The Guilt and the Cleansing

The Guilt and the Cleansing

(No. 3056)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1907.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 8, 1865.

"Purge me with hyssop, and/shall be clean: wash me, and/shall be whiter
than snow." Psalm 51:7.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon on the same text is #1937, Volume 32–A
MINGLED STRAIN.]

You know how David had sinned. To the sin of adultery he had added that
of murder. David felt like one who was shut out from God and was
unworthy to approach Him. He could not be content to remain in such a
condition. He longed to be reconciled to God and he remembered that he
had sometimes seen a man who had the leprosy put out of the city as an
unclean person, or he had seen one who had defiled himself by touching
a corpse shut out for a time from all communion with those who drew
near to worship God. "Ah," he thought, "that is just as I am–I am
unworthy to appear before God, for I am spiritually unclean."

But David had also seen the priest take a basin full of blood and dip
hyssop in it–and when the bunch of hyssop had soaked up the blood, he
had seen the priest sprinkle the unclean person therewith and then say
to him, "You are clean. You have admittance now to the worship of God.
You can mingle with the great congregation–I pronounce you clean
through the sprinkled blood." And David's faith, acting upon the
telescopic principle, looked far down the ages and he saw the great
atoning Sacrifice offered upon Calvary. And as he saw the Son of God
bleeding for sins which were not His own, he desired that the blood of
Christ might be applied to his conscience, feeling that it would take
away his defilement and admit him into the courts of God's House and
into the love of God's heart. And so he prayed this prayer, "Purge me
with hyssop, and I shall be clean."

He felt, too, that sin was a very great defilement–that he was black
and filthy–but he knew how he had often, when hunted like a wild goat
among the mountains, stooped down to a cooling brook and washed away
the dust and stain of travel in the running water and his face and
hands had been clean again. And so, bowing down before God he sees, in
the Sacrifice of Christ, a cleansing flood and his desire is expressed
in these words, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." The words
do not require any exposition–they require application. They do not
need to be explained–they need to be offered up to God in prayer by
broken-hearted suppliants!

There are two things I shall try to talk about, as God shall help me.
The one is that sin is a very foul thing–David says, "Purge me." "Wash
me." The other is that the cleansing must be very great–this process
of sprinkling hyssop and of washing must be very potent, for he says,
"I shall be clean." "I shall be whiter than snow."

I. First, then, a little about THE DEFILEMENT.

Sometimes it has been asked by unconverted men, "Why do you talk so
much about Atonement? Why could not God be generous and forgive sin
outright? Why should He require the shedding of blood and the endurance
of great suffering?" Sinner, if you had a right sense of sin you would
never ask such a question! In asking that question you speak upon the
supposition that God is such an One as yourself. But He hates sin. He
sees in sin such loathsomeness as you have never dreamed of! There is,
to Him, such horrible abomination, such a heinousness, such a
detestableness and uncleanness about sin that He could not pass it by.
If He did, He would bring upon His own Character the suspicion that He
was not holy. Had God passed by human sin without a substitutionary
Sacrifice, the seraphim would have Suspended their song, "Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord of Hosts." The judge who winks at sin is the abettor
of sin. If the supreme Ruler does not punish sin, He becomes Himself
the patron of all guilt and sin may take its rest beneath the shadow of
His wings! But it is

not so and, Sinner, God would have you know, and have angels know–and
have devils know that however lightly any of His creatures may think of
sin–and however foolishly simple man may toy with it–He knows what a
vile thing it is and He will have no patience with it! "He will by no
means spare the guilty."

I have heard it said by persons looking at the subject from another
point of view, that the preaching of full forgiveness through the
Savior's blood, to the very chief of sinners, is apt to make men think
lightly of sin–that, when we tell them–

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One, There is life at this
moment"–

for every soul that looks at Christ, we do, in effect, find a plaster
for men's wounded consciences which, when thus healed, will only aid
and abet them in going to sin again. How untrue this is! A moment's
reflection will show you. We tell the sinner that God never does
gratuitously pass by a single sin and that pardon never could have come
to one man of Adam's race had it not been procured by the tremendous
griefs of the Savior who stood in men's place. Our own belief is that
all the proclamations of the Law of God and all the threats of judgment
that were ever thundered forth by the most Boanerges-like of ministers,
never did show man so much the vileness of sin as the preaching of this
one great Truth of God–"The Lord has caused to meet on Him the
iniquity of us all. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His
stripes we are healed." That is the great condemnation of sin–the
Savior's death! Never is God dressed in such resplendent robes of
glorious holiness as when He is smiting sin as it is laid upon His
only-begotten Son! Having lifted it from sinners and laid it upon
Christ, He does not spare it because of the worthiness of the Person to
whom it is imputed. He smites and crushes it with His full force and
fury till the oppressed Victim cries out, "Behold, and see if there is
any sorrow like unto My sorrow which is done unto Me when Jehovah has
afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger."

Let us now turn this subject over a little–the guiltof sin. We think
that the Atonement sets forth that guilt most thoroughly–let this
Truth of God reach the ears of every unpardoned man and woman here. It
appears that there is nothing but blood that will ever wash your sin
away–the blood of Christ, the blood of God's dear Son–this cleanses
us from all sin, but nothing ease can. The blackness of your sin will
appear, then, if you recollect that all the creatures in the universe
could not have taken one of your sins away If all the holy angels in
Heaven had performed the best service that they could render, they
could not have taken away even one of your sins! If the great archangel
had left his station near the Throne of God's Glory and had been led
into a deep abyss of suffering, all that he could have done would not
have been a drop in the bucket compared with what would be required to
take away one single sin, for sin is such an enormous evil that no
created being could remove it! And even if all the saints on earth
could have ceased to sin and could unceasingly have praised God day and
night, yet there is not merit enough in all their songs to blot out one
single offense of one single sinner! No, let me go further. Could your
tears and the tears of all created intelligences, "no respite know."
Could the briny drops–

"Forever flow– All for sin could not atone."

No, I will go a step lower. The pains of the damned in Hell are no
atonement for sin! They suffer in consequenceof sin, but no atonement
has been made by them, for all they have suffered has not lessened what
they have to suffer. And when ten thousand times ten thousand years
shall have rolled over their poor accursed heads, they will be just as
far off having satisfied Divine Justice as they are now, for sin is
such a dreadful thing that even Tophet cannot burn it up, though "the
pile thereof is fire and much wood," and though "the breath of the
Lord, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it." Sin is cast into its
flames and men suffer there–but all the burnings of Gehenna never did
consume a single sin–and never could! Think of that! Earth, Heaven and
Hell could never take away a single sin from a single soul!

None but Christ could do it and even Christ Himself could not do it
unless He became a Man. I t was absolutely necessary that the
Substitute for human sin should be of the same nature as the offender.
Christ must therefore be born of Mary that He might become Man. Man
must suffer, for man had sinned. As in Adam all died, so in another
Adam must all be made alive if they were ever to be made alive at all.
They fell by one man, so they must rise by another Man, or else never
rise. But even the Man Christ Jesus, in association with the Godhead,
could not have taken away your sins unless He had died. I never read in
Scripture that all that He did in His life could take away sin. The
Savior's life is the robe of

righteousness with which His people are covered, but that is not the
bath in which they are washed. The whole life of Christ–all His
preaching upon the mountains, all His fasting in the wilderness, all
His travail in birth for souls, yes, all His bloody sweat, all His
scourging, all the shame and the spitting that He endured could not
have saved your soul, or take away one sin, for it is written, "Without
shedding of blood is no remission" of sin. Think of this, Sinner! To
take out that one sin of yours, if you had only one sin, the Infinite
must become an Infant and the Immortal must yoke Himself with
mortality! And then, in that position, and in that condition, He must
become "obedient unto death," or else not one sin on your part could
ever be removed from your soul!

But I want you to go with me further than this. Christ Himself, in His
death, could not have taken away one sin if it had not been for the
peculiar form of death which He endured. He had to be crucified and
then Paul could write, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the
Law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree. Christ must, therefore, hang upon a tree that He
might be cursed–and there is no man who ever lived who can tell what
is meant by that expression–that Christ was cursed. If all the mighty
orators who have moved the Christian Church at once to tears and to
joy, could stand here, I would defy them to weigh this burden of the
Lord, or estimate its tremendous meaning, "Christ was made a curse for
us." Christ a curse! Jehovah-Tsidkenu a curse! Jesus, the darling of
the Father, made a curse! He, who "counted it not robbery to be equal
with God," a curse! O angels, you may well marvel at this mystery, for
its astounding depths you cannot fathom! Yet so it is. "He has made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him."

And this leads me to mention what I think is surely the climax here,
that although Christ died the death of the Cross, even then He could
not have taken any sin away unless it had been expressly ordained and
settled that He therein did Himself take our sin as well as our
curse–and did therein stand before God, though in Himself personally
innocent–as if He had been a sinner and there suffer, "the Just for
the unjust, that He might bring us to God." There is that black, that
hideous, that damning, that everlasting soul-destroying thing called
sin! Jehovah-Jesus sees it on His people. He knows that they can never
be with Him where He is while that sin rests on them and He also knows
that there is no way by which they can be freed from it except by His
taking it. Can you picture the scene? He takes that terrible, that
cursed, that Hell-kindling, that Hell-feeding thing–that fuel of the
eternal Pit, that object of eternal Wrath–He takes that sin upon
Himself and now what does sin seem to say? It is imputed to Christ and
it seems to hide itself behind Christ–and it says to God, "O God, You
hate me, but You cannot reach me here. Here I am! I am Your enemy, but
there is between us an impassable barrier." Now, what will become of
sin? Hear this, you sinners who still have your sins resting upon you!
What will become of sin? God says, "Awake, O sword, against My
Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of
Hosts: smite the Shepherd." And the sword did smite Him, so that Christ
cried out, "All Your waves and Your billows are gone over Me." And He
uttered that dreadful shriek, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?" in unutterable depths of anguish because God had turned away His
face and smitten Him in His fierce anger, pounded Him as in a mortar,
trampled on Him as in the wine-press, crushed Him as in the
olive-press, broke Him between the upper and the nether millstones of
His awful wrath made Him to drink the whole cup dry and caused Him to
suffer–

"All that Incarnate God could bear, With strength enough, but none to
spare."

So you see that before even one sin can be pardoned, Christ must suffer
what that sin deserves, or something tantamount thereunto by which
Divine Holiness shall be cleared of all stain. Then what an awfully
evil thing sin must be! Yet you will see her standing at the corner of
the street, with a smiling face, trying to allure you. But shake your
head at her and say, "No, no! The Savior bled because of you!" And you
will see sin sparkling in the wine-cup, but look not on it when it is
red, and moves itself aright, but say unto it, "O Sin, I loathe you,
for you did open my Savior's veins and cause His precious blood to
flow!" It is easy to get black by sin, but remember that it is so hard
to get clean that only God's Omnipotence, in the Person of Christ,
could provide a Cleanser for your sins!

And now, Sinner, I say this word to you, yet some will go and mock it.
I cannot make you see the filthiness of sin. You think it a mere
trifling thing. God Almighty, you say, is very merciful, forgetting how
tremendously just He is. But though I cannot make you see sin, yet I
can leave this Truth with you–you will one day feel what sin means
unless you repent of it, for He that spared not His own Son will not
spare you! If the Judge upon the Throne of God smote Christ, who had no
sin of His own–smote Him so sternly for other men's sins–what will He
do with you? If He spared not His Beloved Son, what will He do with His
enemies? If the fire burned up Christ, how will it burn up you? O you
who are out of Christ–without God and without hope–what will you do?
What will you do when God shall put on His robe of thunder and come
forth to deal with you in His wrath? Beware, beware, you that forget
God, lest He tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you!
"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His
wrath is

kindled but a little."

I want you to take this prayer now. I have tried to bring out the
meaning of it. You are thus black, so pray to God, "Purge me with
blood: apply it by Your Holy Spirit, as the priest applied to the leper
the blood upon the bunch of hyssop. 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.'"

II. And now we shall have a few words upon THE POWER OF THE CLEANSING.

Whom can it cleanse?That is the first question. David answers it, for
he says, "It can cleanse me" He meant himself. I would not exaggerate
David's sin, but it was a very frightful one. What could be more
dreadful than for a man so highly-favored, who had so much of the Light
of God, so much communion with God and who stood so high as a light in
the midst of the nation to commit two crimes so accursed as those which
we must lay at his door–adultery and murder? While my blood runs chill
at the very thought of his having committed them, yet in my soul I am
glad that the Holy Spirit ever permitted such a black case to stand on
record! What an encouragement to seek pardon it has been to many who
have sinned as foully as David did! If you can bend your knees and pray
David's prayer, you shall get David's answer! "Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean." What if you have even defiled your neighbor's
wife? What if you have even struck your neighbor to his heart and left
him dead upon the earth? These two crimes will damn you to all eternity
unless you shall find pardon for them through the blood of Jesus–and
there is pardon for them there! If you look up to where that blood is
streaming from the hands and feet and side of Jesus. If you trust your
broken spirit in His hands, there is pardon for your crimson sins to be
had right now! Is there a harlot here? O poor fallen woman, I pray that
Christ may so forgive you that you will wash His feet with your tears
and wipe them with the hairs of your head! Is there a thief here? Men
say that you will never be reclaimed, but I pray the same Eternal Mercy
which saved the dying thief to save the living thief! Have I any here
who have cursed God to His face a thousand times? Return unto your God,
for He comes to meet you! Say to Him, "Father, I have sinned." Bury
your head in His bosom! Receive His kiss of forgiveness, for God
delights to pardon and to blot out transgression. Now that He has
smitten Christ, He will not smite any sinner who comes to Him through
Christ. His wrath is gone and He can now say, "Fury is not in Me."
Here, then, is a great wonder–that Christ's precious blood can cleanse
the vilest of the vile and you may now pray the prayer of the text,
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean."

From what can it cleanse? I dare not mention every kind of sin, but
there is no sin from which it cannot cleanse. What a precious Truth of
God that is, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin." During this last week I have been with Brother Offord conducting
Prayer Meetings. And he told, one evening, a tale which I made him tell
every evening afterwards, for I thought it so good. He said there was a
poor man living in Dartmoor who had been employed during the summer in
looking after horses, cows and so on, that were turned out on the moor.
He was a perfect heathen and never went to a place of worship, perhaps,
since he was a child. For him there was no Sabbath. After a time, he
grew very ill. He was over 60 years of age and, having nothing to live
upon, he went into the workhouse. While he was there, it pleased the
mysterious Spirit to make him uneasy as to his soul. He felt that he
must die and the old man had just enough Light of God to let him see
that if he did die, all was wrong with regard to a future state. He had
a little grandchild who lived in a neighboring town–Plymouth, I think
it was–and he asked leave for his grandchild to come in to see him
every day. As he was very ill and near death, that was allowed. She
came in and he said to her, "Read the Bible to me, Dear." She complied
and the more she read, the more wretched the old man grew. "Read
again," he said. The more she read, the more dark his mind seemed to be
with a sense of guilt.

At last, one day, she came to that passage in the first Epistle of
John–you know it–"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us
from all sin." "Is that there?" he asked. "Yes, Grandfather," replied
the little girl, "that is there." "Is that there?" "Oh, yes,
Grandfather, it is there." "Then read it again! Read it again!" She
again read, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin." "My Dear, are you sure it is just like that?" "Yes, Grandfather."
"Then read it again, Dear." "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
cleanses us from all sin." "Then," he said, "take my finger and put it
on that verse. Is it on that text, Child?–is my finger on that blessed
text?" "Yes, Grandfather." "Then," he said, "tell

them," (alluding to his friends) "that I die in the faith of
that!"–and he closed his eyes and doubtless entered into eternal rest.
And I will die in the faith of that Truth of God, by the Grace of
God–and so will you, I trust, Brothers and Sisters, die with your
finger on that text, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us
from all sin." Oh, it is sweet living and it is sweet dying if you can
rest there! Now we see, then, that whatever your sins may have been,
they are all included in those little words, "all sin"–therefore be of
good comfort, poor Sinner–if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are born
of God and His blood cleanses you from all sin!

Another question is, When will it cleanse? It will cleanse now. It will
cleanse at this moment! You remember that it is in the present tense,
"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses"–that is to say, just at
this particular moment, some three or four minutes to eight
o'clock–there is efficacy in the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse
now. You need not stop till you get home to pray. He who trusts Christ
is saved the moment that he trusts! His sin is blotted out the instant
that he accepts Christ as his Substitute and justifies God in smiting
sin in the Person of the Savior. There is efficacy in the blood now!
Perhaps there has strayed in here one who says, "It is too late." Who
told you that? Sir, it was the devil– and he was a liar from the
beginning! "Ah," says another, "but you do not know that I have sinned
against the Light of God and knowledge." My dear Friend, I do not know
how much you have sinned, but I do know that it is written, "He is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." And I
know that you have not gone beyond the uttermost, so I conclude that He
is able to save you–right now, just as you are, standing in yonder
crowd, or sitting here in these pews!

Once more–In what way is Christ able thus to cleanse? I answer–In a
perfect and complete way! David says, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow." We do not see snow very often, now, but when we did see it
last time, what a dazzling whiteness there was upon it! You took a
sheet of paper and laid it upon the snow and you were perfectly
surprised to see the clean, white paper turned yellow or brown in
comparison with the snow's dazzling whiteness! But David says, "I shall
be whiter than snow." You see, snow is only earthly whiteness, only
created whiteness, but the whiteness which Christ gives us when He
washes us in His blood, is Divine whiteness! The whiteness is the
righteousness of God Himself! Besides, snow soon melts and then where
is the whiteness? The snow and the whiteness run away together, but
there is no power in temptation, no power in sin which is able to stain
the whiteness which God gives to a pardoned sinner! And then snow,
especially here in this, our smoky city, soon gets brown or black–but
this righteousness never will–

"No age can change its glorious hue– The robe of Christ is always
new!"

"And is this perfect whiteness for me?" asks one. Yes, for you, if you
believe in Jesus! If you were as black as the devil himself, if you did
but believe in Jesus, you should be as white as an angel in a moment
because, by believing, you accept God's way of saving souls–and to do
this is the greatest thing that can be done! The Pharisees came to
Christ and they said, making a great fuss about their zeal, "Here is
our money. Here is our talent. Here is our time–'what shall we do,
that we might work the works of God?'" They opened their ears for His
answer and they thought He would say, "Give tithing of mint, anise and
cummin. Be careful to wash your hands every time you eat. Give your
money to the poor. Endow a row of almshouses. Become monks. Lacerate
your backs. Tear your flesh," and so on. But Jesus said nothing of the
kind! They wondered, I have no doubt, what He was going to say and they
seemed to be all on tiptoes. "Now He is going to tell us the greatest
work that a creature can do." "What shall we do that we might work the
works of God." He answers them thus–"This is the work of God, that you
believe on Him whom He has sent." Ah, then they went away, directly,
for no such simple thing, no such humbling thing as this would they do!
Perhaps there are some of you who say, "Why don't you preach morality?"
"Talk of morality!" Says Cowper–

"O You bleeding Lamb, The best morality is love of You"– and so,
indeed, it is! If I were to tell you that I was commissioned by God to
say that if you walked from here to John o'Groat's House in the cold
and wet, bare-footed and ate nothing on the way but dry bread and drank
nothing but water, you would inherit eternal life, you would all be on
the road tomorrow morning, if not tonight! But when I say just this,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved," what do you
do, then? Are you such a fool as to be damned because the way to be
saved is too simple? My anger waxes hot against you, that you should
play the fool with

your own soul and be damned because it is too easy! Think of a man who
has a disease that is killing him and he will not take the medicine
because it is too simple. He will not apply to the physician because
his terms are too cheap. He will not apply such-and-such a remedy
because it is too simple! Then when that man dies, who can pity him?
Did he not reject the remedy from the worst and emptiest of all
motives?

"Oh!" says one, "but, simple as it is, it seems too hard for me–I
cannot believe!" Sinner, what can you not believe? Can you not believe
that if Jesus Christ took human sin and was punished for it, God can be
just in forgiving it? Why, you can surely believe that! You say that
you cannot believe, that is, you cannot trustChrist! Why, poor Soul, I
should find it the hardest work in the world if I were to try notto
trust Him, for He is such a precious Savior, such a mighty Savior that
I can say with John Hyatt that I would not only trust Him with my one
soul, but with a million souls if I had them! Yet it may be that you do
not understand what believing is. It is not doinganything! It is
leaving off doing. It is just believing that Christ did it all–

"Nothing, either great or small,

Nothing, Sinner, no–

Jesus did it, did it all

Long, long ago!"

Christ is worthy of being trusted. Rely upon Him! God give you the
Grace to do so and you are saved! Remember what we said the other
night–there is all the difference in the world between the religion
that is made up of, "Do, do," and that other religion that is spelt
"D-o-n-e, done." He who has the religion of, "It is all done," loves
God out of gratitude and serves Him because he is saved. But he who has
the religion of "Do" is always a slave, never gets salvation, but
perishes in his doings–as they deserve to do who will look to
themselves instead of looking to Christ! May the Lord now command His
own blessing for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM51.

May God graciously grant to all of us the Grace which shall enable us
to enter into the penitential spirit which is so remarkable in this
Psalm!

Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God. David breaks the silence at last
and he does so by crying to God for mercy! Before he says anything
else, he appeals to this attribute of mercy which is so glorious a
trait in the Character of Jehovah. And he casts himself, all guilty as
he is, upon the absolute mercy of God. "Have mercy upon me, O God."

1. According to Your loving kindness: according unto the multitude of
Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. David talks as if the
Lord had said to him, "What is the measure of the mercy that you need?"
And he knows of nothing by which he can measure it except the boundless
and infinite loving kindness of the Lord. "O God!" he seems to say,
"deal out mercy to me according to the measure of Your own boundless
Nature. Let Your mercy be the only judge of the mercy that I need."

2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. The forgiveness of sin is not
enough for the true penitent. He needs the defilement which he has
incurred through sin to also be removed. If washing will not suffice,
he asks the Lord to try any other method that will accomplish the
desired end.

And, mark you, for each one of us there is a special vocation in which
we can follow Christ. I do not believe that all of you would be
following Christ if you were to attempt to preach. Even Christ never
attempted to do what His Father did not intend Him to do. A man once
asked Him to officiate as a lawyer or a judge, but He replied, "Who
made Me a judge or a divider over you?" One beauty of Christ's life was
that He kept to His calling and did not go beyond His commission. And
you will be wise if you do the same. If you are a servant, you can
follow Christ by ministering to the comfort of all who are in the
house. If you are a mother, you can follow Christ by training up your
children for Him. Every man has his own particular calling and every
Christian's calling should be especially for God. One is called to the
foreign mission field–let him go, in God's name, to the regions
beyond–let him not stay at home. Another is called to go from house to
house to visit the sick, to care for the poor and so on–Bible-woman,
City Missionary, I greet you in Christ's name and bid you keep to your
own work and never run away from it! One is called to teach an infant
class and another to care for the lads or the lasses–and all are
fitted for the work to which they are called by God. And to each one
the Master says, "Follow Me and keep to the work which My Father has
given you to do, even as I pleased not Myself by selecting My own work,
but did that which My Father had appointed for Me."

II. Now secondly, IN ORDER TO FOLLOW CHRIST IT WILL BE A WISE THING TO
LET A GREAT MANY

OTHER THINGS ALONE.

Peter wanted to know about John–"What shall this man do?" But Jesus
said, "What is that to you? You follow Me." From this answer of Christ,
we learn that we are not to be curious as to what God is going to do
with other people. I will tell you what thoughts have been passing
through the minds of some of us. One has said, "I am a poor humble
believer in Jesus. I have to struggle with poverty and need, yet God
graciously helps me and I can tell of many instances of His delivering
mercy." Well, dear Friend, God is greatly glorified by this testimony!
But when you go on to ask about those rich people who have everything
that heart can wish, "What is God going to do with them?" I can only
reply, "What is that to you? Follow you Christ and be not curious about
others." It is equally wrong if a rich man says, "There are those poor
people who are converted, but who cannot give much to the cause of God
and who need education to enable them to teach others–what will the
Lord do with them?" That is nothing to do with you, my Brother. You
have to follow the Lord, yourself, and to mind your own business!
Someone else says, "There's such-and-such a man–really, I can't see
any ability in him! He tried to preach the other day and I was glad
when he stopped, for it was very poor talk." I must confess that I have
sometimes felt like that when I have listened to a friend, but I have
said to myself, "What is that to me? God knows His own servants better
than we do and He knows where to place them, and how to use them to the
best advantage." Possibly, someone says, concerning a fine orator, "A
man who blazes away at that rate thinks too much of himself for God to
bless him." But Christ says, "What is that to you? You follow Me." God
has all sorts of stones in His Temple and some of them are of such a
strange shape that I am glad the placing of them is not left to me, for
I could not do it! I am thankful that God never sent me into the world
to make people perfect, but to use them as I find them. And I believe
that He also uses them as He finds them and gradually prepares them for
higher uses and for the place which He means them to occupy in His
Temple above. So do not say, "I am wondering what this man will do and
what that man will do, and what others around me will do"–but do what
you can for Christ and, as for others–leave them to the Master!

Further, this rule also applies to the character of others. How much
some people are concerned because a certain man is so purse proud! It
seems to be a sort of consolation to them to think how much better they
are than he is. Another is very frivolous and they frequently bring his
character into their conversation, apparently as a means of showing how
superior in sobriety they are. To everyone of that stamp, Christ seems
to me to say, "'What is that to you? You follow Me,' and then the
imperfections of your neighbor will not lie so near to your heart." I
have heard of a minister who, wishing to bring the Truth of God home to
the hearts and consciences of his people, said that he should like to
pass a Reform Act–that everybody should reform one person and then all
would be reformed. He meant that they should all reform themselves, but
one man said, "The minister is quite right! Everybody is to reform one
and I am going home to reform our Mary." That is often our idea–that
we must reform somebody else–but if we could bring ourselves to feel
that weeding our own garden, watering our own plants and fulfilling our
own vocation is what God requires of us, how much better it would be
for the entire Church of Christ!

I think the same rule applies, to a large extent, to remarks concerning
the general condition of Christian Churches. There are some of my
Brothers who assure me that these are the most terrible times through
which the world has ever passed. They cannot discover any ground for
congratulation–everything seems to wear to them a most gloomy aspect.
It may be so, yet I think I can see much reason for thankfulness as
well as much cause for sorrow and regret. We are constantly told that
this is a crisis, but I recollect that when I first came to London, 20
years ago, [1853] I was told that it was a crisis and it seems to have
been a crisis every few weeks since! Some people appear to imagine that
the future of the universe depends upon a meeting which they propose to
hold in a month or so–yet so far God has managed the affairs of the
universe without any help from them and He still reigns as universal
King and Lord notwithstanding all the efforts of the Pope, the Devil
and Essays and Reviews! I have come to the conclusion that instead of
trying to set all my Master's servants right at once, my first and most
important work is to follow my Lord–and I think, my Brothers, that it
will be wise for you to come to the same conclusion!

Suppose a man is set by his master to plow a field? His main business
is to go up and down that field until he has plowed it all. But suppose
that, instead of doing so, he gets into a comfortable corner under the
hedge and tells his fellow plowman that the whole system of farming
adopted by his master is a mistake, that this field is being sown with
the wrong sort of seed, that his master does not understand the best
manure to use and that if he were make me his manager, the whole farm
would pay much better that it now does? If his master comes while he is
talking like this and asks, "John, what have you been doing?" and he
replies, "I have been expounding to William a better plan of farming
than you have adopted," his master would probably say to him, "I shall
have to discharge you unless you give up these speculations. Get on
with your plowing at once and leave the management of the farm to me."
And I would say that to many Christians– Get on with your plowing! Get
to your own proper work! Teach that class in the Sunday school. Speak
to sinners about Christ whenever you can and try to win them for
Him–but leave those greater and deeper things to your Master. Go on
following Him with all your heart and serving Him with all your might.
He has His special servants whom He calls to great works of reform,
those whom He uses as His speaking trumpets to proclaim the Truth upon
the solemn matters with which the most of us have not so much to do.

The same rule applies to many theological questions. For instance, the
puzzling problem concerning the origin of evil. I am not so much
troubled about how evil came into the world as about helping to get it
out! Practical common-sense seems to say, "If there is a thief in the
house, let us catch him, or else get him out. And after that we will
try to find out how he got in." Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come into
the world to tell us how sin was brought here, but He came to show us
the only way in which sin can be taken out of the world–and that is by
the door which He opened in His own side. It is by His death that sin
is to be expelled from the earth!

Then there is that great and weighty question concerning the relation
between Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility. You may go to one
place of worship and you will hear about very little except Divine
Sovereignty. And you may go to another place and you will hear about
little except human responsibility. Or you may have heard me

preach about both Truths of God [See Sermon #77, Volume 2–DIVINE
SOVEREIGNTY; #194, Volume 4–HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY and #207, Volume
4–SOVEREIGN GRACE AND MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY.] without any

attempt to "reconcile" them, as I believe that they have never been at
enmity against one another and, therefore, there is no need for any
reconciliation! It has been a great temptation to many good men to get
to fighting about these Truths when they would have been better
employed in preaching the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ. I believe that
before the foundation of the world, God chose in Christ all those whom
He will eternally save. And I equally believe that whoever believes in
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be eternally saved, that salvation is all
of Grace and damnation is all of man's sin–that God will have the
glory of every soul that is saved–and that every lost soul will be
responsible for its own ruin.

I think my text also applies to those prophetical studies in which so
many seem to lose their way. I am not much encouraged to follow their
example when I see how the students of prophecy denounce each other and
disprove each other's theories. There are some prophetic Truths that
ought to be constantly preached, as for instance that the Lord will
surely come again and that there will be a Final Judgment when the
righteous shall have the full glories of Heaven, and

the wicked shall know the woes of Hell. But as to the dates of the
various events foretold in the prophecies that are still unfulfilled, I
think I have something better to do than to puzzle my brains over them.
"Oh!" say some, "but we now have the right theory." So others thought
20 years ago! But it did not prove to be right, nor did the theory that
was held a hundred years ago, or 200 years ago, or even more! Yet men
go on building up their card house of speculation and Time comes and
pushes it all over with his finger! I advise you to study Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John–and to preach the crucified Savior of which the
Gospels and Epistles will tell you! And when you get to the Revelation,
keep it in its proper place and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the
meaning of its mysteries. May God save this generation from the follies
of some of the generations that have preceded it–and may we be most of
all concerned about being born-again, about faith in Jesus, about
preaching His Gospel and following Him all the days of our life!

III. Now, lastly, THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY WE SHOULD CONFINE OUR
LIFE-WORK TO THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. And those reasons are these.

First, our powers are limited. Mine are, I know, and I should like to
use what powers I have in the work of following Christ in preaching the
Gospel and seeking to bring others to follow Him.

Next, our time is limited. We may all of us live but a very short time.
And at the longest it will be but a brief life. I have heard of a
minister who used to say that he would be thankful, in his last hours,
that he had been enabled, by God's Grace, to spend the greater part of
his time in inviting sinners to the Savior. And I should like to
live–and I should like you, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, to
live in such a way that when we come to die, we may be able to say,
"There, that is the kind of life I would like to have lived, now that I
am at the end of it." Suppose anyone should live to fight for the
Baptist denomination? When he dies, men would say, "Well, he was a
thorough Baptist and he fought well for his denomination." But that
would be a poor wreath to lay on his coffin! Would you care to have a
long Latin inscription on your tombstone recording the fact that you
were always hammering away at some important Doctrine? Or would you
wish to have it said, "There lies a man who charmed a few Christian
people with the deep spirituality of his teaching, but

that was all he did"?

I covet and I think I am right in doing so, the honor of having it said
of me, "That man lived to snatch sinners like brands from the burning."
I hope some of you will have it said when you are gone, "That woman
lived to bring her children to Christ. That girl lived to talk to those
she met with about the dear Savior who had been so precious to her that
she wished all others to enjoy the same blessing." Oh, that each one of
us might live to glorify God! To be like an arrow shot from Christ's
bow by His own pierced hand! To feel an impetus given to us to bear us
right on to the center of the target of the Glory of God, nothing
turning us aside, either to be thought good, or to be thought great, or
to be thought learned, or to desire to gain honor or esteem among our
fellow men–but just to glorify God by the conversion of sinners
through the Holy Spirit's blessing resting upon our labors!

Having but little strength, it is best for us to use it all in one
direction. Some men know too much to be powerful for anything. They are
like water that is spread over the meadows and not like the stream that
runs along in a narrow channel and, therefore, concentrates its energy
and renders real service to mankind. "This one thing I do," is a good
motto for any man, if he does that one thing well. And the one thing
that I will seek to do shall be to glorify God by following Jesus and
doing the work He has given me to do! For, my Brothers and Sisters,
suppose that you and I should make out the mystery of predestination?
Suppose we should become adepts at prophecy? Suppose we should become
exceedingly learned in a thousand subjects and yet should go down to
our graves without having ever glorified God? We should find no apology
for our neglect in all that we had done! Nobody will be lost, as far as
I know, through my getting a wrong theory of prophecy, but thousands
may be saved if I know the Truth concerning Christ and Him Crucified
and preach Him with all my might! I do not know that I shall love the
Savior any the less if I make a mistake about some of the great
mysteries of the Kingdom, but I do know that if I give myself up wholly
to His service and am the means of bringing others to do the same, I
shall have no regrets compared with those I should have felt if I had
neglected this all-important matter. I charge all of you, men and
women, in these evil days to keep close to Jesus! Follow Him with the
utmost care, reverence and love. Follow Him with intense ardor and with
all your heart, soul and strength–and make that the one thing for
which you live! Do not let anything divert you from the straight path
of obedience to your Lord, for to that you are called above everything
else! If men come to you talking about mental culture and modern
thought, stand firm to this–that you will follow Christ wherever He
leads you!

I wonder what God would have each of us here do? You may think I am
falling into Peter's error if I press this point upon you. I wonder
what there is for us to do as a Church? Do you think, dear Friends,
that we are doing all that we ought to do for this neighborhood? We
have heard about what our missionaries have been doing in foreign lands
and most of us have something to do with that. But I think the
principal point for us is–What is to be done in Newington? What is to
be done for Christ all around this region? You tract-distributors, are
you earnestly attending to your work? You Sunday school teachers, are
you faithfully doing your work for God? I will not bid you forget the
foreign field, but still, our first concern must be our own class, our
own immediate neighborhood. Many of you have come from different parts
of London–what are you doing for the district where you live? Every
Christian should first seek the good of those nearest to his own door.
Some of you have come from the country–what are you doing in your own
village? You say that you have been hearing a man of God preach the
Truth. That is quite right, but is that working for God? There is a
young man over there who professes to be a follower of Christ and who
often speaks at the debating club. Do you, My Friend, ever preach in
the street, or teach in the Sunday school? Then I am ashamed of you! Or
rather, are you not ashamed of yourself? There is a man over there who
is making money. I do not say that he is doing wrong, but My Friend,
have you ever consecrated to God the part which belongs to Him? If you
keep it for yourself, it will canker all the rest!

I might say to someone here, "You ought to be taking a Bible class for
young women." I might say to others, "You ought to be teaching in the
Sunday school. You come here twice on the Lord's day, but you have no
business to come here twice–you ought, once at least, to go to work
for Christ." I am pleased with some whose consciences prick them so
that they say, "Dear Pastor, do not imagine that we are forsaking you!
We would be glad to be here, but we have been down at the
lodging-houses, or down in Golden Lane, or over at Bethnal Green." That
is right and I am glad when I see somebody else in their seats! With
four or five thousand members in the Church, if they all come here at
each service, where are our converts to come from? Am I to cast the
Gospel net into the midst of the fish that are already caught? If you
stay away to let a sinner come here in your place and if you are,
yourself, seeking to bring sinners to Christ, you are doing two good
things! I want everyone of you to be living to do good to your fellow
men and seeking to save souls for the Glory of God! The enemies of the
faith are very busy and very earnest–and they seem to use up all their
material. The moment a man gets into the Church of Rome, there is sure
to be something found for him to do and I want to see all of you used
to the utmost of your power. You are free men and women and, therefore,
not to be controlled by me. I do not prescribe what you are to do, but
cannot you, as independent men and women, obey the sacred dictates of
the Spirit of God and each of you drop into your proper place?

Give up all speculating, I beseech you–give up reading books merely
for the sake of curiosity, and, in God's name, get to work for Him! The
graves are filling, our cemeteries are filling, and Hell is filling
too! Meanwhile, the dupes of Satan are compassing sea and land to do
all the mischief that they can. If you really are what you say you are,
the servant of Him who wept over Jerusalem–if you are bought with the
blood He shed on Calvary's Cross–I charge you to consecrate yourself,
this very hour, to that form of Christian work to which your Master
calls you and follow Him through evil report and good report! Follow
Him in the path of duty and let nothing turn you aside from your
life-work of glorifying God! May God bless you all, for Jesus' sake!
Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN21.

Verse 1. After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples
at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed He Himself.Jesus loved
to show Himself to His people. Of old, His delights were with the sons
of men. So now that He had risen from the dead, He was not ashamed to
visit His brethren and He did not disdain to make Himself known to
them–and He will still show Himself to us after a spiritual fashion,
if we sincerely desire to see Him.

2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of
His disciples. As John was the writer of this record, he did not put
his own name there, but merely mentioned "the sons of Zebedee."

3. Simon Peter said unto them, I am going fishing. They said unto him,
We will also go with you. Men who are in a right state of heart cannot
willingly be idle. So, if these Apostles cannot preach for a time, they
will go back to their old employment and seek to catch fish.

3. They went forth and immediately entered into a boat and that night
they caught nothing. Brothers and Sisters, without Christ's Presence,
that is what always happens–"they caught nothing." But notice what the
next verse says.

4. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. We must remember that a great
change had taken place in Him and that the disciples were at some
distance from the shore. They saw a person standing there, but they
were not sure who it was.

5. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have you any food?This is not
an exact translation of our Savior's words. He might too readily have
revealed His identity if He had spoken like that. His question was more
like a common fisherman's salutation, "Lads, have you any food?"

5. They answered Him, No. Jesus likes us to admit that we do not
possess anything of our own before He gives us the blessing He is
waiting to bestow. He lets us see that the table is bare before He
loads it with His bounty so that He may have all the praise and glory
for what He gives us.

6. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat,
and you shall find some. They cast therefore, and now they were not
able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. This is another proof of
the difference between Christ's Presence and Christ's absence.

7. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved (again John does not
mention his own name) said to Peter, It is the Lord."It is only He who
could spy out the fish and only He who could fill the net with them. It
is just His way of acting. 'It is the Lord.'" The eyes of true love are
very quick. Peter was not the first to recognize Jesus–John was–for
He loved Him most.

7. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer
garment (for he had taken it off) and did cast himself into the sea.He
had such reverence for his Master that he would not appear before Him
without a sufficient covering, yet he was in a hurry to get to Him.
Peter always was in a hurry–yet he was grandly impetuous as a rule. I
wish that some "slowpokes" had a little of his pace!

8, 9. And the other disciples came in the little boat, (for they were
not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits) dragging the net
with fishes. As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of
coals there and fish laid thereon, and bread.How that fire must have
reminded Peter of his denial of his Lord! He saw his Master by the
light of the charcoal fire–and that is how he saw Him on the night
when he denied Him.

10, 11. Jesus said unto them, Bring of the fish which you have now
caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great
fishes, an hundred and fifty-three: and for all there were so many, yet
was not the net broken. On the previous occasion when Peter's net was
miraculously filled by Christ, we read that the net broke. That was
Peter's own net, but this time I suppose it was not Peter's, but one
that he had borrowed and probably he had no time to mend it, so the
Master took care that it should not break. He always has His own ways
of working–and they always fit the circumstances of the case and show
His thoughtful care of His people.

12. Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. The Revised Version is more
correct–"Come and break your fast"–

"Come and have your breakfast." [See Sermon #2072, Volume 35–BREAKFAST
WITH JESUS.]

12-15. And none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are You? knowing
that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to
them, and likewise the fish. This is now the third time that Jesus
showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead.
So when they had dined. When they had broken their fast–but not until
then, for Christ does not talk to men when their hunger might make them
inattentive.

15. Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love Me more
than these?He had talked as if he did– "Although all shall be
offended, yet will not I."

15. He said unto Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.He was wise
in not measuring his love in comparison with that of his fellow
disciples, or in speaking of the quantity of it, but he affirmed that
even Christ knew that he did really love Him.

15-17. He said unto hiim, Feed My lambs. He said to him again the
second time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love Me? He said unto Him,
Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said unto Him, Feed My sheep.
He said unto Him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love
Me?Here is a lesson for all who would be pastors of Christ's flock. The
first necessity of a true pastor is love to Christ. The second
necessity of a true pastor is love to Christ. And the third necessity
of a true pastor is love to Christ. A man who does not love the Great
Shepherd cannot properly feed either His sheep or lambs. If his own
heart is not right towards the Divine Owner of the sheep, he cannot be
a true under-shepherd to Christ's flock.

17-19. Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Do
you love Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You. Jesus said unto him, Feed My sheep. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, When you were young, you gird yourself, and walked where
you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your
hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not.
This spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. Peter
was to stretch out his hands and be nailed to a cross as his Lord was.

19. And when He had spoken this, He said unto him, Follow Me. "That is
to be your rule, whether you feed My sheep or lambs, or whether you
stretch out your hands upon a cross and die as a martyr–'Follow Me.'"
That is also the rule for all of us who love the Lord. O Lord, help us
to obey it!

20-25. Then Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved
following; which also leaned on His breast at supper, and said, Lord,
which is he that betrays You? Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord,
and what shall this man do? Jesus said unto him, Ifl will that he tarry
till Icome, what is that to you? You follow Me. Then went this saying
abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus
said not unto him, he shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to you? This is the disciple which testifies of
these things, and wrote these things. And we know that His testimony is
true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which,
if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen