Suffering Outside the Camp

Suffering Outside the Camp

(No. 2660)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1900.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JANUARY 3,
1858.

"Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own
blood, suffered outside the gate." Hebrews 13:12.

IN one sense, sanctification is wholly the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but there is another meaning which is more usually affixed to
the term, in which sanctification is rightly described as the work of
God the Holy Spirit. Many disputes have arisen concerning this Doctrine
of God, because all men do not distinguish between the two meanings of
the same word. There is one kind of sanctification which signifies
setting apart and, in that sense, God's people were sanctified from all
eternity. They were sanctified in election, before they had a being,
for they were even then set apart from the impure mass, to be vessels
of honor meet for the Master's use. Further, as redemption has in it
much of peculiarity and specialty, God's people were sanctified, or set
apart, by the blood of Christ, when, on Mount Calvary He offered up
Himself, an offering without spot or blemish, for the sins of His
people. So it is true that Jesus is not only made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, but also sanctification.

You will remember that in one of my recent sermons, [Sermon #2634,
Volume 45–"Jesus Only"–A Communion Meditation the text of which was,
"Jesus only," I made the remark that it was "Jesus only" for
sanctification. And I have not had any reason to retract that
expression, for there is a sense in which sanctification, as far as it
means setting apart, is an eternal work and is a work wholly completed
for us by the election of the Father and the blood of Jesus Christ.
Still, sanctification sometimes, and most generally, signifies another
thing–it means the work of the Spirit within us. There is a work which
God the Holy Spirit carries on, from the first moment of our spiritual
birth, to the last moment when we are taken to Heaven–a work by which
corruptions are overcome, lusts restrained, faith increased, love
inflamed, hope brightened and the spirit made fit to dwell with the
glorified above. That is the work of God's Holy Spirit, yet we must
remember that even though it is the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
Christ, even in this, still sanctifies His people! For with what does
the Holy Spirit sanctify them?

Beloved, He sanctifies them with the precious blood of Jesus! We know
that when our Savior died, His Sacrifice had a double objective–one
objective was pardon, the other was cleansing–and both the blood and
the water flowed from the same source to show us that justification and
sanctification both spring from the same Divine Fountain and, though
sanctification is the work of the Spirit in us, yet, to accomplish this
purposes, the Holy Spirit uses the sacrificial blood of Jesus and the
sacred water of His Atonement applied to our heart, sprinkling us from
dead works and purging us from an evil conscience, that we may serve
God without let or hindrance. So, then, Christian, in your
sanctification, look to Jesus! Remember that the Spirit sanctifies you,
but that He sanctifies you through Jesus. He does not sanctify you
through the works of the Law, but through the Atonement of Christ! And
will you therefore remember that the nearer you live to the Cross of
Jesus, the more of sanctification, growth and increase in all spiritual
blessings will His Spirit give to you? So, then, we see that whatever
sanctification may mean, the text is still true–"Therefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside
the gate."

Let us pause here a minute and let each of us, as we begin a new year,
ask this question–How far has Christ's purpose of sanctifying me been
answered in my own case? I know that in one sense I am completely
sanctified, but, in another sense, I still feel my imperfections and
infirmities. How far have I progressed in sanctification during the
past year? How

much has my faith increased during the year? How many of my corruptions
have I overcome? How much nearer am I living to Christ, now, than on
the first Sabbath of last year? How much do I know of the Savior? How
much closer do I approach in my likeness to Him? Have I more power in
prayer? Am I more careful in my life? Is my spirit more loving than it
used to be? Am I more decisive for that which is right? At the same
time, am I more meek in standing up for it? Am I, in all respects, more
like my Master than I was a year ago? Or, on the other hand, have I
been going backward? Stand still, I cannot–I must either go forward in
Grace or go backward! Which have I been doing during the past year? And
I charge you, O my Heart, whatever answer you have to give to these
questions, to remember that if you are ever so much sanctified, you
have not yet attained perfection! I beseech you, forget that which is
behind, and press forward toward that which is before, looking still
unto Jesus, who is both the Author and the Finisher of faith! The Lord
give you so plente-ously of His Grace that you may be sanctified
wholly, by soul and spirit! And I pray God to preserve you all unto His
coming and glory.

I. But now the principal subject upon which I wish to speak is the fact
that JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED OUTSIDE THE GATE.

You know that when the High Priest offered the sin-offering, because it
typified sin, it was so obnoxious to God that it might not be burned
upon the great altar, but it was always burned outside the camp, to
show God's detestation of sin and His determination not only to put it
away from Himself, but also to put it away from His Church. Now, when
our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to be our Sin-Offering, it
behooved Him, also, to be put outside the camp–and it is very
interesting to note how remarkably Providence provided for the
fulfillment of the type. Had our Lord been killed in a tumult, He would
most likely have been slain in the city. Unless He had been put to
death judicially, He would not have been taken to the usual Mount of
Doom. And it is remarkable that the Romans should have chosen a hill on
the outside of the city to be the common place for crucifixion and for
punishment by death. We might have imagined that they would have
selected some mount in the center of the city and that they would have
placed their gibbet in as conspicuous a spot as our Newgate, so that it
might strike the multitude with greater awe. But, in the Providence of
God, it was arranged otherwise. Christ must not be slain in a tumult!
He might not die in the city and when He was delivered into the hands
of the Romans, they had not a place of execution within the city, but
one outside the camp, that by dying outside the gate, He might be
proved to be the Sin-Offering for His people.

Concerning this great Truth of God, I have one or two remarks to offer
to you very briefly. First, I want to ask you a question. Do you know
who the people were who lived outside the gate? If you could have gone
to the great camp of Israel, you would have seen the tents all placed
in order, the standard of Dan there, of Judah there, of Ephraim there–
surrounding the Ark of the Covenant. And you would have seen a few
wretched huts far away in the rear, outside the camp. And if you had
asked, "Who lives, there? Who are the poor people that are put away
from kith and kin, and who cannot go up to the sanctuary of the Lord to
present their offerings unto Him, or to join in the songs of praise
unto His holy name?" The answer to your enquiry would have been, "The
people out there are lepers and others who are unclean." And if, in
later days, you had walked through some of the shady glens around the
city of Jerusalem, you might have heard in the distance, the cry,
"Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!"–a bitter wail that sounded like the
sighing of despair, as if it came from some poor ghost that had been
commanded to forever walk this earth with restless steps. Had you come
nearer to the unhappy being who had uttered so mournful a sound, you
would have seen him cover his upper lip and again, cry, "Unclean!
Unclean! Unclean!–to warn you not to come too near him, lest even the
wind should blow infection towards you from his leprous skin. If, for a
minute, he had moved his hand from his mouth, you would have seen,
instead of those scarlet, ruddy lips of health which God had originally
put there, a terrible, white mark not to be distinguished from his
teeth. His lips were unclean, for there the leprosy had discovered
itself and, in a minute, he would have again covered up that lip that
had the white mark of disease upon it–and again he would have cried,
"Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!"

Of whom was that leper a type? He was a picture of you and me, my
Brothers and Sisters, in our natural state! And if the Holy Spirit has
quickened us and made us to know our ruined condition, we shall feel
that the leper's cry well becomes our unholy lips! Perhaps I have,
within the walls of this house of prayer, a hearer who is today
separate from all mankind. With worldlings, he dares not associate any
longer. The harlots and others, with whom he spent his living
riotously, are not now his companions. He cannot bear their pleasures,
for they are dashed with bitterness. With the children of God, he dares
not go–he feels that they would put him outside the camp, for he has
no hope, no Christ, no faith!

He cannot say that Christ has died for him. He has no trust in
Jesus–not so much as one pale ray of hope has stolen into his poor
darkened heart and, tonight, the inward wail of his now-awakened spirit
is–

"Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!

Unclean, and full of sin,

From first to last, O Lord, I've been!

Deceitful is my heart."

Leper, leper, be of good cheer! Christ died outside the camp that you
might be sanctified through His blood! I see the leper now stealing
through the desert places, not daring to sip of the clear stream that
lies in his track, lest he should communicate contagion to the next
person who drinks from it, but seeking out some filthy puddle, that
there he may satisfy his thirst, where no others are likely to drink. I
see him covering up his lips. If his father met him, he must run away
from him. If the wife of his bosom saw him, she must shun his presence,
for a loathsome disease is in his skin and in his garments–and in the
very breath that comes from his lips there is death! Well, suddenly, as
he steals along, he sees a Cross, and on it lifted up One who is dying.
He stands there astonished! He thinks that surely he may come near to a
dying man, leper though he is–to the living, he must not approach–but
to the dying he cannot bring a new death. So he draws near to the Cross
and the lips of the dying Man are opened, and He says, "Verily I say
unto you, Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." Oh, what joy and
rapture rush through his poor leprous spirit! How his heart, that had
long been heavy and baked like a black coal within him, begins, again,
to burn with bright light! He smiles, for he feels that that marvelous
Man upon the Cross has forgiven him all his sins and before he has
begun to feel it, his leprosy is cleansed! And soon he goes his way,
for his flesh has come unto him like the flesh of a little child and he
is clean! O leprous Sinner, hear this and believe it for yourself!
Tonight look unto Him who died outside the camp that poor unclean
sinners might find a Savior there!

That is my first lesson from the text. If the Lord the Spirit shall
graciously apply it to your souls, it will be a very precious one to
many a sin-distracted heart!

But, Believer, did you never feel as if you, too, were unclean and
outside the camp? Brothers and Sisters, let me tell you just a little
of my own heart's feelings and let me see whether you have ever felt
the same. You have often known yourselves to be children of God. I have
felt myself, with much joy, to be certainly assured of my interest in
Christ but, suddenly, sin has surprised me, some unhappy propensity has
developed itself and I have felt as if I could not meet my God. When I
was on my knees in prayer, I seemed as if I could not pray. I felt like
the unclean one that must be put outside the camp–like Miriam, who,
though the leprosy was but for a little time, would still be unclean
for seven days. And when I have come to the House of God, I have felt
as if the lowliest Christians there were so much superior to myself
that I would but have been glad to have been a footstool at their feet!
I would have crept into any part of the fold if I might have known
myself to be the lowliest lamb in the flock of Jesus. I have seen the
deacon and I have seen the Church member and I have thought, "Brethren,
you are happy, but my heart is sad, for I am not worthy to be called
God's son. Father, I have sinned. I have done grievously and have
transgressed against You."

For a little while faith has seemed sluggish and hope has been dull.
And the sense of sin has rested on us and we have seemed to be quite
put away from our Lord's Presence. We have read the Bible, but we could
get no comfort there. The heavens seemed like brass above our heads. No
shower of Grace fell upon our thirsty souls–both God and man seemed to
put us outside the camp! I believe that many times, in a Christian's
experience, he will have to feel what I have been describing. I do not
mean merely little Christians, but I mean the greatest Christians,
those who have lived nearest to their God, those who have been eminent
in the Lord's service–God's Aarons and Miriams who sometimes have to
be put outside the camp!

Who, then, is there among us who will not sometimes be unclean? Surely,
not any of the great ones of Israel could always live outside
contracting some ceremonial defilement, for you know that under the
Jewish law, the sitting upon the bed of a leper made a man unclean–and
many things that happened to men rendered them unclean for seven days.
And who can wonder if, through the infirmities of our bodies, through
the companionships into which we are called, through the evil thoughts
of our mind, we are often unclean as the Jews were? And who wonders
that, sometimes, the Lord should put us, as it were, out of the camp
for a little season till we have been purged with hyssop and have been
made clean–till we have again been thoroughly purified by the washing
of water through the Word?

But, Brothers and Sisters, what a mercy it is that when we are outside
the gate, Christ is outside the gate, too! O poor Backslider, does your
conscience shut you out of the Church today? Remember, Christ shut
Himself out, too. He was "despised and rejected of men." Do you feel,
tonight, as if you cannot come to His Table–as if your Master would
spurn you from it? Remember, if you are His, you are welcome, for His
Table is where His Cross is–and His Cross is outside the gate. Come,
sinner! Come, backsliding saint! Come and welcome! God may seem to have
put you away, but it is only seeming, for we know He has written that
He hates to put away. Come, and though you are outside the gate, behold
your Lord, who, "that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered outside the gate."

II. I have only one more thought to bring before your notice. The
Apostle says, in the next verse to our text, "Let us go forth,
therefore, outside the camp, bearing His reproach." So, AS CHRIST
SUFFERED OUTSIDE THE CAMP, LET US NOT BE ASHAMED TO SUFFER THERE, TOO.

I do not think much of the religion of that man who is not put outside
the, camp. If you can dwell with the wicked. If you can live as they
live and be, "hail-fellow well met," with the ungodly. If their
practices are your practices. If their pleasures are your pleasures,
then their god is your god and you are one of them! There is no being a
Christian except being shut out of the world's camp! I can scarcely
conceive it possible for any man to be a true saint, a holy man, one
who is set apart unto God and sanctified in Christ Jesus, unless he is
reproached while on earth for being too strict, too Puritan, or
perhaps, sometimes, too melancholy. There must be a grave distinction
between a Christian and a man of the world–and where there is no such
distinction, or only a slight one–there is most solemn cause for
suspicion that all is not right! When I see a man dress like
worldlings. When I hear him talk like worldlings. When I know that all
his outward carriage is just like a worldly man's. When I can detect no
difference. When I see no mark of the Lord Jesus upon him. When I can
hear no "shibboleth" in his speech, whereby he is to be detected from a
sibboleth-speaking world. When I discover no distinction between him
and others, then this I know, "God is not mocked." That man is in the
flesh and he shall, "of the flesh reap corruption."

No, I will go further still! In this age I can scarcely imagine it
possible for a man to serve his Master faithfully unless he is
sometimes shut out of the camp, even of the Church itself! I do not
mean excommunicated–I mean something far different from that. I mean
that the man who serves his God aright will often feel himself left in
the minority, even in the Church. It is never his business to so act
and to so think that others are obliged to differ from him. It is folly
to be singular except where to be singular is to be right! But so lax
has the professing Church become, so low in its doctrine, so light in
its experience and, sometimes, so unholy in its life, that to be
Christians, now, we must be elect out of the elect–elect out of the
Church as well as elect out of the world! What pride, on the one hand.
What sloth, on the other. What anger, what distrust, what covetousness,
what worldly-mindedness we constantly see! The most of us are too much
mingled with the world, too much joined unto Egypt! And the man who is
firm in the faith and loves his Master well is a rarity! The man of a
loving spirit, the man of a large heart and yet of a determined zeal,
and of a steadfast mind–such a man will have to go outside the
camp–and he will have to suffer, now, even as all have had to suffer
who have dared to go into the front of the sacramental host of God's
elect, in advance of the more tardy followers of the Lamb! If any
minister of Christ dares to be too bold, too plain, too honest for the
common run of professors, he must expect to be maligned! Let him reckon
on that and let him willingly go forth outside the camp, for that is
where his Master went before him!

If I turn to the pages of history to find out the best men who ever
lived, do you know where I find them? I never find them among those who
were called, "respectable," in their time. There, in the pages of
history, I see great names– Erasmus and others, mighty and learned
men–but, on a dirty-thumbed page, I see the name of Luther associated
with such epithets as, "dog, adulterer, beast," and everything else
that Rome's malice could suggest! And I say, "Ah, this is the man whom
God chose, for he went outside the camp!" That list of great divines,
of schoolmen and of theologians you may wipe out without much
regret–but this man outside the camp–he is somebody, depend upon it!
He is the man whom God has blessed!

Turn to another list of archbishops, bishops, deans, rural deans,
rectors and curates. There they are, all as respectable as possible,
and great volumes of their sermons may be found on bookshelves,
nowadays, with the dust of years upon them! I read their names. There
is one, there is another, there is another–but there is nothing
special about any of them! At last, I find a picture by Hogarth–a
caricature of a man preaching with devils coming out of his mouth, and
underneath it written, "Fire and brimstone!" I look at the portrait and
I say, "Look, that is Mr. Whitefield!" Ah, there is the

man of the age, depend on it! That man, all black, charged with crimes
that Sodom never knew–that is the man! Not the curate in the other
picture who is preaching to a congregation all asleep–but this man,
here, that is abused, that is laughed at, that is mocked–this is the
man who is somebody!

So you may go on as long as you like and you shall always find that
those "intruders into the ministry," as some call them, those that the
parliament of parsons dislikes, those that the great mass reject and
laugh and scoff at–those are the very men whom God blesses! So, if you
go outside the camp, you will be in very good company. The great and
holy men of years gone by have all been put outside the camp. If an
ungodly throng have thrust out our fathers and have said, "Get you
gone, we want you not," it is true–their children build their
sepulchers and then they thrust us out. What if it is so? We are
content to share the lot of so goodly a parentage! We think it a high
honor to be thrust out of these gates whose only glory is that good men
once passed through them, and whose great disgrace is that good men
pass through them the wrong way–not into them, but out of them! So,
Beloved, be you content to be cast outside the camp.

But mark, going outside the camp in itself is nothing–it is suffering
outside the camp that is the great thing. Making myself different from
everybody else is nothing–it is suffering for the Truth of God's sake
that is the truly noble thing! It is being crucified with Christ that
is honorable! It is not my being a Sectarian or a Separatist. It is not
your going outside the camp that is any good–it is your suffering
outside the camp that proves you to be a Believer. O Christians, if you
have to do the same, rejoice!

And now, as you come to this Communion Table, I shall bid you only
remember that word, suffered. "Jesus suffered outside the gate" and I
shall ask you, as you sit there, to meditate upon that word. Turn it
over again and again, and think how His body and His soul all suffered
for you. Then, when you have meditated upon that great Truth of God,
you will be in a fit frame of mind to commune with Him who has
sanctified you by His own blood, by suffering outside the gate.

May the God of mercies give to sinners Grace, that, like lepers outside
the camp, they may look to Jesus, crucified for them, and so obtain
eternal life! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH5:1-6; 10-31; REVELATION 22:1-7.

Jeremiah 5:1. Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and
see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof if you can find
a man, if there is any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth;
and I will pardon it I t was a very wonderful offer, on the part of
God, to forgive the inhabitants of the whole city of Jerusalem for the
sake of oneman! And it was all the more remarkable because He gave them
time to make a thorough search to see whether such a person could be
found–"if there is any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth."
Into what a horrible state of guilt must the Jewish capital have fallen
when there was not one man, even among the magistrates or the priests,
who cared for that which was just and true! May God prevent London and
England from becoming like Jerusalem and Judah! May truth and
righteousness flourish in our land!

2. And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely. Even
those who assumed an appearance of being religious and who said,
"Jehovah lives"–even they were false swearers. To what a terribly sad
state had the age come when its very religion was a lie and its
professedly holy things were thoroughly rotten!

3. OLORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth?If there is any truthful man
anywhere, God sees him. His eyes are upon him, He regards him with
attentive delight and He will take care of him with the utmost
vigilance. But what was the real character of these people? Listen.

3. You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed
them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their
faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Nothing could
make them act rightly! Whatever God did with them, they still persisted
in their iniquity.

4, 5. Therefore I said, Surely these arepoor; they are foolish: for
they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I
will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have
known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God. But Jeremiah
found no improvement among them–they were even worse than the poor and
ignorant, for he goes on to say–

5, 6. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the
evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities:
everyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces: because
their transgressions are many, and their backsliding are increased. Now
let us continue our reading at verse 10, where we shall see that both
the house of Israel and the house of Judah had turned aside from the
Lord their God.

10-12. Go up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end: take
away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S. For the house of
Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me,
says the LORD. They have lied about the LORD–They have made it out as
though God, Himself, were a liar! They have contradicted Him whose Word
is Truth itself. They have despised His threats, they have refused His
invitations, they have disbelieved His promises! "They have lied about
the Lord"–

12-14. And said, It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither
shall we see sword nor famine: and the Prophets shall become wind, and
the Word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. Therefore
thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I
will make My Words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it
shall devour them. It is a dreadful state of things when God turns from
pleading with men to threatening them! When He ceases to invite them to
return to Him and denounces them as transgressors against His Laws! At
such times He makes the words that come out of the mouths of His
Prophets to be like fire and men are utterly consumed by them as the
stubble in the field is destroyed by the devouring flames!

15-18. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house ofIsrael,
says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation
whose language you know not, neither understand what they say. Their
quiver is as an open sep-ulcher, they are all mighty men. And they
shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your
daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds:
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish
your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword. Nevertheless
in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. See
how, in the midst of His wrath, God remembers mercy? He utters a
terrible sentence concerning transgressors and then He pauses and says,
"Nevertheless"–listen to the gentle note of pity in that word–
"Nevertheless, in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end
of you." Still does He spare the guilty and in His long-suffering He
gives them further opportunities for repentance!

19. And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD
our God do all these things unto us? Then shall you answer them, Like
as you have forsaken Me, and serve strange gods in your land, so shall
you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. A man may often see
his sin in its punishment. Because they had served strange gods,
therefore the Lord sent them to serve strangers in a strange land!
Remember, O transgressor, that your sin will come home to you in some
form or other! If we sow the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind.
"Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Therefore let us beware
of scattering seeds of sin, for they will produce a terrible harvest of
woe!

20, 21. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,
saying, Hear now this, O foolish people and without understanding;
which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not. And, alas,
there are far too many of such people still around! They hear God's
Word, yet it never reaches their hearts. They see what God's hand is
doing all around them, yet they do not and they will not really see it
as they should.

22. Do you not fear Me? says the LORD. Willyou not tremble at My
Presence, which, have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a
perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof
toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can
they not pass over it?There is a little belt of sand which checks the
surging sea and says to it, "To here shall you come, but no further!
And to here shall your proud waves be stayed." Now, if sand, which is
so weak a thing, can, nevertheless, control the mighty ocean within
bounds, how readily ought you and I to be governed by God and held in
check even by the slightest intimations of His will?

23. But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are
revolted and gone. God restrains the sea, but nothing seems to be able
to restrain the sinfulness of man! Man breaks every barrier that should
keep him back–he is like a desolating torrent when he gives way to
iniquity!

24. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God,
that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: He
reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Though God gives
timely and suitable seasons for the growth and ingathering of the
corn–rain when it is needed to aid the springing up of the blade and
fine weather

for garnering the harvest–yet many men see not the hand of God at all
and they are, therefore, not moved by gratitude to bless His name and
fear Him to whom they are indebted for all that they receive. Oh, what
an ungrateful and blind creature is man!

25. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have
withheld good things from you. Does any unconverted man here know what
good things he has missed up to the present moment? Suppose you, my
Friend, were to be saved tonight? Can you even imagine what joy you
have lost through all the years of your past impenitence? Nothing can
ever give back to you the years that have gone, or impart to you in the
future, the joy you might have had, but which you have missed! And,
mark you, if there were no Hell to be endured, it is enough of Hell to
have missed Heaven! It will be grief enough to your heart, at the last,
to find that "your sins have withheld good things from you."

26. For among My people are found wicked men. ' 'Among My people," says
the Lord–in the very Church, itself, making as loud a profession as
the most genuine Christian! "Among My people are found wicked men."
Here, in this place, tonight, mingling with the godly in this
congregation, are found wicked men! The Lord have mercy upon them and
turn them from their evil ways!

26, They lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch
men. Beware of these man-catchers who entrap souls and ruin them
forever, ensnaring them by leading them into evil habits and
transgressions!

27, 28. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit:
therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat,
they shine: yes, they exceed the deeds of the wicked. The manifestly
wicked–

28, 29. They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they
prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not
visit for these things? Angels in Heaven, God says to you, "Shall I not
visit for these things?" And they answer, "Yes, Lord." Even to the
devils in Hell, He may put the same question. They are already smarting
under His wrath and He may say to them, "Shall I not visit for these
things?" And they also answer, "Yes." He puts the question to all
intelligent beings who know what is right and true, "Shall I not visit
for these things?" And they, with one consent, reply, "Yes, Lord, it
must be so!"

29-31. Says the LORD: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as
this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the
Prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means;
and My people love to have it so. I t is a most horrible thing that
God's own people should ever be willing that error should be preached
and that oppression and wrong-doing of any kind should be practiced!
You know that if God's own people did not tolerate false doctrine, it
would soon cease to be heard in many places. But it is when those who
profess to know God's Word endorse that which is contrary to the Truth
of God that error is kept in power in the land–"The Prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love
to have it so."

31. But what will you do in the end? That is a question which I would
propose in God's name to all here. Is your religion of such a character
that when you come to die, it will bear you up? Or have you taken up
with some form of falsehood which will not stand the test of your dying
hour? Are you living in neglect of God? Is your life such that He must
be angry with you, for He is angry with the wicked every day! Then take
home to yourself the question with which this chapter closes, "What
will you do in the end?" I am going to speak to you presently about
those who go forth with Christ, outside the camp, bearing His reproach,
so let us read a few verses about the glory which awaits them,
by-and-by. [Remember that the exposition was delivered before the
sermon was preached.–EOD]

Revelation 22:1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Infinite sovereignty bestows Grace. The River of Grace flows from the
Throne of God. It is the King who saves His people, yet the Atonement
is always connected with the sovereignty. "He showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of the Lamb."

2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, and yielded her
fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
the nations. God will enrich His Church by giving her a great variety
of good things–"twelve fruits." There shall also be a constant and
perpetual supply of them, for this tree "yielded her fruit every
month." And if there is anything of ill remaining anywhere in the world
in those halcyon days, God shall supply a cure for it–"The leaves of
the tree were for the healing of nations."

3. And there shall be no more curse. The curse shall be taken from the
soil on which it fell when God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground for
your sake." There shall be no curse upon man's body–there shall be
nothing but blessing. Blessing shall swallow up the cursing and God
shall be manifest everywhere.

3. But the throne of Godand of the Lamb shall be in it; andHis servants
shallserve Him. This is what we try to do, now, but we shall more fully
accomplish the blessed task in those brighter days which every
revolution of the wheel of time is hastening on.

4. And they shall see His face. Oh, that is glorious service–to serve
the Lord and to see His face at the same time! Communion and service
are always best when they are blended. There can be no fellowship
better than that which serves, and no service sweeter than that of
those who continue to see the face of their Master while they are
serving Him.

4. And His name shall be on their foreheads. There will be no mistaking
them–they shall bear on their foreheads the glorious name of God, just
as the High Priest of old had the words, "Holiness unto the Lord" upon
his brow.

5. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun. Even the sun is only worthy to be ranked with a
candle in comparison with the Light of God, Himself! John puts the two
things in one sentence. "They need no candle, neither light of the
sun"–

5-7. For the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign forever
and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and
the LORD God of the holy Prophets sent His angel to show unto His
servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly!
Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this Book

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly! Amen