Renewing Strength

Renewing Strength

(No. 1756)

SUITABLE FOR THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR, DELIVERED

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Isaiah
40:31.

HUMAN strength is of many kinds, but in any form it will spend itself
in due time. God can lend to men immense physical force, but though a
man had the strength of a lion and an ox combined, he would one day
fail. The force of flesh must fade like the grass to which it is
likened. Samson sometimes becomes exhausted and he is likely to die of
thirst, though he has slain a thousand men! Yes, more, he must
ultimately die and his mighty and tremendous muscles must yield to the
worm and return to the dust of death. Since even granite and iron yield
to constant wear and tear, assuredly man's frail body cannot long be a
thing of strength–

"Our days a transient period run, And change with every circling sun.
And while to lengthened years we trust, Before the moth we sink to
dust."

Mental strength is a noble possession, but it also fails its owner, for
at best it is a finite power. The wisest of men, by-and-by, feel the
infirmities of age creeping upon them and frequently present the sad
spectacle of second childhood. Death pays no regard to science or
eloquence. The fool dies and as surely dies the senator, the
philosopher, the Divine. When you take up the skull of a sage, you find
no weight of wisdom there, nor trace of all the curious movements of a
potent brain. Knowledge, genius, imagination, prophetic fire all
depart–even before death they often fail. Baffled by mysteries; balked
by prejudice; blinded by pride, the man of great understanding may yet
be driven to his wit's end.

So far as even spiritual strength is of the man, himself–so far as you
can conceive of it apart from the immediate operation of the Holy
Spirit–it, also, cannot be depended on. The most devout may grow
lukewarm, the strongest Believer may doubt, the most sanctified may
backslide! It is a heavenly strength, but so far as it is transfused
into our humanity and becomes a part of ourselves, it, also, may wax
weak, though, blessed be God, it can never utterly die! Every form of
human strength must of necessity spend itself, for the world of which
it forms a part decays and, by-and-by, like a worn-out vesture, the
heavens and the earth shall be rolled up and put away.

Some signs of age, the creatures show already, but the time will come
when their strength shall utterly fail. The reason is that all strength
apart from God is derived strength and is, consequently, measurable.
Yes, apart from God it is not strength at all and, consequently, must
come to an end. The river runs on and the brook fails not because they
come from fountains that are not affected by drought–but cisterns are
dried and reservoirs fail because they have no springing well at the
bottom of them–and if the pipes which supply them cease to flow, they
are soon left dry as a threshing-floor. Pools which are not
self-supplied are always liable to be exhausted as the water is drained
from them. Let every man know, therefore, that whatever his strength
may be, of body, mind, or spirit–if it is his own, it will one day
fail him.

Let him see to it, therefore, that he does not trust it–especially
that he does not trust it with eternal hazards or rest upon it for his
soul's safety–for which it never can be equal. It will be a horrible
thing to be leaning and to find your staff fail you when you are on the
edge of a measureless precipice! It will be terrible to be building and
to find your foundation washed from under you and all your handiwork
carried away by the flood! Yet so it must be if we are depending upon
anything that comes of ourselves. Our own righteousness, our own
thoughts, our own religiousness, our own prayers, resolves,
attainments, achievements–everything that is of ourselves must sooner
or later prove themselves to be but human–and over all things human it
is best to write, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"

Mingled with all things human there are portions of that all-dissolving
acid which fell upon man's nature when Infinite Justice said, "Dust you
are, and unto dust shall you return." On the other hand, what a
contrast there is as to Divine strength! That never fails! It seems
almost a superfluity to say as much as that–it abides in joyous
fullness, never in the least diminished. With God there are no years to
make Him decline with age, no labors to tax His powers. With God our
lives are but as the swing of the pendulum. A thousand years in His
sight are passed away as a watch in the night! Millions of ages are
nothing to Him. He was God when as yet this sun, moon and all these
stars slept in His thoughts like unborn forests in an acorn! And He
will be God when all this brief creation shall melt back to nothing as
a moment's foam dissolves into the wave that bore it and is lost
forever.

God changes not in any degree whatever–the fountain of His
almightiness still overflows. He made this world–no doubt He has made
thousands more and has still an undiminished power to create! All the
worlds that we can see revolving in yonder sky are, perhaps, as a
single chamber in the mansion of creation–they occupy an insignificant
corner behind the door–compared to other and vaster worlds that He has
made. But the glorious Lord is just as ready to make more! He is still
the same forever and forever. In your dire necessity you may draw
largely upon Him, but you cannot exhaust Him. You may bring your
boundless needs and have them all supplied, but you shall no more
diminish His all-sufficiency than when an infant dips his cup into the
sea and leaves the sea brimming over upon 10,000 leagues of shore!

Oh, the glory of the strength of God! I cannot speak of it. I will not
contrast it with the strength of man. What then? These two things seem
very far away–man with his faintness, his strength gradually drying
up–God with His eternity and inexhaustible Omnipotence! If we can
bring these two together; if by an act of faith you that are human can
be linked with the Divine, what a wondrous thing will happen! Then the
sacred Words of the text will be fulfilled and your strength will be
renewed! Apt as it is to dry up, it will be renovated, freshened,
filled up, increased, established! From the eternal deep that lies
under–that deep of which Moses said that it, "couches beneath"–from
that measureless fountain shall you draw strength which all eternity
will not exhaust!

You are weakness itself, but it you are united to the Divine strength,
you shall be infinitely strong. The cipher is nothing, but with a unit
before it, becomes ten! A man is nothing, but with God in him, he makes
Hell tremble! Now that is just my text, "They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength." If they are apart from God, their strength
will die out. But when they are linked to God and wait upon God for
everything–casting their nothingness upon His Omnipotence–then shall
they find their strength renewed. With God in him, though the man were
dead, yet shall he live! Job says, "My bow was renewed in my hand."
Grass cut down shall grow again when Heaven's dew shall quicken it. The
brook that was ready to dry up shall flow again when Heaven remembers
it and unseals its treasures! The skies that burned like brass shall be
cooled, again, with clouds when the Lord thinks upon them. When the
heart drinks life from the heart of God and man is at one with his
Maker, then all is well–

"From God, the overflowing spring, Our souls shall drink a flesh
supply-While those who trust their native strength Shall melt away and
droop and die."

I have now to speak from my text, first, upon how a true Church may be
described. "They that wait upon the Lord." Secondly, upon what such a
Church needs to renew its strength. And thirdly, how such a Church may
renew its strength–by waiting upon the Lord. That which serves as a
description of true Believers serves, also, as a direction to true
Believers–They that wait upon the Lord are the men who may most
hopefully be encouraged, still, to wait upon the Lord that their
strength may be renewed.

I. First, then, here WE SEE HOW A TRUE CHURCH MAY BE DESCRIBED–"They
that wait upon the Lord." A Church such as a Church ought to be,
consists of men who depend only upon the Lord, for waiting signifies
dependence. Their hope is in God. They rest in God's righteousness as
their righteousness and they receive the great Sacrifice provided by
God to be their atonement and their acceptance. No man is really a
Christian who finds his hope and confidence within himself–he must be
looking out of himself to God in Christ Jesus. It is absolutely
essential that it should be so. He that is God's beloved is a Believer
in God, that is to say, a truster in God, waiter upon God. His one sole
confidence is in God His Savior. This being so with each individual,
the whole Church can sing–

"Our spirits look to God alone, Our rock and refuge is His throne.

In all our fears, in all our straits Our soul on His salvation waits."

If Christians are what they ought to be, they depend upon God alone in
their Church capacity. God's Word is their only creed–they do not add
to it anything whatever–no, not a sentence, a gloss, or a thought.
They have greatly erred who look upon anything as the authoritative
standard of faith but God's own Word. I hear you say, "Do you not
respect the Thirty-Nine Articles?" However much or little I may respect
them, it makes no difference to the fact that the Church of God is not
bound to any faith but that which God Himself has revealed! "But the
Westminster Assembly's Confession?" It must be treated in the same
manner. That summary of doctrine is very admirable, but human creeds,
as such, have nothing on earth to do with me!

The point I have to make is this, What does God say? What does His Word
say? Within the covers of the Bible you find all theology. Nothing
outside of this Book is binding on a Christian man as doctrine in the
least degree whatever! The Bible and only the Bible is the religion of
Christians! "To the Law and to the Testimony! If they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." This
Word has life within it which rules in the souls of the Lord's elect.
Blessed be the Spirit of God who dictated it! We yield implicit faith
to all that He has revealed and to nothing else. A true Church of God
will say, "We wait upon the Lord for teaching–this Word of the Lord is
to us our Infallible source of doctrine–and that alone."

Those who wait upon the Lord for their creed shall never need to give
up their faith for something better, but they shall renew their
strength. Faithful to her Lord in doctrine, a true Church also waits
upon the Lord for Grace and has faith in the Doctrines of Grace as the
testimony with which she is to work. What am I to teach to my people if
I am a Christian minister? If a Church is rightly constituted, it says
to the pastor, "Teach what God has taught. Preach Christ Crucified!
Preach not your own thoughts, nor notions of your own inventing, but
what is revealed by God! Preach that, for it shall be the power of God
unto salvation." I am always sorry when, in order to promote a revival,
false doctrine is preached. I will preach no false doctrine if I know
it–no, not to save the world!

Of this I am assured–if the Truth of God will not save a man, a lie
will not! If the bare unaltered Truth of God will not break a man's
heart, then it certainly will not break it when it is rounded and toned
down and made to look pretty so as to suit the prevailing taste! No, a
Church that waits upon the Lord uses only the Doctrines of Scripture as
its battle-ax and weapons of war. A Church that is waiting upon the
Lord always knows where its strength lies, namely, in its God. What is
the power with which men are to be converted? Some say eloquence. The
Church of God says, "Not so! Not by might, nor by power, but by the
Spirit of the Lord!"

I solemnly believe that so much of human oratory as there is in a
sermon, so much there is of the weakness of the flesh–for all the
power must be of God working with the Truth of God through the Holy
Spirit. Therefore we should use great plainness of speech and never
speak for the sake of the language, but always for the sake of the
Truth of God we have to say, that God may bless it to the hearts of
men. No man in this world was ever converted except by the Holy Spirit
and never will any man be truly converted by any other power. Bang your
drums, Brother, and blow your brass instruments, if you like, but
neither cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, nor any other
kind of music will ever save a soul!

Deck your altar out as prettily as you like and burn your most fragrant
incense, but no soul ever finds Heaven by the light of candles nor by
the scent of censers! The Gospel has salvation in it when the Holy
Spirit works by it–and no other doctrine can save. The Spirit of the
Lord, alone, must bless the Truth of God, and He will bless only the
Truth of God. This is the Church's sole power with souls. Now, you
Christian people that are trying to do good and glorify God, I pray you
wait upon the Lord and resolve that you will only go to God's work
armed with God's Truth and backed up by God's Spirit. Many in these
days think that we need a great deal besides the Spirit of God, but
they are in error. They think that the world is not to be converted and
men saved in the old-fashioned way of preaching the Word of God with
the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven. But let me assure you that it is
to be converted in that way and in no other!

Human agriculture is capable of daily improvement, but as the plans of
the great Husbandman are perfect from the first, you may be sure that
there will be no change in them! You may go through the world ranting
and raving, or you may go arguing and discussing, but you cannot touch
a dead heart to make it alive either by excitement or by philosophy.
You cannot breathe into the nostrils of a dead soul eternal life,
though your winds should blow hot with fanaticism,

or chill with rationalism! Spiritual life can only come in God's way
and it is God's way by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe! From the Gospel pulpit believing preachers work more miracles
than your learned men will ever believe. God's Word will not return to
Him void, but man's word is void when it goes forth–and void it
remains to the end of the chapter! The magicians and their enchantments
cannot compare with the rod of Moses. One Word of the Lord is stronger
than all the rage of Hell or the enmity of the world. We mean to,
whatever others do, keep to "waiting upon the Lord," going to work in
the Lord's way and depending upon the Lord's power and upon Him alone!

But waiting upon God means something more than dependence upon God, so
I go a step farther–if we depend upon God, our expectation is from
Him. We wait upon God as the birds in the nest wait upon the parent
bird, expecting from her their food. Before she comes, you hear their
cries, but when she comes, if you look into the nest, you will see
nothing but so many gaping mouths, all waiting, expecting to be filled
by the mother bird. Now, that is just what a Church of God ought to
be–a company of wide-opened mouths waiting to be filled only by the
Lord! "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it," says the Lord. Do you
not think that some Churches and some Christians, with very small
expectations, have scarcely learned to open their months at all?

If the Lord were to convert a soul, now and then, they would be pleased
and express a grateful surprise! But do they expect to hear of hundreds
added to the Church at a time, or of thousands in a year brought to
Christ? No, they think this may be done in some extraordinary instances
in very large places, but they do not expect it in their gatherings.
Oh, Friends, let us expect more of God and we shall receive more! Does
He not always come up to our expectations? Does He not amaze us with
the blessings of His goodness? Is He not able to do exceedingly above
all that we ask or even think? I find it such a blessing to have
expecting people about me, for they make a flourishing Church. Some
Brothers and Sisters here at this Tabernacle are men and women of great
expectations, for even now while I am preaching, they are planning
whereabouts they will be in the aisle to talk with folk going out–they
know that some will be converted by the Word of God and they are on the
look-out to pick them up!

These Brethren are grieved and surprised if, after a service, they do
not meet with one or two enquirers or convicted sinners, that they may
join with them in tearful prayer! They are believers in the power of
the Gospel and they act accordingly. When I fire the gun, they are on
the alert to pick up the birds, for they believe in the killing power
of the Word of God! They could not be content with ineffectual
preaching–they expect that the Word will be fruitful and so they bring
their basket to put the fruit in! Oh, if a Church would but wait upon
God in this sense of expecting great things from Him, it should have
them! He will never allow His people to complain that He has been a
wilderness to them. He will never raise their hopes to dash them to the
ground.

Is there any man alive who has believed in the Lord too largely, and
expected too confidingly? Brother ministers, let us begin to expect
more–not from our ministry because it is powerful, for it is nothing
of the kind by itself–but from God's ministry through us, for if He
speaks by us, why should not men yield to His voice though they will
not yield to ours? If He is with us, can He not make us hammers that
shall break the rocks in pieces? Can He not use even us to be as a fire
to melt the iron hearts of men? So then, a true Church depends upon God
and expects from God–and in this sense answers to the description–
"They that wait upon the Lord."

To make up waiting, I think there is a third thing, and that is
patience–to hold out and wait the Lord's time and will. The three
together–dependence, expectation, patience–make up waiting upon the
Lord. This "patience" is, to the uttermost, desirable in a thousand
matters, that we may endure affliction, persevere in holiness, continue
in hope and abide in our integrity. Patience is the long life of virtue
and sets on its head the crown of experience. It is no child's play to
continue to suffer affliction with joyfulness and to remain, for years,
perfectly acquiescent in the will of the Lord. But let that be what it
may. It needs the eyes of faith to see God in the dark, to believe in
His love when He is angry and to rest in His promise when it tarries
long. That little word, WAIT, is a word fit for a father in Christ and
comes not out of the mouth of a babe in Grace. Let us ask for Grace to
pronounce it aright–

"Wait, my Soul, upon the Lord, to His gracious promise flee, Laying
hold upon His Word, 'As your day, your strength shall be.'"

Some of my dear Brothers in Christ are ardent followers of Christ, but
they do not seem to have learned the meaning of that word, "patience."
They are working for Christ and they are depending upon the Lord. And
they are looking for results–but when they do not quite see them
immediately–they are at once offended and depressed. They are in such
a

hurry that they seem half inclined to cry, "Why should I wait for the
Lord any longer?" I daresay that you were much the same when you were
children–you wanted everything at once, and waiting was dismal work to
you. We are all impatient as long as we are imperfect. It is the mark
of the child that he is in a violent hurry where men are steady.

Perhaps our father gave us some seed and we hurried to sow it. We put
in a little mustard and cress one morning and then we thought that we
would eat it with tea, but as we saw no sign of green, we went and
turned over the earth to see if the seed was sprouting! We were greatly
surprised to find that it had not grown up green and ready to cut–we
did not understand that the farmer waits. We had a little apple tree
and we put it in the ground. The planting of that tree was a grand
affair and we reckoned upon many puddings being made out of the apples
gathered from it next year. We were sadly surprised to see that the
apples did not come. Yes, that is the spirit of children–their name is
Passion–not Patience! They live in the present hour and have no power
to extend themselves into days to come.

The Lord sometimes sends us speedy results to our labors. It happens at
times that the moment we speak, conversions are worked–but at other
times it is not so–the Truth of God works slowly and surely and
effects all the more precious results. We must wait for seed to grow
and for fruit to ripen. If we really wait upon the Lord, we shall just
keep on, resolved to abide in duty, determined to remain in prayer,
undaunted in confidence, unmoved in expectation. We shall not fly into
a passion with the Lord and refuse to believe Him any more. Neither
shall we run off to novelties and fall into the fads and crazes of the
day–to try this and to try that–because God's own way, we think, is a
failure! No, by God's Grace we shall say, "I have done what God bade
me. I have done it in dependence upon His Spirit and I believe that
good will come of it. Therefore I shall wait and watch. I shall be
found moving when God moves, or sitting still when the Lord tarries. I
am sure that He will not fail the soul that waits upon Him–all will be
well–the blessing will come."

What a sweet thing is the calm leisure of faith!–"He that believes
shall not make haste." Fret and worry, hurry and haste are all slain by
the hand of faith! God has plenty of time–no, He fills eternity and,
therefore, He can bear with man's waywardness with much long-suffering!
You and I are in feverish haste, but when we get to be linked with God,
we also, can wait, even as God waits to be gracious and has patient
compassion upon men. That is a description of what a Christian ought to
be–"waiting upon the Lord"–depending upon God, expecting from God and
patiently waiting for God till He shall give the desired blessing.

II. But now, secondly, we see WHAT THE LORD'S WAITING PEOPLE NEED. They
need to renew their strength. Even those saints who wait upon God for
everything, may grow faint and require reviving. And that is, first,
because they are human. As long as you and I are mortal, we shall be
mutable–as the world is full of changes, so are we. Some friends never
seem to be either high or low in their feelings–their life has neither
hills nor valleys in it, but is comparable to an unbroken plain–they
traverse a perpetual level. It is not so with others of us–we are all
Alps and Andes. These favored pilgrims march steadily and evenly
through the world, always at one pitch and pace, but others of us who
mount up into the heavens in burning zeal and holy joy, go low, down
very low, into the depths till our soul sinks because of sorrow. The
best and bravest of the saints are poor creatures.

Elijah on the top of Carmel, when he has brought fire from Heaven,
cries, "Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape." Hear
him, as he pleads with God and unlocks the treasury of the rain! See
him gird up his loins and run before the chariot of Ahab! There is a
man for you! If ever hero-worship might be tolerated, it is in the case
of, "this, my lord, Elijah." Look not too closely at the champion, for
within 24 hours he is afraid of Jezebel and soon he is whining, "O
Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers." Do you
blame him? Do you fail to understand so sad a fall from so great a
height? Take heed of censuring a man so greatly approved of God as to
be spared the pains of death! If you do as well as Elijah did, perhaps
you may hear some nobodies blaming you in your hour of exhaustion!

As for me, I cannot censure him, nor can any man who has ever enjoyed
the heavenly delirium of high-strung zeal in the Master's service–and
having been borne aloft on eagle's wings–at last falls upon the earth
in absolute exhaustion. After high excitement, there will come
reaction. Creatures whose home is on the earth cannot always live upon
the wing–they must feel faint, at times and, therefore, the necessity
of this blessed promise–"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength." They will rise again! From their deepest depressions
they will leap into supreme elevations! They shall dwell on the
heights, they shall soar above the clouds! The very depths to which
they dive are prophetic of the heights to which they will climb, again,
by God's Grace! The Lord has said, "I will bring, again, from the
depths of the sea."

They need renewing, also, because in addition to being human, they are
imperfect. The sin that dwells in us, drags us down. However high we
have ascended, when we have walked in the Light of God, still we have
needed that the blood of Christ should cleanse us from all sin. Our
natural corruption and the imperfection and infirmity of our flesh are
still about us. And these bring us down at times till we say with
David, "I am this day weak, though anointed king." What a blessing it
is that failing, flagging, fainting, falling spirits, by waiting upon
the Lord, shall renew their strength! Even those who actually fall
shall be recovered. "Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast
down: for the Lord holds him up with His hands." Though our sands run
very low, God shall fill the glass, again, and the believing man shall
again rejoice in the Lord and have confidence in the God of His
salvation!

Because we are human and imperfect, we cannot always be at our best.
The sky is not always clear; the sea is not always at flood; the year
is not always at summer; the sun is not always in the zenith; the moon
is not always at her fullest; the tree is not always adorned with
fruit; the vineyard does not always flow with wine; roses do not always
blush, nor lilies always bloom! Creatures have their rises and their
falls and to us, also, there must be times when we need to renew our
strength–and we shall renew it, for here the promise comes–"They that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

Brothers and Sisters, I will suppose that I am addressing some who have
become weak and failing. You must renew your strength. It must be
renewed, for otherwise it will decline, still further, and this would
be painful, dangerous and dishonoring. The Lord would not have us
utterly fail, nor fall prone upon the ground in the heavenly race.
Therefore, to those who have no might, He increases strength. We must
renew our strength, for it is for our honor, comfort and safety. It is
not to a Christian's credit that he should be weak. The glory of a man
is his strength and especially is his spiritual strength his honor. It
is not for your comfort to be weak. When a man is feeble, he becomes a
burden to himself–his sadness makes him stoop–he is feeble-minded and
ready to halt. "A wounded spirit who can bear?"

It is not for your usefulness that you should be weak. What can you do
for others when you, yourself, can hardly stand? It is not for your
safety that you should be weak, for you will be liable to many attacks
and open to many injuries from sin and extremely likely to be overcome
by temptation. Blessed is that man who is "strong in the Lord, and in
the power of His might." To him the joy of the Lord is his strength.
The Lord Jehovah is his strength and his song! He also has become his
salvation. It is for God's Glory and for our own usefulness that we
should be strong–and if we fall into decline and weakness, pray do not
let us stop there. Let us try to escape from a spiritual consumption.

If I address Believers who lament that the whole Church with which they
are connected is getting weak, I charge them not to suffer it to be so
with themselves! Brothers and Sisters, shun a spiritual wasting away! A
pining sickness is an awful disease for a Church to die of. Do not
linger in such a state. Up with you and cry mightily unto the Lord–and
you shall yet be restored, for it is written–"They that wait upon the
Lord shall renew their strength." At this time I should be very glad if
this dear Church, over which the Holy Spirit has made me an overseer,
would have its strength renewed. Our ministry needs renewal that it may
be more full of power and Grace. How weak it is if God is even a little
withdrawn!

Our Sunday school work requires constant renewal. Everything around us
needs to be renewed, revived and refreshed! And just at this time I
wish that it might be laid on the hearts of the members of the Church
to pray that we might renew our strength. Your minister grows old–not
very old in natural age, it is true–but 30 years of continuous labor
in preaching to so vast a congregation has taken much more out of his
strength than almost any other form of service would have done. And
therefore he needs to be invigorated again–physically, mentally and
spiritually. Many of you are in the same condition and need that your
strength be renewed like the eagle's. This can be done for us all by
that great Master, in whose hand the residue of the Spirit abides! He
can lay His hands on us and say, "Be strong. Fear not!"

He can strengthen us to a degree of force far beyond our previous
experience! The members of the Church and the officers of the Church
all desire, I know, that they should renew their strength just now–it
is well that such a desire is on them. May this desire for renewal
become an insatiable craving with those of you who live near to God and
have power in prayer–then through your importunate intercessions the
Lord may make good His promise that this waiting congregation may renew
its strength! After 30 years of unflagging prosperity we are as weak as
ever "apart from God, and need constant renewal of strength." I see
many reasons why it is imperative that we should have it at this
present time. Join, I pray you, in fervent prayer for it! It is
promised and, therefore, if we do not have it, it is our own fault.

God's promises are our precepts! What He promises to give, it is our
duty to seek! And if He promises that we shall renew our strength, why
not let us have the promise fulfilled to our faith? I wish that it
might come to pass that my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
here–men and women who are working for Him and are a little weary and
faint–may be encouraged, cheered, refreshed and led to say, "From this
time on we will serve our Lord with all our youthful vigor, and with a
great deal more. We will labor in the service of the Lord our God with
all our might, not slackening our right hand nor withholding the
fullness of our strength but giving our all to God."

O blessed Spirit, awaken Your children to renewed consecration, renewed
zeal, renewed delight in holy service and renewed hope of victory!

III. So I close with the third point, which is this–HOW ARE WE TO
RENEW OUR STRENGTH? If we are God's people, we must renew our strength
by continually waiting upon God. When a man needs his bodily strength
renewed, his purpose may be effected by eating a good meal. He has
grown empty through hunger and there is nothing in him. He must be
filled up with substantial nourishment and then the human engine will
generate fresh force. Oh, you who are weak in spirit, come and feed
upon Christ! They that wait upon the Lord in that way, by feeding upon
the body and blood of Christ, shall find Him to be meat, indeed, and
drink indeed, and so they shall renew their strength!

Sometimes a man may renew his strength by taking a little rest. He has
grown weak through stern labor and long fatigue and he must be quiet
and repose till he recovers. Oh, you weary, heavy-laden, where is there
rest for you except in the Christ of God? Oh, come to God and rest in
Him and wait patiently for Him! Then shall your peace be as a river and
then shall your strength be restored right speedily. We have known
strength to be restored by a bath. A weary one has plunged himself into
cool water and he has risen quite another man. Oh, for a Baptism into
the Spirit of God! Oh, to plunge into the Godhead's deepest sea–to
throw one's self into the might and majesty of God–to swim in love,
borne up by Grace!

We have known men's strength renewed by breathing their native air.
They have risen out of a hot atmosphere into the cool breeze of the
mountainside and the bracing breeze has made them strong again. Oh, to
have the breath of the Spirit blowing upon us once again! By Him we
were born; by Him we were quickened; by Him we have been revived from
former faintness and it is by breathing His Divine life that we shall
be filled with life again! Oh, that at this moment we might each one
feel the power of the Lord entering into us! In a word, if a Church
needs reviving; if saints individually need reviving, they must wait
upon God! First in prayer. Oh, what a blessing a day's prayer might be!
When Archbishop Leighton used to go into his room, his servant said
that he would remain there for two or three hours, having locked the
door and having nothing with him but his Bible and a candle. Yes, then
he came out to speak those gracious words which still linger in his
works like the echoes of music. His Bible and candle were the only
earthly illumination that he needed, for prayer brought him Divine
Light!

Get with God, Brothers and Sisters! Be much with God! I am sure that
we, none of us, are alone enough with God. But in prayer, laying hold
upon the Invisible, we shall win strength for service. Add to that a
re-dedication of ourselves to the Lord who bought us. This often helps
us to renew our strength. Go over, again, that blessed covenant which
has made you one of the covenanted ones with God. You gave yourself
years ago wholly up to your Lord and you sometimes sing–

"High Heaven that heard that solemn vow, That vow renewed shall daily
hear." Let this day hear the renewal of it–let your covenant be
solemnly rehearsed. Consecrate yourself anew to God. Then realize,
afresh, your entire dependence upon God. Put yourself into the Lord's
hands whole-heartedly. Be like the sere leaf that is carried by the
breath of the storm.

When you have submitted yourself completely and trusted entirely,
setting both your strength and your weakness on one side and giving
yourself up for God to use you, oh, then you shall renew your strength!
Then go forward to renewed action! In renewing your strength, ask the
Lord that you may undertake fresh work and that this work may be done
to a nobler tune–that you may have more expectancy, more confidence,
more faith, more God-reliance. What things are done by men in common
life with self-reliance! But with God-reliance we work impossibilities
and miracles fly from us like sparks from the anvil of a smith! When a
man learns to work with God's strength and with that, alone, he can do
all

things. So would I stir my Brothers and Sisters up, one by one, and
then as a body, to work for God with renewed energy.

I am almost done. I know that there are some here to whom this appears
to have very slight reference. Yet if you are an unconverted man, my
dear Friend, after all, this is a lesson for you, for the pith of it
all is that if ever you are to be saved you must get away from yourself
into God–and your confidence must be in Christ, the Son of God, and
not in your own strength. One of my greatest delights is to see how our
people die. I have never, for years, visited the deathbed of a single
member of this Church in which I have seen a shade of doubt, or the
least suspicion as to their triumphant entrance into the Kingdom of
God! I have been somewhat astonished to find it always so. I just now
sat by the bedside of one of our Brothers who is melting away with
consumption–and it was sad to see his wife lying by his side almost
equally ill.

When I spoke with him who was so soon to be with God, he said, "As for
my faith, dear Sir, it never wavers in the least degree. I have my
times of depression of spirit, but I take no notice of that. You have
told us not to look to feelings, but simply to trust in the Infallible
Word of a faithful God. Fifteen years ago, Sir," he said, "one Thursday
night I dropped into the Tabernacle to hear you preach and, blessed be
the day, I looked to Christ and found salvation! I have had plenty of
ups and downs, but Jesus has never left me nor forsaken me, and I am
not going to think that He will do so now. His Word stands fast
forever. My strength is in my God." He added, "I am not resting upon
man in any degree or measure, but wholly upon the faithful promise of
God and the precious blood of Christ."

I wished that I could get into his place and not come here tonight, but
just slip off to Heaven as he is doing! It makes one sure of the Gospel
when you see men dying so. It gives me courage to come and tell it out,
again, to men and women. The Gospel which I preach to you is good to
live upon and good to die upon! If you will but trust my Lord, you
shall find it a blessed thing to depart out of this world and be
forever with the Lord! Death shall lose every air of dread–every
ghastly gloom shall be taken from it! It shall be but undressing to go
to bed, that you may wake up in the morning in royal robes as a
courtier of the King of kings!

Only you must have done with yourself, and commit yourself to Christ!
Say today, in life, what you will need to say when you come to
die–"Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit." That is a Gospel
prayer! If you are waiting upon the Lord in the sense of complete
reliance upon the merit of Jesus, you shall, in dying, renew your
strength and leap out of your frail body into the Presence and Glory of
God! In due time, also, you shall re-assume your body–but it shall be
made like unto Christ's glorious body–and in its resurrection you
shall emphatically renew your strength!

Blessed be His name that He has taught many of us to wait upon the
Lord! May He teach you all to do so, for Christ's sake. Amen.