A CALL TO THE DEPRESSED.

NO. 3422

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

“Shake thyself from the dust, arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. — Isaiah 52:2.

I Shall not attempt at this time to decipher the history of the prophecy with which these words are associated. To the Hebrew nation they were big with counsel, bright with hope. Apart, how ever, from the connection in which it stands, this verse supplies a pointed practical address of sterling value, not to be limited by any private interpretation. Such a charge was well fitted for Israel of old; such counsel would be suitable to any church in a low condition; such advice is equally adapted to any Christian who has fallen into a low state, who is grovelling in the dust or among the ashes of Sodom. He is bidden to rise from the ground, and sit down upon a throne, for Christ hath made him a king and a priest. He is admonished to unbind all the cords that are upon him, that he may be free and happy in the Lord. To those of you, then, who have sunk into this distressing plight, my text contains a vigorous appeal. Let me try to interpret it. First of all, I notice the obvious fact: —

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I. Some Of God’s True People Are In A Very Sad Condition.

This is an important consideration to us just now. If just on the eve of battle a commander should discover that an epidemic has broken out among his troops, he will be extremely anxious that any available remedy shall be tried; for if the soldiers be sick, how can they be expected to behave well on the morrow? So it will sometimes happen that when we mean to serve our Master most, we are impeded-in Church action by the prevalence of some spiritual disease among the members of the Church. Perhaps I may be the means to-night of finding out the sick ones, and indicating their symptoms, and — who can tells — perhaps this very night ere you come to the Table the blessed remedy may be applied, and at the Table, while you are feasting with Christ, your souls may become perfectly restored.

Sometimes the children of God fall into a grievous state as to their faith, and their assurance of their own interest in Christ. They doubt whether they are Christians at all, whether their experience is genuine; whether they ever did really repent with a truly broken heart; whether they have received the precious faith — the faith of God’s elect. At such times they question all their graces, and they are not able, to get a satisfactory answer from one. At the same time these people of God may be so walking in outward consistency that everybody else thinks well of them. No one has any suspicion of them; but they suspect themselves grievously, and are tormented with the fear that they have a name to live, and are dead. I have known at such times that there will come at the back of all this some terrible doubts about the substantial verities of our faith. “What,” say you, “doubts about the Godhead — doubts about the Savior — doubts about the world to come? “Ay, yes, and to the true people of God. They will hate these doubts, and, in their hearts they will still believe all the great fundamental and cardinal truths; but yet will they be sore put to it, and be frequently distressed. Thoughtful minds, and men of reading, will have philosophical doubts buzzing about them like mosquitoes on a summer’s day. Others who are ignorant of philosophy, and, perhaps, it is well that they are, will be troubled with doubts of a rougher, coarser quality. Although they will not permit them so to dwell in their hearts, that they actually become unbelievers; yet they will be sore distressed with questions which they cannot answer, with enigmas which they know not how to solve, and with strange intertwistings of difficulty, which they know not how to untie. Perhaps, too, at such a time as this, there will be over all, and worse than all, a state of dreadful indifference creeping over them. They want to feel, but cannot feel. They would fain wring tears of blood out of their eyes; but not an ordinary tear will drop. They want to be cut to pieces; they would welcome the most poignant sorrow, but they can only say: —

“If ought is felt ’tis only pain
To feel I cannot feel.”

In such cases true believers are sure to resort to the extraordinary use of the means of grace. I mean they will add to their ordinary use something more. Have you never been in such a state that the Bible has become uninteresting, or the only passages of Scripture that seemed to strike you were dreadful threatenings concerning your awn coming doom, as you thought; not a word of comfort, not a syllable that makes glad your spirit? You have gone to prayer, and the heavens have seemed to be brass, and, worse still, your own heart seemed to be brass too, and you could not stir it up so anything like an intensity of desire. You did not wonder that you got no answer. You would have wondered if such a prayer as yours could be heard at all. Ah! and then you have gone up to the assembly of God’s people, where at other times, your heart has danced within you with holy joy. The minister was not changed; perhaps at first you thought he was; but on more attentive bearing, you noticed that there, was the same truth, and spoken in the same honest fashion, but you could not hear it as you once did. Clouds without rain and wells without water, all the ordinances seemed to be to you, and all the while, though you felt that you could not live like this, and said: —

“Dear Lord, and shall I ever live
At this poor dying rate?”

yet somehow or other you could not get out of it. You felt like one manacled, as though a nightmare were upon you. You were distressed. You could not stir to break the spell. Your spirit cried out as best it could, “O. wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” But the worst of it was that you did not feel that you were wretched enough, and you did not seem to cry enough. You were afraid you would sink into a terrible lethargy, which would forerun a spiritual death altogether.

Well, my dear friends, I should not wonder but you brought this very much upon yourselves. If you are, in this state to-night, I would exhort you to question whether this is not the result of what you have often been warned of. Perhaps you restrained prayer; perhaps in your happier days you grieved the Holy Spirit just when you were most joyful and happy in his love. It may be that you grew worldly, or, perhaps, a long succession of little things, none of which you noticed at the time, have contributed to swell the stream of your present distress. At any rate, whatever may be the cause of this state, I grieve that you are in it — grieve for my own sake, for your sake, for the sake of this Church, and for the sake of the world around you; for, my brethren, your testimony is, to a great extent, silenced, and your strength to bear it enervated. That face of yours, once so happy, was a living advertisement of the gospel. Your cheerful temperament under trial was an invitation to sinners to come and find a like joy. But now you are distressed, and you go mourning without the light of the sun. What can you do while you abide in such a state as that? You are like the bruised reed, out of which no music can come, or like the smoking flax that yields no light, but only a dolorous and nauseous smoke. I am grieved that it should be so, because were you now to attempt a verbal testimony for Christ, it would be feeble, and could not produce any great result. I remember when I began to teach in the Sunday School, and I was very young in grace then, having said to the class of boys whom I was teaching that Jesus Christ saved all those who believed in him. One of the boys asked me the question, “Teacher, do you believe in him?” I replied, “Yes, I hope I do.” And he enquired again, “But are you not sure?” I had to look to myself to know what answer I should give. The lad was not content with my repeating, “I hope so.” He would have it, “If you have believed in Christ, you are saved.” And I felt at that time that I could not teach until I could say, “I know that it is so.” I must be able to speak of what I had tasted and handled of the good Word of Life. So, brethren, you will find that you only perplex those whom you fain would persuade, if, by your doubts, you provoke them to say, “How can you expect us to believe at our mouth what you hesitate to seal with the witness of your own heart?” Unless the joy of the Lord is your strength, your soul will breathe a heavy atmosphere, and your utterance will be checked, if it is not choked by your misgivings. It is your confidence in Christ, and the peace it brings you, that helps you to speak to others as a true witness, because you are an experimental witness of the power of true religion. Your verbal testimony, I say, is weakened — I fear to a very great extent by the fog and vapor of your scruples, the scruples of a conscience that droops and flags. It is sad to think that while you are looking to your own soul in doubt whether you are saved or not, you have but little energy to spare in caring about the souls of others. Indeed, it is your first concern to see that you yourselves be saved. Till that all-important matter is resolved, your zeal for your neighbour’s welfare is ill-timed. Why busy yourselves to keep other men’s vineyards, while your own is left to be overgrown with weeds. And then, my dear friends, another melancholy aspect of this disability is, that all this while you are a detriment to your fellow-Christians. It is hard enough to fight with Satan; but it is all the harder work for the army to have to carry so many sick folk with it, for it involves much more toil. You, whose faith is all but gone, are like the baggage of an army; you hinder the rapid march of the brave soldiers of the Cross. How you depress others that are round about you! Once your voice was that of a brave hero, and you inspirited the troops; but now you pine, and cry, and make others hang their harps upon the willows, and learn the same doleful tune as your own. It is a sad thing. I do not condemn you, but I greatly pity you, and I also greatly pity the Church of God, and the cause of God, that it loses so much by you who ought, in gratitude to Christ, to do so much for him. Alas, that the people of God should be sunk into so mournful a condition!

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II. There Is A Special Expectation For Them.

This is pressed in all earnest. Hear, it, oh! ailing Christian! “Shake thyself from the dust, arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”

Now, my brother, content not thyself any longer with the state into which you have fallen. May the Holy Spirit come to you, and prompt you to strike. Do strive to get out of this condition into one of happiness and strength. Let me try to encourage you a little, and may God enable you to the utmost.

Remember, my dear friend suppose I am now talking to you alone I almost wish I could grip your hand, and look you close in the face — remember from whence you have fallen. Think of the peaceful hours you once enjoyed. Oh! thy stony heart was not always so cold!; the Word of God was not always so dry; the sanctuary was not always so unprofitable. You have wrestled and prevailed; you know you have. You have pleaded with God, and you have had the desire of your heart. You have communed with Christ, and your soul has been like the chariots of Aminadab; and can you bear to think of this, and not cry: —

“Return, O Holy Dove, return,
Sweet Messenger of rest!”?

Con you once have known these things and had the flavour of them in your mouth, without hungering and thirsting after them again! Think of them, and, perhaps, while you are musing upon the past, you may be helped by strong desires to return unto the place from which you went out.

Think of the danger you are in at present. Who are they that are most likely to fall into open sin? They are those who walk at a distance from Christ. If you live in close communion with Jesus, you shall so share of your Shepherd’s company that you shall hear the wolf’s howl, but you shall not be likely to feel his fang. I believe that when any professor falls into a filthy sin, it is not the beginning, but the culmination of a process and growth in iniquity. The open sin comes at the heels of a long succession of neglected prayers, of neglected worship of God in the family, a neglect of all communion with Christ, and negligence of every good thing. It is the fruit, not the seed of the evil, which poisons the air and excites the public odium. Beware, then, O professor! — thou who hast lost the light of God’s countenance — beware! beware, I pray thee, of that ill-condition of soul which is the prolific parent of all distempers.

Remember, too, that there is real cause for apprehension, lest you never were safe. It is just possible that those doubts you feel are no insinuations of Satan, but the suggestions of an enlightened conscience, or even the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Unless you are indeed a Christian, in all probability, unless you now turn to God, you will become the willing servitor of the Devil. Unless you now, with full purpose of heart, seek to Christ, perhaps the time has come when you will turn aside, like Balaam, for reward, or perish in the gainsaying of Korah. In some of those shapes in which wicked men have perished, you may despondingly or presumptuously rush on to destruction, and precipitate your final doom. Beware again, I say, O cold professor! — in God’s name, beware of trifling when you have so much reason to tremble.

My dear friend, I would put another thought into your mind which may help you. Perhaps you may think it is rather hampering than helping you, and tends more to depress than to deliver you. Remember how justly you might now be left to your own devices. You became carnally secure; you sinned away the light of God’s countenance, you grieved his Spirit. What if he were now to say, “He is given unto idols; let him alone”? What if from this day the Spirit should no more strive with you? What if, after all, though you have talked and preachy to others, you yourself should be a castaway? I do but mention this to arouse you, my brother, if you are insensible. You know how sometimes the surgeon fears last a man should sleep himself to death, and he will even drive pins into him, or make him walk and drag him about the chamber so as to arouse him. I would say anything, however sharp, if I might but wake you out of your lethargy. I know you would welcome it, and in due time thank me for the severity of the operation.

But I shall refrain, for methinks there is a better way than this. I want you to arise and shake yourself from the dust, my poor desponding friend; because if the worst be the worst, and you be no Christian, no true believer, yet “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as snow.” What if it has been all a mistake, and you never ought to have made a profession; yet Jesus Christ receiveth sinners: come to him now. I always find this the short way out of a long, dreary road, a quick relief for acute maladies, a ready antidote for doubts and fears. The Devil has been arguing with Christians for so many years, that he understands the case against them a great deal better than any of us do, and if we begin to controvert with him, we shall soon find that that old hater of man will soon get the mastery over us. But if we say, “I give it in, Satan — I give it in; I am a sinner — the chief of sinners: hast thou anything more to say? I give it all in, but I answer thee with this — ’The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin; I believe in him, and my sins are, therefore, washed away,’” — this is the high road to perfect comfort. I beg thee, my dear brother, to take it at once. Hear the word of the Spirit, which saith, “Repent, and do thy first works.” The very first works were repentance and faith, and so even begin again. Away to the fountain filled with blood! Away to the cross, and give that life-look once more! Away to the finished substitutionary sacrifice, and beneath the crimson canopy of the atonement hide thy guilty head. Oh! if thou doest this thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy glory as the noonday. The Lord help thee to do this now, and end the strife!

Let me also remind any Christian here, full of doubt, and with the bands of his neck tight upon him, that the blood has not changed its power to cleanse. If it cleansed you twenty years ago, it can cleanse you still. Remember, Jesus has not lost his power to save, nor has he changed his character for willingness to save to the uttermost

“Jesus sits on Zion’s hill,
He receives poor sinners still.”

Come, then, to the unchanging Savior. Thou who hast been treacherous — thou whose heart hast played the harlot to Christ — come back; for his love to thee has not waned. “Return unto me, O backsliding daughter, saith the Lord; for I am married unto thee.” The prodigal’s heart may change towards his Father, but his Father’s heart never changes towards him. Return, then, for mercy waits thee, and not judgment long ago. He is God, and not man, else thou hadst been consumed. Return to-night; for he will put away thy sin like a cloud, and thy transgressions like a thick cloud. Duly acknowledge thy wandering humble thyself because of thy treachery, and say, “My Father, thou shalt be the guide of my youth,” and thou shalt be restored perfectly, and thy former joy shall come back to thee.

Do I hear thee say, “But I am not fit to come back to Christ, and have joy in him at once”? Oh! sir, wert thou fit at first? No; and thou art not fit now, but come and welcome. Christ wants nought from thee. Come and trust him, and perfect salvation is thine. “Oh! but I cannot bear to look him in the face, for I have lived so long without walking in his counsel.” So much the more reason that thou shouldest not live another hour without him. I charge thee, my poor distressed brother — I charge thee, my troubled sister — by the love that Christ hath to thee, come to him now. Behold he stands at the door and knocks, if thou wilt open to him, though the house be not furnished, nor the table covered with a festival for him, as it should be, yet will he come in and sup with thee, even with thee, and thou shalt sup with him tonight. I see no reason, why the most desponding Christian here should not rejoice before he comes to the Table of the Lord. I do not know why the most barren among us should not be made fruitful. This I do know, that we are not straitened in him, we are not straitened in his willingness to bless, nor in his ability to comfort. Oh! believe in him, Christian; believe him. If thou be not a Christian, cast thyself at his feet. He will not let thee perish. Lay hold, if it be but of the skirts of his garment, and do, not let him go. Do thou even now shake thyself from the dust, and put on thy beautiful garments.

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III. A Glad Obligation Henceforth Rests Upon Them.

I must close with this remark. I know there are many of God’s people in the state I have been describing. I have the pain sometimes of trying to cheer them. I only hope that what I have said tonight nary be blessed of God to them. I fully anticipate it. Here, then, is the practical point. “When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren.”

Look out for those who are in the same state as you have been in, and be very tender over them. As you know their case, and have traversed that howling desert, you will be able to direct them. I have described your case, because I fear that I have sometimes been on the verge of it myself. I have found recovery by a fresh resort to the love of Christ, and a simple renewal of my trust in him. I can, therefore, enter into your feelings, and ask you to try the same remedy. After you have found the remedy to be a good one, it is but a small return, and certainly it is due from you, to tell others how you have been restored.

Some of you, beloved, have never been thus carried into captivity. I pray God you never may be. There is no necessity for it; but let me entreat you to walk very tenderly with your God. We serve a jealous God. He will wink at many an act of insubordination done by his enemies; the one tithe of which, if done by his favourite ones, his elect, his darlings, he will hide his face from them at once. “You only have I known of all the people of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.” Saith he not, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten”? A sinner may go on wantonly unrebuked; he may add house to house, and field to field, and he may think himself secure; God will deal with him in the next world. But the heir of heaven is under a discipline of divine love, and God will deal with him in this world; and among the chastisements of departure from Christ will be the loss of comfort, the loss of power to do good and I know not what other affliction added thereunto in his soul or in his circumstance. Dear brother, walk carefully, then; while you have light, walk in the light. Oh! prize the sweet love of Christ; never, never let it go. Say unto your soul, when Christ is in your heart, “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor wake my love until he please.” Introduce no rival’s love, and no worldliness; fall into no inconsistencies, but pray for grace that with holy jealousy you may still dwell in the light and find favor in his eyes.

And being thus kept near to God, and being strong in the power of his might, come and give back the strength to him from whom you, derived it. Stand up for Christ. I believe we are never happier than when we have plenty to do. Idleness is the mother of vexation. A Christian who does but little for Christ, unless he is prevented from doing it by suffering, will, as a rule, be a miserable man. You active Christians, active in body and nimble in spirit — you joyous Christians who walk in the light of God’s countenance — “work while it is day; for the night cometh when no man can work.” Let us pledge each other to-night that we will now seek the good of Zion. Members of this Church, none of you be recreant to the loyalty which you owe to Christ, in this the hour when we seek to press forward as one man in the battle of our Master. I would stand side by side with you to take my share; but what can one do if he abide alone? My brethren in office will not be backward, I know; but what can we do? Keep step with us, my brethren, in pleading for souls, in proclaiming the gospel, in seeking to win the many to the knowledge off the Savior; and the Lord will bless us, even our own God will bless us. Shaking ourselves from the dust, and breaking off the bands of our own sloth, God will come with his crown of benediction, and place it on his Church’s head; and when we get that coveted prize, let us hold it fast, that no man take it from us. Let us go forward as a Church in indissoluble union, and in unwearied service, until he shall come whose “Well done!” shall be our best reward.

The Lord bless you! and at his Table may the King’s sweet spikenard give forth a delightful perfume to every spiritual heart. Amen.

EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON.

PSALM 138.; ISAIAH 55:1-11; ROMANS 8:28-39.

PSALM 138.

Verse 1. I will praise thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

We cannot be too much occupied in the praises of God, He rightly deserves all the thanksgivings we can bring to him. It is the great engagement of heaven, Let us begin the music here. If we would be heavenly-minded on earth, we must be filled with the praises of God. Notice how David resolves that in praising God, it shall be done heartily. “I will praise thee with my whole heart.” If there is ever a thing that ought to be done enthusiastically, it is the praising of God. I cannot bear to hear God’s praises chirped out elegantly by polite people, as if they were ashamed of what they were doing, or to see a mass of pipes and bellows left by itself to blow the praises of God by machinery, instead of men and women praising him with their heart. Oh! how acceptable it must be to God to hear the heart speak. As for the tongue and voice, however sweet their sound, there is little in it. It is the heart. Soul-music its the soul of music. “I will praise thee with my whole heart.” See how bold the psalmist is about this. “Before the gods,” he says,” will I do it. Before the angels, before the kings and great ones that think themselves little gods. I will speak to the honor of Jehovah’s name. Ave, and in the idol temples, where their worshippers will be greatly wroth about it. I will praise thee with my whole heart. Before the gods will I present praise unto thee.”

2. I will worship toward thy holy temple.

That was God’s way of worship. In the old times there was the shrine of God there was the one altar which world render praise acceptable. David takes care to render praise to God in God’s way: and that is a great principle in worship — to avoid will-worship, and to endeavor to present sacrifices such as God prescribes. “I will worship toward the holy temple.”

What blessed reasons are here given for praising. “I will praise thee for the loving-kindness.” Is not that the grandest word in any language — loving-kindness? It is a compound of perfect sweets to make up yet more perfect sweetness — kindness and love mixed together. A marvellous blend? Loving-kindness gave the promise, but truth takes care to see it fulfilled. “So will I praise thy name.”

2. And praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word

That is, “thy word of promise — thy gospel which thou hast applied with power to my soul. Thou hast made it to seem lustrous beyond anything else I have ever seen of thee, O my God; therefore, will I magnify thee, because thou heart magnified thy word.”

2, 3. Above all thy name. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

Ah! this is what ties a man to praise. Answered prayer is sure to lead us to adoring gratitude. Notice that he says that God answered him, not by taking away his trouble, but by strengthening him With strength in his soul. You see it does not matter whether he takes away the load, or strengthens the back to bear it. And that is often the method by which he answers his servants’ cries. Not strength of body, perhaps he would have liked that, but strength of soul. And oh! when the soul in strong bodily weakness is but a very small drawback. Nay, the weakness of the body may Sometimes tend to illustrate the more the greatness of the power of God. Let us read that verse again, for come of us can set our seal to it. “In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”

4, 5. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.

David was a king, and kings would learn from him. You and I are not kings, but we may exercise a very beneficial influence in our own circle of acquaintances if we make bold to praise God when others can hear us. Let us speak well of his name. Wherever we go, let us have a good word for our Master. When others want to know what sort of God we serve, may they gather it from our holy joy and exultant confidence at all times.

6. Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; but the proud he knoweth afar off.

A glance of them is quite enough for him. He has no wish to know any more about them: he so hates them. Nothing can separate God from a soul so much as pride. It is that which causes the rejection of the gospel. Men will not have the humbling gospel — the sinners’ gospel. They are too fine, too good, too lofty, and so they do not want God, neither does his soul desire them. “For the proud he knoweth afar off.”

7. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me:

He was a king but he had his trouble. A throne is not a place wherein we can shelter ourselves from trial. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble” — like a man that is to rush through a fire — “yet I shall be safe,” saith he “for thou wilt revive me — give me new life. When it seems as if my life would be destroyed, thou wilt quicken me again.”

7, 8. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save. me. The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Note the confident spirit that runs through all this. There is a childlike trust in God, and there is a gladsome praise of God for what has been already received at his hands Oh! for more of this spirit — the spirit that makes music to the Lord for the past, and trusteth him for the present and the future.

Some more blessed words of comfort from: —

ISAIAH 55:1-11.

Verse 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Remark the wonderful condescension of God, that though the gifts of his grace are so precious that all the world could not buy them, yet he condescends to ask his creature to have those gifts. He stands, an it were, like one who has goods to sell, and he cries, “Ho! such and such a passer-by, turn hither: give ear in this way. Ho! everyone that thirsteth.” If, then, there is any soul that wants God, O soul, God desires you infinitely more than you desire him; and he invites you to come to him. Do not delay.

2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not?

Seeking happiness in a thousand ways with much toil and trouble, but with bitter disappointment.

2. Hearken diligently unto me, And eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

God invites his creature to listen to him. “Do,” saith he “but lend me thine ear a little. Do but hearken diligently to what I have to tell you.” Oh! should not God’s message of love command the attention of all mankind?

3. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.

Salvation does not come to men through the eye, but through the ear. Not what you see in the finery of the priest or the altar. That can do you no good. But listen to the gospel. It is by ear-gate that God’s mercy comes triumphant into the soul of man. “Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear and your soul shad live.”

3. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Here God will strike hands with the sinner and enter into a compact with him — a covenant of mercy and of grace, through Jesus Christ, the Savior.

4. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people,

To bear witness to men of what God is.

4. A leader and commander to the people.

For Christ loves the people, and he leads them rightly. He will lead them to glory.

5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that know not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

The promise is to Christ. To-day are these words fulfilled in our ears, for, in calling these British Isles to know Christ, God has given to the Lord Jesus a people that knew him not. What did our forefathers know of Jesus when he was here below? And yet in this land he has multitudes of hearts that love his name. Oh! that God would give this whole house full of souls to Christ to-night. What a casket it would make full of jewels! Oh! that the gracious Father would bestow it on his Son!

6-11. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: So shalt my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Therefore, we are not at all afraid about the success of the preaching of the gospel. Some will be saved to-night wherever Jesus Christ is preached. My dear unsaved hearer, will it be you? I pray it may be. May the Lord grant that this may be the last night of your unregeneracy, and be your spiritual birth-night. Some will be saved. Will you be of the number?

ROMANS 8:28-39.

Verses 28-30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to but purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

No breaks between the links of this chain. Foreknowledge is welded to the predestination: the predestination is infallibly linked with the calling, the calling with the justification, and the justification with the glorification. There is no hint given that there may be a flaw or break in the series. Get a hold of any one, and You possess the whole. The called man is the predestinated man. Let him be sure of that. And the justified man shall be a glorified man. Let him have no doubt whatever about that.

31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

A great many, but they are all nothing. If God be for us, all they that be against us are not worth mentioning: they are ciphers. If he were on their side, then the one would swell the ciphers to the full, but if he be not there, we may put them all into the scale and reckon them as less than nothing.

32, 33. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect.

Who, indeed.

33, 34. It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?

No one can, for: —

34. It is Christ that died,

And so put our sins to death.

34. Yea rather, that is risen again,

And so hath justified us.

34. Who is even at the right hand of God,

And so has carried us into heaven by his representing us there.

34. Who also maketh intercession for us.

Whose everlasting plea, therefore, silences all the accusations of the devil.

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril, or sword?

They have all been tried. In different ages of the world, the saints have undergone all these, and yet has never one of them been taken away from the love of Christ. They have not left off loving him, nor has he left off loving them. They have been tried, I say.

36. As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

What is the result of it?

37-39. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Or height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Halleluia! Blessed be his name.