Well may the text begin with a “Behold,” for it contains some special wonders, such as can be seen nowhere else. First, here is a tender and loving Shepherd sending his sheep into the most dangerous position-“I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” It is the part of a shepherd to protect his sheep from the wolves, not to send them into the very midst of those ravenous beasts; and yet here is the Good Shepherd, “that Great Shepherd of the sheep,” actually undertaking and carrying out this extraordinary experiment of conducting his sheep into the very midst of wolves. How strange it seems to poor carnal sense. Be astonished, but be not unbelieving-stand still awhile and study the reason.

The next remarkable thing is “sheep in the midst of wolves,” because according to the order of nature such a thing is never seen, but, on the other hand, it has been reckoned a great calamity that in some lands wolves are too often seen in the midst of sheep. The wolf leaps into the midst of a flock and rends and tears on every side; it matters not how many the sheep may be, for one wolf is more than a match for a thousand sheep. But lo! here you see sheep sent forth among the wolves, as if they were the attacking party, and were bent upon putting down their terrible enemies. It is a novel sight, such as nature can never show, but grace is full of marvels.

Equally extraordinary is the singular mixture, never yet seen by human eye amongst beasts and birds-a mixture of the serpent with the dove in one person. What a strange blending. Creatures which are capable of cross-breeding must have some sort of kinship; but here is a reptile of the dust united with a bird of the air-“Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Grace knows how to pick the good out of the evil, the jewel out of the oyster shell, the diamond from the dunghill, the sagacity from the serpent; and by a divine chemistry it leaves the good which it takes out of the foul place as good as though it had never been there. Grace knows how to blend the most gentle with the most subtle; to take away from prudence the base element which makes it into cunning, and, by mingling innocence with it, produce a sacred prudence most valuable for all walks of life.

With these three wonders outside the text, lying, as it were, upon the very surface, we shall enter into a fuller consideration of it with great expectations; but if we do so we shall be disappointed if we expect to learn anything very extraordinary unless we are prepared to practise what we learn. I may truly say of this text, he that doeth its bidding shall understand its doctrine: he who followeth its precept shall best know its meaning. May the Spirit of all grace work in us according to his divine power, and perfect in us the will of the Lord.

Though primarily addressed to the apostles, it seems to me that our text relates in its measure to all who have any talent or ability for spreading the gospel, and indeed to all the saints so far as they are true to their calling as the children of God. They are all of them more or less as sheep in the midst of wolves, and to them all is the advice given, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Let us hear for ourselves as though the Lord Jesus spoke to us each individually.

We may see in the text four things concerning the people of God. First, their prominent vocation-“Behold, I send you forth;” secondly, their imminent peril-“as sheep in the midst of wolves”; thirdly, their eminent authority-“Behold, I send you forth”; and, lastly, their permanent instructions-“Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

First, let us consider their prominent vocation. They had other callings, for some of them were fishermen; but their great calling was this-“Behold, I send you forth.” The call of the Lord over-rides all other vocations. Every child of God, according to the capacity of grace which God has given to him, should hear this voice of the Lord calling him and sending him forth to labour-“Behold, I send you forth.”

These disciples had been with him, and had been taught by him, that they might teach in his name. They had for some little time been his disciples or learners, and now he calls them apart from the rest, and says, “I send you forth to teach and to make disciples.” The mode of operation in the kingdom of God is, first make disciples, baptize them, teach them whatsoever the Lord has commanded, and then let them go forth and do the same with others. When one light is kindled other candles are lit therefrom. Drops of heavenly water are flashed aloft and scattered all around like dew upon the face of the earth, and behold each one begetteth a fountain, where it falls, and thus the desert is made to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Do not try to teach till the Lord Jesus has first taught you: do not pretend to instruct till you have been instructed. Sit at Christ’s feet before you speak in Christ’s name, but when once you are instructed do not fail to become teachers. The lessons of your Lord will be impressed upon your own minds the more forcibly and indelibly when you have earnestly communicated them to your fellow men. First be taught, but afterwards fail not to teach. Hoard not up the treasure of divine knowledge, for there is no stint therein: eat not alone the honey of redeeming love, for there is enough and to spare. Feed not upon the bread of heaven with selfish greed, as though there were a famine in the land and you had need to save each crumb for yourself, but break your bread among the hungry crowd about you, and it shall multiply in your hand. Christ has called you that you may afterwards go forth and call others to his sacred feast of grace.

Our Lord called them not only to teach those that came in their way, but to go after the lost sheep. “Behold,” he says, “I send you forth.” Some persons will hardly teach those who come immediately to their doors. Living under your own roof, with some of you, there are neglected souls. Even in some professedly Christian families there are sons and daughters who are not being trained for holiness nor taught in the way of everlasting life. This is sad to the last degree. Friend, do you fail there? Let conscience be awake to judge. Your Master supposes that you have fulfilled home duties, and then he calls you forth to attempt something further. “Go your ways,” saith he, for “I send you forth.” You have been sitting and hearing the gospel, leave your seats at times and go forth to bring others to the faith. You have the power of the word upon your hearts, now go and show its power upon your lips by speaking to others, however few or many. Go out yourselves as sowers, and scatter the seed your Lord has given to you for that end. Go where providence guides you, to the Sunday-school class to teach, to the street corner to preach, to the remote village or hamlet to bear witness for Christ, or to the densely crowded city slums to uplift the banner of Christ; but go your way somewhere. Sit not down in idleness and fold your arms in indifference to the world’s woes. Behold, your compassionate Lord sends you, therefore go gladly anywhere, everywhere,-where his wisdom appoints the way-where your business gives you opportunity, or your travelling gives you occasion. “I send you forth,” saith he.

He sent them forth, we are told, to work miracles as well as to preach. Now, he hath not given us this power, neither do we desire it: it is more to God’s glory that the world should be conquered by the force of truth than by the blaze of miracles. The miracles were the great bell of the universe which was rung in order to call the attention of all men all over the world to the fact that the gospel feast was spread: we do not need the bell now, for the thousands who have feasted to the full are the best announcers of the banquet. Those of us who have fed upon Christ and his salvation will make the matter known wherever we go, and no further announcement by miracle will be required, save only the standing miracle of the indwelling Spirit.

We have now the great advantages of rapid travelling and of the printing press, so that we need not now the gift of tongues, since men can so much more readily learn a foreign language than they could before, and so much more quickly travel to the spot. For the moral and spiritual forces of truth to work by themselves, apart from any physical manifestation, is more to the glory of the truth, and the Christ of the truth, than if we were all miracle workers, and could destroy gainsayers. Yet still, though we work no miracles in the physical world, we work them in the moral and spiritual world, ay, and the same miracles too; for, behold, he has sent us forth to heal the sick, as the evangelist has it in the eighth verse of the chapter before us. Those who are depressed in spirit, faint and feeble, broken-hearted and desponding, bruised and mangled by the assaults of the great enemy,-we are to go forth and pour in the oil and wine of the gospel, apply the heavenly plaster of the promise, and bind up with sacred liniment of consoling doctrine, and everywhere bring before sin-sick sinners the matchless medicine of the precious blood of Christ. For every spiritual disease the gospel is the sure remedy, and we are to carry it to every land. “Heal the sick.” This also we do. Such sicknesses as laugh at the physician, and cannot be touched by mortal skill, are healed by the servants of him who came himself to bear human sicknesses that he might bear them away. Go forth, ye servants of God, with a better balm than that of Gilead; sit not still in idleness while bleeding hearts and sickening souls are all around you. Men are perishing; go forth to heal them.

You are also to “cleanse the lepers.” There is a leprosy abroad in the world which takes different shapes in different ages, but is the same both in its cause and effect. In our land we see on all hands the foul leprosy of drunkenness, that brutish disease which degrades and destroys men’s souls; there is the leprosy of superstition, which eats into the understanding and makes a man a fool; and, alas, there is the white leprosy of scepticism, which like an inward fire consumes the very heart. Sin is this leprosy, and our business is, as God shall help us, by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make these lepers clean. It is to be done. It is done by us now in our Lord’s name. He that worketh in us mightily will cause the Word to be mighty to this end also, that the leprosy may depart from men and that they may come into the congregation of the Lord.

He bids us also raise the dead, which seems the sternest work of all; but as the others are impossible to us apart from him, this is not more difficult than the rest We are to “raise the dead,” Our gospel begins with men where they are by nature, and does not wait till they come part of the way. We go forth to preach to those who are careless and insensible, to those who have no feeling whatsoever, and are furtherest gone from any tenderness of heart with regard to their own sin or the love of God. Go ye with the gospel to the sepulchre of vice and preach to the dead in sin. The gospel has a quickening power, beloved, and Jesus who is the resurrection and the life sends you forth, that by his word in your mouths dead souls may be raised. None are too stolid to be aroused, too hardened to be renewed.

And then he adds, “Cast out devils.” This commission he gave to his apostles, and in a spiritual sense to us too. The devil and his myrmidons reign over the hearts of men, subjecting them to sin and unbelief. Behold they claim this world as their dominion, but it is not so, they are usurpers, for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. Go ye with the truth and cast out the demon of error; go ye with the glad tidings of joy and cast out the demon of despair; go ye with the message of peace and cast out the demon of war; go ye with the word of holiness and cast out the demons of iniquity; go with the gospel of liberty and cast out the demons of tyranny. These blessed deeds can be done and shall be done, God being with you, and to this end he bids you go in his name, for he will gird you with his strength.

Now, when I say that every Christian according to his ability is called to do this, I mean precisely what I say. I mean that Christian men nowadays while they should be attached to the church to which they belong, and the more intense that attachment the better for a thousand reasons, yet they should not regard the church as being a peaceful dormitory where they are all to sleep, but a common barracks where they are all to be trained, and out of which they are to issue and carry on the sacred crusade for Christ. We are not to be frozen together with the compactness of a mass of ice, through mere agreement of creed, but welded together like bars of iron by the fire of a common purpose and a common zeal. If we are what we should be, we shall be continually breaking forth on the right hand and on the left: each man, each woman, according to the calling that God has given to us, we shall be seeking to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom in all directions. My dear brethren, ye are arrows in the quiver, how gladly would I see you shot forth upon the enemy from the bow of the Lord. Many of you are as battleaxes and weapons of war hanging on the wall. O that you may be taken down and used of the Lord in his glorious fight. Lo, on the walls of Zion hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men; but the great need of the age is that these weapons be removed from their resting and rusting, and carried into the thick of the fray. May the Lord send you forth, O ye who have been saved under my ministry! May he hurl you forth with power divine, like a mighty hail against his adversaries. May each man among you be eager to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints and to save souls from going down into the pit. Here, then, is your permanent vocation, try to realize it.

Secondly, we shall consider their imminent peril. “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves;” that is to say, the task is one of great danger and difficulty. Our divine enterprise is no child’s play. The work has its charms; it looks very pretty upon paper and sounds well when eloquently described. At missionary meetings and revival services it stirs your blood to hear of what is to be done, and you resolve to rush upon it at once; but while we would not check the ardour of one eager aspirant, we would have him count the cost and know what the warfare is. Enlist by all means, but stop a bit, and know what you are doing, lest you quit the field as hurriedly as you entered it, and bring disgrace both on yourselves and the cause. Old soldiers who know the smell of gunpowder, talk not so lightly of a battle as the raw recruits may do; they remember the blood and fire and vapour of smoke, and, though they are not timid, they are very serious. Come ye who have never thought about it, and look upon that which will dishearten every man who is a coward, and test the brave as to whether their courage is that of nature or of grace.

You are to go forth as sheep among wolves, that is to say, you have to go among those who will not in any way sympathize with your efforts. Sometimes we go among amiable, quiet, almost persuaded people, and it is somewhat pleasant work, though even there it is very discouraging, for those who are not far from the kingdom are often the hardest to be won. Borderers are a difficult sort of people to deal with, and for real success one may as well go among the decidedly ungodly at once. If you discharge your souls and behave zealously before God, you will have to deal with people who cannot enter into your feelings or agree with your aims. The bleating sheep finds no harmony in the bark or howl of the wolf: the two are very different animals, and by no means agree. You do not suppose that you are going to be received with open arms by everybody, do you? And if you become a preacher of the gospel you do not imagine that you are going to please people, do you? The time may come when perhaps the wolves will find it most for their own comfort not to howl quite so loudly, but my own experience goes to show that they howl pretty loudly when you first come among them, and they keep up the hideous concert year after year, until at last they somewhat weary of their useless noise. The world doth raven as a wolf if any man be in double earnest for the Kingdom of Christ. Well, you must bear with it. What sort of sympathy can a lamb expect from wolves? If he expected any would he be not disappointed? Be not you disappointed, for you know your surroundings, and you know your mission. When our Saviour used similar words to the seventy, he did not call them sheep, but lambs, (see Luke 10:3), for they were not so far advanced as the twelve, yet did he send them into the same trying circumstances, and they returned in peace. Even the weak ones among us should therefore be of good courage and be ready to face opposition and ridicule.

Sheep in the midst of wolves are among those who would rend them, tear them, devour them. Luther used to say, Cain will go on killing Abel to the world’s end, if he can, and so he will till that millennial day when the wolf shall lie down with the lamb. The disposition and nature of the wolves cause them to be opposed to the sheep, and it is the nature of the world to hate the children of God. All along through history you see the two seeds in contention; if there is Abel there is Cain who slays him; if there is Noah, you see an ungodly world all round him; if there be an Isaac, so also is there an Ishmael who will mock him; and if there be a Jacob there is an Esau who seeks to kill him. There cannot be an Israel without Pharaoh, or Amalek, or Edom, or Babylon to oppose. David must be hunted by Saul, and the Son of David by Herod. There is an enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and that enmity will always remain. The ungodly roar upon the righteous, and seek to bring cruel accusations against them, even as against their Lord. No matter how pure the lives of the godly, the wicked will slander them; no matter how kind their actions, they will render evil in return; no matter how plain and honest their behaviour, they will suspect them; and no matter how disinterested in their motives, they will be sure to attribute to them the very meanest designs, for the wolf cometh to kill and to devour, and he will do it to the best of his ability. Ah, how red are his fangs in times of persecution. How the wolf raged and raved over this our country in the days of Mary and Charles the Second, and afterwards when, first as a Protestant, and next as a Puritan, the godly were devoured, and he that followed his conscience was made bitterly to suffer. Scotland can tell how the wolfs fangs were wet with the blood of her covenanting sons; and were it not for God’s own strong hand put upon them the wolves would be tearing the sheep to this day in our own land.

Again, they were to go like sheep among wolves, among a people who would hinder their endeavours; for their business was to seek the lost sheep, and the wolves would not help them in that, on the contrary, the wolves themselves desire to seize upon the lost sheep as their prey. You must expect, if you are faithful to Christ and put forth zealous efforts, that there will be others who will put forth their strength and cunning to oppose you. It is often an awful game that we have to play for a man’s soul. Each move we make is met by the devil, and unless God directs us we shall lose the man. If we draw him to the prayer-meeting, another takes him to the theatre; if we set before him the truth, another puzzles him with scepticism; if we persuade him, others entice him in the wrong direction: the cunning of our foe is something terrible. We go forth to hunt for precious souls, but there are others who in another sense hunt for the precious life. The streets at night tell of those whom Satan hires that he may use them as his decoys, and the vicious literature scattered abroad so plentifully, are other forms of the nets of Satan, the great fowler, who catches the sons of men in his snares. If we are not earnest the devil is: he never sleeps; he lost his eyelids long ago. We may slumber if we dare, but the powers of evil will never suspend their activities: day and night the deadly work goes on, and the wolves howl over their prey. Therefore go we forth like sheep, not among the images of wolves, but in the midst of real active wolves, that are doing all they possibly can to destroy those sheep who are as yet lost, but whom Christ has nevertheless purchased with his precious blood.

We are to go forth like sheep among wolves in this sense, that we are quite powerless against them. What can a sheep do if a wolf sets-upon it? It has no strength to resist; and so those seventy disciples of Christ, if the Jews had hunted them down, must have gone to prison and to death, for they could not fight. “My kingdom,” said our Lord, “is not of this world, else would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews.” All through the history of the church when the wolves actually set upon the sheep they make no active resistance, but as the flock of slaughter they suffer and die. I know there was a time in history when the sheep began fighting, but it was not their Master’s mind that they should: he bids us put up our sword into its scabbard. Our place is to bear and bear and bear continually, as he did. He saith, “If a man smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Fighting sheep are strange animals, and fighting Christians are self-evident contradictions. They have forsaken the Master’s way: they have gone off from the platform whereon he standeth whenever it comes to the carnal weapon. It is ours still to submit, and to be the anvil which bears the blows, but outlasts all the hammers. After all, the wolves have had by far the worst of it; the sheep are multiplied and the wolves grow fewer and fewer. As a matter of fact the sheep have lived in this country to see the last of the wolves, and they will in other lands. The wild dogs of Australia are very fierce against the sheep, but the sheep will surely in the end live, and the wild dog will die. Everywhere it is so. They are weak in themselves, and yet they conquer the strong. “Ah,” you say, “it is the shepherd who gives them this victory.” Precisely so, and that is where our strength also lieth, even in “that great Shepherd of the sheep.” Though called to bow down as the street that men may go over us, by this endurance we conquer: in suffering we are invincible, and ever still in this sign we conquer-the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice leads the way. “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,” not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; being provoked, ye return gentleness; and being persecuted, ye pray for your enemies. “Ah,” saith one, “I do not like the look of such a mode of warfare.” I thought you would not, and you may go your way. As notice was given of old in the camp of Israel that he who had lately married a wife, or builded a house, or was fainthearted, might go home, so do we say,-To your beds, ye cowards! if ye cannot undertake this for your Master, he does not need that his host should be encumbered by your presence. Our Master calls out men to whom he giveth grace, that they may be strong to endure even unto the end. The Spirit of the Lord giveth patience and forbearance to those who in true faith seek to be like their suffering Lord.

Brethren, it is truing work for the sheep to go forth among wolves, but it has to be done. Picture it in your mind’s eye. The timid sheep trembles at it. The wolves are rough, unmannerly, coarse-minded, irritating, annoying: the poor sheep does not feel at home in such company. He sees every now and then the white teeth glittering within the wolf’s mouth, and he is ill at ease. The sheep wishes he were back again in the quiet fold among his happy brethren; but the Shepherd knows what he is at, and it is the duty of the sheep to obey, and to go-into the midst of the wolves if his Shepherd bids him.

It is very testing, too, because if a man be not truly one of God’s own he will not obey so trying a command, but will neglect duty and seek comfort. It will try even you who are most sincere. You think you have much patience: get among the wolves and see how much is left. You fancy you could put up with a great deal of annoyance; let it come upon you and you will see how it torments you. When it comes to the loss of your good name, to downright lying and slander against the tenderest part of your character, when it comes to bitter sneers and sarcasms, and words which eat like acid into the flesh and burn like coals of fire flung into the bosom, it is not easy then to maintain the love which hopeth all things, endureth all things. Grace alone makes believers press forward in their work of love, seeking with gentleness to win souls. Oh to say,-though the wicked man curse me, and foam at the mouth with rage, I will still seek his good. This is the victory of faith, but the battle will test all your graces, and make you see that all is not gold which glitters. You will soon see whether the Spirit of God be in you or not, for patient love is not natural, but supernatural, and only he who is filled with the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit will be able to live as a sheep among wolves.

If you can accomplish this work it will be very teaching to you. You will never know why Christ wept over Jerusalem till you get among the Jerusalemites, and painfully feel the cruel wrongs which make men weep because they love. You cannot understand the Saviour’s death throe, the bloody sweat, the heaviness even unto death, and the broken heart, unless you go like a sheep into the midst of wolves: then you will be where Jesus was, and you will have fellowship with him. Practical learning is best-books cannot teach us fellowship with our Lord, but when we get to do Christly work then we come to mourn the evil which he lamented and prize the remedy which he supplied. Thus we gather knowledge, and are ourselves the better for our labour for others.

Let us now look at God’s servants sent forth, and note their eminent authority, “Behold I send you forth.” What a grand expression! It could be used by no mere man. He who spake thus is divine. Brothers and sisters, our commission justifies us in what we do. For a sheep to go into the midst of wolves of its own accord would be a foolish courting of peril, but when the great Shepherd says, “I send you,” it would be a grievous fault to linger. Who is this who says “I send you”? First, it is “The Lord of the harvest.” Did you notice while we were reading in the tenth of Luke, how the two verses ran on, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you.” The same connection is here, only there is a little parenthesis; read the last verse of the ninth chapter of Matthew, and you will see that it is the same. It is the Lord of the harvest to whom we pray, who actually sends us forth in answer to our own prayers. He is the Master of all worlds, and owner of the souls of men. He puts his sickle into your hand and bids you go forth and reap the golden grain which is the reward of the travail of his soul. “I send you,”-the Lord of the harvest. Armed with this authority, who shall daunt you? Go even to the gates of hell if Jesus commands.

Next, “I send you”-I who prize you, for you are my sheep, I who love you, for I bought you with my blood; I, who would not expose you to a needless danger, I who know by my infinite wisdom that I am doing a wise and a kind thing, I send you, you my sheep, my dear sheep, for whom I laid down my life,-I send you into the midst of wolves, therefore you may safely go, for I who love you send you there. Lord, we ask no questions, but we go at once.

“I send you,” that is, I who have gone on the same errand myself. Did he not come into the world like a sheep in the midst of wolves? Remember with what patience he endured, and with what glory he triumphed; recollect his poverty and shame and death: remember how like a sheep before her shearers he was dumb, like a lamb that is taken to the slaughter he opened not his mouth. He does not bid you go where he has not gone himself. It is dangerous, but then he has passed through the danger, endured it, and triumphed in it.

“I send you”-mark that,-I who overcame in the very character in which I send you. Have you not read in the book of the Revelation, “The Lamb shall overcome them;” and again, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb:” and know ye not that heaven’s high songs go up to him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever? The Lamb in the midst of wolves has conquered the wolves, and is Lord of all; and so he in effect says, “You are my lambs; therefore go forth, as I did; endure, as I did; conquer, as I did; and you shall sit on my throne, and the Lamb shall lead you to the living fountains of water.”

We close by noticing their permanent instructions. You have a tough task before you, to act as sheep among wolves. Your Lord leaves you not without guidance in the form of plain precept. What are you to do, then? Be bold as lions? Yes, but that is not the principal thing. Be swift as eagles? Yes, by all means, but that is not the main requirement. For everyday life, for the wear and tear of this great battle, there are two grand requisites; the first is prudence,-be wise as serpents; and the next thing is innocence,-be harmless as doves.

First, be prudent and wise as a serpent. Do not imitate a serpent in any other respect but in this only. Never let the devil enter into you as he did into the serpent, nor become grovelling and cunning. But, still, the serpent is an exceeding wise creature, and it had need to be, for it lives in a world where it is hated by a deadly foe. It is natural to man to hate the whole serpent tribe. The very first thing you do if you see a viper is to look for a stick to kill it. Everybody is the enemy of serpents, and if they are to exist at all they must be very wary: in this you are to copy them. What does a serpent do to preserve itself? What is it which proves its wisdom? First, it gets out of the way of man as much as it can. Our Lord meant this, for immediately after our text he says, “But beware of men.” It is well to get out of the society of ungodly men, and let them see that their habits and modes of conversation are not ours. Seek to benefit them, but do not seek their society. Their wolfish propensities are most seen in their leisure time, in their drinking and revelling, therefore keep far from these. You have no business in their gay parties, their frivolous assemblies, their drinking bouts and places of lascivious song. Do not accept their invitations when you know that they will be under no restraint; do not linger near them when they are talking lewdly or profanely; your moving off will be your most telling protest. You must be with them in your business-indeed, you are sent to them, but while you are with them you must not be of them; and you should discreetly avoid them when you know that you can do no good. You younger ones should get out of the way of old blasphemers and scoffers as much as you ever can, for they delight to worry the lambs. Do not attempt to answer them, but keep out of their way.

Do not court quarrelling and controversy, but avoid all disputing upon the gospel. Your workmates will chaff you, and no doubt you will receive many opprobrious epithets, but neither provoke this treatment nor resent it in any way. Do not cast pearls before swine, and do not introduce religion at unseasonable times; hold your principles very firmly, but when you know a man will only blaspheme if he hears you name the name of Jesus, do not give him the occasion. Stand up for Jesus when the time is fit, but do not exercise zeal without knowledge. When a man is half drunk, or in a passion, leave him to himself, and thus escape many a brawl. At another opportunity, when the occasion is more favourable, then endeavour to instruct and persuade, but not when failure is certain. Be very prudent, and hold your peace when silence is better than speech.

How else does the serpent act? It glides along very quietly. It can hiss, but it does not very often do so. As it glides along it neither sings, nor roars, nor barks; it does not court observation; it slips off quietly, gracefully, swiftly, and without noise. Now, do not seek after great publicity. There may be times when it may be well to ring the great bell. If you can get multitudes of people together to hear the gospel by all means ring the bell as loudly as you can; but as far as you are personally concerned do not make a fuss, do not blazon abroad what you are going to do; do not call upon everybody, saying, “Come, see my zeal for the Lord of hosts.” Glide along through a useful life as quietly as the serpent which does what he finds to do and says nothing, dreading rather than courting the eye of man. Unobtrusive earnestness, quiet, simple-minded resolution to achieve your purpose, whether men will bear or whether they will forbear, whether they will praise, or whether they will gainsay,-this is your wisdom.

Then, again, the serpent is famous for finding his way where no other creature could enter: any little interstice, any tiny opening, will be sufficient for his purpose. His form is adapted to progress among obstacles. You may block the way to other creatures, but he will wriggle in somehow. So should it be with us. If we cannot get at men’s hearts one way we must try another. If you cannot induce them to read the gospel, get them to hear it; if you cannot induce them to hear a sermon, drop a verse into their ears; if a tract is refused, put a word in edgeways for your Lord and Master. There is a way into everyone’s heart if you know how to find it: be wise as serpents and discover it. Though it seems very difficult to reach some minds, yet with holy perseverance and serpentine adroitness continue the attempt, and you will succeed. There is a weak point in the strongest man’s mind, where his opposition can be wounded. Even Leviathan that laugheth at the spear hath a tender place where the spear’s point may come at him; and so the most ungodly, wicked, blaspheming, profane infidel has some point where you may reach his better feelings if you do but search it out. Be wise as serpents in this respect.

But then you are to add to this, which might otherwise degenerate into cunning, the innocence of the dove. The Greek for harmless is “without horn.” The dove is without horn, hoof, fang, or other means of defence. You are to have positively no weapon: like the dove, you are to be defenceless. It seems a singular thing to set doves flying at eagles, and lambs at war with wolves, but this is what the Lord has done. This defencelessness, however, which looks like our weakness, is our real strength. Our being harmless appears to predict sure destruction, but it is to be the means of certain victory. You are to be gentle, and easily entreated; you are not to fly into a passion because you are contradicted, nor to be angry because you are reviled. You are to endure contradiction and slander with tenderness and gentleness, as a dove bears all things. You are not to be driven into any sin by opposition. The dove is pure; it loveth to be by the rivers of waters, in the quiet and clean places. So do you never be driven to sinful word or deed, but do good to all men, and glorify God in all things, by being both gentle and pure as a dove. And as the dove is very simple and is altogether artless and unworldly, so let your strength and your wisdom lie in your artless truthfulness and childlike dependence upon God. See how Christ explains his own utterance a little further down. “Harmless as doves,” then he adds, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak.” Be like a dove, confident because fearless, gentle, artless, simple, and restful. Do no ill, and fear none. You Christian people, if you are going to defend the gospel, need not study oratory, or become expert in pleadings such as are used at law. Tell the truth and baffle the devil. Truth is the most powerful weapon and the most subtle policy. I believe that even in affairs of state truth is wisdom. No diplomatic agent would so confound intriguers as a man who should tell the truth. They would conclude that what he said was a lie, because they are accustomed to regard everything as having another meaning. An ambassador was formerly said to be a gentleman who is sent abroad to lie for the good of his country; but I hope it is not so now. If straightforward truth should ever become the policy of any country it would be invincible in council: if in politics a man were to throw away all arts and tricks, and adhere only to principle, he must gain respect. The greatest art in all the world is to fling all art away, and the grandest policy is to have no policy, but honest dealing. The bravest thing that can ever be done, and the most noble, is to be artless and harmless as a dove. There, then, is the policy of your warfare,-be prudent, but be innocent and simple-minded. Oh, the power of truthfulness! Do not believe that men are strong in proportion as they are artful. By no manner of means. Do not believe that they are strong in proportion as they can bend a fist. No, the power of a Christian must lie in his holy heart, and in his earnest tongue, and in his look of love. By this he shall vanquish, but by nothing else.

The conclusion of my sermon is this. Does it come home to you, brothers and sisters? Do you hear the Lord sending you out to work? Then, I entreat you, go forth. Suppose I make that one sentence my last word,-go forth. You may have heard of the Scotch officer who had his men drawn up for the battle, and felt bound to make them a speech, and so he pointed to the enemy, and said, “There they are, lads; if you don’t kill them, they will kill you.” My word is the same: there are the enemies of all righteousness, the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the good of men, the enemies of progress: if you do not overthrow them by publishing the gospel to all according to your ability, they will overthrow you. Which is it to be? By the grace of the Eternal and the omnipotence of him who bled for us, we will conquer even by his cross after his own fashion. Only let his Holy Spirit rest upon us. Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon-Luke 10:1-23.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-449, 679, 671.

BRAVE WAITING

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 26th, 1877, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”-Psalm 27:14.

The Christian’s life is no child’s play. All who have gone on pilgrimage to the celestial city have found a rough road, sloughs of despond and hills of difficulty, giants to fight and tempters to shun. Hence there are two perils to which Christians are exposed; the one is that under heavy pressure they should start away from the path which they ought to pursue,-the other is lest they should grow fearful of failure, and so become faint-hearted in their holy course. Both these dangers had evidently occurred to David, and in the text he is led by the Holy. Spirit to speak about them. “Do not,” he seems to say, “do not think that you are mistaken in keeping to the way of faith; do not turn aside to crooked policy, do not begin to trust in an arm of flesh, but wait upon the Lord;” and, as if this were a duty in which we are doubly apt to fail, he repeats the exhortation, and makes it more emphatic the second time, “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Hold on with your faith in God, persevere in walking according to his will; let nothing seduce you from your integrity,-let it never be said of you, “Ye did run well, what did hinder you that you did not obey the truth?” And lest we should be faint in our minds, which was the second danger, the psalmist says, “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.” There is really nothing to be depressed about, there is no real danger, you are safe while God lives, and while Christ pleads, and while the Spirit of God dwells in you; therefore be not dismayed, nor even dream of fear. Be not timorous and unbelieving, but play the man; “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.” The object of our discourse this morning will be the encouragement of those who feel in any degree whatever dispirited and depressed on account of the hard places of the way, or the opposition of the world. May the Divine Spirit, whose peculiar office it is to be the Comforter of his people, now give the oil of joy to all who mourn, and courage to all who tremble.

We shall look at our text under four heads. First, God is to be waited on; secondly, courage is to be maintained; thirdly, waiting upon God will sustain courage; and, fourthly, experience has proved this,-for David sets his own seal to the text when he says, “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” As much as to say-I have tried and proved the power of communion with God, and therefore personally give my advice that you do continually wait upon the Lord, and you will be greatly strengthened.

First, then, dear friends, God is to be waited on. That word “wait” is so exceedingly comprehensive that I quite despair of bringing out every shade of its meaning. The word “walk” describes almost the whole of Christian life, and so does this word “wait”; for rightly understood, waiting is active as well as passive, energetic as well as patient, and to wait upon the Lord necessitates as much holy courage as warring and fighting with his enemies. We are to wait on, wait upon, and wait for the Lord; for it is written, “they that wait on the Lord shall inherit the earth,” “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” and “blessed are all they that wait for him.”

What do we mean, then, by “wait on the Lord”? I say, first, let us wait on the Lord as a beggar waits for alms at the rich man’s door. We are very poor and needy, labouring under such necessities that the whole world cannot supply what we require. Only in God is there a supply for the deep poverty of our souls. We have gone to his door, many of us, and knocked and waited, and in so doing we have obtained very gracious answers. If others of us have not seen the door of mercy open to us, let us still wait at the posts of the Lord’s door, still knock, and still hope for his salvation. Are you seeking the Saviour, and are you trusting him, and have you not yet obtained the peace which comes with believing? Then with great importunity continue in prayer and wait on, remembering that the blessing is worth waiting for: it is such a treasure that if you had to wait for a lifetime fully to obtain it you would be well repaid when it came. Wait, but knock as you wait, with fervent pleading and strong confidence, for the Lord himself waiteth to be gracious to you. Agonize in desire, and let not the knocker of heaven’s gate ever rest: make the door of mercy to resound again and again with your resolute blows upon it. The Lord is good to them that wait for him; he will in due time answer you: it shall never be said that any were sent away empty from his gate. He has not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth, nor said unto the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye my face in vain.” Pray on, believe on, and as surely as God’s promise is true he will in due time grant you conscious salvation, your head shall be lifted high above your enemies round about you, and you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. The devil bids you cease from prayer; he tells you that the little faith you have will never save you. Do not believe him, stand fast, pray on, believe on, expect on; though the vision tarry, wait for it; it shall come, it shall not tarry. The Lord grant you grace to wait in all humility, for what are you but a beggar, and beggars must not be choosers; it is good that a man both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for him. To cling to the cross, to rest at the altar of our Lord’s atonement is the safest course. Believingly to wait upon the Lord, pleading the all-prevailing name of Jesus, is the suppliant’s best posture.

I trust many in the house of God this morning have passed from this stage to the next; they wait as learners for instruction. The disciple waits at his Master’s feet and according as the Teacher chooses to speak, so the disciple’s ears are opened. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. Some stand in the crowd and listen a little, and anon they are gone, but the true disciple abides in the school and waits to hear what his Master will speak. We bow down at his feet with this humble resolve, that whatsoever he saith we will hear, and whatever his doctrine, precept, or promise may be we will drink it all in with intense delight. The pupils of the old philosophers were wont to walk in the groves of Academia till the wise men were ready to come and speak with them; and when any one of the wise men began to speak, the young disciples quietly followed his steps, eagerly catching up every precious sentence which he might utter. Much more should it be so with us towards our Lord Jesus; let us follow him in every page of inspiration, study every line of creation, and learn of him in all the teachings of his providence. Let us catch the faintest whisper of his Spirit, and yield to each divine impulse. “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” If you are to be instructed disciples it must be by a diligent, patient, persevering waiting upon him who is the fountain of all knowledge and the sun of all light. May we never outrun our Master by conceited speculations, and vain imaginings, but may we wait till he speaks, and be content to remain in ignorance unless he chooses to withdraw the veil.

A third form of this waiting will come out under the figure of waiting as a servant waits upon his Lord. A true servant is anxious to know what his master wishes him to do, and when he once knows it he is happy to undertake it and carry it through. In great houses certain servants enquire of the master in the morning, “Sir, what are your orders for the day?” Imitate this, and when you rise in the morning, always wait upon your Lord to know what are his commands for the day. Say, “Show me what thou wouldst have me to do. Teach me thy way, O Lord: lead me in a plain path. Inform me as to what to seek and what to shun, for my will is to do thy will in all things.” Notice how maid-servants watch their mistresses when they are waiting at table or serving about the house; a word is enough, and sometimes a look or a nod of the head is all the direction needed; so should it be with us, we should eagerly desire to know the mind of the Lord, and carefully watch for indications of it. As the eyes of a maiden are unto the hand of her mistress so should our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. We, who are the ministers of the Lord Jesus, ought to be looking all around to see what we can do in God’s house. Good servants do not need to be told of every little thing, they have their master’s interest at heart and they themselves perceive what should be done, and they do it. Oh, to be always waiting to do yet more and more for Jesus. I would go up and down my master’s house, seeing what I can do for his little children, whom I delight to cherish; what part of the house needs sweeping and cleaning, that I may quietly go about it; what part of the table needs to be furnished with food, that I may bring out as his steward things new and old; what there is to be done for my Master towards those who are without, and what is to be done for those already in his family. You will never be short of work if with your whole heart you wait upon the Lord. We do ill if we stand idly gazing up into heaven expecting his coming, and making it a pretence for doing little or nothing to win souls: our wisest course is, as men that expect their Lord, to stand with our loins girt, and our lamps trimmed. You know what the Orientals meant by having their loins girt, they gathered up their loose flowing garments when they meant work, even as a hardworking man among us takes off his coat and works in his shirt-sleeves. Stand like workmen with your sleeves up-that is the English of it, ready for any work which your Master may appoint. You put on the livery of the Lord Jesus years ago when you were baptized into his name; take care to keep it spotless, for it is known to be connected with a sinless prince. Never by disobedience make the livery to be a lie, for if you be not his servants wherefore should you wear the garb of his household? Beloved, “he that waiteth upon his master shall be honoured.” Let us not fail in waiting upon ours.

Sometimes the servant will have to wait in absolute inaction, and this is not always to the taste of energetic minds. I suppose that walking round Jericho six days and doing nothing must have been very distasteful to the men of war who wanted to be coming to blows. They might have said, “Why should we and all the multitude march round the walls and do nothing? The men of war chafed in their harness, and longed to be at the foe. It is said that Wellington kept back the Guards at Waterloo till far into the fight, and it must, I should think, have needed much courage on their part to remain calm and quiet while cannon were roaring, and the battle raging, and the shots flying about them. They must not stir till the commander-in-chief gives the order, “Up, Guards, and at them!” then will they clear the field and utterly annihilate the foe. They were as much serving their country by lying still till the time came as they were by dashing forward when at last the word was given. Wait then upon your Lord in all sorts of service and patience, for this is what he would have you to do.

Another form of this waiting may be compared to a traveller waiting the directions of his guide, or a mariner waiting upon the pilot who takes charge of his ship. We are to wait upon God for direction in the entire voyage of life; he is at the helm, and his hand is to steer our course. I am fearful that some Christians very greatly fail in waiting upon the Lord for guidance, yet the types and examples of the Old Testament very strongly enforce this duty. I will give you one type and one example. The type shall be Israel in the wilderness. There was a straight way to Canaan, and I suppose it would not occupy many days to go from Goshen to Jerusalem. They must not, however, take that way, but follow their leader. When they had wandered even for a year in the wilderness, they might soon have reached the land, for in fact they were near its borders; but no, they must go where the famous pillar, which indicated the presence of God, should conduct them. If it remained stationary for a year the tents must not remove; if it was up early in the morning, again, and again, and again, for a whole succession of weary marching days, Israel must not dare to rest. Under the shade of the pillar of cloud must they abide by day, and its light must be their glory by night. Everywhere they were to wait for the heavenly signal, and never choose their own path. Do you watch the cloud, my brethren? Do you wait upon the Lord for guidance? Do you continually say, “I pray thee show me thy way?” Do you commit your own way unto the Lord? If not, how little you have learned the true position and privilege of the people of God. The example I take from David’s own life. If you have noticed the fourteenth chapter of the First Book of Chronicles, you will read that David, being threatened by the Philistines, enquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against them?” and he had for an answer, “Go up, for I will deliver them into thine hands.” Encouraged by the oracle he went forth to the attack, and carried all before him like the breaking forth of a flood. The Philistines rallied again and spread themselves abroad in the valley, and surely David might have felt quite safe in again falling upon them. What further directions could he need? Would not the former oracle avail now that the same circumstances were occurring? But no, the man of God did not feel safe until he had laid the new case before the Lord, and it is recorded “therefore David enquired again of God.” This time the response was very different; possibly to his own surprise David received orders not to go up after the Philistines, but to turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. When he should hear a sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees he was to bestir himself, but not just then. He followed the new directions and again smote the host of the Philistines. Brother, wait on the Lord often. Though you were wise in the last intricate business, you may be a fool over the next simple matter; in fact, it is over the simple matters that we make our great blunders in life, even as Israel did with the Gibeonites; when they came with old shoes and clouted, and bread that was mouldy, half an eye might have sufficed to see through their trick, but Israel acted hastily, ate bread with them, made a treaty with them, and inquired not at the hand of the Lord. Not so David, he was never slow to seek divine guidance. I admire that which comes out incidentally about him in the saying of Ahimelech, the priest at Nob. When Saul accused him of having enquired of the Lord for David, Ahimelech replied, “Did I then begin to enquire of God for him?” as much as to say, “He is an old frequenter of the Lord’s courts, he has enquired of God many and many a time ere this. To accuse me of inquiring of the Lord for him, as though I was abetting rebellion, is unjust, for I only did for David what I had often done before.” Hence it was that David behaved himself wisely in a perfect way, because he followed not his own judgment but waited on the Lord. There was an occasion when he marched against Nabal in the heat of his wrath, when he went in his own spirit, and not under heavenly influences, and had it not been that the Lord sent a wise woman to cross his path, he had shed blood that day and it would have been a grief of mind to him all his life. Oh that we did more sincerely wait upon the Lord in the sense of seeking instruction as to our path in life, then would he fulfil his promise unto us, “Thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.”

I have not yet exhausted the word “wait”; for we ought to wait upon God as a child waits upon its parent. Our children can seldom be accused of having small expectations with reference to us. They have desires and wants almost countless, and they always expect their parents readily to supply them, in which reckoning I have no doubt they have been strongly confirmed by their past experience. No little child thinks of providing for himself, nor does he dream of directing his own course in life. You cannot get that little head to be thoughtful about to-morrow’s food; you cannot force that little heart to be anxious about the next suit of clothes. To all suggested doubt the little lips reply, “My father knows what I have need of, and I am sure he will give it to me.” Such is the happy, restful life of a loving child, and this is as it should be with us. It is my Father’s business to provide for me: his name is Jehovah-Jireh. It is my Father’s business to preserve me; he has given his angels charge to keep me in all my ways. It is my Father’s business to mark out the future for me; I cannot see even into to-morrow, my eyes are dim, but my Father knows all about what shall be, and he will be ready for whatever shall happen, therefore would I wait upon him, raise no questions, and expect great mercies. Blessed are they who are thus found waiting.

And then, perhaps, I may add one thing more, we should wait upon the Lord as a courtier waits upon his prince. He that is at court, and seeks to rise to favour, waits upon his prince with the desire to be employed in the royal service, that he may prove his loyal zeal. He counts any sort of employment at court to be a great honour; he tells his friends, and they accept it as a subject of congratulation, that he has obtained such-and-such work to do for the king. He delights to increase the honour and dignity of his prince’s court, for he shares in it himself. Brethren, how carefully should you and I endeavour to show forth the honour of our Lord Jesus among the sons of men, for has he not made us kings and priests, and should we not exalt his glorious name for ever? We should seek to make our Lord Jesus famous to the world’s end: our daily conversation, and our current character, our private and public behaviour should all tend to increase our Master’s honour among the sons of men. We must be ready for anything for Jesus, and everything for Jesus, counting that we ourselves are honoured by disgrace if we bring honour to him. Sir Walter Raleigh was wise in his generation when he took off his richly embroidered cloak to spread it over a miry place, that Queen Elizabeth’s feet might not be damped; the courtier knew how to smooth his own road by caring for his queen; and thus, with unselfish motives, out of pure reverence for our Lord, let us be willing to be made as the street to be walked over if Jesus can thereby be honoured. Let us lay out for our Lord the best that we have, even to the character which is dear to us as life itself, if by so doing we may bring glory to the holy and blessed name of our Redeemer. Henceforth it is ours to live unto the Lord and die unto the Lord. We will wait on the Lord and keep his way, and may his grace enable us daily to say, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.”

Secondly, courage is to be maintained. “Be of good courage.” Our good Lord and Master ought not to be followed by cowards. Be of good courage, you that wait on the Lord. Have the courage of hope concerning the faith which you are exercising upon Christ. You are just beginning, some of you, to believe in Jesus, and you are afraid that he will cast you away, or fearful that you will not obtain full salvation from sin. I have already told you to continue to knock at mercy’s door; do so, but be of good courage, for that door will certainly open to you. He that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Take heart, poor fainting one, the Lord hath a tender eye towards mourning souls; he is very good to those who seek him. Though thou be like poor trembling Mercy who fainted outside the door of the interpreter’s house, yet thy Lord thinketh upon thee, and he says, “Come in thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without?” He will not suffer those to perish who humbly wait on him; the light of his countenance shall yet be thine. Be of good courage, O seeker!

Be, also, of good courage you who have newly found him. Be bold to avow your faith. Remember that the trust which you repose in Jesus is a justifiable one, and can be vindicated against all comers, therefore do not hide it. I hate to see a Christian act like a rat behind a wainscot, who comes peeping out when everything is still to see if anybody is about, so that he may get his crumbs, but if there is half a sound of a foot anywhere away he slips and hides himself in his hole. Nay, if you belong to Christ, avow it. What is there to be ashamed of? To believe the truth-shall a man blush at that? To follow infinite purity and holiness incarnate in Christ Jesus, is there anything to be ashamed of in that? Nay, rather let us wear our colours before the face of all men, and lift high our banner in all companies, for it is rather a cause for glorying than for blushing that we are on the Lord’s side. It is the best thing about us, it is the greatest mercy we have ever received, why should we conceal it? Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and confess your faith before men, you that have newly been brought to Jesus.

Then go further. Be of good courage in endeavouring to spread the faith which you have received. When you go to speak to others about the great salvation, be not afraid. If it be new work to you, I dare say you will tremble, but still do it, and ask the Lord to give you greater confidence in proclaiming the tidings of his grace. If you speak with infidels, be of good courage, though for a while you cannot lead them to believe. If you speak to those who are incensed against the truth, be of good courage: what harm can they do to you that shall be equal to the harm you will suffer by becoming a coward? Be of good courage, and undertake great things for Christ; do not expect a defeat, but dare and venture all for him. Do something more than you are able to do, expecting strength beyond your own to be afforded you, and it will certainly come. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.” Be of good courage, then, in the way of practical energy for the advancement of your Redeemer’s cause.

Be of good courage when you pray for others. Wait on the Lord about your children, and be of good courage and expect to see them saved. Wait on the Lord about your servants, about your brothers and sisters, about your neighbours; be of good courage about them, believe that God hears prayer and that your intercessions will bless those for whom you pray. Intercession has great influence with God; it is no vain thing to wait upon the Lord for the souls of others. Thousands now in heaven owe their conversion to the prayers of the saints, and therefore plead with great courage. Never cease to pray, and when you pray, pray not as though you spoke to a tyrant reluctant to hear, or to a forgetful God, who would fail to answer, but wait on him with quiet confidence and you shall not come empty away.

Be of good courage, too, also in making self-sacrifices for the cause of Christ. If you lose a situation because you are honest, be of good courage, you will be no loser in the long run. Are there some who despise you because you are a Christian? Be of good courage, their opinion is of very little worth, and in the judgment of angels and good men you stand very high. Are you like Moses when he refused the treasures of Egypt, with all the honours of the court? Be of good courage, the Lord will give you, even in this life, a recompense, and in the world to come life everlasting. If it should come to losing all you have for Jesus’ sake, be of good courage, for he that loseth his life for Christ’s sake shall find it, and he that becometh poor for the cause of Christ shall be rich eternally. Be of good courage!

Once again, if you are called to endure great affliction, sharp pain, frequent sickness; if business goes amiss, if riches take to themselves wings and fly away, if friends forsake you and foes surround you, be of good courage, for the God upon whom you wait will not forsake you. Never let it be said that a soldier of the cross flinched in the day of battle. Bear your Father’s will, glad to have such a Father’s will to bear. If grace cannot enable us to endure all that nature can heap upon us, what is grace worth? Now is the time, my dear brother, in the floods of adversity, to see whether your faith is real faith or not. Mere sunshine faith is not worth the having; we want that which will outlive the most terrible storm that ever beclouded the heavens. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, though heart and flesh should fail you. Though eyes grow dim and the light of day should be quite shut out, though hearing should fail and the daughters of music be silent, though all the doors of the senses should be closed, though the bearers of the body should totter and the keepers of the house should tremble, yea, though death itself should remove this feeble body, yet there is no cause for fear, but we may exclaim with dying Jacob, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.” Let not your hearts be troubled, wait on the Lord, and courage shall revive.

Our third point is, that waiting upon God sustains courage. Beloved, if ever you begin to grow weary in the good ways of God, wait upon him with double earnestness. You have heard of the famous giant whom Hercules could not kill, because the earth was his mother, and every time Hercules dashed him down he obtained fresh strength by touching his parent, and rose again to the fight. We are of like nature, and every time we are driven to our God, though we be dashed upon him by defeat, we grow strong again, and our adversary’s attempt is foiled. Our foe will never destroy us unless he can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and that is impossible. Waiting upon God is the way to renew our strength until we mount up with eagle’s wings and leave the world below.

In the first place, our heart is strengthened by waiting upon God, because we thus receive a mysterious strength through the incoming of the Eternal Spirit into our souls. No man can explain this, but many of us know what it is. We do not know how the Holy Ghost operates, but we are conscious that after a season of prayer we are often much refreshed, and feel as if we had been ground young again. We have gone in before the Lord haggard and worn, desponding, and (shame upon us, we must add) ready to give up, turn tail, and run away. We have not long drawn near to God before we have felt our spirit revive. Though our approach was mostly a groan, yet we did wait upon the Lord, and the Eternal strength came into us. How wonderfully do the secret springs of omnipotence break into the feeble soul and fill it with might in the inner man. Through the sacred anointing of the Holy Ghost we have been made to shout for joy, we have been so glad in the Lord that we could not contain our joy. He that made us has put his hand a second time to the work, and restored unto us the joy of his salvation, filled our emptiness, removed our weakness, and triumphed in us gloriously. The poor harp which had been long played upon could not at length yield music to its owner’s hand; in vain the bardic fingers roamed over the strings, the more heavily they were struck the more discordant were the sounds. The harp was taken from the hall and laid aside in a quiet chamber, and there its Maker came to deal with it. He knew its frame, and understood the art of tuning it. He put new strings in here and there, and set the rest aright, and the next time the harper laid his fingers among the strings pure music floated forth, and flooded the palace with melody. Where discord had peopled the air with evil sprites all was changed, and it seemed as though angels leaped forth with silver wings from every chord. Ay, go thou to thy God, poor soul, when thou art out of order; wait on the Lord, and he will strengthen thine heart by his mysterious power.

Besides this, waiting upon the Lord has an effect upon the mind, which in the natural course of things tends to strengthen our courage; for waiting upon God makes men grow small, and dwarfs the world and all its affairs, till we see their real littleness. Poor David sat fretting about the ungodly, as he saw them prospering in their way, while as for himself he was plagued all the day and chastened every morning. Foolishly and ignorantly he complained of the Lord, and questioned his justice, “until,” saith he, “I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.” Set your great troubles before the infinite God, and they will dwarf into such little things that you will never notice them again. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and the nations are as a drop in a bucket; and this great God will teach you to look at earthly things in the same light as he does, till, though the whole world should be against you, you would smile at its rage, and though all the devils in hell should rise against you you would defy their fury. Our worst ills are utterly despised when we learn to measure them by the line of the Eternal: thus you see that waiting upon God strengthens the heart by lessening the causes of fear.

And then it inflames the heart with love. Nothing can give us greater courage than a sincere affection for our Lord and his work. Courage is sure to abound where love is fervent. Look among the mild and gentle creatures of the brute creation and see how bold they are when once they become mothers and have to defend their offspring. A hen will fight for her chicks, though at another time she is one of the most timid of birds. Mr. White, in his book on Selborne, tells of a raven that was hatching her young in a tree. The woodman began to fell it, but there she sat; the blows of the axe shook the tree, but she never moved, and when it fell she was still upon her nest. Love will make the most timid creature strong; and, oh, beloved, if you love Christ you will defy all fear, and count all hazards undergone for him to be your joy. In this sense, also, perfect love casteth out fear, it hopeth all things, endureth all things, and continues still to wait upon the Lord. To have more love we must more continually wait upon the Lord, and this will mightily renew the strength of our heart.

Again, waiting upon the Lord breeds peace within the soul, and when a man is perfectly at rest within he cares little for trials or foes. It is conscience that doth make cowards of us all, but let conscience be pacified through the atoning blood of Jesus, and you can smile when others spit their venom at you, and like your blessed Master you can bear their taunts without reply, for there is a heavenly calm within. A heart unsettled towards God is sure to be afraid of men, but when the soul waits on the Lord in glad serenity it stoops not to fear.

And, beloved, this waiting upon the Lord produces the effect of increasing our courage, because it gives us often a sight of the eternal reward, and if a man getteth a glimpse of the crown of glory, the crown of thorns will no more prick his temples. He that seeth what he shall be in the day when Christ shall be revealed, mourneth not because of what he now is while he beareth the reproach of Christ. In fact, waiting upon God makes us see that we are in fellowship with Christ and causes us to know that the load we carry is a cross of which he always bears the heaviest end: it lets us see that his heart is full of sensitive sympathy towards us, and so it makes us suffer without complaining. Is it not sweet to sing-

“If on my face for thy dear name,

Shame and reproach shall be,

I’ll hail reproach and welcome shame

For thou’lt remember me”?

Thus waiting upon the Lord pours power into the central reservoir of our strength.

Now I finish with the fourth point, which is, experience proves this. I want you to keep your Bibles open at the twenty-seventh Psalm, and see how my text is a summary of the entire psalm. All the rest of the verse may be compared to the figures of an account, and this closing verse is the casting up of the whole-waiting on the Lord is the path of wisdom.

For, first, in the opening verses David had been surrounded by enemies: he waited upon the Lord and the Lord made them stumble and fall. Afterwards, when they fought against him he told his sorrow to his God, and God lifted his head high above his enemies round about him, till he could sing in the sanctuary songs of exultant joy unto the Lord. My brethren, do the same when you are assailed. You are not in a country subject to actual war, but you have many adversaries, spiritual and otherwise. You have the prince of darkness armed against you, and a host of spiritual wickednesses in high places. Wait on the Lord in this conflict, and he will give you victory. Your strength is to sit still. Fret not yourself. Quietly refer all the contest to him who returns from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah, travelling in the greatness of his strength, because his foes and yours are trodden beneath his feet. Wait on the Lord. Get you away to the shadow of his pavilion, hide in the secret of his tabernacle. Climb you up upon the rock, and keep you there, and all the adversaries of your soul shall be broken in pieces.

Next, read the seventh and eighth verses, and you will see David occupied in prayer, and there, too, he succeeded and prospered abundantly, because in prayer he waited on the Lord. The very essence of prayer is to get the ear of God. You might as well whistle as pray unless you pray in spirit and in truth; and the very spirit and truth of prayer must lie in communion with God himself. If you have been praying after a fashion, and you have not gained that which you prayed for, surely you have not yet reached the ear of God. Get into the secret place, go close to your Lord, and wait upon him in very deed; then shall you have great courage in prayer, renew your strength, and come back victorious.

Next, David had been enveloped in darkness. He was afraid that God was about to forsake him. He had lost the light of Jehovah’s countenance. I think I hear one say, “What am I to do in such a case?” Wait on the Lord. If he does not smile, wait on him still. The smile of his face is delightful, but if you lose it, hide under the shadow of his wing. When he does not smile he still loves. “Though he slay me,” said Job, “yet will I trust in him.” Even when he seems an angry God yet throw yourself at his feet. Let nothing drive you away from him. If he lifts his sword to smite, the further off, the heavier the blow will fall. Run close in, dear child, if your Father is going to whip you; run close in, he cannot strike hard then. Draw very near to your Father’s heart; lay hold on his strength, and put him against himself as it were, pleading his love against his wrath and saying, “Thou hast sworn that thou wilt not be wroth with me, nor rebuke me: therefore deal tenderly with thy child.” If any walk in darkness and see no light, let him still trust and wait on the Lord.

In the next sense we find David forsaken by everybody. Father and mother had left him, still he waits upon the Lord and the Lord takes him up. Now that you are quite alone, dear widow, and the husband of your love is gone, wait on the Lord. Now that the children one by one have been carried to the silent tomb, wait on the Lord, and he will be better to you than ten sons. Now, young man, you are drifting about London without a helper, wait on the Lord, and he will direct your way. Yea, all of you who, either from persecution or bereavement, have come to be solitary, remember the Lord setteth the solitary in families, and maketh them families like a flock. Wait upon him and all will be well.

Next we find David in a difficult road, so that he prays, “Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies;” but waiting on the Lord exactly met the case. Whenever you cannot tell what to do, wait upon the Lord. When the road turns this way and that, and you know not which is right, kneel down and pray; you will know which way to go when you rise from your knees, or if you do not, kneel down again. The directing post is best seen when we are in prayer. The oracle shall answer to you out of the excellent majesty when you have resigned your will and believingly sought direction from the Most High.

To conclude, we find next that David had been slandered by his enemies-“False witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.” What then? Wait upon the Lord still. “Oh, but I must answer them.” Yes, and then you will make bad worse; your slanderers will forge another lie when you have answered the first. “Oh, but,” says one, “I could bear such a charge if it were true.” Ah, but then you ought not to bear it, the truth of an ill report ought to grieve you, but if it is not true, never mind, let it alone. “Oh, but they say--.” What do they say?-Let them say it. No hurt will come of it. Wait you upon the Lord. They rail at you, take care not to rail again. Make no reply to howling wolves. When dogs bark let them bark, for it is their nature; they will leave off when they have done; and so with all our adversaries, they will confute themselves if we will but let them alone. Our strength is to wait upon the Lord, tell him about it and leave it with him. Go to law? Yes, and get a suit which will not wear out in a hurry. Go to law, and bring upon yourself no end of troubles. In all other things except slander if you want a thing done do it yourself, but there, if you want to be well defended, let others defend you. Dirt will rub off when it is dry; be bravely patient. Wait you upon the Lord, commit everything to him, and he will see you through, even to the triumphant end. All that you can do in your own justification will only make more mischief. Hands off, there, and leave it with the Most High.

So we close by repeating our blessed text: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” May he keep you waiting courageously for Christ’s sake.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 27.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-27, 676, 686.