Here was very good reasoning. Jesus Christ had opened the eyes of the blind; could he not, therefore, have healed Lazarus of the disease which proved fatal? Of course, he could. He who can avert one evil can avert another. It could have been no more difficult for Christ to have turned aside the fever, or whatever it may have been, which afflicted Lazarus, than to have opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. The first was impossible; but, that achieved, no difficulties remained. “Impossible” is a word which does not fall into language when you have to deal with Christ; and, therefore, when he has once proved, by a miracle, that he is truly the Christ, then it is clear that, ever afterwards, nothing is difficult or impossible to him.

The same truth, in another shape, holds good, namely, that when Christ has conferred one blessing, he can also confer another. He is not as we are, who, with one gift, have exhausted our stock, and who can only bestow good wishes afterwards, because we have no more means. But Jesus Christ is just as full of power as if he had never exerted that power; and after a thousand miracles, he is just as willing and as able to bestow further favours. One evil averted is a good argument that another can be; one good received is a good argument that another may be received from the self-same divine hand.

Stop a minute, therefore, and encourage your hearts with such reasoning as this. “The Lord, that delivered thee out of six troubles, can he not also deliver thee out of the seventh? The Lord, who hath been with thee these forty years in the wilderness, shall he leave thee in this forty-fifth or fiftieth year? He that hath brought thee thus far, and bestowed upon thee early tokens of his faithfulness, is it a hard thing for thee to believe that he will continue to do the same? Thou hast been preserved out of dangers; why not out of the next? Thou hast been provided in necessities; why not be provided for again? Thou hast been raised up when most cast down; why not raised up again? Thou hast found a way out of the very depths, when the pains of hell got hold upon thee, and the snares of the devil did surround thee; why can there not be a way found for the rescue again?” The Lord, that hath done, can do, and is doing. That he has done so in the past, is a guarantee that he will do so in the present, and in the future. He has already made an investment-if I may so speak-of his love, and of his grace, and of his faithfulness upon thee, and he will not lose what he has already spent, but he will carry on the good work to perfection, till he shall bring thee to himself in everlasting glory. Comfort thyself, then, Christian, with this blessed remembrance of thy past experience, and be thou assured that this man, who opened thine eyes when thou wast blind, can keep thy life from spiritual death; yea, and wert thou dead, yet shouldest thou live by his strength, for he is able to do exceeding abundantly above what thou dost ask, or even think.

The like encouragement may be suggested to any here who are anxious about their souls. The salvation of anyone ought to be an encouragement to any other. If God had saved one sinner, why not another? If the precious blood of Jesus hath made one drunkard clean, why not another? And if, amongst the white robed hosts, there be some who had defiled their garments with the foulest stains, why should not I yet be there by the self-same blood-washing, and the self-same mercy of my gracious God? He that opened the eyes of one blind man can open the eyes of all blind men, if so it pleaseth him; and he that gives to one perfect pardon and acceptance, can give to another the like, wheresoever he chooses to bestow them. Let no man despair. There are examples of great sinners saved on purpose to encourage others to trust in Christ. I care not how aggravated your iniquities may have been; I am quite sure they have been already paralleled in some other cases-in some other cases, too, where salvation has ultimately come. Thou art not beyond the divine range. Thou hast not sinned thyself yet into hell. Mercy yet can reach thee; the blood can yet cleanse thee; the divine bosom can yet receive thee; and even the heaven of God can yet find room for thee, though thou be the chief of sinners. This is good argument, we say-this which was used by Jesus. What has been done can be done. If Christ doth one form of good, he can do another. If he openeth the eyes of the blind man, he can cause that the sick shall not die.

But now, after that encouragement, there comes up a great difficulty. It is certain that, if Christ had willed it, Lazarus need not have died; then Mary need not have sat still in the house weeping; then Martha need not have said, with sorrow and with broken heart, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” There was no need that Lazarus should suffer all that pain, and all that lanquishing, and pass through the gates of the grave-no absolute need for it. Christ could, if he had chosen, have prevented that man from dying; and, what is more, if Christ willed it, he could prevent all your troubles, and all mine. If he chose, none of his people need ever have so much as a headache, or a pin’s prick of the finger; they need not one of them ever be poor, or have any losses or any crosses. They need none of them ever be tempted, for he could chain up the devil. They need none of them die, for he could take them up to heaven, like Elijah, or translate them, like Enoch. It stands proof positive, if he could open the eyes of the blind, he could, if he would, prevent any of his people from sickness and from death, and from all other ills else, he could prevent and save them. It were possible for Christ, if so he willed it, to avert all our sufferings, and all our losses from us. Then why does he not do it? “Behold how he loved him!” said the Jews, and yet the next thing they said was, “Well, but if he opened the eyes of the blind, could he not, if he had willed it, have prevented this man dying? Yet he did not do it; but Lazarus died.”

Now, I am quite sure, brethren, if you had a dear one at home that was sick, and I came in to see you, and I could with a word raise your sick friend, I dare not go out of your room without doing it. You would feel very grieved with me if I did. You would think it very unkind; and, moreover, I could not find it in my heart not to do it, I am sure. Speak a word? Why, I would speak any number of words, if I could raise your sick ones from being sick, and keep them from dying. You would think me very unkind if I did not; and so these Jews could not comprehend it. They said of Christ that he burst into tears at the thought of Lazarus being dead; they said, as they saw him in that genuine burst of sacred passion, “Behold, how he loved him!” and they could not comprehend it, that, with a power which could open the eyes of the blind, and which must be sufficient to prevent the death of Lazarus; yet he did not prevent it, but the loving Christ suffered his friend Lazarus to sleep till he was laid four days in the grave, and his body began to stink with corruption.

Brethren, we are now about to look the question in the face, and what shall we say about it? The first thing we shall say about it is this, that:-

It is not always right for us to make enquiries as to the love and the wisdom of our Lord.

It may seem a very strange thing to us that he does not prevent the afflictions which are so grievous, and that he does not give us some of those mercies which we think would make us so comfortable, but we have no right to ask questions. A servant must not be always asking his master, “Why dost thou do this? or why dost thou do that?” and the scholar is not expected to understand all the doings of the professor at whose feet he sits. A master-builder would soon discharge the carpenter on the work who should always be saying, “Why should that piece of timber be of that shape, or why must those stones be placed in such a position?” The architect is supposed to know the plan, not the Irish labourer the plan. It is enough for the architect to know, without every small body on the work understanding everything that is to be done. We are not, therefore, to be always asking questions. There is another spirit that ought to rule us, rather than the spirit of captious criticism. A man goes and takes stones, and he puts some of them into the earth, deep down; some of them he places higher up, one upon another; some he daubs with mortar, some he places where they cannot be seen, and some he polishes, and puts them into the corners. Are the stones to say to the builder, “Why dost thou place me here? or, why dost thou place me there?” The potter takes his lumps of clay, and puts them on his knees, and one vessel is made to dishonour, and another is made a graceful form to honour, but shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, “Why hast thou made me thus?” It is not for the thing that is created to begin to question its Creator, for then the Creator might well reply, “Who art thou and where wert thou when I made the heaven and the earth? when I balanced the clouds, and laid the foundations of the earth? Declare now, if thou canst answer me!” That wonderful sermon from the mouth of God himself at the close of the book of Job rolls like crashes of thunder over our heads, and makes us cower down, conscious of our insignificance; and when we dare to lift up our heads once more, we find upon our lips words like those which came from the mouth of Job, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” For you and for me to think to understand God is as though some tiny insect, whose whole life was comprehended in an hour, should expect to understand the marches of the heavens, and to comprehend the revolutions of the spheres. The child by your side, taking up a shellful of water, has no idea of what the sea is, and you, when you look at God’s ways, see no more of God’s ways than that little shellful, as it were, compared with the sea. Stand still, and see that he is God. Let him be exalted in the earth; yea, let him be exalted in the heavens. He giveth no account of his matters. He doeth as he wills in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of this lower earth. Ah! Lord, it is better for us to lie passive in thy hands than to be attempting to sit upon thy throne, holding the balance and judging thy work! What if fie do not make me rich, but lets me pine in poverty; what if he do not heal me, but suffer me to linger out a life of sorrow? what if he do not bless my undertaking, but he permits heavy trials to overcome me? I will not ask him why. “I was dumb with silence; I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it,” that is the spirit in which we may look at this question. One thing more I want you to remember, and that is this:-

That whatever God may do or may not do with us, it is always the Christian’s wisdom to stand to this: that Christ is always love.

The Jews said, “Behold how he loved him!” They could see that by his tears, though he let him die. Now, there were good reasons, though the Jews might not see the reasons; and, brethren, there are good reasons why God withholds that right hand of his which is so full of bounty, and why at other times he does stretch it out, and good reasons why he lifts that left hand of his which is so heavy to smite, and brings it down upon you, the chosen child of his heart. But do not think that Christ can be otherwise than kind. If you have trusted in him, never believe that he can hate or forget you. Never think that he can suspend his affection towards you. No, never once will he deal with you according to any other rule than that of love, never once. The dispensation may be very dark, but judge not by appearances. Your conscience may be very guilty, but he is greater than your guilt. Your heart may condemn you, yet can he absolve you, and his love is not measured by even your consciousness of his presence. He has forgiven you, and he will not visit you in wrath for sin. No, though Satan tell you that repeated strokes must argue an angry God, he is the father of lies from the beginning, and believe not that which he suggests. It cannot be possible that God is unkind. The camels are destroyed; the oxen are stolen; the children have perished; the body is covered with sore boils and blains, but “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” saith the triumphant patriarch. “Shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil? The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.” Be then, as Job was, and as David was when, being about to describe the perturbation of his mind on account of the affliction of the righteous, and the prosperity of the wicked, he began the psalm by saying, “Truly God is good to Israel,” as if he started with that, and nothing could ever drive him from it. Though the wicked prospered, and the righteous were chastened every morning, yet God was good to his own covenant people in the supremest and most emphatic sense. But now let us come to this question again, for still it looks difficult. If faith makes no enquiries, and resignation shall be content, still:-

Let us see now. If Christ had prevented Lazarus’s death, what would have happened? He might have done, if he had liked; but, in the first place, Christ would not have been glorified by raising Lazarus from the dead. If Lazarus does not die, he cannot be raised, and that manifestation of miraculous power could not be evinced. You will let Lazarus die, then-you all agree to that-that Christ may have an opportunity of raising him again. See, then, if you do not have a trouble-and Christ can prevent it if he wills-but if you are not brought into trouble, you cannot have the deliverance; Christ cannot put out his hand of love to save you, if there is nothing to save you from. Oh! then, be quite content to bear trouble, in order that your blessed Lord Jesus may make himself illustrious as he comes to you in the very nick of time, and delivers you out of the depth of your distress.

In the next place, if Lazarus had not died, Lazarus himself would not have been so honoured. Everybody said afterwards, “That is Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead.” He was a marked man, and I am sure, if you were Lazarus, you would say, “Ah! well, it is worth while to die to be raised again, to have the honour of such a favour.” Now, beloved, if you are not tried and troubled, you cannot become one of the experienced saints; it cannot be said of you by your brethren, “That man has passed through six troubles and through seven, and yet the Lord’s faithfulness has been proved in them all.” You will miss great pleasure if you miss great affliction. Depend upon it, you will be more a loser by missing trouble than you have hitherto imagined.

In the next place, Mary and Martha would not have had such a sweet lesson from Christ. Their poor eyes were red, I doubt not, with their four days’ weeping, and the previous day’s watching and nursing; but then, oh! what joy they had when they saw their dear brother restored again! Such a meeting did make amends for all the grief of parting; and though they had heard the Lord Jesus talk about the resurrection and the life, they heard that dear powerful voice cry, “Lazarus, come forth.” Why, it was for their education, their spiritual profit and benefit, that the Lord suffered Lazarus to die. He might have prevented it, but they were such gainers by the affliction that it proved his love that he did not deny them the benefit of the trial.

Mark, again, if Lazarus had not died, then those Jews would not have been converted because they saw Lazarus rise from the dead, and it is said, “Therefore, many of the Jews believed on him.” Well they might. It was a wonderful sermon to see a dead man come forth bound in his grave clothes; but how could he have thus come forth if he had not died? It was for the benefit of those spectators that the trial was suffered to come. Oh! you do not know, some of you, how many precious souls may have their destiny-speaking after the manner of men-wrapped up in your affliction. There is a needs be, for the good of others, that through your testimony others may believe; that you should be brought into the very depths, and made to be sad, that afterwards God may interpose for your rescue.

Yet again, the result of the resurrection of Lazarus was that our Lord rode in triumph through the streets of Jerusalem. There seems to me to be a connection between these two things. If you read the next chapter, you find our Lord taken in triumph through the streets, with palm-branches and great shoutings; and probably that which moved the multitude to do it, the immediate cause, was this marvellous miracle which Christ had wrought. Oh! beloved, Christ often gets great triumph among the sons of men from the deepest trials of his people, out of which he doth rescue them; and shall not you and I be well content that he should stand back and hide his face, and even seem to be an enemy to us, if, out of all this, his glory shall spring? If he shall get hosannas and shouting, and the waving of palm-branches; and if men on earth and angels in heaven shall do him extraordinary homage because of the work he works in us, oh! shall we not be content that our choicest joys shall wither, and our best comforts for a while shall die?

In the case of Lazarus, you can all see that, though he need not have died-in one respect Christ could have kept him alive-yet it was a great proof of love on Christ’s part that Lazarus did die. Now, I believe that everything else that has happened in the world, if we had light enough to see it by, would turn out to be the same. I know it is a difficult question sometimes to make out why God permits certain evils. When people say, as the negro did, “Well, now, God is greater than de devil, why don’t he kill de devil?” I am sure I cannot answer the question; but I am very well persuaded that if, on the whole, it would be the best thing to do to kill the devil, he would do it; and it is, after all, in a most mysterious way, the best thing for his people, and the most glorious thing for himself, that the devil should be permitted. The fall-what a mysterious thing that is! It might have been prevented. I cannot hold any limit to the omnipotence of God: if he had willed it, there need not have been a fall. Then why did he permit it? I reply to that in the same spirit. I do not know, and I do not want to know; but I think I can see such a display of divine mercy, and love, and grace, and every other attribute, in the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the fall, terrible thing as it is, seems to be a grand platform on which the glory of God could be displayed. When the Lord brought his people out of Egypt, they might have gone right straight to Canaan. Why did he not take them there at once? Why did he make them go round by the Red Sea, and come to that difficult place? Why-why did he not, indeed? They would not have had half the fears, nor half the terrors. No; but then, recollect, there would not have been so many Egyptians drowned, and there would not have been such grand shouting, nor such sweet clashing of Miriam’s cymbals, nor such beating of timbrels, nor such dancing of nimble feet, and they would not have said, “Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider, he hath cast into the sea!” All the difficulty only led to a greater triumph. God was glorified; his enemies were put to confusion, and his people’s memories were stored with thoughts of the mighty works of God, which might stimulate their faith as long as the world should stand. It is best as it is. God orders all things right, after all; and though he might prevent this, and does not, and he might give us that, and does not, we believe it is all for the best, and bow our heads, and wait till the light shineth, that we may understand more of the reason why.

Now, beloved, the point I want to come to is this: depend upon it, that as I have proved in the case of Lazarus, it was the best thing that the worst thing should happen; so it is in your case. You are in trouble to-night. Now, Christ could have prevented it; could have carried you to heaven on a feather-bed if he had chosen; could have made you ride to heaven all the way in a chariot that never jolted, on a macadamized road right straight up to Paradise, without a single rut or any stones on it, but he does not choose to do so. Now:-

If we cannot, it will not matter, if you believe it is right. Still we will try. The roughness of the road that you are travelling now, may it not be necessary to wean you from this world? Oh! but the goods of this world are like bird-lime to birds; they stick to our feet, and keep us from mounting towards heaven. “Ah!” said one, as he looked abroad on his gardens, and house, and park, “these are the things that make it hard to die.” Ay, and these are the things that make it hard to live near to God. When a man’s heart begins to be contented with the things of this world, when he finds his satisfaction here, he is not inclined to look up to his God. Now, perhaps, you are one of that kind that could not bear too much prosperity. Every gardener will tell you that there are some of his flowers that he cannot put in the glare of the sun; they would never do there. So with you; you grow better in the shade. Your nearness to heaven and your soul’s health require this affliction.

Besides, may it not be that this affliction is sent on purpose to try your faith because it is weak? “What,” say you, “try my faith because it is weak? I thought you would have said not try it because it is weak.” Ah! but faith grows by trial. When faith is weak, a too heavy trial would crush it, but a suitable trial is over-ruled by God for the strengthening of it. You must, you must grow. The Lord would not have his children be stunted and dwarfed, and this trial is sent that you may be made to grow.

Further, you may not only be made to grow in faith this way, but also in close communion with your God. I have read lately one old Puritan, whose opinion is that we never grow, except in affliction. I could not endorse that, but I am afraid there is a great deal of truth in it, for almost all the sunshiny days we have we waste, and when God is very gracious to us in temporals, we generally find that these lean kine of our ingratitude will eat up the fat kine of God’s mercies. We do grow best, depend upon it, when the wind blows us away from our natural havens to the great port of peace, which is found in communion with God in Christ Jesus. When our soul has nowhere else to fly to for shelter, she flies to Christ. When she sees all her crutches and all her props broken away, and all her foundations made to reel, then she casts her arms about her own dear Lord, and there she hangs in rapture and simple child-like love and confidence, brought nearer to God than ever she was by the strength of her trials, and that is always a divine result, a divinely valuable result. It is a great mercy, if nothing else should come of it-a great mercy to have troubles, if they should have this result.

Brethren and sisters, if Christ would, he could prevent our having affliction, but he will not prevent them, because he wants to make something of us. For instance, he wants to make some of us to be comforters to others; but how can you comfort others in trouble when you have never experienced the like? Oh! what poor hands some of us make in trying to comfort some of God’s saints who have been in much deeper water than we have ever sailed on. Why, we find they look upon us as mere boys, and wonder how we should have the impertinence to bring consolation to them. But when we can say, “I have just experienced just the very trial you are now passing through, and the Lord sanctified it, and supported me under it,” then the mourner opens wide his ears, and the soul receives our comfort as though it were honey-droppings from the comb.

My dear brethren, you will never be qualified to understand and explain some of the promises without trials. Some of God’s promises cannot be read, except by the firelight of affliction. There is a kind of invisible ink that people sometimes use, which does not show till you hold it to the fire and some of the promises seem to be written in that kind of ink. You do not understand them until you get a trial, and in the trial you find out that God has fitted every word of the consolation to the providence in which he has placed you. But, indeed, my brethren, when I consider the infinite variety of blessings which come to us, drawn by the team of black horses that our Father always keeps for this purpose; when I consider how God is glorified by the endurance of the saints, and by the graces which they receive in consequence of tribulation; when I consider how their joy will be swollen at the last, when they come to their rest, by the remembrance of their pilgrimage here below, I can but think that it is a fine mark of special mercy that God does not suffer his people to go into the fat fields of unbroken prosperity, but into the fields of trial and of trouble, that they may be enriched, and that their souls may be established.

Come, then, let every murmuring thought be gone; let every dark suspicion be discarded. Let us kiss the hand that smites us, and look up to our Father’s face, even when he chastens us, and, in this way, we shall soon find the trial turn to joy, the bitter cup will become sweet, and resignation will sweeten all.

If these words shall have ministered any consolation to God’s suffering ones, my heart shall be glad. I sometimes want such thoughts myself, and there are times when, if I could have them spoken to me by somebody else, they would be to me like the paths of God which drop with fatness. Now, there may be some of you-I know you are tried and troubled-to whom this will be just the very word. If so, do not let Satan take it away from you. Do lay hold of it by faith, and feed upon it with joy and comfort. Yes. “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem.” So I would that you may be happy and a rejoicing people in the midst of all your troubles.

But, alas! this does not belong to all of you. It is only comfort to those who belong to Christ; but some of you do not belong to him, and have never trusted him. The Lord bring you this very night to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those about to be baptized say to you to-night, “We avow ourselves to be believers in Jesus; we are buried in water to show that we desire to be dead to all the world, and buried in the death of Christ; we rise out of it to show that we desire to live in newness of life by the quickening power of the resurrection of Christ.” You will have no right to this ordinance until you have trusted the Saviour. When you have trusted him, when you have relied fully upon him, when he becomes all in all to you, then may you take the sign, because the thing signified is yours.

May the Lord bless you, for Jesus’ sake.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

PSALM 119:25-40

By the help of God’s Holy Spirit, this psalm may serve for the purposes of self-examination, for we may ask ourselves as we read, “Do I feel in that way? Are my prayers like those of this good man? Is my experience like his?” We may often ask ourselves, “Am I as watchful, and as careful, and as fond of God’s Word as he was?” Such questions will do us good.

Verse 25. My soul cleareth unto the dust: quicken, thou me according to thy word.

He does not like to feel the cleaving of his soul to the dust. There are some that feel it, but they seem content to continue in that condition; but no sooner does David feel it than he cries, “Quicken thou me.” A sense of sin is of small value, unless it leads us to desire to escape out of it. “Quicken thou me. I lie as dead as if it were dust to dust. My soul seems cleaving to it, as if it had come to its own, and meant to rest there; but, Lord, give me life. Thy Word promises me life. Thou hast ways laid down in thy Word for giving life. Quicken thou me, according to thy Word.”

26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

I have told thee all about myself. Now tell me about thyself. “Teach me thy statutes.”

27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

It is a bad thing to talk of what we do not understand, and he who shall preach what he has never experienced is very likely to do so. Yet, beloved, there is no understanding God’s precepts, except he shall teach them to us. We are void of understanding. He must enlighten. He must instruct. “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.” Some are very anxious to understand the doctrines, and some to understand the prophecies. All well and good, but “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts”; give me practical godliness; help me to live to thy praise, “so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.” I will not talk till thou hast taught me. But when thou hast taught me, then my subject shall be thy wondrous works. The wondrous work of making me to understand thee shall be something to speak about, and all thy wondrous works of nature, and providence, and grace shall be the subject of my continual conversation.

28. My soul melteth for heaviness:

For the best of men sometimes suffer the sharpest sorrows. Hearts of stone are not likely to be so sensitive as hearts of flesh. “My soul melteth for heaviness.”

28. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

He wants strength, but he does not want to obtain it in any way, but the way of God’s appointment. “According unto thy Word.” Somewhat like our hymn, which says:-

“He that suffered in my stead,

Shall my physician be.

I will not be comforted

Till Jesus comforts me.”

“Strengthen thou me,” but let it be “according to thy Word.”

29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

Let me not lie. Let me not be tempted to lie. Let me not be pestered with the falsehoods of others. Remove the way of lying far from me, and, oh! by thy grace, give me to know thy law. That is a remarkable combination of words. “Grant me thy law graciously.” Has law anything to do with grace? Yes, such a law as he speaks of-the law in the heart-the law in the hand of Christ-the law written in the life of the believer-not the law of merit and of salvation by works, but “grant me thy law graciously.”

30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

As a seaman spreads out the chart before him, that he may follow the right channel, and not miss his track-as a traveller spreads out his map, that he may keep to the right way. “I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me.”

31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies:

As if I were glued to them-sealed to them. They said I was very old-fashioned. They said I did not keep pace with the times. They said I was not a man of thought. I did not care about that. “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.”

31. O Lord, put me not to shame.

And he never will. If we stick to him, we may be quite sure that we shall come forth out of every difficulty and every opposition triumphantly. “Put me not to shame.” And although he thus spoke, yet you perceive the activity of his soul.

32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shall enlarge my heart.

Give my heart freedom. Knock off my fetters. Take away my heaviness. Remove from me my ignorance. Give my soul room, and she will run, but it will be in the ways of thy commandments.

33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

Here is the art of finally persevering. Here is the way of continuing to the end, and the same shall be saved. We must begin with a teachable spirit. He that is not willing to learn has not begun right. We ought to disciple all nations, but he that will not learn is not yet discipled. “Teach me.”

But the teaching we must have must come from God. “Teach me, O Lord. I am not content to have the Word second-hand. Be thou my schoolmaster. Teach me, O Lord. I shall never learn unless thou teach me. Thou who didst make me-thou who didst give me a new heart-thou must write that law upon my heart, or it will never be written there. Teach me, O Lord. Teach me the way of thy statutes. Teach me practical godliness. So teach it to me that I shall learn it, and put it into practice; and if I be taught of thee, then I shall keep it unto the end; not else.”

34. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law: yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

A want of understanding is a very great lack. There is little wonder that men turn aside from an outward religion which has never taken possession of their thoughts and minds. If they only subscribe to the creed which they have never studied-if they only carry out a life-the mere shell of a life-the inward principles of which they do not know, they will soon turn aside. “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law.”

35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.

“Not only teach me the way, but make me to go in it. Take hold of me, as a mother does of her little child, and teach me how to walk, and help me in the walking.” Make me to go. It is a feeble word-a most expressive prayer. “Make me to go, for therein do I delight.” When a man delights in God’s way, he will be sure to be made to go in it.

36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,

Bend it that way-incline it.

36. And not to covetousness.

For, naturally, my heart would go after the world, and cleave to its riches and its treasures, and begin to covet, but, Lord, bend it the other way. If you do not love God’s testimonies, the tendency will be to become a lover of the world. “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.”

37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity:

Or “make mine eyes to pass from beholding vanity.” I am a runner in the race. Do not let me stop to look at anything, but may my eyes pass by vanity. Let me not be like her in the fable who paused to gather the golden apples in the race, and so lost it and was deceived. If the world’s golden apples are thrown in my way, make my eyes to pass from beholding vanity.

37. And quicken thou me in thy way.

More life towards thee will deaden me to the world. The more I follow after God, the less shall I care to follow after the world.

38. Stablish thy word unto thy serrant,

Make it fast, firm, sure.

38. Who is devoted to thy fear.

I am established in thee. Stablish thy Word to me. Thou has bound me fast to thy altar. Oh! give me the fast blessings and sure mercies of David.

39. Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.

I fear lest I bring a reproach upon thee, and then upon myself. Oh! suffer me not to do so. I am not afraid of the reproach of the world. I count the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. But, oh! let them never have to charge me with sin, and let me not fall into such pecuniary difficulties or other troubles, that men will be able to make a charge against me out of them. Help me to provide things honest in the sight of all men. “Take away my reproach, which I fear, for thy judgments are good.”

40. Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.

PRAYER-MEETINGS

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, August 27th, 1914.

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

On Lord’s-day Evening, August 30th, 1868.

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.”-Acts 1:14.

In all those churches which are not altogether tied and bound by liturgies and rituals, it has been common to hold meetings for social prayer. We call them prayer-meetings. Now, it may be profitable now and then to look over some of our institutions, to see whether they are Scriptural, to notice their defects, to see in what respect they may be improved, or to observe their merits, that we may be induced still further to carry them on. The subject, therefore, this evening, suggested to me by the fact that we are going to meet for a day of prayer to-morrow, is that of prayer-meetings-assemblies of the people of God for worship of that peculiar kind which consists in each one expressing his desire before the Lord. Let us then go through very briefly:-

The apostolical history of meetings for prayer.

These meetings must have been very common indeed. They were, doubtless, every-day things; but still there are some few records of the facts connected with them which may be instructive. The first meeting for prayer which we find after our Lord’s ascension to heaven is the one mentioned in the text, and we are led from it to remark that united prayer is the comfort of a disconsolate church. Can you judge of the sorrow which filled the hearts of the disciples when their Lord was gone from them? They were an army without a leader, a flock without a shepherd, a family without a head. Exposed to innumerable trials, the strong, brazen wall of his presence, which had been round about them, was now withdrawn. In the deep desolation of their spirits they resorted to prayer. They were like a flock of sheep that will huddle together in a storm, or come closer each to its fellow when they hear the sound of the wolf. Poor defenceless creatures as they were, they yet loved to come together, and would die together if need were. They felt that nothing made them so happy, nothing so emboldened them, nothing so strengthened them to bear their daily difficulties as to draw near to God in common supplication. Beloved, let every church learn the value of its prayer-meetings in its dark hour. When the pastor is dead, and when it has been difficult to find a suitable successor; when, it may be, there are rents and divisions; when death falls upon honoured members, when poverty comes in, when there is a spiritual dearth, when the Holy Ghost appears to have withdrawn himself-there is but one remedy for these and a thousand other evils, and that one remedy is contained in this short sentence, “Let us pray.” Those churches which are now writing “Ichabod” on their walls, and who sorrowfully confess that the congregation is slowly dwindling, might soon restore their numbers if they did but know how to pray. Brethren, though they are dispirited now, defeat would then soon become success, their spirits being revived by drawing near to God. And if any of you be personally afflicted and troubled in your estate, you shall find that, after coming up to the House of God, your own private prayer-chamber will be peculiarly comforting to you, and after that, come and unite with the saints of God, who have all of them probably experienced assaults like yours, and as you hear them pouring out sighs similar to yours, and making requests such as you would make, but scarce know how to word them, you will see the footsteps of the flock, and by-and-bye you shall see the Shepherd himself. One of the first uses of the prayer-meeting, then, is to encourage a discouraged people.

Again, if you look at the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, you will perceive that the prayer-meeting is the place for the reception of divine power. “They were all with one accord in one place,” making their prayer, and, as they waited there, suddenly they heard the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind, and the cloven tongues descended upon them, and they were clothed with the power which Jesus had promised them. And what a difference it made in them! Common fishermen became the extraordinary messengers of heaven. Illiterate men spake with tongues that they had never themselves heard. They began to reveal mysteries which had not been revealed to philosophers or kings. These men were lifted out of the level of ordinary humanity, and became God-inspired, filled with the Deity himself, who came to dwell in their hearts and minds. The result was that poor wavering Peter became bold as a lion, and the impetuous John, who would have called fire from heaven upon the Samaritans, had another fire fall upon him; one not to destroy, but to rescue and bless.

Now, the great want of the Church in all times is the power of the Holy Ghost. “I believe in the Holy Ghost,” says the Creed, but how many, or rather how few, are there who really do believe in him? There is a mysterious, supernatural energy which comes from the Third Person of the blessed Trinity which really at this day falls upon men, as really as when Peter spake with unknown tongues or wrought miracles; and though the power of working miracles be not given now, yet spiritual power is given, and this spiritual power is as manifest, and just as certainly with us to-day, if we possess the Spirit, as it was with the apostles. Now, if we want to get this, the most likely place in which to find it is the prayer-meeting. I will warrant you that the best teachers of the school, the men who are of the right spirit, are those who will be found here to-morrow evening. I will warrant you that the best ministers are those that do not despise the gathering of the people of God, and I am sure that the cream of the Christian Church will be found on the whole-of course, other things are to be considered, too-amongst those who most commonly assemble for prayer. Oh! yes, this is the place to meet with the Holy Ghost, and this is the way to get his mighty power. If we would have him, we must meet in greater numbers; we must pray with greater fervency; we must watch with greater earnestness, and believe with firmer steadfastness. The prayer-meeting, then, has this second use, that it is the appointed place for the reception of power.

The next incident in this apostolic history you will find in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and there you will see that the prayer-meeting is the resource of a persecuted church. Turn to the thirty-first verse. Peter and John had been shut up in prison. The Scribes and Pharisees had persecuted the disciples of Christ. They resorted to prayer, and we read that “when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness; and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Yes, all the persecutions of the separate members should be recorded in prayer before God, and if the whole Church itself should fall into disrepute through misrepresentation, or through the natural hostility of all men to the Church of God, then should it resort to its Great Friend for its defence.

Persecuting times are hence often very good for the Church, because they compel her to pray. When the devil, like the wild boar out of the wood, would break up the vineyard, the vines seem to flourish the more, because they are watered with the dews of heaven in answer to prayer. Let the stakes smoke at Smithfield, and the saints of God go up to heaven in chariots of fire, and then the Word of God multiplies exceedingly, and the death of the martyrs brings down the blessing to themselves and the nation in which they dwell.

Anything that would make us pray would be a blessing, and if ever we should come to times of persecution again, we must fly to the shadow of the Eternal, and keeping close together in simple, intense prayer, we shall find a shelter from the blast.

Still keeping to the Acts of the Apostles, in the twelfth chapter you find the prayer-meeting made a means of individual deliverance. You know the story well. Peter was in prison, and Herod promised himself the great pleasure of putting him to death. He was sleeping one night betwixt two soldiers, chained, and the keepers of the door kept the prison. But prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him. The walls of the prison were very thick, but prayer was made without ceasing. The soldiers were very watchful; there were sixteen of them appointed to watch him by turns-four at a time, and he was chained by both hands to two of them. Yet prayer was made without ceasing of the Church for him, and prayer laughs altogether at stone walls, and handcuffs, and iron bars, and gates of brass. And so in the middle of the night an angel smote Peter upon the side, and raised him up, and his chains fell off; he put his garments about him; every door opened as he advanced, and Peter found himself in the street, and wondered whether he was awake, or whether it was a vision. And when he got to the house where they were at prayer, they were all equally surprised, and thought it must be Peter’s spirit, and that it could never be Peter himself. Yet there he was, in very flesh and blood, released from his prison in answer to their prayers. And so in the prayer-meeting the Church of God may plead for individuals. It may not be God’s will, there may be no necessity for it, that every one of God’s people should be brought out of prison, or raised up from sickness, or saved from want; but if it be the Master’s will, and be a right thing, he will grant it, and, anyhow, when we come together we may unite in particular and personal supplications. I do not doubt that many a life has been spared in answer to united prayer, that many a soul that has been, as it were, spirit-burdened, has obtained gracious liberty through the prayers of the brethren. It were well if we often put up our prayers for one another, remembering those who are in bonds as being bound with them. Observe here, then, another valuable use of the Christian prayer-meeting.

Further on, in the next chapter, we find a prayer-meeting suggesting missionary operations. Whilst the servants of God were met together-see the second verse of the thirteenth chapter-fasting and in prayer, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them,” and when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

We sit down, and we begin to figure away the expense of such-and-such a form of Christian service, and we think that would be a good plan, and the other, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth-all pieces of human machinery. But I think if we were oftener on our knees about God’s work, we should oftener do right, and the right methods, and the right men, and the right plans would come to us. Christ is the head of the Church-and who thinks so much about the Church as the head of the Church? And while we wait upon him I do not doubt but what fresh plans and fresh schemes will be marked out, and that different kinds of men will be called to the work as distinctly as if angels had touched their lips with a live coal from off the burning altar, and who may be “separated” to teach the Word where, perhaps, it has never reached before. England needs many who shall shake her and waken her out of her sleep. She needs a new race of Whit-fields and of Wesleys, of men who are before their age only because they are more suited to its culture. She needs some Boanerges, who shall thunder out the Word, some men who shall be like lightning in carrying out their holy mission. She needs men who will preach the truth, and tell it to her poor men, ay, and to her rich men, too, and if ever we are to get these, it must be in answer to prayer. Oh! that we would but pray for such men, and, having got them, pray that God would make them full of himself, for they cannot run over with blessings to others, until they are full of blessing themselves. We should understand what the prayer-meeting is, if we did this. I look forward to to-morrow for a blessing of this kind. There may be sitting here now some young man to whom China may be under obligation, or of whom Hindustan shall be glad. I do not know who it may be, but there may be one here who shall yet bring up diamonds from the very depths, and who shall be inspired to do so in answer to our prayers.

Once more, I will remind you of a prayer-meeting which perhaps, you have forgotten, but which is recorded in the sixteenth chapter of the Acts. What was the first Christian service that was held in Europe? Do you know? Why, it was a prayer-meeting. The very first service was not an Episcopal ordination, nor even the preaching of a sermon, for Paul went to the place where prayer was wont to be made by the river-side, and there he met with Lydia, and preached to her, and her heart was so opened that she received the truth. So, then, a prayer-meeting became in Europe the first foothold of the gospel. Europeans, you ought never to forget, disown, or think lightly of prayer-meetings. How you ought to value them. Very often, I do not doubt, in a Christian enterprise, the first foothold that a cause gets is the prayer-meeting. You, brethren, some of you live in some of the dark parts of this city, and you would like to see a cause for Christ there. Well, begin with a prayer-meeting, just as Paul did. Or you live in a small village, perhaps, where there is no church with whom you can worship. Well then, hold a prayer-meeting. This costs you nothing; this will enrich you; this will serve for a beginning, and although you may not be content with that as the only service on the Sabbath after some little time, yet begin with it. This, then, is the missionary’s lever; he begins with the prayer-meeting.

Thus have I, as briefly as I could, gone through the early history of prayer-meetings, and shown you the extreme value of such to the Church of God. And now, secondly, and very briefly indeed:-

What are the uses of the prayer-meeting?

The prayer-meeting is useful to us in itself, and also very useful from the answer which its gets, and bring to us from God.

It is a very useful thing for Christians to pray with each other, even apart from the answer. God has made our piety to be a thing which shall be personal, but yet he looks for family piety. Happy is the household where the altar burns day and night with the sweet perfume of family worship! He also gives us more extended views, and makes us feel that all the saints are our brethren and sisters, and that, therefore, our meetings as Christian families, and as Christian Churches in the prayer-meeting, become the exponents and natural outgrowth of social godliness. We sing together and pray together, and thus our Christian brotherhood is manifested to the world, and is the more enjoyed by ourselves.

The prayer-meeting serves this purposes, and sometimes it also generates devotion. Some of the brethren may be very dull and heavy, but others who are at that time in a lively state of mind may stimulate and excite them. I must confess very often to deriving much fire from some of our brethren who pray here on Monday evenings, when God gives them grace really to pray. When you have been busy all the day, and are not able to shake off the cares of business, you get warmed up by getting near to each other in your prayers. And, more than that, the united fires being placed together on the hearth, the fire-brands are made to burn with greater power. There is a kind of divine furore comes upon us sometimes at the prayer-meeting. I recollect in one of our meetings for fasting and prayer, the intense excitement there was, not fleshly, but deeply spiritual. How we felt ourselves bowed down at one time, and then lifted up again at another. I have sometimes sat side by side with a brother who has said, “Can you bear this much longer? I feel it is too much for my physical frame.” Oh! the calm delight which springs from close communion with the invisible God! Such days as I have sometimes had have laid me prostrate all the next day from very joy, from very excess of delight. Oh! this is good for us! This is good for you! Even though the outward man decay, yet shall not the inward man, but be renewed from day to day. Oh! it is a grand thing thus to be made fit again, with joints all oiled, and muscles all braced, and nerves all strung, for the battle of life. United prayer, then, serves this purpose, and therefore is it valuable.

But, again, united prayer is useful inasmuch as God has promised extraordinary and peculiar blessings in connection with it “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” God asks agreement, and, once the saints agree, he pledges himself that the prayer of his agreeing ones shall be answered. Why, see what accumulated force there is in prayer, when one after another pours out his vehement desires; when many seem to be tugging at the rope; when many seem to be knocking at mercy’s gate; when the mighty cries of many burning hearts come up to heaven. When, my beloved, you go and shake the very gates thereof with the powerful battering-ram of a holy vehemence, and a sacred importunity, then is it that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. When first one, and then another, and yet another, throws his whole soul into the prayer, the kingdom of heaven is conquered and the victory becomes great indeed.

As I was sitting a little while and thinking over this text, I thought of the accummulated love of God which there is in a prayer-meeting, because God loves every one of his children. Very well, then there is so much love for one, and here is another, and there is so much love for him, and then, if God’s love to one of his people is a reason for answering his requests, if there be ten present, there is ten times the reason; and if there be a thousand such then surely there must be a thousandfold force of love to move our Heavenly Father to grant the accumulated desires of the assembly.

The prayer-meeting is an institution which ought to be very precious to us, and to be cherished very much by us as a Church, for to it we owe everything. When our comparatively little chapel was all but empty, was it not a well-known fact that the prayer-meeting was always full? And when the Church increased, and the place was scarce large enough, it was the prayer-meeting that did it all. When we went to Exeter Hall, we were a praying people, indeed; and when we entered on the larger speculation, as it seemed, of the Surrey Music-hall, what cries and tears went up to heaven for our success! And so it has been ever since. It is in the spirit of prayer that our strength lies; and if we lose this, the locks will be shorn from Samson, and the Church of God will become weak as water, and though we, as Samson did, go and try to shake ourselves as at other times, we shall hear the cry, “The Philistines be upon thee,” and our eyes will be put out, and our glory will depart, unless we continue mighty and earnest in prayer. But now, once again, let us ask:-

What are the hindrances to the prayer-meeting?

Now listen, for perhaps some of you will hear something about yourselves. What are the hindrances to the prayer-meeting? There are some hindrances before the people come. Unholiness hinders prayer. A man cannot walk contrary to God, and then expect to have his prayers heard. “If ye abide in my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.” There is a promise made to those keeping the commands. Such shall have power with God; but, on the other hand, inconsistent Christians shall not be answered.

Discord always spoils prayer. When believers do not agree, and are picking holes in each other’s coats, they do not really love one another, and then their prayers cannot succeed. Discord spoils prayer, and so also does hypocrisy: for hypocrites will creep in: you cannot help it, and the more a church flourishes, the more, I believe, do hypocrites get in, just as you see many a noxious creeping thing come and get into a garden after a shower of rain. The very things that make glad the flowers bring out these noxious things, and so hypocrites get in and steal much of the Church’s sap away, and help spoil the prayer-meeting. Now, which among you does this belong to? I am not reflecting upon any person in particular, but God knows why some of you do not ever come to the prayer-meeting. Some of you, I know, have business that really prevents your coming, and others have service for him that keeps them away; but surely some of our friends who have no other imperative engagement or duty do constantly keep away from the prayer-meeting. I only wish that their consciences were even half-awake, for I am sure it would make them smart for neglecting this duty. I would that they would feel ashamed that they have missed this very great privilege, for had they come with us they might have drawn near to God and been healed of their pretences.

But there are some things which hinder the prayer-meeting when we are at it. One is long prayers. It it dreadful to hear a brother pray us into a good frame, and then, by his long prayer, pray us out of it again. You remember what John Macdonald once said, “When I am in a bad frame I always pray short, because my prayer will not be of any use, and when I am in a good frame I pray short, because if other people are in a good frame too, I might, if I kept on longer, pray them into a bad frame.” Long prayers, then, spoil prayer-meetings, for long prayers and true devotion in our public assemblies seem pretty much to be divorced from one another. And prayer-meetings are also hindered when those who get up to pray do not pray, but preach a little sermon, and tell the Lord all about themselves, though he knows their case better than they do, instead of asking at once for what they want. Prayer-meetings are often hindered by a want of directness, and by beating about the bush. I did admire a prayer I heard last Monday night, in which a brother said, “Lord, the orphanage wants £3,000; be pleased to send it.” That was a straightforward application. Another brother would have said, “Lord, we have great difficulties in our work; do thou be pleased to help us”; but this brother just stated the case, and I think he believed that God would hear him. Another way never to grow weary in prayer is to do as a good Scotsman said he did. He said, “I never go to God unless I have business to do with him, unless there is something I want to praise for, to confess, or to seek at his hands.” We must come not merely with well-rounded and polished periods, but really to pray, and really to praise, and really to confess and seek cleansing; and if we do this, the prayer-meeting shall not disappoint us.

Prayer-meetings are sometimes hindered by a want of real earnestness in those who pray, and in those who pray in silence. Ah! brothers and sisters, one warm, hearty prayer is worth a score of those packed in ice. I fear me that much of our prayer is lost because we do not sufficiently throw our hearts into it. It is possible for us to attend the meeting and all the while be thinking of the home, the infant in the cradle, or the shop, the field, the farm, the factory, the counting-house, the ledger, and I know not what beside. Is it any wonder then that prayer halts? The brother who prays may be burning with earnest desire, but his prayer lags because we are not backing it with silent fervour and passionate longing for God’s blessing. Oh! brethren and sisters, we have often spoiled our prayer-meetings thus. We have each, I fear, in our turn done something towards it; let us pray that we may never again so transgress.

But the prayer-meeting may also be spoiled after we have been to it. “How so?” say you. Why, by our asking a blessing, and then not expecting to receive it. God has promised that he will do to us according to our faith, but if our faith is nothing, then the answer will also be nothing. Inconsistency, too, in not practically carrying out your desires will also spoil the prayer-meeting. If you ask God to convert souls, but you will not do anything for those souls; if you ask God to save your children, but you will not talk to them about their salvation; if you ask God to save your neighbours, and you do not distribute tracts amongst them, nor do anything else for them, are you not altogether a hypocrite? You pray for what you do not put out your hand to get. You pray for fruit, but you will not put out your hand to pluck it, and all this spoils the prayer-meeting. Earnest prayer, however, is always to be followed up by persevering efforts, and then the result will be great indeed. But for a moment will I occupy your time upon the next point, and then we have done. It is this:-

What should be the great object of the prayer-meeting, and that for which we should seek the answer?

First, it must be the glory of God, or else the petition is not sufficiently put up. How much of the Lord’s Prayer consists in prayers for God, rather than for ourselves! “Hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth”; and then comes, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Do we not often begin by asking for the bread, and leave the glory of God to be put into a corner? Pray that King Jesus may have his own. Pray that the crown-royal may be set upon that dear head, that once was girt with thorns. Pray that the thrones of the heathen may totter from their pedestals, and that Jesus may be acknowledged King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is to be the grand object of our prayer. You recollect how David put it, “Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” For the coming of Christ in power, for the extension of his kingdom, for the downfall of error, for the end of the times of darkness, for the ingathering of the Jews and the Gentiles-for all these things let us pray, in order that God may be glorified, and on that account alone.

And then, in subservience to that, let us pray for a blessing on the Church. We ought to exercise a little of our love for one another in praying for our fellow-members. Pray for the minister, for he needs it most; his necessities in that direction are the greatest, and therefore let him ever be remembered. Pray for the church-officers: pray for the workers in all organisations: pray for the sufferers: prayer for the strong, for the weak, for the rich, for the poor, for the trembling, for the sick, for the backsliding, for the sinful. Yes, for every part of the one great body of Jesus let our supplications perpetually ascend. Let our prayers be continual that the holy oil of which we read may run down from the head even to the skirts of the garment.

Then we should also pray for the conversion of the ungodly. Oh! this ought to be like a burden on our hearts; this ought to be prayed out of the lowest depths of a soul that is all aglow with sympathy for them. They are dying; they are dying; they are dying without hope. I stood yesterday at the grave’s brink at the funeral of one of our brethren, an elder of the church. The place that knew him once will know him no more, and someone else now occupies the seat where he formerly sat. It was a great joy to know that he had rested on the rock so long, and that he had now entered into the rest which Jesus had promised him; but oh! to stand by those who die without hope is grim work; this is to sorrow without alleviation, to mourn without any sweet reflection to wipe away the tears. Oh! my hearers, will you die in your sins? Will you live in your sins, for if you live in them you will die in them. My hearers, will you die without a Saviour? Will you live without a Saviour? For if you live without him, you will assuredly die without him. It is of no use my preaching to the people, my dear Christian brethren, unless you pray for them. It is of no use holding special services for the quickening of the spiritually dead unless the Holy Spirit be brought into the field by our prayers. It may be that you who pray have more to do with the blessed results than we who preach. I think I have told you of the old monkish story of the monk who had been very successful in his preaching, but a message came from heaven to him that it would not have been so if it had not been for the prayers of an old deaf brother monk, who sat upon the pulpit stairs and pleaded with God for the conversion of the hearers. It may be so. We may appear to the eyes of men to have the credit of success, but all the while the real honour may belong to someone else, and I do certainly myself always ascribe the conversions wrought in this house to the prayers of God’s people. Let it always be so ascribed, and let God have the whole glory of it. But do pray for conversions. Never give up your unconverted wife, husband! Never cease to pray for your unconverted children. Never let the devil tempt you to be dumb concerning your ungodly neighbours, but day and night, in the house and by the way, lift up your hearts to God in real prayer, and say to him, “Oh! that Ishmael might live before thee!” He has given us his pledge that he will answer: believe it, and you shall see it, and you shall have the joy of it whilst his shall be the glory. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

ACTS 4:8-33

Peter and John were summoned before the priests to give an account for having healed the lame man, and for having preached in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In the eighth verse we read:-

Verses 8-12. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole: Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Nothing can exceed the directness, the comprehensiveness, and the boldness of this statement. He not only declares the name of Christ to be the wonder-working name, but he charges them with his murder, re-asserts the resurrection; nay, further, he cuts at the root of all their ceremonial righteousness, and declares that they must be saved by this hated and despised name, or else perish for ever. Under all circumstances, let the servant of God behave himself boldly. Let him remember that this is how he ought always to speak, and that when the honour of his Master and the welfare of souls are concerned, it is not for him to withhold, but to speak out the truth.

13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Where else could such holy courage have been learned? They spake in their measure just as the great Master did, of whom it is written: “He spake as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.” They did not speak with the timid, hesitating manner of a preacher who seems to hold the balance of probabilities between the right and the wrong, the false and the true, but with the demonstration of a hearty conviction of the truth of the principles which they uttered. So Christ spake, and, having learned of him, so spake his disciples.

14. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Converts shut the mouths of adversaries. The good done by the gospel will always be a dumb-foundering argument to the ungodly.

15-20. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem: and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Like the vessel full of new wine, which must have vent or burst, so is the man who is filled with the knowledge of Jesus. He must speak. He must:-

“Tell to others round,

What a dear Saviour he has found.”

It is no matter of choice with him, for, as Paul says, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.” As the old prophet hath it, “The word of the Lord was as fire in my bones,” and if it be the true word of God, it will soon burn its way out.

21-22. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

Therefore, it was the more remarkable; forty years lame, and yet healed! But how great is the grace displayed in the salvation of an aged sinner-forty years dead in trespasses and in sins-fifty, sixty, seventy, or even eighty years, a faithful servant of the black tyrant, and yet made to follow the new and better Master! What a triumph of grace is that which snatches the sere brand out of the burning when it is so fitted for the fire!

23. And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

You can always tell a man by his company. Had these people been ungodly, they would have done as the ungodly do when they come out of prison: they would have gone off to their old pot-companions. But they are believers, and they go to their own company.

24-28. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

How strangely this doctrine of predestination comes in just there! They are singing of the wickedness of men, and the triumph which God gets over it; and so this is the very sum and substance of the song, that when wicked men think that God’s decrees will be for ever put away by the destruction of his Son, they themselves are then actually doing what God had “determined before to be done.” The wildest discord makes harmony in the ear of God. Man may be in rebellion against the Most High, but he is still abjectly the slave of God’s predestination, and let man sin with his free will, even to the very extremest length of folly, yet even then God hath a bit in his mouth and a bridle upon his jaws, and knows how to rule and govern him according to his own good pleasure. The ferocity of kings and priests doth but fulfil the counsel of God.

29-33. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word. By stretching forth thine hand to heal: and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.