NO COMPROMISE
By CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
A Sermon, Delivered, October 7th
1888 at the
METROPOMAN TABERNACLE,
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“And the servant said unto him,
Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me
unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again
unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware
thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my
father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and
that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
be clear from this my oath: only bring not my
son thither again” - Genesis 24: 5
GENESIS is both the book of beginnings and the book of dispensations.
You know what use Paul makes of Sarah and Hagar, of Esau and Jacob, and the
like. Genesis is, all through, a book instructing
the reader in the dispensations of God towards man. Paul saith, in a certain
place, “which
things are an allegory,” by which he did not mean that they were not literal facts, but that, being
literal facts, they might also be used instructively as an allegory. So may I
say of this chapter. It records what actually was said
and done, but at the same time, it bears within it allegorical instruction with
regard to heavenly things. The true minister of Christ is like this Eleazar of
Damascus; he is sent to find a wife for his Master’s
son. His great desire is, that many shall be - [“accounted worthy” (see Luke 22:
28-30; Phil. 3: 11; Rev. 3: 21. Cf. Rev. 19: 7-8.
R.V.) to be] - presented unto Christ in the day of his appearing, as the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started, communed
with his master; and this is a lesson to us, who go on our Lord’s errands. Let
us, before we engage in actual service, see the Master’s face, talk with him,
and tell to him any difficulties which occur to our minds. Before we get to
work, let us know what we are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear
from our Lord’s own mouth what he expects us to do, and how far he will help us
in the doing of it. I charge you, my fellow-servants,
never to go forth to plead with men for God until you have first pleaded with
God for men. Do not attempt to deliver a message which you have not first of
all yourself received by his Holy Spirit. Come out of the chamber of fellowship
with God into the pulpit of ministry among men, and there will be a freshness
and a power about you which none shall be able to resist. Abraham’s servant
spoke and acted as one who felt bound to do exactly what his master bade him,
and to say what his master told him; hence his one anxiety was to know the
essence and measure of his commission. During his converse with his master he mentioned one little point about which there might
be a hitch; and his master soon removed the difficulty from his mind. It is
about that hitch, which has occurred lately on a very large scale, and has
upset a good many of my Master's servants, that I am going to speak this
morning: may God grant that it may be to the benefit of his church at large!
1. Beginning our sermon, we will ask you, first, to THINK OF THE SERVANT’S JOYFUL BUT WEIGHTY ERRAND. It was a joyful errand: the bells of
marriage were ringing around him. The marriage of the heir should be a joyful
event. It was an honourable thing for the servant to be
entrusted with the finding of a wife for his master’s son. Yet it was
every way a most responsible business, by no means easy of accomplishment.
Blunders might very readily occur before he was aware of it; and he needed to
have all his wits about him, and something more than his wits, too, for so
delicate a matter. He had to journey far, over lands without track or road; he
had to seek out a family which he did not know, and to find out of that family
a woman whom he did not know, who nevertheless should be the right person to be
the wife of his master’s son: all this was a great service.
The work this man undertook was a business upon which his master’s heart
was set. Isaac was now forty years old,
and had shown no sign of marrying. He was of a quiet, gentle spirit, and needed
a more active spirit to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him of the
solace of his life, which he had found in his mother, and had, no doubt, made
him desire tender companionship. Abraham himself was old,
and well stricken in years; and he very naturally wished to see the promise
beginning to be fulfilled, that in Isaac should his seed be called. Therefore,
with great anxiety, which is indicated by his making his servant swear an oath
of a most solemn kind, he gave him the commission to go to the old family abode
in
This message was the more weighty
because of the person for whom
the spouse was sought. Isaac was an extraordinary personage; indeed, to the
servant he was unique. He was a man born according to promise, not after the
flesh, but by the power of God; and you know how in Christ, and in all that are
one with Christ, the life comes by the promise and the power of God, and
springeth not of man. Isaac was himself the fulfilment of promise, and the heir
of the promise. Infinitely glorious is our Lord Jesus as the Son of man! Who
shall declare his generation? Where shall be found a helpmeet for him? a soul
fit to be espoused unto him? Isaac had been sacrificed; he had been laid upon
the altar, and although he did not actually die, his father’s hand had
unsheathed the knife wherewith to slay him. Abraham in spirit had offered up
his son; and you know who he is of whom we preach, and for whom we preach, even
Jesus, who has laid down his life a sacrifice for sinners. He has been
presented as a whole burnt-offering unto God. Oh! by the wounds, and by the bloody sweat, I ask you where
shall we find a heart fit to be wedded to Him? How
shall we find men and women who can worthily recompense love so amazing, so
divine, as that of Him who died the death of the cross? Isaac had also been, in
a figure, raised from the dead. To his father he was “as good as
dead,” as said the
apostle; and he was given back to him from the dead. But our blessed Lord has actually risen from an actual death,
and stands before us this day as the Conqueror of death, and the Spoiler of the
grave. Who shall be
joined to this Conqueror? Who is fit to dwell in [the millennial] glory with this glorious One? One would have thought that every heart would aspire to such
happiness, and leap in prospect of such peerless honour, and that none would
shrink back except through a sense of great unworthiness. Alas! it is not so,
though so it ought to be.
What a weighty errand have we to fulfil to find those who shall
be linked for ever in holy union with the Heir
of the promise,* even the sacrificed and risen One! Isaac was everything to Abraham. Abraham
would have said to Isaac, “All that I have is thine.” So is it true of our blessed Lord,
whom he hath made Heir of all things;* by
whom also he made the worlds, that “it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” What a dignity will be put upon any of you who are married to Christ! To what a height
of eminence will you be uplifted by becoming one with
Jesus! O preacher, what a work hast thou to do to-day, to find out those - [from
amongst His redeemed] - to whom thou shalt give the
bracelet, and upon whose face thou shalt hang the jewel! To whom shall I say, “Wilt thou give
thy heart to my Lord! Wilt thou have Jesus to be
thy confidence, thy salvation, thine all in all? Art thou
willing to become his that he may be thine?”
[* See Psa.
2: 6-8; 72: 7-8; 110: 1-2; Isa. 9: 6b-8,
R.V.)]
Said I not truly that it was a joyful, but a weighty errand,
when you think what she must be to whom his master’s son should be espoused?
She must, at least, be willing and beautiful. In the day of God’s power, hearts are made
willing. There can be no marriage to
Jesus without a heart of love. Where shall we find this willing heart? Only
where the grace of God has wrought it. Ah, then, I see how I may find beauty
too, among the sons of men! Marred as our nature is by sin, only the Holy Spirit can impart that
beauty of holiness which will enable the Lord Jesus to
see comeliness in his chosen. Alas! in our hearts there is an
aversion to Christ, and an unwillingness to accept of him, and at the same time
a terrible unfitness and unworthiness! The Spirit of God implants a love which is of
heavenly origin, and renews the heart by a regeneration from above; and
then we seek to be one with Jesus, but not
till then. See, then, how our errand calls for the help of God himself.
Think what she will become who is to
be married to Isaac? She is to be his delight; his loving
friend and companion. She is to be partner
of all his wealth; and specially
is she to be a partaker in the great covenant promise, which was peculiarly entailed upon Abraham and his family. When a
sinner comes to Christ, what does Christ make of him? His delight is in him: he
communes with him; he hears his prayer, he accepts his praise; he works in him
and with him, and glorifies himself in him. He makes the believing man joint-heir with himself of all that he has,
and introduces him into the covenant treasure-house,
wherein the riches and glory of God are stored up for his chosen. Ah, dear
friends! it is a very small business in the esteem of
some to preach the ‘gospel’; - [of the kingdom’ (see Matt.
4: 23; 24: 14,
R.V).] - and yet, if God is with us, ours is
more than angels’ service. In a humble way you are
telling of Jesus to your boys and girls in your classes; and some will despise
you as “only Sunday-school teachers”; but your
work has a spiritual weight about it unknown to conclaves of senators, and
absent from the counsels of emperors. Upon what you say, death, and hell, and
worlds unknown are hanging. You are working out the destinies of immortal
spirits, turning souls from ruin to - [His coming] - glory, from sin to holiness.
“’Tis not a
work of small import
Your loving care demands;
But what might fill an angel’s heart,
And
filled the Saviour’s hands.”
In carrying out his commission, this servant must spare no exertion. It would be
required of him to journey to a great distance, having a general indication of
direction, but not knowing the way. He must
have divine guidance and protection.
When he reached the place, he must
exercise great common-sense, and at the same time a trustful dependence upon the goodness and
wisdom of God. It would be a wonder of wonders if he ever met the chosen
woman, and only the Lord could bring it to pass. He had all the care and the faith required. We have read the story of
how he journeyed, and prayed, and pleaded. We should have cried, “Who is sufficient
for these things?” but we see that the Lord Jehovah
made him sufficient, and his mission was happily carried
out.
How can we put ourselves into the right position to get at
sinners, and win them for Jesus? How can we learn to speak the right words? How
shall we suit our teaching to the condition of their hearts? How shall we adapt
ourselves to their feelings, their prejudices, their sorrows, and their
temptations? Brethren, we who preach the gospel continually may well cry, “If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence.”
To seek for pearls at the bottom of the sea is child’s play compared with
seeking for - [the future salvation* of ‘elect’] - souls in this wicked
[* See 1 Pet. 1: 1, 5, 9-11, R.V. ** Compare Matt. 16: 18; Luke 14: 14; 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11; Rev.
20:4-6
with Rev.
3:
21.]
2. Secondly, I would have you CONSIDER THE REASONABLE FEAR WHICH IS MENTIONED. Abraham’s servant said, “Peradventure
the woman will not be willing to follow
me unto this land.” This is a very serious, grave, and common difficulty. If the woman be not willing, nothing can be done; force and fraud are out
of the question; there must be a true will, or there can be no marriage in this instance. Here was the
difficulty: here was a will to be dealt with. Ah, my brethren! this is our difficulty still. Let me
describe this difficulty in detail as it appeared to the servant, and appears to us.
She may not believe my report, or be impressed by it. When I come to her, and tell her that
I am sent by Abraham, she may look me in the face, and say, “There be many deceivers nowadays.”
If I tell her that my master’s son is surpassingly beautiful and rich, and that
he would fain take her to himself, she may answer, “Strange
tales and romances are common in these days; but the prudent do not quit their homes.” Brethren, in our case
this is a sad fact. The great evangelical prophet cried of old, “Who hath
believed our report?” We also cry in the same words. Men care not for the report of God’s great
love to the rebellious sons of men. They do not believe that the infinitely
glorious Lord is seeking the love of poor, insignificant man, and to win it has
laid down his life.
There was another difficulty: she was expected to feel a love to
one she had never seen. She had only newly heard that there was such a person
as Isaac, but yet she must love him enough to leave her kindred, and go to a
distant land. This could only be because she recognized the will of Jehovah in
the matter. Ah, my dear hearers! all that we tell you
is concerning things not seen as yet;
and here is our difficulty. You have eyes, and you want to see everything; you
have hands, and you want to handle everything; but there is One
whom you cannot see as yet, who has won our love because of what we believe
concerning Him. We can truly say of Him, “Whom having not seen, we love: in whom, though now we see him not,
yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory.” I know that you answer our request
thus: “You demand too much of us when you ask us to love
a Christ we have never seen.” I can only answer, “it is even so: we do ask
more of you than we expect to receive.” Unless God the Holy Ghost shall work a miracle of
grace upon your hearts, you will not be persuaded by
us to quit your old associations, and join yourselves to our beloved Lord. And
yet, if you did come to him, and love him, he would more than content you; for
you would find in him rest unto your
souls, and a peace which passeth all
understanding.
Abraham’s servant may have thought: She may refuse to make so great a change as to quit Mesopotamia for
Moreover, it might be a great difficulty to Rebekah, if she
had had any difficulties at all, to think that she must
henceforth lead a pilgrim life. She
would quit house and farm for tent and gipsy life. Abraham and Isaac found no
city to dwell in, but wandered from place to place, dwelling alone, sojourners
with God. Their outward mode of life was typical of the way of faith, by
which men live in the world, and are not of it. To all intents and purposes Abraham and Isaac were out of the world, and lived on its surface without lasting
connection with it. They were the Lord’s men, and the Lord was their
possession. He set himself apart for them, and they were set apart for him.
Rebekah might well have said, “That will never do for
me. I cannot outlaw myself. I cannot quit the comforts of a settled abode to
ramble over the fields wherever the flocks may require me to roam.”
It does not strike the most of mankind
that it would be a good thing to be in the world, and yet not to be of it. They
are no strangers in the world, they long to be
admitted more fully into its “society.” They
are not aliens here with their treasures in heaven they long to have a good
round sum on earth, and find their heaven in enjoying it themselves, and
enriching their families. Earthworms as they are, the earth contents them. If
any man becomes unworldly, and makes spiritual things his one object, they despise
him as a dreamy enthusiast. Many men think that the things of religion are
merely meant to be read of, and to be preached about; but that to live for them
would be to spend a dreamy, unpractical existence. Yet the spiritual is, after
all, the only real: the material is in deepest truth the visionary and
unsubstantial. Still, when people turn away because of the hardness of holy warfare,
and the spirituality of the believing life, we are not astonished, for we
hardly hoped it could be otherwise. Unless the Lord renews the heart, men will
always prefer the bird-in-the-hand of this life to the bird-in-the-bush of the
life - [in the ‘Age’ yet] - to
Come.
Moreover, it might be that the woman might not care for the covenant of
promise. If she had no regard for Jehovah and his revealed will,
she was not likely to go with the man, and enter upon marriage with Isaac. He
was the Heir of the promises, the inheritor of the covenant privileges
which the Lord by oath had promised. His chosen would become the mother
of that chosen seed in whom God had ordained to bless the world throughout all
the ages, even the [coming] Messiah, the seed of the woman, who should bruise the
serpent’s head.
Peradventure the woman might not see the value of the
covenant, nor appreciate the ‘glory’ of the promise.* The things we have to preach of, such as
life everlasting, union with Christ, resurrection from the dead, reigning with
him for ever and ever, seem to the dull hearts of men to be as idle tales. Tell
them of a high interest for their money, of large estates to be
had for a venture, or of honours to be readily gained, and inventions to
be found out, they open all their eyes and their ears, for here is something
worth knowing; but the things of God, eternal, immortal, boundless - these are
of no importance to them. They could not be induced to go from
[* Psalm 2: 8; cf.
Isaiah 40: 5,
R.V.]
So you see our difficulty. Many
disbelieve altogether, and others cavil and object. A greater number will not
even listen to our story; and of those who do listen, most are careless, and
others dally with it, and postpone the serious consideration. Alas! we speak to unwilling ears.
3. In the third place, I would ENLARGE UPON HIS VERY
NATURAL SUGGESTION.
This prudent steward said, “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to
follow me unto this land: Must I needs bring thy son again
into the land from whence thou camest?” If she will not come to Isaac, shall
Isaac go down to her? This is the suggestion of the present hour: if the world
will not come to Jesus, shall Jesus tone down his teachings to the world? In
other words, if the world will not rise to the church, shall not the church go
down to the world? Instead of bidding men to be converted, and come out from
among sinners, and be separate from them, let us join with the ungodly world,
enter into union with it, and so pervade it with our influence by allowing it
to influence us. Let us have a Christian world.
To this end let us revise our
doctrines. Some are old-fashioned, grim, severe, unpopular;
let us drop them out. Use the old phrases so as to
please the obstinately orthodox, but give them new meanings so as to win
philosophical infidels, who are prowling around. Pare off the edges of
unpleasant truths, and moderate the dogmatic tone of infallible revelation: say
that Abraham and Moses made mistakes, and that the books
which have been so long had in reverence are full of errors. Undermine
the old faith, and bring in the new doubt; for the times are altered, and the
spirit of the age suggests the abandonment of everything that is too severely
righteous, and too surely of God.
The deceitful adulteration of doctrine is attended
by a falsification of experience. Men are now told that they were born good, or were made so by
their infant baptism, and so that great sentence, “Ye must be
born again,” is
deprived of its force. Repentance is ignored, faith is
a drug in the market as compared with “honest doubt,”
and mourning for sin and communion with God are dispensed with, to make way for
entertainments, and Socialism, and politics of varying shades. A new creature
in Christ Jesus is looked upon as a sour invention of
bigoted Puritans. It is true, with the same breath
they extol Oliver Cromwell; but then
1888 is not 1648. What was good and great three hundred years
ago is mere cant to-day. That is what “modem
thought” is telling us; and under its guidance all religion is being
toned down. Spiritual religion is despised, and a fashionable morality is set
up in its place. Do yourself up tidily on Sunday; behave yourself; and above
all, believe everything except what you read in the Bible, and you will be all
right. Be fashionable, and think with those who profess to be scientific - this
is the first and great commandment of the modern school; and the second is like
unto it - do not be singular, but be as worldly as your neighbours. Thus is
Isaac going down into Padan-aram: thus is the church going down to the world.
Men seem to say - It is of no use going on in the old way,
fetching out one here and another there from the great mass. We want a quicker
way. To wait till people are born again, and become followers of Christ, is a
long process: let us abolish the separation between the regenerate and
unregenerate. Come into the church, all of you, converted or unconverted. You
have good wishes and good resolutions; that will do: don’t
trouble about more. It is true you do not believe the gospel, [‘of the kingdom’ (Matt. 4: 23; 24: 14, R.V)] - but neither do we. You believe something
or other. Come along; if you do not believe anything, no matter; your “honest doubt” is better by far than faith. “But,” say you, “nobody talks
so.” Possibly they do not use the same words,
but this is the real meaning of the present-day religion; this is the drift of
the times.
I can justify the broadest statement I have made by the action
or by the speech of certain ministers, who are treacherously betraying our holy
religion under pretence of adapting it to this progressive age. The new plan is
to assimilate the church to the world, and so include a larger area within its
bounds. By semi-dramatic performances they make houses of prayer to approximate
to the theatre; they turn their services into musical displays, and their
sermons into political harangues or philosophical essays- in fact, they
exchange the temple for the theatre, and turn the ministers of God into actors,
whose business it is to amuse men. Is it not so, that the Lord’s-day is
becoming more and more a day of recreation or of idleness, and the Lord’s house
either a joss-house full of idols, or a political club, where there is more
enthusiasm for a party than zeal for God? Ah me! the hedges are broken down,
the walls are levelled, and to many there is henceforth, no church except as a
portion of the world, no God except as an unknowable force by which the laws of
nature work.
This, then, is the proposal. In order to win the world, the
Lord Jesus must conform himself, his people, and his Word to the world. I will
not dwell any longer on so loathsome a proposal.
4. In the fourth place, NOTICE HIS MASTER’S OUTSPOKEN, BELIEVING REPUDIATION
OF THE PROPOSAL. He
says, shortly and sharply, “Beware that thou bring not my son thither again.” The Lord Jesus
Christ heads that grand emigration party which has come right out from the
world. Addressing his disciples, he says, “Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” We are not of the world by birth, not
of the world in life, not of the world in object, not of the world in spirit,
not of the world in any respect whatever. Jesus, and those who are in him,
constitute a new race. The proposal to go back to the world is abhorrent to our
best instincts; yea, deadly to our noblest life. A voice from heaven cries, “Bring not my
son thither again.” Let not the people whom the Lord brought up out of
Notice how Abraham states the question. In effect, he argues
it thus: this would be to forego
the divine order. “For,” says Abraham, “the Lord God of heaven took
me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred.” What, then, if he brought Abraham
out, is Isaac to return? This cannot be. Hitherto the way of God with his
church has been to sever a people from the world to be his ‘elect’ - a people formed for himself,
who shall show forth his praise. Beloved, God’s plan is not
altered. He will still go on calling those whom he did predestinate. Do
not let us fly in the teeth of that fact, and suppose that we can save men on a
more wholesale scale by ignoring the distinction between the dead in sin and
the living in
For Isaac to go down to Nahor’s house for a wife would be placing God second to a wife. Abraham begins
at once with a reference to Jehovah, “the God of heaven”; for Jehovah was everything to him, and to Isaac also. Isaac would never renounce his walk
with the living God that he might find a wife. Yet this apostasy is common
enough nowadays. Men and women who profess godliness will quit what they
profess to believe in order to get richer wives or husbands for themselves or
their children. This mercenary conduct is without excuse. “Better society” is
the cry - meaning more wealth and fashion. To the true man God is first - yea, all in all; but God is placed at the fag-end, and everything
else is put before him by the base professor. In the name of God
I call upon you who are faithful to God and to his [prophetic] truth, to stand fast, whatever you lose, and turn not
aside, whatever you might gain. Count the reproach of Christ greater riches
than all the treasures of
Abraham felt that this would be to renounce the covenant promise. See how he puts it: “The God that took me from my father’s
house sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I
give this land.” Are they, then, to leave the land, and go back to the place
from which the Lord had called them? Brethren, we also are - [today
being called, to be] - heirs of the promise of things not seen as yet. For the sake of this we walk by faith,
and hence we become separate from those around us. We dwell among men as
Abraham dwelt among the Canaanites; but we are of a distinct race: we are born
with a new birth, live under different laws, and act from different motives. If
we go back to the ways of worldlings, and are numbered with them, we have
renounced the covenant of our God, the promise is no longer ours, and the
eternal - [Gk.
‘aionios’ = age-lasting] - heritage
is in other hands. Do you not know this? The moment the church says, “I will be as the world,” she has doomed herself with
the world. When the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose,
then the flood came, and swept them all away. So will it again happen should the world take
the church into its arms: then shall
come some overwhelming judgment, and,
it may be, a deluge of devouring fire. The covenant promise and the
covenant heritage are no longer ours if we go down to the world and quit our
sojourning with the Lord.
Besides, dear friends, no good can come of trying to conform
to the world. Suppose the servant’s policy could
have been adopted, and Isaac: had gone down to Nahor’s house, what would
have been the motive? To spare Rebekah the pain of separating from her friends
and the trouble of travelling. If those things could have kept her back, what
would she have been worth to Isaac? The
test of separation was wholesome, and
by no means ought it to be omitted. She is a poor
wife who would not take a journey to reach her husband. And
all the converts that the church will ever make by softening down its doctrine,
and by becoming worldly, will not be worth one bad farthing a gross. When we
get them, the next question will be, “How can we get
rid of them?” They would be of no earthly use to us. It swelled the
number of Israelites when they came out of Egypt that a great number of the
lower order of Egyptians came out with them. Yes, but that mixed multitude
became the plague of
Besides, Abraham felt that there could be no reason for taking Isaac down there, for the Lord
would assuredly find him a wife. Abraham said, “He shall send his angel before
thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son
from thence.” Are
you afraid that preaching the gospel will not win souls? Are you despondent as
to success in God's way? Is this why you pine for clever oratory? Is this why
you must have music, and architecture, and flowers, and millinery? After all,
is it by might and by power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so in the
opinion of many. Brethren beloved, there are many things which 1 might allow to
other worshippers which 1 have denied myself in conducting the worship of this
congregation. I have long worked out before your very eyes the experiment of
the unaided attractiveness of the gospel of Jesus. Our service is severely
plain. No man ever comes hither to gratify his eye with art, or his ear with
music. I have set before you, these many years, nothing but Christ crucified,
and the simplicity of the gospel; yet where will you find such a crowd as this gathered together this morning? Where will you find such a
multitude as this meeting, Sabbath after Sabbath, for five-and-thirty years? I
have shown you nothing but the cross, the cross without the flowers of oratory,
the cross without the blue lights of superstition or excitement, the cross
without diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross without the buttresses of a
boastful science. It is abundantly sufficient to attract men first to itself,
and afterwards to eternal life! In this house we have
proved successfully, these many years, this great truth, that the gospel
plainly preached will gain an audience, convert sinners, and build up and
sustain a church.
We beseech the people of God to mark that there is no need to
try doubtful expedients and questionable methods. God will save by the gospel
still: only let it be the gospel in its purity. This grand old sword will
cleave a man’s chine, and split a rock in halves. How is it that it does so
little of its old conquering work? I will tell you. Do you see this scabbard of
artistic work, so wonderfully elaborated? Full many keep the sword in this
scabbard, and therefore its edge never gets to its work. Pull off that
scabbard. Fling that fine sheath to Hades, and then see how, in the Lord’s
hands, that glorious two-handed sword will mow down fields of men as mowers
level the grass with their scythes. There is no need to go down to Egypt for
help. To invite the devil to help Christ is shameful. Please God, we shall see
prosperity yet, when the
5. And now, fifthly, observe HIS RIGHTEOUS ABSOLUTION OF HIS SERVANT. “If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son
thither again.”
When we lie a-dying, if we have
faithfully preached the gospel, our conscience will not accuse us for having
kept closely to it: we shall not mourn that we did not play the fool or the politician
in order to increase our congregation. Oh, no! our Master will give us full absolution, even if few be
gathered in, so long as we have been true to him. “If the woman
will not be willing to follow thee, then thou
shalt be clear from this my oath; only bring not
my son thither again.” Do not try the dodges which debase religion. Keep to the simple gospel;
and if the people are not converted by it, you will be clear. My dear hearers,
how much I long to see you saved! But I would not belie my Lord, even to win
your souls, if they could be so won. The true servant of God is responsible for
diligence and faithfulness; but he is not responsible for success or
non-success. Results are in God’s hands. If that dear child in your class is
not converted, yet if you have set before him the gospel of Jesus Christ with
loving, prayerful earnestness, you shall not be without your reward. If I
preach from my very soul the grand truth that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
will save my hearers, and if I persuade and entreat them to believe in Jesus
unto eternal life; if they will not do so, their blood will lie upon their own
heads. When I go back to my Master, if I have faithfully told out his message
of free grace and dying love, I shall be clear. I have often prayed that I
might be able to say at the last what George Fox could so truly say: “I am clear, I am clear!” It is my highest ambition to
be clear of the blood of all men. I have preached God’s truth, so far as I know it, and I have not been ashamed of its
peculiarities. That I might not stultify my testimony I have cut myself clear
of those who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them.
What more can I do
to be honest with you? If, after all, men will not have Christ, and his gospel, and his rule, it
is their own concern. If Rebekah had not come to Isaac she would have lost her
place in the holy line. My beloved hearer, will you have Jesus Christ or not?
He has come into the world to save sinners, and he casts out none. Will you accept
him? Will you trust him? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Will you believe him? Will you be baptized into his name? If so, salvation is yours; but if not, he himself hath said it, “He that
believeth not shall be damned.” Oh, do not expose yourselves to that damnation! Or, if you
are set upon. it; then, when the great white throne shall be seen in yonder
skies, and the day of wrath has come, do me the justice to acknowledge that I
bade you flee to Jesus, and that I did not amuse you with novel theories. I
have brought neither flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, nor any other kind of music to please your ears, but I have
set Christ crucified before you, and bidden you believe and live. If you refuse to accept the
substitution of Christ, you have refused your own mercies. Clear me in that day
of all complicity with the novel inventions of deluded men. As for my Lord, I
pray of him grace to be faithful to the end, both to his truth, and to your
souls. Amen.
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The most widely popular of English preachers in the nineteenth
century was without question, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, June 19th, 1834. Both his father
and grandfather being pastors, young Spurgeon was raised in the knowledge and
understanding of the Christian gospel; but it was not until a stormy January
night in 1850 that he was converted. In August of the same year, Spurgeon
preached his first sermon to a small gathering of farmers.
A year later he was called to pastor
a village church; and in 1854 in his nineteenth year was installed as shepherd
over the flock of the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark,
His body wracked by pain in the later years, and his ministry
attacked by his opponents, Spurgeon continued to preach the gospel until his
death in January, 1892.
What was the secret to Spurgeon’s success? He was a man gifted
with a powerful voice, a mastery of plain language and illustration, and a
great intellect. Power, fervour of conception, and passionateness of appeal
individualized his sermons, as they were saturated
with Christian earnestness. However, the real secret to Spurgeon’s success was
his deep yet very simple trust in and understanding of his Lord and Saviour and
of His great grace and love. Out of this came a great longing to have others
come to know, to love and to worship the Lord Jesus as he did.