NO. 2547<\/b><\/p>\n
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, DECEMBER 12TH, 1897,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, DEC. 21ST, 1884.<\/p>\n
\u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d \u2014 Jeremiah 18:11.<\/i><\/p>\n
As I read the Scripture in your hearing, a few minutes ago, I was greatly startled by one word in the first part of the chapter: \u201cExcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise <\/i>perish.\u201d How did those Galilaeans perish? I am solemnly afraid that some of you will perish just as they did. Christ says, \u201clikewise,\u201d that is to say, in the same way as they perished, so will you, except ye repent. Well, how did they perish? their blood was mingled with their sacrifices. Will it be,-can it be, \u2014 shall it be, that some of you will keep on coming to the house of prayer, that you will continue to join in all the exercises of our public service, and yet that you will not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so that you will perish, and\u2019 your blood will be mingled with your sacrifices? think of it, dear friends; your blood on your chapel-going, \u2014 your blood on your church-going, \u2014 your blood on your hymn-singing and on your prayers, \u2014 because you have not yielded yourselves up to God, or obeyed the word of his gospel! If my blood must be spilt through an act of divine vengeance, let it fall anywhere but on my religion, for that would seem a doubly dreadful thing, \u2014 to die at the altar, and to let one\u2019s blood be mingled with his sacrifice! Yet I do really fear that this must and will, in the necessary order of things, be the lot of some here who never forsake the gatherings of God\u2019s people, and yet, at the same time, who have never yielded their hearts to God.<\/p>\n
Then, think of those on whom the tower in Siloam fell, \u2014 how did they die? Christ says, \u201cExcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise <\/i>perish.\u201d Why, they were destroyed by their own defenses; the tower was built to defend the place, yet it fell upon eighteen of the inhabitants, and slew them! It is an awful thing when a man\u2019s self-righteousness damns him, when that which is his confidence becomes his condemnation, when the very thing in which he trusted shall totter to its fall, and bury him beneath its ruins. that is the dread I have upon me, lest this calamity should happen to some of you, that your supposed tower of defense should prove to be your grave, and that you should find a sepulcher beneath your own confidences. Christ says it shall be so, \u201cexcept ye repent.\u201d<\/p>\n
My text is all about repentance; it is an exhortation from God, very brief, and sententious, but very earnest and plain: \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d I want you all to notice that this is the call of mercy. God might have let you die, to mingle your blood with your sacrifices; he might have let your tower fall upon you, to destroy you. Instead of that, the voice of mercy still sounds in your ears: \u201cAs I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?\u201d And in the words of our text he says, \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d God help you to listen to the call, and to obey it! It is a message of mercy, and it means that God would have you saved, and therefore he cries to you, \u201cReturn,\u201d because he is willing to receive you, and to blot out all your sin.<\/p>\n
But remember that it is equally the call of a holy God, the God who knows that you cannot be saved except you turn from your evil ways. A- holy God will give no salvation to the man who continues in his unrighteousness. there is no heaven for the man who will not leave his sin. thou must quit thy sin, or renounce all hope of salvation; thou must turn or burn; thou must repent or perish. God\u2019s unsullied holiness will never alter this law, thou must be driven from his face in the day of his wrath unless thou dost turn from thy evil way in the day of his mercy. Hope not that there shall be any exception made for thee to this rule, for there shall not be. Within the gate of pearl, none who are defiled, and who would defile the holy place, shall ever enter; if thou wouldst be a partaker in the glories of heaven, thou must be washed, cleansed, sanctified. thou must be made to hate thy sin, or else, where God is, thou canst never come. Listen, then, to this urgent but gracious message which I trust that God, in his mercy, has sent for many of you: \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>I want you to join me in looking at the words of my text as I try to press them home by the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and, first, I will answer this question, what does the text SAY? It says, \u201cReturn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The picture is that of a man who is going the wrong way. He is trespassing, he is on forbidden ground, he is advancing in a dangerous road, and if he shall continue to go in that direction, he will by-and-by come to a dreadful precipice over which he will fall, and there he will be ruined. A voice cries to him, \u201cReturn!\u201d What does that word mean? It is very simple, and that I may make it plainer still, perhaps, for practical purposes, let me say that the first thing such a man would do would be to stop. If I was out in the country, on a road which I did not know, and I heard a voice crying out to me, \u201cReturn,\u201d I should certainly stop, and listen; and if I heard the cry repeated, with great eagerness and earnestness, \u201cReturn! Return!\u201d I should pause, and look round, and try to see who it was that had called to me. I should look in front to see whether there was any particular reason for bidding me return, and I should look all round about me to try and discover for what motive the man had bidden me go back. I wish that all of you who are wandering away from God, would stop, and consider where you are going. the trouble with some of you is that you will not think, but you go blundering on, like some wild beast that cannot keep still. I beg you just now to stop a little while, and think of what you have been doing, and to what your present course must lead, and in what woe it must end. Stop! In God\u2019s name, I would arrest thee; ,as God\u2019s officer, I would put my hand on thy shoulder, and say to thee, \u201cthou must stop; thou shalt pause; thou shalt consider thy ways. I cannot let thee go on carelessly to thy ruin, like a sheep into the slaughter-house, or a bullock going to be killed.\u201d Stop, I pray thee.<\/p>\n
Suppose a man did stop, that would not be returning; it is but the commencement of the return when a man stops, but it will be necessary for him, next, to turn round.<\/i> the order for him to obey is, \u201cRight about face.\u201d He must turn his face in the opposite direction from that in which he was before traveling. I need not, perhaps, say much about what that opposite direction will necessarily be with some of you. If you are going on in sin, you know that your future direction must be the way of holiness. If you are trying to reach that refuge of lies, self-righteousness, the direction for you is, \u201cTurn right round, and look to Christ.\u201d If you are to be just the opposite of what you now are, your own conscience may be your instructor as to the particular road you are to take. When God says, \u201c[Return,\u201d it is plain that he means, \u201cTurn your face in exactly the opposite direction from that to which it is now turned. Love what you now hate; hate what you now love. Do what you have left undone; leave undone what you have been accustomed to do.\u201d there must be a total, a radical change in you, if you are really to obey the command, \u201cReturn.\u201d I think I hear you ask, \u201cWho can effect this change?\u201d And I am glad to hear that question, for I trust it will lead you to pray, \u201cturn me, O Lord, and I shall be turned!\u201d May he, whose converting grace can turn the sinner from the error of his ways, turn you, dear friend, unto himself there is something done towards returning when a man stops, there is still more done when he turns round; yet he does not actually return until, with persevering footsteps, the wanderer hastens back to <\/i>him from whom he had departed. What God desires is that all his prodigal children should come home, that his stray sheep should be brought back to the fold, that the lost pieces of silver should be put into the treasury again; that, indeed, you who have wandered in sin should be as they are whom Christ has washed in his precious blood, whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated, and whom the father has adopted, and put among his children. Oh, that it might be so with you even now! I do charge you, never be content until it is so. Give no rest to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till you have obeyed that gracious summons, \u201cReturn,\u201d and have said to the Lord, \u201cBehold, we come unto thee, for we know that it is thy love which has bidden us return.\u201d<\/p>\n
So much in answer to the question, \u201cWhat does the text say?\u201d<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>Now I am going to dwell upon another word, and to ask a second question, When Are Sinners To Return? the text says, \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d<\/p>\n
I do not expect or wish to please you all by what I say; I should think my main purpose was defeated if I did. I want to carry out the unpleasing duty of pressing upon you that this return should be immediate ∙ \u201cReturn ye now.\u201d Men are quite willing to promise to return when they have gone a little further; when, perhaps, they will have gone past all possibility of returning; but \u201cnow,\u201d is always an ugly word to them. \u201cto-morrow,\u201d they like much better. \u201cNow,\u201d is a monosyllable which seems to Burn into their bosom like a hot coal, and therefore they pluck it out, and throw it from them.<\/p>\n
But listen to me, dear friends. the voice of God bids you to return now, and I would urge you to do so, because life is so uncertain that, if you do not return now, you may not live to return at all. I need not quote the many instances of men, apparently strong and healthy, who have suddenly been taken from us. I often note, as you must have done, that sickly persons are spared to us while the robust and vigorous are called away. I could quote instances where the husband lives who, I thought, would have gone long ago, and the wife, who seemed the more healthy of the two, is dead and buried. But the sickly go, too, and go sometimes just when we thought they were recovering. there was great hope that they had outgrown the weakness, or that the disease would never return; but, in a moment, it leaped upon them, like a lion out of the thicket, and they were gone. He who would have his estate rightly ordered when he is dead should have his will made, everybody says that; and he who would have his eternal estate ordered aright should yield himself at once to the sovereign will of the Most High, for life is uncertain.<\/p>\n
Return, now, for the calls of grace may not always come to you. You do sometimes hear a sermon now which touches you, and pricks your conscience; but, in a short time, you may be removed where you will hear no such sermons, or where, though you hear them, they may no longer impress you. I am afraid my voice is so familiar to some of you unconverted ones that you are getting like the miller who can go to sleep notwithstanding the click of the mill, \u2014 nay, who goes to sleep better in his mill than he does anywhere else; or like some men I have heard of, over there in Southwark, who work inside the great boilers. When a poor fellow first begins to labor in such a place, the deafening noise is horrible to him, he thinks he must die; but, after a while, he gets so used to the reverberation that he could well-nigh sleep notwithstanding all the hammering. It is much the same with hearing the Word; therefore, I pray you, if you have long listened to one who would fain do you good, yield to the message he delivers to you; before you grow so familiar with it that it loses all its power over your heart, accept it as good tidings, of great joy. God grant that you may do so now! While grace calls, do not refuse.<\/p>\n
Recollect, also, that your sin will be increased by delay. The longer you stay away from God, the more deeply you will sin. If you keep on in the wrong path, not only will you have sinned the more, but that sin will have taken a more terrible hold upon you. Habits begin like cobwebs, but they end like chains of iron. A man might more readily have swept away the temptation when it was new to him, than he will be able to do when, having yielded to it many a time, the devil has learnt the way to master him. May God help you to flee from sin as soon as you perceive it, lest you be caught in its net of steel, and be held in it to your eternal destruction!<\/p>\n
Moreover, it is well for us to return unto our God now, because, the sooner we return to him, the sooner we shall enjoy his favor, and the more delightful will our life become. <\/i>If to repent, and to return to God, involved a lifetime of misery, I would yet urge it, for it would be worth while to spend the remnant of our days in bitter grief, and then to be eternally blessed; it would be worth while to give away the pleasure of time for the sake of the joys of eternity. But it is not so, for he who repents of sin loses nothing of joy when he loses sin, and he who finds God, finds heaven. Peace with God makes even this life to be a blessed life; and he who has it begins, even here, to enjoy the felicities of the glorified. Come, then, dear friends; you cannot too soon be happy, and therefore you cannot too soon be holy. You cannot too soon be safe, and therefore you cannot too soon return from the evil of your ways.<\/p>\n
do you not see, too, that God will have the more service from you? <\/i>the sooner you are brought to him, the longer will you have of life in which to serve him. I always bless God that I was brought to Christ in my youth, for it lest a good long time of life to be spent in the Lord\u2019s service. If any of you have gone past youth, into manhood, and to middle age, or even to old age, then the word \u201cnow\u201d should come to you with a sharp, clear crack; as of a rifle. It comes like a staccato note in music, \u201cnow! now[now!\u201d It comes to you over and over again with a definite, imperious accent, \u201cnow!\u201d \u201cReturn ye now.\u201d Why, my venerable friend, you are seventy years of age already; I have put the number too low, for if you are spared to see another birthday, your next will find you eighty; yet you are unsaved! God be merciful to you, aged sinner! Even now, may you return from your evil way!<\/p>\n
Yet once more, return now, because, if ever there is a reason for returning, that reason points to the present moment. <\/i>If there be a reason why you should repent before you die, that reason urges you to repent to-day. If it be reasonable that God should expect a man to leave his sin, it is reasonable that God should expect him to leave it now. <\/i>If there is a hope that a man will leave his sin some\u2019 time or other, there must be a better hope that he will leave it now than that he will leave it in a year\u2019s time. Wisdom\u2019s voice cries, \u201cnow!\u201d It is folly that says, \u201ctarry.\u201d Oh, that God himself, by his own gracious Spirit, may now <\/i>make you wise enough to turn from your evil way, and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you may be saved!<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
III. <\/b>now may God help me, for a minute or two, while I try to answer this third question, who Is the Person that IS to return the text says, \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one.\u201d Many of you have returned, blessed be God for that! But every man, every woman, every child who has not returned, should hear the voice of the Lord repeating this message, \u201c[Return ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d \u201cOh!\u201d you thought to yourself, \u201cI wonder whether So-and-so will think of what is being said.\u201d Will you kindly forget him, and think only about yourself. It would not be proper for me to point out individuals in this great crowd; but will you consider that I do point you out, one by one. the message of the text to each friend here who is unconverted is, \u201cReturn ye now every one <\/i>from his evil way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d says one, \u201cperhaps there will be some people converted through this sermon.\u201d do not talk so, I pray you. Will you <\/i>be converted through it? \u201cthou art the man,\u201d said the prophet to David, and I would be just as personal in my address to every sinner here. I want you, <\/i>my friend, by mighty grace to be turned from the error of your way. Why not? Some of you have been coming here a very long time; and there are some of you who are unhappy if you cannot come. You love the very sound of the gospel, and you are interested in everything which has to do with Christian work here; I cannot quite make you out, you are indeed strange people. I love you very much, but I cannot make out why you do not love your own soul\u2019s better. You run about the house with the knives, and the forks, and the plates, and the dishes, so that others may be fed, and yet you never eat anything yourself. I see you at the well, and you are always ready, if you can, to turn the wheel, and help to bring up the water for other people, but you never drink it yourself. What are you at? What are some of you at, \u2014 you whom I might truly call loafers about this house of prayer? I wish you would be real loafers, and eat of the gospel loaf that is set on the table for all hungry sinners; take a slice of it for yourselves this very hour. But no; you like to be here, yet you are mere hangers-on; you take your turn in helping every good work, yet you do not give God your hearts. You must be fools, to act in such a fashion. I do not want to say anything harsh or unkind, but that is exactly what you are. If you said that we were all wrong, and laughed at our religion, I could understand you. You would be very wrong, but you would at least be consistent in it. You seem by your action to say that we are right, and yet not right; at least, you seek to help us in our service, but you do not give yourself to the Lord. Why, man, you are yourself dying, and yet you run for the doctor for somebody else, and all the while think yourself perfectly well! You are starving, and yet you are eager to hand the bread out to the hungry; but why do you not also take a bite yourself? O dear hearts, what can be your hindrance in trusting the Savior? What is it that keeps some of you away from Christ? I do try to put the gospel so plainly and simply that all may understand it. I have had it said to me, lately, I daresay a dozen times, by persons in spiritual trouble who have come many a mile to see me, \u2014 ay, some of them from the very ends of the earth, \u2014 \u201c nobody has encouraged and helped us as you have by your sermons; you seemed! as if you did not want to put any of us back, but as if you longed to bring us all to the Savior; and that is why we have come to see you.\u201d Well, now, I think they would not have said that so often if it had not been true. I do not frighten you away from Christ; at least, I do not mean to do so, I would much rather beckon you to come to him. It is not fear, I think, that has kept you back. What is it, then? Ah! perhaps we shall find out before we have done; for you are staked down somehow, and cannot escape. Possibly, some of you are like the man we read of in the papers some time ago. He was walking by the seaside, and trod on a large chain, and slipped his foot right through one of the links. When he tried to draw it back again, he could not, for he was held fast. the tide was coming in, and there he was a prisoner. He had to call long and loud before anybody came; and by the time the people arrived, he had very much hurt his foot in endeavoring to extricate himself. He begged them to run for the smith, that he might come, and break the iron. He came, but he brought the wrong tools with him, so he could not accomplish the task. it would be some time before he could be back, and, meanwhile, the tide had come in, and the water was up to the man\u2019s feet, so he cried, \u201cRun for the surgeon. Let him come, and cut my leg off; it is the only hope of saving my life.\u201d But by the time the surgeon came, the water was up to the man\u2019s neck, so the doctor could not get down to where his foot was fast in the iron chain, and there was nothing that could be done for him. there he was, poor fellow, and the tide rolled over him, and he was drowned. Some of you seem to me to be just like that man, heed fast by some invisible force; yet when I try to get at the chain, I cannot find out what it is, it is so far under the water. Perhaps you do not yourself know what it is. I am going to make a dive to try to get at it, as I ask my last question concerning the text.<\/p>\n
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IV. <\/b>from What Are these People to return? the text says,<\/p>\n
\u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d
\u201cfrom his evil way.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
then, each man has a way of his own,- an evil way of his own, \u2014 some personal form of sin. \u201cAll <\/i>we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.\u201d Well now, my friend, what is your evil way? If we can find that out, perhaps we shall learn why it is that you are not saved.<\/p>\n
What is your own way? Is it some constitutional sin to<\/i> which you are prone? there can be no doubt that we have all some infirmity, or weakness, or tendency to sin, more fully developed in us than in other people. there is one man who is a fine fellow in many ways, but he is dreadfully impulsive, and gets into furious tempers. He is soon cool again, and he is very sorry for what he has said and done, but there is not much good in that; because, if you scald anyone to death, and then say that you are sorry, that does not bring him back to life again. there are others, whose tendency would be to the sins of the flesh, much more than is the case with a great many of their neighbors; some are more inclined to pride, and some to sloth; but there is something about the constitution of men, inherited from their parents, or brought on by their circumstances, which leads each man towards some particular sin rather than to others. You know, dear friends, what contrasts there are among men; there are some mean, stingy, cold-blooded fellows, who would never become spendthrifts; it is a very great difficulty to extract even a sixpence from them. they could not be prodigals and spendthrifts, and there are others who never could be misers, except by a miracle, for they never could keep a penny in their pockets, it always burnt a hole through directly. these observations may help some of you to see whereabouts your own evil way may lie, according to the peculiarity of your constitution, and circumstances, and habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d asks one, \u201cwhat do you think is my evil way?\u201d I will answer by putting another question to you, What is the sin into which you most frequently fall? <\/i>I should think you can tell that, and that is the evil way from which you have most to fear. It is from that one way that you are called upon specially to return. What sin can you be most easily led into? Read the Bible through, and you will find that one man was led into drunkenness, another into licentiousness, one man into anger, another into lying. Which has the greater power over you? to-night, if you were tempted, to which temptation would you be most likely to yield? You do not know, you say; well then, let me put another question to you.<\/p>\n
When do you get most angry if anybody rebukes you? <\/i>If you are rebuked for a sin you do not commit, you need not get angry about that. You can calmly say, \u201cMy friend, you have made a mistake.\u201d If you are chided for having done a thing of which you feel that you are perfectly innocent, you may even say, \u201cnow, that is a lie;\u201d but yet you need not be very greatly provoked. But, oh, if we know your tender places, and we begin just to hint at some of your private goings on, \u2014 just lay bare a little of your secrets, may, then you get furious, do you not? now what is it about religion that you dislike most? What is it in the preaching that makes you say, \u201cthere, I will never go to hear that man again; he curls my hair so short, he comes quite close to the skin\u201d? Well now, that will help you to find out what is your own personal evil way; and it is from that way that you are to return.<\/p>\n
Again, what sin of fours eats up the other sins? <\/i>Look at a miser; he will not fall into licentiousness, because it is expensive, and he cannot afford it. He is greedy for money, so he sins by covetousness, which is idolatry. He does not go and get drunk, for that is an expensive sin, and he thinks he cannot afford it. the love of money is his besetting sin; his covetousness is like Aaron\u2019s rod, it opens its mouth, and swallows up all the other sins. Here, on the other hand, is a man who is proud; he does not try to save money, for he spends it to flatter his pride. Everything must be in grand style for such a grand man as he is. You will not find him falling into drunkenness, or into the gross sins of certain other men, because he is proud of being a respectable person; he has a character to keep up, so his pride swallows up all the other kinds of sin, and people call it \u201ca decent pride,\u201d \u201ca respectable pride,\u201d \u201ca proper pride.\u201d Yes, that is one kind of devil that kills some other devils. So far, it is a good thing to have devils killed; but if he kills them by swallowing them, it only makes him so much the worse. Ah! look next at the man who is given to the sins of the flesh; you will not find that he is a miser; poor wretch, he has not anything left that he can store up. I heard but yesterday of a man who Was once in a good position of life, with a wife and children. I have known him as what is called a respectable man, worth several thousands of pounds. At the present moment, he is only earning a few shillings a week, and I fear he will fall lower yet. He has had another house beside his own to maintain, and a house that has swallowed up all his substance. He parted with his business for \u00a3500, and within a few weeks all that money was gone; and if it had been \u00a350,000, it would have gone, for whoredom is a deep ditch that swallows a man, body and soul, fortune and everything. Hark my words, that man will die in the streets, one day, though he could have bought some of us up not so very long ago. that sin of his, you see, has swallowed everything up; it all disappears when he once goes that way. It is the same with gambling; when a man takes to the gaming-table, it seems as if his whole soul ran out at that sluice, and his entire life is just nothing to him. Wife, children, substance, \u2014 all must go at the throw of the dice, or be staked on the running of a horse. So, you see, dear friends, you can find out which is your sin if you can discover what it is that swallows up all others, and becomes the master of your entire being. Where does your money mostly go? You could have told that Joseph was Jacob\u2019s favorite, because he made him a coat of many colors; and there are some sins that wear the coat of many colors, and often, as it were, it is dipped in the man\u2019s own blood, for everything goes for that particular sin.<\/p>\n
I know that I am speaking to some such people. turn you, I beseech you, for ere long you will be beggars if you do not. turn you from your sins, for ere long you will be where hope can never come, where no messenger of mercy will invite you to return, but where the bell of eternity shall ring out its dreadful knell, \u201cfor ever, for ever, for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no acts of pardon passed
In the cold grave to which we haste;
But darkness, death, and long despair
Reign in eternal silence there.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Therefore, \u201creturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d<\/p>\n
But I have not hit on your sin yet, my friend, have I? You have an evil way which you will not tell to anyone; it is not as bad as any I have mentioned, it is a very respectable kind of evil way which you have. Your evil way is this, the evil way of self-righteousness. <\/i>You do your very best; in fact, you think you do a little better than most people. You are not a Christian, but you are rather better than some Christians. In truth, you are so good a fellow that it is perfectly wonderful how the world bears up with such a good person as you are upon its surface! You utterly despise the evils I have been talking about, and the people who commit them. You will not associate with them, nor say \u201cGood morrow\u201d to them; you are so good. Ah, yes! but do you know where such \u201cgood\u201d people as you are go to? not<\/p>\n
heaven, mark you, for all those who are in heaven have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and yours, according to your own account, do not need to be washed. the day will come, I assure you, when, if this has been your evil way, it shall turn out to be as destructive as the way of the worst transgressor, for self-righteousness is an open and gross insult to God. It makes out that the death of Christ was a superfluity; it tells God that he is wrong in charging a man with sin; it raises a clamor against God; it claims as a right every good thing that God has to give; it does, in fact, uncrown the Savior, bid the Holy Spirit go his way as no longer needed, and throws the gospel, which is the crown jewel of God, into the mire.<\/p>\n
I wish that we were all agreed, by the power of the good Spirit, that we would turn unto our God with contrite hearts! Come, dear friends, let us first own our sin. Come, let us trust in the great Sacrifice. Come, let us lay our hand on thy dear head, O Christ, while we stand here, and confess our sin. Come, let us ask the Holy Spirit to make us strong enough to forsake our sin. Let us ask him to give us new hearts, and right spirits, that we may turn effectually from all sin, and follow on to know the Lord. Children of God, pray for the whole congregation now. Let us pray.<\/p>\n
O Lord, turn us; turn us, and we shall be turned! And, if thou has turned us, help us to persevere in righteousness, and let us not turn again to folly. But oh, turn men and women to-night, for thy love\u2019s sake, \u2014 for thy mercy\u2019s sake, \u2014 for Christ\u2019s sake! turn the whole congregation of unsaved ones with their face to the cross; and may they look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for their sin; and then may they look again unto him, and be lightened, as they see their sin effectually and eternally put away by the substitutionary sacrifice of their redeeming God! Answer, O Christ, the cries of our soul, for thine own name\u2019s sake! Amen.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
LUKE 13:1-22.<\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 1. there were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was a cruel and wicked act on the part of Pilate to wreak his vengeance upon the Galilaeans when they were occupied in offering the sacrifices of their religion.<\/p>\n
2. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?<\/i><\/p>\n
If men die violent deaths, if they perish in an accident, are they therefore to be accounted more guilty than the rest of mankind?<\/p>\n
3-5. I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem t I tell you, Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.<\/i><\/p>\n
Here, then, is a word of warning to those who have seen others die on a sudden, and who have wrapped themselves up in the robe of self-conceit, saying to themselves, \u201cno doubt these people were much worse than we are. they have been taken away, but we still live.\u201d take heed, sirs; for God\u2019s justice is equal, and unerring, and he will deal with you even as he has dealt with others.<\/p>\n
Our Lord next spoke a parable of warning to those who live in the midst of privileges, but who bring forth no fruit unto God. Let those to whom this parable belongs take note of the message it is intended to convey to them.<\/p>\n
6, 7. He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree placated in his vineyard,\u2019 and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. then, said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first year, it may have been a bad season; the second may have been the same; but for a tree to be fruitless for three years, to have so long a time of probation, and yet to bear no fruit, proves it to be worthless. If I had found even a little fruit on it, I would have been hopeful that more would come by-and-by; but\u2019 these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none.\u2019 <\/i>Surely, there never will be any. It has had every opportunity; there is no need of any longer delay: \u2019cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n
8, 9. And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.<\/i><\/p>\n
The vine-dresser has much patience; but there is a limit to it. He will not willingly lose a tree; but only one more year is to be given to this cumberer of the vineyard. Who can tell but that, in the case of some who are here, that final year is coming to a close? Oh, that the Lord would cause the fruitless to become fruitful ere the year ends<\/p>\n
Next, in the chapter, we have a word of comfort to those who have been under the dominion of sin for many a day, and who are almost in despair. Here is one of Christ\u2019s Sabbath miracles.<\/p>\n
10-17. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Oresus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. the Lord then answered him, and said, thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering .f And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed:<\/i><\/p>\n
So they will be again one of these days, \u2014 all his present adversaries as well as all the old ones, \u2014 those who deny his deity, those who dispute his doctrines, those who refuse to yield obedience to his commands, those who know nothing of him, and who call themselves \u201cagnostics.\u201d \u201cAll his adversaries were ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
17. And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.<\/i><\/p>\n
There is a very striking contrast between the two parts of this verse: \u201cAll his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next parable is full of comfort to those in whom there is at present little grace; but, being a living seed, it will become more.<\/p>\n
18-22. then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.<\/i><\/p>\n
With his face toward the place where he should offer an atonement for the sin of men, which was to be the climax of all his labors.<\/p>\n
HYMNS FROM \u201cOUR OWN HYMN BOOK\u201d \u2014 509, 605, 368.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 2547 INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, DECEMBER 12TH, 1897, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, DEC. 21ST, 1884. \u201cReturn ye now every one from his evil way.\u201d \u2014 Jeremiah 18:11. As I read the Scripture in your hearing, a few minutes ago, I was greatly startled by … Continue reading “\u201cRETURN! RETURN!\u201d”<\/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-3877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877","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=3877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}