C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”-Romans 10:17.*

According to the Christian religion, faith is the great essential thing. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Whatever we may do or may be, we cannot be acceptable with the Most High unless we believe in him. Even prayer can only be a mockery if it be not the prayer of faith. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” or else he does not really pray. The Lord Jesus Christ has died to save men; but it is certain that no man will be saved without faith. Even the blood of Jesus Christ does not save any except those who believe in it. “God so loved the world” is a very wide expression, but we must not make it wider than Scripture makes it, for remember how the verse goes on, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Without faith Christ is not ours. His blood cannot cleanse us; his life cannot quicken us. We must have faith to get at the blessings of salvation.

Suppose we could be brought into touch with Christ without faith for a while, yet, if we had not continuous faith, we should not have a continued connection with the Saviour, and consequently should not abide in life eternal; for it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” They not only begin to live by faith, but continue to live in the same manner. In our holy religion, everything is by faith,-faith for life, and faith for death. Even the first tears of repentance must be salted with faith, and the last song on earth shall be full of faith. Ye must have faith, or ye must perish. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned,” is the declaration of Jesus Christ the Saviour himself.

We have seen that it is essential; it is very important to understand its nature. Well, faith with regard to God is the same as faith with regard to anything else. It is the same act of the mind, though it differs as to its object. When I believe in God, it is the same kind of mental act as when I believe in my friend. I believe with the same mind. ’Tis true that all saving faith is the work of the Holy Ghost in us; but be it always recollected that we ourselves believe, and that the Holy Ghost does not believe for us. What has the Holy Ghost to believe about? It is not written that he is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. No, but we are to believe in him. He leads us to faith, but the faith is our own act and deed; and if there could be supposed to be a faith which was not our own act and deed, it could not possibly be the faith which saves the soul. If I understand aright the faith which saves, it is just this. God has revealed such-and-such truth, I believe it to be true, and I so believe it to be true that I act upon it. God has said that he has laid sin upon Christ; I believe he has done so. He tells me that, if I trust Christ, I may be assured that my sin was laid upon Christ. I trust Christ, that is, I rely upon him, and the reliance which springs out of belief is the essence of faith.

When a man believes a bank to be safe, he will put his money into it if he has need to do so; when a man believes in the honesty of another, the practical issue of it is he takes his word and trusts him. I believe in the truthfulness of God, in the truthfulness of certain narratives given by the four evangelists; I believe that Christ was born at Bethlehem, that he was the Son of God, and that he lived and died as the Saviour of men; I believe that his sufferings were expiatory, that he suffered in the stead of sinners to make recompence to the justice of God for our sins; and, believing that, I trust my soul upon his sacrifice, I rest on it; and that faith saves me.

Now, mark, if I do really rest in Christ, I shall do what Christ bids me. Faith must lead to obedience. He bids me forsake sin, and I shall do it by his help. He bids me follow him, and I shall do it if I really believe in him. A doctor says, “Now, trust me, my man, and I will cure you.” Very good; I trust him. He sends me medicine, and I take it. But suppose I do not take the medicine; well, then, I never trusted him; my neglect proves that I cannot have done so.

The only trust that saves the soul is that practical trust which obeys Jesus Christ. Faith that does not obey is dead faith,-nominal faith. It is the outside of faith, the husk of faith, but it has not the vital corn of faith in it. Sinner, if thou wilt be saved, thou must give thyself up to Jesus Christ to be his servant, and to do all that he bids thee. Thou must rely alone upon him; trust not in fiction, but in reality, not by profession merely, but with thy whole heart; and thou must continue to lean, rest, and lie upon him, trusting alone in him. This is what saving faith is.

Now, there are some who say they wish they could get this faith; they declare that they would do anything to get it. They earnestly long to believe, but somehow they cannot get a grip of faith, cannot quite make out what it is; or if they know what it is, they are still puzzled, they cannot exercise it.

Albeit faith is the gift of God, it is always the act of man; while faith is a privilege, it is always a natural duty; men are bidden to believe in Jesus, and are sinful if they do not believe in Jesus. Where faith does exist, it is the gift of God; but where it does not exist, it is because men will not believe in him, but shut their eyes to his light. If they would but see it, that light would convince them.

Let us therefore clear away some difficulties with reference to faith.

You want faith, you say. You are not a sceptic; you accept the Word of God. You are not one of those who are unsound about the Deity of Christ, you receive that. Still, you cannot, you say, get at faith in Jesus Christ. Listen, then, to these observations.

First, recollect that it will be your wisdom not to think so much about faith as about the object of faith. If I want to believe a thing that is in the newspaper, it is no use my sitting down, and reading it over, and saying, “I should like to believe it, and I will try to believe it.” My proper way is to begin to look into the matter,-not into my faith, but into the matter itself; and when I have looked into the matter itself, I shall see whether it is reasonable,-whether it looks true, and by-and-by, perceiving the truthfulness of it, faith will come to me as a matter of course.

You are to believe in Jesus. Now, forget the believing, and think only of Jesus. If I wanted to love a person, it would be useless for me to sit in my chamber, and say, “I shall try to love such-and-such a person.” You cannot pump love up out of your heart in that way. But suppose that person is exceedingly beautiful, has a delightful character, and has lived a charming life; well, I gaze upon that person’s face; I hear the story of his life; and I feel that, what I could not make myself do, I do without attempting to make myself do it. Love comes of itself. “If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” So it is with faith. Speaking naturally, it comes of itself, through the work of the Spirit of God, from the force of the evidence which is presented to the mind. “Faith cometh by hearing.” Look, then, more at what is to be believed than at the mere act of believing.

And, next, be solemnly persuaded that what you want is faith, and that you must have it. Do not, therefore, begin confounding faith with something else. Some of you want an impression; you want a revelation; you want a feeling; you want a sensation. Now, that is not faith; it has nothing to do with faith. It is feeling, it is seeing, but it is not believing. What you really need is to believe in God, and if you do that, you shall be saved; but instead of that, you begin to cry, “Oh, that I felt as Mr. Bunyan felt on such an occasion!” That is not the matter in hand, and you are but turning aside from the point you should aim at when you look to those things instead of faith. All other good things will follow faith; but for you who are unsaved, the first, the only matter is faith in Jesus Christ.

Many persons are anxious to be saved, which is a good thing; but they have mapped out the way in which they want God to save them, which is a bad thing. They have read the biographies of eminent Christians, and they have discovered that some of them, before they found Christ, were sorely tried by horrible thoughts, doubts and fears, temptations to blaspheme, and so on. Possibly, they have read Bunyan’s Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and have noted that he went through a very terrible season of distress before he found peace with God. Perhaps some of you, my dear friends, have fallen into the idea that, if ever you are to be saved, you must feel just as John Bunyan did; and although you have been told, over and over again, that simple faith in Jesus Christ will save you, and save you just as you are, yet you still think it cannot be so, but that you must have a deep law work, and most dreadful feelings before you can come to the Saviour.

I would exhort you earnestly to pray for help in this matter of believing. Ask the Lord to give you faith, but I ask you to remember that prayer without faith will not save you, and that the gospel is not “He that prays shall be saved,” but “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Some have unbelievingly made a kind of saviour of their prayers and their tears; but that will not do. Away with your prayers if they stand in the room of Christ! It is not what you ask for, or feel, or do; it is what Christ suffered on the cross that is to save you; and the way you are to appropriate the merit of Christ is by faith; so keep to that. Know what it is you want, and press forward to get that.

Now we come more closely still to the text. Faith is the thing we want. We shall get it according to God’s order, and God’s order is this: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Faith does not come by sacraments. Nobody ever got faith through a sacrament. It does not say, “Faith comes by seeing.” Those processions are very pretty, very pretty indeed; and very fine those banners; and very sweet the smoke of that incense; but faith does not come that way. Eyegate is closed, and through Eargate eternal life comes into the soul of man. “Faith cometh by hearing.”

The religion of Jesus Christ is not a religion of performances. It has its ordinances which belong to believers, but it never attempts to change the moral nature by mechanical acts. Eating and drinking and washing cannot possibly be the means by which men are reconciled to God and taught to love the Redeemer. There is a moral means wanted,-a spiritual means, and the moral and spiritual means are as simple as possible: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

The text suggests two things, then, as to faith’s way of approach. If I want to get faith I must hear, but I must mind what I hear; and I must mind how I hear.

Let us remember, then, that faith comes through the Word of God.

Soul, wouldst thou have faith? Then mind what it is thou dost hear, for the hearing must be “by the Word of God.” Faith comes by hearing, but not by hearing anything and everything. The hearing is “by the Word of God;” and only as the preaching is according to the Word of God will God bless it. God never blessed a falsehood to the creation of a newborn spirit. The truth has vitality in it; only the Word of God is the living seed in the soul.

“Well,” say you, “how am I to hear the Word of God, then?” I reply, first, hear the Word of God as you have it in the Bible. Reading is tantamount to hearing. Be sure, then, if thou wouldst find faith, to study much this priceless, matchless Book. Study it all; but if thou wouldst find Christ, dwell most on those four inestimably precious Books which, tell us most about him. Read the story of his life and his death as given by the four evangelists; and if thou wouldst have a comment upon them, read the Epistles, and study them.

Remember, the point about the Word of God is this,-that God has spoken to men through this Book. Men wrote it, but they wrote as they were inspired and moved by the Holy Ghost. Especially about the Lord Jesus Christ has God spoken to us by chosen witnesses. There were first the apostles who have written a considerable part of the New Testament. These men saw Christ. John says, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.” There were many of them, and they saw the miracles of Christ, so that they were sure he was divine. They saw his holy, guileless life; they saw him in his death; and what is best of all, and most to be remembered, is that they saw him risen again, they watched him at intervals during forty days, and they saw him till a cloud received him out of their sight.

They were simple-minded men who could not have invented the story; they were mostly unlettered men; and they and hundreds of others so believed it that they died for preaching what they believed. They gained nothing by the statement except scorn and shame. If there is a fact in human history which is verified beyond a doubt, it is the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

Does not that help you to believe? “Ah!” say you, “I do believe these facts.” Well, if you do believe them in very deed and truth, what follows from your belief? Why, that you must hate God in your heart, or else you would be saved, because this glorious One of whom they speak came here to save men, and will save all that trust him. You perceive him to be a divine person; can you not trust him? If not, it must be because you have some hatred to him, and prefer to be damned rather than owe your salvation to the free grace of God.

Let it not be so! But rather, I pray you, hear his Word by attentively reading it, until at last, as you read it, the glory of the inspired truth, which shines in the page, shall flame into your soul, and you shall say, “I do believe it; how could I have rejected it? It speaks for itself; the Deity is in the Word.”

Next to that, however, hear the preachers of God’s Word; for, though they are not inspired, yet they can do something for you. We can bear witness to what we have known and felt of the work of Jesus Christ in men’s hearts, and this will supplement the witness of the inspired men, and may help you to believe. As one has well said, “If you question a convert, you will generally find that he owes his conversion to a text of Scripture.” It is God’s Word, not man’s comment on God’s Word, that generally saves souls. If you long to be saved, go, therefore, to those that keep to the gospel, that keep to the real gospel, and have nothing else to say. That is what you want.

Seek also to hear the preacher who preaches experimentally, one who can tell you that he knows he is a sinner, but that he has believed in Jesus, and is saved, and knows he is saved. For your healing, you want to have, not a surgeon who has never seen a case like yours before, but one who knows about it; and if he has gone through a similar experience himself, then he is the man for you. If a man has not had anything done for his soul, he cannot tell you of anything that has been done. If he has never seen himself to be a sinner, and has never passed from death unto life, if he has never known the bitter pangs of soul trouble, and has never looked to the precious Saviour on the cross, and leaped to find himself set free, why, what is the good of him as a preacher? Let him go and bake bread, or break stones on the road; but what has he to do with preaching a gospel of which he knows nothing? Therefore I say again to thee, if thou wouldst get faith, hear that gospel that speaks to thy soul, because he who preaches it speaks front his soul about something that he knows for himself.

And if thou hast thy choice, hear one who speaks earnestly, for to hear a cold preacher is the surest way of getting cold thyself. He that trifles with his ministry will make men trifle with their souls. If I am speaking to any who preach the gospel. I would say that, if we do not preach earnestly, people will conclude at once that there is nothing in what we preach, and their blood will lie at our door. We have a weighty theme, and we must speak with all our heart and soul.

To thee, sinner, I would also say, hear the preacher who speaks pointedly. Do not feel vexed with one who exposes your faults. What do you go to a place of worship for but to have your heart laid bare? A doctor, who never makes an examination of his patient, or who, knowing that there is an evil somewhere, is too delicate to allude to it, is a disgrace to his profession. The man who desires to heal men will be plain and honest with them, and will not at all attempt to palliate an evil thing.

Take heed what ye hear, for if ye hear the Word of God preached in the power of the Spirit of God, then faith comes by such hearing.

Let us be assured that faith will come by hearing.

If we would get faith, we must take care how we hear as well as what we hear. The hearing is itself almost as important as the preaching. Faith does not come by every sort of hearing. There have been persons who have heard the gospel for many years, but they have really heard nothing, for it has gone in at one ear, and out at the other. Faith does not come by such hearing.

Brethren, if we really seek faith, we ought to hear the gospel aiming at the sense of it first. It is what a preacher says, not how he says it, that is the vital thing. I am certain, however, that nine-tenths of our hearers are more taken up with how we say it than with what we say. Of course, we all hear a thing the better if it is put well; but woe to the man who cares only about delicacy of diction, and lets his hearers go down to hell! Woe unto him in the great day of account! If, however, the preacher preaches Christ, though he does not preach him as you would like to hear him preached, but somewhat uncouthly, yet listen to him, whoever he may be, for it is the truth that he declares. Do not regard his manner so much as his matter, and pray that it may be blessed.

You who have not believed, hear every sermon with the desire to get faith through the sermon. I believe that our hearers generally get what they come for. If a man goes fishing, he will generally catch fish according to his bait. Some come expecting to get something to find fault with. Well, they are sure to find it. But when a man comes with this design, “I want to find Jesus; I want to get good for my soul; I want to be saved,” then, if the preacher is what he should be, the man cannot go away disappointed. If the minister does not preach at all, but only reads part of a chapter, there will be a blessing; if it be only a hymn that is sung, the seeking soul will lay hold of Christ in a hymn, especially if it be such a hymn as “Just as I am, without one plea,” or “Rock of ages, cleft for me,” or “Jesu, Lover of my soul.” If you want faith, you need not be long wanting it if you really come anxiously desiring to obtain it.

Dear friends, the kind of hearing that brings faith is attentive hearing. I have heard of a child who used always to lean forward to catch every word the preacher said; and his mother asked him why he did so. He replied, “Because, mother I heard the preacher say that, if there was anything in the sermon by which God meant to bless us, the devil would try to draw our attention some other way when it was being said, and I was so afraid that some good thing that would have blessed me might escape me if I was inattentive.” It is a great joy to preach to a house full of people like that, people who are praying as the preacher speaks, “Oh, for a blessing, Lord! Oh, that the Word might come with power to my soul!”

Then take care to hear retentively. Lay hold upon the Word. Keep it, treasure it. Perhaps you say, “I have a bad memory.” Well, the very best thing to do when you have a bad memory is to do as the man did who never could recollect what he owed, so he took care always to pay as he went. If you cannot recollect, go and do at once what you are bidden to do, and then you will not forget it. “Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” If you get the substance, never mind the words. If you have a bad habit, and it is preached against, never mind the sermon; go and break off the evil habit. If you have been neglectful of prayer, never mind the sermon; pray more. And if Jesus Christ is lifted up before you, and you cannot recollect what the preacher says, never mind, look to Jesus. There is Christ upon the cross, and if you look to him at this moment, you shall live for ever. What memory is needed if you look to him now? Now, poor sinner, turn thine eye, and thou shalt have heard the gospel in a most retentive manner indeed.

“There is life for a look at the Crucified One;

There is life at this moment for thee;

Then look, sinner,-look unto him, and be saved,

Unto him who was nail’d to the tree.”

Lastly, hear the gospel with deep reverence and earnest prayer. It is no small matter that God should deal with thy soul at all, but that he should condescend to speak to thee on terms of love is a wonderful thing. That his own Son should bleed and die for sinners, is not this a miracle of mercy? With such great themes under discussion in the pulpit thou oughtest to be greatly reverent during the hearing of the Word. Thou shouldst be, indeed, like the earth in the dry weather, that opens wide its mouth, chapped and parched as it is, to suck in every drop of rain that falls. If thou art sitting under the sound of the gospel thus, parched and dry, but opening thy soul to receive it, and saying, “Drop from above, O sacred dew; come out of heaven, O showers of grace, and fall on me,” it will not be long that thou wilt so wait.

Your chief business is to believe, and my business is to ask you, in the name of the eternal God, whether you will believe him or whether you will make him a liar. One of the two it must be; he that makes God a liar involves himself in awful guilt, but he that believes in him has glorified him. God accepts the act of believing in him as one of the noblest acts of man, so great an act that he sees his own Spirit’s work in it wherever he perceives it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Believe on him now. Our witness is that he does save; he saves from the guilt of sin; he saves from the dread and wrath of hell; he saves from the anger of God; he saves from despair; he saves at once; he saves all who come to him. Come you to him.

Now we are going our several ways; what report am I to carry back to my Master, whose message I have been trying to deliver?

“Is it nothing to you, all ya that pass by,

To you is it nothing that Jesus should die?”

Young man yonder, is it nothing to you that Jesus should die? I ask your heart, young woman, for my dear Lord and Master. And you, old friend, your life is drawing to its close; it would have been better if you had given Christ the morning of your days, yet he will accept you even now if you will come unto him. May he give you the grace to rest upon him now, to trust him this very hour! Then, where he is, there shall you be also, through the efficacy of his great atoning sacrifice. God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HEBREWS 11

In this chapter we read of the wonders of faith; but I have never read a chapter setting forth the wonders of unbelief. Unbelief is barren, impotent, a mere negation, a dead and accursed thing; but faith bears fruit, faith produces good works, faith achieves marvels.

Verse 1. Now faith-

That is, belief, trust in God,-

1. Is the substance of things hoped for,

It gets a grip of them, and holds them fast.

1. The evidence of things not seen.

The sight of what we cannot see with our mortal eyes.

2. For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Those who lived in the olden time gained fame and glory from God himself by faith.

3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

By faith, we know more about the creation of the world than philosophy can ever teach us; it has invented the most remarkable and ridiculous theories of how the worlds were made and men produced. We have the truth here; the worlds were framed by the word of God, not made of things which existed previously, but spoken out of nothing by the voice of the Almighty.

4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Faith teaches us how to worship God aright. Faith brings the appointed sacrifice, which is therefore accepted.

5, 6. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.*

The way to please God, then, is to believe in him; and if there be any possibility of entering heaven without seeing death, faith alone can point the way. You cannot be Enochs unless you please God, and you cannot please God unless you have faith in him.

7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.†

Noah was the second great father of men as Adam was the first. In the flood, all died except Noah and his family. Faith made him build the great ship on dry land, into which he went, with his wife and family and all manner of living creatures; and when the rest of mankind were destroyed, they outlived the flood.

8-18. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

The great trouble of Abraham was not his fatherly instinct, hard as it was to overcome that, and to be the slayer of his only son; his great difficulty was, “How can God’s promise be kept? He has given me a promise that in Isaac shall my seed be called, yet he tells me to offer up my son, how can this be?” But by faith he did it,-

19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

The doctrine of the resurrection is a precious jewel that Faith weareth as in a ring on her right hand. “God can raise the dead,” says Faith; and that is a most comforting truth. O you bereaved ones, wear that ring! O you who fear to die, wear that priceless jewel! It will be better than any amulet or talisman that the ancients ever wore.

20, 21. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.*

Faith can bless other people as well as the believer himself. It not only brings good cheer into a man’s own heart, but it enables him to speak words of love and consolation to his children. Dying Jacob pronounces living blessings upon his sons, and upon their sons generation after generation.

22. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.†

He would not have his bones buried away from those of his godly ancestors, for he never forgot that he belonged to the chosen nation.

23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.‡

They were not afraid to brave the consequences of disobeying Pharaoh’s command because of their faith.

24-26. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.§

Nothing but faith could have brought him to that decision.

27-29. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

For faith can do what unbelief must not attempt to do; and when unbelief tries to follow in the footsteps of faith, it becomes its own destroyer. You must have real faith in God, or you cannot go where faith would take you; but with faith you may go through the cloud or through the sea, and find yourself safe on the other side.

30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

You could not see faith at work on those solid walls. Those huge ramparts and battlements seemed to stand fast and firm, yet they “fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” No battering rams played upon them, but faith can do better work than battering rams or dynamite.

31-33. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Remember Daniel in the lions’ den, and then ask yourself, “What is there that faith cannot do?”

34. Quenched the violence of fire,

Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and remember how the fierceness of Nebuchadnezzar’s fire was quenched for them.

34-35. Escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women-

For faith works equal wonders in women as in men: “Women”-

35-38. Received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

This is the grandest roll of heroes that ever lived, and every one among them was a man or woman of faith. Faith made them so mighty. They were not greater, and in some respects not better than the rest of us, but they believed in God; they were firm in faith, and this became the basis of their conquering character, and thus their names are imperishably recorded here. They did not win the Victoria cross, but they bore the cross for their Lord, and he has honoured them with an everlasting crown, which shall never be taken from them.

39. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

They passed away before Christ’s day, so they did not see the fulfilment of the promises concerning his coming.

40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

They are waiting up yonder for us; the choirs of heaven cannot be completed without you and me. Heaven’s full complement, the perfect number of the divine family of love, can never be made up till we who have believed go up yonder to join all those who have had like precious faith. By God’s grace, we shall all be there that they with us may be made perfect.

SPIRITUAL CONVALESCENCE

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, July 27th, 1911,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, March 17th, 1864.

“And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.”-Zechariah 10:12.

According to our own natural conceit, we are very strong; it is as hard for us to part with our belief in our own strength as with our trust in our own righteousness. It is a very painful out which severs us from confidence in ourselves; but when the Spirit of God performs that most needful operation, then we discover that our supposed strength is utter weakness, and that our righteousness are but filthy rags. If our eyes have been opened to see ourselves as we are in God’s sight, we know that we are weak as water, and that from us, unassisted by divine grace, there can never come any good thing. Our past experience might have been sufficient to teach us this lesson. The feeble way in which we have performed any duty that devolved upon us, the sad manner in which we have met any temptation that assailed us, the impatient and murmuring spirit in which we have endured any affliction that has come upon us,-all these must have shown us that, even after we are renewed by divine grace, though “the spirit indeed is willing,” yet “the flesh is weak;” and though to will is present with us, yet how to perform that which is good we find not. We are not now like a stone which lies on the ground, and cares not to stir; but we are like a bird with a broken wing, which longs to soar into the clearer air above the clouds, but which is quite unable to reach that higher atmosphere. We know something of our weakness, but we probably do not yet know how weak we are, and I suppose it will be one of our life lessons to learn by experience how great our weakness is.

Perhaps some of you have been discouraged by the consciousness of your weakness; and, in looking forward to the future, you have been greatly distressed. You are anticipating some important duty for which you feel quite unfit, or it may be that the shadow of some impending trial is just beginning to fall upon you. Possibly you have come to the verge of the valley of the shadow of death, and you know that the way to the celestial city lies through it, and you intend to press through it; but you are half afraid of what will happen to you there, for you know how weak you are. And, perhaps, just at this juncture, Satan may have whispered in your ear, “It is no use for you to try to get through; you have started on a wild-goose chase, and see how you limp already; your arm is so weak that you will be no match for the giants you will have to fight. Give it up, man; how can a poor timid creature such as you are ever pass by the lions’ dens and the mountains of leopards? Such weaklings as you are should not go on pilgrimage, leave that task to those who are stronger and braver than you are.” Well, if such a temptation as that has come to you, the message of the text is peculiarly timely to you. It does not deny that you are weak, it implies that you are; it would not have you for a moment forget your weakness, it even reminds you of it. There would be no necessity for this promise if you were strong: “I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.”

There are three things for us to notice in the text: first, divine strengthening promised; secondly, Christian activity predicted; and, thirdly, both blessings divinely guaranteed.

First then, here is divine strengthening promised: “I will strengthen them in the Lord.”

Observe the discrimination of the promise, or what is not promised in it. It is not said, “They shall have no work to do; I will take them out of the vineyard in the middle of the day, and bid them sit down in the cool arbour, and rest and refresh themselves.” No, there is no such promise as that; the Lord does not say, “I will take you away from your labours,” but “I will strengthen you, so that you will be able to perform them.” I do not remember any promise that the waters of trouble shall be dried up; but you all remember this one, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” I have no recollection of any promise that the fires of trial shall be quenched; but the Lord his said, “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” If you had not to trudge along the pilgrim way, if you had not to carry the cross and fight for the crown, you would not need this promise. The Lord would not strengthen you in order that you might sit still, or put “the everlasting arms” beneath you so that you might lie down in blissful laziness. Oh, no! but as you are bidden to “put on the whole armour of God,” you may be certain that there is stern fighting before you; and as the Lord promises to strengthen you, there must be no relaxation of watchfulness and no cessation of activity on your part. So, Christians, seek the promised strength, for you are sure to need it; seek it now, for you may need it to-night; seek to get as much of it as you can, for when you have the most of it that you can get, you will find that you will need it all.

Then notice, next, the comprehensiveness of the promise: “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” You may view this promise in many different lights. Perhaps you have fallen into such a state of despondency that you question your interest in Christ, possibly you have almost begun to doubt the veracity of your God or his faithfulness to his promise. Well then, in your case, the promise of the text will apply to your faith. Come to God at this moment, and say, “Lord, thou hast said, ‘I will strengthen them;’ wilt thou not graciously strengthen my faith, which is now like a reed shaken by the wind, so that it shall become like an oak of the forest which fears not the stormiest wind that blows?”

Or it may be that your hope has grown dim; you cannot see afar off, you cannot-

“Read your title clear

To mansions in the skies.”

Well then, take this promise to the Lord, and ask him to fulfil it to you; he will give you some heavenly eye-salve, and as soon as your eyes are anointed with it, your vision will become clear and strong, and you will be able to see the land of far distances where in due time you shall arrive, and “see the King in his beauty.”

Possibly it is your courage that has declined. The fear of man has ensnared you; you cannot now face a hostile multitude as you once could; indeed, you are half ashamed to go back to the home where you are laughed at because of your religion. You are not now inclined to nail your colours to the mast; you would rather sail away to some peaceful shore than remain to fight the foe. O my brethren and sisters in Christ, plead this promise, “I will strengthen them,” for so shall you get your courage renewed until you, who are now timid as the deer, shall become bold as a lion.

Is it your zeal that is flagging? Do you, who once gloried in being in the thickest of the fight, now try to hide away among the baggage? Then pray to God to restore to you your former fervour and devotion to his cause, and pleading this promise you shall surely get your heart’s desire. The promise is such a comprehensive one that it not only includes the strengthening of any special part of our spiritual being that is weak, but also the thorough restoration and strengthening of the entire spiritual constitution. Lord, I would be made strong, not only in the hands of my faith, but also in the feet of my obedience; I would be so strengthened in the vitality of my spiritual life that my eyes should be able to see much that is now invisible to me, that my ears might hear the music of thy matchless voice, that my heart might dance at the sound of thy name, and that I might be like Elijah when he girded up his loins, and ran before King Ahab, because he heard the sound of an abundance of rain, the promise of those welcome showers which the Lord was about to pour down upon the thirsty land.

But we must not forget the provision that is made for the fulfilment of this promise: “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” We know that it is the Holy Spirit’s work to strengthen believers, and I trust that many of us have experienced his mysterious operations. We have sometimes felt so despondent that we did not know what to do; and then, though perhaps we had not been specially engaged in prayer, and had not been up to the house of God to worship, all of a sudden our spirits have become elastic as we have felt some precious promise applied with power to our soul, and the burden which threatened to bow us down to the earth has become light as a feather, and we have stood upright, and rejoiced “with joy unspeakable.” There is no grief which the Holy Spirit cannot allay; that Divine Comforter knoweth so well how to get at the secret springs of our sorrow, and to put the comfort right into the spring itself, that there can never be a grief which can elude him, or which can baffle his skill.

Usually, however, the Holy Spirit is pleased to work by the use of means; and you know, dear friends, how often you have been strengthened in this way. What a strengthening cordial is prayer! When you have gone to cast your burden upon the Lord, many a time you have gone upstairs groaning, but you have come down ringing. Oftentimes, you have received strengthening through this blessed Book. When you have opened it, your eyes have been full of tears; but as you have lighted upon some precious promise that has exactly met your case, your tears have all vanished, and your soul has been filled with joy. God has spoken to you through his Word, and so you have been strengthened. Or you have come up to the house of the Lord, and you have found something there that has strengthened you. I know that many of you find spiritual food in the services here on the Sabbath; but, by the time that Thursday night comes round, your soul is very hungry, and you are well-nigh famished; but the Holy Spirit graciously applies the Word to your heart, and you go out to meet the trials and engagements of the week feeling strong through the strength you have received from heaven. Yes, the Master is pleased, in the assembly of his saints, when we break the Bread of life, to feed the multitude to the full, and they go away refreshed. This is specially the case when we gather around the table of our Lord. I wish that all the saints would meet for communion on every “first day of the week.” I cannot conceive it to be possible for them to meet thus too often. As for myself, unless sickness keeps me away, I find it most helpful to come to the Lord’s table every Lord’s day; for, although we believe neither in transubstantiation nor in consubstantiation, yet there is a very real sense in which we do spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, and so become “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.”

Nor are the means of grace the only channels by which we are spiritually strengthened. Christian society will often produce the same blessed results. Some Christians live too much alone. It is true that there is an evil of an opposite character, for some professors spend far too much time in one another’s houses, wasting precious hours in idle gossip and chatter; but brethren and sisters in Christ ought to find opportunities for profitable conversation concerning their Lord and his work at home and abroad. Some of us might derive great benefit from the Christian experience of those who are older than we are, or who have been more deeply taught in the things of God; while others of us might be able to impart some spiritual gift to those who are less favoured than we are. In the olden days, “they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” Let this good practice be revived, for thereby, depend upon it, many will be strengthened in the Lord.

Still, dear friends, the best way of obtaining a renewal of spiritual strength is by getting near to Christ, and keeping near to him. He who layeth hold of Christ has grasped “very God of very God.” He who can come so close to Christ as to lay his head upon Christ’s bosom, and to say, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,” must grow stronger and stronger every moment that he is in the immediate presence of his Lord. We grow in grace as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The clearer view we have of Christ, the firmer confidence we have in his faithfulness and his power to save, the stronger will our spiritual nature grow, and the more like our Lord shall we become. They who live near to Christ must derive strength from him. Having waited upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, they shall walk, and not faint.

Before I pass from this point, I should like to emphasize the words of this part of the text; there are not many of them, but they are all significant: “I will strengthen them.” You cannot strengthen yourselves, and your minister cannot strengthen you; it is God who first gives you spiritual life, and then sustains it by his grace; in fact, he is himself, as David says, the strength of our life. It is still true that power belongeth unto God, and that power he imparts to all as he pleases. Note, too, that he says, “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” They are not strengthened in themselves; there is no Christian who grows stronger through the force of his own personality, but he derives more and more strength from the Lord; he learns how to draw continually from the inexhaustible supplies of omnipotence, and so is himself strengthened in the Lord. Perhaps someone says, “I have been a Christian for thirty years, but I am not spiritually any stronger than I was when first I knew the Lord.” No; nor will you be any stronger if you live for another thirty years unless you depend upon God to strengthen you. Is anyone here more able than in the past to live by faith upon the Son of God, and to drink deeper draughts from the fountain of infinite fulness? Then it is clear that, in your case, my brother or sister, the promise of the text has been fulfilled, and you have been strengthened in the Lord.

Now lay the emphasis on the divine “I will,” “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” This promise was true more than two thousand years ago, and it is just as true to-day. It has been fulfilled many thousands of times since then, but it is just as full of force as when it was first given. Suppose I take a note to the Bank of England, and get five pounds for it, that note will be cancelled, and I cannot get the cash for it a second time. But it is not so with God’s promises; you may take a promise to the Bank of Heaven in the morning, and cash it, as it were; and you may take the same promise in the afternoon, and cash it again; and you may take it again at night, and once more get the full value for it. You may have pleaded that promise when you were a young man of twenty, but it is just as true now that you are an old man of eighty; and to the very last moment of your life you shall find that the promise shall be fulfilled in your experience: “I will strengthen them in the Lord.”

Note, too, the comprehensiveness of the promise. The Lord does not say, “I will strengthen them up to such-and-such a point;” but it is implied that the strength will be sufficient for all their needs. So it will, my brother or my sister; “as thy days so shall thy strength be.” You shall always have strength enough, but you shall never have any to spare. If you had any superfluous strength, you would only do mischief with it; but you will have all that you really need. When you come to the last river, you may feel, “If there is another river after this to be crossed, I shall be unable to cross it;” but there is not another, and your strength shall fail when you have no more need of it, but not before. Your strength shall be like the widow’s oil; so long as there were any empty vessels, the oil kept on running; but as soon as her son said to her, “There is not a vessel more,” the oil stayed; and until your life’s task is complete the Lord will strengthen you. The manna kept falling until the children of Israel entered Canaan, and the manna of grace shall keep on falling into your heart until you shall enter the heavenly Canaan. Wherefore be of good courage, brethren and sisters in Christ, for you shall have just as much strength as you will require, for your Lord’s promise concerning you is, “I will strengthen them in the Lord.”

I must speak but briefly upon our second point, which is, Christian activity foretold: “they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.”

How strangely some people read their Bibles, and how wickedly they pervert its plainest teaching! They learn that salvation is all of grace, and then they say, “Therefore, as it is all of grace, we need not do anything at all. It is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure, so we can leave the working out to him also. God begins the work of grace, God carries it on, and God completes it, so we can be as careless and indifferent as we please.” If they do not actually put their thoughts into words, this is practically what they think. They seem to imagine that divine grace is an excuse for human laziness, but I have never yet found any passage of Scripture to warrant such an assumption as that. Certainly our present text does not support that idea: “I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name.” According to the lazy system, it ought to read, “I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall be carried to heaven in a sedan chair;” for that seems to be some people’s notion of how they are to get there. May our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth ere our preaching shall ever lead our hearers into such a state of spiritual slumber as that! Our doctrine may be as high as the Scriptures warrant us in teaching, but we shall never find there any ground for the infamous deduction that, because God worketh in us, we are to lie inert as if we were logs or stones. Oh, no! that is not his will concerning us, for the apostolic injunction is, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

So true Christians are to be active: “they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.” Christianity has its meditative side, it has its passive stage, but these are the necessary preparation for an active life. A devout contemplation of the doctrine of divine sovereignty will be like the underlying rock which supports the good rich mould of holy gratitude and love which yields an abundant harvest both to God and man. True Christians delight in sacred activity; in that respect, they are like the angels of God, “that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word;” and like the glorified saints above, who “serve him day and night in his temple.” A life of Christian activity down here is a fitting prelude to a life of heavenly activity up there. The best Christians are those who serve God the most. Ask the gardener which is the best apple tree in the garden, and he will tell you that it is not the one which has the best shape, but the one which yields the most fruit; and he is not the best Christian who occupies the highest position, or who talks the most about divine things, but it is he whose life is most fruitful in good works to the glory of God.

Further, Christian activity is, as far as it is possible, incessant. This is implied in the phrase, “they shall walk up and down,” as though they were never to be inactive, and certainly never to be idle. The true Christian, when he is in a healthy spiritual state, has always some good work on hand,-something on the anvil, or something heating in the fire, or something cooling in the water,-something that he is planning for the future, something that has yet to be completed, or something that is just finished, and ready to be presented to God,-a prayer to offer, a hymn to sing, the sick to visit, the poor to relieve, the ignorant to instruct. He advances from one duty to another while he is about in the world, and serves his God there; and when he gets home, he still serves his God by gathering his family and servants together for prayer. As Satan is represented as a restless spirit continually going to and fro, walking up and down in the earth, so is it with the true Christian; he is constantly traversing the world, not seeking to do evil, but, like his Master, going about doing good.

The expression, “they shall walk up and down,” also implies variety of service. They shall not only walk up, they shall also walk down. There are some departments of Christian service that we like, and others that we do not like. Many would far rather glorify God by preaching to hundreds or thousands from the pulpit than by lying alone in the chamber of affliction. Some like to serve God in what they regard as a respectable sort of way, but they do not care to work for Christ in the back slums, the cellars, or the garrets; but true Christians will be just as willing to go down as to go up. We must be ready to go anywhere and to do anything for Christ. It is just as great an honour to be employed in Christ’s scullery as to serve him in his temple. If he allows us to wash his feet, even with our tears, let us count that as high a privilege as to anoint his head with oil. Happy is that servant who shall be permitted to kiss his Master’s feet, but equally happy should he be who is bidden to unloose the latchet of his shoes. It should be a matter of no moment to us whether we go up or down so long as we are doing our Lord’s will.

But do not forget to notice that all is to be done in God’s name: “they shall walk up and down in his name.” It is Jehovah who is speaking here; and it is in his name, under his authority, at his command, and to his praise and glory that all our service is to be rendered. It is all to be done as unto the Lord, and not unto men. I rejoice that so many, whom I am now addressing, are occupied in various forms of Christian activity; and I hope that each one of us who loves the Lord will continue thus to walk up and down in his name until he calls us to serve him in the upper sanctuary.

Now I close by briefly reminding you that both these blessings are divinely guaranteed: “I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.”

Perhaps some Christian brother or sister here is thinking sorrowfully, “I never can be made strong enough to serve God as I would like to serve him.” But, my dear friend, here you have a triple guarantee from the Lord himself; here is the divine “I will” of omnipotent grace, the divine “they shall” of consecrated free agency, and the divine “saith the Lord” of infallible faithfulness; what more can you want? Is not God’s declaration of more value than the oaths of all the men who ever lived? Would you not sooner rely upon his divine assurance than trust to anything that you can see? Possibly you say that you would, but I am half afraid of you. When things go very pleasantly with you, it is easy for you to believe; but it is another matter when the sun has set, and it is very dark, and there are no stars to be seen. O beloved, seek to have a faith which can trust God as well in the dark as in the light! What a grand life that man leads who lives upon whatever is guaranteed to him by “Thus saith the Lord”! He never gets any poorer, because “Thus saith the Lord” never fails him; and he never needs to get any richer, for “Thus saith the Lord” is all that his spirit can possibly crave. Here is one of the promises which is guaranteed to us by “Thus saith the Lord:” “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” That is enough for me; I will take that promise, and plead it at the throne of grace, and I know I shall not be sent empty away. Will you not, dear friends, do the same with the promises in our text? You need supernatural strength for the service to which your Lord has called you, and here he has promised it to you. “Thus saith the Lord” is surely sufficient for you; so, seeing this divine seal attached to the promise, do not be slow to secure the fulfilment of it; but to-night, ere you retire to rest, seek the strength you need from the Strong One, and then, on the morrow, go forth to walk up and down in his name.

But there are some here, I fear, who never think of God’s promises, and that is a strange and sad state for anyone to be in. To one who has been brought out of nature’s darkness into God’s marvellous light, it does seem amazing that anyone can live without a thought of God and his many exceeding great and precious promises. It is most extraordinary that an immortal being, created by God, can be content to go on from day to day and from year to year without any care about pleasing his Creator. But if anyone here is feeling, “Oh, I wish that I could get to God! I would not for all the world have him as my enemy, and I long to know how I can come to him;”-I am thankful that you feel like that, and I am glad that I am commissioned to tell you the way to come to him. “No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” said Christ. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Look first at the crucified Christ lifted up upon yonder tree, for-

“There is life for a look at the Crucified One,

There is life at this moment for thee.”

Trust him as your Mediator, your Advocate with the Father, and you shall find that then God will receive you for Christ’s sake, he will strengthen you in the Lord, and you shall walk up and down in his name; and, by-and-by, you shall dwell with him for ever. God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HEBREWS 12:1-17

May the Spirit of God graciously instruct us while we read this chapter! You know that, in the eleventh chapter, the apostle has pictured the ancient worthies and their victories. Imagine that you see them mounting in their chariots of fire up to their seats in heaven; behold them going from the mouths of lions, from the deserts, and mountains, and dens and caves of the earth, up to their glorious thrones on high where they recline in ease and honour.

The apostle then introduces us to a race-course, in which he represents all these conquerors as sitting upon seats all round the course, watching those who are about to run; and thus he begins:-

Verse 1, 2. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith;*

It was no excitement to run if there were no onlookers. The spur to the racers and wrestlers in the Grecian games was found in the eyes of those who gazed, in the clapping of their hands, in the shouting of their applause, as well as in the prizes that awaited the winners. Behold, my brethren, even our most private acts are looked upon by the millions of eyes of the great cloud of witnesses. Angels tell the news of how we run the great race, and they rejoice when we prosper. Let us “run well” because so many are looking on at us; and just as the Grecian runner stripped himself of his clothes before he started, so “let us lay aside every weight,” the weight of sin, the weight of care, the weight of grief, the weight of worldliness, and everything else that might hinder us. Above all, let us beware of that sin which, like a trailing garment, might entangle our feet, and trip us up; for, if we fall, our opponent will certainly win the prize. Look well to that sin to which you are the most liable. We all have some besetting sin; let us especially be on the watch against that. While we keep all the wall with diligence, let us set a double guard at the most vulnerable point.

“And let us run with patience,” or “endurance.” There is to be a combination of the active and passive in the Christian; he must be able to endure and yet be able still to work. “Let us run with patience;” run when we are out of breath, run when our bones ache, run when the prize seems to be further off than ever, and to be hidden from our eyes, run when the hot sun makes us athirst,-still “let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” for it is he that endureth unto the end who shall be saved;-not merely the starter in the race, for there are many who begin, and who begin not in the power of the Spirit of God, and who therefore do not persevere unto the end. By this sign shall the true children of God be known, that they run with endurance unto the end, “looking unto Jesus.” As the wife of the Persian nobleman said, when her husband asked her what she thought of Darius, that she had not looked at him, she had no eyes for any man but her husband; so the Christian has no eyes for any but Christ;-“looking unto Jesus,”-keeping his eye always upon him, and so running the Christian race.

Jesus is here delightfully called “the author and finisher of our faith.” In most of the arts, there is a division of labour; one man begins, and another completes; there is scarcely anything that is completed by one man; but the stupendous work of our salvation was not only commenced but it was also completed by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Let us look unto him then. This will help us to persevere unto the end because he persevered to the end.

2. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It was this joy that made Christ strong to endure in the day of his sorrow, and joy must make you also strong to endure unto the end. He had the joy of anticipated victory. It “was set before him,” and so he “endured the cross, despising the shame.” He ran with a heavy cross on his back, and yet he ran faster than you or I have run: he ran because he had more joy than we have. So, my brethren, let us live in the joy of heaven, let us live in the joy of ultimate victory, and this will enable us to bear all the toils and trials of our present life.

3. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.*

Luther says, “When I think of what Christ suffered, I am ashamed to call anything that I have endured, suffering for his sake.” He carried his heavy cross, but we only carry a sliver or two of it; he drank his cup to the dregs, and we do but sip a drop or two at the very most. “Consider him.” Consider how he suffered far more than you can ever suffer, and how he is now crowned with glory and honour; and as you are to be like him, descend like him into the depths of agony, that with him you may rise to the heights of glory.

4-7. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Here is a little variation in the subject. First we had the trials which come from the world; these we are to endure looking to Christ for grace to enable us to overcome them. Now we have the trials which come from God, and here nature becomes an assistant to grace. We are reminded that children have to be chastened; and therefore, if we are the children of God, we must expect to be chastened by him.

Note, in the fifth verse, the two evils of which we are in danger,-either of despising God’s chastenings or else of fainting under them; either of thinking too little or too much of them. Happy is the Christian who ever takes the middle course, and never despises the chastenings of the Lord, nor ever faints under them.

Note, in the sixth verse, that we are to expect sharp blows from God’s chastening hand. That word “scourgeth” is a strong word: “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” The scourge was ever a most severe form of punishment. God will not spare his children when they need to be chastened; they shall have some blows as hard as he can well lay them on, that is to say, as hard as such a loving heart as his will permit him to give. They shall have such blows that each one of them shall have to cry out, “I am broken in sunder; my heart is smitten and withered like grass.” And this is to be the treatment for every son whom God receives; not for some of them, but for all. “He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

8. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

He does not say, “then are ye aliens.” He is speaking about those who profess to be the children of God, writing concerning those who claim to be members of the Lord’s family, and he stigmatizes with one of the most dreadful of names those who may escape without chastisement; but, brethren, who among us would have the pleasure of carnal ease if with it we are to have the shame of spiritual illegitimacy?

9, 10. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure;

There was, possibly, much of their own temper mixed with their chastisements; they let off their wrath upon us sometimes by the medium of chastisement, but God never chastens his children merely out of anger.

10-12. But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.* Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Let not your service to God slacken. Lift up to God that which was idly hanging down through despondency. Let not your prayers grow weak through grief, but strengthen the feeble knees.

13-15. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:† looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

For, alas! under the means of grace, there are many who do “fail of the grace of God.” They get something that they think is like grace, but it is not the true grace of God, and they ultimately fall from it, and perish. What we need is to have unfailing grace, and power so to hold on that, at the last, we may inherit the crown of life, but for this we must look diligently, for the best of us has shrewd cause to suspect himself; and in church-fellowship, we ought to be very watchful lest the church as a whole should fail through lack of the true grace of God, and especially lest any root of bitterness springing up among us should trouble us, and thereby many be defiled.

16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Those who seek the pleasures of the flesh rather than the pleasures of a higher world are here put side by side with Esau. Now Esau sold the right to his future heritage for a present mess of pottage; and many there are who do something very like that,-sell their souls for a little Sunday-trading, or for a little carnal company, a little of that fool’s mirth which is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. They are willing to damn themselves to all eternity because they cannot bear the jeers and sneers of a ribald world. O brethren, let us not be like them or like Esau!

17. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

He never repented of his sin, but only of the consequences of it. He never sought pardon of God, but only sought to inherit the blessing. And there will be many, who have lived for this world, and loved it, who, when they wake up in another world, will begin to seek the blessing, but they will be rejected. This may happen even in this world. If they only seek to die the death of the righteous, and seek not the pardon of their sin, they shall hear the Lord say to them, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laught your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.”

THE COVENANT

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, August 3rd, 1911,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“He will ever be mindful of his covenant.”-Psalm 111:5.*

It is a wonderful thing that God should enter into gracious covenant with men. That he should make man, and be gracious to man, is easily to be conceived; but that he should strike hands with his creature, and put his august majesty under bond to him by his own promise, is marvellous. Once let me know that God has made a covenant, and I do not think it wonderful that he should be mindful of it, for he is “God that cannot lie.” “Hath he said, and shall he not do it?” Hath he once given his pledge? It is inconceivable that he should ever depart from it. The doctrine of the text commends itself to every reasonable and thoughtful man: if God has made a covenant, he will ever be faithful of it. It is to that point that I would now call your attention with the desire to use it practically.

For God to make a gracious covenant with us is so great a boon that I hope every one here is saying within his heart, “Oh, that the Lord had entered into covenant with me!”

We shall practically look into this matter, first, by answering the question, What is this covenant? Secondly, by putting the enquiry, Have I any portion in it? And, thirdly, by bidding each one say, “If indeed I am in covenant with God, then every part of that covenant will be carried out, for God is ever mindful of it.”

First, then, What is this covenant?

If you go to a lawyer, and enquire how a deed runs, he may reply, “I can give you an abstract, but I had better read it to you.” He can tell you the sum and substance of it; but if you want to be very accurate, and it is a very important business, you will say, “I should like to hear it read.” We will now read certain passages of Scripture which contain the covenant of grace, or an abstract of it. Turn to Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Print every word of that in diamonds, for the sense is inconceivably precious. God in covenant promises to his people that, instead of writing his law upon tables of stone, he will write it on the tablets of their hearts. Instead of the law coming as a hard, crushing command, it shall be placed within them as the object of love and delight, written on the transformed nature of the beloved objects of God’s choice: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;”-what a covenant privilege this is! “And I will be their God.” Therefore all that there is in God shall belong to them. “And they shall be my people.” They shall belong to me; I will love them as mine; I will keep them, bless them, honour them, and provide for them as my people. I will be their portion, and they shall be my portion. Note the next privilege. They shall all receive heavenly instruction upon the most vital point: “They shall all know me.” There may be some things they do not know, but “they shall all know me.” They shall know me as their Father; they shall know Jesus Christ as their Brother; they shall know the Holy Spirit as their Comforter. They shall have intercourse and fellowship with God. What a covenant privilege is this! Hence comes pardon, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” What a clean sweep of sin! God will forgive and forget; the two go together. “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” All gone,-all their transgression blotted out, never to be mentioned against them any more for ever. What an unutterable favour! This is the covenant of grace. I call your attention to the fact that there is no “if” in it, there is no “but” in it, there is no requirement made by it of man. It is all “I will” and “they shall.” “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” It is a charter written in a royal tone, and the majestic strain is not marred by a “perchance” or a “may be,” but dwells always on “shall” and “will.” These are two prerogative words of the divine majesty; and in this wondrous deed of gift, in which the Lord bestows a heaven of grace upon guilty sinners, he bestows it after the sovereignty of his own will without anything to put the gift in jeopardy, or to make the promise insecure.

Thus I have read the covenant to you in one form.

Turn over the pages a little, and you will come to a passage in Ezekiel. There we shall have the bright-eyed prophet-he who could live among the wheels and the seraphim-telling us what the covenant of grace is. In Ezekiel the eleventh chapter, nineteenth and twentieth verses, we read: “I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people and I will be their God.”

You will find another form of it further on in the thirty-sixth of Ezekiel, beginning at the twenty-fifth verse. How intently ought you to listen to this! It is a deal better than hearing any preaching of mortal man to listen to the very words of God’s own covenant, a covenant which saves all those who are concerned in it. Unless you have an interest in it you are indeed unhappy. Let us read it: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.… And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.” This promise always comes in at the close, “I will be your God.” In this form of the covenant, I call you again to witness that God demands nothing, asks no price, demands no payment, but to the people with whom he enters into covenant he makes promise after promise, all free, all unconditional, all made according to the bounty of his royal heart.

Let us just go a little into detail about this. God has made a covenant with certain people that he will do all this for them, and in each case it is of pure grace. He will take away their stony hearts: it is clear from this promise that, when he began with them, they had stony hearts. He will forgive their iniquities: when he began with them, they had many iniquities. He will give them a heart of flesh: when he began with them, they had not a heart of flesh. He will turn them to keep his statutes: when he began with them, they did not keep his statutes. They were a sinful, wilful, wicked, degenerate people, and he called to them many times to come to him, and repent, but they would not. Here he speaks like a king, and no longer pleads, but decrees. He says, I will do this and that to you, and you shall be this and that in return. Oh, blessed covenant! Oh, mighty, sovereign grace!

How came it about? Learn the doctrine of the two covenants.

The first covenant of which we will now speak was that of works, the covenant made with our first father, Adam. This is not first in purpose, but it was first revealed in time. It ran thus: you Adam, and your posterity shall live and be happy if you will keep my law. To test your obedience to me, there is a certain tree; if you let that alone, you shall live: if you touch it, you shall die, and they shall die whom you represent.

Our first covenant-head snatched greedily at the forbidden fruit, and fell: and what a fall was there, my brethren! There you, and I, and all of us, fell down, while it was proven once for all that by works of law no man can be justified; for if perfect Adam broke the law so readily, depend upon it, you and I would break any law that God has ever made. There was no hope of happiness for any of us by a covenant which contained an “if” in it. That old covenant is put away, for it has utterly failed. It brought nothing to us but a curse, and we are glad that it has waxed old, and, as far as believers are concerned, has vanished away.

Then there came the second Adam. You know his name; he is the ever-blessed Son of the Highest. This second Adam entered into covenant with God somewhat after this fashion:-The Father says, I give thee a people; they shall be thine: thou must die to redeem them, and when thou hast done this,-when for their sakes thou hast kept my law, and made it honourable, when for their sakes thou hast borne my wrath against their transgressions,-then I will bless them; they shall be my people; I will forgive their iniquities; I will change their natures; I will sanctify them, and make them perfect. There was an apparent “if” in this covenant at the first. That “if” hinged upon the question whether the Lord Jesus would obey the law, and pay the ransom; a question which his faithfulness placed beyond doubt. There is no “if” in it now. When Jesus bowed his head, and said, “It is finished,” there remained no “if” in the covenant. It stands, therefore, now as a covenant entirely of one side,-a covenant of promises, of promises which must be kept, because the other portion of the covenant having been fulfilled, the Father’s side of it must stand. He cannot, and he will not, draw back from the doing of that which he covenanted with Christ to do. The Lord Jesus shall receive the joy which was set before him. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” By his knowledge shall the Christ who became God’s righteous Servant justify many, for hath he not borne their iniquities? How can it be otherwise than that they should be accepted for whom he was the Surety? Do you see why it is that the covenant, as I have read it, stands so absolutely without “ifs”, “buts”, and “peradventures”, and runs only on “shalls” and “wills”? It is because the one side of it that did look uncertain was committed into the hand of Christ, who cannot fail or be discouraged. He has completed his part of it, and now it stands fast, and must stand fast for ever and ever. This is now a covenant of pure grace, and nothing else but grace: let no man attempt to mix up works with it, or anything of human merit. God saves now because he chooses to save, and over the head of us all there comes a sound as of a martial trumpet, and yet with a deep, inner peaceful music in it: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God observes us all lost and ruined, and in his infinite mercy comes with absolute promises of grace to those whom he hath given to his Son Jesus.

So much, then, with regard to the covenant.

Now comes the important question, “Have I any portion in it?” May the Holy Ghost help us to ascertain the truth on this point! You who are really anxious in your hearts to know, I would earnestly persuade to read the Epistle to the Galatians. Read that Epistle through if you want to know whether you have any part or lot in the covenant of grace. Did Christ fulfil the law for me? Are the promises of God, absolute and unconditional, made to me? You can know by answering three questions.

First, Are you in Christ? Did you not notice that I said that we were all in Adam, and in Adam we all fell? Now, “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Are you in the second Adam? You certainly were in the first one, for so you fell. Are you in the second? Because, if you are in him, you are saved in him. He has kept the law for you. The covenant of grace made with him was made with you if you are in him; for, as surely as Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchisedek met him, so were all believers in the loins of Christ when he died upon the cross. If you are in Christ, you are a part and parcel of the seed to whom the promise was made; but there is only one seed, and the apostle tells us, “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” If, then, you are in Christ, you are in the seed, and the covenant of grace was made with you.

I must ask you another question, Have you faith? By this question you will be helped to answer the previous one, for believers are in Christ. In the Epistle to the Galatians, you will find that the mark of those who are in Christ is that they believe in Christ. The mark of all that are saved is not confidence in works, but faith in Christ. In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul insists upon it, “The just shall live by faith,” and the law is not of faith. Over and over again he puts it so. Come, then, do you believe in Jesus Christ with all your heart? Is he your sole hope for heaven? Do you lean your whole weight, the entire stress of your salvation, on Jesus? Then you are in him, and the covenant is yours; and there is not a blessing which God hath decreed to give but what he will give to you. There is not a boon which, out of the grandeur of his heart, he has determined to bestow upon his elect, but what he will bestow it upon you. You have the mark, the seal, the badge of his chosen if you believe in Christ Jesus.

Another question should help you; it is this, Have you been born again? I refer you again to the Epistle to the Galatians, which I would like every anxious person to read through very carefully. There you will see that Abraham had two sons: one of them was born according to the flesh; he was Ishmael, the child of the bondwoman. Though he was the firstborn son, he was not the heir, for Sarah said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” He who was born after the flesh did not inherit the covenant promise. Is your hope of heaven fixed on the fact that you had a good mother and father? Then your hope is born after the flesh, and you are not in the covenant. I am constantly hearing it said that children of godly parents do not want converting. Let me denounce that wicked falsehood. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and nothing better. They that are born after the flesh, these are not the children of God. Do not trust in gracious descent, or in holy ancestors. Ye must be born again, every one of you, or you will perish for ever, whoever your parents may be. Abraham had another son, even Isaac: he was not born of the strength of his father, nor after the flesh at all, for we are told that both Abraham and Sarah had become old; but Isaac was born by God’s power, according to promise. He was the child given by grace. Now, have you ever been born like that,-not by human strength, but by power divine? Is the life that is in you a life given by God? The true life is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of natural excellence; but it comes by the working of the eternal Spirit, and is of God. If you have this life, you are in the covenant, for it is written, “in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” The children of the promise, these are counted for the seed. God said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” and that was because he meant to justify the Gentiles by faith, that the blessing given to believing Abraham might come on all believers. Abraham is the father of the faithful, or the father of all them that believe in God, and with such is the covenant established.

Here, then, are the test questions:-Am I in Christ? Am I believing in Jesus? Am I born by the power of the Spirit of God according to the promise, and not by the fleshly birth, or according to works? Then I am in the covenant; my name stands in the eternal record. Before the stars began to shine the Lord had covenanted to bless me. Or ever evening and morning made the first day, my name was in his book. Christ before the world’s foundation struck hands with the Father in the council chamber of eternity, and pledged himself to redeem me, and to bring me and multitudes of others into his eternal glory; and he will do it, too, for he never breaks his suretyship engagements any more than the Father breaks his covenant engagements. I want you to get quite sure upon these points, for, oh, what peace it will breed in your soul, what a restfulness of heart to understand the covenant, and to know that your name is in it!

This is our last point. If indeed we can believe, upon the good evidence of God’s Word, that we are of the seed with whom the covenant was made in Christ Jesus, then every blessing of the covenant will come to us. I will put it a little more personally,-every blessing of the covenant will come to you.

The devil says, “No, it won’t.” Why not, Satan? “Why,” saith he, “you are not able to do this or that.” Refer the devil to the text; tell him to read those passages which I read to you, and ask him if he can spy an “if” or a “but”; for I cannot. “Oh!” says he, “but, but, but, but, but you cannot do enough, you cannot feel enough.” Does it say anything about feeling there? It only says, “I will give them a heart of flesh.” They will feel enough then. “Oh, but!” the devil says, “you cannot soften your hard heart.” Does it say that you are to do so? Does it not say “I will take the stony heart out of their flesh”? The tenor of it is,-I will do it; I will do it. The devil dares not say that God cannot do it; he knows that God can enable us to tread him under our feet. “Oh, but!” says he, “you will never hold on your way if you begin to be a Christian.” Does it say anything about that in the covenant further than this, “they shall walk in my statutes”? What if we have not power in and of ourselves to continue in God’s statutes; yet he has power to make us continue in them. He can work in us obedience and final perseverance in holiness; his covenant virtually promises these blessings to us. To come back to what we said before; God does not ask of us, but he gives to us. He sees us dead, and he loves us even when we are dead in trespasses and sins. He sees us feeble, and unable to help ourselves; and he comes in, and works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure, and then we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The bottom of it, the very foundation of it, is himself; and he finds nothing in us to help him. There is neither fire nor wood in us, much less the lamb for the burnt offering, but all is emptiness and condemnation. He comes in with “I will,” and “you shall,” like a royal helper affording free aid to destitute, helpless, sinners, according to the riches of his grace. Now be sure that, having made such a covenant as this, God will ever be mindful of it.

He will do so, first, because he cannot lie. If he says he will, he will. His very name is “God that cannot lie.” If I am in Christ, I must be saved: none can prevent it. If I am a believer in Christ, I must be saved; all the devils in hell cannot stop it, for God has said, “He that believeth in him is not condemned.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” God’s word is not yea and nay. He knew what he said when he spake the covenant, and he has never changed it, nor contradicted it. If, then, I am a believer, I must be saved, for I am in Christ to whom the promise is made; if I have the new life in me, I must be saved, for is not this spiritual life the living and incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever? Did not Jesus say, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”? I have drunk the water Christ gave me, and it must spring up into everlasting life. It is not possible for death to kill the life that God has given me, nor for all the fallen spirits to tread out the divine fire which Christ’s own Spirit has cast into my bosom. I must be saved, for God cannot deny himself.

Next, God made the covenant freely. If he had not meant to keep it, he would not have made it. When a man is driven up into a corner by someone who says, “Now you must pay me,” then he is apt to promise more than he can perform. He solemnly declares, “I will pay you this day fortnight.” Poor fellow, he has no money now, and will not have any then, but he makes a promise because he cannot help himself. No such necessity can be imagined with our God. The Lord was under no compulsion: he might have left men to perish because of sin; there was no one to prompt him to make the covenant of grace, or even to suggest the idea. “With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him?” He made the covenant of his own royal will, and having made it, rest you sure that he will never run back from it. A covenant so freely made must be fully carried out.

Moreover, on the covenant document there is a seal. Did you see the seal? The grand thing in a deed of gift is the signature or seal. What is this,-this red splash at the bottom of it? It is blood! Yes; it is blood. Whose blood? It is the blood of the Son of God. This has ratified and sealed the covenant. Jesus died. Jesus’ death has made the covenant sure. Can God forget the blood of his dear Son, or do despite to his sacrifice? Impossible. All for whom he died as a covenant Substitute he will save. His redeemed shall not be left in captivity, as if the ransom price had effected nothing. Hath he not said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”? That covenant stands secure, though earth’s old columns bow, for despite to the blood can never be possible on the part of the Father.

Again, God delights in the covenant, and so we are sure he will not run back from it. It is the very joy of his holy heart. He delights to do his people good. To pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin is the recreation of Jehovah. Did you ever hear of God singing? It is singular that the Divine One should solace himself with song; but yet a prophet has thus revealed the Lord to us, “He will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.” The covenant is the heart of God written out in the blood of Jesus; and since the whole nature of God runs parallel with the tenor of the everlasting covenant, you may rest assured that even its jots and its tittles stand secure.

And then, last of all, O thou who art in the covenant, thou darest not doubt but that God will save thee, keep thee, bless thee, seeing thou hast believed on Jesus, and art in Jesus, and art quickened into newness of life! Thou darest not doubt if I tell thee one thing more: if your father, if your brother, if your dearest friend had solemnly stated a fact, would you bear for anybody to say that he lied? I know you would be indignant at such a charge; but suppose your father in the most solemn manner had taken an oath, would you for a minute think that he had perjured himself, and had sworn a lie? Now turn to the Word of God, and you will find that God, because he knew that an oath among men is the end of strife, has been pleased to seal the covenant with an oath. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” God has lifted his hand to heaven, and sworn that Christ shall have the reward of his passion, that his purchased ones shall be brought under his sway, that having borne sin, and put it away, it never shall be a second time charged on his redeemed.

There is all of it. Dost thou believe in Christ? Then God will work in thee to will and do of his good pleasure; God will conquer thy sin; God will sanctify thee; God will save thee; God will keep thee; God will bring thee to himself at last. Rest thou on that covenant, and then, moved by intense gratitude, go forward to serve thy Lord with all thy heart, and soul, and strength. Being saved, live to praise him. Work not that you may be saved, but because you are saved,-the covenant has secured your safety. Delivered from the servile fear which an Ishmael might have known, live the joyous life of an Isaac; and moved by love of the Father, spend and be spent for his sake. If the selfish hope of winning heaven by works has moved some men to great sacrifices, much more shall the godly motive of gratitude to him who has done all this for us move us to the noblest service, and make us feel that it is no sacrifice at all. “We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” If you are saved under the covenant of grace, the mark of the covenanted ones is upon you, and the sacred character of the covenanted ones should be displayed in you. Bless and magnify your covenant God. Take the cup of the covenant, and call upon his name. Plead the promises of the covenant, and have whatsoever you need. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

JEREMIAH 31:1-22

Verse 1. At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

During the Israelites’ banishment to Babylon, God’s covenant with them had been as it were in abeyance; but in this promise of their restoration he brings it to the front again, and he gives a peculiarly gracious turn to it: “I will be the God of all the families of Israel.” What a mercy it is to have a family God, and to have our whole family in Christ! Brethren, you have a family Bible, and you have, I hope, a family altar; may your whole family belong to God!

2. Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

Pharaoh tried to kill Israel; when he drew his sword, it looked as if the whole nation would be slain. But God got them away from Pharaoh into the wilderness, and there he caused them to rest. God still has a people whom he will certainly save, and the adversary shall not be able to destroy them. Now comes this glorious verse:-

3, 4. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.* Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built,

Jerusalem was all broken down; her houses were vacant, and her palaces were in ruins, but God’s promise to her was, “Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.” If the preacher tries to rebuild those who are spiritually broken down, his work may be a failure; but when God does it, it is effectually done.

4. O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

God can take away his people’s sorrow, and fill them with exultant joy. Their flying feet shall follow the flying music, and they shall be exceeding glad. May the Lord make his people joyful now in his house of prayer!

5. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

God’s people shall get to work again; and they shall have the fruit of their toil, and shall rejoice before God because they do not labour in vain, nor spend their strength for nought.

6. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.

The men of Ephraim did not go up to Zion to worship; they forsook the one altar at Jerusalem; but the day will come when they will turn again to the Lord. Watchmen have to be on the look-out for enemies; but the day will come when even they shall be able to leave their watch-towers, and to say, “Let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.” Are any of you watching just now with anxious care? Have you been watching all through the night? Well, you have not seen much, and your eyes ache with looking out for evil; so drop your watching now, and say one to another, “Let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.”

7, 8. For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them-

Notice the prayer and the answer. The prayer is put into our mouths, and before we hardly have time to utter it, the answer comes: “O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them”-

8. From the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame,

How can they come? Will they help one another? God himself will be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

8. The woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great compang shall return thither.

They were not fit for travelling, yet God in his great mercy can make the feeblest of his people strong; and when he means to bring them to himself, they shall come even though it looks as if they could not come.

9. They shall come with weeping,-

Never mind the weeping so long as they do but come, and remember that there is no true faith without the tear of repentance in its eye: “They shall come with weeping,”-

9. And with supplications will I lead them:

The way of prayer is the way home to God.

9. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble:

Happy are the people who have such precious promises as these. The way is to be straight, and their feet are to be so firmly planted in it that “they shall not stumble.”

9-11. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,

The secret of every other blessing is redemption. If God has redeemed, he will save, depend upon it; the precious blood of Jesus shall ne’er be shed in vain.

11, 12. And ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come-

If they are redeemed, “they shall come.” Christ did not die in vain; the redemption that he wrought must be effectual; “therefore they shall come”-

12. And sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd:

These are all temporal mercies, and it is a great blessing to see God’s goodness in them. If God blesses common mercies, they are blessings indeed; but without his blessing they may become idols, and so may become curses.

12. And their soul shall be as a watered garden;-

What a delightful simile! It is of little use for the body to be fed unless the soul also is well nourished: “Their soul shall be as a watered garden;”

12-14. And they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,

God will give the spiritual leaders of His people enough and more than enough, more than they can take in, he will satiate them with fatness.

14. And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.

What a delightful promise this is! Listen to it, and carry it home, all of you who are truly the Lord’s people.

15. Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

There is here a prophetic allusion to the massacre of the infants by Herod at the time of the birth of our Lord. It was a time of sorrow indeed.

16, 17. Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord: and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

As Rachel is represented as weeping for her children, so is she represented as mourning for the tribes that were carried away into captivity; yet is she comforted with the Lord’s gracious assurance, “They shall come again from the land of the enemy.” So they did, and there is to be a glorious future yet for the people of God of the ancient race of Abraham.

18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus;*

There is never a penitent in this world bemoaning himself without God hearing him. Do not think that a single penitential cry ever rises unheeded from a contrite heart. That cannot be; God has a quick ear for the cries of penitents.

18. Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke:

“I bore the chastisement, but derived no benefit from it. I have not repented of my sin, I have not turned unto thee.”

18. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned;† for thou art the Lord my God.

If the Lord undertakes to turn us, we shall be truly turned, that is, converted.

19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

Are there any here recollecting the past with terror, and lamenting before God because of their sins? Then hear what God says. He seems to echo the voice of Ephraim. As Ephraim bemoans himself, God bemoans him:-

20. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child?

You might expect the answer to be, “No; he has lost the rights of childhood; he has been unpleasant and provoking to God;” yet God does not give such an answer as that to his own questions, but he says:-

20. For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still;-

Notwithstanding that the Lord threatened him, and sent prophets to foretell evil to him because of his sin, yet he says, “I do earnestly remember him still;”-

20. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.

What a wonderful speech for God to make! Even the infinitely-blessed God represents himself as in trouble concerning penitent sinners, remembering them in pity, and longing to have mercy upon them.

21. Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

In crossing the desert, travellers raise little cairns of stone that they may be directed on a future occasion, across that pathless sea of sand; and so God bids them set up waymarks, and make high heaps, that they may know how to come back to him.

22. How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?

God still asks in pity, “How long will you seek here and there for comfort?” You will never find it till you come back to your God. Emptiness is written upon everything till the heart comes to its Saviour and Lord.