NO. 488<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 23RD, 1862,<\/b><\/p>\n
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither.\u201d \u2014 Revelation 11:12.<\/i><\/p>\n
WHAT may be the particular meaning of the prophecy concerning the witnesses clothed in sackcloth, their death, their resurrection, and their subsequent entrance into heaven, I am unable to guess, nor am I clear that anybody else has hit upon it. Although I do not despise prophesyings, I entertain a very intense disgust of those who know nothing about them, and yet pretend to be their interpreters. I am free to confess that I have not the key to the book of Revelation, and dare not set up to be its expositor. This, however, is no great matter, for without my venturing upon that line of things, there are quite enough who are always spelling over the apocalyptic mysteries, and a sufficient number who believe that they can comprehend them. No branch of literature has more devoted students, and in none are men more successful in refuting one another, or more sure that they have established their own theories by demolishing those of others. It may be that there are some whose office it is to open sealed books; I know that it is mine to enforce the teachings of the unsealed volume. They may have a call to expound Daniel and Ezekiel; mine is of a much humbler, but, I think I may add, of a much more usefull character \u2014 not so much to foretel the fall of dynasties and the deaths of monarchs, as to deal with matters of vital godliness, and with eternal realities; with things that are plainly revealed, which certainly belong unto us and unto our children. I had rather be a sweet savor unto God in souls converted, than explain all the last vials; and I would prefer rather to comprehend the heights and depths of my Great Master\u2019s love, than to count the number of the beast, or calculate the duration of the little horn.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>Waiving, then, all attempts at explaining the text from its connection, I intend to use it as the voice of God to his people. We shall regard it, first of all, As A Summons Sent At The Appointed Hour To Every Saint. When the time shall come, fixed by irreversible decree, there shall be heard \u201ca great voice from heaven\u201d to every believer in Christ, saying, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
This should be to us \u2014 each one of us, if we be in Christ \u2014 the subject of very joyful anticipation<\/i>. Instead of decoding the time when we shall leave this world to go unto the Father, we should be thirsting and panting for the hour that shall set our soul at liberty, and give our spirit once for all its full discharge from an imprisonment of clay, and from the bondage of \u201cthe body of this death.\u201d To some Christians it will be not only joyful in anticipation, but it will be intensely delightful when it arrives. It is not true, as some suppose, that death when it really appears is necessarily a dreadful and hideous apparition.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeath no terrific foe appears;
An angel\u2019s lovely form he wears;
A friendly messenger he proves
To every soul whom Jesus loves.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I doubt not that many believers welcome the kind approach of death as the arrival of their best friend, and salute their last hour with intense delight. Witness the saint who has been for years bed-ridden. She is tossed to and fro as on a sea of pains, never resting at the anchorage of ease. She cries at night, \u201cWould God \u2019twere morning,\u201d and, when the light of day affects her eyes, she longs for the returning darkness, that she may slumber for a little season and forget her pains. Her bones have worn through her skin by long lying upon a bed made as soft as kindness can render it, but, alas! still too hard for so weak and tormented a body. Pangs have shot through her frame as arrows piercing the foe; every vein has been a river flushed with agony, and every nerve a telegraph conveying messages of pain to the spirit. Oh! how welcome shall it be when the voice shall cry from heaven, \u201cCome up hither!\u201d No more weakness now! the joyful spirit shall leave all bodily pain behind; the last tear shall be wiped away by the Divine Father\u2019s hand; and she that was a mass of disease and decay shall now become an embodiment of intense delight, full to the brim with satisfaction and infinite pleasure. In that land where Jehovah-Rophi reigns, the inhabitant shall no more say, \u201cI am sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
With what joy will the voice from heaven sound in the ear of the man wearied with labor! The world shall know of some of us when we die that we have not been idle, but we have served our God beyond our strength. He who finds the ministry an easy profession shall find the flames of hell no pleasant resting-place. Oh! there may be some of you in whose name I can speak now who have served God with throbbing brow, with palpitating heart, weary in your Master\u2019s service, but never weary of it \u2014 springing to the collar when the load was far too heavy for your single strength; ready to labor, or ready for fight, never putting off your armor; standing harnessed both by night and day, crying in your Master\u2019s name,<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there a foe before whose face
I fear his cause to plead?
Is there a lamb among his flock
I would refuse to feed?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The time must come when age shall take away the juvenile vigor which for a while carried off weariness, and you shall be constrained to lament, saying, \u201cWhen shall the shadows be drawn out? When shall I fulfill as a hireling my day?\u201d Happy for the minister, if in his pulpit he shall hear the voice, \u201cCome up hither,\u201d and shall<\/p>\n
\u201cHis body and his charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and live.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Happy for you, fellow-laborers in the kingdom of Christ, and in the tribulation of our common Savior, if just when you think you can do no more, your doing shall be ended and your reward shall come, and your Savior shall say, \u201cCome up hither,\u201d and you shall see the glory which you have believed in, upon the earth.<\/p>\n
Beloved, with what intense delight will death be hailed by the sons of abject poverty, I mean \u201csuch as are of the household of faith.\u201d From shivering in the winter\u2019s cold to the brightness of heaven; from the solitude and desolation of friendless penury to the communion and fellowship of saints made perfect; from the table scantily furnished with hard-earned bread; from famishing and want; from the poor emaciated bones; from the form ready to be bowed down with hunger; from the tongue that cleaveth to the mouth with thirst; from crying children and a wailing wife \u2014 wailing for bread, crying that they may be fed; oh, to be snatched away to heaven! Happy man, to have known so much of ill, that he may allow the better the sweetness of perfect bliss! Mansions of the blessed, how bright ye are in contrast with the cotter\u2019s hut! Streets of gold, how ye shall make the beggar forget the cold doorstep and dry arch! Paupers become princes; pensioners are peers; and peasants are kings and priests. O land of Goshen, how long before the sons of Israel receive thee for an heritage!<\/p>\n
And, dear friends, I think I ought to add to this \u2014 with what seraphic joy must this voice have been heard in the martyrs\u2019 ears. In caves and dens of the earth where the holy wander in their sheepskins and goatskins, what holy triumph must this message create! Blandina, tossed in the Roman amphitheatre on the horns of bulls, then seated in her red-hot iron chair, and mocked while she is there consumed before the leering multitude \u2014 oh! that voice, \u201cCome up hither!\u201d how it must have cheered her in those horrid agonies which she bore with more than masculine heroism. The many who have perished on the rack; surely they have seen visions like those of Stephen, who, when the stones were rattling about his ears, saw heaven open, and heard the heaven-sent voice, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d The multitude of our ancestors \u2014 our venerated predecessors, who carried the banner of the cross before our day, who stood on flaming faggots, and bore the flames with patience, with their bodies consumed by fire till their lower limbs were burnt away and life just remained within a mass of ashes; oh! the joy with which they would leap into their fiery chariots, drawn by horses of fire straight to heaven, at this omnipotent bidding of the Master, \u201cCome up hither!\u201d Though yours and mine may never be the lot of protracted sickness, or abject penury, or excessive labor, or the death of martyrdom, yet let us still believe that if we are true followers of Christ, whenever death shall come, or rather whenever life and immortality shall come, it shall be a joyous and blessed time for us. Seek not of the Most High to delay the time when he shall summon thee to the upper chamber, but listen every morning, listen with thy heart, desiring to hear it; listen for the royal message, which saith, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d An ancient singer sweetly words it \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cI said sometimes with tears,
Ah me! I\u2019m loth to die!
Lord silence thou these fears;
My life\u2019s with thee on high.
Sweet truth to me!
I shall arise,
And with these eyes
My Savior see.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat means my trembling heart,
To be thus shy of death?
My life and I shunt part,
Though I resign my breath.
Sweet truth to me!
I shall arise,
And with these eyes
My Savior see.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThen welcome harmless grave I
By thee to heaven I\u2019ll go:
My Lord, try death shall save
Me from the flames below.
Sweet truth to me!
I shall arise,
And with these eyes
My Savior see.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
To change the note a moment; while this should be the subject of joyous anticipation, it should also be the object of patient waiting.<\/i> God knows best when it is time for us to be bidden to \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure. I know that strong love will make us cry,<\/p>\n
\u201cO Lord of Hosts the waves divide,
And land us all in heaven;\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
but patience must have her perfect work. I would not wish to die while there is more work to do or more souls to win, more jewels to place in the Redeemers crown, more glory to be given to his name, and more service to be rendered to his Church. When George Whitfield lay sick and wanted to die, his negro nurse had prayed for him, and at last said, \u201cNo massa Whitfield there is no dying for you; there\u2019s many a poor negro yet to be brought to Christ and you must live;\u201d and live he did. You know when Melancthon lay very sick, Martin Luther said he should not die, and when his prayers began to work a cure, Melancthon said, \u201cLet me die Luther, let me die, leave off your prayers,\u201d and Luther said, \u201cNo, man, I want you; God\u2019s cause wants you, and you shall not die yet.\u201d And when Melancthon refused to eat, or to take the necessary medicine because he hoped to be soon with Christ, Luther threatened him with excommunication, if he did not there and then do as he was bidden, for he must not die. It is not for us by neglect of means, or wanton waste of strength, or profligate zeal, to cut short a life which may be useful. \u201cDo thyself no harm\u201d \u2014 the advice of the jailor to Paul \u2014 is not at all amiss here. God knows the pace at which time should travel, and how long the road of life should be. Why if it were possible for there to be regrets in heaven it might be that we did not live longer here to do more good. More sheaves! more jewels! But how, unless there be more work? True there is the other side of it \u2014 that living so briefly we sinned the less, and our temptations were the fewer; but oh, when we are fully serving God, and he is giving us to scatter precious seed, and reap a hundred-fold, we would even say it is well for us to abide where we are. An aged Christian, being asked whether she would rather die or live, said, she would rather it should be as God willed it. \u201cBut if you might have your choice, which would you have?\u201d \u201cIf I might have my choice,\u201d said she, \u201cI would ask God to choose for me, for I should be afraid to choose for myself.\u201d So be you ready to stay on this side Jordan, or to cross the flood, just as your Master wills it.<\/p>\n
And then another thought. As this \u201cCome up hither\u201d should excite joyous anticipation, tempered by patient waiting, so, beloved, it should always be to us a matter of absolute certainty as to its ultimate reception<\/i>. I would not give sleep to my eyes nor slumber to my eyelids, if this were a subject of doubt personally as to whether at the last I should stand among the justified. I can understand a man being in doubt about his interest in Christ, but I cannot understand, and I hope I never may, a man\u2019s resting content to be in these doubts. This is a matter about which we want absolute certainty. Young man yonder! are you sure that the King will say to you, \u201cCome up hither?\u201d If thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ with all thy heart, that call from the divine throne is as certain to meet thine ear as that other cry, \u201cDust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.\u201d He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. No \u201cifs\u201d or \u201cperadventures\u201d ought to be tolerated in our hearts. I know they will come up like ill weeds but it is ours to pull them up, heap them together, and set them on fire, as farmers do with the twitch in their furrows. The devil loves us to cast lots at the foot of the cross; but Christ would have us look unto him and find a sure salvation. No, no, we are not to be put off with guess-work here. My friend, can you be easy without infallible certainty? What! you may die to-night, and be lost for ever, and can you be happy? No, man, I charge thee by the living God, shut not those eyes until thou art sure that thou shalt open them either in earth or heaven! But if there be this fear that thou mayest lift up those eyes in hell, how darest thou sleep? \u2014 How darest thou sleep, lest thy bed become thy tomb, and thy chamber become the door of Tophet to thee? Oh, brethren in Christ, let us seek to have the seal of God upon us, the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness with our spirits, that we are born of God, that so we may both joyfully hope and quietly wait to see the salvation of God when the Master saith, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
I will add this fourth thought, and then proceed. I think very often, besides joyfully anticipating, patiently waiting, and being confidently assured of it, the Christian should delightfully contemplate it<\/i>. Ah! let every Christian now say, \u201cI shall soon be dying: time swiftly speeds away. There is my chamber. I can paint the picture now. They have told me that I am very sick, but they have kept back from me till I asked them plainly the news that I must very speedily die, but now I know it and feel the sentence of death in myself. Now for the joyous secret. In a few minutes I shall know more of heaven than an assembly of divines could teach me. But how solemn is the scene around me: they are moving quietly about the room; very silently they are catching each word that is uttered \u2014 treasuring it up.\u201d Now saint, thou must play the man! say a good word for thy Master! Stir the deeps of Jordan with thy bold march of victory, O soldier of Jesus! Make its shelving shores resound with thy melodies now! Show them how a Christian can die; now let thy full heart overflow with flood-tides of glory; drink thou up the bitter cup, and say, \u201cDeath is swallowed up in victory.\u201d \u201cBut, how is this that my mind seems fluttering as though about to take wing \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this absorbs me quite \u2014
Steals my senses \u2014 shuts my sight \u2014
Drowns my spirit \u2014 draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I cannot see; the film is forming on my eyes; it is the death-glaze. A clammy sweat is on my brow, it is the dew from the damps of death. The kind hand of affection has just wiped my forehead, and I fain would speak, but there is a throttle in my throat which keeps down the word; this is the monitor to me of the silence of the tomb. I will strive against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoyful, with all the strength I have,
My quivering lips shall sing,
Where is thy victory, boasting grave?
And where\u2019s the monster\u2019s sting?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The effort has exhausted the dying one. He must fall back again. They stay him up with pillows. Ah! ye may prop him up with pillows, but he has a better arm beneath him than that of the fondest friend. Now doth his beloved \u201cStay him with apples, and comfort him with flagons,\u201d for while sick to death, he is also \u201csick of loves.\u201d His Master makes his bed in his sickness. His left hand is under his head, and his right hand doth embrace him. The Husband of that chosen soul is now answering the prayer for his presence which it delighted to offer, saying, \u201cAbide with me.\u201d Now is the poet\u2019s prayer granted to the letter \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cHold then thy cross before my closing eyes!
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies!
Heaven\u2019s morning breaks and earth\u2019s vain shadows flee;
In life and death, O Lord, abide with me!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
We cannot paint the last moment; the rapture, the dawning glory, the first young flash of the beatific glory, we must leave all that. On earth the scene is far more sombre, and yet not sad \u2014 see you yon friends: \u2014 they gather round, they say, \u201cYes he is gone: how placidly he slept! I could not tell the moment when he passed from sleep to death. He is gone.\u201d They weep, but not with hopeless sorrow, for they mourn the body, not the soul. The setting is broken, but the gem is safe. The fold is removed, but the sheep is feeding on the hill-tops of glory. Worms devour the clay, but angels welcome the soul. There is general mourning wherever the good man was known; but mark ye, it is only in the dark that this sorrow reigns. Up there in the light, what are they doing? That spirit as it left the body found not itself alone. Angels had come to meet it. Angelic spirits clasped the disembodied spirit in their arms, and bore it upward beyond the stars \u2014 beyond where the angel in the sun keeps his everlasting watch \u2014 beyond, beyond this lower sky immeasurable leagues. Lo! the pearly gates appear, and the azure light of the city of bejewelled walls! The spirit asketh, \u201cIs yonder city the fair Jerusalem where they need no candle, neither light of the sun?\u201d He shall see for himself ere long, for they are nearing the Holy City, and it is time for the cherub-bearers to begin their choral. The music breaks from the lips of those that convey the saint to heaven \u2014 \u201cLift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, that the blood-bought of the King of glory may come in!\u201d The gates of pearl give way, the joyous crowds of heaven welcome their brother to the seats of immortality. But what next, I cannot tell. In vain the fancy strives to paint it. Jesus is there, and the spirit is in his arms. In heaven, where should it be but in the arms of Jesus? O joy! joy! joy! Boundless oceans of joy! I shall see Him; I shall see Him. These eyes shall see Him, and not another.<\/p>\n
\u201cShall see him wear that very flesh
On which my guilt was laid;
His love intense, his merit fresh,
As though but newly slain.
These eyes shall see him in that day
The man that died for me!
And all my rising bones shall say,
Lord, who is like to thee.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I could lose myself while talking upon this subject, for my heart is all on fire. I wander, but I cannot help it; my heart is far away upon the hills with my Beloved Lord. What will the bliss of glory be? A surprise, I think, even to those who shall obtain it. We shall scarcely know ourselves when we get to heaven, we shall be so surprised at the difference. That poor man yonder is to be robed in all the splendours of a king. Come with me, and see those bright ones; that son of toil, who rests for ever; that child of sin, washed by Jesus, and now a companion of the God of heaven, and I the chief of sinners singing out his praise; Saul of Tarsus, hymning the music of Calvary; the penitent thief, with his deep bass note, exalting dying love; and Magdalen, mounting to the alto notes, for there must be some voices even in heaven which must sing alone and mount to higher notes where the rest of us cannot reach \u2014 the whole together singing, \u201cUnto him that loved us, and hath washed us from our sins in his blood, unto him be glory for ever and ever.\u201d Oh that we were there! Oh that we were there! But we must patiently wait the Master\u2019s will. It shall not be long ere he shall say, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
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II. <\/b>And now we shall turn to a second part of the subject. We will take the text this time, not as a summons to depart, but as a Whisper From The Skies To The Believer\u2019s Heart. There is a voice that sounds from heaven to-night, not as a peremptory summons, but as a gently-whispered invitation \u2014 \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Father<\/i> seems to say this to every adopted child to-night. We say, \u201cOur Father which art in heaven.\u201d The Futher\u2019s heart desires to have his children round his knee, and his love each day beckons us with a tender \u201cCome up hither.\u201d Nor will your Father and my Father ever be content till every one of his children shall be in the many mansions above. And Jesus<\/i> whispers this in your ear to-night too. Hearken! do you not hear him say, \u201cI will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory \u2014 the glory which thou hast given me \u2014 the glory which I had with thee before the world was.\u201d Jesus beckons thee to the skies, believer. Lay not fast hold upon the things of earth. He who is but a lodger in an inn must not live as though he were at home. Keep thy tent ready for striking. Be thou ever prepared to draw up thine anchor, and to sail across the sea and find the better port, for while Jesus beckons, here we have no continuing city. No true wife hath rest save in the house of her husband. Where her consort is, there is her home \u2014 a home which draws her soul towards it every day. Jesus, I say, invites us to the skies. He cannot be completely content until he brings his body, the Church, into the glory of its Head, and conducts his elect spouse to the marriage feast of her Lord. Besides the desires of the Father and the Son; all those who have gone before, seem to be leaning over the battlements of heaven to-night, and calling, \u201cCourage, brothers! Courage, brothers! Eternal glory awaits you. Fight your way, stem the current, breast the wave, and come up hither. We without you cannot be made perfect: there is no perfect Church in heaven till all the chosen saints be there; therefore come up hither.\u201d They stretch out their hands of fellowship; they look with glistening eyes of strong affection upon us, and still again they say, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d Warriors who wear your laurels, ye call us to the brow of the hill where the like triumphs await us. The angels do the same to-night. How they must wonder to see us so careless, so worldly, so hardened! They also beckon us away, and cry from their starry seats, \u201cBeloved, ye over whom we rejoiced when you were brought as prodigals to your Father\u2019s house, \u2019Come up hither,\u2019 for we long to see you; your story of grace will be a strange and wondrous one \u2014 one which angels love to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cstretch your wings, ye saints, and fly,
Straight to yonder worlds of joy.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
I have kept my pledge to be short on that point. You can walk in this meditation as in a garden when you are quiet and alone. All nature rings the bell which calls you to the temple above. You may see the stars at night, looking down like the eyes of God upon you, and saying, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d The whispers of the wind as they come in the stillness of the night talk to you, and say, \u201cThere is another and a better land; come away with us; \u2019Come up hither.\u2019\u201d Yes, every cloud that sails across the sky, may say to you, \u201cMount up beyond me, into the clear ether which no cloud can dim; behold the sun which I can never hide \u2014 the noon which I can never mar. \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
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III. <\/b>I shall want your attention to my third point for a few minutes, for I think these words may be used as A Loving Invitation To Unconverted Persons. There are many spirit voices which cry to them, \u201cCome up hither; come up to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
I like to see so many crowding here on these dark, cold, wintry days. This huge place is just as crowded as though it were some little vestry. You press upon one another as did the throngs in the days of the Master. God gives a spirit of hearing now-a-days in a most wonderful manner; and oh, I would that while you are hearing, some living spark of divine fire may fall into your hearts, and become the parent of a glowing fire. If we ask any man whether he desires to go to heaven, he will say, \u201cYes;\u201d but alas! his desires for heaven are not strong enough to be of practical use. They are such sorry winds, that there is no sailing to heaven with them. Perhaps if we can quicken those desires to-night, God the Spirit may bless our words to the bringing of men into the way of life. Sinner, wanderer, far from God, many voices salute thee to-night, albeit thou hast chosen the paths of the destroyer, there are many who would turn thee to the way of peace.<\/p>\n
First, God our Father calls thee<\/i>. Thou sayest, \u201cHow?\u201d Sinner, thou hast had many troubles of late; business goes amiss; thou hast been out of work, unfortunate, troubled, disappointed; thou hast tried to get on, but thou canst not do it; in thy house everything is out of order; somehow or other, whatever you put your hand to, nothing prospers; you are always floundering from one slough into another; and are growing weary of your life. Dost thou not know, sinner, this is thy Father saying, \u201cCome up hither?\u201d Thy portion is not here; seek thou another and a better land. Thou hast built thy nest on a tree that is marked for the axe, and he is pulling thy nest down for thee that thou mayest build on the rock. I tell thee, these troubles are but love-strokes to deliver thee from thyself. If thou hadst been left unchastised, I had had little hope of thee. Surely then, God would have said, \u201cLet him alone; he will have no portion in the next life, let him have his portion here.\u201d We have heard of a wife, a godly woman, who for twenty years had been persecuted by a brutal husband \u2014 a husband so excessively bad, that her faith at last failed her, and she ceased to be able to believe that he would ever be converted; but all this while she was more kind to him than ever. One night, at twelve o\u2019clock, in a drunken debauch, he told his friends he had such a wife as no other man had; and if they would go home with him, he would knock her up, and she should get a supper for them, in order to try her temper. They came, and the supper was very soon ready, consisting of such things as she had prepared as well and as rapidly as the occasion would allow; and she waited at the table with as much cheerfulness as if the feast had been held at the proper time. She did not utter a word of complaint. At last, one of the company more sober than the rest, asked how it was she could always be so kind to such a husband. Seeing that her conduct had made some little impression, she ventured to say to him, \u201cI have done all I can to bring my husband to God, and I fear he will never be saved, and therefore his portion must be in hell for ever; I will therefore make him as happy as I can while he is here<\/i>, for he has nothing to expect hereafter.\u201d Now, such is your case to-night; you may get some pleasure here, but you have nothing to expect hereafter. God has been pleased, I said just now, to take your pleasures away. Here, then, I have good hopes that, since he shakes you from the present, you may be driven to the future. God your Father is thus making you uncomfortable in order that you may seek Him. It is the beckoning of his love-finger, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d And you know, those deaths you have had lately, all say, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d You remember when your mother died \u2014 that was a saint indeed \u2014 do you remember, John, what she said to you? She said, \u201cI could die happy, if it were not for you and your brother; but O that I might have a hope that you may yet come to God.\u201d Do you remember, man, how that little daughter of yours, that had been to the Sunday School, and died so young, kissed you and said to you, \u201cFrather, dear father, do give up the drunkard\u2019s cup, and follow me to heaven; do not be angry, father, I am dying; do not be angry because I said that, father. Follow me to heaven.\u201d You have not yielded to that loving entreaty; you are descending into hell. Yet remember, all this was God beckoning to you, and saying, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d He has called, and you have refused; take care, lest when you<\/i> call, he should refuse you. Besides, you have had a sickness yourself. If I mistake not, I am speaking to the right man now. It is not so long ago since you had a fever, or what was it? It was an accident, and everybody said you had a near escape for life; you had time for reflection when you lay in that hospital-ward, or in your own little room; do you remember what conscience said to you? How it rent away the curtain, and made you look at your destiny, until you read in fiery letters these words, \u201cThou shalt make thy bed in hell.\u201d Oh! how you trembled then. You had no objection to see the minister; you could not laugh then at the gospel of Christ; you made a great many vows and resolutions, and you have broken them all; you have lied unto the Most High; you have perjured yourself to the God of Israel, and mocked at the God of mercy and of justice. Beware, lest he take you away with a stroke, for then a great ransom shall not deliver you. These things, then, have been beckonings of your Father\u2019s hand to you, saying, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d<\/p>\n
But more, the Lord Jesus Christ<\/i> has also beckoned to you to come. Thou hast heard that he made a way to heaven. What does a way mean? Is not a road an invitation to a traveler to walk therein? I have crossed the Alps, and have seen the mighty roads which Napoleon made that he might take his cannon into Austria; but how shall we compare the works which men have made through the solid granite, and over pathless mountains \u2014 mountains that before were pathless \u2014 how shall we compare these with the road which Christ has made to heaven through the rocks of justice, over the gulfs of sin, throwing himself into the gaps, leaping himself into the chasm to complete the way? Now, the way itself speaks to you; the blood of Christ, which made the way, speaks better things than that of Abel; and it says, \u201cSinner, believe on Christ and thou art saved.\u201d By every drop of blood which streamed in sweat from him in the garden; by every drop which poured from his hands and feet; by all the agony which he endured, I do beseech thee hear the voice which crieth, \u201cGo and sin no more;\u201d trust thy soul with him, and thou art saved.<\/p>\n
But, my dear hearer, have patience with me; give me thine ear. The Spirit of God<\/i> strives with thee and cries, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d The Spirit of God wrote this book; and wherefore was this book written? Hear the words of Scripture, \u201cThese are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through his name.\u201d Here is the book full of promises, perfumed with affection, brimming with love. Oh! wherefore, wherefore wilt thou spurn it, and put the voice of mercy from thee? Every time thou seest the Bible, think thou seest on its cover, \u201cGo up to heaven, seek eternal life.\u201d Then there is the ministry<\/i> through which the Spirit of God speaks. I have often prayed my Master to give me a Baxter\u2019s heart to weep for sinners, and a Whitfield\u2019s tongue to plead. I have neither; but if I had them, oh! how would I plead with you! But such as I have I give you. As God\u2019s ambassador, I do beseech you, sinner, turn from the error of your ways. \u201cAs I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but would rather that he turn unto me and live.\u201d \u201cWhy will ye die?\u201d Is hell so pleasant? Is an angrier God a trifle? Is sin a thing to be laughed at? Is the right hand of God, when bared in thunder, a thing to be despised? Oh! turn thee; flee to the refuge; the Spirit bids thee fly.<\/p>\n
Moreover, does not thy conscience<\/i> say the same? Is not there something in thy heart to-night which says \u2014 \u201cBegin to think about your soul; trust thy soul with Christ. May grace divine constrain you to listen to the still small voice, that you may be saved!<\/p>\n
And, last of all, the spirits of your friends departed<\/i> cry from heaven to you to-night \u2014 that voice which I would you could hear, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d Mother \u2014 unconverted woman \u2014 you have a babe in heaven; perhaps not one or two, but a family of babes in heaven. You are a mother of angels, and those young cherubs cry to you, \u201cMother, come up hither.\u201d But this can never be unless you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know there are some of you who have carried to the tomb the most sainted of relatives. Your hoary-headed father at last went the way of all flesh, and from his celestial seat before the eternal throne he cries, \u201cCome up hither.\u201d A sister, sicklied by consumption, who has long since left your house for you to mourn her absence, cries \u201cCome up hither.\u201d I adjure you, ye sons of saints in glory; I adjure you, daughter of immortal mothers; despise not now the voice of those who speak from heaven to you. Oh! were they here \u2014 could it be possible for them to come here to speak to you to-night, I know the notes of fond affection which would spring from your lips \u2014 \u201cThere\u2019s my mother.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s my father.\u201d They<\/i> cannot come; but I am the spokesman for them. If I cannot speak as they<\/i> might, yet remember, if ye be not converted when you hear the gospel preached, \u201cneither would you be converted if one rose from the dead.\u201d They could but tell you the gospel; I do no less. That gospel is, \u201cBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.\u201d \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved\u201d says the Evangelist. To believe is to trust Christ; to be baptized is not baby sprinkling \u2014 for that<\/i> there is no warrant but in the inventions of man. To be baptized is to be buried with Christ in baptism after faith; for that which is done without faith, and not done of faith, is contrary to the Lord\u2019s command. Baptism is for saints, not for sinners: like the Lord\u2019s Supper, it is in<\/i> the Church, not out<\/i> of it. Believing you are saved. Baptism does not save you; you are baptized because you are saved. Baptism is the outward recognition of the great inward change which the Spirit of God has wrought. Believe, then, in Jesus. Flat on thy face before his cross, cast thyself now; then rise thou and say, \u201cNow will I confess his name,\u201d and be united with his Church, and believe that at last, having confessed him before men, he may confess me before my Father which is in heaven.<\/p>\n
And now you are going home to-night \u2014 I am clear of your blood remember. I know not how many may be here, but I suppose there are seven thousand people here to-night who will be without excuse in the day of judgment. I have warned you as best I can; I have pleaded with you. Sinner! sinner! thy blood be on thine own head if thou refuse this great salvation. O God the Holy Ghost, make them willing in the day of thy power, and save them this night, and for ever, for thy name\u2019s sake. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 488 A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 23RD, 1862, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. \u201cAnd I heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither.\u201d \u2014 Revelation 11:12. WHAT may be the particular meaning of the prophecy concerning the witnesses clothed in sackcloth, their … Continue reading “THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}