The Threshing Floor of Ornan

The Threshing Floor of Ornan

(No. 1808)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 9, 1884,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the
threshing floor of Oman, the Jebusite, he sacrificed there." 1
Chronicles 21:28.

"Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the
altar of the burnt offering for Israel."

1 Chronicles 22:1.

DAVID was, for many years, searching for a site for the great temple
which he purposed to build for Jehovah, his God. It had been ordained
that the sacrifices offered to the one God should be offered by all
Israel upon one altar, but as yet the Ark of the Lord was within
curtains, near David's palace, and the altar of burnt offering was
situated at Gibeon. Where should the one altar be erected? Where should
the Ark find its permanent dwelling place? David said, "Surely I will
not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will
not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until I find out a
place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." Yet for
a long time he received no indication as to the exact spot where the
Lord's altar should be reared, save only that he was told that the Lord
had chosen Zion and desired it for His habitation.

David watched, and waited, and prayed and, in due time, he received the
sign. God knew the spot and had consecrated it long before by His
appearance unto Abraham. The other Lord's Day, you remember, our text
was, "Jehovah-jireh," [Volume 30, No. 1803] and we then learned that in
the mountain the Lord would be seen. Upon Mount Moriah, on or near that
particular spot which had been named Jehovah-jireh, was the temple to
be built. Abraham had there unsheathed the knife to slay his son.
Wondrous type of the great Father offering up His Only-Begotten for the
sins of men! The scene of that grand transaction was to be the center
of worship for the chosen people. Where Abraham made the supreme
sacrifice, there should His descendants present their offerings! Or if
we look into the type and see God, there, presenting Jesus as a
Sacrifice for men–it was most suitable that man should forever
sacrifice to God where God made a sacrifice for him!

As yet it was not known to David that this was the chosen place. Now it
is indicated by memorable signs–the Angel of Justice stands above the
spot and his sword is sheathed there in answer to the cries of the
afflicted king, according to the long-suffering mercy of God. Then
David clearly saw the mind of the Lord and said, "This is the house of
Jehovah my God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for
Israel." Then He commenced at once with double speed to prepare the
materials for the temple. Though he knew that he might not build it,
since his hands had been stained with blood, yet he would do all that
he could to help his son, Solomon, in the great enterprise.

This problem which David had, at last, worked out by the good hand of
God upon him, is one which, in a deep spiritual sense, exercises our
hearts often. Where is it that man may meet with God? How is it that
man may speak with His offended Lord and be reconciled to Him? Is there
not some meeting place where the sinner may express his repentance and
where mercy may grant full absolution? Many are saying, "Oh, that I
knew where I might find Him!" Hearts touched by the Spirit of God are
still seeking after God if, haply, they may find Him. In what condition
and by what means may man be at peace with God and dread no longer the
sword of His justice?

For the heart of some of us, that problem takes a further shape–we
know where man may meet with God, but we need to know how the careless,
proud, rebellious heart shall be induced to come to God in His
appointed way. We know it is by the power of the Holy Spirit, through
the preaching of the Word of God, and the uplifting of the
all-attracting Cross–but we would like to know the state of mind which
will lead up to reconciliation–for now we often have to go

back to Him that sent us and cry–"Who has believed our report? And to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" We would lead men to God by
Jesus Christ if we could–we stretch out the finger and we point the
way–but they will not see! We stretch out both hands and entreat them
to come, but they will not yield!

Our heart breaks for the longing that it has to present every man in
Christ reconciled unto the living God–but how shall it be? How shall
the sinner come to God? We may get some light from the type before us
upon that question– where shall God's temple be? How shall men be
brought to it? We speak not, at this time, upon natural things, but
upon the things of the Spirit! Therefore let us pray the Holy Spirit to
enlighten and instruct us, for only by His aid shall spiritual Truth
enter our hearts! And, first, I remark that externally there was and
there is nothing in any place why it should be the peculiar meeting
place of God with man. But, secondly, that spiritually the place which
God did choose was most suitable, for in it we read the true ground
upon which God does actually meet with men in a way of Grace. When we
have lingered over these two subjects, we shall then have to exhort you
after this fashion–heartily let us use the place which God has set
apart to be our meeting place with Himself.

"O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our
Maker."

I. First, then, this Truth of God is believed by you, though, alas, not
by all men, that EXTERNALLY THERE IS NOTHING IN ANY PLACE WHY GOD
SHOULD THERE MEET WITH MEN. The Lord chose the threshing floor of Ornan
the Jebusite as the spot whereupon for many a day His holy worship
should be openly celebrated according to the outward ceremonies of a
typical dispensation. There the Temple was built and, for a thousand
years it stood as the center of Divine worship, so far as it was
visibly presented according to His ordinance. What that mountain may
yet become, we will not, at this time, consider. Prophets give us
bright hints of what shall yet be even on Mount Zion, which has so long
been trod under foot by the adversary.

But why was the threshing floor of Ornan to be the meeting place of
David with his God and the spot where prayer was to be heard? Certainly
it was a very simple, unadorned, unecclesiastical place. The threshing
floor of Ornan boasted no magnificence of size, or beauty of
construction. There was just the rock and, I suppose, a composition
spread upon it of hard clay or cement–that the feet of the oxen might
the better tread out the corn. That was all it was, yet when the Temple
with all its glory crowned the spot, God was never more conspicuously
present than on that bare, ungarnished threshing floor! "Meet God in a
barn?" cries one. Why not? Does that astonish you? God met Adam in a
garden, Abraham under a tree and Noah in an ark! There is less of man
in the open field than in the cathedral–and where there is least of
man, there is, at least, an opportunity to find most of God.

"Meet God on a threshing floor?" Why not? It may be a thousand times
more sacred than many a chancel, for there, simple minds are likely to
pay their homage in hearty truthfulness–while in the other, the
artificialness of the place may foster formality. God has met with man
in a dungeon, in a cave, in a whale's belly! When you have displayed
all your skill in architecture, can you secure any more of the Divine
Presence than the disciples had in the upper room? Can you get as much
of it? A tasteful building may be a way of showing your pious regard
for the Lord and, so far, it may be justifiable and acceptable–but
take care that you do not regard it as essential, or even important–or
you will make an idol of it! If the Church or Chapel is esteemed for
its form or tastefulness, it will become a mere exhibition of skill and
industry– and be no more sacred than the house of a greedy merchant,
or the palace of a profligate prince!

No chisel of mason, or hammer of carpenter can build a holy place!
Without either of these, a spot may be none other than the house of God
and the gate of Heaven! God chose a threshing floor for His audience
with David, just as, before, He had chosen to reveal Himself in a bush
to Moses. His Presence had been glorious on the sandy floor of the
wilderness, in the midst of the curtains of goats' hair and now it was
gracious among the sheaves and the oxen! How can He that fills all
things care about a house which is made with hands? You know how curtly
Stephen dismisses even Solomon's Temple with a word–"But Solomon built
Him a house. Howbeit, the Most High dwells not in temples made with
hands." What was that golden arch to the Infinite Majesty? Is not His
own Creation far more sublime? No arch can compare with the azure of
Heaven! No lamps can rival the sun and moon! No masonry can equal that
City whose 12 foundations are of precious stones!

Thus says the Lord by the Prophet–"Heaven is My throne and the earth
is My footstool: where is the house that you build unto Me? And where
is the place of My rest? For all those things have My hands made." Why,
then, should He not choose the hill whereon Ornan had made a hardened
floor whereon to thresh his corn? At any rate, that was the

Lord's meeting place with David, His audience chamber with the
suppliant king–as if to show that He cares not for tabernacles or
temples, but, by His own Presence, makes that place glorious wherein He
reveals Himself!

Moreover, it was a place of ordinary toil–not merely a floor, but a
threshing floor in present use–with oxen present and all the
implements of husbandry ready to hand. It was so ordinary and so
everyday a place, that none could have been more so–as if the Lord
would say to us, "I will meet you anywhere; I will be with you in the
house and in the field; I will speak with you when you till the ground,
when you thresh your corn, when you eat your bread." Every place is
holy where a holy heart is found! This ought to gladden the solitude of
godly men. God is with you, therefore be of good cheer! If you are on
board ship, or if you are wandering in the woods, or are banished to
the ends of the earth, or are shut out from the Sabbath assemblies of
God's house, yet–

"Wherever you seek Him, He is found, And everyplace is hallowed
ground." On the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, God did meet
with David. And in your workroom, at your bench, or upon your bed, or
behind the hedge, or in the corner of a railway carriage, the Lord will
hear you and commune with you!

My heart rejoices when I think that this was not only a very unadorned
place and one that was given up to common uses, but it was also in the
possession of a Jebusite. The Jebusites were among the nations doomed
for their iniquities! They were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the Covenants of promise–and this vast rock on which
the Temple is to stand, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth–belongs, at first, to one of the accursed seed of Canaan! Herein
the Lord shows that He is no respecter of persons–He would meet the
king, not on the land of an Israelite, but on the threshing floor of a
Jebusite! The Jews wrapped themselves up within themselves and said,
"The temple of the Lord; the temple of the Lord are we"–but the Lord
seemed to rebuke their national pride by saying, "And your Temple is
built upon the threshing floor of a Jebusite." If they would but have
remembered this, the Jews might, in our Lord's day, have been more
tolerant of the conversion of the Gentiles to God.

Moreover, Gentile blood flowed in the veins of that very king who
established their empire and who was now prostrate before his God,
interceding for Jerusalem! Remember Ruth and from where she came! She
put her trust under the wings of Jehovah, God of Israel, and became the
great-grandmother of David! David never seemed to forget that fact, for
his Psalms are full of far-reaching desires and good wishes for all the
peoples of the earth. Remember his words–"Let the whole earth be
filled with His Glory; Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David, the son of
Jesse, are ended." He looks back upon his birth, as the son of Jesse
and the great-grandson of Ruth–and a large heart beats within his
breast, desiring that Jehovah may be the God of the whole earth! Let
us, therefore, not consider our own peculiar nationality or condition,
or rank among men as if salvation came by natural descent. The blood of
fallen Adam is in the veins of every man and there is neither Jew nor
Gentile in Christ Jesus! If you happen to have been born of parents who
did not train you in the fear of God, yet do not despond, for as the
Temple was built upon the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, so
shall the great God dwell in your heart though your fathers knew Him
not! Say in your soul, "The Lord shall have a dwelling within my heart,
Jebusite though I am."

Once more, there was one matter in reference to Ornan's threshing floor
which it would be well to mention–before it could be used it had to be
bought with money. I frequently meet with impossibly spiritual people
who hate the mention of money in connection with the worship of God.
The clatter of a collection grates upon their sublime feelings! The
mention of money in connection with the worship of God is more dreadful
to them than it is to God, Himself, for He says, "You have bought Me no
sweet cane with money." And again, "None shall appear before Me empty."
To these pious persons, money saved and hoarded is abundantly
pleasant–their only objection is to giving it! In this they somewhat
differ from David, who paid 600 shekels of gold by weight to Ornan for
the place. Before he would offer a sacrifice, he paid down 50 shekels
of earnest money, for he said, "I will not offer burnt offerings unto
Jehovah, my God, of that which does cost me nothing." It is a very
curious thing, is it not–that one man should prove his spirituality by
his liberality, and another should pretend to do it by the reverse
method?

In connection with all true worship of God in the olden times, there
was always the offertory and frequently the sound of gold or silver.
Beneath the drawn sword of the Avenging Angel, money is given and land
is bought! The solemnity of the transaction is not marred thereby. Yet
there was no absolute need for money, since Ornan said, "Take it to
you, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I
give you the oxen, also, for burnt offerings, and the

threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I
give it all." David cannot endure to worship at another man's expense
and so he answers, "No; but I will verily buy it for the full price."
That religion which costs a man nothing is usually worth nothing. Under
the old dispensation, when men went up to worship God, it was with a
bullock or with a lamb–even the poorest brought at least a pair of
turtle doves, or two young pigeons. Do you think that this bringing of
cattle and birds into the sanctuary would spoil your spirituality? It
would do so if you had no spirituality– but if you have Grace in your
heart, your spirituality will choose just such a practical way in which
to show itself.

Some men's godliness is a thin, misty, ghostly, ghastly nothing! True
adoration is a thing of substance and of truth. The highest act of
adoration that was ever paid on earth was when that woman, whose name
is to be mentioned wherever this Gospel is preached, emptied upon the
head of our blessed Lord an alabaster box of precious nard. That gift
was known to have cost her at least 500 pence. It might have been sold
for much, but the costliness of the perfume entered into the very
essence of the act in the mind of the holy and grateful woman. The Lord
Jesus Christ, when He sat over against the treasury, not only read the
hearts of the givers, but He noticed the actual offering of the woman
who dropped into the box two mites that made a farthing–which were all
her living.

Some people would sneeringly allude to the two dirty half-farthings and
condemn the collection as spoiled by Alexander the coppersmith! But the
Lord is not so dainty as His servants, for He accepts the poor gifts of
His people. The rattle of the coins did not take away from the
heavenliness and the spirituality of that woman's worship. Far
otherwise! The top of Moriah, where God appoints that His Temple should
be built, saw the weighing out of gold and silver and was all the
fitter for Divine communion because of it!

From the whole, learn that it is not necessary for meeting with God
that you should be aided by persons arrayed in special robes–oxen will
do as well! Neither do you need a holy pavement–a threshing floor may
be holiness unto the Lord! Neither do you need stained glass and
vaulted roofs–the open air is better, still! Do not believe, for a
moment, that visible grandeur is necessary to the place where God will
meet with you. Go to your threshing floor and pray. Yes, while the
unmuzzled oxen take their rest, bow your knees and cry to the Lord of
the Harvest, and you shall meet with God there among the straw and the
grain! Fear not to draw near to God in these streets, but consecrate
all space to the Lord your God. Study simplicity and plainness of
worship. Remember how the Lord hated altars of brick and how He would
have His people build an altar of earth or of unhewn stone to keep His
worship simple and natural. "If you lift up your tools upon it, you
have polluted it."

II. But now, secondly, SPIRITUALLY THIS THRESHING FLOOR OF ORNAN WAS AN
ADMIRABLE TYPE

OF HOW GOD MEETS WITH MEN. I think, first, its extreme simplicity
enters into the essence of the type. So far from thinking that a
threshing floor was a bad place to pray in, if I look a little beneath
the surface, I think I can see the reason for it. Golden grain is being
separated from the straw by the corn drag–where did this corn come
from? From Him who opens His hands and supplies the need of every
living thing! Here, then, God meets me in the kindest way. Where can I
meet Him better than where He gives me food? Where can we better adore
than in the midst of His rich gifts by which He sustains our life? Why,
I think if I had gone out to gather manna every morning with my omer, I
would have kept on praising God every moment as I collected the
heavenly bread!

Never could a spot be more propitious than where the gracious Preserver
of Men spread out necessary food for His children! We cannot do better
than praise God when we are in our daily service earning our daily
bread, or gathered at our meals refreshing our bodies. At the gate of
God's almonry let us wait with worship! Where better a temple out of
which the Bread of Eternal Life shall come, than on a threshing floor
where the bread of the first life is to be gathered? The two things
seem to meet right well together. The temporal and the eternal join
hands in common consecration. That same prayer which teaches us to say,
"Our Father which are in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom
come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" leads us on to
cry, "Give us day by day our daily bread." There is a spiritual
significance in the type.

Would it be fanciful if, with a glance, I indicated that the threshing
floor is the exact type of affliction? Tribulation signifies threshing
in Latin–and the saints, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom.
One of the titles of the people of God is, "My threshing and the corn
of My floor." Now it is well known that the Lord is with His people in
their trials. When He smites with one hand, He holds with the other. In
the lion of trial we find the honey of communion! The temple of glory
is built on the threshing floor of affliction! I do not thrust forward
this observation as though it were of

great weight, but even if it were a fancy so far as the type is
concerned, the thought conveys a Truth of God in a pleasing manner.

But much more, this was the place where justice was most clearly
manifest. Above Ornan's threshing floor, in mid-air, stood a dreadful
apparition. A bright and terrible figure, a mysterious servant of God,
was beheld with a drawn sword in his hand, which he brandished over the
guilty city of Jerusalem. Deaths were constant. The people fell as
forest leaves in autumn. Then was it that David went out to meet with
his God and make confession before Him. Oh, Sirs, the problem with many
of you is that you have never yet beheld sin in its consequences, sin
in its guilt, sin in its doom! God is angry with the sinner every day!
Men do not fly to God till fear puts wings on their feet. Take away the
dread of the wrath to come and you have removed the great impulse which
makes men seek mercy! Men will not meet God till they see the angel
with the drawn sword! They will trifle and play with sin and neglect
the invitation of God–and even doubt His existence–till conviction
comes home to them and they are made to feel that sin is an exceedingly
evil and bitter thing.

Conviction of sin worked by the Spirit of God is more powerful than
argument! I had religiousness, but I never drew near to God in spirit
and in truth till I had seen and almost felt that drawn sword. To feel
that God must punish sin, that God will by no means clear the guilty,
is the best thing to drive a man Godward! To feel that sword, as it
were, with its point at your own breast, its edge ready to descend upon
your own being–this it is that makes the guilty plead for pardon in
real earnest! Men cry not, "Lord save me," till they are forced to add,
"or I perish!"

I could wish for certain preachers that I hear of, that they were made
more vividly to realize the terror of the Lord in their own souls. He
who has felt the hot drops of despair scald his throat, has had it
cleared for the utterance of Free Grace doctrine! If some men had more
fully felt that they were sinners, they would have made better saints.
David meets with God at the place where he sees that sin necessitates
deserved punishment and I do not believe that any man can be in
fellowship with God and be blind to that Truth! David saw the result of
his own sin and dreaded what would further come if, day after day, the
Lord should visit him and his people with judgment. He had grown proud
of the number of his subjects and had begun to act as the independent
potentate, instead of loyally remaining the viceroy of Jehovah! But now
he sees that he has been guilty of high treason and beholds the sword
at his neck. There he bows himself and there the God of all Grace meets
with him!

Perhaps the point which brought David out into complete brokenness of
heart was a clear view of the deadly effect of his sin upon others.
Seventy thousand people had already died of the black death through his
sin and still the pestilence raged–this brought the matter home to
David's heart. Every ungodly man ought to reflect upon the mischief
which he has caused others by his evil life–his wife has been hindered
from good things, his children have grown up without the fear of God,
his companions with whom he has worked and traded are hardened in their
wickedness by a sight of his wickedness–youthful minds have been
seduced from virtue by his vice, simple hearts have been led into
infidelity by his unbelief!

O men, you know not what you do! You let fly sparks, but what the
conflagration may have already been, none of you can tell! Carelessly,
O man, have you cast the thistledown to the wind–but what harvests of
the ill weed have come, and may yet come, from your single handful, who
can tell? Are there not some in Hell through your influence? Are not
others going there through your unhallowed teaching? O you whose hair
is snow-white with 60 or 70 winters, how much of ruin have you worked
already! How much more is still to come! This came home to David and he
stood aghast at it, crying to God about it and pleading as for his life
that the evil might be stopped!

Thus, you see, when the deadly fruit of sin is clearly perceived, then
the soul turns to God and the Lord meets that soul. The Cross is the
place of doom–under its shadow we admit our guilt and vividly see
it–and thus put ourselves into a truthful position where the God of
Truth will meet with us. God will meet with sinners when they come to
Him as sinners–but He will not listen to them while they refuse to see
their sin and will not believe in the vengeance due to it.

Furthermore, that place where God met with David and made it to be His
temple forever, was the place where sin was confessed. David's
confession is very frank and full. David says, "Is it not I? Even I it
is that have sinned." Go you, Sinner, to the Lord, with your own
personal confession! Shut yours eye to your fellow man, and say,
"Father, I have sinned." Cry with the publican, "God be merciful to me,
a sinner!" Make private personal confession, without comparing yourself
with your fellow men–and the Lord has promised to forgive you and all
those who confess their transgressions.

Set forth in your confession the aggravated nature of your sin. David
said, "I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed." He emphasizes
the evil, "I have done evil indeed." You will not find God in a way of
Grace till you begin to put an, "indeed," at the end of the evil which
you confess. Have you not sinned against light, sinned against
knowledge, sinned against love, sinned against warnings, sinned against
entreaties? Then go and tell the Lord that you have sinned with
grievous aggravations. "Father," said the prodigal, "I have sinned
against Heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your
son." Where such a confession as this is offered, God will meet the
sinner!

That confession also had within itself an admission of the justice of
the punishment, for he says, "Let Your hand be on me and on my father's
house." He does not quibble against the sword of the Lord and its
deadly blows. That sinner truly repents, who feels–

"My lips, with shame, my sins confess Against Your Law, against Your
Grace– Lord, should Your judgment grow severe, I am condemned, but You
are clear. Should sudden vengeance seize my breath, I must pronounce
You just in death. And if my soul were sent to Hell, Your righteous Law
approves it well." That repentance which questions the justice of God
in the punishment of sin is a repentance that needs to be repented of!
But when the penitent does, as it were, lays his head upon the block,
yields his neck to the rope and gives himself up to God, saying, "I
have sinned," then Mercy feels free to display herself! As long as a
man quarrels with Justice, he cannot be at peace with Mercy. We must
accept God as King, even though He bears not the sword in vain, or else
He will never put that sword into its sheath. Condemn yourself and God
will acquit you! Come penitently and submissively–and the just God
will be a Savior unto you.

But this is only the beginning of it, for Ornan's threshing floor was
then the place where sacrifice was offered and accepted. Hastily they
piled the altar of unhewn stones! They brought up to it ox after ox
that had been lately threshing out the corn–the blood flowed in
plentiful streams and the sacrifice was laid upon the wood. God meets
with men not where the blood of bulls and of goats flows in rivers, but
where the glorious Person of His own dear Incarnate Son is offered up
once and for all for guilty men. Calvary is the trysting-place between
God and penitents! Now we have reached it. This is the site of the
Temple–this is the Temple "not made with hands," once destroyed, but
built up in three days. The Person of the Lord Jesus, crucified and
raised from the dead, is that place where God meets guilty, confessing
man and shakes hands with him–yes, eats and drinks with him in peace
as was indicated by the peace offering which David presented– and the
Lord accepted! Oh, Souls, you need to see this, for if you do not see
it, you will never see God! A reconciled God is only to be seen through
the smoke of the great Sacrifice! The wounds of Christ are the windows
of the heart of God! If you can believe in Jesus Christ, by faith,
presenting Him, again, to God as your Sacrifice, then God will meet
with you.

But what did David see, before long, when he had laid his bullock on
the altar? A flame descended from the Lord! Like a flash of lightning
it came and the sacrifice was consumed–sure token that the Lord had
accepted it and was well-pleased because of it. Even thus has the Lord
accepted the one great Sacrifice for sin. When our Lord Jesus offered
Himself, He came under the judicial sentence and cried, "My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?" He was consumed with sorrow. "It
pleased the Lord to bruise Him." The Lord Himself put Him to grief and
made His soul a Sacrifice for sin. "He was made a curse for us, as it
is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." And now the Lord
has placed His Mercy Seat where the blood is sprinkled. He accepts us
in the Beloved whose Sacrifice He accepted long ago when He raised Him
from the dead! We have access by the blood of Jesus. Come, poor
trembling Sinner! Come with your eyes on Jesus crucified and you shall
be welcomed of the Lord!

As soon as David had seen the sacrifice, he had only one more sight to
see, and that made the threshing floor of Or-nan more glorious than
ever. He beheld the sign of peace. Above the threshing floor stood the
Angel of the Lord–but what a change! The drawn sword, which threatened
death to the city and to the nation, was suddenly thrust into its
scabbard and all was still! Not another soul in Jerusalem would die of
the pestilence! The sword of the Lord rested and was quiet. Oh, the joy
of David's spirit when he saw this! What a solemn but joyous melting of
heart he felt as his soul gushed forth in streams of gratitude. Learn
from this that the point of full communion with God, today, is the
place

where we see the angel with the sheathed sword. Oh, how sweet to know
that God has nothing against us! He has blotted out our transgressions
and will never remember them! He cannot smite us, for He has justified
us in His Son! How shall He destroy those for whom Christ has shed His
blood? He has a sword, but it is for those who are the adversaries of
our souls, even for the arch-fiend who would destroy us! Its edge is
not for us who are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus!

Many of you cannot draw near to God and I do not wonder at it because
you have not yet seen that sin was, in very deed, put away by the
Sacrifice of Jesus. You have seen the drawn sword and that is
something. But you have not yet beheld that sword sheathed, nor heard
the voice of Jehovah saying, "It is enough." The place where love meets
love, where your little tiny stream melts into the great river of God's
love, is where we sing, "O Lord, I will praise You; for though You were
angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comforted me."
Henceforth our life flows with the life of Jesus in one deep, peaceful
stream–onward and onward forever! You cannot rest in the Lord and live
in Him till you have seen the Sacrifice and its eternal results in
peace with God. May God bring you there! Atonement is the basis of
worship. The sacrifice of Christ and His righteousness, these are the
Jachin and the Boaz, the two sublime pillars of the Temple gate! God
communes with men where Jesus becomes man's rest. You cannot pass to
the Mercy Seat to speak with God except through the veil of the
Savior's body which was torn on our behalf!

Thus I think I have made you familiar with the threshing floor of
Ornan, the Jebusite, and showed you wherein it was felt to be a place
of Divine manifestation and a fit site for the permanent Temple of God.

III. And now I am going to close by HEARTILY EXHORTING YOU TO USE THIS
PLACE. Brothers and Sisters, if we have found out where to meet with
God, then let us meet with Him continually! Do you feel guilty this
morning? Is your sin heavy upon you? Do you see the sworded angel?
Well, you have to meet God even there! Therefore, gird up your loins!
"What garments shall I put on?" Put on sackcloth! I mean not literally,
but while there is any guilt upon you, come to God with lowliest
penitence, mourning for sin, as David and the elders that were with him
did. You may not come now in the silken garments of your luxury, nor in
the purple robes of your pride, nor in the mail of your hate. Put these
away from you and come with sackcloth and ashes, weeping for your
transgressions–and God will meet with you–for He will meet with
sinners who come to Him mourning because of their sin!

When you thus come, I want you to be quiet a while. Stand still!
Listen! Suppose you had been with those elders of Israel–what would
you have heard? You would have heard your shepherd-king pleading for
his flock–"These sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand be on me
and on my father's house." But now David is dead and buried and his
sep-ulcher is in his own land. But another King of the house of David,
one Jesus, is standing before the Lord pleading for mercy! While you
are clothed in the sackcloth of your repentance, you may hear Him cry,
"As for these sheep, let them live! You have awakened the sword against
Me, their Shepherd, therefore let My sheep be spared! Your hand has
been on Me, therefore let these go their way!" Do you hear that
intercession? Jesus is pleading in that fashion right now! He is "able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
lives to make intercession for them." Oh it is blessed to come to God
that way–with the sackcloth on your loins, but with the prevalent
intercession in your ears–confidently believing that Jesus makes
intercession for the transgressors and that He must and will so prevail
that by His knowledge He shall justify many!

Further, when you are coming to God, dear Hearts, always take care that
you come to the Sacrifice. We frequently miss communion with God, I am
persuaded, because we do not remember, enough, that precious blood
which gives us access to God! When you go upstairs to pray and you
cannot get near to God, then do not speak, but sit in silence and muse
upon the agony and bloody sweat, the Cross and passion of the Lord–and
all the circumstances of His wondrous death–and say, "He loved me and
gave Himself for me." There is a matchless power in the Lord's
Sacrifice to remove the stone out of the heart and pluck away
selfishness from the affections! Come, come, come, come to the
Sacrifice! There shall you dwell with God in sweet delight.

If you would come still nearer to God, do not forget the effect of the
Sacrifice and intercession in the sheathing of the sword of justice. I
have already set forth this Truth. Now I entreat you to turn it to
practical use by enjoying it–

"Oh how sweet to view the flowing Of my Savior's precious blood, With
Divine assurance knowing He has made my peace with God!"

Do not say, "I hope that the sword is sheathed"–it either is so, or it
is not so. Do not be content with questionable hopes, but aim at
certainties. Rest not till you obtain a solid assurance of your peace
with God! If Jesus Christ was punished for your sin, you cannot be
punished for it! If He bore your sin, He bore it and that is the end of
it! And if you have believed on Him, you have the full proof in the
Word of God that you are justified before God! What more do you need
than God's own Word for it? And that Word declares that you, as a
Believer, have eternal life and shall never perish, neither shall you
come into condemnation! Do not continue to mutter, "Well, I hope I may
yet realize it." Why these debates? It is so! "He that believes in Him
is justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by
the Law of Moses." God has turned away His wrath from the Believer and
the sword is sheathed! Therefore, being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And lastly, if this is so, and you realize it, go away and begin to
build a temple! You say, "Do you want us to build a new place of
worship?" No, I speak only of a spiritual house. Of course, build as
many Meeting Places as you can where people may come together to hear
the Word of God, for many are needed in this growing city, but the
peculiar sort of building which I urge upon you is of the heart and
spirit. Make your entire being a living temple for the living God!
Begin now–the foundations are laid–you would not dream of building on
any other, for, "other foundation can no man lay than that which is
laid." The Divine Moriah of Christ's Person, the sacred place of His
Sacrifice, is the mountain wherein God shall be seen! Jesus Christ has,
Himself, become the Foundation of your hope–go and build on Him!

Set up the pillars of earnest supplication and arch them over with
lofty praises. Remember, your God "inhabits the praises of Israel."
Build Him a house of praise, that He may dwell in you! Make your bodies
to be the temples of the Holy Spirit and your spirits the priests that
sacrifice therein! Spend all your days in acts of holiness, piety,
charity and love! Let your houses be churches dedicated to His fear and
love–and let their chambers be holy as the courts of the Tabernacle in
the wilderness. Let each morning and evening have its sacrifice. Be,
yourself a priest at the altar! Let the garments of your daily toil be
as vestments, your meals as sacraments–let your thoughts be Psalms,
your prayers incense and your breath praise!

Let every action be a priestly function, bringing glory unto the Lord
from this day forth and forever! He that died for you reckons you to be
dead to all things but Himself and so it becomes you to be! "You are
not your own, for you are bought with a price." And from this day
forward your motto should be–"Yours entirely! Yours entirely, O my
God, I am!" Begin to build this living temple and the Lord help you to
complete it to His praise. A poor edifice it will be when you have
finished it, compared with the Lord your God, but yet if you have
labored sincerely and earnestly, it will turn out to be compacted of
gold and silver and precious stones! And it will be found in the day of
Christ to honor and glory. So may the Lord bless you, Beloved, now and
forever. Amen and amen!