The Value and Rank of the Believer

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, and I
have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your
life." Isaiah 43:4.

ONE of the worst mistakes we could make would be to judge our condition
before God by our outward circumstances. Know you not that the ungodly
have their portion in this life? They increase in riches; their eyes
stand out with fatness; they have more than heart can wish. They are
not in trouble like other men, "neither are they plagued like other
men," therefore pride compasses them about as a chain; violence covers
them as a garment. Poor creatures, they have no joy in the world to
come and, therefore, God permits them to have as much joy as they are
capable of in this world. They stand upon slippery slopes and fiery
billows rage below! How are they cast down as in a moment! They are
utterly consumed with terrors!

Envy them not and never dream that they are beloved of God because,
like the beast which is fattened for the slaughter, their manger is
full of corn and their rack is overflowing with fodder. As for the
people of God, they are often in great trials. David said of himself,
"All the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning"–as
if his heavenly Father whipped him as soon as he was up and kept him
under the rod all day long. Such chastisements are not unusual in the
family of Grace. Many of God's best servants are rich in faith, but
extremely poor in pocket. They are strong in the Lord, but sadly weak
in body. They are beloved of Heaven, but abhorred by the men of the
world.

Many of those whom the Lord loves most, endure sharp affliction, even
as the most precious metal is likely to see the most of the fire. Is it
not written, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten"? "What son is
there whom his father chastens not?" The Lord scourges every son whom
He receives. Therefore, never judge yourselves by outward
circumstances, for these are not the balances of the sanctuary and
cannot help you to a just conclusion as to your state before God!
Everything may seem to go against you and yet all things may be working
together for your good. Jacob was no good judge of his own matters when
he cried, "All these things are against me!" He needed Egypt and a
sight of Joseph to teach him the reason for the Lord's dealings.

Everything may be prospering with you openly and yet you may only be as
the victim which is covered with garlands when it is being led to be
slain at the altar. Everything may be grieving you and yet securing
your best prosperity. Our Heavenly Father has, I think, given us the
words of the text and the context by way of comfort in reference to His
outward dispensations. If God has a favored people whom He has
chosen–upon whom His distinguishing Grace has lighted to make them
great and honorable–you would suppose that the second verse of this
chapter would run thus, "You shall not go through the waters, for I
will be with you to keep you out of them; neither shall you pass
through the rivers, for I have bridged them on your behalf. You shall
never go through the fire and, therefore, you shall not be burned.
Neither shall there be any fear that the flame shall kindle upon you,
for it shall not come near you."

There is no such word of promise! It would be contrary to the whole
tenor of the Covenant, which always speaks of a rod and of the chosen
passing under it! On the contrary, it is here supposed and taken for
granted that we shall have to pass through fire and through water to
get to Heaven! And it is put thus–"When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be
burned." And then it comes in, in the language of our text, that
although the chosen are bound to go through fire and through water, yet
they are precious in God's sight. Oh true Believer, rest in perfect
peace! Although you have to pass through unnumbered afflictions, you
are honorable and safe, for the Lord will make any sacrifice so that He
may secure your safety!

He will give all mankind for you, for the word is in the plural, "I
will give men for you." And He will give all things, yes, whole nations
of men, for you, sooner than you shall perish, so determined is He that
you shall be saved! Come, then,

dear tried people of God–come to the text and see whether you can find
comfort in it! I know you will not be disappointed if the Holy Spirit,
the Comforter, shall apply it with power to your souls.

I. First, THE LORD COUNTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE PRECIOUS. The text was
spoken of a nation whom He had chosen and what is true of a nation is
true of each individual in that nation–at least, what is true of
Israel is true of every Israelite. If God has loved His Church, He has
loved every member of that Church. And if His Church is precious in His
sight, so is each individual Believer. Is not that a blessed word, "You
were precious in My sight"? In your own sight you appear to be
unworthy, insignificant and undeserving, but you are precious in the
sight of the Lord!

I know that when the Lord gives us a soul-humbling experience, we are
made to feel as if we were worthless worms, good-for-nothing,
incapable, ungrateful, undeserving, ill-deserving, Hell-deserving. "God
be merciful to me a sinner," is often the cry of the most sanctified
child of God. Yes, and the nearer he gets to the likeness of Christ,
the more he mourns over his deficiencies, till he is like David who had
spoken all through the 119th Psalm of his love to God's Word and his
delight in it–and yet concluded the Psalm by saying–"I have gone
astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant; for I do not forget Your
Commandments," as if that were the conclusion of the whole matter and
the utmost to which he had attained.

Only the ignorant and self-exalted will talk of their own goodness!
Saints mourn because they perceive sin remaining in them. The Divine
assurance of our text comes in as a blessed counterbalance to our lowly
sense of our own worthless-ness. The Lord, Himself, bears witness, "You
are precious in My sight." A child of God is often far other than
precious in the sight of others. Men of God are often as broken
pitchers in the sight of men, only fit to be thrown away. If they
become earnest, people say that they are almost out of their minds
through religion. If they are quiet, their critics remark that they are
moping and melancholy. Nothing you can do will altogether please men of
the world–they are sure to pick holes in your coat one way or
another–it is the way of them.

We are not precious in their sight, for they value glitter, pomp,
riches and the things which perish in the using. They can do without
Christians, so they think. Albeit that the people of God are the very
salt of the earth and the light of the world, yet they are utterly
despised and rejected. "The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine
gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands
of the potter!" Ah, well! Child of God, you are precious in God's sight
and that is infinitely more than being precious to princes! You live in
a little room, alone, and few know you. And those who do know you do
not think much of you, but the Lord says, "You are precious in My
sight." Poor old Mary, who has been bed-ridden for years, fears that
her friends think her a burden, but let her be comforted, for her best
Friend says, "You are precious in My sight."

John, the carter, with his large family, small wages and shabby
clothes, yet fears the Lord and walks with Him! And no man may despise
him, for to the Lord he is worth more than his weight in gold, and his
Redeemer says, "You are precious in My sight." A humble working man has
come to worship with the Lord's people, all unknown to fame. He has
only one talent, which he tries to use, and he is often downcast
because he can do so little for his Master. Yet the Lord says, "You are
precious in My sight." And is it not better to be precious in the sight
of God than it would be to be precious in the sight of kings and queens
and the great ones of the earth? May you not be well content, like your
Redeemer, to be unknown and despised, if the Lord does but say, "You
are precious in My sight"?

Do you know, sometimes, these words of our Lord quite take me aback? It
is so wonderful that I should be precious to the All-Glorious Jehovah!
I remember being startled, once, when that word in Solomon's Song came
with power to my soul–"You are all fair, My Love; there is no spot in
you." It shone so brightly on my soul that it seemed to give a
sunstroke to my faith and I almost whispered, "I cannot believe it."
Yet it is even so! We know how lovers will exaggerate and use
hyperboles in their expressions, but the Lord our God speaks not after
the fashion of foolish men! He is seriously in earnest in all that He
says.

But still, I was set wondering. Could it be that Jesus could speak thus
in His infinite love to me? I needed to remember the power of the
washing in His blood, and the power of His cleansing Spirit, and the
power of His justifying righteousness before I could understand how He
could say such a word to me. Do you not feel a bit staggered as you
hear this word, "You are precious in My sight"? Does not unbelief
prompt you to say, "Lord, that love-word is meant for somebody else! It
cannot mean me." And yet, if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you
are born of God, and it is to you that this text is spoken, "You are
precious in My sight."

How can this be? I think the text explains it. Read the first verse.
"But now thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and He that
formed you, O Israel." It is clear that we are precious to God because
we are His creation. The first creation was marred upon the wheel by
sin. It became a thing without honor and came under the curse. But he
that believes in Jesus has been created anew by the work of the Holy
Spirit. God has, in a very special sense, created him. He has gone
beyond mere creation–having first created the clay–He has formed it.
We are not half-made or ill-made in regeneration–we are formed as well
as created! The Lord who has given us spiritual existence is daily
giving us fashion and completeness. Having first given us life, He has
tutored that life. Having planted the tree, He has pruned it. He has
created us and formed us and, in both, He has worked according to the
counsel of His own will.

In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth, but afterwards the
first chapter of Genesis tells us how God fitted up the heavens and the
earth to be man's abode, forming what He had, before, created. The
earth, though long before created, was "without form and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep." In the moment of regeneration
we are like that newly-created world, but as by the Lord's power the
world was brought into light and order, so by Divine Grace the work of
sanctification goes on, stage by stage, till Christ is formed in us and
we are formed in His image!

Now, because the Lord has done a great work upon us equal to a creation
and a formation, therefore we are precious in His sight. How a man will
love a garden when he has laid it out himself! How he will admire the
fruit that comes from trees which he planted with his own hands, years
ago, and to which he has attended, himself! When we see our work in
anything, it has great value in our eyes. Work is a great creator of
preciousness. You know how a little piece of metal, which intrinsically
may be scarcely of any worth, can have such work put into it that from
half a farthing it can rise in worth to hundreds of pounds. Skilled,
artistic work makes the most common material to be as precious as a
gem.

Think, then, of what the Lord has worked upon us! We who seemed to be
intrinsically so worthless have the workmanship of God upon us, for,
"He that has worked us to the same thing is God," and by that
workmanship, that creation, that formation, He has made us to be very
precious things. From an old horseshoe the artificer may make a work of
rarest workmanship and thus has the Lord done with us! Though we were
like the common pebbles that lay in Jordan's brook, the Lord has of
those stones raised up children unto Abraham! Though we were but as the
dross that is cast out at the pit's mouth, to be left there as
worthless, yet the Lord has taken us up and transformed us into silver
and gold, that we may make a crown for Himself, world without end! Has
He not said "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show
forth My praise"? Oh, but this is sweetly clear and, surely, the
creative work of God upon us has made us to be precious in His sight!

But what does He say next? "I have formed you: I have redeemed you." I
wish I could sit down in that chair and let somebody else talk of this
most Divine subject. Here is the reason why we are precious in the
sight of the Lord–it is because we have been bought with precious
blood! Can we contemplate the sufferings and the death of Christ for us
without feeling that whatever He intended to accomplish by such
sufferings and death must be an objective most precious in His sight,
an objective that He will certainly achieve? Some seem to fancy that
Christ either had no purpose at all in His death, or else that He
played at haphazard, redeeming all men, or no men, as the chance might
happen to turn out. They say that He was a Substitute for all men, and
yet it is clear that many of them are lost–lost, though redeemed with
His precious blood!

I am loath to repeat the statement, though to them it does not appear
to be profane. I know this–I would not willingly give my life on a
speculation! I must be well convinced that a grand result will
certainly follow, or I will not even risk my life if I can help it. And
I cannot conceive the infinitely wise God, our Savior, as laying down
His life for any purpose but that which will most certainly be
accomplished! What He bought, He will have. What He purchased, He will
receive. If a thing is bought with your money, it becomes precious to
you! And though it may be a bad bargain, yet if it cost you dearly, you
do not intend to lose it. You value it too much to throw away that
which has cost you so dearly. And Christ has not thrown His blood away,
or wasted it, or spilt it on the ground for nothing! He shall see of
the travail of His soul!

Come back to a view of yourself. Have you believed in Jesus? Then you
know, by that mark, that He has redeemed you from among men! Do you
believe in Jesus? Then you are of His sheep! Christ laid down His life
for His sheep. Do you believe? Then you belong to His Church of which
we read, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." You see
the specialty of His redemption as coming to those of you who believe
in Him, therein you have the key of our text. Now

you can understand why you are precious–redemption makes you so. "I
bought that woman," says Christ. "Amidst my pangs and groans and death
I saw her–saw her through the tears that filled My eyes. I also saw
that man–My prescient love beheld him in his sin and beheld him as
redeemed from them when I bore his sin in My own body on the tree."

Oh, blessed thought! We must be precious to Him who has not only
created us, but has laid down His life for us, "the Just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God." The agony and bloody sweat
cause me to understand my Lord's saying, "You were precious in My
sight." In any case, the Spirit of God in our text assures us that such
is the fact–we are precious unto God–the jewels of His crown, the
apple of His eye, the portion of His possession.

Another blessing of Grace is mentioned in the chapter and that is that
God has called us. "I have called you by your name; you are Mine."
There is a work of Grace called Effectual Calling, by which the Spirit
of God calls out the redeemed from among men. They lie with the rest of
the fallen mass, knowing nothing about what Christ has done for
them–ignorant, indifferent, insensible. But Free Grace calls them out
from the mass of the dead! Many calls are given to them in the
Gospel–to them amongst others–indeed, to all men, for the call is to
all the sons of men. But they regard not the invitation. Even the elect
refuse the voice of the Lord till God, in Sovereign Grace, puts power
into the Word– and then it comes as a personal call–as it is written,
"I have called you by your name."

Then the summons of love comes effectually and they are made willing in
the day of the Lord's power. Being effectually called, they
spontaneously answer, "When You said, Seek you My face, my heart said
unto You, Your face, Lord, will I seek." Jesus knows when He called
you–do you remember it? Some of us remember it as distinctly as ever
the two sons of Zebedee recollected when Jesus called them as they were
fishing and promised to make them fishers of men. The day is as
distinct to us, now, as it must have been to Matthew when he sat at the
receipt of custom and Jesus said unto him, "Follow Me." We have been
called, as surely called as the child Samuel when he was upon his bed,
for our spiritual ears have heard the voice of God and our hearts have
answered, "Here am I; for You did call me."

Yes, Beloved, we know our calling, and it is well for us to be fully
assured that, therefore, we are precious in the sight of the Lord!
Effectual calling has made us so! He drew us and we followed. He called
us and we answered to the call. Therefore are we dear to the Father to
whom we have returned; dear to Jesus by whom we have been reconciled;
and dear to the Holy Spirit who has led us into this Grace. We have
been ever since kept by His rich Grace and preserved–and this, also,
has endeared us to the Lord. Those to whom we have shown great favor
are sure to be dear to us. We love those to whom we have acted
lovingly. The Lord has daily called us from one stage of Grace to
another. "Friend, come up higher," is a word that we hear from time to
time and we expect to hear it, soon, for the last time when He shall
bid us rise from earth to Heaven. Then will He say, "Friend, come up
higher, and we shall sit down in the highest room." He is always
calling and, by His Grace, enabling us to answer the call and,
therefore, we are precious in His sight.

But I do not care so much to think over the reasons as I wish to get
you to grip the truth, each one of you on his own account. Perhaps you
are downtrodden and despised, oppressed and depressed. Is your spirit
sinking within you? If so, rejoice that you are precious to God! You
are nobodies, so the world says, and so you think, but, for all that,
the Lord declares that you are precious in His sight! Now, will you try
to think that many and many a poor soul that as yet knows not Christ is
as precious in His sight as you are? They are His sheep, though not yet
the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands–

"Oh, come! Let us go and find them, In the paths of death they roam."

Let us go and hunt up the lost jewels which belong to Jesus! All the
treasures hid in a field have not yet been found. God has a chosen
people in the back slums, in the lowest haunts of vice–let us go forth
and seek them. "I have much people in this city," He said to Paul, and
I believe that He has much people hidden away in the holes and corners
of London! If poor fallen men and women are precious in His sight,
though they may be the offscouring of the streets–though they may be
thieves and drunks–let us never despise them! Let us never say, "Oh, I
cannot be associated with such!" "Precious in My sight," says Jesus, as
He points to them. "Precious in My sight," as He points to the poor
fallen woman. "Precious in My sight," as He mourns over the blasphemer.
Go after the degraded haunter of the street and never rest until you
have the happiness of bringing her to Him who bought you and bought her
with His most precious blood!

Brothers and Sisters, do you not think that if you are precious in
Christ's sight, then everything that has to do with Him ought to be
precious to you? Oh, how you should value Christ! Is He not your
All-in-All? Everything that is con-

nected with Him ought to become dear to you! Some of His people are
very disagreeable people and we cannot feel much joy in their company,
but we must still love them. Remember what Augustine said–he declared
that he loved every man that had "a liquid Christi"–anything of
Christ–about him. "Precious in My sight," says Christ of this Brother
and that! Let them, then, be precious to you and be it your joy to
cheer them and succor them for Jesus Christ's sake! Think once more. If
you are precious in God's sight, do not despise yourself so as to fall
into the follies and vanities which please other men. The ungodly may
do as they please, but here is a charming check for you–Jesus says of
you– "Precious in My sight."

Then, Lord, I cannot go into amusements which some others so much
delight in, for if You have said, "Precious in My sight," I cannot be
found among the giddy throng. If there is a sin that once was sweet to
me and I find it to be sweet to many of my friends, I will abstain from
it with all my heart and try to get them to do so, also, since You have
taught me that I am precious in Your sight. Nobility has its
obligations. We do not dream of seeing princes of the blood running in
the streets and playing with the children of the gutter. No, something
better is expected of them! If you are precious in God's sight, let the
obligations of discriminating Grace lie upon you! Maintain a holy
separation from the world! Heirs of Heaven, behave as such! Children of
the eternal King, remember the dignity of your condition and so walk
that you live not inconsistently with what the Lord has done for you!

That is our first point. In the Lord's esteem His people are precious.

II. Now, secondly, they being precious, He adds another epithet. "Since
you were precious in My sight, YOU HAVE BEEN HONORABLE." Is not that
another blessed word? Alas, how many of God's people were the reverse
of honorable before they knew the Lord! Many a dishonorable thing they
thought, said and did, and it is the dishonorable life that makes the
dishonorable man. They are honorable, now, but possibly they were
children of shame at their birth. Perhaps they lived in sins that are
not to be mentioned lest the cheek of modesty should crimson–and yet
they are now honorable! Perhaps they went so deep in sin that the laws
of their country convicted them of crime and yet–wonder of Divine
Grace–as soon as ever they are precious in God's sight they are
honorable!

All the past is blotted out! It shall be remembered against them no
more, forever! They take their rank among the honorable. I do not know
that I should care to be called, "right honorable," among men, for
there are too many "right honorable" whom we could not honor, patrons
of the race course, the betting ring and the prizefight. The name is a
falsehood when applied to debauched men whose only worth lies in their
money. But an, "honorable," that God calls honorable is honorable,
indeed! Although, previously, that poor soul may have been everything
that was dishonorable, Jesus says, "I have blotted out your sins like a
cloud, and like a thick cloud, your iniquities"–and that free pardon
puts him among the honorable!

Those who trust the Lord Jesus are honorable, "for unto you that
believe he is honor." The meanest child of God that lives is honorable,
for he belongs to a right worshipful family. An angel thinks it an
honor to wait upon him, bearing him up in his hands lest he dash his
foot against a stone. "Honorable!" Why, all Nature honors the elect of
God! The saints of God are the center of all Providential arrangements.
Next to God, for the Church all things exist, for so the Lord has put
it, "He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
children of Israel." "And all things work together for good to them
that love God." The stones of the field shall be in league with them
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with them.

The Lord gives a charge to all the powers of Nature that they are on
the side of the man who is on the side of God. Honorable? Why, we are
the most conspicuous objects of the Divine forethought from all
eternity–the most esteemed subjects of the guardian care of Heaven in
all time–and we shall be the most eminent objects of Divine love
throughout a whole eternity when the Lord shall make known, through the
Church, to wondering angels and principalities, the manifold wisdom of
God. "Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable."

Now let a poor child of God tell how he believes that he is honorable.
First, dear Brothers and Sisters, we are honorable by birth. Some are
proud because they have been born of fathers who have been made lords,
or elevated to the peerage in years gone by, thus by birth they are
honorable–that is the way people talk and it must be so among men as
long as there are classes and ranks. Descended from the King of kings,
each saint has a lineage before which the pedigrees of princes grow
stale and mean! He that is "begotten, again, unto a lively hope by the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." He that is born of the
Spirit of God–he into whom God has infused His own Nature–he is
honorable by birth

in a sense which none can dispute! Not by blood, but by the new birth
which comes from the Spirit of God, every child of God is made both
precious and honorable.

Next, we become honorable by our possessions, for men pay honor to
those who become millionaires and are immensely rich. Alas, the gains
may have been dishonorably made and then the honor that comes of wealth
is a stench in the nostrils of good men and angels. But, Brethren, our
wealth that we get by our new birth is such that we are richer than the
wealthiest of worldlings and must, in consequence, be honored! Paul
says, "All things are yours–whether things present, or things to come,
or life, or death. All are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is
God's." What an estate is that which belongs to every heir of Heaven,
for we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ," and thus we
become, indeed, honorable.

Yes, and the child of God becomes honorable in rank. To be a child of
God is to occupy a rank surpassing all human dignity. A child of God is
a "prince of the blood imperial," I was about to say, but, still better
than that, he is a prince of the Divine line–he is a child of God! No
dignity can excel this. One who is a child of God has a rank which he
could not wish to change though all the empires in the world should lie
at his feet to tempt him with their glories. Beloved, we, then, become
ennobled by our relationship. When a person is related to some great
man, he has a degree of honor reflected upon him. It may be by marriage
that the relationship is made, but it is all the same. Honor comes with
honorable connections. Since, then, we are related to God by the
spiritual birth and united to Christ by the spiritual marriage, we are
partakers of the honor of God our Savior!

Beloved, we are now the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when Jesus shall appear we shall be like He
is. Jesus is, "the first-born among many brethren" and we, as the
younger brethren, are all honorable! We are honorable by calling, for
He "has made us kings and priests unto our God." And these among men
are the most noteworthy of all callings. None more honorable than
priests and kings of God's own making! By Divine Grace we have become
honorable by character, for the Lord has sanctified His people and made
them to love that which is good and right and to forsake that which is
evil. By His Grace they shall no longer bear the fruits of the flesh,
but the fruits of the Spirit shall be in them and abound! And so, being
honorable according to God's calling, they shall become honorable by a
conversation agreeing therewith. Theirs is an honorable life–they live
for an honorable purpose, they are quickened by an honorable
spirit–they are wending their way through an honorable destiny on
earth to Glory and honor and immortality and life eternal! Therefore
may they rejoice that God has made them honorable.

The lesson to be learned from it is, do not let any child of God be
bashful, shamefaced and cowardly in the presence of men of the world.
It becomes us to be lowly and meek with all humbleness of mind, but not
with any kind of meanness, so that we would flatter the great, or
cringe before the powerful. We are greater than they, for they know not
the Lord and he is greatest who knows best the Great One. Why should we
fear their threats? Who are we that we should be afraid of a man that
must die? Who are we? We ought to feel ourselves to be too honorable to
fear the son of man who is crushed before the moth. "Princes did sit
and speak against me," said David, "yet I declined not from Your
statutes."

Who are princes? If they speak against God's children, they speak
against those who are more honorable than they! They revile their
superiors, compared with whom they are but mimic monarchs. Do not,
therefore, go about with the bearing of a menial, but with the air of a
king! I would like to walk as Abraham did among men. He was every inch
a king–the sons of Heth could do no other than respect the princely
Patriarch. Poor Jacob is often beggarly with his bargains and his
tricks–he cuts a sorry figure as compared with his majestic grandsire,
the Father of the Faithful. Abraham so trusts his God that he is the
independent man everywhere–he lends, but be does not borrow. He is the
head, but not the tail. When he stands before the king of Sodom, how
more than royal his bearing!

The king would give him the spoils which were, indeed, justly his
according to the laws of war, but he replies, "I will not take from a
thread even to a shoelace, lest you should say, I have made Abram
rich." The child of God is too honorable to take what other people
would take, if, thereby, he would stain his dignity. He may often feel
it unbecoming his dignity to do that which is lawful. He may,
therefore, choose a more excellent way. Lions will not be found
stealing little bits of meat like cats, or feeding on carrion like
dogs. It is not for eagles to hawk for flies and it is not for children
of God to stoop below the glorious level of their new birth! "Since you
were precious in My sight, you have been honorable." Oh, you right
honorable, take care to act honorably!

My Brothers, we do not wish to be called, "reverend," any one of us.
but God has called us honorable and it would be a fairer title by far
for us to wear! Reverence, surely, we can never claim–that belongs but
to One. But if He calls us, "honorable," I venture at least to call
you, "right honorable." O you right honorable, always live as right
honorable! Do not let us hear of you, that you spoke in a fit, for that
is to act like a spoiled child. One of God's honorable in a passion,
uttering burning words? This will never do! One of God's children
doubting God, afraid to trust his heavenly Father and trying, by little
tricks of trade to get on, instead of being honest? Is this a
conversation such as becomes the household of faith? Is not this the
reverse of what becomes us?

There is one that cannot forgive his brother–is that seemly? He will
not speak to his friend because of some small offense–is that
honorable? Some that profess to be God's children seem to think it a
poor business to be a Christian! Brothers and Sisters, think not so!
Have a high idea of what a Christian ought to be and then pray the
Spirit of God to raise you up to it! If you have been called a king in
the Eternal Covenant, I pray that you may be anointed to your office
with a horn of oil by the Divine Spirit and that about you there may be
regal qualities such as become a king–and a sacrificial life such as
befits a priest–for God has, indeed, made you to be a king and a
priest unto Him!

III. Be of good cheer, then, as you pass on to the third point. "Since
you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, AND I HAVE
LOVED YOU." Ever since the Lord has manifested Himself to you, He has
loved you manifestly. He has not only told you of His love in the
secret of your soul, but He has publicly acted in love to you. I desire
you to get that Truth of God fully into your mind. Ever since the time
of your conversion–yes, and long before that–ever since He loved you,
He has acted in love to you.

"Oh, but I have been very ill. I have been frequently bound to my couch
and my bed has been as painful to me as though it were of red-hot
iron." Yes, yes, but He has loved you and put you to that pain to
glorify Himself and to benefit you by preparing you to receive more of
His love and to manifest more of it to others! "Since you were precious
in My sight, I have loved you." Is there not a well of delight in that
assurance? "Oh, but I have been in the dark as to my Lord. I have not
walked in the light of His Countenance and He has hidden Himself from
me. I have had many questions in my conscience as to my condition
before Him."

Just so, because He loved you He would not let you be happy unless you
were in a right state before Him. And He has put you in the dark
because you were not fit to be in the light. He loved you and He saw
you to be a naughty child and, therefore, He resolved that you must be
put in the corner. The Father could not smile, for to be smiled on by
God when we are indulging in sin would be a curse to us–not a
blessing! Our Father loves us too much to let us be at ease in sin!
Will you try to remember that the Lord has loved you and kept on loving
you all these years and He has never thought an unloving thought
towards you? Nor has He done an unloving action towards you in any
shape or form. He has looked out for wise ways in which to exhibit His
love to you and He has done the very best for you. He has loved you
infinitely– His whole heart has been set upon you.

The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth to show
Himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards
Him. God loves you as much as if there were not another saint for Him
to love! Can you believe that? God puts the center of His love in
Christ and if there is any other center of His love, you are in it
because God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose
circumference is nowhere–and you and I and each one of us may thus be
the actual center of the love of God in Christ Jesus! Although there
are ten thousand times ten thousand of my Brothers and Sisters for God
to love, He does not mean to love me any the less. If I have so many to
love, I must cut my heart in pieces, but His great heart is so
capacious that He gives the whole of it to you and the whole of it to
me! Even as the Father loved the Son, so does He love His people.

Jesus says, "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Continue
you in My love." He is loving you now. The great Father is looking down
upon you with infinite delight and boundless affection at this instant.
Cheer up, then! Cheer up! Let nothing distress you. Did I hear you
complaining that you are all alone? Are your father and mother dead?
Perhaps years ago. The friends that you have been living with have been
taken away and you are friendless and alone. Some of us who have got to
middle life, or past it, see our dear old friends going to Heaven in
flocks! We sometimes wonder what we shall do for friends when we grow
old, ourselves, if we are spared! But that is a sweet word, "When your
father and your mother forsake you, then the Lord will take you up."
"Even to your old age I am yours and even to hoar

hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will
carry, and will deliver you." Is God thus loving us? Then it is enough!
Let us fall back upon that love and say, "Your love, my Lord, is all I
can desire."

Well, now, if God loves us so, shall we not love Him? Awake, O heart
that sleeps! Awake, awake, and give back to God all the love of which
you are capable! And shall we not love poor sinners for Christ's sake?
Shall we not try to love them to the Savior? The greatest converting
power in the world, next to the Holy Spirit, is the power of human
love. Men are never saved by scolding and an angry preacher is not
likely to bring many to a loving Savior. We must love sinners so much
that they must be saved, or we will break our hearts! When we get to
that, God will make us to be instruments in His hands of gathering in
His chosen. Let us turn into flames of love! Oh, to be transmuted!
Someone said, "What is Basil?" and then he dreamed that he saw a pillar
of light and heard a voice saying, "This is Basil."

Oh that we might be, in character, like burning and shining lights, and
may our light and fire be love to God and love to men! Surely He that
has made us precious in His sight and made us honorable, and loved us
so, deserves that, for His sake, we should go out and seek His lost
precious ones and bring in the dishonorable, that they may be
honorable! If it is written "I have loved you," let us feel the force
of heavenly love and serve the Lord with gladness!

Now, poor souls, you that have had no share in all this text–you may
have a share in it! Is there anyone here who is empty? Christ has come
on purpose to fill him! Is there a soul here that is hungry after God
and salvation? Then it is written, "He has filled the hungry with good
things, but the rich He has sent empty away." Sinners are scarce
articles. "Why," you say, "they are common as blackberries." Yes, those
that will say they are sinners, but those who truly feel that they are
sinners are very scarce! A sinner is a sacred thing–the Holy Spirit
has made him so. He that really knows his sinnership is redeemed by
Christ! He is the man that Christ came to save! He is the man to whom
infinite blessings belong! He is the man who may lift up his heart unto
God and rest in Jesus. You blind eyes, Christ came to open you! You
prisoners, Christ came to set you free! You good-for-nothings, you
ungodly ones, you sinful, you that have no good thing in yourselves,
but are despairing at the gates of Hell–"unto you is the Word of this
salvation sent." Christ has come to save such as you are!

For proud Pharisees, Christ has nothing! He came "not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." He came not to fill the
full–they want it not. Nor did He come to heal the healthy–they need
it not. But He comes to save you that have no good thing about
you–that have no good feelings within you. You that have no broken
hearts, He comes to give you broken hearts. You that have no faith, He
comes to give you faith. You that have no repentance, He comes to give
you repentance–

"True belief and true repentance, Every Grace that brings you nigh!
Without money,

Come to Jesus Christ and buy."

And oh, what a surprise it will be for you to hear His Spirit saying to
you, by-and-by, "Because I loved you before the world was–because I
had chosen you–because I had determined to save you, because you were
precious in My sight, therefore you are honorable, and I have loved
you. Come and rejoice in Me." God help you to do so, for Jesus' sake,
Amen.
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The Voice Behind Thee

A Sermon