Peter After His Restoration

Peter After His Restoration

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, July 22, 1888

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,

"When you are converted, strengthen your Brethren." Luke 22:32.

PETER was to be sifted, so our Lord warned him. And Satan was to
operate with the sieve. Satan had an intense desire to destroy
Peter–indeed, he would like to destroy all the chosen of God–and
therefore he desired to sift him as wheat, in the hope that he would be
blown away with the husks and the chaff. To see a child of God perish
would bring to the Evil One a malicious joy, for he would have wounded
the heart of God. If ever the fallen spirit can be happy, he would
derive happiness from defeating the Grace of God and robbing the Lord
Jesus of those whom He bought with His blood.

"Satan has desired to have you"–it would be a satisfaction to him to
have a Believer in his power. He was anxious to get Peter into his
clutches, to give him as tremendous a shaking as he could manage. If
Satan knows, as he no doubt does, concerning any one Believer that he
cannot quite destroy him, then he is especially anxious to worry him.
If he cannot devour the chosen, he would at least defile them–if he
cannot ruin their souls, he would break their quiet. As the Revised
Version puts it, Satan even asks God to have them that he may sift them
as wheat. This is a curious statement, for it seems from it that the
devil can pray. And that his petition may be granted him.

The margin has it, "Satan has obtained you by asking." The Lord may
grant the request of the devil, himself, and yet he would not prove
thereby that he had any love towards him. The Lord's wisdom may grant
Satan's desire and in the very act overthrow his evil power. Let us
not, then, stake our faith in the Lord's love upon His giving us the
precise answer we desire, for what He gives to Satan He may see fit to
deny to those whom He loves and He may do so because He loves them. It
is a fact that the Evil One is permitted to test the precious metal of
God's treasury.

The story in the Book of Job is no fiction or piece of imagination. It
is even so that Satan desires to have choice ones of God put into his
power that he may test them–that he may torment them, that he may, if
possible, destroy them. The Lord may permit this as He did in the case
of Job and as He did in the case of the Apostles and especially in the
case of Peter. He may grant the Tempter's request and allow him to
touch our bone and our flesh and see whether we will hold to our God in
mortal agony.

We are not bound to know God's reasons for what He does or permits. It
is sometimes sinful to enquire into those reasons. What the Lord does
is right. Let that be enough for us who are His children. But we can
see, sometimes, a reason why the saints should be sifted as wheat. For
it appertains unto wheat to be sifted, because it is wheat. Sifting
brings a desirable result with it–it is for the saints' good that they
should be tried. Satan doubtless wishes that God may let the good seed
fall to the ground and be destroyed. But He overrules it to separate
the chaff from the wheat, and to make the wheat into clean grain, fit
for storage in the King's granary.

Satan has often done us a good turn when he has meant to do us a bad
one. After all, he is only a dishwasher in God's kitchen to clean His
vessels. And some of them have received special scouring by means of
his harsh temptations. God also may find a reason for allowing His
saints to be tempted of Satan and that reason may have more relation to
others than to themselves. They may have to be tested for other
people's good. The testing of their faith is "more precious than that
of gold that perishes, though it is tried with fire," and part of its
preciousness is its usefulness.

The child of God under temptation, behaving himself grandly, will
become a standing example to those who are around him. "You have heard
of the patience of Job." But you never would have heard of the patience
of Job if Satan had not sifted him. This great treasury of instruction,
the Book of Job, and all the Truth of God taught us by Job's example
comes to us through God's having permitted Satan to put forth his hand
and to press the Patriarch so sorely. We also

may be afflicted–not so much for ourselves–as for others. And this
may be remarkably the case in the instances of those of you whom God
makes useful to a large circle of friends.

You live for others and therefore suffer for others. The whole of your
lives will not be accounted for by yourselves but by your surroundings.
As a minister I may have to be tempted because temptation is one of the
best books in a minister's library. As a parent you may need
affliction, because a father without a trial can give no counsel to a
tempted child. Public workers may have to be tried in ways which, to a
private Christian, are unnecessary. Let us accept remarkable discipline
if thereby we are qualified for remarkable service. If by the roughness
of our own road we are trained to conduct the Lord's sheep along their
difficult pathway to the pastures on the hilltops of Glory, let us
rejoice in every difficulty of the way. If Apostles and men like Peter
had to be put into Satan's sieve while they were being trained for
their lifework, we may not hope to escape.

Observe, dear Friends, what came before the sifting and went with the
sifting. Note well that blessed "but." "But I have prayed for you."
Not, "Your Brethren have prayed for you." Not, "You have prayed for
yourself." But, "/ have prayed for you." Jesus, that master in the art
of prayer, that mighty Pleader who is our Advocate above, assures us
that He has already prayed for us. "I have prayed for you,"
means–"before the temptation I have prayed for you. I foresaw all the
danger in which you would be placed and concerning that danger I have
exercised My function as High Priest and Intercessor."

"I have prayed for you." What a Divine comfort is this to any who are
passing through deep waters! You only go where Jesus has gone before
you with His intercession. Jesus has made provision for all your future
in a prayer already presented–"I have prayed for you." You may be much
comforted by the prayers of a minister, or of some Christian man who
has power with God. But what are all such intercessions compared with
the praying of your Lord? It were well to have Noah, Samuel and Moses
praying for us–but far better to have Jesus say, "I have prayed for
you." Blessed be God, Satan may have his sieve but as long as Jesus
wears His breastplate we shall not be destroyed by Satan's tossing.

Notice that the principal object of the prayer of our Lord was, "that
your faith fail not." He knows where the vital point lies and there He
holds the shield. As long as the Christian's faith is safe, the
Christian's self is safe. I may compare faith to the head of the
warrior. O Lord, you have covered my head in the day of battle, for You
have prayed for me that my faith fail not. I may compare faith to the
heart and the Lord holds His shield over the heart that we may not be
injured where a wound would be fatal. "I have prayed for you, that your
faith fail not."

Faith is the standard-bearer in every spiritual conflict. And if the
standard-bearer fall, then it is an evil day– therefore our Lord prays
that the standard-bearer may never fail to hold up His banner in the
midst of the fray–"I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not."
If faith fails, everything fails–courage fails, patience fails, hope
fails, love fails, joy fails. Faith is the root of Divine Grace. And if
this is not in order, then the foliage of the soul, which shows itself
in the form of other graces, will soon begin to wither. "I have prayed
for you, that your faith fail not."

Learn a lesson from this, my Brethren–that you take care to commend
your faith unto your God. Do not begin to doubt because you are
tempted–that is to lay bare your breast. Do not doubt because you are
attacked–that is to loosen your harness. Believe. "I had fainted,"
said David, "unless I had believed." It must be one thing or the other
with us. Believing, or fainting–which shall it be? "Above all, taking
the shield of faith." Not only taking it so that it may cover all but
making this the vital point of holy carefulness. Watch in all things,
but especially guard your faith. If you are careful about one thing
more than another, above all be careful of your faith. "I have prayed
for you, that your faith

fail not."

Our Savior's pleading goes to the point and thus it teaches us where to
direct our own desires and our own prayers. He asks for us far more
wisely than we shall ever learn to ask for ourselves–let us copy His
petitions. And therefore it follows because of Christ's prayer that,
though Peter may be very badly put to it, yet he shall be recovered,
for Christ speaks of it as of an assured fact–"When you are
converted." As much as to say–When you come back to your old life and
your old faith, then exercise yourself usefully for your Lord. He
speaks of Peter's restoration as if it were quite sure to be.

And is it not quite sure to be? If Jesus, the Beloved of the Father,
prays for His people, shall He not win His suit with God? He will win
it! He will uplift Peter from among the siftings where Satan has thrown
him. We are sure He will, for

in prospect thereof, He sets him a loving and suitable task–"When you
are converted, strengthen your Brethren." The establishment and
confirmation of all the rest are to hinge upon the setting up in his
place of poor thrice-denying Peter.

Now, beloved Friends, I may be addressing a number of persons who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Peter did but they have fallen into
a bad state and need a new conversion. I am very sorry for you but I am
by no means staggered at the sight of you, for you belong to a numerous
class. When sitting to see enquirers I am constantly stumbling on
backsliders, who come back very sincerely and very truly and feel right
pleased to find a Christian home again. I meet with many who have been
outside in the world–some of them for years–attending the House of
God very irregularly and seldom or never enjoying the light of God's
countenance.

They have wandered so that none can tell whether they are the Lord's or
not, except the Lord Himself and He always knows them that are His. I
bear happy witness that the Lord brings His own back again. Though the
Lord's sheep stray, yet the Good Shepherd finds them. Though the Lord's
children go into the far country–they each one in due time say, "I
will arise and go to my Father." It is not every prodigal that returns
but only the prodigal son. In due time, the son returns to the Father's
house. It is not every bit of stuff that falls on the ground that is
found again. But the woman's piece of money is sure to be discovered.
She will not lose it–it is hers and she values it. She sweeps the
house and makes any quantity of dust until she finds it. The Lord will
find His own, even though Satan tries to prevent the gracious
discovery.

It may be some of you have wandered into error. May you be brought back
very speedily. And if you are, we are going to say to you tonight,
"Strengthen your Brethren." Possibly there has been a general decay in
Divine Grace within your soul. You have lost your joy, your peace, your
love, your zeal. This is sad–may the Lord restore you in answer to the
prayer of Him that redeemed you. And then, when you are converted, seek
to recover your Brethren from the decay of their graces which has also
injured them. You will not be converted in quite the same sense as you
were at first but yet you will be turned again to your old life and
hope and then you are to strengthen your Brethren by aiming at their
restoration to their first love and earliest zeal.

Perhaps you have been neglectful. I find that many who were good
Christian people in the country, always at the House of Prayer and
walking near to God, will come up to this wicked London to live and the
change is a serious injury to them. They get lost to Christian society
and by degrees they become deteriorated by the ungodliness of this
modern Sodom. Nobody in the street wherein they live ever goes to a
place of worship and they do not know anybody at the Chapel, or at the
Church. And so they give up going to public worship and fall into the
ways and habits of the ungodly world. They are not happy. God's
children never are happy when they leave their Father.

If you have ever eaten the white bread of Heaven, you will never rest
content with the black ashes of earth. If the flavor of Christ's love
has once been in your mouth, you are spoiled for a worldling. You will
not make an expert sinner now, for your hand is out of it. Once
converted, you must be a child of God, or nothing. You are ruined for
this world. And if the world to come is not yours, where are you? The
devil himself will not like you long–you are not of his sort. There is
something about you that will not suit Satan any more than Jonah suited
the whale. The whale was quite as glad to part with Jonah as Jonah was
to be set free from the whale.

I see arrangements for your coming home again. The Lord devises means
that His banished shall not perish–those tokens of disquiet, those
starts in your sleep, those horrible forebodings, that inward hunger
are all pulling at you to come home. You have been trying to feed upon
the dust which is ordained to be the serpent's meat and if the Lord had
not loved you, you would have done so. A deceived heart has turned you
aside but in love to your soul the Lord has made you aware of it and
your cry is, "I will go and return to my first husband. For then was it
better with me than now."

These are tokens by which I am assured that the Lord will bring His own
back. I rest confident that He will turn them and they shall be turned.
And I am going to talk to backsliders about what they are to do when
they do come back again. We are going to take it for granted that they
will come back and to speak to them now about what it is their
privilege to attempt under such gracious circumstances. "When you are
converted, strengthen your Brethren." First, it is the restored man's
duty. Secondly, he has a special qualification for it. And thirdly, it
will be a great blessing to him to set about it.

I. First it is HIS DUTY. He has gone astray and he has been brought
back–what better can he do than to strengthen his Brethren?

He will thus help to undo the evil which he has worked. Peter must have
staggered his Brethren. Some of them must have been quite frightened at
him. John soon looked after him but then they were not all Johns. Full
of love, John soon hunted up

Peter. But the others must have felt that he was a mere reed shaken by
the wind. It must have staggered the faith of the weaker sort to see
that Peter, who had been such a leader among them, was among the first
to deny his Lord. Therefore, Peter, you must build what you have thrown
down and bind up what you have torn!

Go and talk to these people again and tell them how foolish and weak
you were. Warn them not to imitate your example. You must henceforth be
more bold than anybody else that you may in some measure undo the
mischief which you have done. Now, think of this, any of you who have
been cold towards the Lord. You have wasted months and even years, in
backsliding. Try to recover lost ground. It will be almost impossible
for you to do it but do at least make a serious attempt. If anybody has
been staggered by your backsliding, look after him and try to bring him
back and strengthen him.

Ask his pardon and beg him to recover the strength of which you helped
to rob him. This is the least that you can do. If almighty love has
drawn you back again after sad wanderings, lay yourself out with all
your heart to do good to those who may have been harmed by your sad
turnings aside. Am I asking more of you than simple justice demands?
Besides, how can you better express your gratitude to God than by
seeking to strengthen your weak Brethren when you have been
strengthened yourself?

After our first conversion, you and I were found seeking earnestly
after sinners like ourselves. We had been newly brought out of the
house of bondage and we longed to lead other slaves into the liberty
wherewith Christ makes men free. This, I say, we ought to do when first
brought to Jesus' feet. But if, to our disgrace, we have turned aside
and have backslidden–and if, to God's infinite glory, He has restored
our souls, and made us strong again–then we ought to renew our zeal
for the salvation of others and we ought to have a special eye to
backsliders like ourselves. We should say, "Lord, I will show how much
I thank You for restoring me, by endeavoring to find any that have been
overtaken in a fault, that I may restore such in the spirit of
meekness, remembering myself also, since I have been tempted and have
not stood against the temptation."

Those of you whom the Good Shepherd has restored should have a quick
eye for all the sickly ones of the flock and watch over these with a
sympathetic care. You should say, "This is the field which I shall try
to cultivate. Because in my spiritual sickness the Lord has been
pleased to deal so graciously with me, I will, therefore, lay myself
out to cherish others who are diseased in soul."

Do you not think, too, that this becomes our duty, because, doubtless,
it is a part of the Divine design? Never let us make a mistake by
imagining that God's Grace is given to a man simply with an eye to
himself. Grace neither begins with man nor ends with him with an object
confined to the man's own self. When God chose His ancient people
Israel, it was not merely that Israel might enjoy the light but that
Israel might preserve the light for the rest of the nations. When God
saved you He did not save you for your own sake but for His own Name's
sake, that He might through you show forth His mercy to others.

We are windows through which the light of heavenly knowledge is to
shine upon multitudes of eyes. The light is not for the windows
themselves but for those to whom it comes through the windows. Have you
ever thought enough about this? When the Lord brings any of you back
from your backsliding, it is decidedly with this view that you may be
qualified to sympathize with others and wisely guide them back to the
fold. All your history, if you read it aright, has a bearing upon your
usefulness to your fellow men. If you have been permitted, in an hour
of weakness to grow cold, or turn aside–and if the Lord, in
unspeakable compassion, has restored you to His ways–surely this must
be His motive–that you may afterwards strengthen your Brethren.

By the way, the very wording of the text seems to suggest the duty–we
are to strengthen our "Brethren." We must do so in order that we may
manifest brotherly love and thus prove our sonship towards God. Oh,
what a blessed thing it is when we come back to God and feel that we
are still in the family! That was the point which we debated with
ourselves–we feared that we were not the Lord's. Whatever some may say
about that hymn–

"It is a point I long to know,

Often it causes anxious thought." I do not give much for the man who
has not sometimes had to sing it in the minor key. It is a pity that he
ever should have to sing it. He will not if he walks before the Lord
with care and watchfulness. But when he has been a naughty child, when
his life has not been what it should be, if he does not doubt himself
we must take leave to doubt for him. How can he help asking–

"Do I love the Lord or not?

Am I His or am I not?" I am inclined to say with a good experimental
writer–

"He that never doubted of his state,

He may–perhaps he may too late."

It is not an ill thing to try yourselves and see whether your faith is
gold or dross. To have a question about your position in the heavenly
family is a very painful thing and should not be endured one moment if
it is in our power to solve the doubt. But if the Lord has brought you
back as His child, you now know that you belong to the family and it
will be suggested at once to you to do something for the Brethren.
Naturally, you will look around to see whether there is any child of
God to whom you can show favor for his Father's sake. You have injured
all by your backsliding. And hence it is your duty, when restored to
the family, to benefit them all by special consecration and double
earnestness.

Let it be your delight, as well as your duty, to strengthen your
Brethren. Prove that you are a Brother by acting a Brother's part. And
claim your privilege as a child and exercise it as a child should–by
helping another child that is in need. I think that the text within
itself contains this argument.

Let us see to it, dear Friends, if we have been restored, that we try
to look after our weak Brethren, that we may show forth a zeal for the
honor and glory of our Lord. When we went astray we dishonored Christ.
If any of these others go astray they will do the same. Therefore let
us be watchful that if we can, we may prevent their being as foolish as
we have been. Let us learn tenderness from our own experience and feel
a deep concern for our Brethren. If one member of this Church sins we
all suffer–in our reputation, at any rate. And, especially, the best
known among us have to bear a great deal because of the inconsistency
of this person and of that.

Do you want us to be wounded through you? My Beloved friends, I do not
think that one of you would wish to cast reproach upon your minister.
Alas, Christ Himself suffers. His worst wounds are those which He
receives in the house of His friends. Peter, if you ever denied your
Master, mind you look well to others who are growing presumptuous as
you were before your great sin. If you meet anyone who is beginning to
say, "I will go with you to prison and to death," give him a gentle jog
and say, "Mind you, Brother, you are going near a nasty hole into which
I once fell. I pray you take warning from me."

If you speak experimentally, you will have no cause to boast but you
will find in your own sin a reason why you should tenderly guard your
Brethren lest they should cause like dishonor to that dear Name which
is more precious, I hope, to you than life itself. "When you are
converted, strengthen your Brethren." It is your duty.

II. Now secondly, HE HAS A QUALIFICATION FOR IT. This Peter is the man
who, when he is brought back again, can strengthen his Brethren. He can
strengthen them by telling them of the bitterness of denying his
Master. He went out and wept bitterly. It is one thing to weep. It is
another thing to weep bitterly. There are sweet tears, as well as salt
tears. But oh, what weeping a sin costs a child of God!

I recollect a minister speaking very unguardedly–he said that the
child of God lost nothing by sin except his comfort. And I thought, "Oh
dear me! And is that nothing? Is that nothing?" It is such a loss of
comfort that, if that were all, it would be the most awful thing in the
world. The more God loves you and the more you love God, the more
expensive will you find it to sin. An ordinary sinner sins cheaply–the
child of God sins very dearly. If you are the King's favorite, you must
mind your manners, for He will not take from you what He will take from
an enemy.

The Lord your God is a jealous God, because He is a loving God. He has
such love for His own chosen that if they turn aside, His jealousy
burns like coals of juniper. May God keep us from ever provoking His
sacred jealousy by wandering at any time into any kind of sin. Now
Peter, because he could tell of the bitterness of backsliding, was the
man to go and speak to anyone who was about to backslide and say, "Do
not do so, my Brother. For it will cost you dearly." Again, Peter was
the man to tell another of the weakness of the flesh, for he could say
to him, "Do not trust yourself. Do not talk about never going aside.
Remember how I talked about it? I used to be very lofty in my talk and
in my feelings but I had to be brought down.

"I felt so sure that I loved my Lord and Master, that I put great
confidence in myself and could not think that I should ever wander from
Him. But see, see how I fell? I denied Him thrice before the time
called cock-crowing." Thus, you see, Peter was wonderfully qualified by
having known the bitterness of sin and by feeling the weakness of his
own flesh, to go and strengthen others in these important points. But
he was also qualified to bear his personal witness to the power of his
Lord's prayer. He could never forget that Jesus had said to him, "I
have prayed for you."

Peter could say to any Brother who had grown cold or presumptuous, "the
Lord Jesus prayed for me and it was because of His prayer that I was
preserved from going farther, so that I was led back and delivered from
the sieve of the Evil One." Do you not think that this would strengthen
any trembling one when Peter mentioned it? It is wonderful how men and
women are helped by those who have had a similar experience to
themselves. Theory is all very well but to speak experimentally has a
singular power about it. How one can comfort the bereaved if one has
been bereaved himself!

But how little can the young and inexperienced provide consolation to
those who are greatly tried, even though they are anxious to do so! And
so, Brethren, if the Lord has blessed you and remembered you in His
great mercy and you know the

power of the prayer of the great Intercessor, you can strengthen your
Brethren by reminding them of the perseverance of the Savior's love.

And could not Peter speak about the love of Jesus to poor wanderers?
The Lord turned and looked upon Peter and that look broke Peter's heart
and afterwards the Lord spoke to Peter by the sea and said to him,
"Feed My sheep and feed My lambs." O Beloved, Peter would always
remember that, and he would speak of it to any whom he found in a sad
and weary condition. He would say, "My Lord was very good to me and was
willing to receive me back. No, He did not wait until I came back but
He came after me. He sent after me, saying, Go tell My disciples and
Peter. And when He saw that I was penitent, He never rebuked me, except
in such a gentle way that I was rather comforted than rebuked by what
He said."

Oh, you that have wandered and Christ has restored you, comfort the
wanderers when you see their tears! When you hear any word of doubt, or
anything like despair from them, tell them that there is no truth in
the suggestion of Satan that Christ is unwilling to forgive. Beseech
them not to slander that dear heart of love which is infinitely more
ready to melt towards the penitent than the penitent's heart is to melt
towards it. You know it. You know that you can speak not only what you
have read in the Bible but what you have felt in your own heart. You
are qualified, therefore, to strengthen your Brethren.

And could not Peter fully describe the joy of restoration? "Oh," he
would say, "do not wander. There is no good in it. Do not go away from
Jesus. There is no profit to be found there. Come back to Him–there is
such peace, such rest with Him. Never, never go away again." Peter ever
afterwards in his Epistles–and we are sure that it must have been the
same in his spoken ministry–would testify to the love and goodness of
Christ and urge the saints to steadfastness in the faith. I would
appeal to any child of God here whether he ever gained anything by
going away from Christ. No, Brothers and Sisters, the old Proverb says
that honesty is the best policy, but I will turn it to a higher use and
say, "Holiness is the best policy."

Communion with Christ is the happiest life. If you gained all the world
and did not lose your soul but only lost the light of Christ's
countenance for a few days, you would have made a poor bargain. There
is Heaven in every glance of His eye. There is infinite joy in every
word of His mouth when He speaks comfortably to His servants. Go not
away from Him. Be like Milton's angel, who lived in the sun. Abide in
Christ and let His Words abide in you. Closer, closer, closer–this is
the way to spiritual wealth. To follow afar off and live at a distance
from Christ, even if it does not make your soul perish, yet it will
wither up your joys and make you feel an unhappy man, an unhappy woman.
Therefore, all those who have tried it should bear their witness and
put their experience into the scale as they thus strengthen their
Brethren.

III. And now, lastly, the restored Believer should strengthen his
Brethren, because IT WILL BE SUCH A BENEFIT TO HIMSELF. He will derive
great personal benefit from endeavoring to cherish and assist the weak
ones in the family of God.

Brother, do this continually and heartily, for thus you will be made to
see your own weakness. You will see it in those whom you succor. As you
see how they doubt, or grow cold, or become lukewarm, you will say to
yourself, "These are men of like passions with myself. I see which way
I shall drift unless the Grace of God sustains me." It will lead you to
throw out another anchor and get a fresh hold as you see how they yield
to the tide. One man is wonderfully like another man, only that other
men are better than we are. And when we are trying to strengthen them,
we are not to look upon ourselves as superior beings but rather as
inferior beings and say, " He fell yesterday, I may fall today. And if
I do not fall today, I may tomorrow."

All the weaknesses and follies you see in others, believe that they are
in yourself and that will tend to humble you. I think that a true
minister is often excited to better work by what he sees of weakness in
his people, because he says to himself, "Am I feeding this flock well?"
Perhaps he thinks to himself, "If I had properly tended them they would
not have shown all these weaknesses." And then he will begin to blame
his own ministry and look to his own heart and that is a good thing for
us all. We very seldom, I think, blame ourselves too, much and it is a
benefit to us to see our own failings in others.

But what a comfort it must have been to Peter to have such a charge
committed to him! How sure he must have felt that Jesus had forgiven
him, and restored him to His confidence, when the Lord, having asked
him, "Do you love Me?" said to him, "Feed My sheep and feed My lambs."
Peter is all right again, or else Christ would not trust lambs to him.
Peter must be all right, or else Jesus would not put the sheep under
his care. It is a grand proof of our being fully restored to the Divine
heart when the Lord entrusts us with work to do for His own dear
children.

If you and I are made the means of strengthening our Brethren, what a
comfort it will be to our hearts! I know that it is not the highest
form of comfort, for Jesus would say of it, "Rejoice not in this but
rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven." But still, to a
loving child of God, it is no mean consolation to find that God is
using him. I know, for my own part, that when I go to see our friends
who are ill and near to die, it is a supreme consolation to see how
calm they always are, without any exception. Yes, and how joyful they
generally are–how triumphant in the departing hour!

Then I say to myself, "Yes, my Master has owned my ministry." The seals
of fresh conversions are very precious but the surest seals are these
dying saints who have been nurtured in the Gospel that we have
preached. They prove the truth of it, for if they do not flinch when
they stand looking into eternity but even rejoice in the prospect of
meeting their Lord. Then what we preach is true and our Master has not
left us without witnesses. So you see that it is a great benefit to a
man to strengthen his Brethren, because it becomes a comfort to his own
soul.

And, Brethren, whenever any of you lay yourselves out to strengthen
weak Christians, as I pray you may, you will get benefit from what you
do in the holy effort. Suppose you pray with them. Well, then, you will
pray a little more than if you only prayed for yourself. And anything
that adds to your prayerfulness is a clear gain. I wish that you had
the habit of making everybody pray with you that comes to your house,
saying to them, "Now we have done our little business, let us have a
word or two of prayer."

Some, even of God's people, would look at you as if you were very
strange! It will do them good to look at you and learn from you the
blessed habit. With regard to those who are strangers to Divine things
there will often occur opportunities in which you have put them under
an obligation, or they have come to you in trouble to ask advice and
then you may boldly say, "Do not let us part till we have prayed." We
used to have an old member of this Church who used to pray in very
extraordinary places. Two women were fighting and he knelt down between
them to pray and they gave over fighting directly.

Before a door when there has been a noise in the house he has begun to
pray. He was better than a policeman for his prayer awed the most
obstinate. They could not understand it–they thought it a strange
thing and they did not care to put themselves into direct opposition to
the man of God. There is a wonderful power in prayer to bless
ourselves, besides the blessings that it will bring upon others. Pray
with the weak ones and you will not be a weak one yourself.

Well, then, your example–if you use your example to strengthen the
weak–if you carefully say to yourself, "No, I shall not do that
because, though I may do it, I may do injury to some weak one." If you
hesitate, if you draw back from your own rights, and say, "No, no, no.
I am thinking of the weak ones"–you will get good from that
self-denial. If the poor, trembling, wandering backslider is much upon
your mind, you will often be very tender how you act. You will look to
see where your foot is going down next time, for fear of treading upon
somebody or other. And in that way you will be winning for yourself the
great gain of a holy carefulness of walk and conversation–no small
gain to you.

And again–suppose that in trying to strengthen these weak ones, you
begin to quote Scripture to them–quote a promise to them–this will
bless you. Some of you do not know which promise to quote. You do not
even know where to find it in the Word. But if you are in the habit of
studying Scripture with a view to strengthening the weak, you will
understand it in the best way, for you will get it in a practical form
and shape. You will have the Bible at your fingertips. Moreover, one of
these days the text that you looked out for old Mary will suit
yourself.

How often have we paid Paul with that which we meant to give to Peter!
We have ourselves fed on the milk we prepared for the babes. Sometimes
what we have laid up for another comes in handy for ourselves. We
strangely find that we ourselves have been fed while we were feeding
others, according to that promise, "He that waters shall be watered
also himself."

Now, I have said all this to you that have wandered and come back and I
want to say it right home to you. May the Holy Spirit speak to your
inmost souls. You know who you are and how far all this applies to you.
The Lord bless you.

But, dear Friends, if you have not wandered, if the Lord has kept you
these twenty years close to Him and given you the light of His
countenance all that time, then I think that you and I and any of us of
that sort, ought to strengthen our Brethren still more. Oh, what we owe
to Sovereign Grace! To be kept from wandering–what a blessing is that!
Let us feel that instead of having a small debt to pay, we have a
greater debt to acknowledge. Let us wake up to strengthen our Brethren.
I ask this of you, members of the Church, because, in so large a Church
as this, unless there is a kind of universal mutual pastorate, what can
we do? You that are converted, I beseech you to strengthen your
Brethren.

And then, once more–if all this ought to be done to those who are in
the family, what ought we not to do for those out-side–for those that
have no Christ and no Savior? If you are converted yourself, seek the
salvation of your children, of your own brothers and sisters and of all
your household. Try to bring in your neighbors to hear the Word. Get
them, if you can, under the sound of the Gospel. Why should we not fill
up on Thursday night till the uppermost gallery is full? There are some
friends up there tonight, and I am glad to see them. May God bless
them.

I hope that the day will come when every seat will be occupied there,
so that when we are preaching the Gospel we may scatter it broadcast
and find a field upwards as well as downwards where the seed may fall.
Oh for a blessing! May we meet in Heaven to praise the Lord our God.
Amen.