Part 15
also learned how to die. We die unto the world and thereby learn to
die. When we cease to trust in riches, when we resign our comforts,
when we no longer lean on friends, when all things visible become
as shadows to us, then we make a rehearsal of death. Unless the
Lord Himself shall soon descend from Heaven with a shout, we
shall all die. Yes, the hour of our departure hastens on. Then we
shall have to cut ourselves loose from our moorings, be they what
they may.
Soon shall we hear this word from Heaven, "Get you out of your
country and from your kindred and from your father's house, unto a
land that I will show you." This will be our summons to the better
Canaan, the land that flows with milk and honey. We shall depart
out of this world to face an unknown eternity. But we shall by no
means dread the migration. He that has crossed the great river, the
river Euphrates, will not fear the Jordan. To give up the world will
be no new thing for you or for me–we have given it up many times
already. We have frequently given up everything into the Lord's
hands in real earnest and we can readily do it once more.
We live here as strangers and sojourners and we find little to
charm us in this foreign land. Our treasure is above and it will be a
joy for our souls to rise to the place where our hearts already dwell.
We cannot be sorry to quit a dead world. Who loves to sit in a
morgue? If we tremble to leave kindred and friends, yet let us
remember that we have already quit them in spirit. Let us journey,
as Abram did, towards the south. That is to say, let us get still
further away from the old abode. Let us make for the heart of
Immanuel's land. Let us press towards the New Jerusalem, the
heavenly city and rest not till we stand in our lot and behold Him
whom Abram saw with gladness.
The one question I finish with is–Do you know anything about
this? Have you ever felt this Divine call? If so, make your calling
and election sure. Carry out the separating ordinance to the full.
Some of us had to take very decided steps at our first starting but
we began aright. We have been called since to equally painful
courses but we hope to keep right. Anything is better than a wound
in the conscience. If we keep close to Christ we shall find rest unto
our souls. We look back without regret to what we may have
suffered by decision–counting it less than nothing for the joy that
was set before us.
We wish that all our converts would be out-and-out in their course
of life. O you, who by Divine Grace are beginners in the heavenly
life, make a strong resolve–"We will be the servants of God and
endeavor in all things to obey Him." Since God made you and by
the blood of His dear Son redeemed you, it is yours to be doubly
the Lord's. There are the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ–
are these yours? Make sure on that point. And if they are yours,
yield yourself to Jesus and from this day forward do His bidding
without question or delay.
Quit everything contrary to the Lord's mind and will. At all cost
be true–then shall the Lord be your delight and His service shall be
your Heaven below. If you are now separated unto Him, you shall
find your reward in that day when He shall divide the sheep from
the goats–for then you shall be placed at His right hand to hear Him
say, "Come, you blessed of My Father."
May you be the children of believing Abram for Jesus' sake!
Amen.
Ge 12:2 • Abraham's Double Blessing
ERMON 2523
Abraham's Double Blessing
"I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing."
Genesis 12:2
THIS was to be the double result of Abraham's coming out from
his own country and his father's house. Those Orientals clung with
great tenacity to their native homes. We, in these latter ages, are not
so restful–we think nothing of crossing the Atlantic and many think
little of going to the other side of the globe–but those Easterns
trembled, even, to cross the Euphrates or the Tigris! They spoke of
the land beyond those rivers as "across the flood," and a journey of
two or three hundred miles seemed to them to be an event only
second to death, itself. Yet when the Lord said to Abraham, "Get
you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your
father's house, unto a land that I will show you," he, "departed, as
the Lord had spoken unto him." His obedience was an act of heroic
faith!
Now, Brothers and Sisters, in consequence of this obedience,
Abraham obtained the double blessing of which our text speaks. He
is called the Father of the Faithful, that is, the father of all such as
believe in God, so that, if we truly believe in God, we shall do what
Abraham as a Believer did. Children are like their father. Believers
are like the father of all Believers, so that there will be a going out
for them as there was for him. We may not be called to actually
leave our homes and our native land, but we shall have a great deal
more troublesome task than that, for we are to be separated from
the people among whom we dwell–to dwell among them, yet not to
be of them–in the world, but not of the world! This is not an easy
thing. It is far easier to become a monk, or a nun, and shut yourself
up alone, than it is to live in the midst of ungodly people and yet to
be, yourself, godly–to trade with the usual followers of commerce
and not to fall into their business customs–to mix with the usual
host of thinkers, yet not to think as they think, but to endeavor to
think the thoughts of God and to obey the will of the Most High.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the most perfect Man among men. In
no respect, in dress or in anything else, did He separate Himself
from the rest of mankind by anything merely external. He ate and
drank just as they did. He sat at their tables, slept in their houses
and talked with them by the way–yet was He always "holy,
harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners." All Believers are
called thus to live in the world a separated life, in obedience to the
Divine command, "Come out from among them, and be you
separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." There is
no necessity for us to wear either the broad-brimmed hat or the
collarless coat, or anything whatever by which we shall be marked
off from the rest of men. We are to be separated in reality , to be
separated by a higher toneof morals, to be separated by a truer life–
a life with God, a life in God–to be separated by faith in the
unseen, to beseparated by an enthusiasm to which the rest of
mankind will not pretend, which, indeed, they will even despise!
This is the high, hard, holy, heavenly task to which Believers in
Christ are called. Oh, for Grace to accomplish it!
In proportion as we accomplish it, the words of my text will come
true to us–"I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing." As far as
Abraham did
not live the life of separation, so far he missed the blessing. You
remember that he went
down into Egypt and you know what trouble he got into there–
and he brought more trouble away with him. As I said, this
morning, (see exposition at end of sermon), very likely Hagar was
one of the slaves given to him by Pharaoh when he dismissed him
and Sarah–and you know what trouble Hagar brought into the
family. (Sermon #1869, Volume 31–Hagar at the Fountain). If
Abraham had lived the separated life and had not fallen into the
customs of those round about him, he would not have had that sin
and sorrow concerning Hagar. Nor would he have had that
righteous rebuke from Abimelech, the king of Gerar, when again he
had acted deceitfully with regard to his wife.
Whenever you see Abraham living alone before the Lord, you see
a man of God, blessed of God, even as the Lord said, "I called him
alone, and blessed him." But when he goes and links himself with
others, he loses the fullness of the blessing and gets into serious
trouble. And you, Christian men and women, will find that as long
as you keep close to your Lord and Master, you will enjoy His
blessing. You may have cares and trials, but they shall be blessed
cares and blessed trials! But if you go into the world and act as men
of the world act–if you sow your wild oats, you will have to reap
them! Depend upon it, the child of God will feel the weight of his
Father's rod if he begins to play with the boys of the street. If he is
not careful of his company, keeping with his Father's children–and
careful of his life and conversation, doing and saying what his
Father would have him do and say–he will find the rod fall heavily
upon his shoulders, even as the Lord said of old to the children of
Israel, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth:
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."
The blessings of which I am about to speak belong to those who
live the separated life, to those who keep in the narrow way. Just in
proportion as the Grace of God helps us into that separated life and
keeps us there, we shall be blessed and shall be made a blessing.
First, let us consider THE FIRST BLESSING promised to
Abraham in our text–"I will bless you." Notice that the personal
blessing comes first. You cannot be a blessing to others unless God
has first blessed you. We do not encourage selfishness in anything,
but we do say that you must fill your own pitcher before another
man can drink out of it. You must have bread in your own hands
before you can break it for the multitudes. It is no use for you to
attempt to sow out of an empty basket, for that would be sowing
nothing but wind. First of all, then, you must get the blessing
yourself, for until it can be said to you, "I will bless you," it cannot
be said, "You shall be a blessing."
What was the blessing which God gave Abraham? It was the
blessing which He will give to all who live as Abraham lived and
believe as Abraham believed! And, first, Abraham had the rest of
faith. He had no home except his tent–always an uncomfortable
style of dwelling–and no plot of land to call his own. He was a
mere gypsy, moving about from place to place. "By faith he
sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise." Yet, surely, there never was a man more restful than this
same Abraham! Wherever you meet him, he stands out before you
as a calm, quiet, noble figure. Jacob is always cunning, bargaining,
plotting and scheming. But Abraham has nothing of that sort of
character–he is a plain, simple man–believing in God and going
about his business with that leisure which comes of perfect
trustfulness. If God says to him, "Leave your country," he leaves it.
Go and ask him, "Where are you going, Abraham?" He does not
know. God has told him to go out and he is going. The Canaanite is
still in the land of promise–is he not afraid to go there? May not the
inhabitants cut him off, directly, if he comes near them?
Abraham is not afraid! God has told him to go to the land of
Canaan and he feels that he has a right to be there. God causes a
superstitious dread to fall upon those Canaanites–a voice seems to
whisper in their heart, "Touch not My anointed"–and so Abraham
dwells securely among them. An invading host comes from a
distance and carries away his poor nephew, Lot, who has gone to
live down Sodom way, that he may be more comfortable in a city.
Abraham does not deliberate about his course of action–it is his
business to set Lot free–so, with the few young men who are
around him, the old man pursues the five kings, drives them before
him like stubble driven before the wind, and brings back his
nephew Lot and all the spoil! He never sets his hand to anything
but he succeeds in it, and he never seems to worry himself about
anything! God's will is the one rule that he is always content to
obey and he feels perfectly satisfied wherever he may be. Kings
fall down before him, for he is a more truly royal personage than
those who are draped in purple, and who wear crowns! They say
that he is one of nature's true princes and so he is. God had made
him a prince by one touch of faith, for it was faith that did it all–he
believed in God and that believing made him truly great!
Do not say, dear Friends, that this faith was only possible to
Abraham. Brothers, Sisters, it is possible to us, also, if we will have
it. May God help us to believe the promise and not to be staggered
at it through unbelief! If we will but trust God through thick and
thin, through dark and light–if we will but believe God more than
we believe our eyes or our ears–if we will but believe steadily, even
though our own body seems as dead, that God will keep His
promise to the very letter. And if we will, through that faith, always
do the right, and never be daunted or turned aside, then shall our
peace be like a river and our righteousness as the waves of the sea–
and there shall be a kingly majesty about our character, simple and
unadorned as it may be, and open as it may seem to be to the jests
and sarcasms of an unbelieving age!
Whatever men may say, they will really respect and reverence the
man who believes in God and lives as a man of faith should live. If
you want perfect rest in this life–and it is worth more than
thousands of precious jewels–if you would wear in your buttonhole
the herb called heartsease–if you would go through the world
content, quiet, happy and free from care and fear, "trust in the Lord,
and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be
fed." Has not God said, "I will bless you"? He will bless you by
means of your own faith, making you a peaceful, happy person
while all the world besides seems to be up in arms, worried and
anxious!
Beside the rest of faith, Abraham had the victory of faith. "This is
the victory that overcomes the world, even ourfaith." Abraham was
not a fighting man, but when he was called to fight, he fought in
real earnest, and his adversaries fell or fled before him. The victory
of Abraham's faith, when he vanquished Chedorlaomer and the
kings that were with him, was not only a victory on the battlefield,
but a victory afterwards! Those kings had taken the spoils of the
kings of the cities of the plain and had carried away all the booty,
but Abraham recovered it all, so that he might have claimed it as
his own–and even the king of Sodom said to him, "Give me the
persons, and take the goods to yourself." It was a fine pile, no
doubt, and ordinary men do not look at such treasures without
some kind of longing for them, but Abraham answered, "I have
lifted up my hands unto the Lord, the Most High God, the
possessor of Heaven and earth, that I will not take from you a
thread even to a shoelace, and that I will not take anything that is
yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'" "No," says
the Patriarch, "what I receive shall come from God, and not from
the king of Sodom."
It was a real victory of faith for him to be able to act like that. It is
a great thing for a Christian to conquer sin, but I reckon that it is a
greater thing for him not to yield to that which looks dubious, or
that which is selfish although it may be just. It is a victory for faith
when the man says, "No, no! I might do this, or that, or the other,
but I am a child of God and, therefore, I shall not do it. I trust in
God and I will not do it, lest at any time in my future life someone
should say, 'That was not acting as a Christian should act.' No, I
will not take from a thread even to a shoelace that belongs to the
king of Sodom, lest thereby my God should be displeased or
dishonored." What a glorious victory Abraham had that day in the
king's dale!
A Christian, if he lives to God by faith, will often have just such a
victory as that. If he has not as much of this world's goods as others
have, he will not fret and pine after them. He will say, "I am happy
enough without them." And if God should be pleased to give him
riches, he will live above them and he will never let them get into
his heart. "No," he will say, "I am not enriched by these things. My
treasure is of a higher and nobler kind." There are many men who
could not be trusted to be rich, for if they were to attain to wealth,
they would become proud and make an idol of their gold. But the
true heir of Heaven has received this blessing from God–that he
knows, with Paul, both how to be abased and how to abound, how
to be full and to be hungry. He has learned, in whatever state he is,
to be content. And the man who has learned that lesson is a blessed
man!
Another blessing which Abraham had, and which all Believers
may have, is this–he had power with God. Oh, thatevery one of us
possessed such power and constantly used it! God was about to
destroy the cities of the plain on account of their horrible lusts and
He said to Himself, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I
do?" Was not he a blessed man concerning whom God asked that
question? God goes to Abraham and tells him what He is about to
do. And Abraham, at once, with the power that he had with God,
begins to plead with Him in that famous dialogue between the man
of God and the God of the man! You know how he pleaded–"Will
You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are
fifty righteous within the city: will You also destroy and not spare
the place for the fifty righteous that are there?" The next plea was,
"Will you destroy all the city for lack of forty-five?" Then he
brought the number down to forty, to thirty, to 20 and, at last, to 10
righteous. Was it not a glorious thing for this man, this sheik, this
Bedouin of the desert, to plead and wrestle thus with the eternal
God?
Talk not to me about the grandeur of kings upon their thrones–
Abraham speaking thus with God is greater than all of them put
together! Tell me not of brave warriors returning from the fight
amid the acclamations of the throng! This lonely man, grasping the
arm of Jehovah and urging his suit for mercy for the people of
these doomed cities, is a greater man than all mortals besides! They
used to say of Luther, as he walked along the street, "There goes
the man who can have of God anything he likes to ask." And there
are some I know to whom God has given this same privilege! And
if we will but walk alone with God and will fully trust Him, He will
give us carte blanche–given it to us in thosewondrous words of
Christ, "If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall
ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." "Delight yourself
also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart." It
is as if the silver keys of Paradise swung at the belts of the saints!
Have they not had the keys of the rain? Did not Elijah turn the key
and shut up the clouds for three years and six months–and then turn
it the other way and bring a blessed deluge on the land? Oh, if we
have but faith, we shall have this high privilege of coming to the
Mercy Seat, just when we will, and asking of our God according to
our need–and His promise shall be fulfilled to each one of us, "I
will bless you."
I must add, yet further, that Abraham had from God the great
blessedness of being sustained under trial. Have youever noticed a
certain little record concerning Abraham? It is after he had offered
up his son, Isaac. That was the sharpest trial that could have
befallen mortal man–to be commanded to go and offer up his own
son, his only son, his beloved son–the son who had been
miraculously given to him! But he, with stalwart faith, felt sure that
God would keep His promise and that He would raise Isaac from
the dead, if necessary, so it was not for him to reason about the
matter, but to do what seemed to be the terrible will of God. Some
little while after that great trial, it is written, "Abraham was old,
and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all
things." That is the short history of his long life–God told him that
He would bless him–and He did. "The Lord had blessed Abraham
in all things." What? When He commanded him to slay his son?
Yes. He "had blessed him in all things." What? When He took
away his wife Sarah? Yes, for, "the Lord had blessed Abraham in
all things."
Perhaps, if his life had been without troubles, that sentence would
not have been true! Just look at this matter a moment, dear Friends.
When you and I, with all our cares, trials, poverty, suffering and
pain shall get to our journey's end, if we have faith like Abraham's,
it will be written of each one of us, "The Lord had blessed him in
all things–blessed him in his troubles, blessed him in those cruel
tests of faith as they seemed to be–blessed him by sustaining him
under them all." I think that if I were an old sailor, I would not like
to have had a life on a sea of glass. If I were at home, say at 70
years of age, and my grandchildren had gathered around me to hear
the story of my life, I would not like to have to sum it all up by
saying, "Boys, I do not know anything about storms. I never was in
one in my life. You see, I never went to sea without a favorable
wind. Whenever I got on board ship, all storms ceased and I had
nothing to do but just to watch until I reached the port." I expect
the boys would ask, "But, Grandfather, were there never any big
waves?" "No, never." "Were you never cast away on a rock?" "No,
never–it was all smooth with me from beginning to end."
There would be nothing to tell about a life like that and a man
would not make much of a sailor that way. Or suppose it is one of
our soldiers who, when he has retired from the army says, "I never
smelt gunpowder." I pray God that our soldiers may never have to
fight, but still, a man will never make anything of a soldier if that is
the fact with him. And you and I will not make stalwart Christians
without trials and troubles! And when we get to Heaven, we shall
not have so much for which to glorify God if we have had our
bread and butter spread for us from the first day to the last, and
have never had any lack of food, never any hard labor, never any
stern affliction, never any bitter pain, never any deep distress! But
how blessed are they who have done business in great waters, who
have seen the white teeth of the storm furies and sailed through the
very throat of death and come out safely! How blessed are they
who have had much reason for fear, but who have had no fear, God
having lifted them above it by the supernatural energy of His
Grace! So, Brothers and Sisters, you may often have blessing come
to you, not in the shape of a rolled path all the way to Heaven, but
in the shape of a faith that endures to the end, so that you shall
stand firm in every temptation and, at the last, shallenter into your
rest and say at the end of all, "God has blessed me in all things,
blessed be His holy name!"
Another special favor that Abraham had was God's Presence. I
think that the greatest blessing God ever gives to aman is His own
Presence. If I had my choice of all the blessings of this life, I
certainly should not ask for wealth, for that can bring no ease. And
I certainly should not ask for popularity, for there is no rest to the
man upon whose words men constantly wait–and it is a hard task
one has to perform in such a case as that. But I should choose, as
my highest honor, to have God always with me. Who would choose
between the burning fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar and a bed of
down if God was equally with us in both cases? It matters not! We
might be just as happy in the one case as in the other. If God is with
us–if His Divine love surrounds us–we carry our own atmosphere
wherever we go, we take our own abode with us wherever we
journey! And with Moses we can say, "Lord, You have been our
dwelling place in all generations." That heart is full of Heaven that
is full of God. That man is blessed to all the intents of bliss who
dwells in God and in whom God dwells! And that is the privilege
of all who truly believe in Jesus, all who come out from the world
and live a life of faith as Abraham did.
Bow your head, Believer, and let the Lord God pronounce on you
this benediction, "Surely, blessing I will bless you." Sorrowing,
suffering, weary, burdened, yet receive this blessing as from God's
own mouth, "I will bless you." Poor, despised, slandered, yet is the
blessing not one whit curtailed! So, take it home with you and go
on your way rejoicing!
II. Now let us turn to the second part of the text and consider THE
SECOND BLESSING promised to Abraham. "You shall be a
blessing." When God has blessed any man, He makes that man to
be a blessing to others. The Lord fills him that he may overflow
with blessing for those around him. The Holy Spirit puts into the
man the life of God that that life may flow out of him to others.
How, then, do we bless other men? I answer–genuine Christians
bless other men by their example. I will give youone instance–
sometimes an instance is better than an explanation. I suppose that
there is hardly a person here who has not heard of that famous
preacher of the Gospel, Mr. John Angell James. I remember, 33
years ago, taking a journey from Cambridge to Birmingham, that I
might be able to say that I had heard Mr. John Angell James preach.
And I did hear him preach, greatly to my comfort and joy. You
know that he wrote that book, The Anxious Enquirer, which
hasbeen the means of bringing so many to Christ, but did you ever
hear how John Angell James came to be a Christian and a
preacher? He was engaged as a clerk in an office, as many of you
may be, and he slept upon his master's premises. He had been
accustomed, when he retired for the night, to get into bed without
any prayer or any reading of the Scriptures, but there came into the
same office a new clerk, a young man. James went upstairs,
undressed himself as quickly as he could, and got into bed, when,
to his surprise, the new clerk moved the candle, went to his box,
took out his Bible, drew his chair up, sat down as if he was quite at
home, and read a chapter!
Then, with equal deliberation, he knelt down at his bedside and
prayed. He never said a word to John Angell James about not
praying, But he did what was a great deal better–he, himself,
prayed. Within a few months from that time,Mr. James was a
converted man! Within two or three years, he was a minister of the
Gospel, and I cannot help tracing the usefulness of the preacher to
the decision of that young unknown clerk who dared to do the right
thing come what might! "I will bless you," said God to that young
clerk, "and I will make you a blessing." I wonder whether,
afterwards, he used to say to himself, "I thank God that I knelt
down and prayed that night, because, by that simple act of mine,
that man of God was brought to the feet of Jesus and tens of
thousands were converted by his instrumentality"?
"I will make you a blessing." Oh, that our example might be such
that, wherever we go, we may be a blessing! Some of you, perhaps,
have lived in very poor neighborhoods–you have got into poverty
and have to dwell in a back slum. As soon as you are converted,
you want to move away and I do not blame you–who would like to
remain there? At the same time, it seems a pity that the moment
there is a lamp lit, we should take it out of the dark corner. That
slum is where your example is needed, my Brother! Where do you
put the salt? Why, of course, where there is something that, without
it, will rot! So there must be children of God who will say, "We
mean to live here and drive the devil out. We do not intend to leave
this corner, but we mean to stay here and fight the foe till God shall
give us the victory."
Further, dear Friends, those whom God uses are made a blessing
by their prayers. Does anybody know the full extentof the blessings
which come upon us in answer to the prayers of others? Unhappy is
the man who has not somebody praying for him! But rich is that
one who is daily the object of the prayers of saints. O dear Friends,
if God has saved you, never stint your prayers for others! I ask a
share in them–I count myself rich in having the prayers of so
many–how often am I gladdened and comforted when I know that
there are thousands of Christian people who have pledged
themselves never to pray either morning or evening without
remembering me in their prayers! I thank them from the bottom of
my heart–they can do me no greater kindness! Pray for all ministers
of Christ, pray for all Christians and pray day and night for this
great wicked city of ours, steeped up to its throat in sin! God have
mercy upon it! Get to your chamber, child of God, and bow your
knees and cry mightily unto the Most High, for these evil days
sorely need it. If ever we needed intercessors, it is now! If John
Knox's prayers saved Scotland–and they did–we need a man like
he to save England and to bless our country at this present moment.
You can be made a blessing by your intense and vehement prayers!
Therefore, all of you who are Believers "pray without ceasing."
Moreover, if God has blessed us, we ought to try to be made a
blessing by our ordinary life. Sydney Smith, the wittyclergyman,
often said some very good things and one I remember was,
"Always make it a rule to make somebody happy every day, even if
it is only by giving a child a farthing, or helping a poor woman to
carry a parcel that is too heavy for her." There really is so much
misery m the world that it is a pity for us to cause a child to cry, or
even to cause a dog to go howling down the street! I think that we
ought to make everyone happy wherever we are, for our Master
went about doing good to all sorts and conditions of men. But
certainly in our own family we who love the Lord should have the
brightest eyes and the most cheering countenances. I know some
professed Christians who are so dreadfully good, so painfully
pious, that I cannot live near them. "You shall not, you shall not,"
seems written across their very foreheads! All that we must not do,
they perfectly understand, but wherein there is anything of joy and
delight and pleasure in thisholy faith of ours, which came from our
blessed joyous Savior–for such He was, though He was the Man of
Sorrows–all that they seem to forget!
Let it not be so among us, dear Friends, but let us try with all our
might to be a blessing to everybody and, most of all, to be a
blessing to those for whom nobody cares. Let us go out of our way
to remember the forgotten, to help the helpless, to succor those who
are in the deepest need. You know how it is in this world,
everybody will give something to the person who does not need it–
but why not give to the poor, the needy and the helpless? That is
where our gifts should go most freely. These cannot make us a
return, but we shall have a reward at the last if we do them good.
Oh, for the faith which is truly a blessing because we endeavor to
make other people happy wherever we may be!
"I will make you a blessing." When this promise came to
Abraham, surely the very essence of it was that Abraham was
to be made a blessing to the world by virtue of his connection
with Jesus Christ. Our Lord was descended from Abraham–"He
took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed
of Abraham." Our Savior was a Jew. He took upon Himself the
nature of that race and therein Abraham became a blessing to the
whole world! And now, spiritually, we who believe are the children
of Abraham. We come not into the Covenant as they do who are
merely descended from Abraham after the flesh, but we come in
with Isaac, the child of the promise, born not after the flesh, but
after the power of the Spirit! And so we become heirs of salvation
by virtue of that faith which was in Abraham and which dwells also
in us by the gift of the Holy Spirit! Beloved, if you and I are to be
made a blessing to others, it must be by our bringing the Lord Jesus
Christ to thosewhom we meet from day to day. Do not talk to a
friend without speaking of your Savior. Do not be long in a house
without introducing that dear name–there is so much of savor, of
sweetness, of comfort, of healing, of life in that precious name of
Jesus, that you cannot too often speak of it, or too frequently
introduce it into all sorts of companies! I heard, some time ago, of a
man handcuffed and being taken away by the police for a term of
imprisonment–a horrible wretch with a face that was scarcely
human, a man who seemed as if he was cut out for a murderer–and
as he stood in the station and few cared even to look at him, a little
girl went near and, looking up to him, said, "Poor man, I pity you."
He was wretch enough to utter some lewd and profane expression
and the child, astonished, ran back to her father. But she could not
stay long. There seemed to be a charm to her about that wicked
man, so she ran into the room, again, and said, "Poor man, Jesus
Christ pities you–He does!" The police said to the governor of the
jail, when handing over their prisoner, "That man will give you a
world of trouble. He is the most horrible brute we ever came
across, it took a great many of us to capture him."
The next morning he was found quiet and subdued–and during all
the term of his imprisonment there was not a better prisoner! And
he went out of the jail a changed man. He told the chaplain that it
was the little girl who had done it when she said that she pitied him
and that Jesus Christ pitied him. If we would more often bring in
that blessed name of Jesus, then would our text be fulfilled, "I will
bless you, and you shall be a blessing." Oh, that we would all first
come to Him and find the blessing that is treasured up in Him–and
then go forth and be a blessing to our own family and to all around
us! O Lord, grant that it may be so, for Your dear Son's sake!
Amen.
Ge 12:5 • Effectual Calling — Illustrated by the Call of Abram
ERMON 0843
Effectual Calling—Illustrated By The Call Of Abram
"They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land
of Canaan they came."
Genesis 12:5
IF you desire to know the character or a child, you will probably
learn much about it from observing the father. The young bird flies
and sings as its father did before it. If we would know the life of
the child of faith, we should study the history of the "father of the
faithful." Abraham, the man of faith, is a type of all believing men,
and the narrative of his life, if rightly considered, is the mirror of
the history of all the saints of God. The commencement of his
career of faith, when he first became separated from his own
country and went into the land of Canaan, is a most instructive
representation of our effectual calling–when we are, by a work of
Omnipotent Grace, separated from the world, and made to obey the
great precept, "Come you out from among them, be you separate,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be
a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters."
The life of the Believer is as Abram's was, a separated life, a life
regulated by other affections than those which arise from the
relationships of flesh and blood. It is a life of walking in the
unseen, in which God's command, Presence and approval are
paramount considerations. It is a life in which faith guides the soul,
sitting like a pilot at the helm of the vessel. Abram denied the flesh,
took up the cross, went outside the camp, became sanctified unto
the Lord, and lived and died the friend of God and a stranger
among men. The commencement of his separated life is a lively
picture of the commencement of the same life in ourselves. The
calling of Abram is a representation of our calling, and to that
matter I shall ask your earnest attention this morning.
First, EFFECTUAL CALLING IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE
CALL OF ABRAM. We have been reading the whole of the story
and therefore I shall only need to refresh your memories with it.
Read carefully the last verses of chapter 11, and the whole of
chapter 12 and get the thread of the story. Abram's call was, in the
first place, the result of the Sovereign Grace of God. The world, as
a whole, was lying in heathenism. Men had gradually gone astray
from the one God to the worship of engraved images. Here and
there there might be an exception, as in the case of a Job or a
Melchisedec, but thick darkness covered the people.
God had determined that He would select one family which
should afterwards grow into a distinct nation, to be the conservators
of the true faith. Why He selected Abram, He Himself only knows,
for we know that Terah, the father of Abram, had declined into the
worship of false gods. "Your fathers," Joshua tells us in his 24 th
chapter, and second verse,"dwelt on the other side of the flood in
old times, even Terah, the father of Abram, and the father of
Nachor: and they served other gods."
That family, if not quite so corrupt as the rest of mankind, had, at
any rate, become corrupted. And we find the idols in the house of
Laban, their descendant. Yet the Sovereign Grace of God pitched
upon the household of Terah, and out of that favored family the
Lord of Hosts made a Divine selection of the person of Abram.
Why, I say again, why, remains in the inscrutable purposes of God,
a thing unrevealed to us, though doubtless the choice was made by
the Lord for the wisest and most God-like reasons. Abram was a
man with faults. "A man, also, with many virtues," you reply. Yes,
but those virtues given to him by God's Spirit, and not the cause of
his election, but the result. He is an instance of theSovereignty of
God carrying out the Divine declaration, "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I
will have compassion."
The Prophets often spoke of Abraham as though the Lord's mercy
to him was a matter to be admired, and they by no means ascribed
his favored position to any personal merit in the Patriarch. "Look,"
says Isaiah, "unto the rock from where you are hewn, and to the
hole of the pit from where you were dug. Look unto Abraham, your
father, and unto Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and
blessed him, and increased him." Here he is compared, as it were,
to a quarry, or to a pit out of which the nation was dug, and to this
pit they are bid to look as to a sight that will humble them–
consequently, I gather–not to the merit of their fathers, but to the
Grace of God.
And again, "A Syrian ready to perish, was your father." Called a
Syrian, as if to show that by nature he was as others–and as the
Syrians were idolaters, even was he. "A Syrian ready to perish," by
which I understand not perishing with physical hunger or disease,
but through spiritual darkness and declension from the true God.
"Ready to perish," and yet the Eternal Mercy looked on him and
saved him! Yes, whether men will accept it or not, that Truth of
God stands fast, forever, that "whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He
did predestinate, them He also called." Effectual calling in all
cases, follows the eternal purpose. Predestination, according to the
Divine good pleasure, is the wellhead of all the Covenant blessings
which the Believer enjoys–
"Never had you felt the guilt of sin,
Nor sweets of pardoning love,
Unless your worthless names had been
Enrolled to life above."
The call of Abram, in the next place, was Divinely applied and
enforced. We neither read that an angel called him, nor a Prophet,
nor that he came out of Ur of the Chaldeans by the motion of his
own mind spontaneously. "The God of Glory appeared unto our
father Abraham," says Stephen, in his dying address, "when he was
in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran." There was made to his
mind a remarkable revelation of the existence and the Character of
the one only true God–and then, after he had been enlightened so
that he knew in his inmost soul the Existence and Glory of
Jehovah–then the message came, perhaps in audible sounds,
perhaps by a forcible impression upon his mind, "Get you out from
your kindred and from your father's house."
Now mark that in every gracious call by which a man is truly
saved, the call comes immediately from God Himself. Agents are
generally used–the minister speaks, the Bible becomes a living
light, the Providence is a warning which is not misunderstood–but
neither minister, nor Bible, nor Providence can call a man
effectually apart from the direct manifestation of the Divine power
in the heart of each individual. Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, we
may labor after souls, but until God puts His hand to the work,
nothing is done!
Our calls to dead souls leave them still in their sleep, but the
voice of Jesus brings Lazarus out of the tomb! I would have you
who are listeners to the Truth of God never be satisfied with the use
of merely the means. Look to the God of the means! Ask Him to
reveal His arm and the power of His Grace in you. And never be
content with that which only penetrates to the outward ear, or
abides upon a merely verbal memory–but ask that it may go into
the heart and abide in the innermost spirit through the effectual
working of God the Holy Spirit. "Christ in you" is the power of
God, but there must be an inward receiving of Him by the Holy
Spirit, or all will be in vain! There must be a supernatural work, or
you cannot be saved.
Much as I wish to preach a free salvation, I cannot forget that,
"you must be born-again," and, "no man can come to Christ except
the Father draw him." Mere nature at its best falls short of eternal
life–its bow is too weak to shoot to the mark–its puny arm too
feeble to work so Divine a change! Effectual calling, then, springs
from the Divine purpose and is worked by Divine energy. Dear
Hearers, be this your prayer to the Lord who alone can save you–
"With softening pity look,
And melt my hardness down.
Strike with Your love's resistless stroke,
And break this heart of stone!"
In the case of Abram, again, the call was personal, and it grew
more personal as it proceeded. At first, when Abram was called in
Ur of the Chaldeans, he probably thought that he could persuade
Terah, his father, and the rest of the family to accompany him. And
he appears to have prevailed to a degree, for they went as far as
Haran. But there, for reasons not known, the family stopped for a
long time. How frequently it is so with us! When God begins to
work in our souls we would gladly have others go with us, and we
are led, perhaps ourselves, to make a kind of compromise with
them to stop half-way if they will come half-way. We vainly
conceive that we may bring all of them to feel and act as we do,
whereas if the effectual call does not come to them as it does to us,
there must be a division.
Love may wish otherwise, but carnal nature and the renewed
spirit cannot agree–the Lord has set a difference–and we must still
expect to see Him take one of a city and two of a family and bring
them to Zion, while others refuse to come. After awhile the
message came to Abram again, "Get you out from your kindred,"
not with your kindred, "and from your father's house." And so
Abram, this time, is obliged to leave Haran, the halting-place, and
to push forward resolutely and finally for Canaan.
Beloved, you and I, if ever we are to be the Lord's, must have a
distinct personal call. All the hearing of the Gospel in which I listen
for other people, and am but one of a crowd, comes to nothing. But
when I hearken for myself and the Truth of God comes home to
me, describing my case, revealing my misery, inspiring my desire,
enkindling my hope–then it is that it becomes the power of God
unto salvation to my spirit! O dear Hearer, I beseech you
individualize yourself! Put yourself, even in this great throng, into
a mental solitude and let the voice of God come to you, even to
you, like the bean dropped into the hole in the earth which the
farmer has dug on purpose for it–that there it may swell and
germinate and bring forth fruit! Nothing but a direct, distinct
personal call coming home to heart and conscience will be of any
avail!
This call to Abram was a call for separation. The separation must
have been exceedingly painful to him, for it was so complete. "Get
you out of your country"–expatriate yourself. Be an alien, a
stranger, and a foreigner. "Get you out from your kindred." Let the
ties of Nature yield to the ties of Divine Grace. Form new relations
and yield to bonds that are not of the flesh. "Get you from your
father's house," from the place of comfort and rest, the place of
heir-ship and affection. Acknowledge another father, and seek
another house. "Get you unto a land that I will show you," which
you could not find by yourself, but which I must reveal to you.
Observe, then, the effectual call, wherever it comes to a man, is a
separating sword, cutting him off from old associations. It makes
him feel that this world is not his country. He lives in it as a
stranger lives in a foreign land. He is in the world, but he is not of
it. The Apostle says," Our citizenship is in Heaven." We become
citizens of another city and are aliens in these cities of earth. For
Christ's sake the Christian man is therefore obliged to be separated
in many respects from such of his family and kindred as remain in
their sins. They are living according to the flesh. They are seeking
this world. Their pleasure is here, their comfort below the skies.
The man who is called by Divine Grace lives in the same house,
but lives not under the influence of the same motives–nor is he
ruled by the same desires.
He is so different from others that very soon they find him out,
and, as Ishmael mocked Isaac, so the sons of the world mock the
children of the Resurrection. The call of Grace, the more it is heard
the more it completes the separation. At first, with some Believers,
they only go part of the way in nonconformity to the world. They
are only partly conformed to Jesus Christ's image and partly led out
of worldly influences. Indeed, this is the case with most of us! But
as we ripen in the things of God, our decision for God becomes
more complete, our obedience to the Law of Christ becomes more
perfect and there is a greater division set between us and the world.
Oh, I wish that all Christians would believe this great Truth of
God, and carry it out, that, "you are not of the world, even as Christ
was not of the world." To try to be a worldly Christian or a
Christian worldling is to attempt an impossible thing! "You cannot
serve God and mammon." "If God is God serve Him, and if Baal is
god serve him." Whichever is the true and the right, give your heart
to it–but attempt no compromises. The very essence of the
Christian faith is being separate from the world! Not the separation
of the monastic life–we are neither monks nor nuns, nor would God
have us be so! Jesus Christ was a Man among men, eating and
drinking as others did, professing no asceticism, never separating
Himself from the rest of mankind, but a Man among men to
perfection! Yet how separate from sinners was He! He was as
distinct a Man from all others as though He had been an angel
among a troop of devils. So must you and I be.
Go to the farm or to the merchandise, to the family and to the
mart, but with all your mingling with mankind, still mingle not in
their principles nor yield obedience to the demon that rules them!
"I pray not," says our Lord, "that You would take them out of the
world, but that You would keep them from the Evil One." Being
kept from the Evil One, you will be carrying out spiritually what
Abram did literally–you will be coming out from your kindred and
your father's house under the influence of the effectual call. The
call of Abram was made effectual in his heart and will, and I call
your attention, for a minute, to his obedience to it. It was an
obedience which involved, in his case, great sacrifice. It must have
been hard to tear himself away from his kinsfolk.
At first, indeed, it seemed to have been too hard for him, for he
stopped with his father, Terah, till he died at Haran. Brethren, it is
no child's play to be a Christian. "If any man loves father or mother
more than Me," says Christ, "he is not worthy of Me." In many
cases the greatest foes to religion are our best friends. Many a man
has found his soul's worst enemy lying in his bosom. Many a child
has found that the father who nourished its body has done his best
to destroy its soul. "A man's foes shall be they of his own
household," says Christ. But no relationship is to stand in the way
of our obedience to Christ. The fondest connection must sooner be
severed than we must give up the faithfulness of our loyalty to our
great Lord and King.
Take heed that you form no new association which may take you
aside from Him. Be warned, Christian men and women, against
being unequally yoked together with unbelievers–either in marriage
or in any form of partnership–for it will bring you grievous sorrow.
Let none but those who are in the favor of God be in your favor.
And as you would not wish to be separated eternally from the
beloved of your bosom, take care that you do not begin a union
with those who are already separate from Christ Jesus your Lord!
But if, being converted, you find yourself in connection and
relationship with the ungodly, as may be very probably the case,
love them! Love them more than you ever did! Be kinder than ever,
more affectionate than ever–so that you may win them!
But never submit yourself to sin to please them, nor pollute the
chastity of your heart, which belongs to Christ alone. Whatever it
may cost you, if you are truly called by Divine Grace, come out
and leave all behind. Sing with Jane Taylor–
"You tempting sweets, forbear.
You dearest idols, fall.
My love you must not share,
Jesus shall have it all.
Though painful and acute the smart,
His love can heal the bleeding heart!"
It must have required, in Abram's case, much faith to be so
obedient. He set out to find a land which he had never seen. He is
only told in which way to steer, and God will show him where it is.
Remember that in those olden times a journey such as Abram took
was a much more formidable thing than now. Those venerable men
were rooted to the soil in which they grew. We can make a journey
to America or Australia and think but little of it–but even our
grandfathers thought it a most awful thing to go out of the county
in which they lived–they looked upon it as going to the moon if any
talked of emigrating to a foreign country!
The further back you go you will discover a greater tenacity in
men holding them to family roots. Well, Abram must be uprooted!
At more than 70 years of age he must become an emigrant! He
might have asked what kind of country, but he did not–it is enough
for him that God appoints the journey–and away the pilgrim goes.
So, Beloved, we must always unhesitatingly follow the guidance of
our heavenly Father. If we are called by Divine Grace, we shall
have abundant need to exercise faith. If you could understand the
dealings of God with you. If everything went smoothly. If in all
respects you prospered as the result of your religion, you might fear
that you were not in the track of the people of God, for their track
is marked with tribulations! It is through much tribulation that they
inherit the kingdom. But if it requires all the faith that you can
summon, and more, yet still hold on, for the promise of God will
justify itself in the long run!
If God bids you do a thing, though it should seem to be the
greatest folly conceivable, yet do it and the wisdom of God will
glorify itself in your experience. I must still keep you for a few
minutes longer attentive to Abram's obedience, for I want you to
notice that while it involved much loss and required a vast amount
of faith, yet it was based upon a very great promise–a promise most
vast and unexampled. All were to be blessed who blessed him, and
he was to become a blessing to the whole universe! Here is a strong
inducement to obey, if faith can but believe the promise is true.
And, Brothers and Sisters, when we venture for Christ's sake to
strike out into the path of separation, and to walk by faith, what a
multitude of promises we have to cheer us onward–"Certainly I
will be with you." "No good thing will I withhold from them that
walk uprightly." "Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shall you
dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." "I will never leave
you nor forsake you." "He that believes in Him shall never be
confused." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "For
all things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."
Behold, Brothers and Sisters, the crown which is held forth to
you! It is no other than everlasting life! Behold your reward! It is
the city whose gates are pearls, and whose streets are gold! Your
unrivalled portion is bliss ineffable–to be with Christ–to dwell with
Him in ecstatic bliss, world without end. Be of good courage, then,
since for all you lose by following Jesus you shall obtain a
hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting!
Be of good courage if you forsake the world and lose friends for
Truth's sake–you shall obtain the friendship of immortal spirits,
angels shall become your servitors, and the blood-washed shall be
your Brethren–Christ Himself will be your Friend, and God your
Father.
Onward you may well proceed if you can but believe the promise
is true! You have everything to gain, and that which you have to
lose compared with it is less than nothing. The present light
affliction incident to a godly life is not worthy to be compared with
the Glory which shall be revealed in you! See, then, Brothers and
Sisters, and rejoice as you see it–if we have Abraham's difficulties
we also have Abram's encouragements.
Now, having thus shown you what this effectual calling is, and
the obedience it brings, I would only remind you that Abram never
stopped until he actually arrived at Canaan. And so a child of God,
when effectually called by Divine Grace, never gets peace or rest
until he lays hold on Jesus, and so by believing enters into rest.
Abram may be held up as an example to us in obeying the Divine
call because he went at once. He did not pause to ask a single
question. He was bid to go to Canaan, and to Canaan he went. He
did his work very thoroughly–he set out for Canaan, and to Canaan
he came. Having once left Haran, he did, as it were, burn the
bridges behind him.
He had given up all thoughts of ever returning again. If he had
wished to return, he could have done so, the Apostle tells us. But he
had given up, forever, all his old associations. He was bound for
the promised kingdom, and on to the kingdom and the unseen
blessing would he speed. O that God's Spirit may call every one of
us after this same fashion and give us Grace to be obedient in the
same style and to declare that if we had to give up all we have, and
even life itself, yet without hesitation it should be done, for Jesus
leads the way!–
"The God of Abraham praise,
At whose supreme command,
From earth I rise, and seek the joys
At His right hand.
I all on earth forsake,
Its wisdom, fame, and power,
And Him my only portion make,
My shield and tower.
He by Himself has sworn,
I on His oath depend.
I shall, on eagles' wings upborne,
To Heaven ascend.
I shall behold His face,
I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His Grace
Forevermore."
For a minute, I beg you to observe the difference between the
Lord's effectual call and those common calls which so many
receive. Brethren, there are many here, I fear, who have been called
to glory and immortality, but the calling was of man and by man.
Perhaps some of us who are professors have been called not by the
Grace of God, but by the eloquence of a speaker, or by the
excitement of a revival meeting. Beware, I pray you, of that river
whose source lies not at the foot of the Throne of God. Take care of
that salvation which does not take its rise in the work of God the
Holy Spirit, for only that which comes from Him will lead to Him.
The work which does not spring from eternal love will never land
us in eternal life.
The call of many men is such that when it comes to them they
raise many questions as to whether they shall obey it or not. The
Truth of God was earnestly and pathetically spoken, and they
cannot help feeling somewhat of its power, but Lot's wife they look
back and perish! Like Pliable, they travel as far as the Slough of
Despond, but they like not the miry way and therefore they
scamper out on the side nearest home and go back again to the City
of Destruction. Many have I known who have had a call of a
certain sort who have tried to go to Canaan and yet to stop at
Haran. They would gladly serve God and yet live as they used to
live.
They think it possible to be a Christian and yet to be a servant of
the world! They attempt the huge impossibility of yoking the Lion
of the tribe of Judah and the lion of the pit in the same chariot–and
driving through the streets of life. Ah, Sirs, the call which comes
from God brings a man right out–while the call which only comes
to your fleshly nature leaves you with the rest of mankind, and will
leave you there to be bound up in the same bundle with sinners and
cast into the same fire! Many come out of Egypt but never arrive at
Canaan. Like the children of Israel who left their carcasses in the
wilderness, their hearts are not sound towards the Lord. They start
fairly, but the taste of the garlic and the onions lingers in their
mouth and holds their minds by Egypt's fleshpots.
Like the planets, they are affected by two impulses–one would
draw them to Heaven, but another would drive them off at a
tangent to the world–and so they revolve, like the mill-horse,
without making progress. They continue, still, to nominally fear the
Lord and yet to serve other gods practically and in their hearts.
Beware, dear Friends, of the call which makes you set out but does
not lead you to hold out. Pray that this text may be true to you,
"They went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and to the land of
Canaan they came."
Do not be content with praying to be saved–never be satisfied
until you are saved. Do not be content with trying to believe and
trying to repent–come to Christ and both repent and believe–and
give no slumber to your eyelids till you are a penitent Believer.
Make a full and complete work of your believing! Strive not to
reach the strait gate, but to enter it. For this you must have a call
from the Lord of Heaven. I can call you as I have called many of
you dozens of times, and you have gone a little way, and you have
bid fair to go the whole way–but when your goodness has been as a
morning cloud and as the early dew, it soon has been scattered and
has gone. God grant you to receive the call of His Eternal Spirit,
that you may be saved!
II. There are a few minutes remaining which I shall occupy by
changing the subject. If our text may very well illustrate effectual
calling, so may it PICTURE FINAL PERSEVERANCE. "They
went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and to the land of Canaan
they came." That is true of every child of God who is really
converted and receives the faith of God's elect.
Oh, that miserable doctrine which says that the saints set out for
Canaan but never reach the place! It is enough to make a Believer's
life a very Hell upon earth! No matter how happy I might be, that
doctrine would poison all my peace of mind. The doctrine which
denies that the pilgrims to Glory go from strength to strength until
every one of them in Zion appears before God, but which teaches
that sheep of Christ may be torn by the wolves–that the stones in
the spiritual temple may be scattered to the four winds, that the
members of Christ may be torn away from His sacred body, and
that the spouse of Christ may be mutilated–I say it shocks my
reason, my experience, my faith, my entire spiritual nature!
I believe in the final perseverance of every man in whom the
regenerating Grace of God has worked a change of nature. If he has
been born of God he cannot die! If the living Seed is in Him the
devil cannot destroy it, for it lives and abides forever! Because
Christ lives, every Believer who is one with Jesus must live also!
We set forth, then, to the land of Canaan, and, blessed be God, to
the land of Canaan we shall come! God has purposed it. He
purposes that the many sons should all be brought to Glory by the
Captain of their salvation. And has He said it and shall He not do
it? We shall reach our resting place, for the Armor-Bearer who
leads the way is no other than Jesus Christ, the Covenant Angel,
mighty to save! We shall be preserved, for round about us is a wall
of fire, and above us is the shield of the Eternal and Immutable,
even of Jehovah, whose love is everlasting!
The way shall not weary us–He shall give us shoes of iron and
brass, and as our days so shall our strength be. The roughness of
the road shall not cast us down–He will bear us as upon eagles'
wings–He will give His angels charge over us, lest we dash our
foot against a stone. The arrows of Hell shall not destroy us, for He
gives us armor of proof–there shall no evil befall us. The snares of
the devil shall not entrap us, for His wisdom shall surely make a
way of escape out of every temptation that shall happen to His
children. Glory be to God, it is not in the power of earth and Hell
put together to stop a single one of the Lord's pilgrims from
reaching the Celestial City!
"Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord?" "I am persuaded that He which has begun a good
work in you, will carry it on." "For the path of the just is as the
shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day."–
"Each object of His love is sure
To reach the heavenly goal,
For neither sin nor Satan can
Destroy the blood-washed soul.
Satan may vex, and unbelief
The saved one may annoy,
But he must conquer; yes, as sure
As Jesus reigns in joy,
The precious blood of
God's dear Son
Shall never be spilt in vain!
The soul on Christ believing, must
With Christ forever reign."
As you turn over this text, (this afternoon), I should like you to
think of these three things–We have set forth for the land of
Canaan–we know where we are going. Think much of your haven
of rest. Study that precious Scripture which reveals the new
Jerusalem. Be familiar with angelic harps. Come unto the general
assembly and Church of the first-born. Let your Sabbath
contemplations be of the everlasting Sabbath so soon to dawn.
In the next place, we know why we are going. We are going to
Canaan because God has called us to go. He gives us strength to go
and puts the life-force within us that makes us tend upward towards
the eternal dwelling place, the happy harbor of the saints. And we
know that we are going–that is another mercy. We do not hope we
are going to Heaven, we know that we are going there! Christ is the
road. The banner of love leads us. The fiery cloudy pillar of
Providence directs us. The promise sustains us. The Holy Spirit
dwells in us–of all this we are confident. Blessed be God, we doubt