Part 34
Covenant, and he rejoices at this day before the Throne of God!
But Esau did not care for the spiritual, at least not enough to let go of the carnal. He only looked to have that if he could have the other, too, and as he could not have that and the other, he preferred to let the spiritual blessing go. And though he cried about it and mourned about it, yet he could not go to the point of giving up the world for the sake of the world to come! And I know some people– I think I know some old people, too, who would like to be Christians, but they like their wine cups. They would like to be saved, but they like worldly amusements. They would like, in fact, to run with the hare and the hounds, too! They would like to serve the devil, or breakfast with the devil and sup with Christ! They would like to have in this world all the joys and the pleasures which belong to downright worldliness, and then they would like to have the pleasures of Christ as well at the Last Day! It cannot be. If they seek it carefully with tears, it cannot be. If you have chosen the world, have the world–if you choose Christ, you must count the riches of Egypt to be as nothing for the sake of His reproach!
May God bless these words and lead us all to faith in Jesus Christ, to a desire for the best things, and may He prevent our walking in the unbecoming way in which these three good people did. If we have so walked, may He lead us to repent, and help us to mend our manners, and save us, above all things, from being profane persons, as was Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Amen.
Ge 27:38 • Warning and Encouragement
ERMON 3111
Warning And Encouragement
"And Esau said unto his father, Have you but one blessing, my Father? Bless me, even me, also, O my Father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept."
Genesis 27:38
You know the story of Esau and Jacob. [See Sermons #239, Volume 5–JACOB AND ESAU and #1718, Volume 29–CERTAIN
SINGULAR SUBJECTS–Read/download the entire sermons, free of charge, at .] Esau was the elder of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. The birthright was his by right, but he despised it. He was a profane person who did not prize the hereditary privilege which was really his. He actually sold his right to it to his younger brother, Jacob, for a mess of "pottage of lentils." Time rolled on and Isaac, feeling the infirmities of age creeping upon him, determined to give to Esau the blessing to which, as his elder son, he was entitled. Rebekah wanted the blessing to be given to her younger son and, therefore, resorted to a stratagem in order to make the poor blind father believe that Jacob was Esau–and in that way
Jacob gained the blessing by fraud. When Esau came in and found that the blessing was given to Jacob–and that it could not be revoked–he cried bitterly and besought his father to give him "but one blessing."
The whole story reflects no credit upon any of the persons concerned. It certainly brings no credit to Isaac–he was a true
Believer in God, but he was a man of an easy-going, gentle spirit who did not control his household as he ought to have done. And it appears that in his later days he craved dainty dishes to tempt his appetite–"savory meat," such as he asked Esau to prepare for him– and so he did not wait upon God for guidance as to the bestowal of his paternal blessing but, in direct opposition to the Divine purpose, determined to give the blessing to the son whom God had not chosen. It was a bad thing for the household to be divided as it was–the husband and wife at cross purposes–Rebekah seeking the blessing for her favorite son and Isaac preferring the bolder spirit of the wilder man. I cannot excuse either Rebekah or Jacob. They were acting very wickedly in trying to get Isaac's blessing by fraud and falsehood. Neither can I justify Esau, for he was trying to keep what he had sold to his brother and what he had despised and contemptuously called, "this birthright."
One thing is certain–God's Providence, notwithstanding their sin, carried out God's purpose! It was no business of theirs, as it is no business of ours, to try to fulfill God's decrees. God would have managed the whole affair far better without Rebekah's meddling– and the foolish mother would not have had to send from home her darling son, nor would he have had to go away as an exile to endure all that he had to endure at the hands of the grasping Laban!
Still, God overruled the evil and His design was accomplished, as it always is and always will be.
My special purpose at this time is to take this exceedingly bitter cry of the disappointed Esau and use it for two purposes. First, by way of warning taking it then out of its immediate context.
First, I am going to use Esau's cry BY WAY OF WARNING.
Beware, my dear Hearers, first, of ever giving up spiritual benefits for anything that is carnal, or bartering eternalblessings for anything temporal. Esau came in from the chase hungry and faint.
Jacob's mess of red pottage smelt delicious to him and when he begged for it as a starving man craves food, his crafty brother sold it to him in exchange for his birthright as Isaac's elder son. Esau's sin consisted in his willingness to sell the Covenant blessing at such a price as that–yet how many nowadays are selling their souls just as cheaply as Esau sold his birthright!
Some sell their souls for what they call "pleasure." They say that they wish to be saved, but a little transient gaiety exercises more fascination over their minds than all eternal joys or the delights of present fellowship with God. The time will come when they will rue their fatal choice and call themselves a thousand fools. But just now they sneer at anything like self-denial with a view to eternal blessedness and count that man wise who makes the moments fly most merrily, who is satisfied with the passing "pleasure" of the hour. Foolish creatures of the day, I would to God that you were only creatures of a day that would die like the insects of a summer's evening! But for immortal souls to barter eternal happiness for present joys is folly indeed!
We have known some sell their souls for gain. They are making money in a dishonest or disreputable way. To become Christians, they must give up their business–and they frankly say that they cannot afford it. Their shop would never "pay" if it were closed on Sundays! Their trade would never "prosper" if it were conducted on Christian principles! Possibly it is an evil trade and the gain from it comes out of the vices of men. There are such trades–God save all of us from having anything to do with them! But with many, the glitter of the 30 pieces of silver is more fascinating than the Christ of God and, Judas-like, they take the silver, deliberately reject the Savior and so commit spiritual suicide.
We have known some sell their souls for the sake of the love of their friends. They laughed at you because you frequented a place of worship and expressed some anxiety about your eternal welfare and made some little reform in your outward life. And because of that laughter, you have gone back like a coward. You have turned your back on Heaven and are going down to Hell merely to escape the jeers and sneers of sinners like yourself! Such conduct is unworthy of anyone who calls himself a man. And such conduct will surely bring down the just condemnation of God upon anyone who is guilty of so acting. Yet how many snatch up the mess of pottage and push away from them heavenly blessings for fear somebody or other should call them Methodists or Puritans–and sneer at them for their precision of character!
Alas, some have even sold their souls for the cup of the drunkard.
The intoxicating cup which is very rarely, if ever, a benefit to anyone, even when taken in what is called, "moderation," leads to the certain damnation of many if they touch a single drop of it! It has allured thousands into the jaws of Hell! They could not resist its spell when once it fell upon them. It is, alas, only too true that men who were once honorable and loving husbands and fathers, have become brutes and monsters! No, I slander the brutes when I compare them with many men whom I have seen, who have seemed, through strong drink, to have made themselves into incarnate fiends! There is the "pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb," and there the fire-water, which has its origin among the flames of Hell– and yet, when the choice is left to men–many of them prefer the fiery liquor to that Water which would be in them "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Some of those men who are selling their souls for drink are with us here–oh, that God would give them Grace enough to see themselves as they really are in His sight–that they might then ask for the Grace which would make them to be new creatures in Christ Jesus!
Others have sold their souls for lust–lust which I must not now describe, lest the cheek of modesty should be caused to blush. Alas!
Alas, we have known some who have stood high in the esteem of their fellow men, and some who have even dared to enter the visible Church of God, who, all the time, have preferred their "mistress" to the Messiah! And as surely as they continue to do so, the day will come when they will rue it! Oh, that they had the Grace to rue it now and to escape from their Delilahs! It will need more than human strength to shake off this deadly hydra, whose cruel folds have twisted themselves so tightly around them!
Beware, next, of being content with a secondary blessing. Esau did not seem to care that Jacob had the spiritualblessing. As he could not get that, he appeared willing to be content with a temporal one. And many a man says, "Give me a prosperous business, give me plenty to eat and drink, let me enjoy myself and have my full swing in this life–and then, as for those joys of which Christians talk, I do not care a snap of the finger about them! They may have their fine country up among the stars for all that I care, if I can only have my good things here." Yes, I know that is how you talk, my Friends, but I charge every sensible man here not to talk or act like that. Even if you could sell your soul for 50 years of intense physical or mental delight, what would become of your soul when the 50 years came to an end? And if you could have the 50 years extended to 70, or even to a hundred–what would become of your soul at the end of the century? And what would become of your soul forever–let men say what they will! "These shall go awayinto everlasting ." "The punishment" is of the same duration as the"life"–forever and ever! Is it worthwhile to make such a bargain as that–to buy a mess of red pottage at the price of your immortal soul? I charge each one of you to buy the Truth of God, and sell it not, to lay up for yourself treasures in Heaven, to get Christ, to get peace and pardon, to get acceptance with God, to get Heaven in the way that this Book tells you to get it! If you only succeed in getting broad acres of fertile fields, they must all be left! If you amass a great store of gold and silver, it must all be left to your heirs who will probably laugh at the thought of the fool who hoarded so much for them to scatter! Do not act so foolishly, but seek to get the chief blessing! May God graciously enable you to get it this very hour!
Remember that if you leave this world without getting this blessing, you will, like Esau, find no place of repentance, though you seek it carefully with tears. Isaac could not take back what he had said, and God will never alter what He has said. There has been spreading in this country and in other lands, also, the idea of universal salvation–and mark you, wherever that doctrine spreads, vice must and will spread as the natural and inevitable consequence! When men are taught to believe in ultimate universal salvation, their immediate and legitimate inference is, "Then we may live as we like and all will be right in the end." And they will be right in the end! They areambassadors of the devil who teach that lying doctrine, and they will have to answer for it at the Judgment Bar of God! I bring you no such lies as that. I tell you what God's Book of Truth tells me, which is that if you live and die without repentance, without faith and without holiness–as surely as the righteous will live forever in Heaven, just as surely will you live forever in Hell! I implore you, as you value your immortal soul, do not imperil its eternal interest by trusting these dreams and fictions, for that is what they are. He who is righteous when he dies will be righteous forever! And he who is unrighteous then, will be unrighteous forever! So if you do not wish to have to weep and gnash your teeth in anguish and in anger at your own stupidity, fly now, I pray you, to the hope that is set before you in the Gospel and lay hold of Jesus, who alone can save you! It is no pleasure to me to have to utter this solemn message. I deliver it from an aching heart, as the burden of the Lord. And having given you the warning, I leave it with you as I pass on to the second part of my subject.
II. Now I have more pleasant work to do. And that is to use my text BY WAY OF ENCOURAGEMENT.
I would that, this very hour, from many hearts there might arise this cry of Esau, only giving it a far higher meaning, "Have you but one blessing, my Father? Bless me, even me, also, O my Father."
And first, unconverted men and women, is it not time that you were blessed by God? Will not each one of you say to yourself, "Is it not time that Iwas blessed by God? So many dear to me have been blessed–my mother has long been in Heaven. My sister is a member of the Church. Some who sat side by side with me in this pew have believed in Jesus–when will the blessing come to me?
The shower has fallen all around me–am I to be left forever dry?
The great tide of Grace has seemed to sweep right up to my feet– will it never cast its gracious spray over me? I am getting on in years and I was brought here as a child. And now I bring my own child, but I am not yet saved. Many of my friends have died since first I heard the Gospel and I have been to their funerals. I have lost first one relative, and then another. If I had been the one to be taken, alas, alas, what misery would my soul have been in at this moment! I have heard a great many plain Gospel sermons. Our minister does not try to make a display of oratory–he always aims at preaching to our hearts. I know that he wants to bring me to Jesus and that he would be delighted if he heard that some word of his, or anybody else's, had brought me to trust in Christ as my Savior. It is no small privilege to hear the Gospel faithfully preached and I have at times felt the power of that Gospel and have resolved to repent, but then I have turned back, and here I am, still unsaved. It seems a strange thing that some who were morally worse than I have been have entered into the Kingdom of Heaven while I have remained outside–and that some who had not heard the Gospel half as long as I had, accepted it–while I have so far refused it." I wish you would continue talking to yourself in that strain, both here and at home. Perhaps God will bless it to you, and especially if you add to it this prayer, "O Lord, it is time that I had Your blessing. Bless me, even me, also, O my Father! Pass me not by, O You loving, gracious, forgiving God! Have mercy upon me and save me!"
The next question that I have to put to you is this. Does not the plenitude of God's Grace encourage you, whoeveryou may be, to seek His blessing? Esau could only say to his father, "Have you but one blessing?" And, truly, his father had but one that was worth having! But you are not talking to Isaac–you are talking to Jehovah! And when you approach Him to seek His blessing, you know that He can bless as many as He wills and that if He should withhold the blessing, He would be none the richer–and if He should give it, He would be none the poorer, for He is an Infinite
God, able to do for all who come to Him all that they need! God has innumerable sons and daughters–why should not you be among them? He has a blessing for each of them, for of His children it can be truly said, "If children, then heirs," all of them heirs! Then why should not you be among them? If I knew that only three or four persons could be saved, I would not rest till I knew that I was one of them. But since God has so large a family, surely I may have good hope in coming to Him if He gives me the Grace to say, "I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned."
It should encourage you to seek God's blessing when you think of the plenitude that there is in Jesus Christ, God's Son. The merit of Christ was Infinite! The sheep for whom He laid down His life are innumerable as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore!
All who have believed in Him and all who shall yet believe in Him belong to that redeemed flock! So why should not you be among them? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved," for "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by Him."
You ought also to be encouraged to seek God's blessing by the plenitude and power of the Holy Spirit. He is able to soften the hardest heart and to subdue the most stubborn will. There is no sinful habit that He cannot overcome. He can give you the Grace to enable you to resist the strongest temptation and to conquer the fiercest besetting sin. There is almighty power in the ever-blessed
Spirit, so that there is no limit to His regenerating and sanctifying work!
Well, then, with the Infinite Father, the Infinite Redeemer and the Infinite Spirit, you need not say, "Have you but one blessing?" but you may open your mouth wide so that God may fill it! We are still authorized by the Giver of the great Gospel feast to cry, "Yet there is room." The provisions of that royal banquet are not merely for the few who belong to some insignificant little sect and who reckon themselves to be all of the Lord's elect! I can, by faith, see enormous tables laden with the oxen and the fatlings that have been killed, for the great King has made a great supper in honor of His Son's marriage–and He has bidden many to come to it! I know that Heaven is not meant for a small, select company of saints, for John saw there "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who "stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb." [Mr. Spurgeon's Exposition on this passage and the remaining verses of Revelation 7, is given in Sermon #2704, Volume 46–"FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME"– Read/download the entire sermon, free of charge, at .] Then why shouldyou not be among them? Ask yourself thatquestion on your knees before God. If I were ill and there was only one physician in the whole of London, I would try to seek him out, but I could not be very hopeful of being healed by him. But the Hospital of Grace has room in it for all the patients who ever come to it! And never did the porters have to shut the door and say, "There is no room for any more." That can never be the case! God "delights in mercy."
There is such a fullness of Grace in Christ Jesus that whoever comes to Him, He will in no wise cast out. [See Sermon #3000, Volume 52–NO. 3000–OR, COME AND WELCOME– Read/download the entire sermon, free of charge, at .] Then should not this encourage each one of you to believe in Jesus Christ and so to liveforever, for "he that believes on the Son has everlasting life"?
Further, dear Friends, are there any valid reasons why you should not be blessed? Do you really want to be blessedby God? Someone says, "Oh, that my sins were pardoned! Oh, that I had a new heart and a right spirit! I gladly would find the Savior if I could." Is there any reason why you cannot find Him? "I have been a very great sinner." That is no reason, for many great sinners have found
Christ! So why should not you? "But I have a very hard heart."
That is no reason why you should not be saved, for many very hard hearts have been softened by the Holy Spirit! And when you have a redemption which is of Infinite value and a Holy Spirit with Infinite Power to renew the heart, the greatness of past sin or the deepness of present depravity cannot be a reason why Infinite
Mercy should not be shown to you! Can you find me any text in the Bible where it is written that you cannot be saved? I have heard an anxious soul sometimes say, "I know I never shall be saved." But how do you know that? I believe that it is not so! Christ Himself said that "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." And even under the old dispensation, God said, by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, "Come now, and let us reason together… though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." You cannot put your finger upon a single passage of Scripture which proves that you will be lost, so do not believe that it must be so till you have it from God's own mouth! Never imagine that you are excluded from His pardoning mercy till He, Himself, says that you are–and He has never said that yet.
Who is there that stands in your way? I know that the devil does, but then Christ is the devil's Master and He can enable you to overcome him! Do you know of one true minister of the Gospel who would push you back if he saw you coming to the Savior? I know one who would gladly give you a helping hand and draw you to Christ if he could! Would your godly mother be grieved if she heard that you were converted? Is anybody (except Satan) praying that you may not be saved? I never heard of a prayer of that sort– and I never shall–but day and night the Lord's elect cry unto Him, "Bring the wanderers in! Let Jesus see of the travail of His soul until He is satisfied."
Did you ever hear me preach a sermon to prove that you had no right to lay hold on eternal life? I have heard of very discouraging sermons preached by ministers who seemed to be afraid that too many people would get to Heaven–as if it were "a close borough" for a few special favorites in the very small congregation at "Rehoboth" or "Jireh." That is dying out and I bless God that it never has been heard here. We preach to you a great Gospel and a free Gospel–and our hearts are yearning over you with a strong desire that you may be saved!
Can you point to any attribute in God, or to any action on God's part which looks like malevolence towards you? You tell me that He has dealt severely with you in His Providence. If so, it was that He might drive you to Himself. Has He broken your idols in pieces? If so, it is that you may worship the one living and true
God! Are you very poor? Perhaps it is the best thing that could happen to you. How few rich folk ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Can you see anything in Jesus Christ that forbids sinners from coming to Him? Look at His wounds–do they say, "Sinner, stay away from Me"? Look at His thorn-crowned brow–does that say, "I do not want you to come to Me"? Look at His widelyextended arms upon the Cross–do they repel you? No, rather, are they not kept open that the biggest sinners may get at His heart and find peace and pardon there? Think of the Holy Spirit and read about what He has done–and then see if there is anything in Him to show that He does not want you to come to Christ! Why, He is the blessed Spirit who draws sinners to Christ–He does not drive them away from Christ! If the Spirit convinces you of sin, it is not in order to make you despair–except to make you despair of saving yourself–and that is a good work, for it will lead you to look to Jesus, that you may find eternal life in Him! I dare to say that there is nothing in the Father, there is nothing in the Son and there is nothing in the Holy Spirit which should make any truly repenting and believing sinner say, "Mercy is not for me." On the contrary, there is a great attraction about each blessed Person of the Divine
Trinity to draw sinners to Himself.
Now let me suggest one or two reasons why you should find mercy, if you come for it in God's way–and God's wayis that you should believe in His Son, Jesus Christ–that you should trust your soul into His eternal keeping. If you do that, there are many reasons why you may expect to find mercy at His hands. First, it would be an answer to the prayers of God's people. It is certain that God hears His people's prayers. I know that many have been praying that you may be saved. So your salvation would assure them that their prayers had been heard–and surely that is what God delights to do! It would be wrong for you to rely upon other people's prayers for your salvation, but I do bid you take comfort from the thought that it would cheer the saints of God to see you saved. The happiest Church Meetings that we ever have are those when there are many converts coming forward to tell what the Lord has done for their souls! Now the Lord Jesus very dearly loves His Church– she is His spouse–and as a good husband loves to please his wife, so Jesus loves to please His Church! And nothing can please His Church so much as to see sinners saved! So I think that is one good reason why we may expect that He will save many of you.
Besides that, if you are saved, whether you are a great sinner or a smaller one, Christ will have a new servant. And if you have been a big black sinner, Christ will have an especially good servant if He converts you from the error of your ways. Whatever you do, you do it heartily–you now persecute the saints with all your might–but if you were converted, you would love Christ as Mary Magdalene did, or as Saul of Tarsus did–and our Master delights to have such a servant as you would make! I trust, therefore, that you will be encouraged by the thought that as He wants many such servants, perhaps He will have you as one of them.
And, again, if you were converted, it would make the angels glad.
Fresh hallelujahs and hosannas would resound throughout high
Heaven if you were born-again, a new creature in Christ Jesus!
They would set all the bells a-ringing with celestial carillons because another sinner had been saved from going down to the Pit!
I think God will do it, for He loves to hear the melodies of the holy angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect.
Besides, it would be to His own Glory in Heaven above and down here among the sons of men. Oh, if the Lord would but convert some of the cardinals and priests of the Church of Rome–and some of the great infidel philosophers of the present day, and some of the licentious "nobility," as they are called–what high honor would be brought to the name of Jesus Christ! I must not detain you longer, but I must just urge you, if you really want the blessing of God in the shape of pardoned sin and acceptance by Christ, to seek it from the Lord as earnestly as Esau sought the blessing of Isaac. He sought in vain, but you will not seek in vain. If you believe in Jesus
Christ, you shall be saved, be you who or what you may! We have God's Word for it–the Word of God who cannot lie! Esau pleaded piteously with his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father."
He was a rough, wild man, yet plaintively he put his plea before his old father, Isaac–"Bless me, your elder son, your Esau, your favorite." Then, at last, he burst into tears, backing up his entreaties with his tearful appeal, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
You will not seek God's blessing in vain if you do but seek it sincerely and earnestly. Without His blessing, you are already condemned. Without His blessing, you will be condemned forever.
With His blessing, there is Heaven for you–without it, there is Hell.
With His blessing, there is peace and joy–without it, there is a gloomy future, ever growing darker and darker until it becomes eternal midnight! Cry mightily to God right now for His blessing!
And while you cry, look to Jesus on the Cross, bleeding out His life for the guilty. One believing look at Him saves your soul forever!
Again I quote Paul's words to the jailer at Philippi, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." I do not know what more I can say. If I have been talking to sensible men who value their immortal souls–and God blesses my message–I have said enough. If I speak to those who are besotted with their sin and bent on committing spiritual suicide, I could not say enough though I spoke till your ears could no longer hear and my tongue could no longer speak. Eternal Spirit, arrest the elect of God this very hour and bring them to see themselves as they are–and then to see Christ as their Savior and force from each one of them this cry–"Bless me, even me also, O my Father." Amen.
Ge 28:15; 31:3,5; 48:21 • Four Choice Sentences
ERMON 1630
Four Choice Sentences
"Behold I am with you."
Genesis 28:15
First, turn to the 28 th verse, and read OF PRESENT BLESSING.
The Lord said to His servant Jacob, "Behold, I am with you." Jacob was the inheritor of a great blessing from his fathers, for this sentence was spoken in connection with the following words, "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac." It is an inexpressible privilege, dear Friends, to be able to look back to father and grandfather and, perhaps, still farther, and to say, "We come of a house which has served the Lord as far back as history can inform us." Descended from Christians, we have a greater honor than being descended from princes! There is no heraldry like the heraldry of the saints.
Jacob might be very thankful that, as God had blessed Abraham and had blessed Isaac, so He blessed him in the same way, speaking to him in the same terms as He had spoken to them, for He had expressly said to each of them, "I am with you." Are any of you the children of godly parents and has the Lord called you by His Grace? Then bless His name and take heed that you do nothing to dishonor an estate so honorable! Try and maintain, as long as you live, the good repute which in infinite love God has put upon your household. Are you, however, a child of godly parents and not yet converted? I would warn you against putting the slightest reliance upon your birth, for, remember, if Isaac was the child of Abraham, so also was Ishmael–but no blessing came to Ishmael of a spiritual kind.
It is in vain to be born of blood, or of the will of the flesh. We must be born again from above. God is sovereign, He is not bound to dispense His favors from father to son. And when He does so, we are to admire His Grace. Do not imagine that there is such a thing as hereditary piety–it must be worked in each individual by the same Spirit. Still, it is one of the highest privileges that God has ever been pleased to grant to me that I can rejoice in a father and a grandfather who trained me in the fear of God! And I congratulate every young person who has such a pedigree. God bless you. Be not satisfied unless you, yourself, obtain such mercy as God gave to your ancestors and hear the Lord saying, "I am with you."
This mercy was brought home to Jacob at a time when he greatly needed it. He had just left his father's house and he felt himself alone. He was coming into special trial and then it was that he received a fuller understanding of the privilege which God had in store for him. Let me read the words to you–"I am with you." I have tried to think them out, that I might speak concerning them to you, but they are too full. I defy anybody to measure their height and depth, their length and breadth! That God should give to Jacob bread to eat and raiment to put on was much–but that is nothing compared with, "I am with you." That God should send His angel with Jacob to protect Him would have been much–but it
This includes countless blessings, but it is, in itself, a great deal more than all the blessings we can conceive of! There are many fruits that come of it, but the tree that yields them is better than the fruit! "I am with you." Will God, in the very deed, dwell with men upon earth? Will God walk with a man and speak with him? "Lord, what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You visit him?" And yet He says, "I am with you." You are in Your courts above and You make Heaven, Heaven by Your Presence, and yet You say, "I am with you." What more could You say to a seraph than this–"I am with you"?
Why, when God is with a man there is a familiarity of condescension that is altogether unspeakable! It insures an infinite love. "I am with you." God will not dwell with those He hates. He puts away the wicked of the earth like dross. He says to them, "Depart, I never knew you." But to each one of His people He says, "I know you by your name; you are Mine. And, more than that, I am with you." As a man delights to be with a friend, so are the delights of Christ with the sons of men whom He has chosen and redeemed with blood! "I am with you"–it means practical help.
Whatever we undertake, God is with us in the undertaking.
Whatever we endure, God is with us in the enduring! Wherever we wander, God is with us in our wandering!
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" If God is with us, can we ever be exiled or banished? If God is with us, what can we not do? If God is with us, what can we not endure? Well said the Apostle, as if answering that question, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." "I am with you." Come, Brother or Sister, if you would get the fullness of this privilege, believe that God is near you, now–as near to you as he that sits at your side!
No, nearer, for He is so with you as to be in you. And do you know that His whole Godhead is with you? "I am with you," as if there were not another–the whole Godhead is with you! Your have not to cry aloud like Baal's priests, or cut yourself with knives that you may attract His eye, for He says, "I am with you." He hears your sighs. He puts your tears into His bottle. "I am with you."
And you have not only His Presence, but His sympathy! He means, "I am feeling with you, suffering with you. If there is a load, I bear it with you. If there is work to do, I will work with you." You are workers, together, with God. Beloved, said I not rightly that I can never open up all this to you? Roll it under your tongue as a sweet morsel and if it goes down into your inward parts it shall not be bitter, but still sweeter! "I am with you." Oh, the richness of this special blessing! How precious it must have seemed as it came to Jacob in that den of a place, where he lay with the hedges for his curtains, the heavens for his canopy, the earth for his bed, stones for his pillow and God for his companion! "I am with you."
Tomorrow, when you shall open your eyes, you will look back to the west and say, "I have left my father's house and my mother, Rebecca, behind me." And the tears will be in your eyes and you will look to the east and say, "I am going to the house of my mother's kindred and I know them not, except that I have heard concerning Uncle Laban that he is hard and grasping. And I know not how he will receive me." But is not that a precious thing to start upon a journey with–"I am with you"–I, the Ever-Blessed? Though your mother is not with you, "I am with you." Is there any young friend here who is leaving home? Are you going away for the first time and do you feel sad? Or are you about to emigrate to a distant country and your heart feels heavy? Do not go at all till you can get a hold of this–"I am with you."
Say unto the Lord, "If Your Spirit goes not with me, carry me not up from here." Wait till He gives the answer, "My Spirit shall go with you and I will give you rest." This ought to be the blessing of your opening life, "I am with you." Is God with you tonight? Can God be with you? Souls come to service, after having quarreled with their wives and families. God is not with them. People who are following evil trades and living evil lives, rejecting the Gospel– God cannot be with them. "Can two walk together except they are agreed?" If you are a Believer in Christ and the Spirit of God has produced in you the true fruits of the Spirit, then you may say, "He is with me," but not else.
Now turn to the 31 st chapter of Genesis, at the third verse, and read these words, "I will be with you." We will callthis FUTURE
BLESSING. It is almost unnecessary to take this second text, for if it is written, "I am with you," you may depend upon it that He will be with us, for God does not forsake His people! Some people believe in a God who loves today and hates tomorrow; who pardons sin and yet, afterwards, condemns. Such a God is not my
God! My God is unchangeable–
"Whom once He loves He never leaves,
But loves them to the end."
" I am God; I change not:
Therefore you sons of Jacob
Are not consumed."
Poor Jacob had been living with Laban and had passed through many messes and troubles. It was time that he should receive the word of blessing over again. We read that, "Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban and, behold, it was not toward him as before." He had begun to take root in the worldling's portion and was willing to stay away from the promised land and build up a family among his worldly connections. But the Lord practically said to him, "This is not your rest." Laban's sons begin to growl as they see how their brother-in-law's flocks have increased and, therefore, the time has come for Jacob to go. Jacob does not like it.
He never did like moving. Family connections, a host of children and a mighty crowd of cattle made a removal a great undertaking.
Then the Lord said to him, "I will be with you." As much as to say, "I will be more with you in Canaan than I ever have been in this place, which is not the land of promise. I will give you My special Presence if you will get away into the place of the separated life and walk with Me as your father Isaac did." It was very sweet, many years ago, to some of us to hear the Lord say, "I am with you," and to know that it was true, for, "truly, our fellowship was with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ." But it may, at this hour, be very opportune if the Lord should renew His promise to us by saying, "I will be with you."
You are commencing a new form of life. You are entering on new trials. You are undertaking new duties. And now comes in the new promise, "I will be with you." If those upon whom you had a right to rely have turned against you. If those who were really indebted to you have become envious of you–"yet, nevertheless," says
God–"I will be with you." Jacob's journey was to be a very venturous one. He knew that Laban would not like it and, probably, would pursue him. But God says, "Go, and I will be with you." He knew, also, that his brother Esau would be pretty sure to take vengeance upon him for the sorry trick he had played on him and that touched his conscience.
Jacob feared and trembled, but God said, "I will be with you."
The most plain road in the world is wrong if God does not bid us take it! And the roughest and most unpromising way will turn out to be safe and right if God commands our journey. Jonah thought it was all right to go to Tarshish, but God was not with him, and he came back by a route which he never expected to follow. If you go your own road, I wish you may be fortunate enough to meet with as good a return conveyance as Jonah did, for you will certainly have to come back! But if the road is ever so rough, if it is God's road, you shall run over it like a young roe!
God will make your feet like hinds' feet and you shall tread upon your high places. "Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be." Only mind that you follow a road in which God can be with you, for there are some ways in which God will never be found. He cannot walk in the ways of sin, or worldliness, or selfseeking–if we choose these, we must go alone.
See, then, the promised mercy, and rejoice in it! Go forward, dear child of God, if the pillar of cloud is moving, without the slightest hesitancy, and let this be your joy and comfort–"Certainly, I will be with you. In all places wherever you go, I will be with you."
III. I need to go a step farther and come, in the third place, to EXPERIENCED BLESSINGS. Let us look at Jacob's experience.
Did Jacob find God to be with him? He had a long life and a tried one. He was a man that knew a great deal and men that know a great deal are doubly likely to meet with great trouble. Cunning, wise, crafty, prudent, self-reliant people frequently flounder out of one slough into another. Above all things, I should dread being partners with a man that is overly wise, for such men either make fools of themselves, or else they have to sleep with one eye open.
Jacob's cunning was a liability to him in the long run.
Abraham was simple as a child. He believed God and never stooped to trickery and, therefore, his life was a noble one. Jacob was a very wise person, the kind of gentleman to have made a financier, or the manager of a company. He was a rare man of business. In fact, he was the father of the Jews and that is saying a great deal. Yet because of his sharpness, he was often robbed. And through his cunning he was overreached. And he did not, after all, so much enjoy life and was neither so rich nor so happy as his simple-minded grandfather, Abraham. We will, however, hear what Jacob has to say about these two gracious words of God, "I am with you," and, "I will be with you."
Turn to the 31 st chapter, again, and read the fifth verse. Up to as far as the time that he was about to leave Laban, hesays, "The God of my father has been with me." I have read that testimony with great joy! I thought of Jacob thus–Well, you certainly were not eminent for Grace while with Laban. You were plotting and scheming–you against Laban and Laban against you–and yet your witness is, "The God of my father has been with me." This is all the more encouraging coming from you! Jacob seems to say of his God–It was He that gave me my wife and my children. It was He that prospered me in the teeth of those who tried to rob me. The God of my father has been with me, notwithstanding all my shortcomings." I trust that some of you can bear the same witness.
Though you have not been all that you could wish in the Christian life, yet you can say, "The God of my father has been with me."
Now, we will look at him a little further on, in the 35 th chapter and the third verse. There we shall find him saying–"Let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." As I have already said, he left Laban's house and it was a very venturesome journey, but God was with him! Jacob tells us that it was so. Poor Jacob was full of fear when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him. You can see that by the way in which he divided his flocks and his herds–and set apart so large a present for Esau.
But God does not leave His people because of their fears. I am so thankful for that! If He were to cast us off because of our unbelief, is there one of us who would not have been cast off long ago?
There was Peter walking on the waters with a brave faith–was not Christ with him? Yes, or else he could not have stood on the wave at all. By-and-by his faith failed him and down went Peter! But did Christ give him up and say, "You shall die! According to your unbelief shall it be unto you"? No, there is not such a word as that in the Bible. But it is written, "According to your faith shall it be unto you." Jesus stretched out His hand and grasped sinking Peter, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
So, though you may grieve the Lord by doubting and fearing, and though you ought to be ashamed of yourself for so doing, still, He will not forsake you! If there is faith in your heart, though it is but little, you shall have to say, in spite of your doubts and fears, "The Lord was with me in the days of my distress and was with me in the ways which I went." There was a night of wrestling with Jacob.
His faith enabled him to draw near to God in mighty prayer and his fear made him the more desperate and importunate. He said, "I will not let You go except you bless me." Though he had to be importunate, yet it was not because God was against him, but because God was with him, for he that can exercise importunate prayer proves that God is with him strengthening him thus to supplicate. His wrestling ended in his victory!
On that day, too, I have no doubt, Jacob was very much cast down because he remembered his sin. He knew he had treated Esau badly and robbed him of the blessing. But, for all that, he came with a repentant heart to submit himself before his brother and to do what he could to please him. Because of this, God was with him. Oh, in that day, dear child of God, when you remember your faults and your heart is heavy, do not think that the Lord has left you! It is one token that He is with you–that He makes you confess your sin–and humble yourself before Him. Still believe in Him; still hear His Word and you shall have to say, "He was with me in the ways which I went."
At the close of his life, we find Jacob more fully than ever confessing that the Presence of God had been with him. I read you the passage where he wished that the God that had been with him might be with his grandsons in the same way–the 48 th verses–"He blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers
Abrahamand Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." There is his last testimony to the faithfulness of God. He had lost Rachel–oh, how it stung his heart–but he says, "God redeemed me from all evil."
There had come a great famine in the land, but he says that God had fed him all his life long. He had lost Joseph and that had been a great sorrow. But now, in looking back, he sees that even then God was redeeming him from all evil! He said once, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me." But now he eats his words and says, "The Lord has redeemed me from all evil." He now believes that God had been always with him, had fed him always, redeemed him always and blessed him always. Now, mark you, if you trust in God, this shall be your verdict at the close of life.
When you come to die, you shall look back upon a life which has not been without its trials and its difficulties, but you shall bless
God for it all–and if there is any one thing in life for which you will have to praise God more than for another, it will probably be that very event which seems darkest to you! Did God ever do a better thing for Jacob than when He took Joseph away and sent him to Egypt to preserve the whole family? It was the severest trial of the poor old man's life and yet the brightest blessing, after all! Can you not believe it? Inside that hard-shelled nut there is the sweetest kernel that you have tasted! Rest assured of that.
Your Father's rumbling wagons have awakened you out of sleep and you are frightened by them, but they are loaded with ingots of gold! You have never been so rich as you will be after your great trouble shall have passed away!
IV. It is time for me to conclude and I do so by bringing before you, in the fourth place, one more word of blessing. We have had present blessing. We have had future blessing. We have had experienced blessing three times over. And now we go to TRANSMITTED BLESSING, for we find Jacob transmitting the blessing to his son and to his grandsons. Read in the 48 th verse– "Behold I die: but God shall be with you."
I commenced by noticing the blessing which passed on from Abraham to Isaac. And now we see that Jacob hands it on to Joseph, to Manasseh and to Ephraim–"I die: but God shall be with you."
Some of you, perhaps, are thinking, "We are getting near the end of life. We have children, but they are not all converted, yet, and those that are, it may be, are dependent upon us–what will become of them?" Do you think God will leave your children? Can't you trust them with Him? What did your father do with his son? One after another the former generations have passed away and the Lord has been faithful to their successors! Do you think He will not be faithful to those who come next? You have brought up your children in His fear. You have rested upon His name and, therefore, you may say to them, "I die: but God shall be with you."
The time will come when we who are ministers shall be taken away from our beloved work on earth and we cannot help thinking about the dear friends who hang upon our lips and depend upon our ministry. It is well for us to look a little forward and say, "I die: but God shall be with you." My venerated predecessor, Dr. Rippon, many a time prayed for his successor. I am sure he did not know who his successor was to be, for I was born about the time when he was dying! But, doubtless, I inherited that good man's prayers. I am sure I did. "I die," the old man might have said, "but God shall be with you."
The Church at New Park Street thought it an awful thing for the old gentleman to die. But he would have been of no service to us if he had remained here forever. And so it will be, by-and-by, that people will say, "What will the Tabernacle people do if they lose their minister?" It will probably be the greatest of blessings when it happens! Many good men have clung to their places longer than they should have done–and have pulled down much that they had built up. It is well when the Lord says to such, "Friend, come up higher." We may look forward, each one, to leaving our class, or to leaving the Church over which we watch, or to leaving the great work over which we preside and we may say, "I die: but God shall be with you." God is not limited to one minister or 50 ministers!
When we are gone, God will be with you!
They used to say of our dear friend, George Muller, "What will become of the Orphanage when Mr. Muller is laid aside?" When I was speaking to him, he said to me, "That was a question which I felt George Muffler had nothing to do with. God will use George
Muller as long as He likes. And when He chooses to put him aside, He will use somebody else." And now, mark, George Muller is not at Bristol! I believe he is, at this present moment, preaching in America. He has been all over Europe preaching and the Orphanage has had very little of his personal presence–and yet it has gone on without George Muller so far!
Such a fact tends to answer man's idle questions. Blessed be the everlasting God–if Abraham dies, there is Isaac! And if Isaac dies, there is Jacob! And if Jacob dies, there is Joseph! And if Joseph dies, Ephraim and Manasseh survive! The Lord shall never lack a champion to bear His standard high among the sons of men! Only let us pray God to raise up more faithful ministers. That ought to be our prayer day and night. We have plenty of a sort, but, oh, for more that will weigh out 16 ounces to the pound of Gospel in such a way that people will receive it! We have too much of fine language; too much of florid eloquence and too little full and plain
Gospel preaching! But God will keep up the Apostolic succession, never fear for that!
When Stephen is dying, Paul is not far off. When Elijah is taken up, he leaves his mantle behind him. "I die: but God shall be with you." Take comfort, dear Friends, and may His Spirit be with you, through Jesus Christ, His dear Son, whose name is Christ, His dear
Son, whose name is "Emmanuel"–God With Us. Amen.
[THE PREACHER has often been requested by his friends to report himself to them during his absence and he, therefore, begs to say that he has safely reached the South of France. He already feels refreshed by the change of scene and by escaping from fog and frost into a balmy summer air. If pain is thus avoided, the mind invigorated and life prolonged, the time is well spent. Our hope is in the great "Preserver of men," that it will assuredly be so. The prayers of loving friends are asked that, in retirement, nets may be mended in which many may afterwards be taken.]
Ge 28:16 • Jacob's Waking Exclamation
ERMON 0401
Jacob's Waking Exclamation
"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."
Genesis 28:16
THROUGH his own foolish wisdom Jacob had been compelled to leave his father's house. Perhaps we are scarcely able to judge of the sorrowful feelings which this banishment would beget in his soul. Here we go from one Christian home to another. If we leave the parental roof we may hope still to sojourn where there is an altar to the Most High God and where we can still unite with worshippers who fear His name. Not so in Jacob's case. The family of which he was a member was the only household in the land that worshipped God. Or if there were some few others, they were probably unknown to one another and as far as Jacob knew when he left his father until he arrived at Padanaram he would not meet with a single person who feared the God of Heaven.
He was passing from one oasis to another across a burning desert.
We may compare him to a swallow which for the first time leaves our shore to find no rest until it has passed with weary wing the long leagues of purple sea. You must know, too, that the prevalent notion of the heathens among whom Jacob dwelt was that their gods had only local authority. For instance, the god of Gaza was not the god of Askelon. The god of Beersheba would not be the God of Bethel. Their deities were gods of the hills and not of the valleys and it may be possible that from great dealings with the heathen, Jacob may have failed clearly to understand the fact that his father's God was not like their gods.
So in leaving his father's house there may have been this troublous thought rising in his mind that he was also leaving his father's God–that now his prayers would scarcely be heard–that he should be an alien from Jehovah's land and cut off from the congregation of the blessed. Jacob was not at this time a full-grown believer. He was but a babe in grace–his ready yielding to his mother's craft proves his want of advanced piety. And it is no trifling thing for a weakling to be taken from the nurture of home and cast alone upon a world unfriendly and ungenial. Happy was it for the fugitive that his Lord's compassion followed him even when Jacob knew not that God was there.
Blessed was the dream which assured him that Jehovah's wing had covered his stony bed as really as it guarded his softer couch in Isaac's tent. The truth seemed to surprise him, but O how sweetly it must have yielded consolation! "Surely," said he and he opened his eyes to new light as though he knew that the night of distress had passed and that a day of confidence had begun–"Surely God is in this place and I knew it not."
I would address you this morning upon a topic which may perhaps be as useful to us as to Jacob if God the Holy Spirit shall but enable me to preach and you to hear. Oh, You that are everywhere, be speedily now–be You in this place and may we know it and tremble in Your presence. I shall speak on three points.
First, the omnipresence of God–the doctrine of it. Secondly, a recognition of that omnipresence, or the spirit which is necessary in order to discover the presence of God. And thirdly, the results of a recognition of this omnipresence, or the practice which is sure to spring out of the conviction that God is everywhere.
First, then, THE DOCTRINE OF GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE. He is everywhere. In the early Christian Church there was a wicked heresy which for a long while caused great disturbance and exceeding much controversy. There were some who taught that Satan, the representative of evil, was of co-equal power with God, the representative of good. These men found it necessary to impugn the doctrine of God's universal power. Their doctrine denied the all-pervading presence of God in the present world and they seemed to imagine that we should of necessity have to get out of the world of nature altogether, before we could be in the presence of God.
Their preachers seemed to teach that there was a great distance between God and His great universe. They always preached of Him as the King who dwelt in the land that was very far off–no, they almost seemed to go as far as though they had said, "Between us and Him there is a great gulf fixed, so that neither can our prayers reach Him, nor can the thoughts of His mercy come down to us."
Blessed be God that error has long ago been exploded and we as Christian men, without exception, believe that God is as much in the lowest Hell as in the highest Heaven. We believe that He is as truly among the sinful hosts of mortals as among the blissful choir of immaculate immortals who day and night praise His name.
We believe that He fills Heaven and earth and Hell. We believe that He is in the very space which His creation seems to claim, for creatures do not displace God. And even the space which is occupied by His handiworks is still filled with Himself. The rocky bowels of the unsearched-out depths are full of God–where the sea roars, or where the solid granite leaves no interstice or vacuum– even there is God. Not only in the open place and in the chasm, but penetrating all matter and abounding everywhere in all and filling all things with Himself. "In Him we live and move and have our being. And in Him are all things and by Him all things consist."
Yet while we receive the doctrine, it is well sometimes to enlarge upon it, not so much for sake of argument–but to make the Truth stand out the more clearly to our minds' eye. Let us remember, then, that in the three kingdoms God is everywhere. In the kingdoms of nature, of Providence and of grace we may say of each spot, "Surely God is in this place." He is everywhere in the fields of nature. Go, if you please, to secluded parts–walk through the forest glades where the virgin moss presents a delicate carpet for human foot–where the deer starts up affrighted by the intrusion of an unexpected visitor. Where the wild bird scarcely flies from you because as yet it is not familiar with the cruel face of man.
As you walk among the intertwisted boughs, the natural arches of God's own temple which He Himself has built, without toil of hewer of stone or dauber of clay, if you are a true Christian you will be compelled to say–
"The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by Your sweet bounty made
For those who follow You."
You will solemnly exclaim, "Surely God is in this place." Nor will you be alone in your thought for every waving flower will bear witness to the fact. The insect humming in the breeze and the glossy beetle creeping among the sere leaves that lie beneath your feet–relics of many a winter's slaughter among the verdant groves– and the birds that are warbling among the trees will every one of them bear witness that surely God is there.
In fact, if there is one spot more than another where the consciousness of God's presence will strike the heart of the awakened man, it will be where other men are not but where he himself is alone the only worshipper of God. But you must remember, too, that if you go to the haunt of men, where they crowd and congregate together, that God is there. Go to one of the abutments of London Bridge and stand a moment gazing at the throng as it harries by, thousands and tens of thousands in an hour.
On, on they sweep–the riches of nations grinding the roadway–and multitudes of men, women and children wearing away the granite pavement. God is there, though forgotten by most of them who are thinking only of the world and of its toils–forgetting that there is One above them who looks on all–One within them who inhabits all space.
Let not you and I forget, but let us say, "God is there. In every drop of blood that is circulating through the veins of the passengers. In every flush that is on the cheek. In every pulse that throbs or breath that heaves." The very fact that they are fed and clothed and are in existence will bear witness that surely God is in that place. And thoughts of awe may soon come crowding over your mind and you may find yourself as much alone with God in crowded Cheapside, or in the thronging Borough, or noisy
Whitechapel as though you were far away alone on the wild prairie, or in some desert of Africa where footprints of man could not be perceived. Verily God is in this place.
Then fly with the white sail across the deep and as you skim the foaming billows, if your soul be right within you, you will say, "Surely God is in this place." And when the storm comes on and the thunder rolls like drums in the march of the God of Armies and the skies seem to be wounded with the flashing of His glittering spear in the tremendous lightning–you may say in the midst of the storm as your boat reels and rocks and is tossed like a sea-bird upon the billow–"Surely He holds the waters in the hollow of His hand and God is here." And when you have landed and calm comes on and the fair white clouds sail slowly through the air, sailing gallantly in the abated breath of the wind–when everything comes out all fresh and green from the last shower and there is a clear shining after the rain and the storm and profound peace after the noisy hurricane–you may say then with refreshed enjoyment–"Surely God is in this place."
But I need not continue in such a strain as this. You shall go where you will. You shall look to the most magnificent of God's works and you shall say–"God is here upon your awful summit, O hoary Alp! In your dark bosom, O tempestcloud! And in your angry breath, O devastating hurricane!" "He makes the clouds His chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind." God is here. And so in the most minute–in the blossom of the apple, in the bloom of the tiny field flower, in the sea shell which has been washed up from the deep. In the sparkling of the mineral brought up from darkest mines, in the highest star, or in yonder comet that startles the nations and in its fiery chariot soon drives afar from mortal view– great God, You are here, You are everywhere. From the minute to the magnificent, in the beautiful and in the terrible, in the fleeting