LivePrayerSermon 1483. The Present Crisis
(No. 1483)
DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seekMe early."
Hosea 5:15.
THE Lord does not always tell us what He will do. "Verily You are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior."He has told us that "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing" and our Lord Jesus has said, "It is not for you to know thetimes or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power." When He does make known to us what He is about to do, itis not to gratify our curiosity but to direct our conduct. In this case the Lord speaks aloud concerning His intentions. Hehad grown weary with chastening His people and, therefore, He was about to withdraw Himself from them and leave them alone,as a man leaves a hopeless work, or as a judge leaves the bench and gives the prisoner over to condemnation
He says, "I will go and return to My place," as if His waiting time was over and He would no longer remain in their midstto be provoked by their obstinacy. This withdrawal would occasion the non-acceptance of their prayers and offerings, evenas He had said in a former verse, "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall notfind Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them." This He tells them in order that they may be led to implore Him to remain withthem. Or that if He is already gone, they may, by hearty confession of their sin and an immediate seeking of His face, prevailupon Him once more to visit them in His Grace. If God is about to go, then all is going, even hope itself is. The Divine departureis the worst of calamities and, therefore, it is but right that those who are threatened with such a judgment should put theirthoughts together, consider their ways and use the best means to hold Him by the skirts before He has departed, or to bringHim back again before He has effectually closed the door between Him and them. There should be an eager desire to bring theKing back so that once more the heart may sun itself in the light of His favor.
Dear Friends, I shall speak, this morning, with the most anxious desire to be practical. I am longing and praying in my heartthat wherever sin has begun to separate us and God, we may be stirred up to acknowledge our offenses and to seek His face.And that where such a separation has long existed there may arise an intense desire of the whole soul to return from its banishmentand draw near to God. We shall, this morning, use our text, first, in reference to our national troubles, for the words wereoriginally spoken with regard to the national troubles of Israel and Judah. Secondly, we shall use it in reference to ourpersonal trials as Believers. And then, thirdly, in its relation to the personal trials of the unconverted. Instructive lessonsmay be learned here in each of the three cases. May the Holy Spirit speak the Truth of God home to our hearts.
I. And first, with regard to OUR PRESENT NATIONAL TROUBLES. I desire to speak of these things as before God in all sincerityand simplicity. I know it is impossible to touch upon such a subject without being suspected of political bias, but I cantruly declare that from all such partiality I desire to be freed so that I may speak, not as a partisan, but as the servantof the living God. Calmly and solemnly would I speak words of soberness and truth and justice. It is a burden to my heartto speak a hard word of my own beloved country and if I seem to do so it is not in wantonness, but because of a pressure uponmy conscience which will not let me be silent.
Surely no one will deny that our country is passing through a season of great and grievous adversity. We have been perplexedfor many months and even for years with perpetual rumors of wars. For a long time no man knew, when he went to bed at night,but what the journal of the morning would inform him that our nation had plunged into war with at least one of the great powersof Europe. Our policy has been such, whether wise or unwise, that we have been
constantly on the verge of conflict. It is amazing that we have escaped from embroiling ourselves in a long and serious war,for many a time the flames of contention have threatened a general conflagration.
This disquietude, itself, has been a serious injury to the prosperity of our country, for trade and commerce make prosperousvoyages upon the waters ofpeace-but even before those waters are disturbed by the storms of actual war- while only the threatof battle ruffles the surface, they make small headway or are driven back. Commerce is timid as a dove and is fluttered byevery turmoil or whisper of coming trouble. In a thousand ways political agitations stab at the heart of national prosperity!In addition to this we have been actually engaged in two wars at least-wars certainly expensive and questionably expedient.In these two conflicts it is impossible for us to gain honor since they are cases of the mighty assailing the feeble.
Laurels gained from nations so far inferior to us would have been unworthy of a place upon the brow of a brave nation. Wehave invaded one country and then another with no better justification than the law of superior force, or the suspicion offuture danger. Disaster has followed upon the heels of disaster and at the end of it all there are great expenses to be met.Our acts of aggression must be paid for, not only with the blood of our soldiers, but with the sinew and sweat of our workingmen.
Results of industry which ought to have gone to support the arts and promote the comfort and advancement of the race havebeen thrown away in wasteful feats of arms. The food which should have fed our children has been flung into the mouth of thelion, to be devoured by war, that its evil spirit may become yet more ravenous. Willful waste, it is to be feared, will befollowed by woeful need unless God, in His mercy, shall interpose. We have meddled in many things and have threatened at leastthree of the great quarters of the globe either with our fleets or our armies. Nothing could content us till we had drawnthe sword against a brave, though savage people, whose fighting may well be fierce, since it is for their invaded fatherland!
These wars, whatever their issue, are serious calamities. On the back of all this war has come depression in trade. Everywherethere is complaining and not without cause. Even the most cheerful of men who have always been rejoicing when others havelamented, have begun, at last, to look very serious and to admit that the times are threatening. Striving tradesmen wonderwhether they shall be able to "provide things honest in the sight of all men." Many a man now plans and labors but his careand toil earn but a scant reward. All trade is dull and some trade is dead. Some branches of industry are already paralyzedand there is but little prospect of their ever being revived.
The land mourns and men's hearts sink for fear. Matters are not so bad as despondency would paint them, but even hope is unableto draw a cheerful picture. It is a day of darkness and of gloominess-a day of clouds and of thick darkness. As if all thiswere not enough, the heavens refuse to assist the processes of our farmers. For the most part, the hay crop, so necessaryfor the cattle, may be regarded as lost and now great peril is upon the corn. In some places the corn is too backward to havesuffered much at present, but in others the prospects are dark, indeed. It seems certain that a continuance of this constantrain must deprive us of the most precious fruits of the earth.
Farmers are beginning to cry out bitterly and there is a demand that prayer should be offered in all the churches for fairweather. May God be pleased to look upon our land and deliver us in this hour of trouble, for, indeed, it is a time of lossand ruin to thousands! If ever prayer was needed, it is surely at this hour! You who live in London do not know much aboutwhat is happening to the crops and what the eye does not see, the heart does not rue-but to our agricultural friends thisill weather is a matter of most serious consideration-they are suffering very heavily. No one can doubt that the badness oftrade affects the farmer in common with the rest of the community-and now comes the further burden of sunless skies, winterin summer and the clouds returning after the rain.
In the first matter, that of a warlike policy, we may, by God's goodness, make a change. It may be possible that before longbetter principles will come to the front and we may no longer be made to appear as a nation of snarlers and growlers, breathingdefiance and delighting in war. God grant it speedily! But as to the two other matters, what can we do? We are powerless toquicken trade! We are certainly powerless to stay the bottles of Heaven. If God wills it, the clouds will gather from dayto day and drench our fields with their pitiless downpour. Deluge will follow deluge till the corn shall rot in the fieldsif God so determines.
Prayer is therefore desired and well it may be! But by some, prayer is desired as if it were quite certain that if certainpious words are repeated the rain must necessarily cease and the weather become favorable. I am not quite so sure! Let
prayer be offered, by all means, but only under certain conditions can it prove effectual. I know of many reasons why it maybe possible that such prayers as are likely to be offered will not be heard, but instead the threatened judgment of God may,nevertheless, come upon us. I desire, this morning, to speak about prayer in the way of warning, lest men should place anunwise confidence in the formality of reading a form of prayer in churches, or uttering extempore formalities in meeting houses.
Few men believe more thoroughly in the power of real prayer than I do and I have tested and proved it in many remarkable waysso fully that I have no doubts as to its efficacy and heartily magnify the name of our prayer-hearing God. But we must stilluse our understandings, lest we be deceived and come to expect what we shall not receive. I would call to your recollectionthe fact that, under certain circumstances, God does not answer prayer. Our text says, "I will go and return to My place,till they acknowledge their offense." And, if this is the case, there will be no answering of prayer till repentance is manifested.
Sometimes the heavens are brass, even to good men, and their cries reverberate and come back into their own ears, not withouta blessing to themselves, but still without any visible reply as to the people for whom their intercessions were offered.It is not every sort of prayer that God will hear, for He says by His servant Isaiah, "When you spread forth your hands, Iwill hide My eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15). Intercession is sometimes useless, for Jeremiah tells us, "Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood beforeMe, yet My mind could not be toward this people" (Jer. 15:1).
Ezekiel also warns us that the presence of the godly may not, at all times, avert judgment, for thus says the Lord, "Son ofman, when the land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out My hand upon it and will break the staffof the bread thereof and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel,and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God" (Ezek. 14:13, 14).
David, doubtless, prayed earnestly that he might escape from the chastisement of his sin when he numbered the people, butit could not be removed. He had a choice of three evils, but one of the three was inevitable. When God has come to this pointwith a people, that He must and will smite them, prayer is their only resource and even that may fail to avert the threatenedstroke. A child may have so transgressed that his father may feel bound to punish him and then he will not spare the rod becauseof his crying. I pray God that the rain may cease, but if it should be continued, it will not be because the Lord cannot helpus, or has ceased to answer prayer.
Here is the secret of it all-I tremble as I quote the words-"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save;neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins havehid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood" (Isa. 59:1-3). Remember, too, that not only may God withdraw Himself in anger, but it may be His determination to punish a people outof a far-seeing design for their good. Perhaps, as a nation, we have had too much prosperity. Ease and plenty have begottenpride and luxury and these may have weakened the spirit of the nation. It may have become absolutely necessary for this favorednation, if it is to still be the stronghold of liberty and the fortress of Gospel Truth, that it should again endure thosenorthern blasts of adversity which have aforetime strengthened it at heart.
It will not be the first time that our land has suffered for her good. Bad harvests and decaying trade are not new thingsto Englishmen! There linger among us now a few venerable men and women who can tell us of the straits of the old war time-ofhow there was great scantiness of bread, heaviness of taxation and frequent alarms from abroad and riots at home. What a longand dreary time it was when the sound of cannon might almost be heard across the straits and watch fires were ready on everycliff and height! Yet good came of the affliction and since that gloomy time the country has made rapid progress in many respects!Especially in civil and religious freedom-may it be so again! I would not wish ill to my country, but if our fellow men willnot remember God except in adversity, adversity, itself, might be desired by the kindest heart.
If true religion is to be cast into the dust by boastful infidelity! If a bastard popery is to be allowed to occupy our nationalchurches! If drunkenness is to remain shameless and almost universal! If the language of the common people is to become filthyand obscene! If the exaltation of one favored sect above its fellow Christians-a crying deed of injustice- is to be perpetuallyendured! If our nation is to shed the blood of weaker nations and send its armies into lands which are
none of ours-then it will not be a strange thing if the Lord resolves to punish-and it will be hard for the righteous manto find an argument with which to plead for pity! When the offense is repented of, the punishment will be withdrawn-but canwe expect pardon on any other terms? Can we even ask for it? The verdict of the sternly just would rather be, "Let the rodfall," than, "Let it be withdrawn," if only by severe means the nation can be made to put away its evil deeds!
In our text God declares that He will not give audience to His erring people, but will retire into His secret place untilthey acknowledge the offense and seek His face. It may be so with our nation at this time. And if it is, we need to be exhortedto something more than public prayer! There is need of a work more thorough and more difficult than the public use of a devotionalform! But, says one, "We hope we shall have national prayer." I hope so, too, but will there be a national confession of sin?If not-how can mere prayer avail? Will there be a general desire to do that which is just and right between man and man? Willthere be a declaration that England's policy is never to trample on the weak or pick a quarrel for her own aggrandizement?
Will there be a loathing of the principle that British interests are to be our guiding star instead of justice and right?Personal interests are no excuse for doing wrong! If they were so, we should have to exonerate the worst of thieves, for theywill not invade a house until their personal interests invite them! Perhaps the midnight robber may yet learn to plead thathe only committed a burglary for fear another thief should take the spoil and make worse use of it than he! Does the footpadstop a passenger on the road for any other than his own interests? When our own interests are our policy, nobility is deadand true honor is departed-but I fear that only a minority are of this mind.
Will the nation repent of any one of its sins? Will it settle itself down like the people of Jerusalem during the great rainof Ezra's time and do that which is right in the sight of God? Remember what they said in that day-"The people are many andit is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are manythat have transgressed in this thing." If stern reformation went with supplication, I am persuaded that prayer would prevail.But while sin is gloried in, my hopes find little ground to rest upon. But will there be general prayer? No, there will not.I speak sadly, but I speak no more than the truth.
There are numbers among us who say that prayer is of no use with regard to the winds and the clouds, for certain laws governthe weather and prayer cannot affect those laws. These men, therefore, will not pray and there are multitudes of others ofthe same spirit whose atheism is practical though it is unavowed. How, then, can prayer be general when such vast numbersutterly disregard it? Turn your eyes to Nineveh! When Jonah threatened that great city and, upon its repentance the judgmentwas withdrawn, of what character was its humiliation? From the king on the throne even to the beasts in the field-all wereclothed with sackcloth and fasted and cried out to God-and therefore we marvel not that He heard them!
Will there be any such crying to God among us? I think not! A defiant silence will seal millions of lips. But what of thosewho are supposed to pray? Are all these men of the Elijah stamp, whose fervent prayer could open or shut the windows of Heaven?We dare not put much confidence in the prayers which will be offered. Will they be offered in faith by a tenth of those whowill repeat them? I wish I could hope so. By many, the public prayer will be regarded as absolutely ridiculous-and by manymore as a mere matter of form which it is proper to use-but in which no confidence, whatever, can be placed.
Do not, therefore, say, if the rain should continue by the month together, that prayer was ordered by the Archbishop of Canterburyand that God did not hear it and, therefore, all prayer is idle! No, but see what kind of prayer it will be and how littleconnected it will be with confession-and how little it will be general and how little it will be sincere- and then you willnot wonder if no comfortable answer comes of it. It may be that my text will be the sole answer of the Lord-"I will go andreturn to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early."
What, then, is to be done? This much is to be done-all hope for a country lies in the true Believers who dwell there! RememberSodom and how it would have been spared had there been 10 righteous men found there and know that you, also, are the saltof the earth by whom it is to be preserved! Loathe the spirit of those who say that because we are citizens of Heaven we areto have nothing to do with the concerns of men below. A more un-Christianlike sentiment, a more
selfish sentiment never degraded spiritual minds! Wherever the Jews dwelt, in the days of their scattering, they were commandedto care for the good of the people among whom they dwelt.
Here are the words of the Lord by Jeremiah-"Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives,and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace." Surely Christians are not to be less generousthan Jews! Happily we are not under a despot! In England we are our own governors and the man, who, in this land does nothingto secure the good government of the country is, by his silence, on the side of wrong! You cannot shirk your responsibilityexcept by clearing out of the land altogether-and then, if it suffers by your absence, you will still be found guilty. Youare part and parcel of the nation, for you share in its protection and privileges and it is yours, as Christian men and women,to feel that you are bound, in return, to do all you can in the midst of it to promote truth and righteousness.
What then? What course should we now pursue? Let us make confession of sin on behalf of the people as Moses and Jeremiah andDaniel did! You may not consider that to be sin which I judge to be so, but, my Brothers and Sisters, you see sin enough allaround you of one sort or another. Take it to yourself and, as the high priest went in to the Holy Place to plead for thepeople, so you act as a priest before God in your quiet personal devotions! Confess the sin of this nation before God! Ifit will not repent, repent for it! Stand as a sort of consecrated sponsor before God and let the sin be on your heart tillyou fall on your face before the Most High! Remember, the saints are intercessors with God for the people! You are God's remembrancersand, as you are called to make mention of His name, keep not silent day nor night, but in this hour of trouble pour out yourhearts before Him!
Get up to your Carmels and cry aloud, you that know how to cry unto God, that He may send deliverance! And when you have prayedfor this people and asked the Lord to forgive its sin and also to take away the chastising rod, then all of you promote, byyour daily lives, your precepts and your actions, "whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things arejust, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report." Be on the side of temperanceand sobriety-be on the side of peace and of justice-be on the side of everything that is according to the mind of God andaccording to the law of love! Love God and your fellow men and seek to promote all interests which look that way.
I believe that a country can never have a larger blessing, a truer safeguard for the present, or a firmer security for itsfuture greatness than a band of praying men and women who make mention of it before the Throne of God! English history, fromthe first day till now, is as full of instruction as the history of Israel from Egypt even to Babylon. Did you ever read Cowper'swonderful description of the care which God has taken of this little island? How He has favored and protected it? When allthe nations were in arms against it, they could not touch its shore for God was there! And, on the other hand, the Lord haslaid us low and made us suffer when we have boasted of our fleets and armies. Our nation has been as much under the peculiarand especial Providence of God as were the descendants of Jacob themselves and, therefore, God deals with us as He does notdeal with other nations!
The smothering of black men with smoke in the caves to which they had fled. The burning down of human habitations and thehunting of men as if they were wild beasts is greater iniquity with us than it would have been in savages, or even in Papistsor Mohammedans! Our religion is higher, nobler, purer than theirs! We ought to be ashamed to act as they do! Bloodshed, bysome nations, God winks at, for they know but little better-but a country which has in it the very sun of the Gospel shiningin the fullness of its strength should set to the world an example which it can follow and, if it does not, it may expectto have trouble after trouble and blow after blow from the hand of God!
Thus have I spoken what was burdening my heart. Make what you will of it-it is the warning of an honest lover of his countrywho fears the Lord and fears none besides! Judge me to have spoken with political bias or not and censure me as you choose.I could say no less, or I would gladly have held my peace. Before God I am clear in this thing of any attempt but an uprightone. May God grant that my feeble protest may touch the hearts of those who ought to feel its truth. I am not very confidentthat it will be so, for we have fallen upon evil times and the heart of the people has waxen gross.
II. And now, secondly, let us view the text in reference to our PERSONAL TRIALS AS BELIEVERS. Brothers and Sisters, let usnow commune with one another concerning the ways of God with our own souls. The Lord will not cast off His people-notwithstandingtheir faults, they are His own children and they shall be His children forever. But when
His children sin, God is sure to chasten them for it. "You only have I known of all the people, therefore will I punish youfor your iniquities." He leaves His enemies alone for a while, but He smites His sons. His foes shall go unpunished till theend shall be-but as for His beloved, He is exceedingly jealous over them and He will make them smart when they sin.
Has the Lord been chastening any of us of late? Has the moth been in our estates, or has the lion been tearing our peace?Let us turn at His rebuke! Let us say unto the Lord, "Show me why You contend with me. Lord, if You are smiting me, I wouldnot be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, but I would turn unto You at once, before You smite me again."It is good to repent at once and seek our heavenly Father's face. For, note next, when chastisements are of no avail, withdrawmentfollows!
The Lord has promised that He will not forsake His people, nor will He utterly do so, but there are withdrawments which arenot included in that promise. God may so hide Himself from His servants that they may have no conscious fellowship with Him,no enjoyment of His Word, no power in prayer. In fact, they may pray and He may shut out their prayer. Their life may be saplessand spiritless; joy and peace may flee. They may possibly try, at such times, to make up for their loss by enjoying the world.They may run after carnal pleasures and vain amusements, but they cannot fill their minds with them-they have no joy withsuch empty vanities-Grace has made them incapable of finding soul food in the corn and wine of earth. They must have theirGod or die!
Let me tell you most solemnly that it is a very sad thing when God has withdrawn from a believing spirit and the more holya man has been, the more sadly will he lament that he is now under a cloud and the more earnestly will he cry, "Oh that Iknew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!" When these withdrawments of God are painfully felt, thenwe should begin most eagerly to search out the sin which has caused them, for sin is at the bottom of it all. If, Believer,there is a quarrel between your Beloved and yourself, is there not a cause? Our Lord Jesus is no fitful lover who, in a moment,will leave the soul which is espoused to Him merely to indulge a whim! Far from it! He never trifles with us, but treats ourlove as a sacred thing. There is some grave cause whenever the Beloved frowns.
Then is the time for a thorough search, a sweeping of the house and a cleansing out of all things that offend. Throughoutthe heart, the understanding and the lips, let a thorough search be initiated and if any sin is detected-and it will not belong before it will be-let it be brought to light and judged. Set it in the light of God's Countenance and there confess itand lament it. Offer no excuses and explanations, but honestly confess the wrong and leave it! Have you restrained prayer?Confess it! Have you neglected the reading of the Word of God? Confess it! Have you been neglectful of your children and yourfamily as to training them in the nurture of the Lord? Confess it!
Has there been laxity in your contact with the world? Have you given way to flippancy and levity? Have you been proud? Haveyou been slothful? Have you indulged too much in the pleasures of the table? Has your heart set itself upon your wealth? Thenbring the idols out and let your heart see the wounds which they have given you and what it is that you have doted on andwhat these things are which have come between you and your God! Surely you will be ashamed of them when you consider thattheir love is the price for which you have parted with your Savior's Presence! Is this a goodly price that your Lord was exchangedfor by you? Judas's pieces of silver were not more contemptible than these poor paltry bribes! Lament the treachery of yourheart and hear Him ask you, "Do you love Me?" Do not hesitate to answer, "Lord, You know all things, You know that I loveYou."
But, Beloved, when you have obtained a sense of the sin or sins which separate you from God and have made a full confession,then take care that you seek the Lord with hopefulness and confidence, for, notwithstanding all this, you are still His childand must not give way to a paralyzing despair. You are married to Christ and there is no divorce with Him, "for the Lord,the God of Israel, says He hates putting away." He will not cast off forever, nor put away His erring spouse. Come, therefore,to Him with humble confidence! He has torn and He will heal. He has struck and He will bind us up. Seek His face, for Hisface is towards you! The very face of God is Jesus Christ! The Son of God is He in whom we see the Father! Even as you seea man in his countenance, so God is seen in Christ! Seek God in Christ Jesus, for thereby good shall come unto you.
Do not say, "It is of no use, I have backslidden and revolted again and again and He will now refuse me totally." No, He willnot reject you! You are not out of reach of His love-He will turn, again, and have compassion on you, for He delights in mercy!If He withdraws, it is only that you may sigh after Him and seek after Him. A nurse, when her little child will go away fromher and fall into danger, will sometimes hide herself from it to teach it better. She still sees the
child, though the little one cannot see her. She is near to help, but the child cannot find her and so it begins to cry forher and does not rest till she is found. The child will not so soon wander again.
Even so may the Lord hide His face to make us cry after Him, but He is very near us, all the while, and He will yet be foundof us. "Behold," says He, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man open to me I will enter in." It is not much, is it, toopen the door? That is all He asks. Open and let Him in, for He adds, "and I will sup with him." "Ah, Lord," say to Him, "wehave no provision fit for You." But know assuredly He brings His supper with Him and we sup with Him and He with us! He onlywants you to lend the house, by opening your heart, for He has brought the food! Yes, He is, Himself, our Bread from Heaven!
Now, to whom is this spoken? To sinners? No, no, it is spoken to the Church of Laodicea, which was "neither cold nor hot."Her Lord was ready to spit her out of His mouth and yet in mercy He cries, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." O Backslider,Jesus waits to be gracious to you! He longs to restore you! Only acknowledge your transgression and return to Him! Be of goodcheer as to acceptance, for He casts out none who come to Him. End this backsliding for there need be no more misery! Godhelp you to rise, this very day, into a closer walk with Him and may He keep you by His side forever! To be out of fellowshipwith God is for the heart to be in a state of spiritual disease. Things must be wrong within when we are wrong with God. Whenwe do not walk in the Light, as God is in the Light, there is some evil in the eye of the soul. Dread the evil and cry forhealing!
To be away from God is to be in a state of spiritual weakness. Samson may shake himself as at other times, but he can do nodeeds of strength when the Lord has departed from him. God is our strength and God's hiding makes us weak as water! If theLord should leave us, we cannot plead with Him and prevail, nor can we plead with men and win them for Christ. Our strengthhas departed-both towards God and towards man-when our fellowship with God is suspended. Our heart cannot leap like a youngroe upon the mountains-our spirit limps as one whose bones are broken. We cannot even gaze through the gates of pearl to seethe Glory which the Spirit reveals, for our eyes are dim so that we cannot see afar off when Jesus is away.
If you are in this condition, you are in an evil case-carking care invades you, anxieties annoy you, your temper gets themastery, Satan accuses-and conscience trembles! Your spirit is like that of a carnal man and you are apt to speak unadvisedlywith your lips and to be readily moved by every external influence. What is worse, when a man is out of fellowship with God,he is in danger of presumptuous sins! David, on the terraces of his palace, had not been walking with God, or else the sightof Bathsheba had not caused him so grievous a fall. Lose communion with Christ and you are on the verge of a folly which willstain your character and terribly mar your life! It is only when we are near to God that we are safe-therefore let a senseof danger drive us to Him at once!
I speak from a widespread observation as well as from an inward experience. There is but a step between distance from Godand the nearness of temptation and sin. If God thinks much of you, He will have you near Him, or else He will make you miserable.He will not permit you to rejoice except in Himself! If your love is not worth His having, you may love whom you like. Butwhen He loves you much, He will be very jealous over you and if He finds you are content to be without His company, He willmake you suffer for such wantonness ingratitude! That By-Path Meadow business-that going down the green lane to get off thepebbles of the right road; that getting away from Christ to have a taste of the world's sweet delusions; that coming downfrom our high places as if we had grown weary of being happy and were discontented with an angelic life-all that means a successionof afflictions and regrets which can only, at the very best, end in our getting to Christ, again, with broken bones.
Such wanderings are painful, end how they may! David's life, before his sin-how different it was from his life afterwards!You can always tell which Psalms he wrote before his transgression-they are so jubilant, so full of holy rejoicing! But afterwards,when he sings, it is in a bass voice. He sweeps his harp, but the strings are disordered. He loves his God, but it is thesolemn, tearful love of repentance rather than the bright sparkling love of delight in God. Do not err, my beloved Brothersand Sisters, for error brings sorrow. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." If you have gone aside to evil, thenseek early the face of God and He will be found of you in Christ Jesus!
III. And now my time is almost spent. I have but a few minutes to use on the third head and I would, therefore, speak fewwords, but speak them very earnestly, indeed. We shall now think of THE PERSONAL TRIALS OF THE SINNER. Oh, you that are unconverted,if God means to save you, He will, before long, begin by chastening you in body or in
mind. You will have trouble! You are a wandering sheep and God will send His black dog after you to fetch you to the fold.If one trouble does not do it, you will have another and another and another! Perhaps I speak to some who, as the result ofProvidential chastening and the work of conscience on their spirit, have already been awakened-let them take heed of triflingwith their awakening!
After that earnest sermon, or after reading that stirring book, you began to pray, but your desires and feelings have nowsubsided. I would have you greatly grieve over this. Let me warn you that God may withdraw Himself from you altogether. Somehave been sitting in this Tabernacle, now, for years from whom I fear God has withdrawn Himself, for you used to feel muchmoved by the Gospel, but it is not so now! You would not come when you were called and admonished, but you revolted more andmore-and now His mercy is growing weary of you. You were smitten again and again, but you still rebelled and now God says,"Let him alone." This is a more terrible calamity than you suspect- unless it is averted, it will be your ruin!
I may be speaking to some strangers here who, at one time, had a disturbed conscience, but they have grown very callous oflate. You are in danger of eternal wrath but you are amazingly carefree! You can even make jokes about religion, can't you?Poor souls! I fear the Lord has given you over for a time, at least-I hope not forever! Do you ask me what you should do?I reply that according to our text it is high time for you to seek the Lord! You were smitten before you tried self-righteousness,Church-going, Chapel-going, sacraments and so forth-as the Prophet says, you went to king Jareb, but he could not heal youof your wounds. You must now return to your God or you will never be right. It is vain to look to priests, or sacraments,or religion-all these things put together are nothing!
You must have personal dealings with your God and you must confess your sin to Him, or you will be eternally undone. Go anddo it this morning! Tell Him all that you know about your sin and ask Him to have mercy upon you for Jesus' sake. Seek toknow Him as He manifests Himself in Jesus. Be willing to believe whatever He pleases to reveal. Be anxious to be reconciledto Him. Long to be at peace with the great God who made the heavens and the earth. Why should there be a quarrel between yourCreator and your soul? The way of reconciliation is by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. You must, therefore, trust Jesusand then you shall find the peace of God. Oh may His Spirit help you to do this now! Seek Him and seek Him intensely, resolvingthat you will never cease to seek till you find God full of mercy and love to you. Come, I pray you, and turn unto the Lord,now, and may the Holy Spirit aid you in doing so.
He has torn and He will heal you. He has struck and He will bind you up. After two days He will revive you. On the third dayHe will raise you up and you shall live in His sight! God Himself must heal you, or you will never be healed! He who has brokenyour heart must give you comfort or you will never have any! Hasten to your chamber at once and then upon your knees cry outunto God with the prayer of faith. Be not content with your own sense of sin. Do not say, "I am doing fine, for I have feltmy guilt." No, your sense of sin may be but the first drop of a shower of eternal remorse. Get away to God in Christ and restnot till you are there.
Oh, if I had the power to put this into fitting and forcible words I would implore every man and woman that I look upon notto live without God! He made you and you cannot be happy without Him. While He is angry with you, you cannot be at peace!He bids you come to Him. The blows of His Providence are meant to separate you from the love of sin and drive you to yourGod! In Jesus Christ, the great Father stretches out His arms to you and says, "Come now, and let us reason together: thoughyour sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Believe in Jesus and live! "Seek you the Lord while He may be found! Call upon Him while He is near! Let the wicked forsakehis ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him; and to ourGod, for He will abundantly pardon." God bless you, my beloved Friends, for His name's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Hosea 5. HYMNS FROM "OUR 0WN HYMN BOOK"-605, 620, 614.