, many of you, diligent in seeking the souls
of others. In the case of many of you who join the Church, your
conversion is due to this Sister and to that, to this Brother and to
that, rather than distinctly to my ministry. I am very glad to have it
so!

During the last two days I have spoken to two friends, both of whom
said to me, "I am your spiritual grandchild." One from America said so
this morning. I asked, "How is that?" The answer was, "Mr. So-and-So,
whom you brought to Christ, came out to America and he brought me to
Christ." You who have had any part in the conversion of these 82 who
are to be received tonight will rejoice in proportion as you have
sighed, prayed, been beaten, foiled and disappointed– in that very
proportion you will rejoice with the joy of harvest!

But, next, it is a joy which has solid ground to go upon. I do not know
of a more joyful occasion than when young men and women, and, for that
matter, old men and women, too, are brought to confess Christ and to
unite with His people. It is a very joyful thing to attend a wedding,
but it is always a speculation as to how it will turn out–but when you
come to see a soul yield itself to Christ, there is no speculation
about that–you have a blessed certainty! Oh, I think the angels sing
more sweetly than ever as they hear a man, or woman, or child say, "I
trust in Jesus. I confess His name." When we know and believe that true
faith in Christ means present salvation, there is a great joy about
that!

I heard, the other day, of some preachers who say that there is no such
thing as present salvation. And though they constantly preach, they
tell the people, every now and then, that they must be saved when they
come to die. They say there is no such thing as being saved now. I
should like to present those brethren with a little "Catechism for the
Young and Ignorant" which Mr. Cruden was known to give away, for, if
they are not "young," they certainly must be "ignorant" of the first
principles of the faith! You are saved, dear Hearer, if you have
believed in Christ Jesus! You are saved even now! If you were not, I do
not see any reason why we should rejoice over you with the joy of
harvest.

Moreover, we believe that if you have trusted Christ, you will be saved
eternally. Angels do not rejoice prematurely over repentant sinners!
They never have to say to one another, "Gabriel, Michael, you made a
very terrible mistake the other day. You rejoiced in the Presence of
God over that man who, after all, has gone down to Hell. You rang the
bells too soon." Angels do not do that! Jesus gives to His sheep
ETERNAL life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of His hand. Therefore, we feel that the confession of Christ
is, in itself, a thing to rejoice over, and the immediate and eternal
salvation that goes with it, warrant us in rejoicing with the joy of
the harvest!

Moreover, this is a joy which looks to the future. Men rejoice in the
harvest because they remember that all through the winter they will
feed upon the food which they are now gathering. The poorest man in
London has reason to be thankful for a good harvest, for it will help
to make food cheaper. We are to enjoy, in days to come, what we gather
in the harvest time. There are 16 girls coming from the Orphanage to
join the Church and I am rejoicing in my heart over 16 women who will,
I trust, during a long life, glorify Christ! Sixteen matrons in the
Church who shall be Deborahs, Dorcasses and Phoebes, or whoever else
you may like to think of among holy women! The boys, also, who come,
however young they may be, and however little they may appear in some
men's eyes–we cannot tell to what they will grow. I may be receiving,
tonight, a Livingstone, or a Moffat, or a Williams, or a Whitefield, or
a Wesley, or some other servant of God, who, in some sphere or other,
will serve Him right nobly!

Beloved, some of us will soon be gone. There are some here who are
older than I am, who, in the natural course of things, will soon sleep
in the cemetery. Are you not glad to see others coming forward? They
will "hold the fort" when you can no longer stand upon its walls and,
on account of this hope of the future, I rejoice with the joy of
harvest!

This is a joy which we may join, for, in the harvest, anybody who likes
may rejoice! There is the proprietor of the field–he rejoices. How
greatly Christ rejoices! There are laborers–they may shout as they
bring home the loads. They know what that field of wheat has cost. Let
us, who are working for Jesus here, have the joy of harvest. The
on-lookers, too, as they go by, see the harvest gathered in, will stop
and even give a shout over the hedge. If you are not, yourself, saved,
you might be glad that other people are! Even if you are not, yourself,
going to Heaven, rejoice that others are choosing the blessed road. I
invite even you to come and share with us the joy of harvest. The
gleaner, Ruth, over yonder says, "I have stooped many times. I have
almost broken my back over the work and I have only picked up this
little hand-

ful." I know you, Sister, and I am pleased that you should bring even
one to Christ! I know you, my Brother; and I rejoice with you that you
should bring even one child to the Savior! Though you are but a
gleaner, join heartily with us, tonight, in the joy of the harvest!

Then something happens in our harvest that cannot happen in the common
harvest, for the harvested ones rejoice! Sheaves cannot sing, ears of
wheat cannot lift up their voices, but in our harvest the happiest of
all are those who are called by Divine Grace! And, while they are
happy, we are happy and all are happy! The angels hovering over the
assembly tonight will mark this, the first Sabbath in July, and it
shall be a red-letter day even to them, so many shall, tonight, for the
first time, come to the Table of their Lord and here confess His name!

I have a great deal more to say, but our time is nearly gone. I can
only say that this is a joy which has its moderating tone. "Why," you
ask, "what is that?" The farmer says, "I have got that load in very
well, but I wonder how it will thresh out." I often think of you who
are added to the Church–and I think that you are first-rate people,
and that I never saw better–but I wonder how you will turn out when
you get inside the Church. There are members of the Church whom I never
hear of as doing anything for Christ. They may be working away quietly,
but I am afraid that some are not. I know that there are some in this
Church who are no better than they should be! Indeed, that is true of
us all, but there are some who are not what they ought to be, as to
practical service for Christ. We get many passengers to ride in the
coach, but not so many to pull it! We get plenty of people to eat the
fruit, but not so many to plant fresh trees. Yet I say not even this
very heavily, or with any great emphasis, for the bulk of the members
of this Church are earnestly engaged in the service of God, for which I
bless His name! Still, there is the question concerning the harvest,
"How will it thresh

out?"

There is another question–How much of it will be found to be real
wheat in the Last Great Day? Ah, we may judge our very best and examine
very carefully, but there will always be the goats in the sheep–and
the tares with the wheat. And that is the dash of bitterness in our cup
of rejoicing. God grant that we may not have many added to us who will
deteriorate instead of growing better! How will they stand at the Last
Great Day? "Well," says one, "I am glad that you make that remark. I
have always been opposed to revivals, because they bring in so
many–and many of the converts fall away." Dear Friends, do you
remember Mr. Fullerton's answer to that? I thought it was as good and
as complete as it was humorous. He said that when persons say that they
do not like revivals because certain of the converts afterwards turn
back, they are like his countryman who picked up a sovereign, but when
he went with it to the bank, it turned out to be a light sovereign and
he only got 18 shillings for it. Mark you, he found it, so the 18
shillings were clear gain!

Some time after, he saw another sovereign lying in the road and he
would not pick it up, "for," he said, "I lost two shillings by the one
I picked up the other day. I shall not pick you up for very likely I
should only get 18 shillings for you." So he passed on, and left it
where it was. I cannot imagine an Irishman being so unwise! Certainly,
no Scotchman would have been! And I think no Englishman, either.
However, that is the style of unwisdom of a man who says that at a
revival so many come in, and then so many turn out to be bad. Well, but
those who remain are a clear gain! And you ought to desire to have a
like gain, again and again! You will get rich through such losses if
God will continue to give them to you!

However, I hope that I shall not have any light sovereigns tonight.
Yet, if these converts do not turn out to be 20 shillings in the pound,
but only 18 shillings, I will be greatly rejoiced to have the 18
shillings and God shall have all the glory!

I think that I will pause here, though there is another division of my
discourse and, in closing, I will ask four questions.

First, What do we say of those who never sow? Well, they will never
reap. They will never have the joy of harvest. Am I addressing, in this
great assembly, any professing Christians who never sow, never speak a
word for Christ, never call at a house and try to introduce the
Savior's name, never seek to bring children to the Savior, take no part
in the Sunday school or any other service for Christ? Do I address some
lazy man here, spiritually alive only for himself? Oh, poor Soul, I
would not like to be you, because I doubt whether you can be
spiritually alive at all! Surely, he who lives for himself is dead
while he lives! And you will never know the joy of bringing souls to
Christ! And when you get to Heaven, if you ever do get there, you will
never be able to say, "Here am I, Father, and the children You have
given me." You will have to

abide eternally alone, having brought no fruit unto God in the form of
converts from sin. Shake yourselves up, Brothers and Sisters, from
sinful sloth!

"Oh!" says one, "I am not my brother's keeper." No, I will tell you
your name–it is Cain. You are your brother's murderer, for every
professing Christian who is not his brother's keeper, is his brother's
killer! And you can be sure that it is so, for you may kill by neglect
quite as surely as you may kill by the bow or by the dagger!

Next, What do we say to those who have never reaped? Well, that
depends. Perhaps you have only just begun to sow. Do not expect to reap
before God's time. "In due season you shall reap if you faint not."
There is a set season for reaping. But, if you have been a very long
time sowing and you have never reaped, may I ask the question, Where do
you buy your seed? If I were to sow my garden, year by year, and
nothing ever came up, I should change my seeds man! Perhaps you have
bad seed, my dear Friend, and have not sown the pure and undiluted
Gospel. You have not brought it out in all its fullness. Go to the Word
of God and get "seed for the sower" of a kind that will feed your own
soul, for it is "bread for the eater." When you sow that kind of Seed,
it will come up!

Next, What shall I say to those who know the Lord but have never
confessed Him. What shall I say to you? Well, I do not think that I
will say what I think, but I think very seriously about persons who
have been converted and yet never tell the man who was the means of
saving them that it has happened. "Well," says one, "I do not think
that I shall confess Christ. The dying thief did not confess Him, did
he? He was not baptized." No, but he was a dying thief, remember, and
if you are not baptized, I think that you will be a living thief, for
you will rob God of His Glory and you will rob His servant, also, of
the comfort which he ought to receive. Our wages are to hear that souls
are saved and, if we do not hear of it, we are robbed of our wages! You
muzzle the ox that treads out the corn if you allow a man to toil and
labor–and you get good from his services–but you give him no return
by way of encouragement! Come out, you who have been hidden away like
cowards! Men or women, if you love Christ and have never confessed Him,
come out straight away and be not ashamed to say, "I am a soldier of
the Cross, a follower of the Lamb." May the great Captain of our
salvation force you to do this right speedily!

Once more, What do we say to those who do confess Christ and who are
going to confess Him tonight? Well, we say this–"Come in, you blessed
of the Lord! Why do you stand outside?" Beloved, when you do come in,
keep your garments unspotted from the world. Come in with a true heart
and a reverent spirit with this prayer upon your lips, "Hold You me up,
and I shall be safe." May none of you who are, tonight, gathered into
the barn, turn out to be mere weeds dried in the sun! The Lord save you
and keep you! And may you remember that the vows of the Lord are upon
you and may you never, in any way, dishonor that great name by which
you are henceforth to be named!

God bless every one of this great mass of people! "Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved," for "he that believes and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." God
save all of us from that fearful doom, for Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON ISAIAH49:13-26.

Verse 13. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into
singing, O mountains; for the LORD has comforted His people, and will
have mercy upon His afflicted. When God blesses His Church, He blesses
the world through her. Therefore, Heaven and earth are invited to be
glad in the gladness of the Church of God! Oh, that God would visit His
Church–no, He has already done so, and I feel inclined to cry out, as
the text does–"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth: and break
forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted His
people."

14. But Zion said, the LORD has forsaken me, and my LORD has forgotten
me. We often judge contrary to the truth and when God is blessing us,
we dream that He has forgotten us. Oh, wicked unbelief! Cruel unbelief!
It robs God of glory; it robs us of comfort. It snatches the song out
of our mouth and fills our soul with groaning–"Zion said, the LORD has
forsaken me, and my LORD has forgotten me."

15. Can a woman forget the sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not
forget you. The child is in a condition in which it reminds the mother
of itself–her sucking child, her own child. Can she forget it? It is
not according to nature–

"'Yet,'says the Lord, 'should nature change,

And mothers monsters prove, Zion still dwells upon the heart Of
everlasting love.'"

What is true of God's Church as a whole, is true of every member of it.
If any of you think that God has passed over you, one of His believing
children, you think what is untrue! He cannot do it! It would be
contrary to His Nature. As long as He is God, He must remember His
people.

16. Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands. How
appropriately Christ can say this when He looks on the nail prints, "I
have engraved you upon the palms of My hands"! As I said, this morning,
Jesus can give nothing, He can take nothing, He can do nothing, He can
hold nothing without remembering His people–"I have engraved you upon
the palms of My hands." How I love that verse of Toplady's hymn that
speaks of this blessed Truth of God!–

"My name from the palms of His hands

Eternity will not erase!

Impressed on His heart it remains

In marks of indelible Grace.

Yes, I to the end shall endure,

As sure as the earnest is given;

More happy, but not more secure,

The glorified spirits in Heaven."

16. 17. Your walls are continually before Me. Your children shall make
haste. There shall be many of them! Converts shall be added to the
Church in great numbers. They shall hurry up–they shall not be long in
coming. Very often they delay too long. The promise is, "Your children
shall make haste."

17. Your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you.
I wish this were carried out. If it were, many of the Churches of
Christ which are plagued with false doctrines and worldly habits, which
are laying them waste, would be delivered from those curses. The
enemies outside the walls, however malicious they are, will never be so
mischievous as the traitors inside the fortress! Save Troy from the
wooden horse and save Zion from the traitors in her midst that seek to
do her harm.

18. Lift up your eyes round about, and behold; all these gather
themselves together, and come to you. There is a great company coming!
The Church is going to be increased. Have faith in God. We are not
going to receive them, now, only by ones and twos–we thank God we
receive them by tens and scores! They are coming by hundreds and by
thousands– let us expect them. By faith, let us see them coming even
now. [It is remarkable that this sermon and exposition, which were
selected long ago for publication this month, should be issued just as
the Tabernacle Church is again having a large ingathering of converts.
Those who have regularly read the sermons have been struck with the
amazing appropriateness of several of them, either to the condition of
the Tabernacle Church, or the general state of the churches of our
land. A notable instance of this fact is described in the "Personal
Notes" of the Sword and the Trowel for July. Many can see the
overruling hand of the Lord even in the order in which the sermons have
been published!]

18. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe yourselves with
them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.
What an ornament to a Church, her converts are! These are our jewels!
We care nothing for gorgeous architecture or grand music in the worship
of God! Our true building is composed of our converts–our best music
is their confession of faith. May God give us more of it!

19-21. For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your
destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
and they that swallowed you up shall be far away. The children which
you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your
ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may
dwell. Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these,
seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and
removing to and fro? And who has brought up these? Behold, I was left
alone; these, where had they been? Sometimes a Church is brought very
low–there are no additions, there is no unity–everything is breaking
up and going to pieces. When God visits that Church, what a change is
seen! Then people come flocking to it and the Church wonders where the
converts came from. May the Lord make us wonder in that fashion! It
will take a great deal to astonish us, after all these years of mercy,
yet the Lord can do it. It may be He will make these latter days to be
better than the former. Though we have had nearly 40 years of blessing
together, He may yet increase it and give us to rejoice yet more and
more!

22. Thus says the LORD GOD, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the
Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring
your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their
shoulders. We do not mind how they are brought if they do but come!
Some in the arms and some after the Oriental method of putting the
child on the shoulder. When God lifts up His hand, great wonders of
mercy and Grace are worked.

23. And kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your
nursing mothers. It will take a long time before they learn that art,
for kings and queens have generally been destroyers of the Church of
Christ! Those will be grand days when kings shall be the nourishers of
the Church and queens her nursing mothers!

23. They shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and
lick up the dust of your feet. I have heard the first part of this
verse quoted as an argument for the union of Church and State–"Kings
shall be your foster fathers, and queens your nursing mothers." I have
not the slightest objection–if they will bow down to the Church–"with
their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of her feet." What is
proposed to us is that the Church should bow down to the State, with
her face toward the earth and lick up the dust of the feet of the
State, by becoming obedient to rules and regulations made by princes
and parliaments! This is NOT according to the mind of God, nor
according to the heart of His people.

23. And you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be
ashamed that wait for Me. If we wait for Christ, for His coming, for
the help which He brings, for the salvation that is worked by Him, we
shall not be ashamed.

24-26. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive
delivered? But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty
shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:
for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save
your children. And I will feed them that oppress you with their own
flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet
wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your
Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. The mighty may hold their prey with
a strong hand, but there is a stronger hand that will deliver the
captive. It is Jehovah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Mighty One of
Jacob, who says, "I will contend with him that contends with you, and I
will save your children." Here is a Divine promise for every parent to
plead–"I will save your children." May the Lord give you Grace to
claim that promise, even now, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.