This is the declaration of one of God’s servants: “by them is thy servant warned.” Only for men made obedient by divine grace is this passage written. My hearer, are you God’s servant? Let us begin with that question. Remember that if you are not God’s servant, you are the bond-slave of sin, and the wages of sin is death.

The Psalmist, in this psalm, has compared the Word of God to the sun. The sun in the heavens is everything to the natural world; and the Word of God in the heart is everything in the spiritual world. The world would be dark, and dead, and fruitless, without the sun; and what would the mind of the Christian be without the illuminating influence of the Word of God? If thou despisest holy Scripture, thou art like to one that despises the sun. It would seem that thou art blind, and worse than blind; for even those without sight enjoy the warmth of the sun. How depraved art thou if thou canst perceive no heavenly lustre about the Book of God! The Word of the Lord makes our day, it makes our spring, it makes our summer, it prepares and ripens all our fruit. Without the Word of God we should be in the outer darkness of spiritual death. I have not time this morning to sum up the blessings which are showered upon us through the sun’s light, heat, and other influences. So is it with the perfect law of the Lord; when it comes in the power of the Spirit of God upon the soul, it brings unnumbered blessings: blessings more than we ourselves are able to discern.

David, for a moment, dwelt upon the delights of God’s Word. He said, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” The revelation of God enriches the mind with knowledge, the heart with comfort, the life with holiness, the whole man with divine strength. He that studies, understands, and appropriates the statutes of the Lord is rich in the truest sense-rich in holiness for this life, and rich in preparedness for the life to come. Thou hast mines of treasure, if thou hast the Word of God dwelling richly in thy heart. But in the sacred Book we find not only an enrichment of gold laid up, but a present abundance of sweetness to be now enjoyed. He that lives upon God’s Word tastes the honey of life-a sweetness far superior to honey; for honey satiates, though it never satisfies, it cloys and never contents. The more thou hast of divine teaching, the more thou wilt wish to have, and the more wilt thou be capable of enjoying. He that loves the inspired Book shall have wealth for his mind and sweetness for his heart.

But David is mainly aiming at the practical; so, having introduced the sun as the symbol of God’s Word because of its pleasurable influence, he adds, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” On these two things we will meditate under the following heads:-First, their keeping us-“By them is thy servant warned”; secondly, our keeping them-“And in keeping of them there is great reward.”

We are in an enemy’s country: we are always in danger; we are most in peril when we think ourselves most secure. You will find in the histories of the Bible that the most crushing defeats have fallen upon armies on a sudden, when they were off their guard. The army of Christ has need always to set its pickets and appoint its sentinels, lest the adversary take us unawares. We can never tell when we are likely to be assailed: we shall be wise to assume that we are always surrounded by enemies. God’s Word is our keeper, the watcher of our souls; and when a danger is approaching, it rings the alarum and gives us warning. The different parts of Scripture, the statutes, the doctrines, the ordinances, the promises, the precepts-all of these act like pickets to the army, and arouse the Lord’s soldiers to resist sudden assaults: “By them is thy servant warned.”

In what way does God’s Word warn us? In many forms it thus operates. I would say, first of all, by pointing out sin and describing its nature and danger. We have here the mind of the Lord as to moral conduct, and so we are not left to guess-work; but we know by unerring teaching what it is that the Lord abhors. Those ten commandments are like lanterns set around an opening in the street, that no traveller may drive into danger. God only forbids that which would injure us; and he only commands that which will be for our lasting good. Spread out before you the law of God, and you may say of it as you read it, “By these commandments is thy servant warned.” In my walks I see notices bearing the words “Trespassers beware!” and I am kept from wandering.

It is well to be acquainted, not only with the letter of the law of the Lord, but with the spirit of it. Numberless sins are condemned by the ten commandments: truly we may say of the law of God, “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” All of these are fog-horns warning us of dangers which may cause shipwreck to our souls.

Studying the Word of God, we are made to see that sin is exceeding sinful, since it dishonours God, makes us enemies to our best friend, yea, and drives us madly to destroy our own souls. Sin, according to God’s Word, is murderous: it slew the Saviour of men. Wherever sin comes, death follows it. Sin may bear pleasure in its face, but it has ruin at its heel. Eternal destruction is the finishing of the work of sin. God’s Word is very plain and explicit about these grave facts; it forbids our trifling even with the appearance of evil; it warns us against sins of thought and temper, as well as against transgressions of speech and act. He that is graciously familiar with his Bible will be preserved from those pitfalls into which so many have rushed, in their careless contempt of God’s Word and holy commandment. A precept of Scripture is like a lighthouse upon a quicksand or a rock; it quietly bids the wise helmsman steer his vessel another way. The whole coast of life is guarded by these protecting lights, and he that will take note of them may make safe navigation; but remember, it is one thing for the Scripture to give warning, and another for us to take it; and if we do not take warning, we cannot say, “By them is thy servant warned.” Oh, that our hearts may be in such a state that a hint from the Word may set us on our watch against evil!

Next, the Word of God warns us by reminding us of our duties. We are not only taught negatively what we should not do, but positively what we ought to do; and thus we are warned against sins of omission. I wish that professors who are neglectful of many points in the Saviour’s example would study his character more, marking down the points wherein they come short of it. If we were to read the lives of holy men recorded in Scripture, and notice wherein we fail to be like them, it might do us much service. Truly, Lord, thy servants would be profitably warned if we oftener enquired, “Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?” Turning over these sacred pages we remark a choice blessing coming upon a man of God, in connection with a certain virtue; then are we warned to cultivate that virtue if we would have that blessing. The Lord does not pay us for our work as though we were hirelings and our labour meritorious; but still, according to his grace he rewards his faithful servants, and so encourages them diligently to obey. Every Bible precept should be an arrow aimed at the heart of our carelessness and forgetfulness. Then should we often say with David, “By them is thy servant warned.” Like our Lord in his youth, we must be about our Father’s business; and we must continue therein till, like him, we can say, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

The Word of God also warns us of our weakness in those duties which it commands, and of our tendency to fall into those sins which it forbids. It sets before us a noble example, but it bids us remember that only by divine power can we follow it. It spreads before us a programme of perfect holiness, but it does not flatter us with the notion that by our own strength we can carry it out. It humbles us by showing that we cannot even pray as we ought without the Spirit’s teaching, nor so much as think a good thought without his aid. Scripture is continually warning us of the deceitfulness of our hearts, and of the tendency of sin to advance from one stage of evil to another. Holy Scripture shows us our spiritual inability, apart from the Divine Spirit; and greatly do we need warnings in this way, for we are given to be self-sufficient. Pride will shoot forth with the very least encouragement. We buckle on our harness, and begin at once to shout as if the battle were won. How soon we think ourselves near perfection when indeed we are near a fall! We are apt to sit down and imagine that we have won the race, whereas we have not yet traversed one half of the way. The Word of God continually checks our carnal confidence, and disturbs our self-satisfaction. It bears constant protest against our imagining that we have already attained, when we are as yet only babes in grace. How plainly it tells us, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool”! It shows us where our great strength lieth; but it calls us off from all trust in our own past experience, or firmness of character, or strength of determination, or depth of sanctification, to lean solely and alone upon heavenly grace, which we must receive hour by hour. If we give way to pride, it is against the admonitions of the divine statutes; for in this matter, “By them is thy servant warned.”

So does the Word continually warn us against the temptations which are in the world in which we live. Read its story from the first day of Adam’s fall to the last chapter of its record, and you shall find it continually representing the world as a place of trial for the heir of heaven. It is indeed as a sieve, in which the true corn has no rest, but much tossing to and fro. Christ seems praying over us every day as we read the Scripture, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” If you fancy that your position in life puts you beyond temptation, you are sadly deluded. Poverty has its evil side, and riches are full of snares. Even in a Christian family we may be seduced into great sin, as well as among the ungodly. There is no place under heaven where the arrows of temptation cannot reach us. With this also comes persecution; for because we are not of the world, the world hateth us. “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” is a sure prophecy. If you meet with no persecution, you should remember that the smiles of the world are even more dangerous than its frowns. Beware of prosperity! Thank God if you have the world’s wealth; but hold it tenderly, and watch over your heart carefully, lest you bow before the golden calf. Adversity has less power to harm than prosperity. Of the evils peculiar to various positions, the Holy Spirit tells us in these sacred pages: “By them is thy servant warned.” We are continually warned to put on the whole armour of God, and not to lay aside the shield of faith for a moment. We are urged to watch at all times, and to pray without ceasing; for in the most quiet life, in the most pious company, and in the regular work of the day, dangers are lurking. Where we think we may be very much at ease, lying down as on a bank of flowers, we are most likely to be stung by the deadly serpent. We are like the first settlers in America: the cunning Red Indians of temptation may be upon us with the deadly tomahawk of lust while we are dreaming of peace and safety.

Here, let me add, we are warned over and over again against the temptations of Satan. Certain theologians, nowadays, do not believe in the existence of Satan. It is singular when children do not believe in the existence of their own father: but it is so, that those who are most deluded by him are the loudest in repudiating all faith in his existence. Any man who has had experience of his temptations knows that there is a certain mysterious personage, invisible, but almost invincible, who goes about seeking whom he may devour. He has a power far beyond that which is human, and a cunning that is equal to that of a thousand of the most clever of men. He will endeavour to influence our minds in a way which is contrary to their true intent; to turn our thoughts in directions which we abhor; to suggest questions about truths of which we are certain, and even blasphemies against him who, in our heart of hearts, we worship lovingly. But, beloved, the power of Satan in a Christian man’s life is a force with which he must reckon, or he may fail through ignorance. Some especially have had sore conflict with this evil one, and certain tried ones are scarcely a day without being tormented either by the howling of this dog or else by his snapping at their heels. He cannot possess us as he possesses many of the ungodly; but he worries whom he can’t devour with a malicious joy. Whatever “modern thought” ministers may have to say about him, the inspired Scripture does not leave us ignorant of his devices, but sets us on our guard against his terrible power, bidding us pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.” The temptations of the world, and of the flesh, are more upon our level than the assaults of Satan: he is the prince of the evil forces, and his attacks are so mysterious, so cunningly adapted to our infirmities, and so ingeniously adjusted to our circumstances, that unless the Lord the Holy Spirit shall daily cover us with his broad shield of grace, we shall be in the utmost jeopardy. O Lord, by these words of thine is thy servant warned to resist the enemy and escape his wiles! Glory be to thy loving care!

The teachings of the Lord also warn us to expect trial. The Bible never promises the true believer an easy life: the rather does it assure him that he is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. There is no soaring to heaven on the wings of luxurious case: we must painfully plod along the pilgrim way. We see on the page of inspiration that we cannot be crowned without warfare, nor honoured without suffering. Jesus went to heaven by a rough road, and we must follow him. Every believer in the cross must bear the cross. If things go easily with you for a long time, do not, therefore, say, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved”; for God has only to hide his face, and you will be troubled. Those happiest of men, of whom it could be said that God had set a hedge about them and all that they had, these, in due course, had to take their turn at the whipping-post and smart under the scourge. Even Job, that perfect and upright man, was not without his troubles. Beloved, expect to be tried; and when the trial comes, count it not a strange thing. Your sea will be rough, like that which tossed your Lord. Your way will be hot and weary, like that which your Master trod. The world is a wilderness to you, as it was to him. “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Seek not to build your mansion here; for a voice cries to you out of the Word, “This is not your rest, for it is polluted.” Think of that verse of our favourite hymn-

“Why should I complain of want or distress,

Temptation, or pain? He told me no less.

The heirs of salvation, I know from his Word,

Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.”

Therefore, beloved, you are forewarned that you may be forearmed.

God’s Word also warns us by prophesying to us of things to come. I cannot enter just now into what is a very interesting point of experience, namely, the singular fact that the Bible is used of God to warn individuals of events about to occur to them. The Book is full of prophecies for nations, but at times it becomes prophetic to individual believers. Have you never had impressed upon your mind a passage of Scripture which has followed you for hours, and even days, and you could not tell why, till an event has happened which has so exactly tallied with that Scripture, that you could not but remark it, as having prepared you for the circumstance? Will not your morning reading sometimes forestall the sorrow or the duty of the day? Have you not often found that if you read the Bible consecutively, somehow or other, the passage which comes in due course, will prove to be as truly a lesson for the day, as if it had been written on purpose to meet your case? I am far from being superstitious, or wishful to encourage faith in mere impressions, but I cannot shut my eyes to facts which have happened to myself. I know that I have received, through this Book of God, messages to my heart, which have come with peculiar power and suitability; so that I have been compelled to say, with emphasis, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned.”

But the Bible warns us all of certain great events, especially of the Second Advent of the Lord and the coming judgment. It does not clearly tell us when our Lord will appear, but it warns us that to the unprepared he will come as a thief in the night. It warns us of the general judgment, and of the day when all men shall live again, and stand before the great white throne. It warns us of the day when every secret shall be revealed, and when every man shall receive for the things that he has done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil. “By them is thy servant warned.” If I live like one of yonder cattle, in the immediate present, if I have no eye for the future that is hurrying on, if my soul never places herself in vision before the judgment-seat of Christ, if I never foresee the day when heaven and earth, before the presence of the great Judge, shall flee away; why, then I cannot be a diligent reader of the Word of God. If I search the Scriptures I shall be called to walk in the light of the last day, and shall be made to gird up my loins to face the dread account. Oh, that we might all be warned to be ready, that we may give in our account with joy! Oh, that we may so take the warnings of holy writ as to be ready for death, ready for judgment, and ready for that final sentence which can never be reversed! If we were truly wise, these warnings would put salt into our lives, and preserve them from the corruption which is in the world through lust.

Beloved, I trust that every one of us who knows the Lord will use his holy Book as the constant guard of his life. Let it be like a fog-signal to you, going off in warning when the road is hidden by a cloud. Let it be like the red lamp on the railway, suggesting to you to come to a stand, for the road is dangerous. Let it be like a dog at night, waking you from sleep because a robber is breaking in; or as the watch on board a ship, who shouts aloud, “Breakers ahead!” Let the Word of God be like one who, during the great flood in America, rode on a white horse down the valley, crying out, as he rode along, “To the hills! To the hills! To the hills!” The waters were following fast behind him, and he would have the people escape to the mountains, lest they should be destroyed. O precious Book, thus bid me seek the hills! Ring the alarm bell in my ear, and compel me to flee from the wrath to come. Day and night, wherever I may be, may a word from the oracle of God sound in my ears, and keep me from sleeping on the brink of the abyss! May no enemy be able to steal upon us when sleeping in false security; for it is high time that we awake out of sleep; and this Book tells us so.

So far have we spoken upon the Word as keeping us.

And now, secondly, I have to speak to you upon our keeping the Word of God.

“In keeping of them there is great reward.” What is meant by keeping the testimonies of God’s Word? You know right well that it will not suffice to have the holy Book in your houses, to lie upon the table, so that visitors may see that you have a family Bible. Nor is it enough to place it on the book-shelf where the dust may thickly cover it, because it is never used. That is not keeping the Bible, but burying it. It does not warn you, for you smother it; you do not keep it, for you dishonour it by neglect. You must have a reverent esteem for it, and a growing familiarity with it, if you would keep it. “Let the Word of God dwell in you richly.”

To keep the Word of God is, first of all, earnestly to study it so as to become acquainted with its contents. Know your Bible from beginning to end. I am afraid there is but little Bible searching nowadays. If the Word of God had been diligently studied there would not have been so general a departure from its teachings. Bible-reading people seldom go off to modern theology. Those who feed upon the Word of God enjoy it too much to give it up. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, they learn to prize all revealed truth, and they hold fast the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Dear young people, if you never read a single book of romance you will lose nothing; but if you do not read your Bibles you will lose everything. This is the age of fiction, and hence the age of speculation and error: leave fiction, and give yourself wholly to the truth. Eat ye that which is good, and spend not your money on that which is not bread. The Bible is the Thesaurus of heavenly knowledge; the Cyclopædia of divine science: read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the same, and then you will be keeping the sayings of God.

But we cannot keep them without going further than this: we must be zealous in their defence. May it be said of each one of us, “Thou hast kept my word.” When you find others denying God’s truth, hold you the faster to it. When they argue against it, be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. It is not an easy task to stand fast in the faith to-day; for the current which runs towards unbelief is strong as a torrent, and many have been taken off their feet by it, and are being carried down to the cataracts of error. May God help you to say with the pilgrims in Vanity Fair, “We buy the truth”! Buy it at any price, and sell it at no price. It ought to be dearer than life, for it was so to the martyrs of our own country, and to the Covenanters of Scotland, in whose steps we would tread. They cared little whether their heads were struck off or no; but they cared everything for King Jesus and the statutes of his Word. Beloved, happy in the end will that man be who for a while has suffered contempt, and misrepresentation, and separation from his brethren, because of fidelity to the truth of God! Come what may, he that sides with truth will be no loser in the end. Oh, for more Luthers nowadays: we want them! Those who truckle to error are everywhere: even those in whom we trusted have betrayed their Lord.

But this is not all, we must got much further: there must be a careful observance of the law of the Lord. We cannot be said to keep God’s Word if we never carry it out in our own lives. If we know the commandments, but do not obey them, we increase our sin. If we understand the truth and talk about it, but are slow to live according to it, what will become of us? This is not to keep God’s Word, but to hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. This may, in some cases, be a presumptuous sin. When thy knowledge far exceeds thy practice, take heed lest thou be guilty of sinning wilfully. We must keep the Word of God in the sense in which our Lord used the word when he said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Once more, even this is not enough: we are to keep the truth of God, not only by reverent study of it, by zealous propagation of it, by careful observance of it, but also by an inward cleaving to it in love, and a cherishing of it in our heart of hearts. What thou believest thou must also love if thou art to keep it. If it come to thee in the power of God, it may humble thee, it may chasten thee, it may refine thee as with fire; but thou wilt love it as thy life. It will be as music to thine ear, as honey to thy palate, as gold to thy purse, as heaven to thy soul. Let thy very self be knit to the faithful Word. As new-born babes desire the unadulterated milk, so do thou desire the teachings of the Spirit, that thou mayest grow thereby. Every word of God must be bread to us, after which we hunger, and with which we are satisfied. We must love it even more than our necessary food. For that which God has spoken, we must have an ever-burning, fervent love, which no floods of destructive criticism can quench, or even damp.

But now the text says, “In keeping of them there is great reward”; and here you must have patience with me while I set out the great reward which comes to obedient believers. There are many rewards, and the first is, great quiet of mind. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” When a man hath done what God bids him do, his conscience is at peace; and this is a choice boon. I can bear anybody to be my foe rather than my conscience. We read of David, “David’s heart smote him.” That was an awkward knock! When a man’s own conscience is his foe, where can he run for shelter? Conscience smites home, and the wound is deep. But when a man can conscientiously say, “I did the right thing; I held the truth; I honoured my God”; then the censures of other men go for little. In such a case, you have no trouble about the consequences of your action; for if any bad consequence should follow, the responsibility would not lie with you: you did what you were told. Having done what God himself commanded you, the consequences are with your Lord, and not with you. If the heavens were likely to fall, it would not be our duty to shore them up with a lie. If the whole church of God threatened to go to pieces, it would be no business of ours to bind it up by an unhallowed compromise. If you should fail to achieve success in life, as men call success, that is no fault of yours, if you cannot succeed without being dishonest. It will be a greater success to be honest, and to be poor, than to grow rich through trickery. If, through grace, you have done the will of God, your peace shall be like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Can you think of a greater reward than this? I cannot. A quiet conscience is a little heaven. A martyr was fastened to the stake, and the sheriff who was to execute him expressed his sorrow that he should persevere in his opinions, and compel him to set fire to the pile. The martyr answered, “Do not trouble yourself, for I am not troubling myself. Come and lay your hand upon my heart, and see if it does not beat quietly.” His request was complied with, and he was found to be quite calm. “Now,” said he, “lay your hand on your own heart, and see if you are not more troubled than I am; and then go your way, and, instead of pitying me, pity yourself.” When we have done right we need no man’s pity, however painful the immediate consequence. To do right is better than to prosper. A heart sound in the truth is greater riches than a houseful of silver and gold. There is more honour in being defeated in the truth than in a thousand victories gained by policy and falsehood. Though fame should give you the monopoly of her brazen trumpet for the next ten centuries, she could not honour you so much as you will be honoured by following right and truth, even though your integrity be unknown to men. In keeping the Word of the Lord there is great reward, even if it bring no reward. The approbation of God is more than the admiration of nations. Verily this is great reward.

The next great reward is increase of divine knowledge. If any man will know the will of Christ, let him do that will. When a young man is put to learn a trade, he does so by working at it: and we learn the truth which our Lord teaches by obeying his commands. To reach the shores of heavenly wisdom every man must work his passage. Holiness is the royal road to Scriptural knowledge. We know as much as we do. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” It may be, you sit down and consider the doctrine, but you cannot understand it. You turn it over and consult a learned divine; but still you cannot understand it. Be obedient, pray for a willing heart to do the will of God, and you have already received enlarged capacity, and with it a new light for your eyes: you will learn more by holy practice than by wearisome study. The Lord help us to follow on to know the Lord, for then shall we know! Practice makes perfect. Obedience is the best of schools, and love is the aptest of teachers. To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, is the gift of grace to the faithful: is not this a great reward?

Moreover, in keeping the commandments we increase in conformity to Christ, and consequently in communion with God. He that doeth as Christ did is like Christ; for our likeness is moral and spiritual. In measure we receive his image as we work his deeds; and then, as Christ lived in constant fellowship with God, because he did always the things that pleased God, so do we walk in the light, as God is in the light, when we yield obedience to the divine will. If thou walkest in sin, thou canst not walk with God. If thou wilt be obedient, then shall all clouds be chased away, and thy light shall shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Sinning will make you leave off communion with God, or else communion with God will make you leave off sinning: one of the two things must occur. If thou be kept from sin and made to be obedient, thou shalt bear the image of the heavenly, and with the heavenly thou shalt have daily intercourse.

This will be followed by the fourth great reward, namely power in prayer. Jesus says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” If you will read in the Gospel of John, you will frequently see how success in prayer is, in the case of the believer, made to depend upon his complete obedience. If thou wilt not hearken to God’s Word, neither will he hearken to thy word. Some people complain that they have no power with God: but has God any power with them? Look to the faultiness of your lives, and cease to wonder at the failure of your prayers. An inconsistent life downstairs means unprofitable prayer upstairs-if indeed there be any prayer at all. You cannot have God’s ear in the closet if he never has your ear in the shop. If you live as worldlings live, the Lord will treat you as he did Cain, to whose offering he had no respect. Wonder not at your leanness in private devotion, if there is license in your public life. O Lord God the Holy Ghost, sanctify us in our daily lives, so shall we obtain access to God through Jesus Christ, and our pleading shall be accepted in him.

One great reward is habitude in holiness. The man who has, by divine grace, long kept the way of the Lord, finds it more easy to do so, because he has acquired the habit of obedience. All things are difficult at the beginning, but all things grow easy as we proceed. I do not say that holiness is ever easy to us: it must always be a labour, and we must always be helped by the Holy Spirit; but at the same time, it is far easier for a man to obey who has obeyed, than for one to obey who has lived in constant rebellion. If thou hast faith, thou wilt have more faith almost as a necessary consequence. If thou prayest much, thou wilt pray more: it is all but inevitable that thou shouldst do so. There are believers whom the Lord has put on the rails of life; they do not run on the road, like common vehicles; but they are placed on tram lines of habit, and so they keep the ways of the Lord. Sometimes a stone gets into the rails, and there is an unhappy jolt; but still they do no iniquity, but keep on in one straight line even to their journey’s end. This is a great reward of grace. If you are obedient, you shall be rewarded by being made more obedient. As the diligent workman becomes expert in his art, so shall you grow skilful in holiness. Use is second nature. What a joy it is when holiness becomes our second nature, when prayer becomes habitual as breathing, and praise is as continual as our heart-beats! May hatred to sin be spontaneous, and may desire for the best things be the habit of our soul! I scarcely know of a greater reward than this habitude of holiness which the Lord in his grace bestows on us.

This will generally be followed by another great reward, namely, usefulness to others. He that keepeth the commandments of the Lord will become an example that others may copy, and he will wield an influence which shall constrain them to copy him. Do not you think that many Christians are spiritually childless because they are disobedient? How can God give me to bring others to himself if I myself backslide from him? The power to bless others must first be a power within ourselves. It is useless to pump yourself up into a pretended earnestness at a meeting, and then to think that this sort of thing will work a real work of grace in others: the seed of pretence will yield a harvest of pretenders, and nothing more. Nothing can come out of a man unless it is first in him; and if it is in him it will be seen in his life as well as in his teaching. If I do not live as I preach, my preaching is not living preaching. I could indicate men of great talent who see no conversions; and one does not wonder, for in their own lives there is no holiness, no spirituality, no communion with God. I could mention Christian people, with very considerable gifts, who have no corresponding measure of grace, and hence their labour comes to nothing. Oh, for more holiness! Where that is manifest there will be more usefulness.

Lastly, we shall have the great reward of bringing glory to the grace of God. If we are made holy, men, seeing our good works, will glorify our Father who is in heaven; and is not this the very end of our existence? Is not this the flower and fruit of life? I pray you, therefore, walk humbly and carefully with God, that he may be honoured in you.

There are two things I want to say before I sit down. The first is, let us hold fast, tenaciously, doggedly, with a death grip, the truth of the inspiration of God’s Word. If it is not inspired and infallible, it cannot be of use in warning us. I see little use in being warned when the warning may be like the idle cry of “Wolf!” when there is no wolf. Everything in the railway service depends upon the accuracy of the signals: when these are wrong, life will be sacrificed. On the road to heaven we need unerring signals, or the catastrophes will be far more terrible. It is difficult enough to set myself right and carefully drive the train of conduct; but if, in addition to this, I am to set the Bible right, and thus manage the signals along the permanent way, I am in an evil plight indeed. If the red light or the green light may deceive me, I am as well without signals as to trust to such faulty guides. We must have something fixed and certain, or where is the foundation? Where is the fulcrum for our lever if nothing is certain? If I may not implicitly trust my Bible, you may burn it, for it is of no more use to me. If it is not inspired, it ceases to be a power either to warn or to command obedience. Beloved, others may say what they will, but here I stand bearing this witness: “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

While you hold fast its inspiration, pray God to prove its inspiration to you. Its gentle but effectual warning will prove its inspiration. This precious Book has pulled me up many times, and put me to a pause, when else I had gone on to sin. At another time I should have sat still had it not made me leap to my feet to flee from evil or seek good. To me it is a monitor, whose voice I prize. There is a power about this Book which is not in any other. I do not care whether it be the highest poetry, or the freshest science; each must yield to the power of the Word of God. Nothing ever plays on the cords of a man’s soul like the finger of God’s Spirit. This Book can touch the deep springs of my being, and make the life-floods to flow forth. The Word of God is the great power of God; and it is well that you should know it to be so by its power over you. One said, “I cannot believe the Bible.” Another answered, “I cannot disbelieve it.” When this question was raised: “Why cannot you disbelieve?” the believer answered, “I know the Author, and I am sure of his truthfulness.” There is the point; if we know the Author, we know that his witness is true, and knowing it to be true, we take his warnings, and follow his commands. May the Lord work in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure; then shall the Book be more and more precious in our eyes; and this sense of its preciousness will be one of the rewards which come to us in keeping the statutes of the Lord. So be it unto you through Christ Jesus! Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 19.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-908, 479, 19.

POSSESSING POSSESSIONS

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, March 23rd, 1890, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”-Obadiah 17.

This is a remarkable passage. Its wording is singular. It begins with a “but,” because the previous verses have been denouncing judgments upon Edom. When God comes forth to punish his enemies, he also comes forth to bless his friends. When Pharaoh is overthrown in the Red Sea, it is that Israel may pass onward to Canaan. When Amalek is overcome, it is that Israel may be at peace. There is a black cloud, as well as the silvery rain. The acceptable year of the Lord is the day of vengeance of our God. This combination so constantly occurs that the Psalmist said, “I will sing of mercy and judgment.” The sword of vengeance is displayed at the same time as the sceptre of grace. In that last great day, that coming of the Lord, which is the joy and expectation of his people, will be confusion to his adversaries. To the ungodly, “the day of the Lord will be darkness, and not light.” When he cometh forth, there will as surely be a curse to the left hand as a blessing to the right, and both will be everlasting. Hell is as deep as heaven is high; for God, who delighteth in mercy, also hateth iniquity, and will put away the wicked of the earth like dross. God grant to you and to me that we may know on which side we stand, and may be found in Christ, wearing his righteousness, accepted in the Beloved, so that whenever the Lord cometh forth with plagues for his adversaries, he may have a favour towards us. When, in the words of verse sixteen, his foes “shall be as though they had not been,” may the full force of the present text be revealed in our case: “But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”

I make no doubt that this promise has been fulfilled already, and that there was a time when the house of Israel, restored from captivity, came back to Zion, and Edom was utterly consumed. “The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.” But the former fulfilment of a promise does not make it useless, like a cheque which has been paid: the promise may be presented again, and it will again be honoured. God’s rules of action are immutable, and hence what he did to one company of his people he will do to others of them. God is a sovereign, but yet he acts according to his unchanging nature, so that from one of his proceedings we may infer the rest. The temporary restoration of the captives to Jerusalem can only have fulfilled the promise upon a very small scale: it has a wider meaning than such an event could exhaust. The Lord is prepared to do the same on a larger scale for all those who put their trust in him. Taking the text as containing a general principle, I shall use it for our own encouragement and edification, praying God the Holy Spirit to make it truly useful.

I notice, in the text, first, a privilege to be desired-“The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions”; secondly, a favour to be remembered-“Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance”; and, thirdly, a character to be conspicuous-“And there shall be holiness.”

First of all, consider a privilege to be desired. The land of Canaan had been granted to Israel by the Lord of all. Each family had a lot and portion which belonged to it for ever, being entailed upon it by a covenant of salt. Through their sins, the tribes were carried into captivity, the land was taken from them by their conquerors, and they could no longer possess their possessions. Now, the promise comes to them by the prophet Obadiah: “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” A property may be my lawful possession, and yet, for divers reasons, I may not be able to get at it: it may be in the hands of one who defrauds me of it, or I may be far away and unable to reach it. The words are singular, but their meaning is distinct: “They shall possess their possessions.”

Let us use the words as applicable to souls who shall be led to take what is promised to believers. “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” We set before many of you, every Sabbath-day, the great possessions of eternal life, of pardon, of justification, of the new birth, sanctification, and all the other treasures of the covenant; but though they are set before you, and you long after them, many of you feel unable to grasp them as your own. You know that the tenure of these possessions is faith; but either you do not understand what faith is, or you, for some other reason, fail to exercise it, and so you do not appropriate what the gospel freely gives to you. You are either confused by ignorance, or dazed by fear as to your sin, or held back by the temptations of the devil. I pray that you may have grace speedily to take what Jesus freely gives, so that you may come to possess your possessions. If you have the power given you to-day, by faith, to take the Lord Jesus Christ as yours, and if you now trust in his most precious blood, you need not be afraid that you will be taking possession of what does not belong to you, for every believing soul may know that what he takes by faith was bestowed upon him in the covenant of grace from before the foundation of the world. If thou believest in Christ, thou wast chosen of God before the world began. For believers, redemption was specially offered by our Lord upon the cross; he bought for them the covenant heritage, and he has made it over to them, so that it shall be theirs for ever. You cannot know this before you believe: but faith reveals the divine choice and gift. You who now believe were once strangers to such an extraordinary joy as that which comes by faith. You wandered up and down in sin, knowing nothing of what free grace and dying love had done for you: but now you have come to God, and you have ventured by faith to take possession of what the Lord so freely offers in the gospel: and behold, it is revealed to you that these things were yours in the purpose of God, even from everlasting. Now is it fulfilled to you-“The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” God gave you all covenant blessings in Christ Jesus, according as he chose you, in him, from before the foundation of the world. God saw you in Christ as his elect, his beloved, his redeemed, and therefore for you he prepared a kingdom which you inherit through his grace. If you have now the confidence to believe in Christ Jesus, and to say, “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” then you shall know that in grasping gracious blessings, you do but come to your own; you possess your possessions. Let it be the prayer of everyone here, who by faith has entered into rest, that others may now be brought in, that so the number of the elect may be accomplished, and that all covenant provisions may be received by those for whom they are prepared. Oh, for the bringing home to their God and to their own possessions those who are now prodigals, starving in the far-off country!

Let us go a step further. Beloved friends, many by faith have laid hold upon the covenant possessions, but yet they do not to the full possess them. The text leads me to pray that believers may enjoy fully what they have grasped by faith. Christ is mine; but, beloved, who among us knows all that is ours in Christ? He is a casket, which is all ours, but we do not open its doors, and take out all its treasures. Our possessions in Christ are very wide; but we need to be bidden, like Abraham, to lift up our eyes to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and to the west, that we may form a clearer idea of the goodly land which the Lord our God has given us. We see the blessings of the covenant; but do we feed on them as we might? Do we drink deep into them, and is our soul satisfied as with marrow and fatness by them? I fear we do not by enjoyment possess our possessions. Alas! with many believers, times of actual realization and enjoyment are rare: they can talk about the blessing, but they do not habitually rejoice in it themselves. “Oh, yes,” they say, “it is a very delightful thing to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.” But do they enjoy the peace which flows from cleansing? Have they “received the atonement,” and with it that peace with God which follows upon justification by faith? Do they delight in “the peace of God which passeth all understanding”? You know, dear brethren, that it is your high privilege to have access to the mercy-seat; but do you use that access, and come often and boldly to the throne of grace? Do you avail yourselves of your opportunities? Do you make the utmost use of prayer? In other holy matters, do you really stand where God would have you stand? Are you as rich as Christ has made you? A man may have large possessions, and yet be practically poor, because he is miserly in his expenditure. Is it not so with many a child of God? All things are ours, and yet we live as if nothing were ours. Like a horse shut out of the pastures, we nibble round the hedges: better far for us to be like sheep, which enter in and lie down in green pastures. Oh, for grace to appropriate by enjoyment those treasures of the covenant, which make the soul to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! I pray that we may not look in at the windows of the banqueting hall, but may sit at the table and possess our possessions. Why should we be hungering and thirsting, when Christ has given us his flesh to be meat indeed, and his blood to be drink indeed? Why should we be hanging down our heads like bulrushes to-day, when the Lord loves us, and would have his joy to be in us, that our joy may be full? Why are we so dispirited by our infirmities, when we know that Jehovah is our strength and our song, he also has become our salvation? I tell you, brethren, we do not possess our possessions. We are like an Israelite who should say, “Yes, those terraces of land are mine. Those vineyards, and olives, and figs and pomegranates are mine. Those fields of wheat and barley are mine; yet I am starving.” Why do you not drink the blood of the grapes? He answers, “I can scarcely tell you why, but so it is-I walk through the vineyards, and I admire the clusters, but I never taste them. I gather the harvest, and I thrash it on the barn-floor; but I never grind it into corn, nor comfort my heart with a morsel of bread.” Surely this is wretched work! Is it not folly carried to an extreme? I trust the children of God will not copy this madness. Let our prayer be that we may use and enjoy to the utmost all that the Lord has given us in his grace, and so possess our possessions.

Go a step further. We possess our possessions when we hold firmly what we enjoy. Too many Christians hold their blessings with a feeble hand; they expect where they ought to enjoy, and think where they ought to know. They are never sure, and thus they do not “possess their possessions.” They are not sufficiently at home with spiritual things to be said to possess them. At times, they rise into rapturous joy; I think I heard one of them sing the other day-

“My willing soul would stay

In such a frame as this;

And sit and sing herself away

To everlasting bliss.”

But the brother very soon came down from that mount; the sister soon quitted that Tabor, and made her way to the place of Wailing. Why this fickleness? Some do not stay long enough in the garden of assurance to see a single fruit ripen; they do not possess their possessions. It is a grand thing when the grace of God enables a man to say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.” When happy feelings vanish, faith abides the same. Be it night or be it day, our soul waits only upon God; for our expectation is from him. When you have such a grip of the eternal covenant, that if all the devils in hell were to try to drag it from you you would defy their efforts, it is well with you. We know that we have passed from death unto life. We know that Christ is ours, and that we are his. We are resting in him, and are saved in him with an everlasting salvation. Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord? When we are thus assured, we then really possess our possessions: our title deeds are before us, and the inheritance is within sight of our faith. If a man is living in a house which does not belong to him, he can hardly be said to possess it. He may be at any moment disturbed, if not ejected altogether. If one who can prove his claim comes that way, out he must go. Beloved, our God has given us a covenant right in Christ Jesus to the blessings of his grace: we cannot be ejected; justice is on our side as well as grace, since Jesus died. Our tenure is not uncertain: because Jesus lives we shall live also. Blessed is he who, having believed in the Lord Jesus, is able to sing,

“Now I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies,

I bid farewell to every fear,

And wipe my weeping eyes.”

May this be the lot of all the members of this church, and of all my Lord’s servants in every place!

I have not come to the end of my tether yet. I will fix another meaning upon these words, and apply them to souls realizing things to come. Brethren, we have possessions which we have not yet seen, and cannot as yet enter upon.

“I have a heritage of joy

Which yet I must not see;

The hand that bled to make it mine

Is keeping it for me.”

We believe in the Second Coming of our Lord from heaven, and in the glory that shall follow. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal bliss of the godly in heaven. We believe that we shall dwell with Christ for ever and ever. Can we possess these possessions even now? We cannot now rise from the dead, for we are not yet buried; we cannot yet walk the golden streets, for we have not passed through the gate of pearl. Yet, by the realizations of faith, we may make these things to be so near that we may measurably enjoy them even now, and so already possess our possessions. “He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Though we are not actually in heaven, yet in union with our Lord we are virtually there. We have been buried with him in baptism, wherein also we have risen with him. We have been raised from spiritual death into newness of life, and we have gone up above all earthly things into the heavenlies, wherein we dwell. Yes, beloved, faith has a strange realizing faculty. Imagination can do much in this direction, but faith can do far more. By imagination a man can make fiction appear fact: faith has nothing to do with fiction, but it makes the sure hopes of the future to be the pleasures of the present. Earth can become the vestibule of heaven; life here may be the rehearsal of the glory-life above. Even here we may possess our possessions by enjoying a period of rest, “as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Already we have the earnest of the inheritance in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we have obtained that inheritance in Christ.

“The men of grace have found

Glory begun below;

Celestial fruits on earthly ground

From faith and hope do grow.”

More and more may we enjoy the peace, the rest, the purity, the victory of heaven, and thus possess our possessions.

One other meaning, and upon this I am going to lay emphasis: we long to see souls winning others for Jesus. I think when it says, “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions,” it may also mean the possessions of their enemies. For, in the nineteenth and twentieth verses, we read-“They of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.” The saints annex the territories of their enemies, which are theirs in Christ Jesus. The whole world belongs to Christ, and in his name we are to possess it for him. As yet we see not all things put under him; but the enemy abides in his strongholds. Ah, how terribly does the enemy keep his hold on London! Beloved, we long that this text may prove true to us by our achieving the capture of this great city. “There is very much land yet to be possessed,” and we must press on our conquest in the name of Jesus. We must carry the war into the enemy’s country, and storm fort after fort for Jesus. This land is a part of Christ’s own kingdom; let us take it. Is this to be done? It must be done! We must not be satisfied till millions bow at our Lord’s feet-until Jesus, by the grace of God, possesses the east and the west, the north and the south. I regard this as a promise to us: “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” Drunkenness must come down, like Jericho before the trumpets of Israel; sin and lechery, like the iron chariots of the Canaanites, must be broken in pieces before our holy faith; unbelief and superstition, like the hosts of Jabin, must give way before the everlasting gospel, which must and shall conquer. Oh that the whole church would be up and doing for the Lord our King! Oh, for a dauntless faith, to go up and possess the gate of our enemies! This is one of God’s great designs. He has chosen us and brought us to Zion, that there we may find deliverance for ourselves, and then may lead others to the Deliverer. Is it not written in the twenty-first verse, “And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s”? If we have been chosen of God we have been chosen with this object, that we gather out from the world the rest of the Lord’s redeemed, and win for our King the nations now in revolt against him. Many of us are, just now, praying day and night that this may be our best year, that we may have a larger increase than ever before. I invite you all to join with me in this continual supplication, and may it come to pass before our own eyes, that, in this Tabernacle, “the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”

So much upon the main part of our discourse: there are two other things to be handled, and, first, comes this-a favour to be remembered: “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance.” This fact should help us to possess our possessions. See what God has done for us! What can he not do? Is anything too hard for the Lord? That you may see the force of the passage, let me work out its meaning.

We have been saved; for “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance,” and we have found it so. In Christ Jesus we have been saved. The Revised Version has it, “In mount Zion there shall be those that escape.” We have escaped from sin, death, and hell. One of the greatest expositors of the Minor Prophets reads it, “Upon mount Zion there shall be an escaped remnant,” which indicates a people small and weak, but effectually rescued; and such are we. This rendering reminds us of that other prophet, who said, “In mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:32). Glory be to God! We are saved. Delitzsch reads it, “Upon mount Zion will be that which has been saved.” Yes, we have been saved, saved from spiritual death, saved from punishment, saved from sin itself, saved unto the glory of our God! We have been saved, not on mount Sinai, for there the law thunders terribly; but on mount Zion, where the blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than that of Abel. Because of this deliverance, let us go up and publish salvation, and proclaim the name of our Deliverer. Hearken unto his voice, ye captives, that ye also may be delivered! Look to him, ye perishing, that ye also may be saved! Now may we cheerfully possess our possessions, since we are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.

We are daily saved; for the text says, “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance.” Salvation abides there at all times. Not only have we been saved, but we are saved continually from all evil. If we fall into trouble at any time, we fly to Jesus. If we have hourly temptations, we look to Jesus for hourly succour. We have present salvation. Let us not think of our salvation as a matter which was finished in us on a certain day, and there and then ended. Conversion is the beginning of sanctification, and sanctification is the life-long working out of salvation. Grace will always be needed from day to day, until we enter into glory. In mount Zion, in Christ Jesus, in the Word, and in the church of God, there is a fountain of salvation which never dries up. If it be so, let us enjoy it without stint, now and always. Let us be rich in abiding treasure. Let us be happy in never-failing safety, and let us seek to bring this deliverance to others.

We are few, comparatively. I reminded you of that reading of the text-“Upon mount Zion shall be an escaped remnant.” I will not make guesses as to what the number of God’s chosen will be in the end; but at present, taking the most charitable view of things, the saved ones are as a handful of corn on the top of the mountains, or as the gleanings of the vintage. The world lieth in the wicked one, but those who are in Christ Jesus are a small remnant. That cheering word, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” is still applicable to the church. When we accept the most enlarged notion of the numbers making up the church of God at the present day, and compare that slender company with the population of the globe, it is like comparing a drop of the bucket to the laver of the temple. Ah, me! Yet let us not despair: if God has saved us, though we be but few, he will accomplish his purposes by us. He saveth not by many nor by few: his own right arm getteth unto him the victory. Ye are able to possess the land, few as ye are. Only go forth in the same spirit as the twelve did when the Holy Ghost rested upon them at Pentecost; and few as you may be, you can yet subdue the nations to Christ.

We are chosen by grace. In mount Zion the escaped remnant are men chosen by grace, and ordained unto this deliverance. If you believe that God has chosen you, nothing should daunt you. More courage comes into the heart through a grip of the doctrine of election than by any other truth. Let a man believe that God has ordained him to this or that, and he goes forward with irresistible resolve. The man impressed with his election crashes through every difficulty, as though he were a bolt of iron, shot from some tremendous cannon by a master marksman. Who shall hinder my accomplishing that to which God has appointed me? I shall fulfil my destiny: who shall hinder me? In this there is a mighty motive for pressing on to possess our possessions, and win for Christ the purchase of his blood. “The remnant hath obtained it.” The victory remains with the people whom the Lord has chosen.

Notice this, that we are set for the deliverance of others. The Lord’s purpose of grace to any man does not end with the personality of that one man. He chooses one man with a view to others. When God chooses a company of men to eternal life, it is that they may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jehovah chose Israel that the favoured nation might receive the oracles of God and preserve them for the ages to come. If he has chosen us and brought us to his mount Zion, it is that, finding deliverance for ourselves, we may go forth and bear the tidings of it to the ends of the earth. Is it not written, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”? Brethren, we ought to go in and possess the land and win the people for Jesus, for therefore are we chosen. Has he saved you? Has he taken you out from among the fallen mass of mankind? Has he chosen you by his discriminating grace? Oh! then, you are not your own, you are his for ever, and you are not to live for yourselves, but for his glory and for the making known of his salvation among your fellow men; wherefore, beloved, take heart and courage, and let your souls be big with high enterprise and noble purpose. Say to yourselves, “It shall be true, ‘the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions,’ for we know of a truth that there is deliverance upon mount Zion.”

Our final word is perhaps the most important of all. I call your attention to a third matter, namely, the character to be conspicuous. “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness.” It is through holiness that the house of Jacob shall enter into that possession of which I have spoken at so great length. If there be no holiness, then there has been no deliverance, and there shall be no possessing of possessions. Holiness is a link which is essential to the golden chain of blessings. If we are without holiness, we shall not see the Lord on our side.

To give you the bearing of the words before us, I remark, first, that it might be translated, “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be a sanctuary,” or, “a holy place,” an inviolate sanctuary of God. The people of God are the temple of God. The church of God should be God’s peculiar dwelling-place, wherein he walks as a king in his own palace. The temple of the Godhead, is, first of all, the person of Christ, and next the church of the living God. “This is my rest; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.” With what dignity is the church invested, when it is in very deed the temple of God! When we come together in our solemn gatherings, and especially when we surround the communion table, and are visibly seen as a church, let us be filled with solemn awe and holy trembling; for the Lord is among us as he was in Sinai, or, better still, as he was in the holy of holies in the Tabernacle of old. True saints are living stones of the living temple wherein the Lord Jehovah deigns to make himself known. Unless we can realize this, we shall not possess our possessions. If your church membership is a mere trifle to you; if you think that a church is simply a community of people who meet together for religious purposes, you miss the mark. The church must be the sanctuary of God-the place where God reveals himself; and if it is not so, the men and women who make up that church have never tasted the divine deliverance, neither will they possess their possessions. Without the presence of God in the church, it has no power to subdue the world to the faith.

The great thing that makes God’s people a holy people, is the presence of God with them. He sanctifies both the place of his abode and those that come near to him. It is holy ground where Jehovah reveals himself, though it be but in a bush. God is everywhere; but he is not everywhere as he is in his church. There is a special, gracious presence of God in the midst of his chosen people; and this it is that makes them “holiness unto the Lord.” Have you never been forced to cry with Jacob, “How dreadful is this place!” and that because you had also cried, “Surely God was in this place!” In a gathering of saints, when you have drawn near in solemn prayer to God, and have laid hold upon the covenant angel and prevailed, have you not felt that you were the Lord’s? We are never so holy as when we are near to God. God’s overshadowing presence sanctifies the man whom it covers. Beloved, we must have this, or we cannot conquer the nations. If God is not with us, and the shout of a King is not in the camp, there will be no brave deeds done in the battle. The church needs reviving at home. We hear men talk of “getting up a revival.” What idle talk is this! If the church of God becomes spiritually quickened, the revival will come; but not else. Let us carefully see to our holiness, and God will see to our success.

Next to this, there must be holy teaching: “there shall be holiness.” All the teaching that goes forth from us must be God’s holy truth, and not the dream of human wisdom. If I hear of a ministry under which there are no conversions, I usually find that it is not a holy ministry. If in the teaching there is nothing which is calculated to convert sinners, we cannot wonder that it is not used to that end. If I go fishing with a broken net, is it any wonder that I take no fish? God could not convert souls by unholy sermons, for it would not be to his glory to do so. Instrumentality must be fitted for what it aims at, and soul-saving sermons must deal with sin and salvation, and with the blood of Jesus. What have we to do with themes which are foreign to our design? If I were to come hither and talk to you about Strikes, or Home Rule, or Socialism, and should then pray to God to convert souls by my discourse, would it not be a mockery or worse? I think so. Zion must have holy preaching if she is to have conquering power. Whatever our ministry lacks, it must be said of it, “There shall be holiness,” or there will be death in the pot. Oh, that the preacher might always be holy! Unless we preach a holy God, a holy doctrine, a holy gospel, and holy practice, we sow the wind.

Beloved, we must maintain holy ordinances. God forbid that we should put a slight upon baptism and the supper of the Lord! Some have rejected these sacred institutions; but how will they answer for it in the day when Christ shall come? If the Lord Jesus has ordained these institutions, how dare we set them aside? Surely this is presumptuously mounting to the throne of Christ, pushing him from the seat of legislation, and daring to make laws for ourselves. No; there shall be holiness, and then we shall possess our possessions, and find in the ordinances means of instruction and usefulness.

There must be holiness in the form of holy pleading. If this church, which has enjoyed so much of divine favour, could be in every member aroused to mighty intercession for the souls of men, should we not see great things? If every member were in earnest in praying for the visitations of God; and if every one pleaded day and night for the display of divine power, and added to his pleading that which would prove it to be sincere, namely, his own individual effort, what a day would break upon us! It would be a morning without clouds! I see no reason why it should not be so. I pray it may be realized at once. May our ideal become a fact! May God himself fulfil the promise, “There shall be holiness”! Holiness will breed prayer, and prayer will bring power, and that power will work mightily for the glory of the Lord.

One thing more-there must be holy living. Prayer meetings: what are they if they are held by a number of people who do not serve the Lord at home? Preaching: what is that, if the preacher preaches what he has never experienced, and is not prepared to practise? Teaching in Sabbath-schools: what is that, if the children are taught by frivolous persons, whose lives are destitute of piety? God will not bless us, to the effecting of his purposes of salvation, unless we are clothed with holiness as with a garment. Zion’s priests must put on their snow-white garments of holy living if they are to offer an acceptable sacrifice before Jehovah. If I might plead on my knees with tears in my eyes, I would beseech every brother and sister here to be holy. Hear how the Lord says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” “Be ye imitators of God as dear children.” “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh.” “Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.” You cannot possess your possessions to your own joy, unless your lives are holiness unto the Lord. You cannot have full assurance, you cannot rise to close communion with Christ, you cannot anticipate the joys of heaven, you cannot be useful to men, unless you carefully obey the Lord, and walk in holiness before him. Our hearts can truly pray-

“Yet one thing we want,

More holiness grant,

For more of thy mind

And thy Spirit we pant.”

If this panting be fulfilled, all things will go well with us.

Suffer the word of exhortation. As we so eagerly desire that we may have a great increase to this church through numerous conversions, let us lay this to our hearts, that we must be holy; for if we are not holy we shall not be fit to be blessed. The unholy worker is not really in earnest. He may have a factitious or fictitious earnestness; but heart-passion for souls is not found in unholy men. Unless you are thoroughly consecrated to God, and then sanctified by the Spirit, you will not speak with that accent of conviction which carries truth home to the hearer. Do you not know yourselves that when you have listened to a clever preacher who has no spirituality, but is a mere actor and known to be of worldly habits, his preaching has no power in it for you? What he said was all very well, but it fell flat: he was a clever and eloquent man, but he did not touch you. When I heard George Müller, some years ago, there was nothing of oratory in what he said, but then there was George Müller behind it, and every syllable had weight. That blessed man spoke as one who had experience of what he said. His long life of faith in God made every word powerful with the heart and conscience. Teachers of Bible-classes and schools, a holy life must be your power in your classes, or your words will be to your children as idle tales!

If they see your lives to be unholy, the ungodly will reject your testimony, and it will be no wonder that they do so. They want to reject it; they are looking out for excuses for rejecting it, and they will gladly find an argument in your unhallowed conversation. They will say, “The man does not believe it himself, or else he would not live as he does.” I heard of one who was asked by her minister whether she remembered last Sunday’s sermon. “No,” she said, “it is all gone.” “But you ought to remember it,” said the minister. “No,” she replied, “I am not to be expected to do so, for you did not remember it yourself-you read it all from a paper.” The argument is, if the preacher does not remember his own preaching to put it into practice, how can he expect others to do so? Shall the taught excel the teacher? Brother, you lose your leverage of power if you fail in holiness.

What is more, saints cannot pray for a blessing on a work which is not holy. If you work for God in an unholy way, or work for God rightly, yet, nevertheless, are inconsistent in your ordinary life, the people of God will be grieved, and will find it impossible to pray for you. “Ah!” said one to me, talking of his minister, of whom I was sorry that he should have so to speak, “You may well have a blessing, for God’s people love to pray for you; but as for our minister, he is a fine preacher, but there is nothing gracious about him, and none of the Lord’s people feel drawn to him.” This is a grievous loss to a man; a leak which will sink his ship. Can any good come of a ministry for which saints cannot pray? Unless the people of God see in a man downright consecration to God, and holiness of spirit and life, they cannot feel that union of heart which produces intercession.

Lastly, God himself will not own a ministry which is not accompanied by holy character. How can God set his seal to an unholy life? Ah, brothers! if we can go into the world and sin as others do all the days of the week, it will be in vain to pull over us the garb of sanctity on the Sunday, and say, “I am witness for Christ.” What does God think of such conduct? Does he call on evil men to be his witnesses? He hates hypocrisy, and therefore he cannot append the “signs following” to a ministry which is impure. O my brethren, we desire honour from the Lord in conversions. We would not be as Saul, when he laid hold on Samuel, and cried, “Honour me before the people!” All the honour which rhetoric and oratory could bring, would be nothing to us if we did not see souls saved.

O you that are not yet believers in Jesus, how much I wish that you were so! May you be led to believe at once in him whose death must be your life, who must himself be your salvation. Look to him and live! And you that are Christ’s, I beg you to remember the remarkable expression of the text, and may you “possess your possessions”! Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 44.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-90, 957, 999.