Part 2
God accompanies it with saving power and the man is made to live–and he is fashioned in the image of God! Blessed be God, the Spirit's work is always effectual! It is possible to grieve and to resist the Holy Spirit, but when He puts forth His almighty power, then He is irresistible! The will is sweetly inclined and the man cries, "Great God, I yield, constrained by mighty love. I throw down my weapons of rebellion and I willingly go as Your gracious
Spirit leads me."
I want you to also notice that where the Spirit came, the work was carried on to completion.
The work of Creation did not end with the first day, but went on till it was finished on the sixth day. God did not say, "I have made the light and now I will leave the earth as it is." And when He had begun to divide the waters and to separate the land from the sea, He did not say, "Now I will have no more to do with the work." He did not take the newly-fashioned earth in His hands and fling it back into chaos, but He went on with His work until, on the seventh day, when it was completed, He rested from all His work and, glory be to God, He will not leave unfinished the work which He has commenced in our souls! Where the Spirit of God has begun to move, He continues to move until the work is done. And He will not fail or turn aside until all is accomplished. How we ought to bless His name for this! If the Spirit of God ever did utterly leave
His work in any man's soul undone, then each one here might feel, "He may leave it unfinished in me"–and there would remain no solid comfort for any one of us! If a child of God could ever fall from Grace, then you and I might be among the first to fall, but Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." Rightly do we sing–
"The work which wisdom undertakes
Eternal mercy never forsakes!"
As surely as there is a first day, there will come a seventh day in which God will rest because His work will be completed. And as surely as the Spirit of God has moved upon our soul and there has come to us light instead of darkness, so shall there be a day of rest in which we shall keep the Sabbath of God with Him forever, because the Spirit's work has been completed in us even as the work of Christ has been finished on our behalf.
II. Now, having thus tried to draw a parallel between the Spirit's work in the old and the new Creation, let me go on to the practical part of this evening's meditation and try to show you, in the second place, that THE PARALLEL WE HAVE DRAWN FURNISHES
MANY ENCOURAGEMENTS.
And first, it furnishes encouragement to those distressed sinners who fear that they are utterly beyond the possibilityof salvation.
"I," says one, "am conscious that there is no good in me of any sort whatever. And I am so wicked that grim despair has settled down upon my heart." Listen to the text, my Brother–"The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Is not that an exact description of your heart? "Oh, yes," you say, "that is a terribly true picture of myself!" Well, what comes next? "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
While there was confusion, while there was darkness–before there was any sort of preparation for the coming of the Spirit, any kindling of flambeaux with which to break the darkness, or anything that would have seemed like the beginning of order, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters! Then why should He not move in your soul? Others who were in just as sad a condition as you are now in, have been saved–then why should you not also be saved? You have been a gross sinner, but other equally gross sinners have received the Spirit of God, who has brought
Christ to them–so why should not you? If you have been the vilest of the vile, there is one text that still gives you good cheer. It is that one where Paul speaks of himself as the chief of sinners and yet declares that he was saved. You cannot be a greater sinner than the chief of sinners! The chief is first of all and you can only be second to the chief. Or if you are even equal to him, God has proved His power to save you by saving Saul of Tarsus! Think of what Saul's case was like when he was on the road to Damascus. Why, if it were possible, it was more chaotic than chaos, itself, and darker than the primeval darkness! He was exceedingly angry against the people of God and was bent upon their destruction! Yet the Spirit of God came upon him and within a few minutes he was crying out, "Lord, what will You have me to do?"
Let me further say to you, poor despairing Soul, suppose such an one as you are should be saved–would it not be a wonder of Grace?
"Yes," you say, "it would, indeed." Well, God is the great Wonder-
Worker! It is His delight to do things which are very wonderful, for these bring Him the most glory. Men can do commonplace things, but wonders are worked by God! If He were to save you, would you not forever feel indebted to His Grace? "Yes," you say, "that I should, if He would take such a black and sinful one as I am and save me." Very well. This is just what He wants in His children, that they should forever love Him and praise Him–and feel that they are under gracious obligations of love to Him. When God means to make a great saint, He often uses a great sinner as the raw material. It is the man who is greatly in debt who loves the friend who discharges his debt. If I were a physician and I wanted to establish my fame, do you think that I should trouble about you who have a finger ache or some other trifling complaint? No! If I wanted London to ring with the story of my cures, I would try to find out the man who is nearest to the gates of death, or one who is afflicted with many diseases at once, for if I healed him, all would be amazed and it would be reported everywhere,"This man has worked this great marvel." Now, Christ is the Physician and you are the patient. And the worse you are, the more glory can He get out of you! He is certainly able to save you, bad as you are, and so He will glorify His name as a Savior. "It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Thus I say unto you, O Soul, though you are empty of everything but sin, the Spirit of God can fill you with Grace! And though darkness enshrouds you, the Spirit of God can come upon you and make you light in the Lord! So you need not despair, but rather give your ear attentively to this promise of the Lord Jesus Christ–"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Or this, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." May the Spirit of God lead you to believe in Jesus!
There is an equal encouragement in this text for those who are the people of God, or who once thought that theywere, but who have fallen into a very sad and miserable condition. There are some who have walked in the Light of God and enjoyed sweet fellowship with Him, but they have been very careless, or they have neglected private prayer, or perhaps they have fallen into sin and now they have got into such a state of heart that they cannot see anything gracious in themselves. "Oh," says such an one, "I am worse than the sinner who never knew Christ! I feel as if I had played the apostate, like Judas, or as if I had turned aside, like Demas, loving the present world, or as if I were a tree without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. I feel that in myself there is no order of Grace and no light of love." Listen, dear Friend, to my text–"And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." I bless God that I have many a time known what it is, when I felt most barren, to be made to blossom and bring forth fruit–and when apparently most dead, suddenly to be quickened into ecstatic life! And when I have, in my own estimation, lain at Hell's door, yet by one promise applied with power, by one flash of the Divine energy, to be lifted up and made to say, even in that place wherein my soul slept, like Jacob did at Bethel, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."
Has not the Spirit of God often dealt so with you experienced saints who know what the ups and downs of the Christian life are?
Has He not made you strong when you have been weak and made you to sing just after you had been sighing–and made the waters to be calmest just after the fiercest storm and your brightest days to follow just after the hurricane? Then have you rejoiced in the clear shining after rain, when the winter was over and gone and when the voice of the singing of birds was heard in your land! I know you have found it so! Then do you now think that the Lord waitsto find some good thing in you before He will bless you? Did He not love you when you were in your blood, like an infant cast out into the field unwashed and unswaddled? Do you think that His arm is shortened, or that His love is diminished? You say that you have been unfaithful to Him, but He abides faithful! Your faith may seem to be dead, but "your life is hid with Christ in God." You feel so foul, but–
"There is a fountain, filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains!"
Do not despair, dear Friend–look again to the Cross–begin again where you began before! Remember the simple story that I told you long ago of poor Jack the Huckster, [See Sermon #47, Volume 1– CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE–Read/download the entire sermon, free of charge, at .] who used to sing– "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my All-in-All."
Get back to that point, dear Brother or Sister, and so you will get back to Light of God and once more you will realize that the Spirit of God is working within your spirit!
I think our text also gives encouragement to those who are working for God. You are not now thinking aboutyourself. You have, by Divine Grace, advanced beyond that stage, and you are thinking about others. You are going to take a district and visit it– and there are places there that swarm with the worst of characters.
You do not know any good people there who are at all likely to welcome and assist you. Go there, my dear Brother! Venture there, my dear Sister, without any fear, remembering that although "the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, the Spirit of God moved upon the waters." Go to that dark spot, for the Spirit of God will go with you! He will guide you through the darkness and through the chaos–and will help and bless you. Missionaries have gone to lands where the people were cannibals, but they have not been unsuccessful. The Gospel has been carried to people who were so degraded that they did not seem to have any sense of possessing even a soul–yet the Gospel had not been without fruit among them! No race of men has ever been discovered that has been sunk too low for the Spirit of God to work upon them and to save them! Let us never despair of any, or think that they are beyond the Spirit's power.
"But," says one, "I would like to speak to those who are willing to hear me and who are anxious to be saved." No doubt you would, for most people like easy work, but if the Lord sends you to those who do not wish to be saved, and who have no care at all about religion, you must not pick and choose your work–you must go where God sends you! Would you not like to go where God would get the most glory? Of course you would! Well, He gets the most glory when big sinners are saved, when those who hated Him most begin to love Him, when those who were most opposed to His Truth gladly receive it! Then there is the greatest triumph of His Grace and the greatest glory to His holy name. I have sometimes thought that I would like to have lived in England in the days of the Puritans. It must have been a great privilege to have heard some of those old masters of theology preaching the Gospel and to have mingled with the holy multitudes that worshipped God in those days when this land was a very Paradise. But there is more need of the preacher of the Gospel now than ever there was and, therefore, he ought to be glad to be where he is most needed. A good servant would rather that his master put him where there is plenty for him to do than let him be where there are more workers than work! I see the thick clouds of Popery spreading over the land in every direction and see scarcely anything in the signs of the times that tends to cheer one's heart. I see plenty of comfort in the Scriptures!
I have abundant joy in the Lord and rest in Him, but as for the way in which things are going in all the churches–ah, Lord God, how has Your Spirit been restrained and how little work does He appear to be doing in these evil times! But because the times are dark, shall we despair? No, but still remember that when "the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep"–then "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Was it not so in Christ's own day and in the time of the Apostles?
The world was sunk in sin, superstition and cruelty–but after Pentecost thousands were converted! Was it not so in Luther's day?
The professing church, like another Samson, was lulled to sleep upon the lap of the Delilah of Rome! And the church's locks were utterly shorn–its strength was gone and it was delivered over to the Philistines. But, in due time, the Spirit of God came into the darkness and the great Truth that we are justified by faith–not by the works of the Law–was like a repetition of the ancient command and its sequel, "Let there be light, and there was light." Blessed be God, the darkness of those days could not keep back the light of Luther's preaching! Nor Calvin's clear transparent preaching and Zwingli's burning words! And if all England should become black as night and things grow worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, until they come to the worst–and Satan lords it over all–there would be no cause for fear even then! Fearlessly should the soldiers of Christ still go on, for the Spirit of God will again move when chaos and darkness reign! Be of good cheer, Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Pray on, work on, trust on and God will indeed bless you!
I earnestly pray that those to whom I have spoken may receive whatever of the Truth of God I have uttered. And especially do I pray this for the seeking sinner. How I long that he may realize that the only power that can save him lies outside himself! If you are ever to be accepted before God, you will never be accepted through anything that you are in yourself. You will have to be accepted in Christ Jesus and, in order to be accepted in Christ Jesus, you must have faith in Jesus. If you are ever to be a living child of the living
God, the Spirit of God must quicken you! There is in you nothing whatever that can recommend you to God. He and He, alone, must save you if you are ever to be saved. "Why," says one, "you drive me to despair by talking like that!" I wish I could drive you to such despair as would make you cease from your own works and leave off all ideas of self-salvation–and make you fall as one dead before the Throne of Mercy and cry, "Lord, save me, or I perish!" We cannot too plainly preach that salvation is of the Lord alone!
Everything that is of Nature's spinning will have to be unraveled and the soul must be clothed in the spotless robe of the righteousness of Christ. You may build on the sandy foundation of creature merit, but all you build will surely come down! Oh, that you may cease from such foolish building and that you may build upon what Jesus Christ has done! There you will build upon the Rock, the real foundation! If the Spirit of God will enable you to build there, you will have built for eternity! May Grace, mercy, and peace be with you in so doing, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen.
Ge 1:4 • The First Day of Creation
ERMON 1252
The First Day Of Creation
"And God saw the light that it was good."
Genesis 1:4
WE shall, this morning, leave all discussion as to the creation of the world to those learned Divines who have paid their special attention to that subject, and to those geologists who know, or at any rate think they know, a very great deal about it. It is a very interesting subject, but this is not the time for its consideration. Our business is moral and spiritual rather than scientific. We justify our present discourse by quoting that remarkable parallel text which the Holy Spirit has given us in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, fourth chapter and the sixth verse, where Paul says, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The creation was an instructive type of the new creation. God's methods of forming the old creation illustrate His ways in preparing and perfecting His people who are new creatures in Christ Jesus. So we shall gather light from an analogy which is evidently warranted by the New Testament. We trust we shall not be guilty of inventing things fanciful, strained, or merely curious– our objective is edification and consolation–and not a display of ingenuity. May the eternal light of the Holy Spirit shine upon us, now, that by His light we may see light.
Man's fallen nature is a very chaos, "without form and void," with darkness thick and sevenfold covering all. The Lord begins
His work upon man by the visitation of the Spirit, who enters the soul mysteriously and broods over it, even as of old He moved upon the face of the waters. He is the Quickener of the dead soul.
In connection with the Presence of the Holy Spirit, the Lord sends into the soul, as His first blessing, light. The Lord appeals to man's understanding and enlightens it by the Gospel. The heavenly light reveals to man his obligations to God and his forgetfulness of them.
It shows him the evil of sin, his own guilt, consequent danger and the impossibility of his escaping from that danger by any efforts of his own.
That same light, also, reveals to man God's way of salvation– shows him the Person of Christ, His work, its suitability and its freeness–and lets him see how he may obtain an interest in redemption by the simple act of believing. It is a blessed thing for any man when the Lord God says concerning him, "Let there be light." If you keep your eyes upon the chapter you will observe that the light came into the world at first by the word–"God said, 'let there be light.'" It is through the Word of God contained in this book, the Bible, that light comes into the soul. Let me correct myself–it is by Him who is called the Logos, THE WORD, that light is poured into the heart of man, for, "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
This is that true light which lights every man that comes into the world. The Spirit, you see, is engaged in the new creation–He broods over the soul. The Son of God is the Creator, also–He is that WORD without whom nothing was made, and by whom light came. And the Father unites in the same sacred work, for it is He who speaks and it is done. It needs the Trinity to new-create a soul.
Oh, Triune God, our souls which are new-created worship You with the trinity of their nature–spirit, soul, and body! The light which broke in upon the primeval darkness was of a very mysterious kind, and came not according to ordinary laws, for as yet neither sun nor moon had been set as lights in the firmament.
Can we tell how spiritual light first dawns on nature's night? It darts upon some souls without the aid of apparent ministries, immediately from God! Indeed, though the Lord sends light by this means or by that, yet in every case the light is His own work, and the means are, in themselves, so evidently powerless that the whole glory of the work belongs to the Lord alone! How He removes darkness from the understanding and illuminates the intellect is a secret reserved for only Himself. Mysteriously, then, the light enters into the soul of man. But one thing is clear concerning it– however it comes, if it is true light, it is always God-given and comes, alone, from the great Father of lights.
No gracious light ever will or can come to any man except directly from God Himself. There was no latent light in the chaotic mass of world. There was no brilliance to be developed out of the primitive darkness. It was necessary that Jehovah should interpose and that His fiat should pour in light firm above. O heart of man, you are darkness itself, but in the Lord is your light found! The light came instantaneously. Six days were occupied in furnishing the earth, but a moment sufficed for illuminating it. God works rapidly in the operation of regeneration–as with a flash, He darts light and life into the soul.
The operations of Grace are gradual, but its entrance is instantaneous. Although instantaneous, it is not, however, shallow and short-lived. The light did not depart because of its rapid coming–it was a permanent blessing which earth received in that glad hour. The light remained, increased and though in every spot upon the globe there are necessary interludes of night, and though there has been an evening as well as a morning to all succeeding days, yet our globe has never been forsaken of the blessed light since the day when first the eternal Word flashed it forth upon the face of the deep! Even so, when God sends Grace into the soul of man it comes in an instant, but it does not so depart. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
The darkness struggles for the mastery, but the light, once given, none shall quench–it must and shall shine forth more and more unto the perfect day. All this is worthy of our careful note, but the point which we are about to dwell upon is this–our text concerns only the first day of creation and the Lord's consideration of that first day's work–and His approval of it. The first day of creation fairly pictures the commencement of our spiritual life, our conviction, conversion and first faith in Jesus.
My objective shall be to speak words of comfort to beginners, that I may cheer those upon whom the true light has only lately begun to shine. And I shall, also, give a few words of advice to older people as to their duty to these newlyenlightened ones.
Our first observation will be this–THE LORD SEES
WHATEVER HE CREATES. "The Lord saw the light." He was the sole observer of it. Neither eyes of man, nor bird, nor beast was there to behold the golden glory, but God saw the light! Newly enlightened one, it may be you are pained because you have no Christian companion to observe your change of heart. Cease from your sorrow, for God beholds you! Have you seen yourself a sinner and do you, therefore, weep in secret places? Have you begun to see the Savior and do you look to Him in loneliness of spirit and find in Him a joy with which a stranger intermeddled not?
It is but a small matter that no human eyes have seen your repentance and your faith, for He beholds them, even He who gave them birth! It may be that neither father nor mother has perceived the change and, perhaps, had they perceived it they may be such that they would not have rejoiced in it. But let this be your comfort–your heavenly Father sees you and His heart pities you.
When the prodigal was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and even thus, your heavenly Father sees you! And as this was enough for the prodigal, so it is enough for you. Upon your tears of penitence He has fixed His eyes, and upon your glance of faith He has turned His gaze. "The Lord saw the light"–this grand Truth of God should be very sweet to those whose faith is lonely, who meet with many discouragements, and little or no sympathy.
Like Hagar in the desert you should rejoicingly say, "You, God, see me." "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." David said, "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me." Oh, young beginner, the Lord sees the work of Grace that is in you! Though it is but in its first day, He does not turn His eyes from the light which He has kindled! And as long as this is the case, you need not fear. The orator of old thought Plato, alone, quite enough for an audience! Much more, then, may you consider that the Lord, alone, is all that you need by way of observation and you may joyfully pray with the Psalmist, "Look
You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You use to do unto those that love Your name."
That light had come into the world in a noiseless manner, yet the Lord saw it. The entrance of God's Word which gives light is effected in "solemn silence of the mind." If men make an illumination, we can hear the crackling of their fireworks all over the city. But when God illuminates the earth with the sun, the orb of day arises without a sound! The ancients talked of the chariot of the sun, but whoever heard the sound of wheels or the hoof beats of horses in the sky? The health-bearing wings of the morning cause no tumult in the air when they are spread abroad. "When morn her rosy steps in the eastern clime advancing, sows the earth with orient pearl," her footsteps are not heard.
True, the birds salute her coming with glad songs, but she, herself, steals onward without voice. Even thus Grace enters the soul and not a whisper is breathed, yet the Lord sees the light. Light is its own advertisement, it needs no trumpet to announce it. And it is the same with Divine Grace. Dear young Friend, in you the work of Grace has been a very quiet one. Perhaps you remember no remarkable sermon, no horrible dream, no sick-bed experience, no grim terrors of the Law as have happened to others of God's people. You have been treated as Lydia was whose heart the Lord opened, or like Timothy, you have known the Scriptures from your youth.
Be not, therefore, led to suspect your sincerity, or to doubt the reality of the work of Grace. Although the work in your soul has been so quiet, so hidden from the eyes of men, so unremarkable and commonplace, yet take comfort from our text, "The Lord saw the light." No trumpet proclaimed it, but the Lord saw it! No voice went forth concerning it, but the Lord saw it and it was enough!
And in your case it is the same. The earth itself could not recognize the light, yet the Lord saw it. Poor dull chaos, what could it know?
And as for primeval night, the light shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
How often does the young Believer stand in doubt as to himself!
How frequently does he enquire, "Is this light or is it not?" Nor is he alone in such great searchings of heart, for there are times with some of the more advanced of us, when we are very glad to think that the Lord sees the light, for we cannot see it. There are times when, through doubt, fear and a keen sense of sin, we begin to question whether the Lord has ever shone upon us at all! And if this happens to fullgrown saints it is not much wonder if it occurs to babes in Grace in the first morning of their life. If it should occasionally prove a very serious question–"Am I in the light or not?"–we need not marvel, for often have sincere children of God put up the anxious inquiry, "Is this light, or only darkness visible?"
How often do we mourn that we have scarcely more light than suffices to reveal our darkness and make us pine for more! Oh, troubled one, lay this home to your soul–the Lord saw the light when earth, herself, could not perceive it! Let us not forget that besides the light there was no other beauty. The earth, according to the Hebrew, was "tohu and bohu," which, in order to come near to both the sense and sound at the same time, I will render, "anyhow and nohow." It was confusion, emptiness, waste. Matter was discordant and disorganized. And so God fixed His eyes on the light, not on the chaos!
Even so, beloved Friend, your experience may seem to be a chaos, nohow and anyhow, exactly what it should not be, a maze of unformed conceptions and half-formed desires, and ill-formed prayers–but yet there is Grace in you and God sees it–even amid the dire confusion and huge uproar of your spirit! What He has, Himself, created in you He beholds, considers, and delights in!
And, as for the sin that dwells in you, He only regards it as covered from His sight by the atoning work of His dear Son! Remember, too, that when the light came it had to contend with darkness, but God saw it, none the less.
So, also, in your soul, there still remains the darkness of inbred corruption, ignorance, infirmity and tendency to sin. And these cause a conflict, but the light is not hidden from the eyes of God.
What a mercy this is that our God keeps His eyes on the light rather than on the darkness. Oh, how I bless Him for that! If He were to ignore the light that is in us because it is feeble, and look only at our sin because it is abundant, He would certainly utterly destroy us! But instead of that He casts our sins behind His back, while upon the new-born Grace He fixes His steady gaze and says, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."
For many reasons the Lord sees the light, but chiefly He sees it because He made it, and He forsakes not the work of His own hands. God can see Grace in men where you and I cannot, because
He knows where it is, seeing He, Himself, hid it in the soul. There is never a grain of Grace in the world but what God has a register of it. All the Grace in men's hearts calls God, "Father," and God hears its voice and turns His eye that way. He knows His own children and His eyes and His heart are towards them continually for good. He knows the light which is of His own creating–there is not one stray sunbeam in the universe, nor one forgotten ray of light.
Neither is there a spark of forgotten Grace, or a grain of salvation which has got out of its course. God cannot but remember His own
Grace, seeing that the giving of it is a work so dear to His heart, and the effect of that work is so precious in His esteem. To sum up what we have said, you who have been converted to God may lament that in your soul there is no order and that everything is tossed about. You may perceive no growth, no fruit, no virtue in your life because you have not known the Lord long enough to produce much.
But if there is light enough to reveal Christ in you as your only hope, be of good cheer, for the Lord does not look for the fourth day's work on the first day! He sees that in you which is of His own giving and creating–and he calls it good! Seeing the light in you, He will perpetuate it so that you shall never walk in darkness!
And He will increase it till the glory breaks upon you! Do you repent of sin? God sees the light. Have you bemoaned your shortcomings? God saw the light. Have you begun to pray?
"Behold, he prays," says God, for He sees the light. Have you believed in Jesus Christ with even a trembling faith? God sees the light. Have you begun to hope in His mercy? He sees that hope, for the God that gave you its light still looks upon it!
II. It is time for us to pass on to a second head, which is this–THE
LORD APPROVES OF WHAT HE CREATES. "God saw the light that it was good." He took pleasure in it. Now, as far as this world was concerned, light was but young and new–and so in some of you, Grace is quite a novelty. You were only converted a very little while ago and you have had no time to try yourselves or to develop your Divine Graces, yet the Lord delights in your new-born life!
There are some older folk who are suspicious of the dawn of Grace and look very dubiously upon new converts, but in this they have not the mind of God.
The old members of our Churches in the country, 20 years ago, used to say, "We must not take in young converts too soon. We must summer and winter them before they are baptized." This they called prudence. I wonder what they would think of prudent farmers who summered and wintered the lambs before they took them into the fold? Or prudent parents who summered and wintered their babes before they pressed them to their bosom? We ought right gladly to take the little babes in Grace and nurse them for the Lord–and by no means despise their youth. The Lord did not leave the light to itself till it had been tried for years, but on the first day He smiled upon it and pronounced it good!
He took delight in it because it was as much His creation and as truly good as if He had made it ages before. Light is good at dawn as well as at noon. The Grace of God is good though but newly received! It will work out for you greater things, by-and-by, and make you more happy and more holy, but even now all the elements of excellence are in it and its first day has the Divine blessing upon it. Grace in the bud is pleasant unto the Lord–let this Truth of God fill the newly converted with intense delight!
Here we must mention again that it was struggling light, yet none the less, for it was approved of the Lord. We do not understand how it was that the light and the darkness were together until God divided them, as this verse intimates, but as John Bunyan says, "No doubt darkness and light, here, began their quarrel," for what communion has light with darkness? The black darkness was in possession, but the arrows of light pierced it through and through.
It strove to hold its own, but before long it could be said, "the darkness is past and the true light now shines."
Do you remember how it was with you when the light invaded the little world within you? I remember well the inward battle and sore conflict in my own case. What struggles! What contentions! What conflicts my soul endured when the light first broke in upon nature's night! My darkened heart rebelled against the light, hating to have its deeds reproved. But the light would not be extinguished or turned aside. Backed by the Divine fiat, it pierced its way until I joined the company to whom it is said, "you were sometime darkness, but now are you light in the Lord."
My Brothers and Sisters, I am sure you are no strangers to this conflict, nor is it to you altogether a thing of the past. You are still in the conflict. Still Grace and sin are warring in you, and will do so till you are taken Home. Let this help you, O you who are perplexed! Remember that struggling as the light is, God approves of it and calls it good! Even the repentance which cannot repent as it would is good! The faith which cannot believe as it would is good! Life which smolders like fire in damp wood is good–and the Lord so esteems it! "A bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He will not quench."
As yet the light had not been divided from the darkness and the boundaries of day and night were not fixed. And it is so in young beginners–they hardly know which is Grace and which is nature, what is of themselves and what is of Christ–and they make a great many mistakes. Yet the Lord makes no mistake of that which His Grace has placed in them! They have so little discernment that they see and do not see, for they see men as trees walking, but God sees them clearly enough. It is neither day nor night with them–they are in a fog and lack power of discernment–but the Lord discerns them, for He knows them that are His. Let this be their joy that the Lord can analyze their condition and He knows what is light in them and approves it.
As yet the light and darkness had not been named–it was afterwards that the Lord called the light, "day," and the darkness, "night." Yet He saw the light that it was good. And so, though you do not know the names of things, God knows your name! Though you do not understand the doctrines so as to speak of them correctly, yet He understands you. Your ignorance of terms and names, your confusion of mind and childish misapprehensions will not provoke the Lord or make Him overlook the Grace which He has worked in you. The sooner you can distinguish between things that differ, the better, but meanwhile the Lord distinguishes what is in you and loves the light which He has given you, for He never made a Grace which He did not love, and never worked a work in the soul of man which He did not approve!
The light of the first day could not reveal much of beauty, for there was none, and so, dear Friend, the light within does not yet reveal much to you–and what it does reveal is uncomely, but the light, itself, is good–whatever it may make manifest. If the Grace given you, my young Friend, only reveals the depravity of your nature. If it only shows you the cage of unclean birds within you and the wild beasts that rage and rave within your nature–if it only makes these growl in their dens more fiercely than ever because their reign is coming to an end–still it is light!
If it displays your nature as tossed about in sorry tumult and wretched disorder, yet the light is good, and God takes delight in it.
When no varied landscape of land and sea, mountain and lake, meadow and forest charmed the eyes, yet the Lord approved the light which shone over the formless mass. Let this cheer and comfort you, that in the same manner you have the approbation of God upon whatever of Grace His hands have created within you.
But why did God say that light was good? I suppose it was because its creation displayed His attributes. The instantaneous coming of light revealed His power, His sovereignty, His goodness, His wisdom and His love.
He is not a God whose glory consists in darkness, but, "He covers
Himself with light as with a garment." Grace is a still more glorious manifestation of the Divine Character and in it God glorifies His name. The Grace that is in you has sufficed to show you the power and the justice of God–and something of His mercy and His love–and angels from Heaven have beheld the same sacred attributes in the Divine work within you. Therefore God loves
Grace because it makes Him known in many of His glorious attributes. He loves the light, too, because it is like Himself, for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
Light is ethereal and almost spiritual, and therein like He who is a Spirit. Light makes manifest the Truth of God and therein is like the God of Truth. The Grace that is in you, if, indeed it is Grace, is yet more truly of the nature of God, for it is that living and incorruptible Seed by which you are made partakers of the Divine
Nature and are enabled to escape the corruption which is in the world through lust. Satan is the Prince of the powers of darkness, but another principle, even that of the light of God dwells in the man who believes in Jesus–and this principle must be good–for it is of God.
Light is eminently good, for the Lord spent a whole day in creating and arranging it–a whole day out of six! This shows that He attaches great importance to it. Moreover, He gave it the front rank by occupying the first day of creation's week upon it. Even thus the plan of Grace was early in the mind of God. It was and is His masterpiece and He has never yet placed it in the background.
His eternal wisdom devised it from old and that same wisdom continues to dwell upon it all through this long day of Grace. The little Grace which is in you is approved of God, for it is the fruit of His thoughts of old, and by it He has begun His new creation in you.
I suppose that the Lord approved of the light because it was a seasonable thing. It was what was needed to begin with. Not but what God could work in the dark, for, as to natural light, in that respect darkness and light are both alike to Him. We can all see that the works of His creating skill needed light, for how could plants, animals and men live without it? Assuredly the sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God require light in the soul–the understanding must be enlightened, for true religion cannot flourish in ignorance–and until there is some knowledge of God none of the Graces can blossom.
When God the Holy Spirit new-creates a man, the first essential thing towards it is the illumination of his soul in knowledge and holiness, to know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because it is so essential, the Lord pronounces it good. So, then, dear
Brothers and Sisters, I have shown you that God took delight in His own work, and I have given you some reasons why He did so.
Now, you trembling beginners, I want you to feel that if God approves of the Grace which He has worked in you, He will preserve it! He will not suffer the light which He kindles to be quenched by the world, the flesh, or the devil! Yes, He will improve it and cause your twilight to brighten into perfect day! I would to God that some poor, troubled one could catch this thought, for I remember well the time when it would have been exceedingly consoling to myself.
When I compared myself with older saints I feared that there was little of the Divine work in me. But if I had known, as now I rejoice to know, that God's work, even at the beginning, is approved by Him–that even the rudiments and elements of Grace in the soul are looked upon by Him with Divine complacency, I think my heart would have greatly rejoiced! I want you lambs of the flock to feed on this tender grass! It is sweet food, suitable to your young days.
Fear not, little flock! Your Great Shepherd takes delight in you!
III. But now, thirdly, let me give you what will seem to be, but is not, the same thought–THE LORD QUICKLY DISCERNS ALL
THE GOODNESS AND BEAUTY WHICH EXISTS IN WHAT
HE CREATES. The Lord did not merely feel approbation for the light, but He perceived reason for it–He saw that it was good. He could see goodness in it where, perhaps, no one else would have been able to do so. Let us note, then, that light is good in itself and so is Divine Grace. What a wonderful thing light is! Just think of it!
How simple it is and yet how complex. Scarcely have the students of light been able, as yet, to discover a tenth of its various qualities!
Wonders have burst upon them, but there are many more to follow. What intertwisted colors go to make up the simplicity of the white light in which we rejoice? Grace, too, is simple yet complex.
The Grace that quickens, the Grace that convicts of sin, the Grace that consoles, the Grace that instructs, the Grace that sustains, the Grace that sanctifies, the Grace that perfects–it is all a very simple matter, but how varied are its operations! How marvelous is the "all
Grace" which God makes to abound unto us! Think of the triple ray which we find in Grace–the Grace of the Father in election, the Grace of the Son in redemption, the Grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration! Consider, admire, and adore the manifold Grace of God!
Light, too, how common it is! We see it everywhere, and all the year round. The most despotic monarch cannot enclose the light for himself. The meanest beggar takes a royal share! It cannot be monopolized, but pays its gladsome visits to all alike. Even thus the Scriptures reveal the freeness of Divine Grace–and experience shows that it shines on the poorest and the simplest–it enlightens the foolish and the ignorant. Yet what a precious thing is light!
Those who are blind, what would they not give to see it! And if you and I were confined in a sepulcher, how earnestly should we long, once more, to walk in the light of Heaven.
So is the Grace of God priceless yet free to every eye that is able to drink it in. Light, too, how feeble and yet how strong! Its beams would not detain us one-half so forcibly as a cobweb, yet how mighty it is, and how supreme! Scarcely is there a force in the universe of God which is more potent. The Grace of God, in the same manner, is contemptible in the eyes of man, and yet the majesty of Omnipotence is in it, and it is more than conqueror!
Light, too, as we have said before, how noiseless! You never hear its footsteps, and yet how effectual! So the Grace of God comes not with observation, but its transformations are unparalleled.
Light, too, how varied, as we see it in many phases and through differing mediums, and yet, how uniform! How uniformly good!
Grace comes in many ways and works variously, yet it is always the same, and its results are always pure, lovely and of good repute.
Well did God say that light was good, for who can make it otherwise? Who can defile it? The sunbeam lights on a dunghill, but its purity remains snow-white as the lily. Who can rob light of its beauty? Its excellence remains undimmed, though it pierces the gloom of a dark dungeon, feverish and full of loathsome filth. Light never ferments into darkness, nor decays into gloom. The leaves upon the trees have, in successive autumn blasts turned sere, and have fallen to the earth to rot, but no ray of light has ever withered!
Many changes the world has passed through, but light is the same, the glory of its youth is on it! The young sunbeams leap from the central fire and visit us on wings unwearied. They, themselves, being adorned with all the freshness of earth's birthday. Transfer all this to the Grace of God and it will bear to be emphasized. Grace cannot be depraved, it is always pure and good! It cannot be overcome, it will effect its purposes! It never corrupts, it is the seed of God which lives and abides forever! Oh, precious Grace, if you are in the soul–if, as yet, it is but your first day–you are good!
Light is good, not only in itself, but in its warfare. The light contended with darkness and it was good for darkness to be battled with. Grace has come unto you, young Friend, and it will fight with your sins–and your sins ought to be fought with–and to be overcome! The light which came from God was good in its measure. There was neither too much of it nor too little. If the Lord had sent a little more light into the world we might all have been dazzled into blindness, and if He had sent less we might have groped in gloom. God sends into the new-born Christian just as much Grace as he can bear–He does not give him the maturity of later years, for it would be out of place.
Did not Jesus say, "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." Dawn is good as well as noontide. A babe in Grace is beautiful and the Grace in him is suitable to his condition. Do not, dear Brother, judge the babe because he has not the light and the Grace which belong to a full-grown man, for that would be unreasonable. Light was good as a preparation for God's other works. The great Creator was about to make plants. What could plants do without light? He knew that He would soon make fowl that fly in the open firmament, and beasts that graze the meadows–is not light needed by all these?
He knew that light, though it was but the beginning, was necessary to the completion of His work. Light was necessary that the eyes of man might rejoice in the works of God and so God saw the light that it was good in connection with what was to be. And, oh, I charge you who have to deal with young people, look at the Grace they have in them in relation to what will be in them! Think not so much of the weakness of it as of the fact that it is only the green blade! Let your faith see the golden ear which will come from that tender shoot! See the oak in the acorn, the man in the child–and call them good!
What a mass of thought one might raise from this one Truth of God of the goodness of light and the goodness of Grace, as to their results. Light produces the beauty which adorns the world, for without it all the world were uncomely blackness. Light's brush paints the whole and even so all beauty of character is the result of Grace. Light sustains life, for life, in due time, would dwindle and die out without it, and thus Grace, alone, sustains the virtues and blessings of the Believer. Without daily Grace we should be spiritually dead! Light heals many sicknesses and Grace brings healing in its wings. Light is comfort, light is joy, the prisoner in his darkness knows it to be so. And so the Grace of God produces joy and peace wherever it is shed abroad.
Light reveals and so does Grace, for without it we could not see the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. O to walk in the light as God is in the light so that we may have fellowship with Him! O
Lord, "send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me! Let them bring me unto Your holy hill." You see, now, that God perceived in light a mass of latent good and, in the same manner, He perceives, in the first work of Grace in the soul, an amount of good which the soul, itself, knows nothing of, and which even
Christian observers, with kindly eyes, would not be able to detect.
IV. This leads me to close with a practical observation, namely,
that GOD RECORDED HIS ESTIMATE OF THIS FIRST DAY'S
PRODUCT. Here we have His judgement expressed–"God saw the light that it was good." This leads me to say to the young Christian, the Lord would have you encouraged. You have been looking at yourself since you have been converted and, perhaps, you have grown desponding, and have cried, "Alas, I am vile! I did not know all that was in me!"
No, and you do not know all that is in you now. "But I am so bad." Let me assure you, you are a great deal worse than you think you are. "Alas, Sir, I see enough to drive me to despair." Yes, but if you could see the whole truth about yourself, you would be driven to self-despair 10 times over! You are so bad as to be hopeless! And you had better know it, too! I often thank God for teaching me early that my old nature was dead and corrupt, so that nothing has surprised me since. I commenced as a penniless bankrupt and I have, therefore, never become poorer! I began naked and, therefore, I have never lost a rag! I was dead, utterly dead, and therefore I have lost no strength!
It is a necessary thing for you to know that in your flesh there dwells no good thing. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither, indeed, can be." Put that down at the first, as an ascertained fact, and then nothing will amaze you afterwards! Your nature is incorrigible and incurable!
But there is gracious light in you which God has put there and God delights in you because of it. Though you may have been born to God but a week ago and are a poor little crying baby in the nursery of the Lord's house, yet your Father loves you and sets great store by the Grace He has given you! Now, do not be downcast! Say to yourself, "The Lord has said that the faith which He has given me is good. He has said that this little love that I have for Him is good.
I will be encouraged, for if He has begun a good work in me, He will carry it on."
My last word is to older Christian people. If the Lord says that His work in the first day is good, I want you to say so, too. Do not wait till you see the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day before you feel confidence in the convert and offer him fellowship. If God speaks encouragingly so soon, I want you to do the same. A few words to a young Christian will be greatly helpful to him and his weakness craves them. Those of us who have been a long while in the Lord's ways ought to be ashamed if we are gruff, and sour, and critical. You know it was the elder brother, not one of the younger ones, who said, "This your son has come, who has devoured your living with harlots," and so on.
Do not degenerate into the elder brother's spirit, I pray you. You must grow older in years, but endeavor to remain young at heart.
There is a tendency to look for far too much in young converts and to expect in them a great deal more than we shall ever see. This is wrong. We shall not do them much good by criticizing them, but we may greatly benefit them by encouraging them. We have all read in the papers this week about Captain Webb's swimming across the channel, and we noticed that every now and then his friends gave him a cheer. Would that help him? No doubt it did!
There is nothing like a cheer to a fellow when he feels faint and weak.
Give the weak brother a cheer, I say! When you meet with a young Believer who is tossed about, give him a cheer! Give him a hearty cheer! Tell him some choice promise! Tell him how the Lord helped you. Your few words may not be much to you, but they will be very much to him. Whereas the black look, which, perhaps, you really did not mean, may chill him to the very marrow of his bones!
Many a poor young Christian has been frostbitten by the coldness of stern professors. Let us make a rule to encourage the young and help them forward, for that work of encouragement may affect the whole of their future history.
As the Lord said the first day was good, so He said the same right on, till at last He declared that it was "very good." In this way I trust it will be "good" with young converts from beginning to end.
That early blessing which you may be the means of bestowing upon the young Christian may be the first of thousands of commendations which shall culminate in, "Well done, good and faithful servant." At any rate, if you do this, my dear Brothers and Sisters, it will reveal in you a God-like disposition. The Lord said that the first day's work was good! Be as God is, ready to see the good, if it is ever so little, and ready to speak well of it! It will be for your own comfort to see and commend the young work of Grace.
If you have an eye to spy out what is good, either in young people or old people, it will be a very happy faculty. Those who have a keen eye for others' faults are wretched beings. They look at the sun and they say, "He has spots." Then they gaze at the moon and observe that its light is very pale. Better be blind than see in this fashion! Let it not be so among you! But as God saw the light that it was good, so do you look for it and rejoice in it. Be on the side of weak Grace and your own Grace will grow stronger. Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all and in holy charity think no evil, but rejoice in the Truth of God. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Genesis 1.HYMNS
FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK."–104, 205, 891.
Ge 1:7 • And It Was So
ERMON 3064
"And It Was So"
"And it was so."
Genesis 1:7
You will find those words six times upon the first page of Scripture. God spoke and said, "Let there be a firmament." "And it was so." He said, "Let the dry land appear." "And it was so." He bade the earth bring forth grass, "And it was so." He ordained the sun and moon for lights in the firmament of Heaven. "And it was so." Whatever it was that He willed, He did but speak the Word, "and it was so." In no single case was there a failure. There was not even a hesitation, a pause or a demand for a more powerful agency than the Divine Word. In each case, Jehovah spoke, "and it was so." Nor is this first week of Creation the only instance of the kind, for in no case has the Word of God fallen to the ground–whether of promise or of threat–the Word has been confirmed and fulfilled.
"As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, world without end." Whatever the mighty God decrees, foretells, declares, or promises shall, before long come to pass.
I shall ask you to accompany me in a mental voyage down the stream of history to show that this has been the case asfar as all history is concerned up till now. "And it was so." The Lord's will has been Law. His Word has been followed by fact. Dictum factum, it will be socontinually in the great and in the small–in the affairs of the world–and in our own personal matters. What God has promised shall come to pass! And at the winding-up of all history, it shall be said, "God said this and that, and it was so."
We stand at the fountainhead of human history and hear the Lord declare to our parents that in the day in which they should break
His commands and eat of the forbidden fruit, they would surely die.
"And it was so." They died that moment. That spiritual death which was the great and essential part of the sentence, was then and there fulfilled! Thelikeness and image of God was broken in them immediately and we are dead in trespasses and in sins by reason of their death. He also warned them when His wrath, as it were, glanced aslant from them to smite the soil on which they stood, that the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles to them, and that in the sweat of their face they should eat bread, and truly it has been so. The earth has yielded her harvest, but she has produced her thorns and briars, also. And though the curse of labor has become a blessing, yet man's toil and woman's travail vindicate the Divine veracity.
When all flesh had corrupted its way, God repented that He had made man, and sent His servant Noah as a preacher of righteousness to threaten a universal flood. It did not appear very probable that the dense population of the earth could all be swept away and that the billows should rear their proud heads above the mountains–but it turned out that Noah was no fool and his prophecy was no raving. God had said that the world should be drowned "and it was so." The sluices of the great deep beneath were drawn up, the cataracts of Heaven descended and none escaped, save the few–that is eight–whom God enclosed within the ark.
A little further on the Lord appeared to His servant Abraham and told him that the wickedness of Sodom had been so great that the cry had gone up even to His Throne and the Lord communicated to His servant that He would go and see if it was altogether according to the cry thereof. And if so, Sodom would be destroyed. Abraham pleaded and his intercession almost prevailed, but as no righteous salt was found in the filthy cities of the plain, they were doomed to perish. They had given themselves to strange flesh and a strange judgment must, therefore, come upon them. Hell must fall out of Heaven upon such abominable offenders! " And it was so," for when the morning dawned, Sodom was utterlyconsumed and the smoke thereof went up to Heaven.
You know how God kept His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were strangers with Him, dwelling in tents, looking for a better city, that is, a heavenly. Whatever promise was made to the Patriarchs was fulfilled to the letter! In all respects, "it was so."
When they went down into Egypt, God declared that after 400 years He would bringthem out and though the tribes appeared to be naturalized in Egypt and were rooted to the soil, yet God would bring them forth. And though Pharaoh took strong measures and thought to hold them fast, yet God had said that they should come out with a high hand and an outstretched arm–"and it was so." Let the wonders which He worked on the fields of Zoan, the plagues which overthrew the sons of Ham, the going forth out of Egypt and the terrors of the Red Sea when the depths covered all the chivalry of Egypt–let these remind you that God had spoken–and so it was.
Pharaoh was hardened, but he was not able to resist the will of the Almighty! He stands forever in history as a memorial that none shall harden himself against the Most High and prosper, for the Lord does as He wills in Heaven and on earth and in all deep places! Has He said, and shall He not do it? "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
I would not weary you, I think, if I were to dwell a little while upon the promise that God gave to Israel that He would lead the tribes through the wilderness and surely bring them to their inheritance. It appeared very unlikely that they would ever enter into Canaan, when, for 40 weary years, they wandered in the pathless wilderness. Yet the Jordan was crossed in due season and Jericho was taken. He said that they should, every man, possess his portion and each tribe its lot–"and it was so." The Canaanites dwelt in cities that were walled up to Heaven and they dashed into the battle in chariots of iron, yet they were overcome, for God had said it–"and it was so." He cast out the heathen and planted the vine which He had brought out of Egypt. He overthrew Og and Sihon, "and gave their land for an heritage; for His mercy endures forever." Many a time, after Israel had been settled in the land, did they provoke the Lord to jealousy, so that He sent Prophet after Prophet, and their message was, "If you thus sin against the Lord, you shall be given into the hands of your enemies …"and it was so." But when they were sorely smitten, they repented and they cried unto God andHe had pity upon them. And then He sent another of His servants with a gentle message, saying, "Turn unto
Me, and repent, and I will deliver you." "And it was so."
In every case He kept His Word, whether for chastening them or delivering them. Evermore was He faithful. When, in the later period of their history, Sennacherib blasphemed the Lord, His servant Hezekiah took the cruel letter of Rabshakeh and laid it before the Lord in the Temple and cried mightily unto Him–and
Isaiah came with the promise, "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it." Who could put the hook into the nose of that leviathan? Who could turn him back by the way that he came? The Lord had said it should be done–"and it was so"–for that night the destroying Angel went through the host of Assyriansand there fell corpses on the plain as many as the leaves of autumn! Has God promised to rescue His children? Then be assured this, however numerous their foes, His Word shall not fail! Then came that dark day when Israel and Judah were threatened with captivity in a strange land. They sinned and, lo, "it was so." They were exiled far away. By the waters of Babylon they sat down and wept. They wept when they remembered Zion. But there came a promise to them–a promise which they had left all unread and forgotten in their Sacred Books, that after the lapse of 70 years they should return again and once more see the land of their fathers–"and it was so." God raised up for them a friend and a helper–and the captives came back again to their land.
Let us quote the grandest instance of all. The Lord promised, immediately after the Fall, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. That promise had been succeeded by many others and those in Israel who knew the Lord waited for the coming of the Deliverer. The promise tarried long. Day and night devout man cried unto God, for their patience was sorely tried, yet they confidently expected the Messenger of God who would suddenly come in His Temple–and when the fullness of time was come, "it was so." The everlasting God was found living among men and they "beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father , full of Grace and Truth." It was the master-promise of all–the promise of the greatest gift that God has ever bestowed upon mankind! And that promise was kept, kept to the letter and to the hour. He had said it should be, "and it was so," though it was a wonder beyond all wonders!