LivePrayerSermon 797. Spots in Our Feats of Charity
(No. 797)
Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, February 23, 1868, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear."Jude 1:12.
WHEN the Church of God is extending her bounds rapidly, it is of the utmost importance that the growth should be real andpermanent. If the walls of Zion are being built quickly, the master builders should keep an anxious eye upon the workmanshiplest the stones should be put together with untempered mortar and the whole erection should, by-and-by, come to the ground.We desire not to grow up in a night, as the gourd, lest we also perish in a night. Our Lord Jesus, who is the great Shepherdof the sheep, sends to His Churches, at times when they are most prospering, sad reminders of human frailty by which He warnsthem to, "take heed that they be not deceived; but see to it that they make sure work, and build substantially, with gold,silver, and precious stones, and not with wood, and hay, and stubble."
It is a very doleful season for the Church of God when everything is asleep, but there are dangers connected even with activity.When a man is under the intense excitement of earnest endeavor for Christ, it is possible that much within him may be spurious-amere fungus growth forced out by heat-and hence it is deeply necessary, as Jude says, to write unto the saints and to speakunto Believers concerning this thing, that they be sound, true, real, sincere and approved in the sight of God. Jude tellsus in the text, and indeed in his whole Epistle, that many who make a high profession are not what they profess to be, andthat in the Church of God, in her best estate, many are clouds without rain, trees without fruit and wandering stars reservedfor eternal darkness.
I. To come to the text at once, we have to remark from it that WE MUST EXPECT TO FIND UNGODLY MEN IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.They ought not to be there-the Church is bound to use her most earnest endeavors to keep them out-and, being in and beingdiscovered, she should not be slow to cast them forth. She should put away wicked members and endeavor to preserve her purity!But for all that there will never be a perfect Church this side of the grave. They are without fault in the Canaan above,but a mixed multitude always will be mingled with the tribes of Israel while we are in this wilderness.
We may look for this, in the first place, because it has always been so. If even in the Paradise of God among perfect beings,sin intruded, how much more in our imperfect assemblies Where every man's heart is naturally deceitful? The very first humanfamily had a Cain in it who, on the day of solemn sacrifice, came to God's altar although he was of that Wicked One, and slewhis brother. When, after a solemn judgment, the earth had been purged, and a little Church of only eight members was gatheredin the ark, there was among them one of whom the Patriarch said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be." Hamwas in the ark an ungodly reprobate, though surrounded by saints!
When the Lord had been pleased, according to the election of Divine Grace, to take Abraham from among mankind and set apartboth him and his household, we read of Ishmael who mocked Isaac. In Isaac's family we hear of profane Esau. However few maybe the chosen, there is sure to be some connected with them who are with them, but not of them. The people who were eminentlytypical of the Church of Christ, I mean Israel in the wilderness, were polluted in the same manner-no matter how strict mightbe its regulations, and how earnest might be its leader-yet the rebellious murmured, the mixed multitude fell a lusting, andKorah, Dathan and Abiram were a root of bitterness. I need not take you through all the history of the Lord's people downto the coming of Christ, but wherever you may put your finger you will be certain to discover the tares mingling with thewheat, and the serpent's seed nestling in the bosom of the elect household.
As for the days since the coming of our Master, this fact is painfully conspicuous! Our Lord had but 12 disciples who werenear to Him, and yet He said, "I have chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil." The name of Judas will go down to eternitystamped with the curse, "It were better for that man that he had never been born." Afterwards, when Jesus hadascended and the Spirit of God had been given-when the Church had all things in common and was in her first love- yet we readof Ananias and Sapphira who hypocritically pretended to have given their substance when they had kept back much of it-andupon them the stern voice of Peter pronounced sentence of immediate death. So early were the liar and the hypocrite foundwithin the gates of Zion that pristine purity could not utterly exclude the unworthy.
Look again at the Church in Samaria. The preaching of Philip had stirred the city, and a pretender to magic who had deludedthe people professed to become, himself, a Believer. He believed, it is said, and was baptized-but his heart was not rightin the sight of God-his faith was not the faith of God's elect. How solemn were the words of Peter to him, "You have neitherpart nor lot in this matter...For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity!" The execrablename of Simon Magus is another proof that the Church of Christ, in her most zealous state, cannot expect to be clear of thebasest of men.
Our own observation and the history of any branch of the Lord's Church will go to show the same thing. It is said that theemperor Frederick III once heard a courtier declare that he desired to go to a place where he should find no hypocrites. "Then,"said his majesty, "You had need to go beyond the frozen ocean where there are no men. And if you should reach the place, theremight be one hypocrite there, then." It would be difficult to find any association of persons in which there are no unworthyindividuals. And among those companies which are most select, you may frequently discover the worst of men.
Further, this might be expected to be so because of the many inducements which exist to tempt unscrupulous men to assume theChristian name. Few inducements, I grant you, existed when the stake, the axe, or death in the amphitheater were the onlyreward for following the Lord Jesus! But many inducements are there nowadays-when to be a Christian is to be respected-whenthe Christian profession introduces you into good society, secures you trust and credit in your business, and procures customersfor your shop. When religion is altogether a most comfortable and respectable thing it is no wonder that knaves adopt it.Persecution has not ceased-there are Christians who have to endure much of it- but, on the other hand, many make a good thingof their profession, and some cunning rogues have proved that they could not have adopted a better trick for succeeding inlife than taking up the garb of piety.
Do you wonder, therefore, if persons should be found who thrust themselves upon sacred ground and brave all consequences offuture punishment? See yonder eagle how it mounts. Does it care for the ethereal blue, or aspire to commune with the starsof Heaven? Not a whit-such airy considerations have no weight with the ravenous bird! And yet you will not wonder that itsoars aloft when you remember that it thus obtains a broader range of vision, and so becomes the more able to provide forits nest. It mounts towards Heaven but it keeps its eye evermore upon the outlook for its prey. No celestial impulse is needed,its love of blood suffices to bear it aloft. It soars only that it may flash downwards with fell swoop upon the object ofits desires.
Wonder not that men with the hearts of devils yet mount like angels-there is a reason which explains it all! That wild asswould not bray if there were no fodder. Men would be less in a hurry to avow their pretended faith if there were no advantagesto be gained! The rower in the boat sits with his back to the shore but is all the while pulling towards it. Many tug theoar towards the world which they pretend to have renounced. How many are like that famous painting of the olden time in whichthe artist depicted what seemed at a distance a holy friar with his hands crossed in devotion, and a book before him, lookinglike a saint, indeed-but when you came close to the venerable impostor, you found that his hands, though clasped, encloseda lemon-and instead of a book, there was a punch bowl into which he was squeezing the juice! Many an inn has an angel on thesign and a devil for the landlord! Fair without is often foul within. To seem to be answers men's purposes so well that itis little marvel if pretenders swarm like the flies in Egypt's plague!
Moreover, Brethren, we might have reckoned that there would be ungracious men mingled with the people of God, since it isclear to every thoughtful man that this must be one of the craftiest designs of Satan. In what way can Satan so seriouslydamage the Church of God as by thrusting unworthy persons into it? While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among thewheat-because the tares would take away the nourishment from the wheat and help to choke it-and prevent it from yielding sorich a harvest. The Greeks, outside the walls of Troy, were unable to storm the city but after a long war they succeeded byusing the stratagem of the wooden horse.
Putting some few Greeks within the hollow monster, they pretended to flee and left the horse to be dragged within the gatesof Troy by the infatuated Trojans. In the dead of night out came these traitor Greeks and opened the gates totheir friends outside. Satan knows right well that one devil in the Church can do far more than a thousand devils outsideher bounds. He understands that all the blasphemers, and atheists, and free-thinkers, and so on that ever assailed the bastionsof the Church of God could not do one tithe as much mischief to her as those who pretend to be followers of the bleeding Lamb,but in secret are crucifying the Lord afresh and putting Him to an open shame. If there are any here of this sort, and I fearthere are, I do beseech you look to yourselves-you are cat's paws for the Evil One, mean tools of the fallen spirit-blushto be so degraded!
How sad to be a miserable skulker in the service of the Prince of Darkness! Better, surely, if honor is what you seek, tofight for Satan openly and avowedly-wearing the black plume and the diabolical uniform-than to be a base, cowardly assassin,sneaking into the ranks of the godly to stab them in the dark. None but pirates sail under false colors and the yard-arm isthe best place for them. O you snakes in the grass! You serpents who insinuate yourselves so craftily! How shall you escapethe damnation of Hell? That foul fiend who now employs you upon his secret service laughs in his sleeve as he foresees thetriple bands of flame with which you will be bound forever! O that you could repent and turn from your base and crooked ways,for otherwise your end will be terrible and your doom eternal.
Further, my dear Brothers and Sisters, it is a very sad reflection that we may always expect to find ungodly men in the Churchof God, for numbers come there, at first, through inadvertence. I will excuse many, in some respects, for being found numberedwith God's people though unconverted-I excuse them to some degree-for I believe that they were honest when at first they wereadded to the Church. They were never saved, of course-but they thought they were. Never having had a true sense of sin, theynevertheless experienced some alarms and they set down those alarms for repentance. Although they have never truly believedin the Lord Jesus, they have felt a degree of peace and have come to look upon this treacherous calm as the result of truefaith.
They have never really received a new heart, still, there is a measure of reformation-and they mistake the outward for theinward. They were excited by the earnestness of God's people, and under a thrilling sermon they were made to feel as theyhad not felt before! And straightaway, the wish being father to the thought-they concluded they had passed from death untolife while they still remained dead in trespasses and sin. At first a few fears may have passed their minds, but by degrees,finding these fears uncomfortable, and Satan determining to blind their eyes and sear their consciences as with a hot iron,they at last made no further enquiries, but went straightaway onward to ruin with their eyes closed- believing that they wereon the road to Glory.
It is said that a certain player had acted the part of Richard III so admirably, and had thrown his whole soul into it sothoroughly that he imbibed the idea that he was actually a king. He became so extravagant in his living, and withal so haughtyin his behavior that he brought himself first to contempt, and next to beggary. Doubtless there are many who at first weremere actors who at last have grown into the conceit that the part which they have merely acted is a reality, and so they havecontinued to strut with all the pride of Pharisees till God has plucked the mask from off their wicked faces, and set themup to be butts for the arrows of eternal contempt. Oh, beware lest that should be our lot, lest, inadvertently to ourselvesat the first, being mistaken, we should at last become miserable dupes and deceivers of others!
We might naturally expect to find hypocrites, formalists, and unconverted persons in the Church of God because human natureis bad enough for anything and everything. If there is an evil which is detestable beyond all others-for that very reasonwill men run to it. Nothing can be more mean than hypocrisy, nothing more base than to assume a character which is not properlyyour own, nothing more horrible than apostasy from plighted vows and promises! But for that very reason, he who knows theheart of man to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked might expect to find men rioting in such evil. Thereis no water so deep but fish will swim in it! There is no pond so foul but frogs will live in it! There is no mire so filthybut swine will wallow in it and no sin so damnable but man will commit it! Men will even seek out ways and means of makingthemselves more and more proficient in the most evil of vices, each one being with his fellow.
The world is getting mightily accomplished in falsehood and has learned to deceive in the most dexterous manner- and whileprofessors of the art of hypocrisy are so numerous-there is no hope of the trade dying out. I expect to see great offenders,for I am told by Inspired penmen that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse. I expect as the ages roll on to seegood men grow better, and bad men grow viler-for each age is in advance of its predecessor. If in these last ages there shouldarise monsters of iniquity exceeding Nero and Caligula in infamy, we must not be astonished,for long practice of sin makes men proficient therein. The earth is ripening, and men's characters are rotting to the uttermostdegree of corruption. This is the age of villainy, the chosen era of shams, lies, and hypocrisies-and we must expect to seemore and more of the boiling over of the sink of iniquity which lies in human nature.
Be not startled, if in these last days there should be seen whole herds of wolves in sheep's clothing-deceivers and defamersof the Church-for even so have we been warned by the voice of God.
II. In the second place, UNGODLY MEN DO SERIOUS MISCHIEF IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. We are told inthe text that they are spots in our agape, or feasts of love. It is a solemn reflection that they defile the Church beforeGod-they are spots upon her face-they mar her beauty in the eyes of her heavenly Friend. When the Lord looks upon His Churchin Christ, of course she is always fair, but when He looks upon her in herself, the defilements which came upon her throughthe ungodly provoke Him and He is led to send chastisements upon her and, for awhile, to withdraw the converting power ofHis Spirit and the comforting power of His promises.
Dear Friends, we can little tell how much of evil may be brought upon any community by wicked persons in the midst of it.And we little know how much good may be kept back from the general body of the Church of God by those ungodly professors whoare living in uncleanness and yet pretend to have fellowship with God. They are spots upon the Church's sacrifice. Accordingto the Jewish law, no beast could be offered to God which was blemished. What an awful thing it is when a wicked man becomesa Church member, and in public, as he prays in the name of the Church, offers to God an unclean hypocritical prayer! Whata filthy prayer that must be which comes from the lips of the man who is the slave of vice and yet dares stand up in the publicsanctuary to lead the devotions of others!
Can God bear such infamy? Must not the whole service be polluted thereby? Such a man at the Lord's Table? How he profanesthe sacred feast! Such a man preaching, for there have been many such! How he dishonors the name of minister! Such a man passinground the sacramental cup! What despite to the precious blood! Why, I wonder, when I think of it, that such solemn feasts-sincethey have been so far as such persons were concerned, deliberate mockeries-have not brought down the thunderbolts of God uponthose who were engaged in them! It is an awful thing to have such loathsome sacrifices laid upon our altar in our name-truly,we knew not of the offenders' guilt-our sin was therefore a sin of ignorance. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
When Joshua led his troops to Ai they were defeated-not for lack of courage, nor for want of wit, nor for lack of armed menfor the fight-they were put to the rout before their adversaries for no other reason than because Achan was in the camp andhad hidden in his tent the goodly Babylonian garment and the wedge of gold. Think me not severe if I speak with indignationof any who have turned aside unto crooked paths after standing high among the Lord's people- from my soul I pity such, I bewailthem in my inmost heart-but yet for Christ's sake, and His people's sake, I feel towards them concerning their iniquity asJoshua did when he spared not the sentence, but adjudged the offender to his doom. Even though confession was made, yet everytrue-hearted Israelite cast a stone at the man who had made Israel naked before her enemies, saying, "Why have you troubledus? The Lord shall trouble you this day."
The Church must be purified and cleansed, for our Lord's fan is in His hands and He will thoroughly purge His floor. He whowinks at sin becomes a partaker in it. God would have us put away the unclean thing from the midst of us, lest we be utterlypolluted and become an abomination in His sight. O you professors who are not living as you should live, you who are practicingsecret sin, you members of the Church who, unknown to us, are wallowing in evil, I do beseech you go forth from among us ofyour own accord before the Lord launches out His plagues upon you! Get away from us lest double judgment fall upon you!
As for us, when your case is clear, we dare not excuse you! We hate even the garment spotted with the flesh, and much morethose filthy dreamers who wrap their lusts about them as a robe. If you have any reason left, you will surely prefer, if lostat all, to perish without incurring the double vengeance which awaits deceivers. Repent and forsake your iniquities that yoursins may be blotted out! But if you will not do this, at least cease to dishonor the Church of God by your false professions.
Furthermore, the ungodly in the Christian Church do her mischief in the next respect because they defile her in the eyes ofthe world, "These are spots in your feasts of charity." They defile the Christian Church in the judgment of onlookers. Theworld is always glad to find a stick to beat the Church with. It so thoroughly hates professors of godliness that it onlywants a chance to spring upon them as a lion upon his prey. So soon as one professor goes aside, men say,"Ah, just so! That is one herring out of the barrel-they are all alike." And yet if a man gets a bad shilling he does notconclude that all shillings are bad! Men know that the existence of hypocrites does not prove that all Christians are such.They frequently say so, but they know better! You need not be in any hurry to answer them-they know that they lie in theirthroats when they declare all Christians to be deceivers-for they must know that there are hundreds who are not such-whoselives are pure and holy-and in every way according to their professions.
They know that if they were to treat any body of men in the same way as they treat the Church, they could not stand the test.Have there been no thieves in the House of Commons? Are the members of our legislature, therefore, all rogues? Doubtless someof them have no honesty to spare-but are there no honorable men? Was there ever a club in all the world without disreputablepersons in it? Was there ever any association of men that might not be condemned, if the fool's rule was followed, of condemningthe wheat because of the chaff? When with all our might and power we purge ourselves of deceivers as soon as we detect them,what more can we do? If our rule and practice is to separate the unholy so soon as we unmask them, what more can virtue itselfdesire?
I ask any man, however much he may hate Christianity, what more can the Church do than watch her members with all diligenceand excommunicate the wicked when discovered? It is a foul piece of meanness on the part of the world that they should allegethe faults of a few false professors against the whole Church-it is a piece of miserable meanness of which the world oughtto be ashamed! Nevertheless, so it is, "Ha! Ha!" they say, "So would we have it! So would we have it!" The daughter of Philistiarejoices and the uncircumcised triumphs when Jesus is betrayed by His friend and sold by His traitorous disciple. O deceitfulprofessor, will not the Lord be avenged upon you for this? Is it nothing to make Jesus' name the drunkard's song? Nothingto make the enemy blaspheme? O hardened man, tremble, for this shall not go unpunished!
I must add here that this defilement falls upon ourselves, too. We cannot mix with deceitful and wicked men without feelingconscious that we have been in contact with pitch and have been defiled thereby. Who sits with a leper without danger of contagion?To talk over the sin of a false professor is injurious to the mind. We cannot deal with the sin of a Brother, even in theway of discipline, without a degree of evil to our own hearts. I believe the reading of newspaper reports of criminal trialsis as instructive a school for iniquity as any the devil himself could have invented-and to go into details with the personbefore your eyes is even more so. When we read or hear of sin, whether we are conscious or not of the effect, there is alwaysa defilement left upon the mind. The Church of God, being conscious of the contagion which a sinner leaves in the camp, shoulddaily sanctify herself.
Let us proclaim a daily repentance for the unknown sin among us. We are all as one body as soon as we join the Christian Church,and in some sense the sin of one is the common fault of the whole. Leaven in one chamber is leaven in the house. The plaguein one house is the plague in the city. We must not say, "Oh, I cannot help the fault of such a one." He is one with us! Wemust all be humbled before God when there is anything wrong in the case of anyone, for he is one of the family. Was he nota member of the same body? Is not the whole body concerned in the sickness or sin of the meanest member? There should be adaily walking near to God, a daily seeking of mercy, a daily humbling, a daily coming to the precious blood of Jesus for restoringGrace so the defilement may be removed and the spots in our feasts of charity may be purged.
III. I come, thirdly, to a very important point. THE UNGODLY IN THE CHURCH OF GOD ARE GENERALLY
VERY MUCH AT THEIR EASE THERE. This head, I trust, may greatly comfort some who are afraid of sin by showing them that theyare not hypocrites, "Feeding themselves without fear." These men have no right to come to the love feasts, have no businesswhatever in the communion of God's people-but there they are-without the slightest fear. They have no fear as to whether theyare saved or not. They do not trouble their heads to examine-they take it for granted. They say, "Oh well, we are as goodas other people!" and so they carelessly dismiss all self-examination. They have no fear about the present-they take all forgranted and let well enough alone. If accused of sin, they stand up and deny it, lying in the face of God's people withoutthe slightest blush.
They have no fear concerning the future, although running themselves into present difficulty and insuring to themselves eternaldamnation. They have no bands, either, in life or death. They are unconscious of fear. They look the happiest of people, wearinga perennial smile and looking the image of peace. I have seen the genuine child of God afraid lest he should not be trulyregenerate, trembling and alarmed, conscious of his present imperfections, bemoaning them,often trembling because of temptations in the future and afraid lest he might fall. He may be fearful of death and alarmedlest, after all, he should be a castaway. Yet this trembler has been the genuine coin of God's realm about whom none wereanxious but himself-while the base counterfeit has said, "Oh yes! I believe, I know I do. I am sure I am saved," while inhis private life he is going from bad to worse, plunging himself into the sloughs of sin.
My dear Friends, seek after full assurance of faith, but do, do, do abhor anything like presumption. If your lives are notwhat they ought to be, I beseech you do not be too confident! "By their fruits you shall know them." If there are any of youliving in sin, I do not care what doctrines you have received, or what experience you may boast-I am afraid for you if youare not afraid for yourselves! I entreat you, do not lull your souls into peace while your lives are ungodly, for it willbe, "Peace, peace, where there is no peace." You cannot be perfect, I grant, and salvation is not by works, but by DivineGrace-but at the same time, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap."
Do I cut any of you sharply? I mean to! I only wish I could cut deeper, but my fear is that those who are the best will feelit the most. I know they will, and those who need it most will say, "I am glad the preacher is faithful, but his censuresdo not apply to me." Remember Cowper's words-"He that never doubted of his state, He may perhaps he may too late." Needless and Too-Bold fell into the ditch. He who istoo sure with a carnal security that is not based upon the promise nor rested upon Christ will, sooner or later, find himselfcompelled to make his bed in Hell. I do wonder, when I look at the text, that these people should feed themselves withoutfear at the feasts of charity. I suppose this may allude to the love feasts, but also to the Lord's Supper. How an ungodlyman can drink the wine which typifies the blood of Christ when he is all the while crucifying Christ, I cannot understand.I cannot comprehend how he can break bread at the Lord's Table when he is spending his life with harlots, or gaining moneyby dishonesty.
But sin is an incomprehensible thing. Oh, the depths of human sin! My dear Friends, if any of you are exhibiting this hardnessof heart, pray God that you may be forgiven! But I almost fear you never will, for if there is a sin unto death, surely itmust be such a sin as this-when a man can come to the solemn feasts of God's House without fear-while he knows that his heartis rotten, and, as Bunyan says, only fit to be tinder for the devil's tinderbox.
I shall leave that point when I have read to you from "Pilgrim's Progress" a passage which struck me yesterday as portrayingthe deceiver's doom. "Now, when they had passed by a little way, they entered into a very dark lane where they met a man whomseven devils had bound with seven strong cords, and were carrying him back to the door that they saw in the side of the hill.Now good Christian began to tremble, and so did Hopeful, his companion, yet, as the devils led away the man, Christian lookedto see if he knew him, and he thought it might be one Turn-Away that dwelt in the town of Apostasy. But he did not perfectlysee his face, for he did hang his head like a thief that is found. But being gone past, Hopeful looked after him, and espiedon his back a paper with this inscription, 'WANTON PROFESSOR ANDDAMNABLE APOSTATE.' "
God grant that paper may never be put upon our backs, but by preserving Grace may we be preserved to the last.
IV. I shall now conclude with the fourth point by asking this question-since it is clear that ungodly men are suffered totarry for awhile in the Church of God, WHAT IS GOD'S INTENTION THEREIN? What is the lesson which He hereby delivers to youand to me this morning? That is our principal business-we have little to do with others-our business is with ourselves.
The first lesson is this-God reminds every one of us of what we might have been but for His distinguishing Grace. Judas sellsChrist, and his only reward is a halter to hang himself with. Why might not I have been Judas? Ananias dies with a lie inhis throat-why might not I have been that unhappy man? Ask that question, Christian! Is there any bitterness in your heartbeyond the heart of Judas? Are you better than Ananias by nature? Is there any goodness in your constitution which would havekept you from their sin had you been left as they were? Judas was an Apostle, mark you- a preacher, a miracle-worker-he dippedhis hand with Jesus in the dish, and yet he sold Him-and why not you? Let not Self-Righteousness whisper, "Ah I never couldhave done so." How do you know that? Simon Peter said he never would forsake his Master, but before long, with cursing andoaths, he had denied Him. "Let him that thinks he stands,take heed lest he fall." What another man has done I may do! There are no depths of wickedness into which I might not haveplunged had not preventing Grace stayed my course.
In the second place, the Lord bids us make sure work for eternity. If we know that fair houses have fallen down, let us buildupon a good foundation. If the wind has swept away rotten boughs, let us see to it that we are quickened with the vital sap.If the knife has already removed sundry dead branches, be it our prayer that we may be found fruit-bearing boughs, vitallyunited to Christ. When I think of those whom I have known who have turned aside in years past in my ministry, I feel concernedto say to myself, "have I really repented, or was it all a sham? Am I now resting upon the Rock of Ages, or have I a fictitiousconfidence, a delusive trust? Am I really right with God? Do I love Him? Am I serving Him, or am I, after all, fascinatedby some gigantic imposture which is leading me astray to serve myself?
My Brethren, I beseech you-dig deep for eternity! Either make it sure, or have nothing to do with it. The paint and the tinselare worth nothing! The masquerading and the pageantry of a mere profession will all be scattered to the winds in the greatDay of Wrath. Get gold, not gilt! Get the real metal, not the imitation, lest at the last, when you shall most need comfort,you shall find yourselves drowned in despair! Surely that is God's voice to us. Hear it! Learn its teaching! Practice it thoroughly!
In the next place, should not the departures from the faith of some professors put us on our guard against our own specialtemptations? I do not know how you are, each one of you, employed in life. But I know this-that there is a precipice nearevery man's foot, and a snare in every man's path. You may not fall into the temptation which besets me, and I may never fallinto that which besets you-but there is a lure for every bird, a bait for every fish. I would have you specially take heedof those things in regard to which you have ventured to the very edge. There are some things which are allowable up to a point-bewareof going beyond the point. Yes, and beware of often going close to it, for the temptation is to go a little farther. Edgedtools, long handled, wound at last. Beware of extraordinary temptations! Watch against them!
A child would generally stand on his feet in a gust of wind if he knew it was coming-but when the wind happens to come rounda corner furiously, he may be taken off his feet. Mind you are well ballasted by prayer every morning before your vessel putsout to sea-or carrying the quantity of sail you do-you may be blown over upon the waves to your perpetual shipwreck. Watchconstantly against those things which are thought not to be temptations. The most poisonous serpents are found where the sweetestflowers grow, and when Cleopatra would have an asp to poison herself, it was brought in a basket of fair flowers. Beware ofarrows shot from a golden bow, or by a woman's hand. "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation." I feel as if I couldgo round among you, and take everyone by the hand, and say, "My Brother and my Sister, will you also go away?" Oh, if youwould answer, "No, we will follow the Lamb Wherever He goes," then I would reply in my Master's words, "What I say unto youI say unto all, Watch."
Further-the lessons are many, but I will be brief upon each one-should not this make us pray more for one another? When amember of the Church under my care has sinned, I have asked myself, "Did I always pray for that man?" That is a question foryou, also. Do you know of some Sister in Christ who has dishonored the faith? You have known perhaps the temptation-did youever pray for her-pointedly for her? Did you warn her affectionately of her danger? I am afraid the answer would have to be,"I am afraid I have not." But are we clear of sin in such a case? Are our consciences quite void of offense? Should not allthe mischief in the Christian Church say to us, "Pray for one another, and by all means hold each other up"?
Aid the tempted, remembering yourself also, lest you also be tempted. Whenever the enemy smites down one of the troops theother soldiers should fill up the gap and stand together determined that the foe shall not kill another. Let every difficultythat comes to us only fuse us more completely into one-bring us into more compact squares and firmer battalions-determinedthat the enemy shall not get the advantage over us, after all. Brethren, pray for one another! Your heavenly Father bids youdo so. Whenever any of the ungodly are found in the Church, she should labor with all her might to be avenged on the powersof darkness by filling up the place of the ungodly with those who are really converted.
I have often had my blood boil with sacred indignation within me when I have seen the finger of Satan hindering any of theworks I have undertaken for God. Sometimes I have thought a Church would be established in such a locality, and somethinghas turned up of an evil kind which has put it out of the question. I have vowed in my soul, "Ah, Satan, I willget even with you for that-there shall be two churches somewhere else-you shall not gain an inch by driving me back in myMaster's cause. I will take care that you shall gain nothing of me by all your opposition." Let the ungodly world laugh, andfor its sneers we will smite it under the fifth rib with the sword of the Truth of God. Let the enemy sneer, and for thatwe will discharge more arrows of God's Word! We will pray more vehemently and labor more diligently for the extension of theLord's kingdom. The tactics of war should dictate this. The children of this generation do so-and let them not be wiser thanthe children of light.
Lastly, dear Friends, should not this make us long for Heaven? Whenever you at any time are vexed by hypocrites and apostates,should you not at once sigh for the perfect Church and the sweet fellowship of Heaven where none can fall, and none deceive?-
"O heavenly Jerusalem, Of everlasting hills, Thrice blessed are the people You store in your walls. You are the golden mansion,Where saints forever sing, The seat of God's own chosen, The palace of the King. There God forever sits, Himself of all thecrown; The Lamb the light that shines, And never goes down. Nothing to this seat approaches Their sweet peace to molest; Theysing their God forever, Nor day nor night they rest."
They are without fault before the Throne! There shall be no more curses in the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Throne of God andthe Lamb shall be in it. We shall not suspect a Brother there! We shall not bemoan a failure there! We shall not fear backslidingthere, for the saints are all complete in Jesus-all conformed to the image of their Master-and they shine forth as the sunin the kingdom of their Father.
I have not spoken to you one-half as solemnly as my own heart has felt, but I do commend to you the serious considerationsI have brought under your notice, and ask you in the name of the Lord Jesus who has suffered enough without being made tosuffer in the house of His friends, by His wounds, by His blood, by all His grief and death throes-do not crucify Him afreshand put Him to an open shame-but glorify Him in your lives, your words and acts, and so may the Lord do unto you of His greatmercy. Amen.