Part 17
that it was even so, and that gave her rest. And the Lord seems to
draw each weary, sad, disappointed laboring one to Him and say,
"Am I not better to you than all the praises of men? Am I not better
to you than wealth? Am I not better to you than the health that you
have lost? Am I not better to you than all the world?" And what is
your answer? Surely it is this, "Whom have I in Heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You." O God,
bring us to that blessed position and keep us there! Then shall we
have drunk in the meaning of our text, "I am your shield, and your
exceeding great reward."
III. My third question is, WHAT THEN? As God is our exceeding
great reward, what then?
First, it is quite clear that the rewards which are given to
Believers are of Grace and not of debt. Do you not see thatin the
text? Look at it again and you will perceive it at once. If God is the
reward of His people, it is not possible that any being could ever
deserve to have God as his reward. It is very possible that a man
should deserve the esteem of his fellow men and I think that most
people deserve what they really earn. It would be well if some
could have more than they receive–wages are often less than they
should be. We may deserve more money than we get, but there is
nobody who ever deserved God! To deserve Heaven has never been
possible yet, but even if it had been, that would not be so much as
deserving God! This is too big a portion to ever come to us on the
ground of law, merit and good works, so, when the Lord says, "I
am your reward," it must be all of Grace–and there is no possibility
of earning this reward. When the men went into the vineyard and
agreed with the householder for a penny a day, they earned it. But
when the reward is God, Himself, there is nobody who has ever
earned that, or who can ever do so. So, my Soul, sing of Free and
Sovereign Grace! Letyour life-song be–
Free Grace and dying love,"because the portion you have
received is such as could have come to you on no other terms than
those of free, rich, almighty, covenant, everlasting Grace! And
therefore let God be glorified forever and ever.
I want to call your attention, next, to the fact that according to our
text, we hold God on a very sure tenure becausewhat a man holds
as a reward, he knows to be his own. "Why," he says, "I won this
and I may well hold it fast." Now, Brothers and Sisters, you and I
have never deserved God. I have told you that is impossible, but He
is as surely ours as if we
had earned Him, for He is our reward! A man, I say again, feels
the utmost assurance that anything that comes to him as a reward is
really his. Let us feel the same assurance and brave confidence
concerning God and even more than if we stood upon the footing
of merits. "I am your reward," says the Lord. Then, "let no man
beguile you of your reward." Hold it fast! Let not the devil,
himself, take it from you, or rob you of your joy in it! It is yours so
surely and so safely that you may at all times rejoice in it as being
yours upon the most certain tenure!
Another practical thought may come in here. If God is our
reward, let us take care that we really enjoy Him. Let us exult in
Him and let us not be pining after any other joy. You have to go and
live in a lonely place where you will have few encouragements–but
you will still have your God–so how can you feel lonely? You are
coming down in earthly circumstances. Your income is decreasing.
But your God is not any less than He was, so you are not really a
loser. One dear Friend after another is being taken away from you–
there is a great probability that the dearest one you have will soon
go to the grave. Yet the Lord lives, so blessed be your Rock!
Rejoice in Him! Possibly you are soon going to the grave yourself.
The years are taking their toll upon you and increasing weakness
proves that, before long, you must put off this tabernacle. Well,
even if it is so, He who is your All-in-All will not die! This world is
not your rest or your portion! You are not, therefore, losing your
portion, you are going Home to it, for the Lord, Himself, is "your
shield, and your exceeding great reward."
Ge 15:1; Ex 33:14 • Two Choice Assurances
ERMON 3330
Two Choice Assurances
"Fear not, Abram: I am your shield and your exceedingly great
reward."
Genesis 15:1
IN the splendid Psalm that sets forth the Divine Glory of the
matchless Word of God as compared even with the greatest
wonders of God's visible Creation–that is in the 19 th verse,
"Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." This is applied to
"the judgments of the Lord" which are "true and righteous
altogether." Of course, this expression sets forth David's esteem of
the Law of God as he knew it–a very small volume compared with
our complete Bible–and yet we may surely apply it to the whole of
the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments! The Hebrew original
has it, "Sweeter than the dropping of honeycombs." Whereupon
gracious Thomas Brookes, the Puritan Divine, observes, "it is
sweeter than those drops which fall naturally and instantly from the
comb without any force or act, and which are counted as being the
purest, choicest and richest honey." How true is this! There are
some texts of Scripture that may yield their treasures of instruction,
comfort, or direction after deep study and holy meditation–but
there are others which are marvelously free in the giving forth of
their sweetness, calling for little else than a heart that loves and
longs to hear God speak!
As little children have their own confections that need no
vigorous chewing, but will melt in the mouth, so some passages of
Scriptures are prepared as choice morsels for the Lord's children–
they have only to receive them by transparent faith and unaffected
love–and their enjoyment is great.
I know that some of the words of the Lord are as nuts that need
breaking open to secure their nourishment, or as grapes that must
be trod in the winepress, for their richest meaning lies not upon the
surface and plain to all. But these others of which we speak–as the
droppings of the honeycomb–are simple sweetnesses, prepared
pleasures. Plain, unmistakable, choice delicacies for God's loved
ones!
To enjoy these, one needs not to be a deep theologian, a learned
grammarian, or even much less, a profound philosopher or baffling
mystic! The honey of the meaning flows easily and sweetly out of
the comb of the words as liquid love, pure joy, choice consolation
and perfect Truths of God! The student does not require to pore
over his books, or the preacher to search his library, or the hearer to
gather up all his knowledge to receive and enjoy these. The dainty
comfort offers itself at once to the soul's receiving and, without
effort, the sweetness and savor pervade the whole inner being.
So as the Holy Spirit shall open up the word to me, I hope to be
able to give you, Beloved, some honey out of the Rock by dwelling
on one or two choice, plain texts that speak their sweetness direct
to the heart. Not so much for intellectual gratifying–though that is
included–as for spiritual satisfying and stimulating. Some
preachers seem to make their main business to be the leading of
people among the thorns, to be torn with perplexities, or into the
fog to tantalize with uncertainties. Be it ours on this occasion to run
as did Ahimahaz by way of the plain–along the level road of
gracious and comforting teaching! We do well, sometimes, to let
the heart have undivided play and gain, thereby, the solace and joy
that we so much need!
The droppings of the honeycomb are not so much for labor and
toil as for renewal and delight–that the mere student and man of
affairs may for a while come and sit and indulge in holy pleasures!
Let this suffice for introduction to our first word of sacred
assurance as given to Abram.
"Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceedingly great
reward."
"Fear not, Abram." No more necessary or practical word could be
spoken to the great Father of the Faithful than this. Fear, alas, is a
malaria which haunts all the marshlands of earth! It can beset the
king on his throne, the peasant in his cottage, the statesman in his
lofty office and the poor old mother who dreads the pauper's lot
and fare. It is the shadow that follows us when the sun is shining
brightly before–how to escape it is the problem that perplexes
thousands of the saints of God. We might be sure that it was so,
when so mighty a Believer as Abram was in great peril of it! Does
he need a, "fear not," from Jehovah's lips? Then we may be sure
that we shall require it, too. I am afraid that wherever there is faith
there will also be a measure of fear, though the less of it, the better.
How tenderly the Lord quiets the fears of His children and lulls
their forebodings to rest! "Fear not, Abram." As much as if He had
said "You are all alone, but fear not, for I am with you. You are in
much labor, needing great strength, but fear not, I will help you.
You have no portion, but are a stranger and sojourner in this land,
but fear not, for I am your God. Do not fear concerning the past,
nor the present, nor the future. Fear neither the fury of foes, nor the
worse trial–the failure of friends. Be brave, calm, trustful, hopeful,
joyful. Fear not, Abram." "You have just been fighting the kings–
you desired to be a man of peace and were not, indeed, accustomed
to the deadly strife. But I have given the marauders and plunderers
like driven stubble to your bow–and you have brought back Lot
and all his train of servants that were taken prisoners. You need not
fear even for your relatives! I will bless and keep them for your
sake. Besides, since you have borne yourself in a right royal
fashion and not touched a thread or a shoe lace of the king of
Sodom's goods, do not fear to enjoy your success, for you shall be
safe from all attacks and shall command the respect of the great
ones around you." This blessed "fear not" was a quietus to every
form of alarm and misgiving which might come near and threaten
this man of God!
Is not this our Lord's own message to His children everywhere
today? He has scattered His, "fear nots," all over His blessed Word
as some riverbanks are all spread with sweet forget-me-nots! And
these "fear nots," cover every emergency of our life and answer to
them with the assurance that His love will never forget or fail us!
And if we will but remember this, we shall have no cause whatever
to fear.
But the Lord appears to teach Abram that after his conflict and
signal victory he might begin to sink. Such is often the case with
the bravest men. The natural reaction, unless special Divine Grace
is given, is very great. It was so with Elijah, the Prophet of Fire.
Men have little time or space to dread while the fierce conflict is
raging–their spirit of dash and enterprise is awakened and equal to
the struggle and the danger! But when all is over and strained body
and brain and nerves begin to assert themselves, then they greatly
need the Lord's reviving and fortifying, "fear not."
Beloved, have you never felt yourself strangely supported under
the direst afflictions, so that they seemed not afflictions at all? And
yet when pressure has been removed you have been ready to faint
like Samson after he had slain the Philistines! Fear is a strange
contradiction, a grim inconsistency, for it is apt to be greatest when
the reason for it is least and smallest.
We are often quiet in a storm and distracted in a calm. We are
mysteries to ourselves and riddles to our neighbors. Our
constitutions and dispositions sometimes appear to be made up of
odds and ends and gatherings from all manner of beasts, and birds,
and fishes– and none can understand us but the Lord who made us!
But, blessed be His name, He knows us altogether and therefore He
can and does bring forth at the right moment the exact consolation
and the precise heartening that we need, saying, "Fear not," in the
instant wherein we are most likely to fear!
"Fear not, Abram." Were there not mainly two things about which
the Patriarch might have feared? First, about his own safety. This
was met by the assurance, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield."
When he had no other guard, Abram was garrisoned in God. He
was like a sheep in the midst of wolves, a lone stranger surrounded
by hostile nations! But a strange Divine spell had fallen upon the
Canaanites, for the Lord had made them hear Him saying, "Touch
not My anointed and do My Prophet no harm." The protected of the
Lord needed not to wear armor, nor bear a sword, nor have any
human panoply, for Jehovah had said, "I am your shield." Abram
possessed no fortress, commanded no army but his few servants.
He had not even a permanent house in which to dwell. His tents
were frail and undefended and yet so guarded by Heaven, that no
one ever broke into them or dared molest or threaten those who
dwelt within! No assassin waylaid him, no marauder attacked him–
he dwelt at ease, for was he not under the broad shield of the
Almighty? He was as safe as if he had been enclosed within walls
that reached to the skies! The armor of God covered him from head
to foot!
So, dear Friends, when we seem to have nothing, certainly
nothing visible, to protect us, what a blessing it is to know that we
are nevertheless completely guarded by the Omnipotent though
invisible God!
The visible is necessarily the limited and finite, but the invisible
God is Infinite and there is no searching of His understanding, or
resistance to His power. You are infinitely safe if you really trust
the living God–your beginning and ending, your waking and
sleeping, your resting and journeying, your work and suffering,
your honor or your reproach, your poverty or wealth, your success
or failure, your life or death–your all forever and ever is most
secure when the Lord is your Keeper and your Shield upon your
right hand. Be it ours in truest wisdom and sincerest trust to give up
our hearts to the repose of simple faith in Him!
Come, sing with me that verse of the beloved singer Toplady–
"Inquirer and Hearer of prayer,
You Shepherd and Guardian of Thine,
My all to Your Covenant care,
I sleeping and waking resign!
If You are my shield and my sun,
The night is no darkness to me–
And fast as the moments roll on,
They bring me but nearer to Thee!"
We are invulnerable and invincible if God is with us! We may be
in the very midst of cruel adversaries, but no weapon that is formed
against us can prosper if God is our Shield. Our Lord did not say to
Abram, and does not say to us, "I will shield you," but that I, that
am the Almighty, I am your Shield: it is not alone My power, My
wisdom, My love which will protect you, but I, Myself, will be
your Shield!
Then Abram may have thought, "I shall be protected, but shall I
not spend my life in vain?" He might have fearedfor his success.
He led the life of a gypsy, roaming through a land in which he
owned no foot of ground. Therefore the Lord added, "I am your
Reward." Do you see? He does not say, "I will reward you," but "I
am your Reward." If we whowork for Christ see souls saved, how
we rejoice, for they are a kind of reward to us–but nevertheless we
will not rejoice so much but rather rejoice that our names are
written in Heaven! I have in these words quoted an old text, first
spoken to chosen men who had healed the sick and cast out devils
in Christ's name. And if many receive our word it is a joy to us, but
still we may be disappointed even in professed conversions and, at
best, our success will not equal our desires. The only reward that a
Christian can fully rejoice in–and without any reservation–is this
assurance of his Master and Lord, "I am your Reward." Did not the
father in the parable say to the elder son, when he growled and
grumbled at the reception given to his brother, "Son, you are
always with me, and all that I have is yours"? That was reward
enough, was it not? It is wealth enough to a Believer to possess his
God, honor enough to please his God, happiness enough to enjoy
his God. My heart's best treasure lies here–"This God is our God
forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death."
"Oh, but," you say, "people have been so ungrateful to me." True,
but God is not unfaithful to forget your work of faith and labor of
love. "Ah, Sir, but I am dreadfully poor." Yet you have God All-
Sufficient, and all things are yours! "Alas! I am so ill." But
Jehovah-Rophi is the Lord that heals you! "Alas! I have no friends
left." Yet this best of friends changes not and dies not. Is He not
better to you than a host of other friends?
How great is your God? Does He not fill all things? Then what
more can you seek? Would you have two persons occupying the
same place? If God fills all, what room is there left for another? Is
not God's Grace sufficient for you? Do you bemoan a cup of water
that has been spilled at your feet? A well is near! Did I hear you
cry, "I have not a drop in my bucket?" A river flows hard by–the
river of God which is full of water! Oh, mournful Soul, why are
you disquieted? What ails you that you should fret your life into
rags?
Very fitly does the Lord say to Abram, "I am your exceedingly
great reward." He is infinitely more as a reward thanwe could ever
have desired, expected, or deserved! There is no measuring such a
reward as God Himself. If we were to pine away into poverty or
sickness, it would still be joy enough to know that God gives
Himself to be our portion. The tried people of God will always
confess that in their sharpest time of sorrow, their joys have
reached their floodtide when they knew and felt that the Lord is
their Covenant God, their Father, their All! Our cup runs over when
faith receives Jehovah, Himself, as the crown of the race, the wages
of the service! What more can even God bestow, than Himself?
Now you see what I meant at the beginning by droppings from
the honeycomb. I have not strained after novel thoughts or choice
words, but have persuaded you to taste the natural sweetness of this
fine Scripture promise. Receive it as God gives it and go your way–
and let the flavor of it fill your souls all the week! Fear not, Mary!
Fear not, William! Fear not, Sarah! Fear not, John! The Lord says
to you, even as to Abram, "I am your shield and exceedingly great
reward." No Scripture is of private interpretation–you may take out
the name of Abram and put your own name into the promise if you
are of Abram's spiritual seed–and do not stagger at the promise by
reason of unbelief. "If children, then heirs" applies to all the
spiritual family and to the pledging of all the promises to them!
The ground whereon you lie, the Lord your God has given you. If
you can rest on this Word of God, it is truly yours to rest upon. The
Lord is your Defender and Rewarder and by the double title He
designs to shut out all fear and so make your rest and safety to be
doubly sure! Therefore, cease you from all anxiety! Rest in the
Lord and wait patiently for Him! This day He bids you dwell at
ease and delight yourself in Him!
But we turn from Abram to Moses and we find this sweetly
solacing assurance given also to him in time of special need and
strain.
"And He said, 'My Presence shall go with you, and I will give
you rest.'"
It was not a pleasure trip that Moses was taking–it was a journey
through the wilderness on most important business–and with a
great pressure of burden on his heart. He took his case to his God
and earnestly appealed to Him, "See, You say unto me, Bring up
this people, and You have not let me know whom You will send
with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have
also found Grace in My sight. Now, therefore, I pray You, if I have
found Grace in your sight, show me now Your way, that I may
know You, that I may find Grace in Your sight: and consider that
this nation is Your people."
It is very beautiful to notice the argument that Moses uses. He
says, "Lord, You have set me to take care of this people. How can I
do it? But they are Your people." Therefore he appeals to Jehovah,
Himself, for assistance. "You have not let me know whom You will
send with me" is his complaint, but he seems to always have before
him the fact that He, whose people they were, who had put him into
commission to guide them, and to bear all their provocations, must
intend to give him some very superior help! The answer to that is,
"My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." What
more could Moses need, and what more can we need? We are so
foolish that we look about for strength away from God–but there is
none except in Him! For all preachers and evangelists, how
precious is this promise! They need Divine help in journeying from
place to place–and that help lies in the constant fellowship of heart
with their Lord–the continual Presence of God consciously
enjoyed! They have a great burden of souls lying upon them–their
only strength to bear it bravely and triumphantly is that each hears
for himself the promise from God's own lips, "My Presence shall
go with you." It may not appear to some that the quarter of an hour
in the morning spent in looking into the face of God with ecstatic
joy can fill us with strength, but we know from blessed experience
that there is no strength like it! If the Eternal overshadows us, then
Omnipotence comes streaming into us! Jehovah in Infinite,
condescending liberality gives forth His might to us!
Notice, Beloved, that Moses was not informed that God would
send Hobab, his father-in-law, to go with him. Nor that Joshua, his
successor, should accompany him. Nothing either was said about
the 70 elders who were, by-and-by, to share the burden of
responsibility with him. Moses was, indeed, to have their presence
and help, but his true power was to lie in this–"My Presence shall
go with you." The journey upon which he was to start was one of
great importance foreseen by God to be a journey of great trial and
great provocation–a journey that was to last for 40 years–but this is
all the provision that he needs and God, Himself, could give him no
more.
And then He adds, " And I will give you rest." Little as we
sometimes imagine it, yet it is still true, that the most important
possession of any Christian worker is rest–deep rest of soul in
God–"A heart at leisure from itself." "I do not expect any rest,"
says one, "while I am here." Do you not? Then you will not do
much mighty and effective work for the Lord! Those who work
most must learn the holy art of resting in the Lord. Indeed, it cannot
be done well at all unless they have plenty of rest. You will notice
how people that get greatly excited often talk sad nonsense–and
people who are very fretful or fearful do not speak or act as they
should. If we are to move others, we must have both feet firmly
fixed–there is nothing like having a good grip of the ground if you
are to wrestle with and throw your antagonist! My restfulness in
God enables me to wrestle and conquer all sorts of difficulty and
hard toil that is to be overcome.
"Do you think Moses had this rest?" someone will ask. Yes, I am
sure he had because of the meekness of his spirit. You remember
how the Lord Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of
Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest to
your souls." It is true that meekness of heart produces rest. And yet
it is a still deeper Truth of God that rest produces meekness of
heart! You can very well afford to be quiet with your fellows when
you, yourself, are perfectly restful in the living God. I remember a
man being run over in the street one day. Somebody rushed off,
post haste, for the nearest doctor. And when the medical man heard
of the accident, he went calmly into his surgery, turned over his
case of instruments, selected those he thought he might need and
then walked quietly to the spot where the injured man lay. The
messenger tried to hurry him, but it was of no use. "Be quick,
Doctor," he cried, "the man's leg is broken, every moment is
precious." Now the surgeon knew that he was doing the very best
thing that he could do, and he was far wiser than he would have
been if he had rushed off in wild haste, perhaps forgetting the very
instrument he most needed, and arriving out of breath and quite
unfit for the delicate duty required of him! The doctor's composure
was not the result of coldness of heart, but of the resolve to do the
best possible thing in the best possible fashion.
If you are conscious of the Lord's Presence, you will do the best
thing possible by being very calm, deliberate and quiet in His
service. "He that believes," in that sense, "shall not make haste,"
but he shall go about the business in a restful spirit.
Mark, too, the kind of rest that is here mentioned. "I will give you
rest." All the rest that God gives we may safely take! No man ever
rested too long on the bosom of Jesus. I believe many Christian
workers would be better if they enjoyed more. I was speaking to a
large gathering of preachers the other day upon this very matter,
my subject being the Savior asleep during the storm on the Sea of
Galilee. He knew there was a storm coming on, but He felt so
happy and restful in His Father's love and care that He went into
the back part of the boat–the best place for sleep–and taking the
steersman's cushion for a pillow, lay down and went to sleep! It
was the very best thing He could do. He had been busy all day,
teaching and feeding the multitudes, and He felt that it was His
duty to go to sleep that He might be ready and fit for the next day's
toil. When you get very weary and perhaps worried as well, the
best thing you can do is to go tosleep. Go to bed, Brother, and go to
sleep!
It is astonishing what a difference a night's rest makes with our
troubles. I would say this literally to fidgeting, worrying people
like myself, "Go to bed, Brother, go to bed!" But I would also say
it spiritually to all sorts of people! When you are feeling weak and
disturbed, and you do not know what to do for the best, "Go into
the Presence of Lord and there get rest." "My Presence shall go
with you, and I will give you rest." I will give you a little bit of
worldly wisdom, which is also of Divine inspiring. Whenever you
do not know what to do, do not do it! But some people, when they
do not know what to do, go and do it, directly, and get themselves
into all sorts of trouble. Many of us, like Moses, need to be taught
to rest. Moses has to bear two millions of people on his heart–he
needs rest. He has to put up with them for 40 years–he needs rest.
Never had another man such a family as that! Never was another so
likely to be fluttered and worried! And he was a meek-spirited man,
too, who could not make a dash as others might have done. This is
his strength–that he dwells in the Divine Presence and is, therefore,
restful, calm and strong! It is only now and then that he let the
human meekness be for a moment clouded. Thus was he enabled to
march along, like a king in Jeshurun, as he was–and his soul dwelt
in the eternity of God, ever singing amidst ten thousand graves, for
he had 40 of his people dying every day!
Shall not we who love the Savior hear this same gracious promise
sounding clear and sweet in our souls and trusting in the abiding
Presence of God find that He gives the unparalleled rest, the rest
that endures? And if, on the other hand, we are strangers to that
brave, strong peace, shall we not listen as He calls, "Come unto
Me, and I will give you rest"? And answering to it, enter into that
rest that always follows true believing! The Lord grant it may be
so, with each one, for His name's sake!
Ge 15:6 • Justification by Faith — Illustrated by Abram's Righteousness
ERMON 0844
Justification By Faith—Illustrated By Abram's
Righteousness
"And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for
righteousness."
Genesis 15:6
You will remember that last Lord's-day morning we spoke upon
the calling of Abram, and the faith by which he was enabled to
enter upon that separated life at the bidding of the Most High. We
shall today pass from the consideration of his calling to that of his
justification, that being most remarkably next in order in his
history, as it is in point of theology in the New Testament–for,
"whom He called, them He also justified."
Referring to the chapter before us for a preface to our subject,
note that after Abram's calling his faith proved to be of the most
practical kind. Being called to separate himself from his kindred
and from his country, he did not, therefore, become a recluse, a
man of ascetic habits, or a sentimentalist unfit for the battles of
ordinary life. No, but in the noblest style of true manliness he
showed himself able to endure the household trouble and the public
trial which awaited him.
Lot's herdsmen quarreled with the servants of Abram, and Abram,
with great disinterestedness, gave his younger and far inferior
relative the choice of pasturage. He gave up the well-watered plain
of Sodom, which was the best of the land. A little while after, the
grand old man who trusted in his God showed that he could play
the soldier, and fight right gloriously against terrible odds. He
gathered together his own household servants and accepted the help
of his neighbors, and pursued the conquering hosts of the allied
kings, and smote them with as heavy a hand as if from his youth up
he had been a military man.
Brothers and Sisters, this everyday life faith is the faith of God's
elect! There are persons who imagine saving faith to be a barren
conviction of the truth of certain abstract propositions, leading only
to a quiet contemplation upon certain delightful topics, or
separating ourselves from all sympathy with our fellow creatures–
but it is not so! Faith, restricted merely to religious exercise, is not
Christian faith–it must show itself in everything. A merely religious
faith may be the choice of men whose heads are softer than their
hearts or more fit for cloisters than markets. But the manly faith
which God would have us cultivate is a grand practical principle
adapted for every day in the week–helping us to rule our household
in the fear of God and to enter upon life's rough conflicts in the
warehouse, the farm, or the exchange.
I mention this at the commencement of this discourse because as
this is the faith which came of Abram's calling, so also does it
shine in his justification, and is, indeed, that which God counted
unto him for righteousness. Yet the first verse shows us that even
such a Believer as Abram needed comfort. The Lord said to him,
"Fear not." Why did Abram fear? Partly because of the reaction
which is always caused by excitement when it is over. He had
fought boldly and conquered gloriously, and now he fears.
Cowards tremble before the fight, and brave men after the victory.
Elijah slew the priests of Baal without fear, but after all was over
his spirit sank and he fled from the face of Jezebel. Abram's fear
also originated in an overwhelming awe in the Presence of God.
The word of Jehovah came to him with power and he felt that same
prostration of spirit which made the beloved John fall at the feet of
his Lord in the Isle of Patmos, and made Daniel feel, on the banks
of the Hiddekel, that there was no strength in him. "Fear not," said
the Lord to the Patriarch. His spirit was too deeply bowed. God
would uplift His beloved servant into the power of exercising
sacred familiarity.
Ah, Brothers and Sisters, this is a blessed fear–let us cultivate it–
for until it shall be cast out by perfect love, which is better still, we
may be content to let this good thing rule our hearts. Should not a
man, conscious of great infirmities, sink low in his own esteem in
proportion as he is honored with communion with the glorious
Lord? When he was comforted, Abram received an open
declaration of his justification. I take it, beloved Friends, that our
text does not intend to teach us that Abram was not justified before
this time. Faith always justifies whenever it exists, and as soon as it
The moment a man truly trusts his God he is justified. Yet many
are justified who do not know their happy condition–many to
whom, as yet, the blessing of justification has not been opened up
in its excellency and abundance of privilege. There may be some of
you here today who have been called by Divine Grace from
darkness into marvelous light. You have been led to look to Jesus
and you believe you have received pardon of your sin, and yet, for
lack of knowledge, you know little of the sweet meaning of such
words as these, "Accepted in the Beloved." "Perfect in Christ
Jesus." "Complete in Him." You are doubtless justified, though you
scarcely understand what justification means. And you are
accepted, though you have not realized your acceptance. And you
are complete in Jesus Christ, though you have, today, a far deeper
sense of your personal incompleteness than of the all-sufficiency of
Jesus.
A man may be entitled to property though he cannot read the title
deeds or has not, as yet, heard of their existence. The law
recognizes right and fact, not our apprehension. But there will
come a time, Beloved, when you who are called will clearly realize
your justification and will rejoice in it! It shall be intelligently
understood by you and shall become a matter of transporting
delight–lifting you to a higher platform of experience and enabling
you to walk with a firmer step, sing with a merrier voice–and
triumph with an enlarged heart!
I intend now, as God may help me, first to note the means of
Abram's justification. Then, secondly, the Object of the faith which
justified him. And then, thirdly, the attendants of his justification.
First, Brethren, HOW WAS ABRAM JUSTIFIED? We see in the
text the great Truth of God which Paul so clearly brings out in the
fourth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, that Abram was not
justified by his works. Many had been the good works of Abram. It
was a good work to leave his country and his father's house at
God's bidding. It was a good work to separate from Lot in so noble
a spirit. It was a good work to follow after the robber-kings with
undaunted courage. It was a grand work to refuse to take the spoils
of Sodom and to lift up his hand to God that he would not take a
thread even to a shoe lace. It was a holy work to give to
Melchisedec tithes of all that he possessed, and to worship the
Most High God.
Yet none of these are mentioned in the text, nor is there a hint
given of any other sacred duties as the ground or cause, or part
cause, of his justification before God. No, it is said, "He believed in
the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Surely,
Brothers and Sisters, if Abram, after years of holy living, is not
justified by his works, but is accepted before God on account of his
faith, much more must this be the case with the ungodly sinner
who, having lived in unrighteousness, yet believes on Jesus and is
saved! If there is salvation for the dying thief, and others like he, it
cannot be of debt, but of Grace, seeing they have no good works! If
Abram, when full of good works, is not justified by them, but by
his faith, how much more we, being full of imperfections, must
come unto the Throne of the heavenly Grace and ask that we may
be justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus, and saved by the free
mercy of God!
Further, this justification came to Abram not by obedience to the
ceremonial law any more than by conformity to the moral law. As
the Apostle has so plainly pointed out to us, Abram was justified
before he was circumcised. The initiatory step into the outward and
visible Covenant, so far as it was ceremonial, had not yet been
taken, and yet the man was perfectly justified! All that follows after
cannot contribute to a thing which is already perfect. Abram, being
already justified, cannot owe that justification to his subsequent
circumcision–this is clear enough. And so, Beloved, at this
moment, if you and I are to be justified, these two things are
certain–it cannot be by the works of the moral law and it cannot be
by obedience to any ceremonial law, be it what it may–whether the
sacred ritual given to Aaron, or the superstitious ritual which claims
to have been ordained by gradual tradition in the Christian Church.
If we are, indeed, the children of faithful Abraham, and are to be
justified in Abraham's way, it cannot be by submission to rites or
ceremonies of any kind! Hearken to this carefully, you who would
be justified before God–Baptism is, in itself, an excellent ordinance
but it cannot justify nor help to justify us! Confirmation is a mere
figment of men, and could not, even if commanded by God, assist
in justification! And the Lord's Supper, albeit that it is a Divine
institution, cannot in any respect whatever minister to your
acceptance or to your righteousness before God!
Abram had no ceremonies in which to rest. He was righteous
through his faith, and righteous only through his faith. And so must
you and I be if we are ever to stand as righteous before God at all.
Faith, in Abram's case, was the only and unsupported cause of his
being accounted righteous! Note, although in other cases Abram's
faith produced works, and although in every case where faith is
genuine it produces good works, yet the particular instance of faith
recorded in this chapter was unattended by any works.
God brought him forth under the star-lit heavens and bade him
look up. "So shall your seed be," said the sacred voice. Abram did
what? Believed the promise–that was all. It was before he had
offered sacrifice. Before he had said a holy word or performed a
single action of any kind that the words immediately and instantly
went forth, "He believed in the Lord and He counted it to him for
righteousness." Always distinguish between the Truth of God that
living faith always produces works, and the lie that faith and works
co-operate to justify the soul. We are made righteous only by an act
of faith in the work of Jesus Christ. That faith, if true, always
produces holiness of life–but our being righteous before God is not
because of our holiness in life in any degree or respect, but simply
because of our faith in the Divine promise.
Thus says the inspired Apostle: "His faith was imputed to him for
righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was
imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we
believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification." I would have you note that the faith which justified
Abram was still an imperfect faith, although it perfectly justified
him. It was imperfect beforehand, for he had prevaricated as to his
wife, and bid Sarai, "Say you are my sister."
It was imperfect after it had justified him, for in the next chapter
we find him taking Hagar, his wife's handmaid, in order to effect
the Divine purpose, and so showing a lack of confidence in the
working of the Lord. It is a blessing for you and for me that we do
not need perfect faith to save us! "If you have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove to yonder
place, and it shall remove." If you have but the faith of a little
child, it shall save you. Though your faith is not always at the same
pitch as the Patriarch's when he staggered not at the promise
through unbelief, yet if it is simple and true, if it confides alone in
the promise of God–it is an unhappy thing that it is no stronger, and
you ought daily to pray, "Lord, increase my faith"–but still it shall
justify you through Christ Jesus! A trembling hand may grasp the
cup which bears a healing draught to the lip–the weakness of the
hand shall not lessen the power of the medicine.
So far, then, all is clear–Abram was not justified by works, nor by
ceremonies, nor partly by works and partly by faith, nor by the
perfection of his faith–he is counted righteous simply because of
his faith in the Divine promise. I must confess that looking more
closely into it, this text is too deep for me and therefore I decline, at
this present moment, to enter into the controversy which rages
around it. But one thing is clear to me–if faith is, as we are told,
counted to us for righteousness, it is not because faith in itself has
merit which may make it a fitting substitute for a perfect obedience
to the Law of God. Nor can it be viewed as a substitute for such
obedience. For, Brothers and Sisters, all good acts are a duty–to
trust God is our duty–and he that has believed to his utmost has
done no more than it was his duty to have done!
He who should believe without imperfection, if this were
possible, would even, then, have only given to God a part of the
obedience due. And if he should have failed in love, or reverence,
or anything beside, his faith, as a virtue and a work, could not stand
him in any prestige. In fact, according to the great principle of the
New Testament, even faith, as a work, does not justify the soul! We
are not saved by works at all or in any sense, but by Divine Grace
alone, and the way in which faith saves us is not by itself as a work,
but in some other way directly opposite. Faith cannot be its own
righteousness, for it is of the very nature of faith to look out of self
to Christ.
If any man should say, "My faith is my righteousness," then it is
evident that he is confiding in his faith and this is just the thing of
all others which it would be unsafe to do, for we must look
altogether away from ourselves to Christ alone, or we have no true
faith at all. Faith must look to the Atonement and work of Jesus, or
else she is not the faith of Scripture. Therefore to say that faith in
and of itself becomes our righteousness, is, it seems to me, to tear
out the very heart of the Gospel and to deny the faith which has
been once delivered to the saints.
Paul declares, contrary to certain sectaries who rail against
imputed righteousness–that we are justified and made righteous by
the righteousness of Christ. On this he is plain and positive. He
tells us (Rom. 5:19) that, "as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous." The Old Testament verse before us as a text this
morning, gives us but, as it were, the outward aspect of
justification–it is brought to us by faith, and the fact that a man has
faith entitles him to be set down as a righteous man. In this sense
God accounts faith to a man as righteousness. But the underlying
and secret Truth of God which the Old Testament does not so
clearly give us is found in the New Testament declaration that we
are accepted in the Beloved, and justified because of the obedience
of Christ.
Faith justifies, but not in and by itself, but because it grasps the
obedience of Christ. "As by the offense of one, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." To the
same effect is that verse in the second Epistle of Peter (first chapter,
first verse), which runs in our version as follows: "Simon Peter, a
servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ." Now, everybody who is at all familiar
with the original knows that the correct translation is, "through the
righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."
The righteousness which belongs to the Christian is the
righteousness of our God and Savior, who is "made of God unto us
righteousness." Hence the beauty of the old prophetic title of the
Messiah, "The Lord our Righteousness." I do not wish to enter into
controversy as to imputed righteousness this morning. We may
discuss that doctrine another time. But we feel confident that this
text cannot mean that faith in itself, as a Divine Grace or a virtue,
becomes the righteousness of any man. The fact is that faith is
counted to us for righteousness because she has Christ in her hand–
she comes to God resting upon what Christ has done, depending
alone upon the Propitiation which God has set forth–and God,
therefore, writes down every believing man as being a righteous
man, not because of what he is in himself, but for what he is in
Christ.
He may have a thousand sins, yet shall he be righteous if he has
faith. He may painfully transgress like Samson. He may be as much
in the dark as Jephthae. He may fall as David, he may slip like
Noah–but, for all that, if he has a true and living faith, he is written
down among the justified, and God accepts him! While there are
some who gloat over the faults of Believers, God spies out the pure
gem of faith gleaming on their breast. He takes them for what they
want to be, for what they are in heart, for what they would be if
they could–and covering their sins with the atoning blood, and
adorning their persons with the righteousness of the Beloved, He
accepts them, seeing He beholds in them the faith which is the
mark of the righteous man wherever it may be.
II. Let us pass on to consider THE PROMISE UPON WHICH
HIS FAITH RELIED when Abram was justified. Abram's faith,
like ours, rested upon a promise received directly from God. "This
shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own
body shall be your heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said,
Look now toward Heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to
number them: and He said unto him, So shall your descendents be."
Had this promise been spoken by any other, it would have been a
subject of ridicule to the Patriarch. But, taking it as from the lips of
God, he accepts it and relies upon it. Now, Brothers and Sisters, if
you and I have true faith we accept the promise, "He that believes
and is baptized, shall be saved" as being altogether Divine. If such
a declaration were made to us by the priests of Rome, or by any
human being on his own authority, we would not think it true. But,
inasmuch as it comes to us written in the sacred Word of God as
having been spoken by Jesus Christ Himself, we lean upon it as not
the word of man, but the Word of God.
Beloved, it may be a very simple remark to make, but after all it
is necessary that we must be careful that our faith in the Truth of
God is fixed upon the fact that God has declared it to be true, and
not upon the oratory or persuasion of any of our most honored
ministers or most respected acquaintances. If your faith stands in
the wisdom of man, it is probably a faith in man. Remember it is
only that faith which believes the promise because God spoke it,
which is real faith in God. Note that and test your faith thereby.
In the next place, Abram's faith was faith in a promise concerning
the seed. It was told him before that he should have a seed in whom
all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He recognized in this
the same promise which was made to Eve at the gates of Paradise,
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed
and her Seed." "Abraham saw My day," says our Lord, "he saw it
and was glad." In this promise Abram saw the one Seed, as says the
Apostle in Galatians 3:16, "He says not, And to seeds, as of many;
but as of one, and to your Seed, which is Christ." He saw Christ by
the eye of faith, and then he saw the multitude that should believe
in Him, the Seed of the father of the faithful.
The faith which justifies the soul concerns itself about Christ and
not mere abstract truths. If your faith simply believes this dogma,
and that, it saves you not. But when your faith believes that God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
unto them their trespasses. When your faith turns to God in human
flesh and rests in Him with its entire confidence, then it justifies
you, for it is the faith of Abram.
Dear Hearer, have you such a faith as this? Is it faith in the
promise of God? Is it faith that deals with Christ and looks alone to
Him? Abram had faith in a promise which it seemed impossible
could ever be fulfilled. A child was to be born of his own loins, but
he was nearly 100 years old and Sarai, also, was said to be barren
years before! His own body was now dead, as it were, and Sarai, so
far as childbearing was concerned, was equally so. The birth of a
son could not happen unless the laws of Nature were reversed.
But he considered not these things, he put them all aside. He saw
death written on the creature, but he accepted the power of life in
the Creator, and he believed without hesitation. Now, Beloved, the
faith that justifies us must be of the same kind. It seems impossible
that I should ever be saved. I cannot save myself. I see absolute
death written upon the best hopes that spring of my holiest
resolutions–"In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells no good
thing." I can do nothing. I am slain under the Law. I am corrupt
through my natural depravity–yet for all this I believe that through
the life of Jesus I shall live and inherit the promised blessing!
It is small faith to believe that God will save you when Divine
Graces flourish in your heart and evidences of salvation abound.
But it is a grand faith to trust in Jesus in the teeth of all your sins–
notwithstanding the accusations of conscience–to believe in Him
that justifies not merely the godly but the ungodly (Rom. 4:5). To
believe not in the Savior of saints, but in the Savior of sinners, and
to believe that if any man sins we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous–this is precious, and is counted
unto us for righteousness.
This justifying faith was faith which dealt with a wonderful
promise, base and sublime. I imagine the Patriarch, standing
beneath the starry sky, looking up to those innumerable orbs
realizing he cannot count them! To his outward eye, long
accustomed in the land of the Chaldeans to midnight observation,
the stars appeared more numerous than they would to an ordinary
observer. He looked and looked again with elevated gaze, and the
voice said, "So shall your seed be." Now he did not say, "Lord, if I
may be the father of a clan, the progenitor of a tribe, I shall be well
content. But it is not credible that countless hosts can ever come of
my barren body."
No, he believed the promise! He believed it just as it stood. I do
not hear him saying, "It is too good to be true." No. God has said
it–and nothing is too good for God to do. The greater the Grace of
the promise, the more likely it is to have come from Him, for good
and perfect gifts come from the Father of Lights. Beloved, does
your faith take the promise as it stands in its vastness, in its height
and depth and length and breadth? Can you believe that you, a
sinner, are nevertheless a child, a son, an heir, an heir of God, joint-
heir with Christ Jesus? Can you believe that Heaven is yours, with
all its ecstasies of joy? Eternity with its infinity of bliss? God with
all His attributes of Glory? Oh, this is the faith that justifies–far-
reaching, wide-grasping faith that diminishes not the word of
promise–but accepts it as it stands! May we have more and more of
this large-handed faith!
Once more, Abram showed faith in the promise as made to him.
Out of his own body a Seed should come, and it was in him and in
his Seed that the whole world should be blessed! I can believe all
the promises in regard to other people. I find faith in regard to my
dear friends to be a very easy matter. But oh, when it comes to
close grips, and to laying hold for yourself, here is the difficulty! I
could see a friend in 10 troubles, and believe that the Lord would
not forsake him. I could read a saintly biography, and finding that
the Lord never failed His servant when he went through fire and
through water, I do not wonder at it. But when it comes to one's
own self, the wonder begins!
Our heart cries, "What is this to me? What am I, and what is my
father's house, that such mercy should be mine? I washed in blood
and made whiter than snow today! Is it so? Can it be? I made
righteous through my faith in Jesus Christ–perfectly righteous! O
can it be? What? For me the everlasting love of God, streaming
from its perennial fountain? For me the protection of a special
Providence in this life, and the provision of a prepared Heaven in
the life to come? For me a harp, a crown, a palm branch, a throne!
For me the bliss of forever beholding the face of Jesus, and being
made like He is, and reigning with Him! It seems impossible!
And yet this is the faith that we must have, the faith which lays on
Christ Jesus for itself, saying with the Apostle, "He loved me, and
gave Himself for me." This is the faith which justifies! Let us seek
more and more of it, and God shall have glory through it.
III. In the third place, let us notice THE ATTENDANTS OF
ABRAM'S JUSTIFICATION. With your Bibles open, kindly
observe that after it is written his faith was counted to him for
righteousness, it is recorded that the Lord said to him, "I am
Jehovah that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you
this land to inherit it." When the soul is graciously enabled to
perceive its complete justification by faith, then it more distinctly
discerns its calling.
Then the Believer perceives his privileged separation and discerns
why he was convicted of sin, why he was led away from self-
righteousness and the pleasures of this world to live the life of
faith. Now he sees his high calling and the prize of it, and from the
one blessing of justification he argues the blessedness of all the
inheritance to which he is called. The more clear a man is about his
justification the more will he prize his calling, and the more
earnestly will he seek to make it sure by perfecting his separation
from the world and his conformity to his Lord.
Am I a justified man? Then I will not go back to that bondage in
which I once was held. Am I now accepted of God through faith?
Then I will live no longer by sight, as I once did as a carnal man–
when I understood not the power of trusting in the unseen God.
One Christian Grace helps another, and one act of Divine Grace
casts a reflection upon another. Calling gleams with double glory
side by side with the twin star of justification. Justifying faith
receives more vividly the promises. "I have brought you," said the
Lord, "into this land to inherit it." He was reminded again of the
promise God made to him years before.
Beloved, no man reads the promises of God with such delight and
with such a clear understanding as the man who is justified by faith
in Christ Jesus. "For now," he says, "this promise is mine, and
made to me. I have the pledge of its fulfillment in the fact that I
walk in the favor of God. I am no longer obnoxious to His wrath.
None can lay anything to my charge, for I am absolved through
Jesus Christ, and, therefore, if when I was a sinner He justified me,
much more, being justified, will He keep His promise to me. If
when I was a condemned rebel, He nevertheless in His eternal
mercy called me and brought me into this state of acceptance,
much more will He preserve me from all my enemies and give me
the heritage which He has promised by His Covenant of Grace. A
clear view of justification helps you much in grasping the promises
of God, therefore seek it earnestly for your soul's comfort.
Abram, after being justified by faith, was led more distinctly to
behold the power of sacrifice. By God's command he killed three
bullocks, three goats, three sheep, with turtle doves and pigeons,
being all the creatures ordained for sacrifice. The Patriarch's hands
are stained with blood. He handles the butcher's knife–he divides
the beasts, he kills the birds–he places them in an order revealed to
him by God's Spirit at the time. There they are. Abram learns that
there is no meeting with God except through sacrifice. God has
shut every door except that over which the blood is sprinkled. All
acceptable approaches to God must be through an atoning
sacrifice–and Abram understood this.
While the promise is still in his ears. While the ink is yet wet in
the pen of the Holy Spirit, writing him down as justified–he must
see a sacrifice, and see it, too, in emblems which comprehend all
the Revelation of sacrifice made to Aaron. So, Brothers and Sisters,
it is a blessed thing when your faith justifies you if it helps you to
obtain more complete and vivid views of the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus Christ! The purest and most bracing air for faith to breathe is
on Calvary. I do not wonder that your faith grows weak when you
fail to consider well the tremendous sacrifice which Jesus made for
His people! Turn to the annals of the Redeemer's sufferings given
us in the Evangelists. Bow yourself in prayer before the Lamb of
God–blush to think you should have forgotten His death which is
the center of all history!
Contemplate the wondrous transaction of Substitution once again,
and you will find your faith revived! It is not the study of theology.
It is not reading books upon points of controversy. It is not
searching into mysterious prophecy which will bless your soul–it is
looking to Jesus Crucified! That is the essential nutrition of the life
of faith, and mind that you keep to it. As a man already justified,
Abram looked at the sacrifice all day long and till the sun went
down, chasing away the birds of prey as you must drive off all
disturbing thoughts. So must you also study the Lord Jesus, and
view Him in all His Characters and offices. Be not satisfied unless
you grow in Divine Grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Perhaps even more important was the next lesson which Abram
had to learn. He was led to behold the Covenant. I suppose that
these pieces of the bullock, the lamb, the ram, and the goat were so
placed that Abram stood in the midst with a part on this side and a
part on that. So he stood as a worshipper all through the day, and
towards nightfall, when a horror of great darkness came over him,
he fell into a deep sleep. Who would not feel a horror passing over
him as he sees the great sacrifice for sin and sees himself involved?
There, in the midst of the sacrifice he saw, moving with solemn
motion, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp answering to the
pillar of cloud and fire which manifested the Presence of God in
later days to Israel in the wilderness.
In these emblems the Lord passed between the pieces of the
sacrifice to meet His servant and enter into Covenant with him.
This has always been the most solemn of all modes of
covenanting–and has even been adopted in heathen nations on
occasions of unusual solemnity. The sacrifice is divided and the
covenanting parties meet between the divided pieces. The profane
interpretation was that they imprecated upon each other the curse
that if they broke the covenant they might be cut in pieces as these
beasts had been. But this is not the interpretation which our hearts
delight in! It is this–it is only in the midst of the sacrifice that God
can enter into a Covenant relationship with sinful man. God comes
in His glory like a flame of fire, but subdued and tempered to us as
with a cloud of smoke in the Person of Jesus Christ. And He comes
through the bloody Sacrifice which has been offered once and for
all through Jesus Christ on the tree. Man meets with God in the
midst of the Sacrifice of Christ!
Now, Beloved, you who are justified, try this morning to reach
this privilege which particularly belongs to you at this juncture of
your spiritual history. Know and understand that God is in
Covenant bonds with you. He has made a Covenant of Grace with
you which never can be broken. The sure mercies of David are
your portion. After this sort does that Covenant run, "A new heart
also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them. They
shall be My people, and I will be their God." That Covenant is
made with you over the slaughtered body of the Son of God!
God and you cross hands over Him who sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood falling to the ground. The Lord accepts us and we
enter with Him into sacred league and amity over the Victim whose
wounds and death ratify the compact. Can God forget a Covenant
with such sanctions? Can such a federal bond so solemnly sealed
be ever broken? Impossible! Man is sometimes faithful to his oath,
but God is always so–and when that oath is confirmed for the
strengthening of our faith by the blood of the Only-Begotten–to
doubt is treason and blasphemy! Godhelpus,being justified, to have
faith in the Covenant which is sealed and ratified with blood!
Immediately after, God made to Abram (and here the analogy still
holds) a discovery, that all the blessing that was promised, though it
was surely his, would not come without an interval of trouble.
"Your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years." When a man is
first of all brought to Christ he often is so ignorant as to think,
"Now my troubles are all over. I have come to Christ and I am
saved–from this day forward I shall have nothing to do but to sing
the praises of God."
Alas, a conflict remains! We must understand, for sure, that the
battle now begins! How often does it happen that the Lord, in order
to educate His child for future trouble, makes the occasion when
his justification is most clear to him the season of informing him
that he may expect to meet with trouble? I was struck with that fact
when I was reading for my own comfort, the other night, the fifth
chapter of Romans. It runs thus–"Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom
also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
See how softly it flows–a justification sheds the oil of joy upon
the Believer's head. But what is the next verse–"and not only so,
but we glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation works
patience," and so on. Justification ensures tribulation. Oh, yes, the
Covenant is yours–you shall possess the goodly land and Lebanon–
but, like all the seed of Abraham, you must go down into Egypt and
groan, being burdened. All the saints must smart before they sing.
They must carry the cross before they wear the crown. You are
justified men and women but you are not freed from trouble! Your
sins were laid on Christ, but you still have Christ's Cross to carry.
The Lord has exempted you from the curse, but He has not
exempted you from the chastisement. Learn that you enter on the
children's discipline on the very day in which you enter upon their
accepted condition.
To close the whole, the Lord gave to Abram an assurance of
ultimate success. He would bring his seed into the promised land,
and the people who had oppressed them He would judge. So let it
come as a sweet revelation to every believing man this morning,
that at the end he shall triumph and those evils which now oppress
him shall be cast beneath his feet! The Lord shall bruise Satan
under our feet shortly. We may be slaves in Egypt for awhile, but
we shall come up out of it with great abundance of true riches–
better than silver or gold! We shall be prospered by our tribulations
and enriched by our trials!
Therefore let us be of good cheer. If sin is pardoned, we may well
bear affliction. "Strike, Lord," said Luther, "now my sins are gone.
Strike as hard as You will if transgression is covered." These light
afflictions which are but for a moment are not worthy to be
compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us. Let us
make it the first point of our care to be justified with Abraham's
seed, and then whether we sojourn in Egypt or enjoy the peace of
Canaan it little matters–we are all safe if we are only justified by
faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Dear Friends, this last word, and I send you home. Have you
believed in God? Have you trusted Christ? O that you would do so
today! To believe that God speaks truth ought not to be difficult,
and if we were not very wicked this would never need to be urged
upon us–we should do it naturally. To believe that Christ is able to
save us seems to me to be easy enough, and it would be if our
hearts were not so hard. Believe your God, and think it no little
thing to do so!
May the Holy Spirit lead you to a true trust. This is the work of
God–that you believe on Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Believe
that the Son of God can save, and confide yourself alone in Him,