Part 20
depraved and abandoned! Many a woman, when she has once begun to trifle with sin, had no idea that her name would be coupled one day with infamy! Many a young man at his master's till is scrupulously honest, today, and never dreams that he will one day be a thief–yet he is about to take a step that will surely make him so–the first step to evil!
Oh, "where will you go?" I believe that many a man, many a woman, if they could go back 20 years and be young people, again, and have their history written, the true history as they lived it, would say, "I never shall live so. Is your servant a dog that he should do this thing?" They would have been indignant at the supposition that they could ever be capable of the transgression into which they have now actually fallen! "Where will you go?"
Stop! Stop! You who are marching on to evil, stop! In the name of Him that lives, stop, lest you march to damnation and take one step that shall be your inevitable ruin, for this is the worst of it! "Where will you go?" The way of sin is the way of destruction! Men cannot sin and be happy. The end, the end, the end, the end of it, oh, think of it! It is not today, nor tomorrow, but it is that dying hour–no, it is not that only–it is that hour when, up from among the dead, you shall arise amidst the ringing of the Last Judgment trumpet! It is that opening of the books, that reading of the several dooms–that separation of the righteous from the wicked–it is that which hangs upon this question, "Where will you go?" Oh, go not to the Judgment unforgiven! Go not to the Judgment to be condemned, to be cast into the place "where their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched." God save you, Sinner! May He save you tonight instrumentally by the force of those two questions–"Where have you come from? Where will you go?"
And now let us notice, attentively, having observed the remarkable season and the home questions, let us notice attentively– III. THE DISCOVERY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
The description had been so accurate–"Hagar, Sarah's maid." The questions had been so pertinent, had stuck so close to her soul–"Where have you come from? And where will you go?" that she said, "It is God, it is God that speaks to me." And there came home to her what she had often heard before, but never felt. "There is a God. God is not an impalpable somebody up there who has nothing to do with me, but there is God here, here, and He sees me!
It is God that deals with me–not far away, asleep, or blind, but God sees me!" Oh, it is a glorious thing when a soul starts up to that conviction, "I am not alone, I am not friendless, after all. There is a God and a God who sees me and who takes such notice of note that He speaks to me." A man is never saved until he gets to feel something of the nearness of God, God in Christ Jesus, but yet God. Consciousness of Deity is one of the marks of salvation. Now
Hagar's thoughts must have been something like this. "After all, there is Somebody that has seen me and marked all my past life, though I did not see Him. He knows everything that I have done or thought, or said, and I perceive now that He has spoken to me, that He cares about me. I thought Abraham did not care for me, Sarah was angry, and then I said, 'No man cares for my soul, and I will go away.' Now I see that God was watching me and He has cared about me, and though He did not interpose to help me just then, just when I was so bitterly oppressed, yet I know He has cared for me, for at last, when I was sitting on this well, alone, He spoke to my soul." Sinner, I pray the Holy Spirit to make just this discovery to you, that, after all, God does care about you! He who made the heavens and the earth does think of you! Though you are little, and less than noth "Well," Hagar said in her soul, "seeing that He cares for me, He will interpose on my behalf." The Angel, who spoke, spoke words of comfort to her heart–told her that there was a happier future in store for her than she dreamed–sent her away with a comfortable word ringing in her ears! Oh, Soul, I pray God to do that for you tonight! You have said, "God has forgotten me." He knows all about you. It may be this is the Truth of God–I hope it is–that your name is written on the palms of Jesus' hands! What if it should turn out that you, rebellious sinner that you are, are one whom God loved before the foundation of the world? What if you are one of His chosen, whom the Savior bought with His blood? What if you are one who shall surely sit in Heaven, wear the white robe and sing the new song–what if you are a favored one of the Most High?
Oh, I think I hear you say, "If I had half a thought that that was true, I would not lie down in despair–I would up and bestir myself and I would have done with my old companions! I would have done with my old sins, if that were true!" Oh, Soul, I cannot tell you that it is true–I hope it is–but I can tell you one thing that is true, namely, that if you will now come and put your trust in Jesus
Christ, and repent of your iniquities,then it is all true! I can only know your election by your calling! I can only tell your calling by your repentance and by your faith! And if you should find peace, tonight, and I pray you may, then you are God's beloved! He who made the heavens loves you! He who made the earth bought you with His blood and Heaven would not be complete without you!
What if you have been far off by wicked works, yet still you are a child and Heaven shall yet ring with music on your return! What if you have been lost in the filth of drunkenness and all manner of lasciviousness, yet still a piece of God's precious silver, the house shall be swept for you and the candle lit, and you shall yet be found and put into the Savior's treasury! Oh, what hope this ought to make well up in the poor hopeless sinner's heart! It is not because of your goodness, but because of His Infinite goodness that He comes to meet with you, unworthy as you are, for He sees you–He sees you–with thoughts of love He sees you and tonight He interposes as He calls you by your name!
Now when Hagar made that discovery, she made another at the same time. She said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?"–as much as to say, and probably she had not known it before, that as God could come to her, so she could go to God. "God has looked after me, and now I can look after Him." There is not a great gulf between the creature and the Creator. We can send messages to Heaven and receive blessings from Heaven. She felt from that moment that God was real, living, appreciable and that God would hear her prayers and answer her petitions–and had really and literally spoken to her. Oh, I do not know anything that puts such strength into a man, such encouragement, such joy makes him so patient as the belief that God has spoken to him–that God has spoken in words of love and promise to him! Why, from that day poor Hagar would say, "I will go back. I will go back. The God of Abraham has spoken to me. Abraham may be unkind, but I will bear it, for Abraham's God has spoken to me. Sarah may be more cross than ever–never mind, I do not know that I can tell her of it, but oh, it will be such a joy in my soul–God has spoken to me, assured me of His favor, given me a blessing!" Now that young man who thinks he has been so badly treated, if he gets his sins pardoned tonight, and the Lord speaks with him, he will go back and say, "I daresay I was as much to blame as anybody, but, whether or not, I am saved and I can now put up with anything!"
And that man who is so poor that he would hardly dare come even into this Tabernacle because his clothes were so shabby, and he was ready to say, "I will give up the battle of life. I will never try again"–oh, if he were able to say, "I know that God has spoken with me tonight, brought me to the Savior's feet and blotted out my sin"–oh! dear Brother, you will pick up the weapons, again, and go to the battle of life once more, and your poverty will seem to have lost its edge! The bitterness will have departed! The iron will not enter into your soul! Get a word from God and know that you are His child, and you can say, "Now blow, you winds, rage, you waves, and all you elements let forth your fury–the God that rules you all is now my Friend! No hurt can you do to me!"
If you notice, it was just so with Hagar when she had heard the voice of the Lord and perceived that God saw her and that she could speak to God–then at once she went back. Told to go back, back she went–submitted herself. You don't find her again personally–though the old blood came up afterwards in her son– you don't find her quarrelling with her mistress, but she patiently bears her lot in the recollection of the blessing that she had received. This is just the way with men, willful, wayward, headstrong–but when they get the Grace of God, they bend their shoulders to Christ's yoke and they become tame and gentle.
Because they are happy in God's love, they are patient in the ills of this life. Remember the story of the poor raving maniac. They had often bound him with chains, but he snapped them asunder. He had left his family and gone to dwell among the tombs. He made night hideous with his screams and howls. Men dared not pass that way, for he was worse than a wild beast! He had cut himself and torn his flesh, torn himself with stones and briars–none could tame him!
But after Jesus had said to the evil spirit, "I charge you that you come out of him," we spirit is here now, some spirit driven to it by suffering, by neglect, by injustice from others–and also by its own personal sin–if the Lord brings you to trust in Jesus, His dear Son, and see your sin all laid upon Him, then you will, even at this moment, be a different man! Your wife will scarcely know you, nor your children, either! You will become another than you have ever been before. You will go back to your business, back to your burdens, back to your sufferings and bear them all for the sake of Him that spoke out of Heaven and saved your soul!
Now the most of this I daresay is not applicable to the most of you. You know I have been thinking, while preaching, that you might say I had not been preaching except to some one or two that were here. Well, I will tell you my excuse. "What man of you, if he has an hundred sheep, if he loses one, does not leave the ninety and nine, and go after that which is gone astray?" After that "goneastray one" I have gone! And my Master, too! Amen.
Ge 16:13 • Omniscience
ERMON 0085
Omniscience
"You God see me."
Genesis 16:13
THERE are more eyes fixed on man then he knows of–he sees not as he is seen. He thinks himself obscure and unobserved but let him remember that a cloud of witnesses hold him in full survey.
Wherever he is, at every instant, there are beings whose attention is riveted by his doings and whose gaze is constantly fixed by his actions. Within this Hall, I doubt not, there are myriads of spirits unseen to us. Spirits good and spirits evil are upon us tonight. The eyes of angels rest attentively–those perfect spirits regard our order.
They hear our songs. They observe our prayers. It may be they fly to Heaven to convey to their companions news of any sinners who are born of God, for there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
Millions of spiritual creatures walk this earth, both when we wake and when we sleep. Midnight is peopled with shadows unseen and daylight has its spirits, too. The prince of the power of the air, attended by his squadron of evil spirits flits through the ether often.
Evil spirits watch our halting every instant, while good spirits, battling for the salvation of God's elect, keep us in all our ways and watch over our feet, lest at any time we dash them against a stone.
Hosts of invisible beings attend on every one of us at different periods of our lives. We must remember, also, that not only do the spirits of angels, elect or fallen, look on us, but "the spirits of the just made perfect" continually observe our conversation.
We are taught by the Apostle that the noble army of martyrs and the glorious company of confessors are "witnesses" of our race to Heaven, for he says, "seeing, then, that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us." From yon blue Heaven the eyes of the glorified look down on us. There the children of God are sitting on their starry thrones, observing whether we manfully uphold the banner around which they fought. They behold our valor, or they detect our cowardice. And they are intent to witness our valiant deeds of noble daring, or our ignominious retreat in the day of battle.
Remember that, sons of men–you are not unregarded. You do not pass through this world in unseen obscurity. In darkest shades of night eyes glare on you through the gloom. In the brightness of the day angels are spectators of your labors. From Heaven there look down upon you spirits who see all that finite beings are capable of beholding. But if we think that thought worth treasuring up, there is one which sums up that and drowns it, even as a drop is lost in the ocean. It is the thought, "You God see me." It is nothing that angels see me, it is nothing that devils watch me, it is nothing that the glorified spirits observe me–compared with the overwhelming
Truth–God at all times see me.
Let us dwell on that now and may God the Spirit make use of it to our spiritual profit! In the first place, I shall notice the general doctrine, that God observes all men. In the second place I shall notice the particular doctrine, "You God see me." And in the third place I shall draw from it some practical and comforting inferences to different orders of persons now assembled, each of whom may learn something from this short sentence.
In the first place, THE GENERAL DOCTRINE, that God sees us.
This may be easily proved, even from the nature of God. It were hard to suppose a God who could not see His own creatures. It were difficult in the extreme to imagine a Divinity who could not behold the actions of the works of His hands. The word which the Greeks applied to God implied that He was a God who could see.
They called him Theos (Theos). And they derived that word, if I read rightly, from the root Theisthai (Theisthai), to see, because they regarded God as being the all-seeing One, whose eyes took in the whole universe at a glance and whose knowledge extended far beyond that of mortals.
God Almighty, from His very essence and nature, must be an Omniscient God. Strike out the thought that He sees me and you extinguish Deity by a single stroke. There were no God if that God had no eyes, for a blind God were no God at all. We could not conceive such an one. Stupid as idolaters may be, it were very hard to think that even they had fashioned a blind god–even they have given eyes to their gods, though they see not. Juggernaut has eyes stained with blood and the gods of the ancient Romans had eyes– and some of them were called far-seeing gods.
Even the heathen can scarce conceive of a god that has no eyes to see and certainly we are not so mad as to imagine for a single second that there can be a Deity without the knowledge of everything that is done by man beneath the sun. I say it were as impossible to conceive of a God who did not observe everything as to conceive of a round square. When we say, "You God," we do, in fact, comprise in the word "God" the idea of a God who sees everything, "You God see me."
Yet, further, we are sure that God must see us for we are taught in the Scriptures that God is everywhere and if God is everywhere, what does hinder Him from seeing all that is done in every part of His universe? God is here–I do not simply live near Him, but "in Him I live and move and have my being." There is not a particle of this mighty space which is not filled with God–go forth into the pure air and there is not a particle of it where God is not. In every portion of this earth whereon I tread and the spot whereon I move, there is God–
"Within Your circling power I stand;
On every side I find Your hand–
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God."
Take the wings of the morning and fly beyond the most distant star–but God is there. God is not a Being confined to one place, but He is everywhere. He is there and there and there. In the deepest mine man ever bored, in the unfathomable caverns of the ocean, in the heights, towering and lofty, in the gulfs that are deep which fathom can never reach. God is everywhere. I know from His own words that He is a God who fills immensity. The heavens are not wide enough for Him. He grasps the sun with one hand and the moon with the other. He stretches Himself through the unnavigated ether, where the wing of seraph has never flapped–there is God– and where the solemnity of silence has never been broken by the song of Cherub, there is God. God is everywhere.
Conceive space and God and space are equal. Well, then, if God is everywhere, how can I refrain from believing that God sees me wherever I am? He does not look upon me from a distance–if He did, I might screen myself beneath the shades of night. But He is here, close by my side and not by me only but in me. Within this heart. Where these lungs beat. Or where my blood gushes through my veins. Or where this pulse is beating, like a muffled drum, my march to death–God is there–within this mouth. In this tongue, in these eyes.
In each of you God dwells–He is within you and around you. He is beside you and behind and before. Is not such knowledge too wonderful for you? Is it not high and you cannot attain unto it? I say, how can you resist the doctrine which comes upon you like a flash of lightning, that if God is everywhere He must see everything and that therefore it is a Truth, "You God see me."
But, lest any should suppose that God may be in a place and yet slumbering, let me remind him that in every spot to which he can travel, there is, not simply God, but also God's activity. Wherever I go I shall find not a slumbering God but a God busy about the affairs of this world. Take me to the green sward and pleasant pasture–why, every little blade of grass there has God's hand in it, making it grow and every tiny daisy, which a child likes to pluck, looks up with its little eyes and says "God is in me, circulating my sap and opening my little flower."
Go where you will through this London, where vegetation is scarcely to be found. Look up yonder and see those rolling stars– God is active there–it is His hand that wheels along the stars and moves the moon in her nightly course. But if there are neither stars nor moon–there are those clouds, heavy with darkness, like the ears of night. And who steers them across the sea of azure? Does not the breath of God blowing upon them drive them along the heavens?
God is everywhere, not as a slumbering God, but as an active God.
I am upon the sea and there I see God making the everlasting pulse of nature beat in constant ebbs and flows. I am in the pathless desert, but above me screams the nature and I see God winging the wild bird's flight. I am shut up in a hermitage. But an insect drops from its leaf and I see in that insect life which God preserves and sustains. Shut me out from the animate creation and put me on the barren rock, where moss itself cannot find a footing–I shall there discern my God bearing up the pillars of the universe and sustaining that bare rock as a part of the colossal foundation whereon He has built the world–
"Wherever we turn our gazing eyes –
Your radiant footsteps shine.
Ten thousand pleasing wonders rise,
And speak their source Divine.
The living tribes of countless forms,
In earth and sea and air,
The meanest flies, the smallest worms,
Almighty power declare."
You shall see God everywhere–if you see Him not around you, look within you and is He not there? Is not your blood now flowing through every portion of your body, to and from your heart? And is not God there active? Do you not know that every pulse you beat needs a volition of Deity as its permit and yet more, needs an exertion of Divine power as its cause? Do you not know that every breath you breathe needs Deity for its inspiration and expiration and that you must die if God withdraw that power? If we could look within us, there are mighty works going on in this mortal fabric–the garment of the soul–which would astonish you and make you see, indeed, that God is not asleep, but that He is active and busy.
There is a working God everywhere, a God with His eyes open everywhere, a God with His hands at work everywhere. A God doing something, not a God slumbering but a God laboring. Oh, Sirs, does not the conviction flash upon your mind with a brightness, against which you cannot shut your eyes that since God is everywhere, and everywhere active, it follows, as a necessary and unavoidable consequence, that He must see us and know all our actions and our deeds?
I have one more proof to offer which I think to be conclusive.
God, we may be sure, sees us, when we remember that He can see a thing before it happens. If He beholds an event before it transpires, surely reason dictates He must see a thing that is happening now. Read those ancient prophecies. Read what God said should be the end of Babylon and of Nineveh. Just turn to the chapter where you read of Edom's doom, or where you are told that Tyre shall be desolate. Then walk through the lands of the East and see Nineveh and Babylon cast to the ground, the cities ruined. And then reply to this question–"Is not God a God of foreknowledge?
Can He not see the things that are to come?"
Yes, there is not a thing which shall transpire in the next cycle of a thousand years which is not already passed through the infinite mind of God. There is not a deed which shall be transacted tomorrow, or the next day, or the next, through all eternity, if days can be eternal, but God knows it. And if He knows the future, does He not know the present? If His eyes look through the dim haze which veils us from the things of futurity, can He not see that which is standing in the brightness of the present? If He can see a great distance, can He not see near at hand! Surely that Divine
Being who discerned the end from the beginning must know the things which occur now. And it must be true that "You God see us," even the whole of us, the entire race of man. So much for the general and universally acknowledged doctrine.
II. Now, I come, in the second place, to the SPECIAL
DOCTRINE –"You God see me."
Come now, there is a disadvantage in having so many hearers as there is always in speaking to more than one at a time because persons are apt to think, "he does not speak to me." Jesus Christ preached a very successful sermon once when he had but one hearer because He had the woman sitting on the well and she could not say that Christ was preaching to her neighbor. He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." There was something there which smote her heart. She could not evade the confession of her guilt. But in regard to our congregations, the old orator might soon see his prayer answered, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," for when the Gospel is preached, we lend our ears to everybody.
We are accustomed to hear for our neighbors and not for ourselves. Now, I have no objection to your lending anything else you like but I have a strong objection to you lending your ears. I shall be glad if you will keep them at home for a minute or two, for I want to make you hear for yourselves this Truth, "You God see me."
Mark, God sees you–selecting anyone out of this congregation– He sees you. He sees you as much as if there were nobody else in the world for Him to look at. If I have as many people as there are here to look at, of course my attention must be divided. But the infinite mind of God is able to grasp a million objects at once and yet to set itself as much upon one as if there were nothing else but that one. So that you, tonight, are looked at by God as much as if throughout space there were not another creature but yourself. Can you conceive that?
Suppose the stars blotted out in darkness. Suppose the angels dead. I imagine the glorified spirits above are all gone and you are left alone, the last man. And there is God looking at you. What an idea it would be for you to think of–that there was only you to be looked at! How steadily He could observe you! How well He would discern you! But mark you–God does really look at you this night as much, as entirely, as absolutely without division of sight– as if you were the only being His hands had ever made. Can you grasp that? God sees you with His eyes, with the whole of His sight–you–you–you–you are the particular object of His attention at this very moment. God's eyes are looking down upon you– remember that!
In the next place God sees you entirely. He does not merely note your actions. He does not simply notice what is the appearance of your countenance. He does not merely take into His eyesight what your posture may be. But remember, God sees what you are thinking of. He looks within. God has a window in every man's heart through which He looks. He does not want you to tell Him what you are thinking about–He can see that, He can read right through you.
Do you not know that God can read what is written on the rocks at the bottom of the ocean, even though ten thousand fathoms of dark water roll above? And I tell you He can read every word that is in your breasts. He knows every thought, every imagination, every conception, your every unformed imagination. He sees it all, every particle, every atom of it– "My thoughts, scarce struggling into birth,
Great God! are known to You–
Abroad, at home, still I'm enclosed
With Your immensity.
Behind I glance and You are there–
Before me, shines Your name;
And 'tis Your strong almighty hand
Sustains my tender frame."
Can you appropriate that thought? From the crown of your head to the sole of your foot, God is examining you now. His scalpel is in your heart, His lancet in your breast, He is searching your heart and trying your reins. He knows you behind and before. "You God see me." You see me entirely.
Note again–God sees you constantly. You are sometimes watched by man and then your conversation is tolerably correct. At other times you seek retirement and you indulge yourselves in things which you would not dare to do before the gaze of your fellow creatures. But recollect, wherever you are, God sees you. You may lay yourselves down by the side of the hidden brook where the willows shelter you, where all is still, without a sound–God is there looking at you! You may retire to your chamber and draw the curtains of your couch and throw yourself down for repose in midnight's gloomiest shade–God sees you there! I remember going into a castle sometime ago, down many a winding stair, round and round, and round and round–where light never penetrated.
At last I came to a space, very narrow, about the length of a man.
"There," said the keeper, "such-and-such-a-one was shut up for so many years, a ray of light never having penetrated–sometimes they tortured him but his shrieks never reached through the thickness of these walls and never ascended that winding staircase–here he died and there, Sir, he was buried," pointing to the ground. But though that man had none on earth to see him, God saw him. Yes, you may shut me up forever where ear shall never hear my prayer, where eyes shall never see my misery. But one eyes shall look upon me and one countenance smile on me, if I suffer for righteousness' sake. If for Christ's sake I am in prison, one hand shall be upon me and one voice shall say, "Fear not. I will help you"–at all times, in all places, in all your thoughts, in all your acts, in all your privacy, in all your public doings, at every season–this is true, "You God see me."
Yet once more–"You God see me" supremely. I can see myself, but not as well as either my friends or foes. Men can see me better than I can see myself but man cannot see me as God sees me. A man skilled in the human heart might interpret my deeds and translate their motives but he could not read my heart as God can read it. None can tell another as God can tell us all–we do not know ourselves as God knows us–within yourself knowledge, with all you have been told by others, God knows you more fully than you know yourself–no eyes can see you as God sees you.
You may act in daylight. You may not be ashamed of your actions. You may stand up before men and say, "I am a public man, I wish to be observed and noticed." You may have all your deeds chronicled and all men may hear of them, but I know men will never know you as God will know you. And if you could be chained, as Paul was, with a soldier at your arm–if he were with you night and day, sleeping with you, rising with you–if he could hear all your thoughts he could not know you as God knows you, for God sees you superlatively and supremely.
Let me now apply that to you–"You God see me." This is true of each of you. Try and think of it for a moment. Even as my eyes rests on you, so, in a far, far greater sense do God's eyes rest on you. Standing, sitting, wherever you are, this is true, "You God see me." It is said that when you heard Rowland Hill, if you were stuck in a window, or farther away at the door, you always had the conviction that he was preaching at you. Oh, I wish I could preach like that! If I could make you feel that I was preaching at you in particular, that I singled you out and shot every word at you, then I should hope for some effect. Try and think, then, "You God see me."
III. Now I come to DIFFERENT INFERENCES for different persons, to serve different purposes.
First, to the prayerful. Prayerful man, prayerful woman, here is a consolation–God sees you–and if He can see you, surely He can hear you. Why, we can often hear people when we cannot see them.
If God is so near to us and if His voice is like the thunder, surely
His ears are as good as His eyes and He will be sure to answer us.
Perhaps you cannot say a word when you pray. Never mind–God does not want to hear. He can tell what you mean even by seeing you. "There," says the Lord, "is a child of Mine in prayer. He says not a word. But do you see that tear rolling down his cheek? Do you hear that sigh?"
Oh, mighty God, you can see both tear and sigh. You can read desire when desire has not clothed itself in words. The naked wish
God can interpret. He needs us not to light the candle of our desires with language. He can see the candle before it is lit– "He knows the words we mean to speak, When from our lips they cannot break," by reason of the anguish of our spirit. He knows the desire when words stagger under the weight of it. He knows the wish when language fails to express it. "You God see me."
Ah, God, when I cannot pray with words, I will throw myself flat on my face and I will groan my prayer. And if I cannot groan it I will sigh it. And if I cannot sigh it I will wish it–and when these eye-strings break and when death has sealed these lips, I will enter
Heaven with a prayer which You will not hear but which You will see–the prayer of my inmost spirit–when my heart and my flesh fail me, that You may be the strength of my life and portion forever.
There is comfort for you, you praying ones, that God sees you.
That is enough. If you cannot speak He can see you.
I have given a word for the prayerful. Now a word for the careful.
Some here are very full of care, doubts, anxieties and fears. "Oh, Sir," you say, "if you could come to my poor house, you would not wonder that I should feel anxious. I have had to part with much of my little furniture to provide myself with a living. I am brought very low. I have not a friend in London. I am alone, alone in the whole wide world." Stop, stop, Sir! You are not alone in the world.
There is at least one eyes regarding you. There is one hand that is ready to relieve you. Don't give up in despair. If your case be ever so bad, God can see your care, your troubles and your anxieties.
To a good man it is enough to see destitution to relieve it. And for God it is enough to see the distresses of His family at once to supply their wants. If you were lying wounded on the battlefield, if you could not speak, you know right well your comrades who are coming by with an ambulance will pick you up, if they but see you.
And that is enough for you. So if you are lying on the battlefield of life, God sees you. Let that cheer you–He will relieve you. For He only needs to look at the woe of His children at once to relieve them. Go on then–hope yet. In night's darkest hour, hope for a brighter tomorrow. God sees you, whatever you are doing–"He knows your cares, your tears,Your sighs–He shall lift up your head."
And now a word to the slandered. There are some of us who come into a very large share of slander. It is very seldom that the slander market is much below par. It usually runs up at a very mighty rate. And there are persons who will take shares to any amount. If men could dispose of railway stock as they can of slander, those who happen to have any scrip here would be rich enough by tomorrow at twelve o'clock. There are some who have a superabundance of that matter. enough to write sense, nor honesty sufficient to keep him to the Truth, who, therefore, writes the most infamous libels upon some of God's servants, compared with whom he himself is nothing and whom for very envy he chooses to depreciate.
Well, what does it matter? Suppose you are slandered. Here is a comfort–"You God see me." They say that suchand-such is your motive, but you need not answer them. You can say, "God knows that matter." You are charged with such-and-such a thing of which you are innocent. Your heart is right concerning the deed, you have never done it–well, you have no need to battle for your reputation.
You need only point your finger to the sky and say, "there is a witness there who will right me at last–there is a Judge of all the earth, whose decision I am content to wait. His answer will be a complete exoneration of me and I shall come out of the furnace like gold seven times purified."
Young men, are you striving to do good and do others impute wrong motives to you? Do not be particular about answering them, just go straight on and your life will be the best refutation of the calumny. David's brothers said that in his pride and the naughtiness of his heart he had come to see the battle. "Ah," thought David, "I will answer you by-andby." Off he went across the plain to fight
Goliath. He cut off his head and then came back to his brothers with a glorious answer in his conquering hand. If any man desires to reply to the false assertions of his enemies, let him go and do good and he needs not say a word–that will be his answer.
I am the subject of detraction. But I can point to hundreds of souls that have been saved on earth by my feeble instrumentality and my reply to all my enemies is this, "You may say what you like. But seeing these lame men are healed, can you say anything against them? You may find fault with the style or manner but God saves souls and we will hold up that fact, like giant Goliath's head, to show you that although it was nothing but a sling or stone, so much the better, for God has gotten the victory." Go straight on and you will live down your slanderers. And remember when you are most distressed, "You God see me."
Now, a sentence or two to some of you who are ungodly and know not Christ. What shall I say to you but this–how heinous are your sins when they are put in the light of this doctrine! Remember, Sinner, whenever you sin, you sin in the teeth of God. It is bad enough to steal in darkness but he is a very thief who steals in daylight. It is vile, it is fearfully vile to commit a sin which I desire to cover, but to do my sin when man is looking at me shows much hardiness of heart. Oh, Sinner, remember, you sin with God's eyes looking on you. How black must be your heart! How awful your sin! For you sin in the very face of justice when God's eyes are fixed on you!
I was looking, the other day, at a glass beehive and it was very singular to observe the motions of the creatures inside. Well, now, this world is nothing but a huge glass beehive. God looks down on you and He sees you all. You go into your little cells in the streets of this huge city. You go to your business, your pleasure, your devotions and your sins. But remember, wherever you go, you are like the bees under a great glass shade–you can never get away from God's observation. When children disobey before the eyes of their parents it shows that they are hardened. If they do it behind their parents' back, it proves that there is some shame left.
But you, Sirs, sin when God is present with you. You sin while God's eyes are searching you through and through. Even now you are thinking hard thoughts of God while God is hearing all those silent utterances of your evil hearts. Does not that render your sin extremely heinous? Therefore, I beseech you, think of it and repent of your wickedness that your sins may be blotted out through Jesus
Christ.
And one more thought. If God sees you, O Sinner, how easy it will be to condemn you. In the late horrible case of Palmer, witnesses were required and a jury was empanelled to try the accused. But if the judge could have mounted the bench and have said, "I saw the man myself mix the poison. I stood by and saw him administer it. I read his thoughts. I knew for what purpose he did it, I read his heart. I was with him when he first conceived the black design and I have tracked him in all his evasions, in all those acts by which he sought to blindfold justice. And I can read in his heart that he knows himself to be guilty now."
If the judge could have said that the case then would have been over. The trial would have been little more than a form. What will you think, O Sinner, when you are brought before God and God shall say, "You did so-and-so," and will mention what you did in the darkness of the night when no eyes was there? You will start back amazed and say, "Oh, heavens! How did God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" He will say, "Stop, Sinner. I have more to startle you yet." And He will begin to unfold the records of the past–leaf after leaf He will read of the diary He has kept of your existence.
Oh, I can see you as he reads page after page, your knees are knocking together, your hair is standing on end, your blood is frozen in your veins, congealed for fright and you stand like a second Niobe, a rock bedewed with tears. You are thunderstruck to find your thoughts read out before the sun, while men and angels hear. You are amazed beyond degree to hear your imaginations read, to see your deeds photographed on the great white Throne and to hear a voice saying, "Rebellion at such a time. Uncleanness at such a time. Evil thoughts at such an hour. Sabbath-breaking on such a day, blasphemy at such a time, theft at such an hour. Hard thoughts of God at such a period. Rejection of His grace on such a day. Stifling of conscience at another time."
And so onto the end of the chapter and then the awful final doom–"Sinner, depart accursed! I saw you sin, it needs no witnesses. I heard your oath. I heard your blasphemy. I saw your theft. I read your thoughts. Depart! Depart! I am clear when I judge you. I am justified when I condemn you–for you have done this evil in My sight."
Lastly, you ask me what you must do to be saved. And I will never let a congregation go, I hope, till I have told them that. Hear, then, in a few words, the way of salvation. It is this. Christ said to the Apostles, "Preach the Gospel to every creature–he that believes and his baptized shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned." Or, to give you Paul's version, when he spoke to the jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
You ask what you are to believe. Why, this–that Christ died and rose again. That by His death He did bear the punishment of all
Believers. And that by His resurrection He did wipe out the faults of all His children. And if God gives you faith, you will believe that Christ died for you. And you will be washed in His blood and you will trust His mercy and His love to be your everlasting redemption when the world shall end.
Ge 16:13 • Hagar at the Fountain
ERMON 1869
Hagar At The Fountain
"And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her, You-
Are-the-God-Who-Sees: for she said, Have I, also, here looked after Him who sees me? the well was called Beer-Lahai-Roi."
Genesis 16:13, 14
You know the story of Hagar. I am not going to deal with the allegorical meaning of it–that would be apart from our subject this morning. I shall speak of the incident simply as it stands, but even then I shall not use it strictly as a case of sure conversion, for I am not certain that it was such. I suppose Hagar to have been an Egyptian woman, probably one of the maidservants who were given by the King of Egypt to Abram at that unhappy time when Abram's faith failed him and he went down into Egypt and requested Sarai to conceal the fact that she was his wife. Sin, whenever it is committed by the child of God, is sure to involve him in sorrow. In the long run, the result of any false dealing comes home to the Believer and it does so in very unexpected ways.
Hagar became the special maid of Sarai. God had promised to Abram that he should have a son and that thus he should be the father of nations. That blessing did not appear likely to come to him, for there were no children born to Sarai, nor did there seem to be the possibility of any.
Husband and wife were both old and well stricken in years. No special mention had been made of Sarai in the promise as it then stood and, therefore, it was not clear to Abram but what some other might be the mother of the expected seed. And when, in her unbelief, Sarai proposed that her maid should become his secondary wife, Abram listened to her. According to the custom of the times and of oriental nations, this act was right enough, but as it was not really right, in itself, and showed littleness of faith on Abram's part. Sorrow soon came of it. Hagar began to behave herself proudly towards her mistress and her mistress, finding herself despised, complained to Abram and began, also, to behave harshly towards her.
The wrong element would not work in Abram's family. It might do very well for the Canaanites around him, but in a house where God was feared, it was an evil principle and could not work for peace or holiness. Hagar's high Egyptian spirit, finding herself likely to be famous in the house, would not brook the rule of her mistress, nor could Sarai, the quiet, but queenly matron, put up with the insults of her slave. The mistress became hard and harsh to her handmaid. Worked into a frenzy, Hagar flies from the tent and makes the best of her way on the road to Egypt, where she originally came. But what could a lone woman do in her condition, all alone in the wilderness?
Wearied with her journey, she spies a fountain and sits there. It was the likeliest place for any passing traveler to find her and she sits down, there, in her proud despair. Perhaps they will send for her. Abram may repent his yielding to Sarai and send for her. She will wait there and if no one comes to her aid, she will die rather than return. She does not appear, at that time, to have lifted up her heart in prayer to God. She had lived in a godly household, but possibly, as she thought herself ill-treated, she had conceived a dislike towards the God of her mistress. Such harsh treatment as she had received was not likely to incline her towards the religion of those from whom she had fled! She was godless and hopeless.
Do you not see her crouching at the fountain, half mad with pride and vexation and, at the same time, stricken with a sullen despair?
She knows not what she is to do, neither does any way of hope open before her. Alas, poor Hagar!
But although there was no prayer of hers for God to hear, another voice spoke in His ear. The Angel who suddenly appeared to her said, "The Lord has heard your affliction." That is a very beautiful sentence. You have not prayed. You have been willful, reckless and, at last, despairing and, therefore, you have not cried unto the Lord.
But your deep sorrow has cried to Him! You are oppressed and the Lord has undertaken for you. You are suffering heavily and God, the AllPitiful, has heard your affliction. Grief has an eloquent voice when Mercy is the listener. Woe has a plea which Goodness cannot resist. Though sorrow and woe ought to be attended with prayer, yet even when supplication is not offered, the heart of God is moved by misery, itself. In Hagar's case the Lord heard her affliction–He looked forth from His Glory on that lone Egyptian woman who was in the deepest distress in which a woman could well be placed–and He came speedily to her help.
We have not much difficulty in deciding who the Angel was that appeared to her. We are sure that this Angel of the Lord was that great Messenger of the Covenant who was, afterwards, to appear in actual flesh and blood, but who many a time before He was born at Bethlehem, anticipated His descent to earth and visited it in human form. His delights were always with the sons of men and so when there was a message to be brought to men, that Blessed One, the Second Person of the Divine Unity condescended to be the bearer of it! In the present instance I discern foreshadowing of the Son of Man! I perceive sure traces of the Christ who, in a later age, would dwell among mankind! Read a little before the text and you will find it written, the Angel of the Lord "found her"–it is the deed of the good Shepherd to find a lost sheep! I see before me that Son of Man who came to seek and to save that which was lost. Surely this is that great Shepherd of the sheep who goes after His sheep until He finds it! He has come far into the waste after her and He rested not until He found her. Great gladness filled His heart, as when a merchantman finds a pearl of great price. I see high joy in the Countenance of this Angel of Jehovah. We read in verse seven, "The Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water."
Significant place! Can you forget how, when that Blessed One was here in flesh and blood, He found another woman at the well.
"Jesus being wearied, sat thus on the well. There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus says unto her, Give Me to drink."
Does not this story of Hagar read like a rehearsal of that Samaritan incident? "He found her by a fountain of water."
This fountain is further said to be "in the wilderness." Note that.
Remember those words of His when He actually became
Incarnate–"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he finds it?" Again we read, "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness." This wonderful appearance of the Christ before He actually assumed our flesh, has a likeness to His actual Incarnation of the most delightful kind. 'Tis He! We are sure it is He! All the tones of the voice and the modes of the speech are His. That this Angel of the Lord was God, we also know, for our text says, "She called the name of Jehovah that spoke unto her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees." The all-seeing God had veiled Himself in that angelic form! That Divine One, whom we adore as the Son of God and the Son of Man, condescended to be the Messenger of mercy to a poor slave woman who had run away from her mistress!
None but God would have thus condescended. The world had no pity in those days for slaves of any kind, much less for those who had left their master's house. Here the Lord of Love found a noble opportunity by revealing His gracious Nature to a forlorn one. No eye pities her and no hand brought her deliverance–"Now will I arise, says the Lord." The Angel found her and it is of that finding and of what came of it, that I am going to speak this morning. May the Holy Spirit cause the words to be with power!
In speaking of Hagar, I shall first dwell for a little upon HER REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE. I pray that to some daughter of sorrow a similar experience may come. May your case be mirrored in that of Hagar, as when one sees his face in a looking glass.
Observe that Hagar had outlawed herself. No doubt she had much to put up with, but she had been insolent and provoking to her mistress and, at last, she had, in her impatience, deliberately left the house of Abraham and left the abode of the chosen family.
Whatever that house may have been, it was the best place, then, upon the earth! It was almost the only spot under Heaven where the Lord God was known. You might have said of Abraham's family, "you are of God, little children, and the whole world lies in the Wicked One." She, an Egyptian, once benighted by the superstitious worship of her country, had enjoyed the light of the knowledge of the true God for a while. But now she had turned her back on it. She could not but have marked Abraham's high character and sincere devotion. She must have seen his true and real faith in God and the way in which he endeavored to order his household aright. Whatever faults she may have perceived there– whatever errors she may have suffered from–she could not but have noticed that there was a great difference between Abraham's tent and the abodes of Egypt!
But now she quits her place of privilege, she renounces the high hopes which surrounded her and, in her fierce passion, she rushes, she cares not where! The untamable spirit which afterwards showed itself in her son, Ishmael, raged in her bosom. So, too, have we met with those who have deliberately left the ways of God and the people of God and all semblance of goodness because they have thought themselves badly used. They have happened to suffer somewhat and, in the bitterness of their spirit, they have resolved to take no more of it. They vow that they will have nothing to do with God, or with His people–they will turn their backs upon everything that is religious and they will mix with the world in its most ungodly form. They do not, indeed, care what becomes of them– they would flee from the Presence of God, Himself, if they could.
Friends, relatives, good men and the circle of blessing they would quit and roam in a wilderness, hoping to be forgotten. Now their hand is against every man and every man's hand is against them– and in their high spirit they are prepared to defy the universe to subdue them!
While she was there, in the moment of her desperation, she was found by the Angel. He had come on purpose to seek her out and find her and He had not failed in His search, as, indeed, He never does. This was the last thing she thought of. She may have hoped to have been found by some merchants going towards Egypt, or to be picked up by certain of the wandering gypsies of the wilderness– but she had not thought that God, Himself, would come after her!
What was there about her that Jehovah should come out of His place to seek her? Yet He came in unexpected Grace, as He is known to do. He remembered the low estate of His handmaiden and because His mercy endures forever, He found her by the fountain in the wilderness.
When the Angel of the Lord found Hagar, He dealt graciously with her. Indeed, this was the objective of His finding her! He came in pity, not in wrath. His first act was to awaken conviction within her. He said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, from where have you come? And where will you go?" This language is singularly like the Lord Jesus Christ's mode of address. The name of the person is mentioned. This forcibly brings to my mind the speech of our Lord when He said unto the woman, "Mary," and she turned and said unto Him, "Rabboni." He says, "Hagar, Sarai's maid"–His words are personal words and she cannot mistake them. Is not this the Lord's way in other cases? Has He not said, "I have called you by your name"? He adds her description and reminds her that whatever else she might be, she was "Sarai's maid." How surprised she must have been! She had never seen the august Personage before, but evidently He had seen her, before, and knew all about her, for His words searched her through and through.
Then, further to bring her to her right senses, the Angel asks her, with touching pathos of tone–"From where have you come?" What have you left behind you? What have you given up? All your hopes lie in Abraham's tent and you have left the place. For you, there is a high destiny, and you are flying from it. You are, after all, a favored woman and you know it not. You are flying away from that which will be your blessedness! This is the question of the Holy Spirit to every runaway rebel. O wandering Sinner, what are you doing? In fleeing from goodness, God, hope and Grace, do you know what you are leaving?
Again, He asks her, "Where will you go?" Her crouching form is before Him. She lifts up her eyes, all red with tears, and she weeps anew as He says, "And where will you go?" "Will you go further into the wilderness and die there of thirst and hunger? Will you go down into Egypt, back to all the cruelties of that benighted land?
Where will you go?" It is thus the Lord meets runaway sinners that are bent upon their own destruction. He calls to them by name and asks, "From where have you come? What are you leaving? What are you losing? What are you rejecting? What are you turning your back upon? And where will you go? What can be the end of such a life as yours? Where can it carry you but to destruction? Where will you go by this course of desperate sin? Can you face the Eternal and the Judgement Seat and the curse that withers the ungodly?
From where have you come and where will you go?"
It is thus, I say, that the Covenant Angel met with many of us when He awakened our consciences and made us pause in our headlong rush of sin. Some of us heard the warning voice many years ago and we can never forget it–the call rings in the chambers of our memory even now. It is thus that the Lord met with some of you a short time ago and you are at this moment filled with gratitude for the interposition. I believe that this morning the Lord will thus meet with some who are in this congregation, whom I know not, but whom He knows right well, for His eyes are resting on them now and His voice is speaking to them through my voice.
Like as He said of old, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, from where have you come? And where will you go?" so does He speak at this hour, and asks you why you are bent upon destroying your own souls!
This worked in her mind conviction, after a certain sort–and where the Son of God spiritually speaks to the heart, a deep and piercing conviction is felt! His Word lays sin bare and open–and makes the guilty conscience feel that nothing is hidden from God, but that all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. As when the butcher hangs up the body of a beast and, with a stroke, lays bare the heart and inwards of the creature, so with a single Word, the Angel of the Covenant reveals the heart of Hagar. Thus, also, the convincing Spirit deals with the sinner and lays him bare even to the backbone, till all the secrets of his soul are revealed and he cries, "You-Are-the-God-WhoSees!"
The Word of the Lord, by revealing the thoughts and intents of the heart, proves its own Divine origin to him who feels its operation and thus God, Himself, is made known as speaking by the Word.
When He had thus worked conviction in her, the Angel who had found Hagar, next gave her an exhortation. He said to her, "Return unto your mistress and submit yourself under her hands." A hard message, as it seemed to her in her pride, no doubt. "Return," however hard the way! "Submit yourself," however humiliating the deed! Hagar is not spared–the Angel puts His words very plainly. If it were kindness to say, "Return," it is still greater kindness to say severely, but truthfully, "Return to your mistress." Mark, not to your master, only, but, "to your mistress." He also says, "Submit yourself under her hands," to show that the submission must be entire and absolute. Put yourself back into your right place and then Grace can deal with you. When the Covenant Angel deals with any man or woman among us, He will say, "Return, return, return.
Repent and be converted. Turn you; turn you. Why will you die?"
The Gospel does not spare the sinner the pangs of repentance. It calls him to sorrow after a godly sort. You must abhor your sins and flee from them, or your sins will be your ruin! You must so repent of your sins as to make such restitution as may be possible. You must replace stolen goods and recall false words. You must humble yourself where you have been insolent. You must bow yourself down before God and submit to man, also, so far as you have wronged him. God the Holy Spirit, when He deals with a proud, unrighteous heart, lays justice to the line and righteousness to the plummet–and sweeps away as with hail every refuge of lies. He cries, "Return! Submit!" and puts the matter so closely home that there is no misunderstanding it! He bids the man confess and forsake his sins and gives him no hope of mercy unless he will do so. God has not met with you, Friend, if you go on in your sins!
God in mercy has not met with you if sin remains sweet to you and repentance is unknown to your heart. You must go back to the place from where you came and you must submit yourself, or nothing will go right with you.
When the Angel of the Lord had thus spoken with Hagar, calling her by her name, working conviction in her heart and pointing out her duty, He then added rich promises–promises which, to her mind, must have been very unexpected and consoling. She was a runaway slave girl, but He says to her, "I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude, and you shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael." That name signifies, "God hears me," because the Lord had heard her affliction. The Angel went on to tell her what this child should be who would be the joy of her heart. Little does a sinner know what blessings are in store for him, if he repents and submits to the Lord's will. He is come to the borders of the wilderness of death, but God intends to bring him back to peace, joy and happiness! Oh, if only the proud sinner knew what God's Grace will do for him, it would break his heart to think he had been so rebellious! Oh, if the obstinate know what a place there is at the Father's board and in the Father's heart for the returning prodigal and how much he is still beloved, notwithstanding all his naughtiness, he would quicken his footsteps and wish to have wings upon his heels, that he might fly back to his Father's house and his Father's bosom!
O Soul, I do pray that Jesus Christ may find you this morning and say to you, "Return unto Me, for I have blotted out your sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your iniquities. Return unto Me, for I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you."
So you see, Hagar's experience was a very remarkable one, although by no means peculiar to herself. Blessed be God, it has happened to tens of thousands, that where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound! When they have run away and outlawed themselves, Grace has followed them, Grace has convicted them, Grace has admonished them and Grace has made large promises to them. Their proud heart has yielded and their spirit has become gentle as that of a little child, as Hagar's spirit was, and they have returned to the great Father's house and submitted themselves. And rich blessings have become theirs. Is it not written, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land"? Though
Hagar had banished herself away from the house of Divine favor, yet the Lord devised means for restoring her and she was restored!
Thus much on her remarkable experience.
II. Now, I want you to notice HER DEVOUT
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. When that which we have described happened to her, she acknowledged the living God. My text says, "She called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her, YouAre-the-
God-Who-Sees." She spoke to Him that spoke to her–after this fashion do we all begin our communion with God. Oh, when God speaks to you, you will soon find a tongue to speak to Him! I do not mean when I speak to you in His name–for what am I? You ought to hear us if we truly speak for God, since it is of His kindness that He sends His servants to speak to you. But if the Covenant Angel comes, Himself, and if He speaks to the heart, then He unstops the deaf ears and loosens the dumb tongue. Men soon speak to Christ when Christ speaks to them! Did you but know the power of the Almighty Word of Grace, you would understand that as darkness gave place to light when He said, "Let there be light," so do men's hearts quit their sin when Jesus speaks to them in tones of effectual Grace. Hagar knew no speaking to God till God spoke with her, but after He had spoken to her, there was no silence!
What did she say? She acknowledged Him to be God. "She called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, You-Arethe-God-Who-
Sees." It is one thing to believe there is a God, but it is quite another thing to know it by coming into personal contact with Him!
They give you books to prove that there is a God–all well and good–be convinced by them. They tell you to walk abroad and see
God in His works. Do so. You cannot better employ yourselves, for God is everywhere. His breath perfumes the flowers and His pencil paints them. But you will not learn God in this fashion if you use this method by itself. To go from Nature up to Nature's God is a long step for broken legs–we are so mangled by the Fall that we never take that step without Divine help. But, oh, if the Lord meets with you! If He reveals Himself to your heart! What assurance!
What certainty!
Think not I am talking, now, of things that are not–I speak what I, myself, have felt. God has met with some of us as surely as ever one spirit has met with another! Men have so spoken to us at times that we can never forget their speech, but never has human voice come with such force as that of the Lord of Hosts, the accents of whose Words we shall hear as long as memory holds her place and reason sits on her throne! We may forget the words of father, mother, wife, or friend, but not the voice of the God of Love!
"When You said, Seek you My face; my heart said unto You, Your