NO. 3049<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, JULY 18TH, 1907,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.<\/b><\/p>\n
ON THURSDAY EVENING, NOV. 9TH, 1871.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing and weeping.\u201d \u2014 Jeremiah 50:4.<\/i><\/p>\n
Possibly, someone says, on hearing my text, \u201cI like better to be going and singing.\u201d Yes, my friend, and I do not blame you for making such a choice. As long as you can go and sing, in the name of the Lord, let nothing stop you from doing so. It is meet that we, who have been redeemed by Christ from destruction, and are heirs of heaven, should make merry and be glad. We should \u201crejoice in the Lord alway;\u201d yet we must not despise others if they should seem to give more prominence to another phase of spiritual experience, namely, \u201cgoing and weeping,\u201d for there are sons of sorrow on earth who will undoubtedly be sons of joy in heaven. Among the sweetest flowers that bloom in the Savior\u2019s garden are those that, like the snowdrops and the lilies of the valley, hang down their heads.<\/p>\n
It is also possible to be going and singing, and yet, at the same time, to be going and weeping, for the mind may be in such a complex condition that, while it has abundant cause for joy, it has a sweet well of happy grief within itself. There is such a thing as a bitter sweet, \u2014 the worldling has that; but there is also such a thing as a sweet bitter, and the Christian often hath that; so that, while he is weeping, he can also be singing; while his soul is cast down within him, yet doth he lift up his horn on high, and rejoice in the God of his salvation. It is quite possible to blend these two experiences, and the life of God\u2019s people thus becomes like a rainbow, consisting partly of the sunshine of heaven and partly of the raindrops of earth; they sing because of their present and future joy, and they weep because of the sad past, and the relics of the Fall that are still about them, and the sins of the age that still surround them. I will not say that \u201cGoing and Weeping\u201d is a better motto than \u201cGoing and Singing\u201d; but, sometimes, it is the only one we can use; and, often, it may be joined with the other. I hope I shall be able to show you that \u201cgoing and weeping\u201d is a very choice way of living.<\/p>\n
We see in our text, first, a blessed combination; <\/i>when we have spoken of that, we will mention when and where this combination should be conspicuous;<\/i> and, lastly, we will give reasons why this combination should be manifest in our lives.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>First, here is A Blessed Combination: \u201cgoing and weeping.\u201d The two things certify each other, supplement each other, and stimulate each other.<\/p>\n
First, they certify each other. <\/i>I mean that, when a man is going away from his past sins, away from his old habits, away from self-righteousness, if that reformation be a work of divine grace, it will have the watermark upon it; there will be \u201cweeping\u201d with the \u201cgoing.\u201d If the prodigal had only said, \u201cI will arise and go to my father,\u201d we might have doubted the reality of his repentance; but when he added, \u201cand will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son,\u201d then the tears of penitence, which must have accompanied such a confession, verified the reformation. Beware, beloved, of all dry-eyed reformations. Certain preachers disparage and run down repentance; they say that it is simply \u201ca change of mind.\u201d That is true, in a sense; but what a change of mind it is, \u2014 not such a change of mind as a man makes when, instead of buying one hat, he buys another, or, instead of spending a shilling, he saves ninepence out of it! I have heard preachers refer to repentance as if it were a trifling, insignificant alteration of opinion; but, if that is all the repentance we have had, it is a repentance of which we need to repent. The old-fashioned repentance is the only one that will bring you to heaven; if you do not leave \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sins you loved before,
And show that you in earnest grieve,
By doing so no more, \u2014<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
you will come short of the repentance which the Holy Ghost works in the souls of the Lord\u2019s own chosen people. There must be, as John the Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees, \u201cfruits meet for repentance;\u201d or, as the marginal reading puts it, \u201canswerable to amendment of life.\u201d There must be true godly sorrow over your past evil conduct, there must be a loathing of yourself in the sight of God; and all the \u201cgoing\u201d that is not attended by \u201cweeping\u201d will be a bad going after all.<\/p>\n
Now I will turn this truth round the other way by reminding you that there are some persons who profess to be very repentant concerning the past; \u2014 if they could live their lives over again, they would not live at all as they have done, \u2014 so they say; and their tears flow copiously. I am not always pleased to see copious tears. When seeing inquirers, I have noticed that, when men weep very much, they are either men of a tender spirit, who are easily moved to tears, or else they have been so accustomed to drink that they have got into a maudlin state, and cannot help crying. I would rather have tears falling inside a penitent than outside. Never condemn a man because he does not weep as others do; it may be that his heart is too full for tears; nor condemn those who do cry outwardly, for tears are often genuine evidences of repentance. I merely remark that a briny tear, in itself, is not a sufficient proof of that godly sorrow for sin of which the tear is only the index; and when I warned you against dry-eyed reformations, I meant those so-called reformations which do not include real sorrow for sin.. External weeping is quite a secondary matter, but inward weeping there must be in all true converts. Some people cry a great deal, and talk a great deal; they say that their heart is adamant, and that they are dead as a stone. Of course they are dead; they never were spiritually alive, and the natural, stony heart has never been taken out of their flesh. There is a great deal of truth in what they say, but they have not learned it from the Spirit of God. They have caught certain phrases from the lips of gracious people, and merely say what they hear others say, just as parrots do when they are taught to repeat what their owners say. How am I to know whether this profession of repentance is genuine or not? Why, as I know the value of the \u201cgoing\u201d by the \u201cweeping\u201d, so I know the value of the \u201cweeping\u201d by the \u201cgoing.\u201d Is the weeping man\u2019s life changed? Has God the Holy Spirit enabled him to lay the are to the roots of those old habits of which he says he repents? Does he go on drinking, and yet say that he mourns that he was a drunkard? Does he go on swearing, and yet say that he laments his profanity? Is his temper constantly boiling over, yet he says that he repents of it? My dear friends, there must be something more than that, for God cannot look upon our expressions of regret for the past as having any sincerity in them unless they are attended by a grace-assisted effort to put an end to such sins for the future. There must be the \u201cgoing\u201d to prove the \u201cweeping\u201d to be true, as well as the \u201cweeping\u201d to prove that the \u201cgoing\u201d is in the right road.<\/p>\n
In the next place, these two things supplement each other; <\/i>that is to say, what is deficient in the \u201cgoing\u201d is supplied in the \u201cweeping \u201c, and what is not in the \u201cweeping\u201d will be found in the \u201cgoing.\u201d For instance, the \u201cgoing\u201d concerns the present. When a man is, by the grace of God, renewed in the spirit of his mind, he is a different man from what he used to be; \u2014 there is faith instead of unbelief, love to God instead of enmity against him, and holiness instead of sin; in fact, he is \u201ca new creature\u201d in Christ Jesus. And this \u201cgoing\u201d applies to the future as well as to the present, for the man will \u201cgo from strength to strength.\u201d Led on by the Divine Spirit, he will \u201cgrow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,\u201d he will tread the path of holiness till he enters the celestial city, to go no more out forever. But when the black and dreary past of his sinful life again comes before his mind, he cannot help weeping; yet even then he pleads the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, and prays, with penitent king David, \u201cHave mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.\u201d When that black past is blotted out like a cloud blown away by the wind, the \u201cweeping\u201d and the \u201cgoing\u201d are not separated; tears have still to be shed because of the turning aside, the falterings, the halting even in going along the road which God hath marked out for us. When we see men reclaimed from outward sin, when we mark the manifest change in their character, we may call that \u201cgoing\u201d in the right road; but unless there is some \u201cweeping\u201d through intense heart-emotion, some manifestation of sincere sorrow over that in which they once delighted, and of regret that they have not attained to the high and holy things which ought to be the portion of all true Christians, there is something lacking.<\/p>\n
Now turn the thought the other way, and notice how the \u201cgoing\u201d supplements the \u201cweeping.\u201d The \u201cweeping\u201d is an evidence that we have learnt our need; the \u201cgoing\u201d to Christ in faith supplies that need. The \u201cweeping\u201d is the acknowledgment of the disease; the \u201cgoing\u201d is the application to the great Physician. The \u201cweeping\u201d mourns over our nakedness; the \u201cgoing\u201d takes us to the King\u2019s wardrobe, to put on Christ\u2019s spotless robe of righteousness. The \u201cweeping\u201d is because of our emptiness; the \u201cgoing\u201d links us on to his fullness. It would be wretched \u201cweeping\u201d if we did not know the blessed way of \u201cgoing\u201d to him of whom Paul wrote, \u201cMy God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said also that these two things stimulate each other; <\/i>and the truth of this statement is readily perceptible. Our \u201cgoing\u201d leads to our \u201cweeping\u201d, and our \u201cweeping\u201d excites us to \u201cgoing.\u201d The poor prodigal felt the pangs of hunger within his body, and he felt in his spirit that he had sinned against his father, therefore he said, \u201cI will arise and go;\u201d and I expect that, as he went, his hunger quickened his pace; and that every pang of his emptiness, and every sight of his filthiness, and every consequent tear would make him speed with greater energy towards his father\u2019s house. A deep sense of sin is often a blessedly impelling power to drive us to the Savior. I desire never, in this world, to be free from a deep sense of the bitterness and guiltiness of sin. Even though freed from the guilt of sin by the precious blood of Jesus, I still desire to feel what an abominable thing sin is, that I may go, eagerly and passionately, to my dear Lord\u2019s wounds, and get the one only effectual remedy for all my soul diseases. Light thoughts of sin breed light thoughts of the Savior. When our \u201cweeping\u201d over our transgressions ceases, our \u201cgoing\u201d to him who \u201cwas wounded for our transgressions\u201d is apt also to cease. Repentance and faith are like the Siamese twins. If one is sick, the other cannot be well, for they live but one life. If ever you are asked which comes first, repentance or faith, you may answer, by another question, \u201cWhich spoke of a wheel moves first when the wheel begins to revolve?\u201d You know that they are all set in motion at the same time. So, when the hand of God sets our soul \u201cgoing\u201d in the right road, it also sets our soul and often our eyes \u201cweeping\u201d; and I believe that, when our soul is really \u201cgoing\u201d towards God, it is with a deepened repentance over the past, and a sincere \u201cweeping\u201d over the imperfections which it still has to lament.<\/p>\n
So that the \u201cweeping\u201d stimulates the \u201cgoing\u201d; and I am sure that the \u201cgoing\u201d stimulates the \u201cweeping.\u201d If the Lord helps you to grow in grace, and you get much joy and peace in believing, you will be sure to say, \u201cWhat a fool I was to have been all those years a slave to sin, and an enemy to such a blessed Savior!\u201d And when you get very near to God, and \u201cwalk in the light, as he is in the light,\u201d you will see your imperfections more than you ever did before. When I meet with a brother who tells me that he is nearly perfect, I know that he is living in the dark; for, if he lived in the light, he would see how far short he came of the glory of God. You think your white linen looks very white, do you not? But when the snow falls, and you place your linen upon it, it looks white no longer. So, until you come near to God, you do not know what \u201cperfection\u201d is; but when you get even a dim perception of what his holiness is, you say, with the patriarch Job, \u201cI have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.\u201d Oh, that the Lord would enable us to have more true \u201cgoing\u201d in the way of holiness, \u2014 growing in communion with the Holy Spirit, advancing in our likeness to Christ, and becoming more humble, more prayerful, and more fervent in spirit, and more diligent in service, for then I am certain that the blessed art of holy \u201cweeping\u201d would be more practiced by us everyday of our life. So, the \u201cweeping\u201d helps our \u201cgoing\u201d in the right road, and our poor \u201cgoing\u201d leads to more \u201cweeping\u201d because we do not go better.<\/p>\n
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II. <\/b>Now I leave the explanation of this strange combination of \u201cgoing and weeping\u201d to point out When And Where It Should Be Most Conspicuous.<\/p>\n
And here, brethren and sisters in Christ, I begin with myself, and with my brethren engaged in the same holy office. <\/i>Scripture teaches us that, with the sower of the good seed of the kingdom, there should always be a \u201cgoing\u201d and a \u201cweeping.\u201d Here is a passage to prove my assertion to be true, \u201cHe that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.\u201d We have a Christ-like task if our \u201cgoing\u201d is what it should be, \u2014 to \u201cpreach the Word,\u201d to \u201cmake full proof of our ministry,\u201d to \u201ckeep back nothing that is profitable unto you,\u201d to bring forth, as scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, \u201cthings new and old\u201d out of the divine treasury, to go after the outlying masses, and \u201ccompel them to come in,\u201d that our Master\u2019s great house may be filled for the great gospel feast; to care for the sick, and the sad, and the dying; \u2014 all this is included in the \u201cgoing\u201d of \u201ca good minister of Jesus Christ.\u201d But it will be a poor \u201cgoing\u201d if there is no \u201cweeping\u201d with it. Think of the Prince of preachers, \u2014 what a wonderful \u201cgoing\u201d was his! Ah, and what wonderful \u201cweeping,\u201d was his, \u2014 at the grave of Lazarus; and over the Jerusalem sinners! How deeply he loved even those who rejected him! Oh, that we, who profess to be his servants, had tenderer hearts! Then we should say, with the weeping prophet Jeremiah, \u201cOh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!\u201d Paul was indeed a \u201cgoing\u201d preacher, \u2014 \u201cin journeyings often,\u201d and \u201cin labors more abundant;\u201d but what a \u201cweeping\u201d preacher he was also! You know how he said to the elders of the church at Ephesus, in his farewell address at Miletus, \u201cRemember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears;\u201d and to the church at Philippi he wrote, \u201cFor many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.\u201d So these two things, \u201cgoing and weeping,\u201d ought to be characteristic of every true preacher of the Word, and of all teachers, and other servants of the Lord Jesus Christ whose office is of the like kind. I often feel that I can adopt Doddridge\u2019s language, and say, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cArise, my tenderest thoughts, arise,
To torrents melt my streaming eyes;
And thou, my heart, with anguish feel
Those evils which thou canst not heal.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cSee human nature sunk in shame;
See scandals pour\u2019d on Jesu\u2019s name;
The Father wounded through the Son;
The world abused, and souls undone.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cSee the short course of vain delight
Closing in everlasting night;
In flames that no abatement know,
Though briny tears for ever flow.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cMy God, I feel the mournful scene;
My bowels yearn o\u2019er dying men;
And fain my pity would reclaim,
And snatch the firebrands from the flame.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cBut feeble my compassion proves,
And can but weep where most it loves;
Thy own all-saving arm employ,
And turn these drops of grief to joy;\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
This combination, \u201cgoing and weeping,\u201d should be conspicuous, not only in those who plead with men for God, but also in those who plead with God for men. <\/i>The best praying consists in \u201cgoing\u201d \u201cboldly unto the throne of grace,\u201d and pleading there; yet they who win most from God are those whose hearts are most deeply affected, \u2014 those in whom there is the \u201cweeping\u201d as well as the \u201cgoing.\u201d Such was the prayer of Jacob in that great night of wrestling, concerning which the prophet Hosea says, \u201cHe had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him.\u201d Weeping is a wondrous help to those who would find their way to the heart of God; so, dear brethren and sisters in Christ, pour out your hearts before him, \u2014 pour them out like water before the Lord; and when your heart is breaking for the longing that it has, even if you shed no outward tears, you have learned the sacred art of praying, and you shall receive what you have asked in so far as it is according to the will of God.<\/p>\n
Beloved, it is a sad thing to have to say, yet it is true, that this <\/i>\u201cgoing and weeping<\/i>\u201d ought to be very conspicuous in backsliders.<\/i> I am always glad to see backsliders returning to their first love, and restored to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ; but there are one or two things that I always like to see about such people, \u2014 the absence of all arrogance and self-justification, and the presence of deep humility both towards God and towards his Church, for their offense has been against God\u2019s people as well as against God himself. When a church-member falls into sin, all the members have to suffer in their repute among men, and they also have to suffer in their power with God; and, therefore, the returning of a backslider should always be accompanied by manifest signs of the deepest contrition. Many speak of David\u2019s sin, but say nothing of David\u2019s penitence. Nathan rebuked him in a fashion that very few kings would have endured, yet there was no anger in David\u2019s heart against him for the stern way in which he told him of his faults. The 51st and other penitential Psalms show how melted by contrition David\u2019s soul was; groans, and sobs, and sighs escaped from his heart instead of his former joyous music. There was a \u201cgoing\u201d and a \u201cweeping\u201d on the part of the repenting backslider. If he had known George Herbert\u2019s quaint lines, he might have said, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cO who will give me tears? Come all ye springs,
O well in my head and eyes: come, clouds, and rain:
My grief hath need of all the wat\u2019ry things
That nature hath produced. Let ev\u2019ry vein<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Suck up a river to supply mine eyes,
My weary weeping eyes too drie for me,
Unlesse they get new conduits, new supplies,
To bear them out, and with my state agree.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
What are two shallow foords, two little spouts
Of a lesse world? The greater is but small,
A narrow cupboard for my griefs and doubts,<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Which want provision in the midst of all.
Verses, ye are too fine a thing, too wise
For my rough sorrows: cease, be dumbe and mute,
Give up your feet and running to mine eyes,<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
And keep your measures for some lover\u2019s lute,
Whose grief allows him musick and a ryme:
For mine excludes both measure, tune, and time.
Alas, my God!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
But, beloved, this \u201cgoing and weeping\u201d should also be seen in Christians who are making progress in the divine life. <\/i>I believe it always will be seen in those who are diligently and carefully watching and striving against even the appearance of evil. That \u201cgoing\u201d which consists in a sort of feverish excitement, or in a sudden leap into a high condition of soul, is to be very seriously suspected. I have found that I have had to fight for every inch of the road that I have ever traveled heavenward; I do not think I ever gained any spiritual victory easily. If any here find the road to heaven to be strewn with flowers, and one in which they can run without being weary, I can only say that I have not found it so; and that, if I did not wait upon the Lord, I should utterly fall. Brethren, I pray you to suspect that it is presumption, and not the full assurance of faith, if you are always \u201cgoing\u201d, but never \u201cweeping.\u201d I have already explained that this \u201cweeping\u201d does not put aside the rejoicing, for a man may \u201crejoice in the Lord\u201d all the more while he mourns before God on account of his own shortcomings, and waywardness, and faultiness. I think the most joyful soul among us may willingly sing, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cLord, let me weep for nought but sin,
And after none but thee;
And then I would, oh, that I might
A constant weeper be!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
And this \u201cgoing and weeping\u201d should also be conspicuous in every student; \u2014 <\/i>I mean, not only students for the ministry, but students for heaven, and that is what every Christian is. The apostle John was a student, and he once saw, in the hand of God, \u201ca book, . . . sealed with seven seals;\u201d and when it was asked, \u201cWho is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?\u201d and there was no man found worthy, what did John do? He says, \u201cI wept much.\u201d And, often, that is almost as good as knowing the original languages; indeed, it may be better. If the heart can weep over a doctrine, it will get that doctrine opened up before long. There is no chemical so strong as our tears for piercing through the hard shell of truth. Sincerely cry over the truth, and soon the truth will enter your soul, and you will know its inmost meaning. There is a way of \u201cgoing\u201d by bending the mind to the truth, but there is also a \u201cweeping\u201d in the passionate longing that we ought always to have towards God\u2019s statutes. \u201cGoing and Weeping\u201d is a noble motto for the student.<\/p>\n
So it is for the Christian worker, and for the Christian sufferer. <\/i>I will put the two together; the Christian worker goes and weeps; the Christian sufferer weeps, yet goes. I desire, while working for God in vigorous health, to maintain a lowly, humble, penitent frame of mind; but if sickly, and laid low, and made to weep through bodily pain or relative affliction, I ask that I may have cheerful courage, so that, if I cannot do much, I may do something for the Lord, and still keep on \u201cgoing.\u201d I have seen, and often is my spirit melted at the sight, one whose sufferings seldom abate, yet whose desire to serve God nearer abates, but rather increases, and who would give anything if activity might take the place of patience. Blessed be those weak ones whom the Lord elects to suffer, yet who still seek to serve him; and blessed be those who actively serve him, yet sit humbly at his feet, and feel that they are less than nothing, and who weep tears of joy to think that God should so honor such poor worms as they are as to permit them to do anything for his dear name\u2019s sake!<\/p>\n
This \u201cgoing and weeping\u201d ought to be most conspicuous in those of you who are not yet saved. <\/i>If you really want to be saved, you will seek the Lord your God, by hearing his Word, and by much earnest prayer. If his grace is really working in you, you will seek him by casting yourselves at his feet, and by looking to the great sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, and by trusting in his redeeming blood. But with all that \u201cgoing\u201d there will be \u201cweeping.\u201d You will loathe yourselves in your own sight; you will bemoan the corruptions of your heart, and cry, \u201cThe whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.\u201d Never cease your \u201cweeping\u201d till Christ has said, \u201cI absolve thee.\u201d Sigh and cry until, at his dear cross, you have seen all your transgressions blotted out forever. O sinner, I pray God to work in you this \u201cgoing\u201d and this \u201cweeping\u201d! I have already told you that the \u201cweeping\u201d is of no avail without the \u201cgoing\u201d by faith to Christ; but I have also said to you that the supposed going to Christ is not a real \u201cgoing\u201d to him unless there is also sincere \u201cweeping\u201d on account of sin. May your \u201cgoing\u201d be away from your sin; and may your \u201cweeping\u201d lead you to look to Christ as you pray, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cLord God of my salvation,
To thee, to thee, I cry;
Oh let my supplication
Arrest thine ear on high!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Distresses round me thicken,
My life draws nigh the grave;
Descend, O Lord, to quicken,
Descend my soul to save!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
III. <\/b>Our time is nearly exhausted, but I ask you to have patience with me, for two or three minutes more, while I mention a very few out of the multitude of Reasons Why The \u201cGoing\u201d And The \u201cWeeping\u201d Should Be Conjoined In Our Lives.<\/p>\n
And, first, speaking to the members of this church, I mention that which is always uppermost with me. We want to see a great enlargement of our church, a deep and permanent revival of religion. We have had a foretaste of it, but we are sighing and crying for a great deal more. If we are to have it, there must be, in the church, a \u201cgoing\u201d and a \u201cweeping.\u201d Every brother and every sister must be doing something for the Lord. You who can preach in the street, go and do it; you who can distribute tracts, go and do it; you who can teach in the Sabbath-schools, go and do it; you who can serve the Lord in the lodging-houses or anywhere else, you who can speak to the ones and the twos, go, go, <\/i>GO, in the Lord\u2019s name, \u201cgo ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\u201d But you will go best where you go \u201cweeping.\u201d Ah, me, what cause we have for weeping! Planted in the midst of the greatest city upon the face of the earth, \u2014 the greatest for population, and, considering its light, the greatest for transgression, \u2014 what cause we have for weeping! If you knew what some of us have to know, you would know enough to give you heart-ache or heart-break. If you went into some of our streets on the Sabbath day, you might ask, \u201cIs there any Sabbath at all with all this marketing and bargaining?\u201d Look at the gin-palaces, those doors of hell are wide open in almost every street; as though they sold the bread of life, men multiply these places where they destroy both body and soul. I dare hardly remind you of the haunts of vice; I will rather speak of the agents of superstition. How busily they ply their deadly trade! Some damn men by open sin; but these damn them by a lie which they offer to them as the truth of God. This city is a reeking dunghill; and \u201cexcept the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.\u201d May God, in his mercy, preserve us as salt in the midst of the general putridity! Some of you have even greater cause than this for weeping; for, in your own houses, there are those who love not the Lord. Your children are not the Lord\u2019s children; perhaps your wife or your husband loves not your God. You may well weep as you go! Sympathy and activity, compassion and diligence, \u2014 with this sweet amalgam every saint ought to be anointed. The anointing of the Hotly Ghost is better still; but even that anointing has, among its choicest ingredients, the power to give us the sympathy and the diligence that we need.<\/p>\n
Now, beloved friends, I speak to you who are not converted, if you are seeking the Lord, there ought to be in you the \u201cgoing\u201d and the \u201cweeping.\u201d The \u201cweeping\u201d as you think of Jesus, and his great love to sinners like yourself. They despised him, rejected him, laughed him to scorn; but he still pursued them with love, as I trust he has pursued you; and I know some for whom he has, by his grace, continued the pursuit, until, at last, with a divine art known only to himself, he has made the unwilling willing in the day of his power. For the love that Christ hath to sinners, we ought all to feel our heart \u201cweeping\u201d that we should ever have offended such a Divine Lover. To transgress against his crown, is high treason; but to transgress against his cross, is the sin of sins; I know not by what name to call such hardness of heart, such barbarity of spirit, such brutishness of soul. Think, for a moment, (for perhaps this may help you to go and weep,) of the Lord himself, the King of glory, coming down among men, and finding a poor shelter in his birth, little comfort in his life, and no solace in his death. Very poor was he who could have worn the sun upon his head, and the stars as rings upon his fingers. Very lowly was he before whom the tallest angel shrank into less than nothing in joyful adoration. Think of him, amidst the cold night of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood; think of him scourged, spit upon, mocked, and, at last, fastened to the cruel cross, to die the death of a slave; \u2014 all for love of guilty men! Where are our hearts? Surely, adamant is softer than our hearts if we do not weep to think that all this was for undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving sinners; and for no motive but that he was so full of love to them that he must give himself thus to suffer and to die for them. Let us go to his cross, and look upon him whom we have pierced, and mourn because of him; and while we rejoice over pardoned guilt, let us mourn that we have pierced the Lord.<\/p>\n
If nothing else will make us weep, there is one other reflection that should bring out the sorrow and also the activity of all believers, and that is the fact that, though we were once lost, and far from God, we are now saved. There are sitting, in this house, hundreds if not thousands of persons who were \u201cheirs of wrath, even as others,\u201d \u201cbut ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;\u201d and now, \u201cbeloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.\u201d \u201cOh, what amazing mercy,\u201d each saved soul may well say, \u201cand all this for me!<\/i>\u201d Everlasting love ordained it, immutable love has accomplished it, and unchanging love will perfect it. The chief of sinners, yet chosen ere time began; a sinner since conversion, yet loved with a love that will never change, it cannot increase, and it never will diminish; loved with a love that will outlast the sun when its bright lamp hath burned up all its oil; a love that shall outlast time, so that, when the angel shall \u201cstand upon the sea and upon the earth,\u201d and swear \u201cby him that liveth for ever and ever\u201d that there shall be time no longer, it shall not affect the heritage my soul possesses in the infinite, eternal love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Oh, how could I ever offend such a God as this? Shame on my heart; fain would I smite thee that thou couldst ever be an enemy to One who loved thee ere the day-star know its place; and O base spirit, that does not now serve God better, more ardently, more passionately, more perfectly, seeing that all this love has been spent on thee! Beloved, God grant that we may realize, in all its sweetness, the meaning of our text, \u201cgoing and weeping,\u201d and unto him shall be glory forever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
EPHESIANS 1:1-14.<\/b><\/p>\n
In this chapter, we see what Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has to say about the possessions and privileges of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Verses 1, 2. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/i><\/p>\n
Brethren and sisters in Christ, this is a benediction for you as well as for the saints at Ephesus; it is for all \u201cthe faithful in Christ Jesus.\u201d May you all have grace without measure, and may you all have \u201cthe peace of God, which passeth all understanding,\u201d to \u201ckeep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus\u201d! Grace and peace are both to be had by believing in Jesus.<\/p>\n
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:<\/i><\/p>\n
It is right that we should bless God as he has so richly blessed us. Blessed be the Heavenly Father who has so abundantly blessed his children. How has he blessed us? \u201cWith all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or, things) in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,<\/i><\/p>\n
That is the commencement of all the blessing, God\u2019s electing love. This is the fountain from which the living waters flow. There would have been no stream of blessing to us at all if it had not been for this first primeval choice of us by God, even as Jesus said to his disciples, \u201cYe have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love:<\/i><\/p>\n
Here is the blessing of sanctification; we are chosen that we may be made holy. To what nobler end could we have been elected? Is not this the very highest of our heart\u2019s desires, \u2014 \u201cthat we should be holy and without blame before him in love\u201d?<\/p>\n
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,<\/i><\/p>\n
Oh, what a blessing this is, altogether inconceivable in its results!<\/p>\n
\u201cBehold what wondrous grace,
The Father hath bestow\u2019d
On sinners of a mortal race,
To call them sons of God!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.<\/i><\/p>\n
There is music for you: \u201caccepted in the Beloved.\u201d Are there grander words in any language than those four? Oh, the joy of being beloved, adopted, accepted by God the Father because of his beloved Son! Now comes something more: \u2014<\/p>\n
7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;<\/i><\/p>\n
Redemption from destruction, the forgiveness of our sins, \u2014 we have all this through \u201cthe riches of his grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
8-14. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.<\/i><\/p>\n
There is no end to the blessing which God gives to his chosen. He is always blessing us with blessings upon blessings, grace upon grace, and then there will be glory to crown it all. Blessed be his holy name forever and ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 3049 A SERMON PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, JULY 18TH, 1907, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON THURSDAY EVENING, NOV. 9TH, 1871. \u201cGoing and weeping.\u201d \u2014 Jeremiah 50:4. Possibly, someone says, on hearing my text, \u201cI like better to be going and singing.\u201d Yes, my friend, and I do not blame … Continue reading “\u201cGOING AND WEEPING.\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-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376","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=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}