Our Lord Jesus Christ had preached a sermon to the multitude while he was sitting down in Peter’s boat; and after the people had gone, he had a private message for Simon. He said to him, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” Christ’s discourses to the general public were all full of most blessed teaching, but his little private talks to his intimate acquaintances were even more helpful and precious. They were important truths which he proclaimed to the many, but the choicest things he reserved for the few. Many a parable, which he addressed to the crowd, he explained only to his own disciples, and many a thing which he never said to the crowd at all, because they could not understand it, and it would have been like casting pearls before swine, he whispered in the ears of his disciples. So it was with Simon Peter at this time. There was the sermon to the many first, and after the sermon this word to Peter about launching out into the deep. Mind that you, who love the Lord, always look for the private piece after the public sermon. Watch for the sweet word which your Master is always willing to utter, and do not be satisfied unless you hear it.

Then, if the message that he gives you shall be a precept, or a command, like that addressed to Simon, bidding him let down his nets, be careful that you at once obey it. Be not negligent of the special voice of God in your own heart and conscience, for God intends thereby to bestow a great blessing upon you, even as he did upon Simon whose boat was filled with fish almost to sinking. If you give heed to that special private word of your Lord to your own heart and soul, many a boatful of fish shall you have, or, rather, many a heartful of untold blessing which otherwise you might never have received.

Peter, being exhorted to launch out into the deep, and to let down his nets for a draught, reasoned that, according to the ordinary course of events, it would be of very little use to do so, for he and his comrades had been toiling hard with their great seine net all through the night, yet they had caught nothing, and it did not, therefore, seem probable that they would catch anything now. However, feeling that Christ was his Master and Lord, and that it did not become him to raise any question about the matter, he just stated the facts of the case, and then added, cheerfully, “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”

Those four words, “Nevertheless at thy word,” seem to furnish me with a topic upon which I shall try to speak thus:-First, the word of Christ is our supreme rule: “At thy word.” Secondly, the word of Christ is our sufficient warrant. If we have that at our back, we may well say, “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net;” and, thirdly, to keep that word will always ensure a reward.

First, then, the word of Christ is the supreme rule of the Christian.

Time out of mind have we spoken to you about the precious blood of Christ that cleanses from all sin, and about the blessings that Jesus brings to you when he becomes your Saviour; but we are bound also to remind all of you, who profess to have believed on him, and to have become his disciples, that you must not only own him as your Master and Lord, but that you must do whatsoever he bids you.

“Faith must obey the Saviour’s will,

As well as trust his grace.”

The moment we become Christians, who are saved by Christ, we become his servants to obey all his commandments. Hence, it is incumbent upon us to search the Scriptures that we may know what our Master’s will is. There he has written it out for us in plain letters, and it is an act of disobedience to neglect this search. By refusing to learn what the will of our Lord is, the sin of ignorance becomes wilful, because we do not use the means by which we might receive instruction. Every servant of Christ is bound to know what he is to do; and then, when he knows it, he should at once do it. The Christian man’s business is, first, to learn Christ’s will, and, secondly, to do it. Once learnt, that will is the supreme law of the Christian whatever may seem to oppose it.

Let me just mention a few of the times when it seems difficult to conform to that will, but when we must say, “Nevertheless at thy word.”

And, first, we must do this with regard to great gospel truths when our own reason is staggered. No thoughtful person can seriously consider the doctrines of grace without often crying out, “They are high; I cannot attain to them.” There are many things revealed to us in the Scriptures which we cannot understand;-nay, not even though we give all our mind to endeavour to comprehend them. There are difficulties in theology. This doctrine does not appear to square with that, or that one with the next. One truth, perhaps, appears inconsistent with the love of God; or we may sometimes wonder how certain events in God’s providential dealings can be consistent with his goodness or justice. Well, my brother or sister, whenever you put your hand to your brow, and say, concerning anything revealed in the Scriptures, “I cannot comprehend it,” lay your other hand upon your heart, and say, “Nevertheless I believe it. It is clearly taught in the Bible; and although my reason may find it difficult to explain it, and I may not be able to discover any arguments to prove the truth of it, yet I lay my reason down at my infallible Master’s feet, and trust where I cannot see.” For a man to take his creed blindly from a pope or a priest, is to degrade himself, because he receives that teaching from his fellow-man; but for him to lay his whole mind down at the feet of Jesus Christ, is no degradation, since Christ is the wisdom of God, and all wisdom is infallibly gathered up in him. I do not expect fully to understand my Lord’s will, I only ask to be informed what that will is. I do not suppose that I can comprehend it, but I say, “What is thy will, my Master? If thou wilt reveal it to me, I will believe it.”

We must adopt a similar course when we are exposed to the quibbles of our fellow-men. Many young persons, especially, find themselves unable to answer all the objections that are raised by those who oppose the gospel. It would be a marvel if they could, for the old proverb says, “One fool can ask more questions than fifty wise men can answer.” It is not likely that those who are just beginning to learn divine truth should be able to overcome all its opponents. When a question has sometimes staggered me, I have felt, “Well, I cannot answer that, but I believe that it can be answered. I thank God that I have heard it asked, for it has taught me my ignorance upon that point, and I will sit down, and study God’s Word till I can answer it; but even if I cannot answer it, it does not signify. Somebody can do so; and, above all, God himself can. Be it mine sometimes to leave the arrows of the adversary sticking in my shield; they will do no harm there. If he likes to see them there, let him be amused by it; but as long as I cling to Christ’s infallible teaching, they will not hurt me. So let him shoot, and shoot again.” You will find, beloved, that this will be good exercise for your humility, and good exercise for your loyalty to Christ. It will be shown that you are, after all, a follower of Christ, and not a believer in your own infallibility, or relying upon that reason of yours which, at best, is but a dim candle, but that you have really yielded up your mind to the lordship of your Saviour.

Sometimes we shall have to say, “Nevertheless at thy word,” when the command of Christ seems contrary to our own experience. It would become a dangerous thing if we were always to follow the experience even of Christians, for the experience of one man might teach us one thing, but the experience of another might teach us the very reverse; and to make experience the basis of theology,-though it is often a helpful illustration of it, would lead to great mistakes. I must never say, “I did such-and-such a thing; I know it was not right, yet good came of it, and, therefore, I feel that I may do the same thing again.” Neither ought I to say, “I did so-and-so, which I knew was right, but I suffered great trouble as the result of it, and, therefore, I ought not to do it again.” No, no; whatever happens to us, our only course is to pursue the right path, and to avoid all that is wrong. Let each of us say, “My Master, if any act of obedience to thee were to cost me many a pang,-to cost me my liberty,-to cause me to be put into prison,”-and it has done so to many of the saints of old,-“yet I will do as thou commandest me, whatever the consequences may be.” What said Master John Bunyan, after he had lain in prison many years simply for preaching the gospel? The magistrates said to him, “John, we will let you out, but you must promise not to preach again. There are the regular divines of the country; what have you, as a tinker, to do with preaching?” John Bunyan did not say, “Well, now, I can see that this preaching is a bad thing. It has got me into prison, and I have had hard work to tag enough laces to keep my wife and that poor blind child of mine. I had better get out of this place, and stick to my tinkering.” No, he did not talk like that, but he said to the magistrates, “If you let me out of prison to-day, I will preach again to-morrow, by the grace of God.” And when they told him that they would not let him out unless he promised not to preach, he bravely answered, “If I lie in gaol till the moss grows on my eyelids, I will never conceal the truth which God has taught to me.”

We are, therefore, not to put our own past experience in the way of obedience to our Lord’s will, but to say to him, “Nevertheless, however costly this duty may prove to be, at thy command I will let down the net, or do whatsoever thou biddest me do.” But, sometimes, people get remarkably wise through experience, or they think that they do. Old sailors, for instance, fancy that they “know a thing or two;” and Simon Peter, who had been fishing in that lake for a long while, thought he knew all that could be known about fishing. And Christ interfered with Peter just in Peter’s own line, and gave him a command about fishing. The fisherman might have said, “What is the good of casting the net? We have been fishing all night long, and have taken nothing; what is the good of our fishing any more?” Peter did not talk so, though he may have thought like that; but he said, “Nevertheless at thy word, since thou knowest far more about fish than I do,-since thou didst make them, and canst make them come wheresoever thou wilt,-since, Lord, thou commandest it,-I would not do it at anybody else’s bidding, but I will do it at thine, I will let down the net.” So, sometimes, there may be something in God’s Word, or some path of duty clearly indicated to you, which does not seem to carnal judgment to be very wise; but you are to say, “Nevertheless at thy word,-no other authority could make me do it;-but thy law is the supreme rule for my conduct, and I will do whatsoever thou dost bid me.”

This great principle ought also to prevail when self-love is in the way. Sometimes, the command of Christ runs completely contrary to what we should ourselves like, and obedience to it involves self-denial. It threatens to take away from us much that was very pleasurable to us; and then, very likely, something within us says, “Do not obey it; it will go very hard with you if you do.” Nevertheless, brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit so mightily work upon you that you will do anything and everything that Christ commands, however galling to the flesh it may be. We are not our own; so let us never act as if we were. The mark of the precious blood of Jesus is upon us; we have been bought with it, so it is not right for us to make provision for the flesh, or to be looking out for our own ease or aggrandisement. It is our duty to do whatever our Lord bids us do, and to take the consequences, whatever they may be. So let us each one say, “I know that it will cost me much, my Master; but, nevertheless, I will do whatever thou commandest me.”

Sometimes, there is a more powerful opposition still to the will of the Lord; that is, when love of others would hinder us from obeying it. “If I do so-and-so, which I know I ought to do, I shall grieve my parents. If I carry out that command of Christ, the dearest friend I have will be very angry with me; he has threatened to cast me off if I am baptized. My old companions, who have been very kind to me, will all consider that I have gone out of my mind, and will no longer wish to have me in their company.” If a person has a genial heart, and a loving spirit, this kind of treatment is very trying, and there is a strong temptation to say, “Well, now, how far can I go in religion, and yet just manage to save these fond connections? I do not wish to set myself up in opposition to everybody else; can’t I, somehow or other, please God, and yet please these people too?” But, brethren and sisters, if we are indeed Christians, the supreme rule of our Lord’s will drives us to say to him, “Nevertheless, I will do whatever thou dost command.” Farewell, our best-beloved, if they stand in the way of Christ our Lord, for he said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Everyone else and everything else must go, that we may keep company with Christ.

It sometimes happens that we have God’s Word pointing us to a certain course of action, but we do not follow it because of the faintness of our own heart. Do you ever feel faint-hearted? There are some people who seem as if they were born without nerves, or feeling, for they never appear to be downcast. But some of us, at times, shrink away, and seem to be dried up, as if the marrow were gone from our bones, and the strength from our hearts. At such a time as that, we know what Christ would have us do, but we hesitate to do it; we feel as if we could not,-not that we would not, but that we really could not. There is a want of courage,-a lack of confidence; we are timid, and cannot dash into the fray. Then is the time,-when heart and flesh fail,-for us to take God to be the strength of our soul by resolving, let our weakness be what it may, that we will obey the command of Christ. When thy heart is faint, dear brother or sister, still follow Christ; when thou feelest as if thou must die at thy next step, still keep close at his heel; and if thy soul be almost in despair, yet hold on to him, and keep thy feet in his ways. If anyone, who feareth the Lord, still walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God, for so shall his light break forth as the morning, and his heart shall be once more glad in the Lord.

So, you see, whatever obstacle there may be in the way of our obedience to the command of Christ, let each one of us still say to him, “Nevertheless at thy word, I will do whatever thou commandest. That shall be the supreme rule and guide for all my actions.”

Now, secondly, I want to show you that the word of Christ is our sufficient warrant, as well as our supreme rule.

This is, first, our warrant for believing on him. If the Lord Jesus Christ has bidden thee do this, thou certainly mayest do it; and if any shall ask thee why thou dost believe on him, this shall be thy triumphant answer, “The King gave me the command to do so.” Listen to this, all ye who desire to have eternal life, and who have not yet obtained it. The gospel commission is, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” and this is the gospel command, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The poor timid soul says, “How can I venture to trust my guilty soul with Christ? It would be presumption upon my part. What right have I to come, and rely upon him?” It must be right for thee to do it, for he biddeth thee do it; and if he biddeth thee do it, this is warrant enough for thee. Every sinner under heaven, who hears the glad tidings of salvation, is commanded to believe on Jesus; and he is warned that, if he does not believe on him, he shall be damned. “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” This is the very widest form of command, so I bid each one of you to say, this very moment, “Lord, I am not worthy to be thy disciple; but, nevertheless, at thy command, I will believe in thee. I feel that it will be a wonder of grace if I am saved, and it is almost incredible that it should ever take place, nevertheless, at thy command, I let down my net; I even dare to trust thy precious blood and thy spotless righteousness, and to expect that thou wilt save me.” Is not that a blessed form of argument? I pray that some of you may feel its force, and act upon it even now.

Next, this is an excellent reason for being baptized if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody may say to you, “What is the good of baptism? It will not save you; to be immersed in water will not wash away your sins.” I hope you will be ready to reply, “No, I know all that; nevertheless, at Christ’s command, I mean to do it. I ask not what will be the gain to me of obeying his orders. That would be sheer selfishness; he bids me be baptized, and that is enough for me.” “But such-and-such a church does not ordain the baptism of believers, or baptism by immersion.” No, but Christ has ordained it. By his own example, by his plain precept, by the preaching and practice of his apostles, he has revealed his will to us, and therefore it is for us to obey that will. If any shall accuse us of making too much of the baptism of believers, we reply, “Our Lord has said, ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,’ and we have no more right to leave out one portion of his words than the other; so, at his command we do this, and let men say what they will.”

This, beloved, is also the great argument for our taking up the position which we hold as Dissenters. Is it not a bad thing to dissent from other people? Yes, of course it is, if they are right, and we are wrong; but it is just as bad for them to dissent from us if we are right, and they are wrong. I am not to say, “I will be singular, and keep myself separate from other people.” It would be wrong for me to act like that; but it is right to say, “Whatsoever Christ commands is law in his Church.” What synods command, or bishops command, or popes command, is not worth the paper it is written on; there is no authority in it to a Christian. He is free from all such control as that; but the law of Christ, as he finds it revealed in the Bible, is binding upon him. I should honour any man who stood absolutely alone, without another individual to support him in his opinion, for having the courage to do so, if he justified his action by the Word of God. To run with the multitude is only too often to go in the wrong road. To believe a thing because the many believe it, is a coward’s reason. To slink away from truth because she stands in the pillory,-because she is unpopular,-because the crowd cries her down,-oh, this is a craven spirit! I would rather be on the side of truth with half a dozen paupers than be on the side of a lie with all the kings and prelates who ever rode in their pomp through the streets of this world, for, at the last, they who were on truth’s side, and on Christ’s side, shall be honoured, and they who had not the conscience and the courage to follow the Lamb shall be dishonoured and covered with everlasting shame and contempt.

This principle can also be applied to many other matters. “Nevertheless at thy word” ought to be an argument for keeping on praying. If you have been asking, for seven years, for the salvation of a soul, and yet that soul is not saved, you may be tempted to say, with Peter, “We have toiled all the night, and taken nothing;” but if you do, mind that you also add, “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” Pray on still; if thou hast begun to pray for any man, keep on praying for him as long as thou livest and he lives. Or if it is some choice blessing for the Church or for the world, which God has evidently promised, and it is laid on thy heart to ask it, intercede still even though for years thou shouldst receive no answer to thy petition. Still knock at mercy’s door; wrestle till the break of day, for, if in the night the blessing comes not, ere the morning sun has risen the Lord will give thee the desire of thy heart.

So, too, is it with regard to Christian service. I will suppose that you have begun to labour for Christ, and that you feel very stupid at it. You have not much talent; and what little you have, you hardly know how to put it to the best use. Well, brother, it looks as if you had better not try again; yet I would advise you to say to your Lord, “Nevertheless at thy word I will go to work again, I will try once more,-nay, I will try many times more.” Suppose you have been working in a certain district, or class, and you have not succeeded; do not yield, brother. Many a hard piece of soil has, after many efforts, at last brought forth a harvest. If Jesus bade thee sow there,-and he did, for he told thee to sow beside all waters,-go thou, and say, “Nevertheless at thy word I will do what thou commandest.” When I come to address this congregation, I like to feel that I come because I am told to do so. One of you may say, “If I go to that dark village, and stand up on the green to preach, I expect I shall be mobbed, nevertheless at thy word I will do it.” It is a blessed thing to render obedience to Christ under the most difficult circumstances. To obey him when it is pleasant to do so,-when all that you do prospers,-is good as far as it goes; but to obey him when everything seems against you, and nothing appears to prosper,-to trust the Lord, and still to work on for him,-this is indeed making Jesus Christ to be your Lord.

I must not dwell longer on this part of my theme, lest I weary you; so I will conclude with the last point, which is this, to keep your Master’s word will ensure a reward to you.

You, who believe in Jesus, are already saved, so you will understand that I speak not of any legal reward, as of debt, for this is all of grace; but the man, who carefully and faithfully does everything according to Christ’s word, shall have, first of all, the reward of an easy conscience. Suppose you go home, one night, and say to yourself, “I have done to-day something that I thought to be right, but I did not stop to enquire if it was according to my Master’s will, I did not wait upon him in prayer for guidance;”-you will feel very uneasy and uncomfortable in your conscience; and if any trouble shall arise through it, you will have to say, “I brought this on myself, for I took my own course.” But if you can say, at nightfall, “What I have done to-day will probably be much discussed, and possibly it will be censured by some, and it may be that it will cost me much pain, and even pecuniary loss; but I know that, as far as I could judge, it was my Master’s will;”-you will sleep very sweetly after that. “Whatever comes of it,” you will say, “I will take it from my Saviour’s piercèd hand, and reckon it to be part of the sacrifice that is necessary in being a Christian.” It is better to be a loser in that way than to be a gainer in any other, for, as the old divine used to say, “He that can wear the flower called heart’s ease in his bosom is better off than he that weareth diamonds in his crown, but who has not true ease of heart.” If a man goes up and down in his daily business in the world, and in his family, and is always able, by God’s grace, to feel, “I have laboured as in the sight of God to do that which is right according to the teaching and example of my Lord and Saviour,” he has a reward in his own heart from that very fact even if he had no other.

But, next, there is a great reward in being enabled to obey the Master’s word, because, rightly looked at, it is in itself a blessing of divine grace. When thou thankest God for the good things he has done for thee, thank him not only for keeping thee out of sin, but also thank him for enabling thee to do his will. No man has any right to take credit to himself for his own integrity, for, if he be a Christian, that integrity is the gift of God’s grace, and the work of God’s Spirit within him. If thou didst, in thy youth, form a candid, honest judgment of the Word of God, and then, burning all bridges and boats, and severing all connection with that which was behind thee,-if thou didst dare to cast in thy lot with the despised people of God, bless him for it, and count it as a great favour which he did thee in that he enabled thee to act thus; and if, when tempted with heavy bribes, thou hast hitherto been able to say, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” and to follow close to the heels of Christ, give God all the glory of it, and bless his holy name. In such a case as this, virtue is its own reward. To have been obedient to Christ, is one of the highest blessings that God can have bestowed upon any man. There are some of us, who have to thank God that, when there were pinching times, we did not dare to yield; but when friends and enemies alike pointed out another way, we saw what was our Master’s way, and followed it by his grace. We shall have to thank him to all eternity for this. Once begin to parley with the foe,-to stifle your conscience or hide your principles,-young man, once begin to follow trickery in trade,-once begin to dally with the wrong, and you will soon find that you are sowing thorns that will pierce through your pillow when you grow old. Be just, and fear not. Follow Christ though the skies should fall; and in doing this, you will be rewarded, for it is a blessing in itself.

But, more than this, no man does his Master’s will fully without getting a distinct reward. Simon Peter’s boatful of fish was his reward for launching out at Christ’s word; and in keeping his commandments there is always a great reward. There is usefulness to others, there is happiness to yourself, and there is glory to God. I sometimes fear that we, ministers, do not preach enough about practical godliness. We tell you about justification by faith, and the doctrines of grace, and we cannot too frequently discourse upon such topics as these; but we must also insist upon it that, where there is faith in Christ, there will be obedience to Christ; and we cannot too often insist upon it that, while the everlasting salvation of the Christian does not depend upon what he does, yet his own comfort, his own usefulness, the glory which he will bring to God, must depend upon that. Therefore, look ye well to it, beloved, young and old, rich and poor, and henceforth, as long as you live, take the Word of God to be the pole-star to you in all your sailings across the ocean of life, and you shall have a blessed voyage, and reach the port of peace, not with rent sails and broken cordage, a dismasted wreck, but “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

May God add his blessing, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HEBREWS 10:19-39

Verses 19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The place of the Christian is that of the nearest conceivable access to God for “the holiest” is “the holy of holies,”-that innermost part of the tabernacle to reach which the high priest had to pass through the outer court, and through the court of the priests, and then through the beautiful veil which concealed the mercy-seat. At the death of Christ, that veil was rent from the top to the bottom, so now there is nothing to keep us back from the mercy-seat. We, therefore, have boldness and liberty in that way “to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;” where the high priest himself could only go once in the year, we may go at all times. The veil has not been merely lifted up for a while, and then dropped down again; it is not rolled up ready for future use; it is rent in twain, destroyed. Since Jesus has died, there is no separation now between the believer and his God except by means of such a veil as our base unbelief may please to hang up. The crimson way of Christ’s shed blood lies open to all believers; therefore, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,”

23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;

Not only hold it, but hold it fast without wavering. Let us never have a question about it. God grant that we may have an unquestioning, unstaggering faith! To hold fast the profession of our faith, seems enough; but to hold it fast without wavering, is better still; and so we ought to do.

23. (For he is faithful that promised;)

God gives us no cause for wavering, for he never wavers. If he were an unfaithful God, we might naturally be an unbelieving people; but “he is faithful that promised.” Therefore, “let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.”

24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

I am afraid there are some who consider one another to provoke in quite a different spirit from this,-who watch to find out a tender spot where a wound will be most felt. They observe the weakness of a brother’s constitution, and then play upon it, or make jests about it. All this is evil, so let us avoid it; let us all seek out the good points of our brethren, and consider them, that we may afterwards be the means of guiding them to those peculiar good works for which they are best adapted.

“Provoke unto love and to good works.” I do not know how we can do that better than by being very loving and very full of good works ourselves, for then will others be likely to say, “If these people are helped by God’s grace to love like this, and to labour like this, why should not we do the same?” A good example is often better than a very proper precept.

25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;-

Yes; there are some who even make a bad use of what ought to be a great blessing, namely, the printing-press, and the printed sermon, by staying at home to read a sermon because, they say, it is better than going out to hear one. Well, dear friend, if I could not hear profitably, I would still make one of the assembly gathered together for the worship of God. It is a bad example for a professing Christian to absent himself from the assembly of the friends of Christ. There was a dear sister, whom many of you knew, who used to attend here with great regularity, although she could not hear a word that was said; but she said it did her good to join in the hymns, and to know that she was worshipping God with the rest of his people. I wish that some, who stay away for the most frivolous excuses, would think of this verse: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;”-

25. But exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

It is not the work of the minister alone to exhort, but the brethren, and the sisters, too, should exhort one another, and seek to stir each other up in the faith and fear of God.

26, 27. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

This is a solemn text, containing a very terrible truth. If, after having been regenerated, and made children of God, we were wilfully and deliberately to let the Saviour go, and apostatize altogether to the world, there would be no hope for us. What, then, is our hope? Why, that we shall never be permitted to do so,-that the grace of God will keep us so that, although we may fall like Peter, we shall not fall away like Judas,-that, though we may sin, there shall not be that degree of studied wilfulness about it that would make it to be the sin unto death, a deliberate act of spiritual suicide. The doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints derives great glory from this other truth that, if they did not persevere, there is no second means of grace, no other plan of salvation. No man was ever born again twice; no man was ever washed twice in the precious blood of Jesus. The one washing makes us so clean that “he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet,” for which Jesus provides by daily cleansing; but the one grand atoning act never fails. If it did fail, there would remain “no more sacrifice for sins.”

28, 29. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

For apostasy from Christ would amount to all this; and if that were possible, what grace would remain?

30. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

O professors, take this message home to your hearts! Let every one of us take it home: “The Lord shall judge his people.” God’s fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. If a man tries nothing else, he will test his gold; and if no others shall be judged, yet certainly those will be who say that they are the Lord’s people. In that dread day, he will separate the goats from the sheep, the tares from the wheat, and the dross from the gold; his fan will be in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor; he will sit as a refiner of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi; he shall be like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. Woe to those, in that day, who are a defilement to his Church, and an adulteration to the purity of his people!

31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

What a terrible verse is that! It is a text that ought to be preached from by those who are always saying that the punishment of the wicked will be less than, according to our minds, the Word of God leads us to expect it to be: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

32. But call to remembrance the former days,-

The apostle is not expecting that any of them will ever go back to where they were before; he is persuaded that they will persevere even to the end. The very warning that he gives is a powerful preventive against apostasy. Now comes the exhortation: “Call to remembrance the former days.” Some of you can “call to remembrance” the time when you joined the church, when you had to run the gauntlet for Christ’s sake. Then, in your early Christian life, you feared nothing and nobody so long as you could glorify God. Then, you had great enjoyment, sweet seasons of communion with your Lord: “Call to remembrance the former days.”

32, 33. In which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.

In your early Christian days, you were pointed at, and regarded as quite singular for being servants of Christ; or, possibly, it was not yourselves so much as your pastors, your leaders, your friends who were prominent in the church, at whom the arrows of the adversaries were aimed. They shot at you through them; and, sometimes, that pained you much more than when they distinctly attacked you. Altogether, it was “a great fight of afflictions” that you had to endure.

34. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds,

In those early days, the Jewish believers clung to Paul just as ardently as the unbelieving Jews persecuted him.

34, 35. And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

Be like the brave Spartan who would never lose his shield, but would come home either with it or on it. “Cast not away your confidence.” You trusted in God in those early days, and nothing seemed to daunt you then. “Cast not away your confidence.” Rather, get more to add to it. Let there be no thought of going back, but may there rather be a distinct advance!

36. For ye have need of patience,-

Our supply of that virtue is often very short; it is an article of which there is very little in the market, and all of us have need of more of it: “Ye have need of patience,”-

36. That, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

There must first be the doing of the will of God, and then the reward will come afterwards. God will not give to his people their full reward yet. Patience, then, brother; patience, sister. Saturday night will come one of these days; your week’s work will then be over, and you will be more than repaid for anything you have done for your Lord.

37, 38. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

The drawers-back-the mere professors-those who say they have been illuminated, and who have tasted, in a measure, the sweetness of religion, yet who never received Christ in their inmost heart,-these are the people in whom God hath no pleasure.

39. But we-

What a consoling end this is to the chapter! It ought to comfort every believer in Christ who has been distressed by the earlier verses: “we”-

39. Are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

May that be true of every one of us, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake I Amen.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-681, 533, 708.

REMOVAL

A Sermon

Intended for Reading on Lord’s-day, December 28th, 1902,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at new park street chapel, southwark,

On Lord’s-day Evening, March 24th, 1861,

At the last service before removing to the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

“If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”-Exodus 33:15.

This is a prayer which has been used hundreds of times, and which is found quite in place on many different occasions. Moses was in the wilderness when he uttered it; he was about to lead the people into Canaan, the land that flowed with milk and honey; yet he felt that he would rather continue to endure the inconveniences of the tent and of the wilderness, with the presence of his God, than enjoy the rest and the fatness of the land of promise without him. God had made the desert to become to Moses like a garden; he felt that all the gardens of Canaan and the vineyards of Eshcol would be as nothing to him if God should withdraw his presence.

Throughout the history of the Church of Christ, there have been particular places where men of God have been compelled to fall on their knees, and pray this prayer of Moses. I can conceive of our Puritan forefathers, when they first left this spot, Southwark, to seek in another land the liberty which they could not find here, bowing their knees before they entered their little vessel, “The Mayflower,” and crying to God, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” I can imagine John Bunyan-after he had been twelve years in prison, and had become almost habituated to it, ere he crossed the threshold, when the time of his imprisonment was over,-looking upon the cold, damp walls of the prison on Bedford Bridge, and saying to his Lord, “If thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence.” The immortal dreamer would rather abide in his “den” with his God than go forth into the world, and leave his Master behind him.

Many a time, dear friends, in your experience and mine, have we also had to feel the force of such a prayer as this. When, rather more than seven years ago, I left my kind and loving little flock at Waterbeach to come and preside over this great assembly, I could not help crying out to God, from my inmost soul, “If thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence.” When you, beloved, have to pass through any changes in life; when, in God’s good providence, you are removed from one sphere of service to another, I think that you also may look up to God in prayer, and say, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” And at last, when you and I shall be about to die, when the hour shall approach for us to leave this world behind us, and to wade through the cold stream of death, what prayer can be more appropriate than this, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence”? To go anywhere without our God, is terrible; but to die without the presence of God, would be awful beyond expression. To go down into death’s dark river with no kind helper, with no loving voice saying to us, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; my rod and my staff shall comfort thee;” would be sad indeed. It must be indeed a solemn thing to meet death alone, to have no presence of God to cheer us in the last dread conflict.

I have thus mentioned various circumstances in which we might pray this prayer, and expect a gracious answer to it; but I think, as a church and people, such a text as this is peculiarly appropriate at this time. We are about to leave this place, which has, to many of us, very hallowed associations. When some of our older friends left Carter Lane Chapel, which once stood on the site now occupied by the London Bridge railway, I have no doubt that they felt it to be a very dreadful thing to leave the old place; yet, perhaps, it was one of the best things that could have occurred to the church, that they were obliged to come out, and build a larger structure,-although it is built, I suppose, in as bad a place as they could have found by a microscopic survey of this entire metropolis. There are, doubtless, many who will always cherish great love for this place because here Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth before their eyes, crucified among them. I think all of these will join with us, who are younger, and therefore less subject to pain concerning changes, and we will all unite-despite all the advantages which we hope will follow our entering upon a larger and more public place of worship,-despite the fact that three or four times as many will be able there to listen to the Word of God as can listen to it here,-despite all this, we will unite in saying to our Lord, “ ‘If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.’ Here let us abide unless thou, who art the true Shekinah, wilt go with us, and still shine forth from between the cherubim.” I feel inclined to stop my sermon, and to bow my head, and to ask you to bow yours, that we may together present this petition to our God; but, as you have already prayed by the mouth of two or three brethren, I spread it before you, and “stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance,” and urge you to plead it in secret, and at your family altars, before your God: “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

I will arrange my subject under three heads. First, what the presence of God always involves; secondly, what our present removal involves; and thirdly, the sins by which God’s presence may be driven away, and the means by which that presence may still be secured to us.

First, then, let us think what the presence of God always involves.

The one great need in the Church of Christ is the presence of God. What is wanted in our places of worship is not that they should be specimens of the highest style of architecture; although, certainly, God’s house ought not to be meaner than our own. It is not necessary that they should be sumptuously adorned, although the greatest riches are not too much to be devoted to the service of God. It is not essential that rich people should be in the congregation, although there is a promise which says, “The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.” It is not absolutely needful that the minister should be eloquent or talented, although it is well that, if a man has ten talents, he should consecrate them all to Christ, since talent never glitters so much as when it is consecrated and given up to God. There are many things that the churches may need, or may not need; but, certainly, the one thing they need beyond everything else is the presence of God. It was better for the Church of Christ in England when her members met together by tens and twenties in the woods, and were hunted about by informers, and their ministers haled off to prison; it was better for them to be persecuted, and even put to death, in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord’s presence, than it would have been for them to have had such soft, palmy, gentle days as these, but not to have had their Lord with them. It was better for the Church of Christ in Scotland when Cargill read his text by the lightning’s flash, and when the Covenanters worshipped God, in dens and caves at midnight, through fear of Claverhouse’s dragoons;-it was better for them to have their Lord with them in the midst of the snow and the tempest than to meet, calmly and peacefully, in a fine ceiled house from which the Lord himself was absent. It would be far better for us to go back to the age of old barns, and dingy thatched buildings, and to the times of an uneducated ministry, when God’s power was manifestly with his servants, rather than to go forward, and to become great, and mighty, and intellectual, but to lack the presence, and power, and blessing of the most High God. It is the presence of God that makes the house glorious. Where he is, there is glory; and where he is not, “Ichabod” is written on the wall, even though that wall should be covered with pure gold.

Why is God’s presence the one thing needful for his Church? Is it not God’s presence that makes joy in his sanctuary? When are we most glad? Is it not when we consciously realize the presence of our God? That puts more joy into our hearts than when our corn, and wine, and oil are increased. What is it that comforts the mourners in Zion? Is it not a sight of Jesu’s face, and a vision of his glory? What handkerchief can wipe the weeping eye like that which is held in the hand of a covenant-keeping God? Where is the balm for our wounds, and the cordial for our fears, but in him? “As the hart panteth after the water brooks,” so doth our spirit cry out for God, even the living God; and unless we have his presence, our soul refuseth to be comforted.

Further, what is it, but the presence of God, that makes his people holy? Is it not, because they see the face of Christ, that they are transformed into his likeness? It is not mere teaching that can make a man Christlike; it is beholding Christ,-Christ shining upon that man’s face, and the man reflecting the light which he has thus received. The presence of God is absolutely essential for the edification, instruction, growth, and perfecting of believers. If we have not this, the means of grace are empty, and vain, and void;-clouds without rain, that mock the thirsty land;-wells without water, that tantalize the perishing caravan, but yield no moisture to burning lips;-a mere mirage in the desert, looking like pools of water, and fruit-bearing palm trees, but only mocking the wayfarer’s gaze. We must have the presence of God for his people’s sake, for without him they can do nothing.

And, my brethren, where is the power of our ministry with sinners unless we have the presence of God? We sow the seed, I grant you; but who prepares the soil, and makes the furrows soft with showers? Who is it sends the genial sunshine? Would not the seed rot under the clods unless the heavenly Husbandman watched over it, and took care of it? There was never yet one sinner who was converted by man. It is not in man’s power to create, nor is it in his power to new-create. Let a man first attempt to make a fly; and if he succeeds in doing that, then let him try to make a new heart and a right spirit. Go, thou who thinkest thou canst do aught to change human nature, and change the Ethiopian’s blackness into snowy whiteness, or remove the spots from the leopard’s skin;-go, check Niagara in its dashing might, and make the stream leap upward, and return to its source;-go, bit the tempest, and bind the clouds, and bid the winds only howl to music, and the waves dance in chorus;-but when thou hast done all this, even then thou mayest not hope to make a new heart and a right spirit by any ministry apart from the Spirit of God.

Ah, my friends! we have had the presence of God here full often, as many of you can testify. If this were the time and place to do so, there are hundreds of you who could stand up, and say, “Here Christ met with me, standing on you spot where the crowd is now;”-here, or there, or in the schoolroom;-ay, and behind the pillar, too! There have been many of you who have heard the Word to purpose in this place. Drunkards have strayed in here, and some arrow, from the bow drawn at a venture, has reached their heart. The harlot has come into these aisles, on the way to the bridge to destroy herself; and Christ has met with her, and she now lives to praise his name. Here the thief, the burglar, the passer of bad money, and the very worst and vilest of men have stepped in, and Christ has met with them, glory be to his holy name! No man shall stop me from this glorying as I remember how God has here plucked brands from the burning. All the philosophers in the world have never, by their philosophy, wrought such a work as the gospel has wrought here; for I can point to hundreds-I might probably with truth say thousands-of those who, having aforetime scorned God, and scoffed at his name, now love him with all their heart, and desire to live to his glory, and who would be willing even to die for his honour. You may tell this in Gath, and publish it in the streets of Askelon; let the mighty men of Philistia tremble, and let fear take hold of the sons of Moab, for God hath made bare his arm, and smitten his enemies, and the old gospel has proved itself worthy of its ancient prowess. God hath triumphed gloriously, and put to flight both our sins and our adversaries. But what should we do now without his presence? It is he who has accomplished all that has been done, so again we cry to him, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

Secondly, consider what our present removal involves.

We are about to remove to our new Tabernacle; we must remove. It is not even humane to continue to worship here. On the lowest ground of common humanity, it is not right that such a multitude of people should be crowded into so small a structure. With every attempt that we have made to get proper ventilation, it is not possible, in such a building as this, overcrowded as it is, that persons should be able to breathe in a healthy way. I feel it as the minister, and I am quite certain that you must feel it as the congregation. If I ever by chance see anybody asleep,-and that has occurred, I think, only twice in the last seven years,-it is no matter of astonishment to me; the wonder is, that you do not all go to sleep under the influence of such insalubrious air as is often bred here by the multitudes.

But, on far higher grounds, we must go hence. Here, every Sabbath night, there are crowds in the streets. Let the faintest gleam of sunshine come out, and there are many more obliged to go away than are able to enter this building. It is a pleasing thing that so many are willing to listen to the same minister for seven years right on. The glory must be given to God; the responsibility is with us. If people will come to hear, the least thing that the Church of God can do is to find accommodation for them. The time was when many of us would almost have plucked out our right eye to get them to come. When they are anxious to come, it is but a small thing that we should provide a suitable structure where they may be housed. The theatre services are, no doubt, a great blessing. To my mind, however, they lack one great essential for permanent success; not being connected with any distinct place of worship, whatever good may be done is scarcely heard of; great efforts are put forth with small apparent results. In the theatre, the seed is sown; but there is no barn provided in which the harvest-can be housed. If some two or three men could be found constantly to preach, and if endeavours could be made to induce the people to advance from what is, after all, an irregular form of worship, to some place which should be their own spiritual home, where they could worship God constantly, more permanent good to the Church of Christ at large would certainly result. We pray God to speed every effort for the proclamation of the gospel; but we are most glad when there seems the greatest prospect of permanent success.

We must move, then, to our new Tabernacle, but still the prayer recurs, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” We are going to a place concerning which we entertain great expectations. We hope there to see vast multitudes attentively listening to the Word. We trust that many of these will be converted, that the church will be largely increased, and that out of the church there will spring up young men who will be good soldiers of Jesus Christ, men who will preach the truth, as it is in Jesus, throughout this land; and some of them, we hope, in far distant countries. But if God’s presence go not with us, our expectations* will be vain, we shall have flattered ourselves with a pleasing picture which shall never be completed; we shall have raised a cup to our lips, the sweet draught of which we shall never drink if God’s presence go not with us.

Next, we are going to a place of great opportunities. What opportunities you will all have for doing good,-myself especially, though I certainly do not lack for opportunities; I have ever before me a wide and open door. Oh, that I had the strength to do more, and that there were more time in which I could work! Still, when some five or six thousand people are constantly being addressed, it is no small opportunity for usefulness. Who can tell how many holy thoughts may be inspired, how many wrong desires quenched, how many evil motives exposed, how many right designs prompted in human hearts? O Lord, thou hast indeed given to thy servant high opportunities; but what are these if thy presence go not with us? They are opportunities that must be wasted; they are chances of attack upon the enemy that must certainly end in our own defeat if the presence of God be not with us. It is the same with each of you in your measure; Sabbath-school teachers, I hope there will open up before you a far wider sphere. Ragged-school teachers, and you who distribute tracts, you who preach in the streets, and all of you who feel any desire to do good to your fellow-creatures, all of you, I think, will have presented before you a golden opportunity, the like of which seldom occurs. Pray, I beseech you,-by all that is good and holy, I implore you to pray to God that his presence may go with you; for, if not, these opportunities will all be thrown away. It would have been as well for you to have been obscure Christians in some remote hamlet of the Orkneys or Shetlands, where you could not reach a congregation without peril of your lives, as to be members of this largest of Dissenting churches, and yet not to have the presence of God with you.

There is a more solemn thought still. Our great house will involve greater responsibilities. Many persons kindly suggest to me the solemnity of my position. I know I do not feel it as I might; but I do realize it as fully as I dare. I sometimes feel, in preaching to such multitudes, as a man must feel who walked along a tightrope, and was always in danger of falling; and I shall fall if I look down. But if I look up, I can walk there even though hell itself is foaming at my feet. There is no need of fear to the man who relies upon his God, but there is every reason for fear to the man who begins to rely upon himself. The prophet Habakkuk says, “The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” So may it be with us; but what an awful responsibility it is! You know how the Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel, “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” I think I have chewed and masticated that text many times. My deacons know well enough how, when I first preached in Exeter Hall, there was scarcely ever an occasion, in which they left me alone for ten minutes before the service, but they would find me in a most fearful state of sickness, produced by that tremendous thought of my solemn responsibility; and, even now, if I ever sit down, and begin to turn that thought over, and forget that Christ has all power in heaven and in earth, I am always affected in the same way. I scarcely dare to look that thought in the face, and I am compelled to put my responsibilities where I put my sins, on the back of the Lord Jesus Christ, hoping, trusting, believing, knowing, that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that last great day.

You also have your responsibilities; you must be a holy people. “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.” I never care what is said of me, except one thing. When I hear that any member of this church has been betrayed into an unholy deed, that cuts me to the very quick. I had sooner that you should diminish by death one-half, than that there should be even one in a hundred who should fall into sin. It is sorrow enough to bury our friends, but it is a greater sorrow still to have to excommunicate them from fellowship, or to censure them for misdeeds. You must be a holy people; nor less must you be an active people. If God has done so much for you, and you begin to sleep upon your oars, or to sit still, and say, “We have done enough, now we will be quiet,” the curse of God will fall upon you. As surely as you are men or women, he has not brought you to this post of duty that you may cease your efforts, or stand still. He doth but put you into the middle of the battle that you may fight with sterner vigour, that you may deal your blows with both your hands, to win the battle for your Lord and Master. There are responsibilities, that lie upon you as a church, that will crush you utterly unless this prayer is answered for you, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

Thirdly, we are to consider the sins by which God’s presence may be driven away, and the means by which that presence may be retained.

We can easily get rid of God’s presence if we grow proud. Stand inside your new house, and say, “This great Babylon that I have builded!” and it will be a Babylon to you at once. Begin to say, “We are a great people, we can do anything that we wish; we have but to attempt, and we can accomplish;” offer incense to your own acts, bow down and worship your own sword as though it had gotten you the victory; and the Lord shall say, and the ears of Christians shall hear it as distinctly as the Jews, at the siege of Jerusalem, heard the rustling of wings, and a voice saying, “Arise, let us go hence.” A proud heart is never God’s palace; and a proud church will never be honoured of the Lord.

Further, you can easily drive away the Holy Spirit by sloth. Be as lazy as some churches are, or do as little as they do; be as little consecrated, as sleepy, as dull, as cold, as lukewarm, as too many professing Christians are, and you shall soon find that the Lord has withdrawn himself from you. It is fire in the church that is constantly needed, divine energy to quicken the whole man into an intense activity for his Lord and Master’s cause. If you, as a church, fall into sloth, you will hear him say, “This is not my rest. If it be the place of your sleep, you have polluted it, and I will depart from you.”

Disunion, too, among yourselves will soon cause the Holy Spirit to remove from you. It has been constantly my joy to see union in the church. We are men; and, therefore, we do not always see eye to eye with one another. But I trust that we are also Christian men; and, therefore, that we are always willing to bear with one another’s infirmities. I daresay that you have a good deal to put up with from me; I know that I have, sometimes, a good deal to put up with from some of you. Sometimes there is one person, and at other times there is another person, who would give offence; and it has been one part of my work, since I have been pastor, whenever the ship has sprung a leak, not to say much about it, but to pick the oakum myself, and to go down and drive it in, and so stop the water from coming in at that place. There are some of you who have often done similar work. This ship would have been scuttled long ago if it had not been for some loving spirits who would not let other people disagree. If any of you have disagreed, I hope you will settle your disagreements at once. If there be any dissensions, I hope you will leave them all behind at Park Street. If any of you are not perfectly at one with each other, we cannot expect God’s presence to go with us until these things are once for all forgiven and forgotten. Let us feel as perfectly one as though we were all perfect men and women, and may God grant us evermore such a spirit of mutual forbearance! May he give to us that charity which hopeth all things, believeth all things, and endureth all things, for then we shall have the Master’s presence; but without this, the Holy Spirit, who is the Dove, will never stay with us.

Furthermore, if we wish to have God’s presence taken from us, there is another quick way of securing that end; that is, by getting slack and slow in prayer. The prayer-meeting is the gauge of the church’s spiritual condition. You may always test our prosperity by the multitudes who assemble to pray. Ay, and if we could enter your families, and hear how you pray there;-and if my ear could be close to your closet door, that I might hear how you pray for the church in private;-then should I know how the church will succeed. Grow lax and careless here, do but cease to entreat the Lord for a blessing, and then he will say, “I will not bless this people; I will not give unto them, for they do not cry unto me; my door of mercy shall not be opened to them, for they refuse to knock.” O beloved, let us be instant and earnest in prayer!

And let us have more faith. I wish I could leave all my unbelief behind me, and I wish you could all do the same; it would be a blessed legacy, I am sure, to this chapel; and the next person who comes to preach here would, I trust, sweep it all out. Oh, that we could get rid of our wicked distrust of our God, and our suspicion of his faithfulness, our doubts as to his veracity, our troubles and our fears about the future! O Lord, help us to stay ourselves on thee! May we now, as a church and people, expect great things, attempt great things, do great things, and believe great things; then shall we see greater things than we have ever yet beheld. Give us more faith, Lord; and drive away our unbelief!

But how can we keep the Spirit of God with us now that we are about to go to our new Tabernacle? We can do it, by his aid, by cultivating those graces which are just the reverse of the evils I have mentioned. First, we must be humble. Walk humbly with your God, walk humbly towards one another, be patient towards all men. Brethren, we must be willing to be nothing; we shall never be anything till we are willing to be nothing. If any man will be perfectly content to be nobody, he shall be somebody; but he who must be somebody shall be nobody. I have always noticed, in a somewhat wide observation of personal character, that the most assuming and pretentious are the least respected, but the most humble, and disinterested, and self-denying, and even self-detracting, are those whom men delight to honour. Crown yourself, and every fool will try to knock the crown off your head; go crownless, and there will be some who will be wise enough to say, “That man deserves a crown; let us put it on his head.” For Christ’s sake, as a church, let us be humble.

Then, let us be united. The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.” They were two women, and even good women will quarrel sometimes. Perhaps you ask, “What did it matter that they were not of the same mind?” Ah! but they were members of the church at Philippi, and the apostle Paul did not like for even two women to disagree if they were members of the same church. What shall I say of two male members of the church,-what shall I say of two aged members of the church,-what if I should look around me, and say, “There are some who, I fear, are not perfectly at one with each other”? Nay, I will not say it; I will suppose that there are none in that condition; but if there are, let me now entreat them to be of the same mind in the Lord. What if one of them has an angry temper, and the other has a hard disposition? What if one thinks he has a grievance, and the other says that he is the one who ought to complain? What if one of you has spoken ill of another, and he has spoken ill of you in return? Do not attempt to revive those old quarrels, but let them be buried. Come, let me throw the first handful of earth upon them. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Yet I must gratefully confess that I never knew, or heard, or read of a church more thoroughly and intensely one than this church is; but it may be that we have, in our midst, some such as I have been describing; and if so, I pray that, if you would have the presence of God to go with us to our new sanctuary, you will see to it that all this evil is done away with once for all.

Next to this, my dear friends, let us go up into our new sanctuary with a mind to work. I do not think I ever have to whip you to work, but I do get a great deal of work out of you. I always seek, whenever there is anything extra to be done, to preach Christ to you in such a way that you fall in love with him over again, and you want to do something more for him than you have ever done before. You hardly know all that you have already done, and I believe you are just as ready to build another new Tabernacle now as you were when we first began. You would have more faith, I daresay, concerning building a second than you had concerning the first. Let each man, who has done nothing for the Master hitherto, now say, “I must begin to do something at once. Though I have been lazy at New Park Street, I must not be lazy in the new Tabernacle.” You know that we are going near “The Elephant and Castle.” Well, when we once get there, let every elephant carry his own castle; or, in other words, let every man bear his own burden, let every Christian do his own work, whether that service be the offering of prayer and praise, or the hewing of wood and the drawing of water for the house of the Lord.

Then, again, let us take care that we carry up to that new place fervent hearts, full of prayer. Come, brethren, let us fill our censers afresh ere we start; let us put in the frankincense, and all manner of precious spices, and let us plead for the sacred fire to descend; and then let us stand, as long as that house stands, or we live, waving those censers between the living and the dead, praising the Lord for his mercies, and praying to him for yet further favours. I do not know how to plead with you as fervently as I could wish to do; but I trust that I have set my text before you in such a way as to make you cry to the Lord, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

Finally, let us ask for greater faith. When sailing in the little ship, you had the little man’s faith. You are about to step on board the farger vessel, so seek to get larger faith in proportion to it. Suppose we all had three times as much faith as we now possess, might we not do three times as much work? Ay; but surely that will not be our limit, will it? No, Lord; give us ten times as much faith. Take away our unbelief, help us to believe thy Word, and teach us to act as though we believed it. Then shall we see far greater things than we have ever yet seen.

My dear friends, after all, the main object of our ministry is the winning of souls to God. Have I any here who have listened to me for these seven years, but who are still unconverted? Oh, what if this last hour in this house should be the time of your conversion? Soul, art thou willing to die without a hope in Christ? Surely not. Thou knowest thyself to be lost, ruined, and undone. I pray thee, just as thou art, to make a confession of thy guilt, and to come to Christ’s cross. He is just as willing to receive thee now as he was when first I addressed thee, seven years ago. Though you have refused his invitation all these years, his bowels still yearn with compassion over you. He has spared your life until now; he has not cut down the old cumber-ground yet. Sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. O Spirit of God, change thou the sinner’s heart! Give him faith, that he may now cast himself on Christ. “Come now,”-now, this moment,-“and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” May each one of us now pray the prayer of the penitent thief upon the cross, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!” Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

2 SAMUEL 7:18-29

Verse 18. Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord,

This was not the usual Oriental posture of prayer, but David was mingling meditation with his supplication, so that his attitude was not according to ordinary rules.

18. And he said, Who am I, O Lord God?

Why, you are David, the valiant man who slew Goliath! No, no, no; the man of God is nobody in his own esteem.

18, 19. And what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?

No, it is not the manner of man in general, but it is the manner of the Man Christ Jesus.

20-22. And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

There is some sweet doctrine here. The Lord blesses David, not because of David’s virtue, or David’s merit, or David’s prowess, but for his own sake: “For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.” The reason why streams of love flow from God is just this, it is according to his nature. He is a fountain, so the blessing must flow from him. He is a sun, so he must shine. It is not only because we need his love, but because “God is love,” that his love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us.

Now what is the inference from all this? Does David say, “Wherefore, O Lord, I am great and honourable”? Oh, no! he has nothing to say in praise of himself; but he says, “Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”

23-25. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.

What a blessed prayer this is, “Do as thou hast said”! Get hold of a promise of the Lord, take it to the throne of grace, and then urge this plea, “Do as thou hast said.” It is a good argument to use with every upright man when we remind him of his promise, and ask him to keep his pledged word; and certainly we may use this plea with the thrice-holy God: “Do as thou hast said.”

26. And let thy name be magnified for ever,-

Or, “be greatened”-be made great “for ever.” Notice the way David returns to God the words that were addressed to himself. The Lord said to him, “I have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great that are in the earth;” so David replies, “Let thy name be made great for ever. Thou, Jehovah of hosts, art God over Israel; if thou hast made me king, and if my throne shall be established, much more shall thine.”

26, 27. Saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel,-

Notice how the name of the Lord seems to grow in this chapter until here it comes to its full force, and dignity, and majesty: “Thou, O Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel,”-

27. Hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

That is the best place to find a prayer,-in your heart; no prayer comes up before God, with acceptance, but that which comes out of the very heart, which should be like the sacred ark of old, wherein were hidden Israel’s most precious things. God’s words had gone right down into David’s heart, and touched the secret springs of it, and now they welled up in this blessed prayer:-

28, 29. And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it:

There is that grand pleading again: “Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it.” If you can remind God of his own promise, you may have whatsoever you will of him; if he has said anything, his word shall surely be fulfilled.

29. And with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.

END OF VOLUME XLVIII.