LivePrayerSermon 2384. "Forget You, I Will Not"
(No. 2384)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, OCTOBER 28, 1894.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 12, 1888.
"You are My servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of Me." Isaiah 44:21.
The idols said nothing to their worshippers. They had mouths, but they spoke not. You might go on worshipping an image for20 years, but you would never get a reply to anything you said to it. It could not see you, it could not hear you, it couldnot answer you. That is a poor kind of worship! I do not think that I would care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if shewinked-one cannot make much out of a wink-we need something more than that from the object of our adoration.
But God has spoken to His people! We have a Revelation from the one living and true God. Jehovah has broken the eternal silences.He has torn the veil behind which He was hidden and He has revealed Himself. I believe this Book to be Inspired of God. Iaccept every word and every jot and tittle of it as God's voice to me. He has spoken and the record of what He has said isbefore me and I can rejoice in it. This was a blessed speech when God said to His ancient people, "You are My servant: O Israel,you shall not be forgotten of me."
I cannot, at this time, stop to make any preface, but I must speak to you, first of all, upon the title which the Lord givesto His people-"My servant." Secondly, I will remind you of the promise which He makes to them-"You shall not be forgottenof Me." And then, thirdly, I will give you some reasons which assure us that His promise must and will be kept.
I. First then, dear Friends, here is THE TITLE WHICH THE LORD GIVES TO HIS PEOPLE-"My servant."
Notice what a practical title it is-"My servant." It has to do with action and service. It has to do with the heart, but alsowith the hands, with the inner and with the outer life. There is no true Christian but the practical Christian. The merelydoctrinal professor has only the dead logs of wood-there is no fire of devotion, there is no warmth of fervor, there is nothingthat is really worth having. The man who talks about his experience as a Christian, who never does anything for Christ, is,I am afraid, only an idle dreamer! There must be practical obedience to God from those who claim to be His servants. A servantis not always at work, but a servant is always a servant and always ready for work. I have known some servants who were veryparticular about what work they did. If there was a little given them to do that they thought was outside their special duty,they went about it in a very grumbling humor. I do not call such a person as that a servant! But the Lord's servants belongentirely to Him, they are His property, their time and talents are wholly at His disposal, their whole mind and heart andsoul are subservient to His will. Let Him say, "Do this," and they do it. Let Him say, "Go there," and there they go.
I want you, dear Hearers, to ask yourselves, "Are we servants of God?" Are not some of you servants of sin? Are not othersof you servants of self, servants of the world, servants of the devil? Well, there is nothing comforting in the text for you!There is nothing comforting in the whole Bible for you while you remain as you are! You must quit that evil service. You must,by Divine Grace, become servants of God! But I know that I am speaking to some who are the servants of the Lord and who wishthat their service was more perfect than it is. The will is present with you-with hearty goodwill you wear the golden yokeof Christ and you desire that every member of your body, and every faculty of your soul, may be yielded up to Him-for thatis your reasonable service.
That is the first point, then, this is a practical title, "My servant."
Notice, also, that in the text it is a personal title. The Lord says, "Fou are My servant." There were a great many who werenot God's servants. Multitudes of people were the servants of those idol gods of theirs, which they had made with their compassand their rule, their line and their plane. Poor things-the servants of a piece of wood! It must be beggarly service to servethat which you, yourself, have made! But God says to each one of His people, "You are My servant." Would the Lord Jesus goround this Tabernacle, and stop in front of each of you, and say, "You are My servant. Do not judge your fellow-worshippers,nor try to find out whether this man or that may is My servant. You, yourself, are my servant"? Oh, would not some of us,if our Master would do this, just leap to our feet, take hold of His hand, and say, "Lord, it is so. Brand us as your slaves,for we would gladly bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus. We would let all men know that, indeed, we are Your servants"?Will you just turn your thoughts away from this great crowd? I am trying to do so, that I may take to myself the personaltitle, "You are My servant." Will you, each one individually, either allot to yourself these words of the Lord, "You are Myservant," or else honestly put them on one side as not belonging to you?
Next, notice that, as the title is a practical and personal one, so it is an exclusive title. "You are My servant. These otherpeople are servants of Baal or Ashtaroth; but you are My servant." When a man has a servant, he expects him to serve him,and not to be in the employ of other people. God's servants must serve God-not idols, not the world, not self, not sin, notSatan. "You are My servant." When you get up tomorrow morning and begin to light the fire, and prepare the breakfast, it istrue that you will be your earthly master's servant, but, as you commune with your God, hear Him saying to you, "You are Myservant." When you take down the shutters, to begin the business of the day, hear a voice saying to you, across the counter,"You are My servant." You will live better, you will serve better, it will put a glory about your actions if you can knowand feel that you are truly serving God!
"You are My servant." I can tell you that this passage has very greatly comforted me. One has said, "You are altogether wrong."Another has said, "You are very bigoted," and so on. "Yes," I have answered, "but I am not your servant. I am not responsibleto you. And if my Master is satisfied with me, I am satisfied with His satisfaction." Certainly I am not going to be the servantof men, to put my neck under their feet and do their bidding! Send your own slaves on your business! I shall attend to myLord's work, for I have only one Master to serve. I want you tonight, and all the week, when the devil says, "Now here isa fine chance for you to get rich very quickly, you can make a lot of money," just say to Him, "I am not your servant, andI cannot take your wages. I can do nothing wrong in order to get gain, for I am the servant of God."
And if, young man, there should come in your way, during the week, a pleasurable vice which may seek to win you, flee fromit! Say, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God, for I am God's servant?" "You are My servant, not the servantof anybody else." Hold your heads up! Be not ashamed! He is a free man whom God has made to be His servant. "You have loosedmy bonds," said David, after he had said, "I am Your servant." "I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid. You have loosedmy bonds. By the very fact of taking me into Your service, You have made me a free man."
Note, next, that as this is an exclusive title, so it is an honorable title. I will not dwell upon that fact, but it mustbe so, for God uses the title in this verse twice over. He says, "You are My servant: I have formed you; you are My servant."It is a greater honor to be the Lord's servant than to be an earl or a duke, a prince or a king! To serve God is truly toreign. My dear Friends, is this high dignity yours? Never mind about earthly stars and garters-this is the highest degreethat you can take-the highest honor that you can win in earth or Heaven-to be the servant of the ever-blessed
God!
Once more, this is a title of acceptance. As God says, twice over, "You are My servant," He means by this, "I accept you asMy servant; I acknowledge you as such." What a grand thing it will be if, at the Last Great Day, God is able to acknowledgeus as His servants! He will do so if He can accept us now. Do you not, sometimes, have a servant in your employment to whomyou say, "Really, I cannot keep you any longer. The sooner that you are gone, the better"? One does not care to have somepeople for servants. Now and then a man pleads that he cannot get any work and begs you to employ him. You give him a broomand set him to sweep a path, and he sweeps it in such a way that he makes your flesh creep, and you pretty soon sweep himout. You would be ashamed to have anybody know that he was a servant of yours. But when God says, "You are My servant: youare My servant," it means that He is not ashamed of us!
Brothers and Sisters, we are often ashamed of ourselves when God is not ashamed of us. He overlooks a thousand imperfectionsand it is well for us that He does, for who among us can serve God perfectly? I have sometimes known Christian people, whowere doing a good work for God, get quite down-hearted because they found somebody else doing a larger work. Oh, do not envyyour brethren who have more service than you have! I daresay that they almost envy you, and think how nicely they could dothe work that you have to do. One said to me, the other day, when I had preached, and preached in what I thought to be a verypoor way, too, "I feel as if, after hearing you, I cannot preach again." "Oh dear," I said, "if you knew what I thought ofthe sermon, you would feel very differently! You would think that anybody could preach better than that."
I often think that anybody can preach better than I can till I sit and hear them, and then I say to myself, "Well, after that,I will try again." But, dear Friends, whether we think we fail, or others think we fail, how little does it matter if theLord says, "You are My servant: you are My servant. It was a poor sermon, dear One, but you are My servant. That work wasvery poorly done when you visited the sick, but you did it with all your heart. You are My servant. You are not a very brilliantteacher for that class of yours, but you love your scholars, and you love your God. You are My servant"? He does, as it were,pat you on the back, and say, "You are My servant. Go on with your work for Me. I will acknowledge you, I intend to blessyou. You are My servant."
One reason why we are God's servants is that He has forgiven us our trespasses. Shall I read to you, again, the next verseto my text? "You are My servant. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins." Isnot that a reason why we should serve Him? Forgiven sins should bind us to His service with bands stronger than steel! Wecan never run away from Him who has pardoned such grave faults as we have committed! Then He adds, "I have redeemed you,"and in the 24th verse He goes on to say, "The Lord has redeemed Jacob." Oh, we must serve Him who has redeemed us! If He hasbought us, we are not our own-we belong to Him-and we must spend and be spent in His service. And then the Lord says, "Jehovahhas redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel." Well, if He has been able to get any Glory out of us, we will keep onserving Him! What a marvelous God He must be to glorify Himself in such poor wretches as we are! But as He does so, we willcontinue in so Divine a service while life shall last and then we will serve Him forever above!
Thus have I spoken upon the title which the Lord gives to His people-"My servant."
II. Now, secondly, comes a sweet part of the subject, THE PROMISE WHICH HE MAKES TO US-"You shall not be forgotten of Me."
Men forget us, do they not? And they turn against us. Those for whom you do the most are often those who will be most unkindand most bitter against you. I will not speak as I might, but I know and I have felt, and I daresay that you know, and thatyou have felt, in your measure, too, that, "cursed is he that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm." The whole of mankindput together in the scales are lighter than vanity-there is no use in trusting in them at all! But God says, "You shall notbe forgotten of Me." Remember those comforting words that we sang just now-
"Forget you I will not, I cannot. Your name Engraved on My heart does forever remain! The palms of My hands while I look on,I see The wounds I received when suffering for thee."
What does this promise mean? It means, first, that God will never cease to love His servants. If you are His servants, Heloved you before the world began! He still loves you and He will love you, world without end. "You shall not be forgottenof Me." Do not dream that God can cast away His people! We are members of the body of Christ-do you think that Christ willever lose any of the members of His body? I should not like to lose my little finger and Christ will not lose one of the membersof His body. You would think, according to the teaching of some, that Christ's members keep dropping off, something like thelimbs of lobsters, and that new ones were constantly growing! There is nothing in Scripture to warrant such a notion as that!
Do you remember Mr. Bunyan's parable of a child, who is in a room, and a stranger comes in and says, "Come here, child, Iwill cut off your finger." "No," says the child. "Yes, but I will. I will take off your little finger. Here is a knife, Iwill cut off your little finger." "No," says the child again, and he begins to cry. "Oh but," says the stranger, "that isa poor little finger that you have! I will take it off and I will buy you a gold finger, such a brave gold finger, and I willput it on your hand instead of your little finger." "Oh," says the child, "but it would not be my finger! I cannot lose myown
finger." Whereupon Mr. Bunyan says, "If Christ could have better people than those He has, He would not make the change, 'For,'says He, 'they are not My people; they are not a part of My own living Self."' So, the Lord Jesus would not change you fora golden saint, for one much better than you are! That new finger would not be what the Father gave Him, nor what He boughtwith His precious blood. "You shall not be forgotten of Me," means that God will never cease to love His servants.
Next, it means that the Lord will never cease to think of His servants. The thoughts of God are wonderful! He can think ofevery individual saint as much as if there were no other saint in the universe! He never leaves off thinking of each one ofHis people. The Divine mind is distinctly set on you, Brother, on you, Sister, and it is never taken off from you. If Godwere to cease to think of us for five minutes, in that five minutes we might be ruined-but He never forgets us and, consequently,there shall be no part of our body without its armor, and no portion of our time without a sentinel set to watch over us everysingle moment of it! Listen to the Lord's promise about His vine-"I the Lord keep it. I will water it every moment, lest anyhurt it. I will keep it night and day." God will never leave off thinking of you as well as loving you!
Next, the Lord will never cease to befriend His servants. God's thoughts are always practical. The gifts of His hands go withthe thoughts of His mind. Our text means, "You shall not be forgotten of Me in the distribution of My benefits." The Lordwill not cease to give you bread, water and garments. His Providence shall always take care of you. Remember the passage weread at this morning's service, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want"? He will never cease to bestow upon you the blessingsof His Grace. He will go on to pardon you, to guide you, to teach you, to strengthen you, to lead you until you shall be inHis glorious Presence without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing! "I, Jehovah, will not forget you. You shall not be forgottenof Me."
I think I hear some dear child of God crying, "I was afraid that the Lord had forgotten me the other day." It is you who hadforgotten Him! "Oh, but I thought surely that He had cast me off!" What right had you to think anything of the kind? Willthe Lord cast off His people? Will He be faithful no more? Shame on you that you should think He could or would act in sucha fashion! "But, oh, I am so little and so feeble!" Are there any of His saints that are not just the same? "Oh, but I amso unworthy!" And pray, what child of God does not have to make the same confession? The Lord says, "You shall not be forgottenof Me," and He will stand to it! Depend upon it and you shall share with the rest of His people in the high privileges ofthe Covenant of His Grace. He will not cease to love you, nor cease to think of you, nor cease to befriend and benefit you.With John Newton, you may sing-
"His love in time past forbids me to think He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink. Each sweetEbenezerI ha ve in reviewConfirms His good pleasure to help me quite through."
Once more, the Lord will not cease to commune with His people. Whenever you desire to commune with Him, He is ready to meetyou. Knock at His door-the servant will not say that He is not at home, for He waits to be gracious. Have you been slippingaway from your God of late? Come back to Him, come back at once. The Lord Jesus Christ has rebuked you for your Laodiceanlukewarmness, but, after having said some hard words about you, how does He finish? "Behold, I stand at the door and knock:if any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." He will takesupper with you, tonight, if you are willing. O dear child of God, this is the cure for your lukewarmness, for the Lord tocome to you and have high fellowship with you-and He is waiting for that communion! "You shall not be forgotten of Me."
I do not feel that I need say any more upon this promise; but I should like everyone who is a Christian to take it home. "Foushall not be forgotten of Me." Perhaps, in a few days, you will be lying upon the bed of pain. The Lord bids me say to youin preparation for that affliction, "You shall not be forgotten of Me." Or, possibly, during this week, you will have a veryserious loss in business that will occasion you a great staggering unless, as you read this promise to yourself, you say,"But the Lord has said, You shall not be forgotten of Me." Dear children of God, you never know what trouble or alarm is coming,only you have often proved the truth of Mr. Bunyan's quaint ditty-
"A Christian man is never long at ease
When one fright's gone, another does him seize."
Therefore, be ready for anything, be ready for everything! You will be prepared for whatever may come if you remember thispromise, "You are My servant: you shall not be forgotten of Me." The Lord will help you, He will help you right through, Hewill help you even to the end. Fall back upon this precious promise, "You shall not be forgotten of Me." I wish that I couldput this passage, like a wafer made of honey, under every tongue where the mouth is full of bitterness, so that you mightsuck at it and get the sweetness out of it, and so say to yourself, "I shall be happy, yet, and happy, come what may, forthe Lord will not forget me!"
III. My last work at this time is to mention SOME REASONS WHICH ASSURE US THAT GOD WILL NOT FORGET THOSE WHO ARE TRULY HISSERVANTS.
I should say, first of all, that the very best reason is that He says He will not forget us. As He says, "You shall not beforgotten of Me," then, He cannot forget us! He is God who cannot lie and His every Word of Grace is worthy of our utmostconfidence. You remember what a boy said about his mother? "How do you know it is true, Jack?" asked one. "Mother said so,"answered the lad. "Well, but that is no reason at all." "Yes," he said, "it is. It is the best reason of all, for if Mothersays so, it is so if it is not so." That is the way for a boy to trust in his mother's word-what she said must be true, herson would not believe that it could be otherwise! We have just to trust in God like that-it is so for He says it! "You shallnot be forgotten of Me." We cannot tolerate a doubt as to the Truth of what the Lord says.
But the next reason is this, God cannot forget us since He has made us. The former part of the verse says, "You are My servant:I have formed you." The Lord has fashioned us-not merely in the common way in which others of His creatures have been formed,but upon the wheel of Grace He has made us revolve like the clay in the potter's hand! With His own fingers He has made usinto vessels of mercy so He cannot forget us. I think I have heard that before the siege of Paris, Gustave Dore had nearlyfinished one of his greatest paintings, one of the finest pictures which has ever been produced. Having to flee from the city,all of a sudden, as the Germans were coming up, he hid his picture in a cellar, down under a heap of rubbish.
When the siege was over, Dore came back to Paris and, of course, when he returned he had forgotten all about his picture,had he not? Not he! He had taken too much trouble with it to forget it. He knew the value of it and he remembered where hehad put it. He did not have to go up and down the house and say to the people, "Do you know where my picture is?" No, he neverforgot where he had, himself, put it, so he found it where he had hidden it, brought it out to the light of day and finishedit! Now, in a far higher sense than that, God will have respect unto the work of His own hands. The very bodies of the saints,though they are hidden away for a while in the rubbish of the earth, He will fetch out and He will complete the work of Gracewhich He has begun upon each one of them! The Lord having formed us to be His servants, we shall not be forgotten of Him!
A further reason is that He has blessed us. He has blessed us so much, already, that He cannot, now, forget us. If you neededpersons to love you, perhaps you would set to work to do them a kindness. Very good and very proper. But you may be beatenover that plan. As a matter of selfish prudence I would suggest to you that you had better let them do you a kindness, andthen they will be bound to you forever! A boy forgets his mother's love-alas-it is often so, but the mother never forgetsthe kindness she has shown to her son, because she has done so much for him. The persons you love best are not those who havedone most for you, but those for whom you have done the most. If I should bind God to me by anything I can do for Him, I shouldfeel that the ties would be very feeble ones, but when God binds Himself to me by His blessings and mercies, it is anotherthing, for then the ties are Divinely strong! I say, then, that God has blessed us, and He has done so much for us that Hecannot leave off loving us. "You shall not be forgotten of Me."
Again, the Lord will not forget us, because He has loved too long already. I was talking with an old saint this week- oncea renowned preacher of the Gospel-who is now some 84 years of age. He shook my hands and he said, "I am with you, my Brother,I am with you, my Brother. I know what the contention is and I am on your side, heart and soul." Then he added, "You and Ihave known the Lord too long to run after this new trumpery." And it is so-you get so bound to the old Truths of God thatyou cannot give them up! You grow to love the Gospel so fervently that you cannot renounce it! Well, now, the effect thatsuch love has upon us is still more clearly seen in God. He has loved us so long that He cannot forget us. How long has Heloved you? "Oh," you say, "it is about 10 years since I was converted." Well, but did not the Lord love you before that? Didnot our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ die for you before you were converted?
"Oh, I see!" you say, "then He has loved me more than 1,800 years." But did He not purpose and plan that Christ should diefor you before the world began? Was there ever a time when the redeemed of the Lord were not written on the heart of Christ?He loved you before the first star began to dart its golden arrows through the darkness of space! Rest secure, then! Loveso ancient will never die out!
Further, the Lord must continue to love us. He cannot forget us, for we have cost Him so much. Oh, how much we have cost ourLord! "By Your agony and bloody sweat," by the scourging and the spitting, by the false accusations and the ridicule, by thenails, the vinegar, the spear, that bitter cry, "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani," by Your sorrow, even unto death-by all this,Lord Jesus, You have bought us! These are the travail pangs of our spiritual birth and He, by whom all those agonies wereborne, can never forget us! In us He sees of the travail of His soul and He is satisfied. Look at His hands, look at His side,look at His feet-there are the records of the costly price that He paid down for our re-demption-and they are the pledge thatHe cannot let us be forgotten!
Besides, Beloved, if we had no other reason for thinking that we should not be forgotten of God, if we are His servants, weknow that He is too good a Lord to cast us out. He is a wretch of a man who casts off an old servant simply because he isold. Yet many, when they grow old and feeble, find that their masters want to get rid of them. A young fellow has given allhis life, ever since he was 15, to a firm in the city, and when he gets over 60, the employers think to themselves, "A nicebrisk young man will be better in the place of old Jones," and they pick some little hole in him and off he goes-to the workhouse,for all they care, as a general rule. "Ah, but," says the Lord, "you shall not be forgotten of Me." He does not turn His oldservants adrift-for He says, "Even to your old age, I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you."
In olden times, and I am afraid it is still so, masters have been known to get rid of their servants when they have been ill.What did the Amalekite do with the young Egyptian? David found him left behind in the field and he said that his master wasan Amalekite, and left him because he fell sick. Ugh! So they still say of their sick servants, "We must get rid of them!They are not strong enough to do their work." But our Lord never forgets His servants when they are ill. Then He is more near,more dear, more tender, more considerate than ever! "You shall not be forgotten of Me, O My servant!" Sick and sad, yes, andsinful, and worn out, yet still we shall not be forgotten of our Lord! Young man, enter the service of this blessed Master!You will never rue it. I love my Master and I would like to see you in His blessed employment. It is always a sign that aman has a good master when He would like to see his own boys in the same service, and I can truly say that nothing gives meso much joy as to think that both my sons are in the same service as I am in!
Sons of godly parents, may God put you in the same service as your fathers are in! Daughters of holy mothers, I do pray thatyour mother's God may be your God! There is no service like our Master's. If the Lord were a hard master, tyrannical, changeable,unkind, ungenerous, austere-if He discharged His servants right and left, for this fault and for that, or because they grewfeeble and faulty-well then, I think I would stand here and tell you the truth about Him, and urge you not to think of enteringHis employment! But oh, He is a blessed Master, therefore I can plead with you to be His servant and I can assure you thatyou shall never be forgotten of Him!
This morning [Sermon #2039, Volume 34-Crossing the Jordan] I spoke about being on the verge of Jordan. When you are aboutgoing into Heaven, passing over that last stream, dear child of God, you shall not be forgotten! The Lord will be very nearyou, then-He will especially help you in your dying moments.
I cannot at all make out how you who are without a God get on, especially you poor people. With no comfort in this world,with nothing worth living for, here, how can you exist without a good hope for the hereafter, without a Savior to trust in,without a God to run to for protection, as the chicks run to the hen? And you rich people, how can you do without a God? Whatis to become of you? You will have to lose all that you have and over you it will be said, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust."Members of parliament, or whoever you may be, you will have to go down to the worms, like other people. What a horrible thingfor you, Dives, to be dragged down with all your scarlet and fine linen on, and cast into Hell! You who have fared sumptuouslyevery day-denied even a drop of water to cool your burning tongue! What a change for you! If the poor need a Savior, so doyou, just as much! May the Lord make both-rich and poor-to be His servants and then whisper in the ear of each one of you,as you go down the Tabernacle steps tonight, "You are My servant: you shall not be forgotten of me"!
God bless you all, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Isaiah 44:1-22.
Verses 1-2. Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: thus says the LORD that made you, and formedyou from the womb, which will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. God cannot bearHis people to be sad, He delights to drive away fear, trembling and mistrust. He loves faith, for faith brings confidence,hope, rest. So He says to us, "Fear not, fear not, be not afraid." It is God Himself who made us, and who chose us, who saysto us, "Do not fear." Come, dear Hearts, lay aside your disquietude. If God bids you cast away fear, will you not do it? Nothinghushes a babe to sleep like its mother's voice. Let God's voice hush you into sweet and blessed calm whenever you are troubledand full of fear.
3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. God will never do anything by halves. Hewill not only send rain, but the waters shall pour down from the sky. He will not merely moisten the surface of the dry ground,He will send floods to saturate it. God is great in giving His Grace. When once you reach the region of Grace, you have enteredthe region of plenty, even the riches of God's unspeakable Grace. If, dear Friends, you have at this time no spiritual power,unction, favor and love, you may have it, for here is the Lord's own promise-"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,and floods upon the dry ground."
3. I will pour My Spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring. Is that your great burden-trouble about yourboy? Does your dear girl grieve you? Well, He who blesses the father and the mother will bless the children- the God of Abrahamis the God of Isaac! Pray that this promise may be fulfilled to you, that your seed may get a share of that Spirit of Gracewhich has been given to you.
4. And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. You can track a stream by the willows. Standingon a hill and looking down the valley, you can tell where the little brook winds, for there are the willows. So shall it bewith your children-they shall spring up by the waters of Grace, and be a joy and a blessing.
5. One shall say, I am the Lord's. That is the brave son who comes out boldly and avows his faith. "One shall say, I am theLord's."
5. And another shall call himself by the name of Jacob. That is the one who goes and joins the Church and does not say muchabout it, but he has united himself with the Lord's people. "And another shall call himself by the name of
Jacob."
5. And another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel. He cannot speak much,but he can write. He is not so bold as the others, perhaps, but he is quite as true. "Another shall subscribe with his handunto the Lord." It does not so much matter how our children are converted so long as they really are con-verted-and as tothe particular way in which they join the Church-we have only to bid them seek the guidance of God's Word and His Spirit andfollow wherever They lead! Pray earnestly, dear Friends, that the Lord will bless your children. I thank God that most ofthe members of the Church known to me, have their children saved. There are many families that are altogether in the Church.There are others which have not that privilege, yet, but, dear Friends, you may have it! Ask believingly, act faithfully,watch hopefully and you shall see it joyfully before long.
6, 7. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of Hosts, I am the First, and I am the Last, and besideMe there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancientpeoples and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Jehovah challenges the idol gods to uttera prophecy! Let them tell the future if they can, but they cannot. Prophecy is always the mark of the one living and trueGod!
8-11. Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? You are even My witnesses.Is there a God beside Me? Yes, there is no god; I know not any. They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, andtheir delectable things shall not profit, and they are their own witnesses, they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be
ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, andthey shall be ashamed together. Well they may. Men who pretend to make a god ought to be ashamed.
12. The smith with the tongs both works in the coals, and fashion it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms.What irony! Making god with hammers and bellows!
12. Yes, he is hungry, This god-maker is hungry!
12. And his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint. The god-maker is getting faint. There is a sarcasm about thisdescription which ought to convince the most blind devotees of an idol!
13. The carpenter stretches out his rule, he marks it out with a line; he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with thecompass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. A godin the house! A god shut up in a room! A god that has been made with compasses and planes! How ridiculous it seems!
14. He hews him down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest:he plants an ash, and the rain does nourish it. The raw material for a god is an ash, a watery tree-"The rain does nourishit."
15-17. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take, thereof, and warm himself; yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread.Yes, he makes a god, and worships it, he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto. He burns part thereof in the fire;with part thereofhe eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied: yes, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I haveseen the fire: and the residue thereof he makes a god. Oh, the folly of idolatry! Perhaps you do not see your own folly, youwho are worshipping yourselves! A man who worships his belly is a worse idolater than the one who worships a god of wood!A man who worships gold and silver, if that gold and silver should take the shape of sovereigns and shillings, is not a bitmore justified in his idolatry than if he had made it into the shape of a calf and had bowed before it in idolatrous homageand reverence!
17-20. Even his graven image: he falls down unto it, and worships it, andprays unto it, and says, Deliver me; for you aremy god. They have not known nor understood: for He has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that theycannot understand. And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned partof it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I makethe residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feeds on ashes. Mad people have been knownto do even that, they have thrust cinders into their mouths-and this is what everybody does who is not trusting in the livingGod. "He feeds on ashes."
20, 21. A deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his oath, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?Remember these, O Jacob and Israel. Think of these false gods and be ashamed of them!
21, 22. For you are My servant: I have formed you; you are My servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of Me. I haveblotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a cloud, your sin: return unto Me; for I have redeemed you. Thesewooden gods have done nothing of the sort. Come back to the true God and worship Him-/and be happy in His love.