Part 52
possess her soul. Persecution has evidently aided the increase of the
Church by the scattering abroad of earnest teachers. We are very
apt to get hived–too many of us together–and our very love of one
another renders it difficult to part us and scatter us about.
Persecution, therefore, is permitted to scatter the hive of the
Church into various swarms, and each of these swarms begins to
make honey. We are all like the salt if we are true Christians, and
the proper place for the salt is not massed in a box, but scattered by
handfuls over the flesh which it is to preserve. We are of good
service when we are kept together in great bands–happy we
certainly are in the presence of each other. But we are to separate
and scatter–and then we shall conquer as we are scattered abroad.
You remember the days of our Puritan forefathers, when the
dominant Church of the day determined to crush out pure
evangelism? To what extent did it succeed? Did it destroy their
faith and their confidence? No, my Brethren–by driving them out
of an apostate Church, and compelling them to take up their stand
as separated Believers without the camp, bearing Christ's reproach
and Cross–an everlasting testimony for pure Truth was enshrined.
Was the crisis prolonged? Were deeds of violence legalized?
By the increasing rigor of such persecution our forefathers were
forced to leave their native shores, and they had to pass in the
Mayflower, and afterwards in some succeeding vessels, across the
blue Atlantic, sadly but surely to found another center for the
proclamation of the Gospel. And upon the wide continent of a new
world they became the progenitors of another nation holding fast
the fundamentals of the faith, and rejoicing in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free.
There might have been no Church in the United States if it had
not been that our sires were driven to the wilds among the Red
Indians, there to establish themselves, and set up a banner for the
Truth as it is in Jesus. It will always be so. I could almost wish that
in this island–though I dread calamity–I could almost wish, for the
Master's honor, that some irresistible impulse should force His
disciples to go abroad to the regions beyond our present sphere of
life and labor.
I rejoice, though I love not to miss my friends, when I find them
led or driven, as it may be, to emigration. Whether it be to
Australia, Canada or anywhere else, I trust that if they are living
seed they will be as a handful of corn sown in the new land, and the
fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon. Christian men are
sometimes called to leave positions of great comfort and to occupy
stations of great hardship. They may account it a reverse of fortune,
while God designs it as an appointment to special service. If they
bear Christ's Gospel with them to a people sitting in darkness, that
will be great gain, in the long run, to the Church.
Your being sent to a village, though you like it not, may be a
lasting blessing to the hamlet. Your residing among strangers, when
you would far rather find a more congenial home among your own
kindred, may be for the good of that neighborhood. Who knows?
Where should lamps be set up but in dark places? Where should we
have a guard for Christ's army but where the enemy is most likely
to make the assault? Be patient, then, my Brethren, amidst the
persecutions or trials you may be called upon to bear. And be
thankful that they are so often overruled for the growth of the
Church, the spread of the Gospel, and the honor of Christ.
Moreover, Beloved, persecution in the Church–even when it does
not take the form of burning or imprisonment, but of slander, of
cruel mockings, jesting, jeering, and venomous spite–in whatever
form it is sent–persecution helps to keep up the separation between
the Church and the world. I fear most the rich when they bring
gifts. I loathe the world most when it fawns and flatters. When I
heard of a lady who had put on Christ by Baptism and that the cold
shoulder was given her in all the circles in which she moved–do
you think I felt more disposed to console or to congratulate?
It was said that now she had but few invitations to such places
and such society as she had previously frequented. But I rejoiced,
and thanked God for it! I was glad of it, for I felt she was farther
removed from temptation. When I heard of a young man that, after
he joined the Church–those in his workshop met him at once with
loud laughter and reproached him with bitter scorn–I was thankful,
because now he could not take up the same position with
themselves. He was a marked man–they who knew him discovered
that there was such a thing as Christianity–and such a one as an
earnest defender of it!
It is no evil to the Church, depend upon it, to have a great gulf
fixed between her and the world. The worst thing that ever could
happen for us is when affinities are made between the sons of God
and the children of Belial. This brought on the Deluge. And if it
could ever be carried out thoroughly again, it would bring on
judgments terrible to think of. It is ill for the worldly since, "they
that are far from God shall perish." But it is a thousand times worse
for the professing when they play foul with their profession–for so
it is written, "You have destroyed all them that go a whoring from
You."
Summary vengeance is their lot. "Come out from among them,
and be you separate, and touch not the unclean thing. And I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My
sons and daughters." This is a text that needs to be thundered in
trumpet tone. What says the great King unto the spouse? "Forget,
also, your own people, and your father's house. So shall the King
greatly desire your beauty: for He is your Lord. And worship you
Him." "Be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by
the renewing of your mind."
Too much laxness, giving way to the world a friendship foil of
fascination brings on leanness of spirit and causes us to be scarcely
known as Christians. It weakens our testimony, and in every way
promotes Satan's ends. But when persecution breaks forth barriers
are set up–distinctive colors are worn, so the two camps are kept in
open hostility. And when brought to battle with each other, the
Church is kept pure with bright armor! Victory waits her march,
and her champions win their laurels.
Again, persecution in the Christian Church acts like a winnowing
fan to the heaps gathered on the threshing floor. In these soft and
silken days any man may be a Christian professor. Oftentimes it
pays well to make a profession of godliness. Men think the better
of you–it brings customers to the shop. No one knows how many
conveniences may attach to the profession of religion–but if it is
pretense without pretext, everlasting destruction awaits such
violation of Truth–for God will surely avenge hypocrisy.
But in days of persecution to profess Christ is very inconvenient.
Then to be baptized in water may involve a Baptism of blood. Then
for the soul to burn with zeal for Christ would probably be
followed with the body being burnt at the stake. Then a word for
Jesus would bring a word of conviction from the judge's mouth,
and, close at the heels of that word, death. Then they who loved not
Christ betake themselves to the other side. The cowards and the
spies shrink away. Demas went, and Judas went, and all of that
brood to their own company, and then only the true and the brave,
the regenerate, the elect of God were left.
They stood fast and firm–all the stronger for losing such ill
company. Then in those days the Church was like a heap of golden
wheat, all winnowed and clean grain, fit for a burnt offering to the
Most High, to be offered up as a meat offering upon His altar. Her
martyrs were among her noble sons and daughters–the very Glory
of the Church and of the Lord Jesus Christ! So you see persecution
is overruled for this great good. It ought never to be, while there are
sinners in this world–it ought never to be that the Christian escapes
opposition.
I take it that if a man makes an advance in life and comes to a
position of fame, he ought to win it–ought to fight for it. Men ought
not to be crowned until first of all they have strived for the mastery.
And it should be so in the Church of God that we must fight if we
would reign. It should not be that we should think it an easy thing
and a light matter to be a follower of Him whose life was sorrow
and whose death was the death of the Cross. If we are to be
conformed to Him, it cannot be by ease and sloth. Not the downy
couch, but the crown of thorns! Not the triumph, but the shame
must be the portion of the imitators of the Crucified!
Persecution has a further beneficial use in the Church of God, and
it is this. It may be that the members of the Church want it. It is a
sorrowful thing that slander should be so often used against God's
people. It is a grievous thing that their little faults should be
severely criticized and magnified. But, on the whole, it is good and
profitable. It is a great blessing to be made to walk carefully. The
Roman who professed that he would like to have a window in his
bosom, that everybody might see his heart, would have wished, I
should think, before long for a shutter to that window.
Yet it is no slight stimulus to a man's own circumspection for him
to know that he is observed by unfriendly eyes. Our life ought to be
such as will bear criticism. As Christian men we serve a jealous
God, and our works will have to stand the test of fire at the Last
Great Day. The wood, the hay, the stubble that we have built will
be consumed, and only the gold, the silver, and the precious stones
will remain.
Are we, therefore, to be afraid of the ordinary ordeal of human
censure and malignity? If we run with the footmen and they weary
us, what shall we do when we contend with horses? And if in this
land of comparative peace we are weary, what shall we do in the
swelling of Jordan? This is the opposition appointed for us. It is
through much tribulation we are to inherit the kingdom. And if we
are sincere, and honest and true, we shall not flinch at this–we shall
feel that God will overrule it for our sanctification by making us
take heed unto our ways–because the wicked watch our paths.
And this persecution, dear Brethren, has a further usefulness.
Often does it happen that the enmity of the world drives the
Christian nearer to his God. How many prayers have been offered
up as the result of persecution that would never have been offered
otherwise? Heaven, alone, can tell! How many a groan, and sigh,
and tear acceptable to God have been forced from true hearts by
their sufferings? God alone knows! Ah, in the soft days, the
summer days of peace and prosperity, we are apt to gad abroad
after vain delights.
But when the winter comes, with its keen and cutting blast, we
hasten to our own abode. We cleave to our own hearth. We love to
dwell with our own kindred. Even so, right frequently, with hearts
all chill and cheerless, we have sought the House of our Father and
our God, drawn near to His altar, and found a refreshment we
gladly could wish that we might never leave. Why, oh why, are we
so fickle? If we could find succor and solace apart from the Rock,
away from the Sun, absent from our Lord–our wayward hearts
would do so. But when the waters of affliction have covered all the
earth, then we fly back to our Noah, our Ark, and find rest for the
soles of our feet.
The friendship of this world is enmity to God. It rivals God's
friendship. It deceives and deludes many hearts. But when the
world frowns, it is a blessed frown that makes me seek my Savior's
smile. Anything that drives me to my knees is good. Anything that
makes me trust in the promise and wait only upon God because my
expectation is from Him, is healthful to my soul, infuses courage,
inspires confidence and invests her with fresh strength. O Brethren,
the very Glory of the Church is to live nearer to God. The more she
thinks of her great and glorious Head, and the more she leans upon
the invisible arm of the Eternal, the more invincible she is!
Persecution, in driving her to her stronghold, is overruled to her
help! And yet, further, the dark days of fiendish persecution have
witnessed bright deeds of Christian heroism never to be forgotten.
How often have the richest and the ripest fruits of the Spirit been
put forth by the Lord's people when they have been most grieved
and smitten! Then the saints have been like clusters thrown into the
winepress. But who shall bring forth the red wine? Whose but the
feet of God's enemies shall tread the grapes?
And as with exultation they bruise and trample down, they shall
crush nothing in the dust but husks–the living wine shall flow, and
God shall receive the whole of it. They work–these foes work–and
think that with axes they can break down our carved work and cast
fire into the sanctuary of God. But all the while they burn not the
true sanctuary–they burn but the base wooden erection with which
man has defaced the living temple. Let them burn on–they do no
hurt–only good ensues.
If you read "Foxe's Book of Martyrs," or any of the martyrologies
of earlier ages, you will find there patience, selfdenial,
consecration, confidence in God and all the finer Divine Graces of
temper in full bloom, perfuming the air with their fragrance. One is
astonished at what our poor, weak humanity has been able to
endure for the Truth of God, when strengthened by the Spirit of
God. Verily humble, weak, and timid women have shown true
mettle, waxing valiant, and cheering on men of muscle and sinew,
whose hearts had grown faint. We could mention the names of
many saints, if this were the time, who have endured torment as
severe as inquisitors could devise, or relentless executioners could
inflict, and yet they have not denied their Lord.
This was the patience of the saints, I think, when the martyrs
perished in the Roman Amphitheatre, and the cruel crowd looked
down to watch their agonies as their bones were crushed between
the jaws of wild beasts. I think angels gathered in tiers, invisible
multitudes of them gathered and looked on with eyes of admiration
at the spectacle of mortal men ravished with the love of God–
waving the banner of immortal Truth–while from frightful wounds
and horrid gashes their life-blood streamed.
Oh, what God can do by us when He works in us! Perhaps
Heaven itself, except when it gazed upon the Cross, never saw a
nobler spectacle than when men and women who bore the Cross of
Christ in their hearts, gave themselves up wholly as living
sacrifices unto Him. The Church looks fairer and shines brighter
when she is in the furnace. The smell of fire does not pass upon her.
Her Lord is with her–and if the fire is heated seven times hotter–
His Glory is seven times brighter.
Thus, again, the principle of the text is brought out–"the more
they afflicted them, the more they multiplied." Their enemies try to
deal wisely with them to put them down, but their wisdom is folly.
God has blessed the Church by her persecution. And do you not
think that persecution and opposition–such little oppositions as we
meet with now–little indeed, compared with those of olden times–
are permitted for our good as in Israel's case, to make us feel that
this is not our rest, and cause us to long for the better land?
Perhaps, dear Christian, if you lived in a Christian household,
where all the accustomed order helped your piety, if you were put
into the conservatory of a gracious Providence, you might be
content to dwell below always. We soon take root in this soil, for
we are earthy by nature and we cling to earth–like to its like. But
when there comes the jeer, the unkind remark, the cruel innuendo,
the bitter sarcasm–then we feel, "This is not my rest. I must seek
better company than this, a better land and a better portion than I
shall find this side of Jordan."
And then we long for the home-bringing, when the King, the
Husband, shall fetch home His spouse, and the marriage shall be
consummated in the skies. Oh, how sometimes, when the world has
been very very cold you have longed for the warm bosom of your
Savior! You would have nestled in the world's bosom if you could,
but when she would not receive you but thrust you forth, then you
came to your true self and exercised your right senses, and you
said, "I will return unto my Husband. It was better with me then,
than now."
O that our hearts were always set on Heaven! There is our
treasure–there let our hearts be also. There is our Lord and King–to
Him should our hearts fly. There are the best ones of our families,
our relations, who are everlastingly our associates–Brothers and
Sisters whose brotherhood and sisterhood no death can bring to an
end–
"There my best friends my kindred dwell,
There God my Savior reigns."
We ought to long for that land–and I say the whip of persecution
is helpful, because it makes us learn that this is the house of
bondage–and moves us to long after and seek for the land of
liberty–the land of joy.
III. And now I close this address by just very briefly hinting that
THIS GREAT GENERAL TRUTH APPLIES TO ALL
BELIEVERS. But I will make a practical use of it. Dear Brothers
and Sisters, are you passing through great trials? Very well, then, to
meet them I pray that God's Grace may give you greater faith. And
if your trials increase more and more, so may your strength
increase. You will be acting after God's manner, guided by His
wisdom if you seek to get more faith out of more trial–for that trial
does strengthen faith. Through Divine Grace experience teaches us,
and as we make full proof of the faithfulness of God, our courage,
once apt to waver, is confirmed.
Do pray the Lord that when the trials multiply He may give you
faith to meet them. That out of the eater you may get meat. And out
of the strong find strength. So, too, if you know the Truth of God to
be at any time assailed, and your own mind is beset with doubt
about any doctrine, always ask God to open that particular Truth to
your understanding and endear it to your heart–that by the assaults
you are enabled to repel your faith may be the more confirmed. Oh,
there is a right way of holding Truth, and there is a tenacious way
of grasping it.
I have held doctrines, as it were, in my hands, like a boy's ball
that might be thrown away. But it is another thing when the King
prints the mark of the doctrine right into your very soul so that you
could no more part with it than you could part with life itself. Trials
often burn doctrines into us, and heresies and infidelities make the
good confession dear in our sight as a prize which we could never
part with. Thus opposition to the Truth leads to the multiplication
of evidences in its support. And the more we are assailed with the
arguments of science, falsely so-called, the firmer we adhere to the
oracles of God.
Or it may be, dear Christian worker, that of late you have met
with a great many discouragements. You seem to have labored in
vain and spent your strength for nothing. Ask then, in prayer, and
act accordingly, that the more you are defeated the less you may be
disposed to yield. Ask that you may be endowed with fresh energy
for the service, and strive with increased assurance for the victory.
When you feel, "I am foiled in that point," say, "Nevertheless, I
cannot be beaten–I belong to a seed that cannot be vanquished. If I
did not belong to the house of Israel, I might have been destroyed
and overcome. But none can stand against the Hebrew race, against
true Israelites–they must win the day."
Therefore, settle it in your mind that if you do not win souls one
day, you will another. And if you cannot press into your enemies'
territory in one part, you will in another. And if he defeats you at
any time, then multiply your efforts to do good. Always take
revenge on Satan, if he defeats you, by trying to do ten times more
good than you did before. It is in some such way that a dear
Brother now preaching the Gospel, whom God has blessed with a
very considerable measure of success, may trace the opening of his
career to a circumstance that occurred to myself.
Sitting in my pulpit one evening, in a country village where I had
to preach, my text slipped from my memory, and with the text
seemed to go all that I had thought to speak upon. A rare thing to
happen to me. But I sat utterly confounded. I could find nothing to
say. With strong crying I lifted up my soul to God to pour out again
within my soul the Living Water that it might gush forth from me
for others.
And I accompanied my prayer with a vow that if Satan's enmity
thus had brought me low, I would take so many fresh men whom I
might meet with during the week and train them for the ministry–so
that with their hands and tongues I would avenge myself on the
Philistines. The Brother I have alluded to came to me the next
morning. I accepted him at once as one whom God had sent, and I
helped him, and others after him, to prepare for the service, and to
go forth in the Savior's name to preach the Gospel of the Grace of
God.
Often when we fear we are defeated, we ought to say, "I will do
all the more. Instead of dropping from this work, now will I make a
general levy and a sacred conscription upon all the powers of my
soul. And I will gather up all the strength I ever had in reserve and
make, from this moment, a tremendous life-long effort to overcome
the powers of darkness, and win for Christ fresh trophies of
victory." After this fashion you will have an easier time of it, for if
you do more good, the more you are tempted, Satan will not so
often tempt you.
When he knows that all the more you are afflicted, so much the
more you multiply, very likely he will find it wiser to let you alone,
or try you in some other method than that of direct and overt
opposition. So whenever you have a trial, take it as a favor!
Whenever God holds in one hand the rod of affliction, He has a
favor in the other hand. He never strikes a child of His but He has
some tender blessing in store. If He visits you with unaccustomed
affliction, you will have unusual delight. The Lord will open new
windows for you and show His beauty as He shows it not to others.
As your tribulations abound, so also shall your consolations abound
in Christ Jesus.
In the deeper waters you shall find Him nearer, for He has said,
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you." He will be
with you always, but He has promised to come to you specially and
peculiarly, and, as it were, by appointment, when you are driven
out into the wilderness, or harassed by the foe. He comforts those
that are cast down. Rejoice, therefore, in your afflictions–if you
have faith–believe that they shall be blessed for your good.
What is all this to the unconverted? Ah, Sirs! While the men of
God flourish in adversity, the men of this world are ruined by their
prosperity. Even the cup of pleasure and sensual enjoyment, of
which you delight to drink, has its bitter dregs which you shall be
compelled to swallow. Even now all your days are not passed in
sunshine. You have your troubles. But you have no God to resort
to. You will have many sorer plagues than you have ever yet been
visited with. And if you continue in unbelief, you will still have no
God to trust in.
Perhaps you go to some friends in any emergency now, but no
friend can help you in the dying hour. No brother can go with you
through the swellings of Jordan. O friendless One, O Christless
Sinner! Do you not want God to be your Helper, and Christ to be
your Friend? If you do, then behold the Savior on the Cross. Turn
your eyes to Him–penitently trust Him–rely upon Him and He is
yours!
And then from now on the Lord of Hosts shall be with you, and
God of Jacob shall be your Refuge, and your afflictions shall also
work your good. May God bless each one of you, for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
[MR. SPURGEON hopes to be permitted to preach on July 2. He
is most thankful to inform all friends that he is better in health, and
trusts he may be able again to occupy the pulpit of the Tabernacle
from Sunday to Sunday.]
Ex 2:23-25; 3:9 • Israel's Cry and God's Answer
ERMON 2631
Israel's Cry And God's Answer
"And it came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt
died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage,
and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the
bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His
Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God
looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto
them…Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has
come to Me: and I have also seen the oppression with which the
Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you
to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the children of
Israel, out of Egypt."
Exodus 2:23-25; 3:9, 10
GOD had chosen the children of Israel, and He had determined to
make of them a great nation and a peculiar people to whom He
could communicate the Law and the Testimony, that they might
keep the heavenly lamp burning until Christ should come. Jacob
and his family had gone down into Egypt and, for a long time, they
and their descendants were very happy there. The land of Goshen
was very fruitful and the Israelites were greatly favored by the
Egyptian king. The mass of them, therefore, had little thought of
ever leaving that country–they resolved that they would settle there
permanently. In fact, though God would not have it so, they
became Egyptians as much as they could. They were a part of the
Egyptian nation and they began to forget their separate origin. In all
probability, if they had been left to themselves, they would have
been melted and absorbed into the Egyptian race and lost their
identity as God's special people. They were content to be in Egypt
and they were quite willing to be "Egyptianized." To a large
degree, they began to adopt the superstitions, idolatries and
iniquities of Egypt. And these things clung to them, in later years,
to such a terrible extent that we can easily imagine that their heart
must have turned aside very much towards the sins of Egypt. Yet,
all the while, God was resolved to bring them out of that evil
connection. They must be a separated people–they could not be
Egyptians, nor yet live permanently like Egyptians, for Jehovah
had chosen them for Himself, and He meant to makean abiding
difference between Israel and Egypt.
Now see the parallel. God still has a people whom He has chosen
to be His own in a very peculiar sense, but they are, at present,
mixed up with the world. They are in the world and they are, at
least in appearance, of the world. They are asfond of sin and as
much slaves to sin as others are. They even love the world and the
things of it–and many of them are quite happy where they are.
They have no wish whatever to became a part of the separated
people, set apart unto the Lord. They would rather remain in the
world. But God will bring His redeemed out from the rest of
mankind. He that bought them with blood will deliver them by
power. Christ did not offer His Atonement in vain, but, "He shall
see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." God will yet
call every one of His sons and daughters out of Egypt, even as He
called His Firstborn, and He will bring His chosen out of the midst
of the people among whom they are sojourning until the time
appointed for their emancipation.
The first thing to be done with the Israelites was to cause them to
be anxious to come out of Egypt, for it is not God's way to make
men His servants, except so far as they willingly yield themselves
to Him. He never violates the human will, though He constantly
and effectually influences it. Jehovah wants not slaves to grace His
throne and, therefore, God would not have the people dragged out
of Egypt, or driven out in fetters, against their own glad consent.
He must bring them out in such a way that they would be willing to
come out, so that they would march forth with joy and delight,
being thoroughly weary and sick of all Egypt and, therefore,
rejoicing to get away from it. How was this to be done? It was
accomplished by a new king coming up who knew not Joseph and
his eminent services. This Pharaoh began to be jealous of the
people, fearing that, some day, when Egypt was at war, Israel might
turn and side with the Egyptians' enemies. He looked upon the
people, therefore, as being a great danger, and determined, if he
could, to thin their ranks. Hence, he issued the barbarous edict to
slay all the male children and, to effectually break their spirit, he
put them to hard labor in making bricks and erecting vast
structures, so that the treasure cities of Egypt and, perhaps, some of
her huge pyramids were built by the unpaid labors of Israelite
slaves. The whip fell often and heavily upon their backs, for they
were put under brutal taskmasters who beat them most shamefully.
They had no rest. They had to toil on and on and on, and scarcely
had bread enough to eat to keep body and soul together. At last, the
yoke of bondage became altogether intolerable and then, as we
have it in the first part of our text, "The children of Israel sighed by
reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto
God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and
God remembered His Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God
had respect unto them."
I want to use this subject in showing to any here who are in soul-
trouble and do not understand why they have such sorrows and
distress, that God is seeking to make them sick of the world, sick of
sin and, therefore, He is putting them into a condition of spiritual
bondage so that they may be willing to come out of Egypt! Yes,
that they may, by-and-by, with the utmost joy and gladness, leave
the land of their captivity!
The first thing I have to speak about is THE CRY OF MISERY.
"The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they
cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning."
Notice, first, that they began to sigh, and to cry because their time
of prosperity had passed. The land of Goshenmight still be very
fruitful, but their taskmasters devoured their substance. The country
might be fair to look upon, but they had no time to enjoy the
prospect. They were worked well-nigh to death and they could no
longer get any rest in Egypt. All their prosperity and happiness had
departed. Am I addressing any who were once very well content
and satisfied to live as ordinary worldlings do? And has everything
changed with you? Is there now no joy in what was once such a
pleasure to you? Does it seem very dull and dreary if you go where
you used to find so much merriment? Those haunts which were
once the scene of your greatest delight–are they now avoided by
you because you cannot endure them? Do you now feel that you
would gladly give up all those things which once you doted on? I
am thankful to hear that it is so, for when God is about to give a
man a drink of the cup of salvation, He often first puts his taste
right by washing out his mouth with a draught of bitters to take
away the flavor of the accursed sweets of sin! I always regard it as
a good and hopeful sign when a man becomes tired of the world,
altogether weary of its sins, and says, "I find no pleasure in them."
This happens to some while they are still young and their passions
are strong–while their substance is undiminished, while their health
is vigorous–while their friends are numerous. In the very middle of
the day, their sun of enjoyment seems to go down. There is the
honey, but it is no longer sweet. There is the wine cup, but it has no
further fascination for them. Their joy has departed just when one
would have thought that it would have been most abiding with
them. Do I speak to any in this condition? If so, I think that I bring
a message from the Lord to them!
But, next, the Israelites had not only lost their former prosperity,
but they began to feel that they were in bondage.An Israelite in
Egypt was at first a gentleman–in fact, a nobleman–for was he not
related to the great prime minister, Joseph, who was second only to
Pharaoh himself? Every Jew walked through Goshen as an
aristocrat, for he was intimately connected with almost the highest
in the realm! But now all that was changed with them and they felt
that they were slaves–they were in bitter bondage–they must act
and move at the will of others. There were hard laws and
regulations made for them and cruel taskmasters to put those laws
in action. They must rise, not when they chose, but when they were
told to, and they might get to their beds only when they were
allowed to do so at the slave driver's will. And they felt that they
could not bear it any longer.
This was God's way of bringing them out of bondage, by first
making them feel that they were in slavery. Have I any here who
realize that they are also in slavery? Am I addressing a man who
feels that he is in bondage to evil habits which he cannot break,
although he wishes that he could and counts himself degraded by
the fact that to will is present with him, but how to perform that
which he would, he finds not because he is a slave? His passions
rule him. His companions control him. He dares not do what his
conscience tells him is right, for there is a fear of somebody or
other that makes him into a coward, and so into a slave. I am
always glad when the fetters begin to gall. They who are content to
be in bondage will never be freed! But when they feel that they
cannot and that they will not any longer endure their captivity, then
has the hour of freedom struck! It is an untold blessing when the
Grace of God makes a man feel that what was once a pleasure has
now become a servitude–and what he formerly found to be liberty
has now become utter slavery to him.
The Israelites went further than that. They now felt that their
burdens were too heavy to be borne. They had workedand toiled
very hard and they had lived through the work, but now they were
made to serve with rigor and their bondage was too heavy to be
endured. They could not bear it. And it is the same spiritually! As
long as a man can carry his sins, he will continue to carry them.
And as long as a man can be content with the pleasures of this
world, rest assured that he will delight in them. It is a blessed thing
when sin becomes an awful load, so that it crushes a man until he
seems to sink utterly hopeless beneath it! It is well with him, for
now he will welcome the Deliverer. He will be glad of pardon from
Him who, alone, can forgive sins. He will rejoice to accept the
word of absolution from the lips of the Great High Priest and,
therefore, although it is often a sore sorrow, it is also a very great
mercy to be made to feel the intolerable load and burden of sin. If I
am speaking to any who are in such a condition–and I hope that I
am–I congratulate them on what is yet to come to them!
Oh, well do I remember when I was such a slave–when, as I rose
in the morning, I resolved to live better than I had previously done,
yet, long before noon, I had made a worse mess of the day than
ever! Then I thought that, perhaps, by increasing my prayers, or
reading more of the Scriptures, I might get ease from my burden.
But I found the more I prayed and the more I read, the heavier my
burden became! If I tried to forget my sorrow and so to shake off
my gloom, I found that it would not forget me–and I had to cry
unto the Lord, with David, "Day and night Your hand was heavy
upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." I
remember all that painful time so vividly that I can speak to some
of you like an experienced friend who is well acquainted with the
dark and stony road on which you are walking. I know all about
your painful pathway of grief and I long to help you to get over it
quickly, and to come to a better and happier place! But this trial is
God's way of fetching you out of Egypt. He is making the house of
bondage too hot for you. He does not mean to let you stay there, so
He is permitting all this to come upon you that you may cry unto
Him to deliver you! He will bring you forth and you shall march
out with joy and gladness, thankful and happy to do what now
seems like a hardship and like self-denial to you.
These Israelites also felt one more thing, namely, their
powerlessness to escape out of Pharaoh's hand, and theythought
that there was nobody to help them. When the young man of 40,
who had been educated in Pharaoh's court, came forward and was
reckoned to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter. When he came
forward like a true hero, he threw in his lot with the despised
people and smote one of their adversaries. He thought, perhaps,
that it would be the signal for a general revolt and that the banner
of Israel would wave defiantly in the face of Pharaoh and that the
people would boldly march to liberty. But they were too enslaved–
they had been too long ground down and oppressed to act like that–
they had lost all spirit and they did not hope to ever be free! They
were a nation of hopeless slaves.
Am I speaking to any here who have lost all heart and hope–who
have come to this place of worship with a sort of feeble wish for
salvation, but with no expectation of receiving it? Are you so shut
up in the prison of sin that you cannot come forth? Are your chains
clanking in your ears? Do you feel yourself to be in the low dark
dungeon out of which you will never come alive? It is to you I have
to say that I bless God that you are where you are! Despair is a
blessed preparation for faith in Jesus! The end of the creature is the
beginning of the Creator. Your extremity is God's opportunity. Now
that you are helpless and hopeless, God will come to your rescue!
You notice that in my text there is a gradation, and such a
gradation as some of us have felt in spiritual things. "The children
of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage." "Ah, miserable wretch!
Woe is me! Alas! Alas!" That is how they sighed when they were at
their labor. That is how they sighed when they went home at night,
or lay down among the pots by the kiln. And that is how they
sighed when they woke up in the morning. When a boy was born,
they sighed as they looked at him, for they knew that he must be
killed. "The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage."
And, then, as their misery grew, a sigh was not enough. "And they
cried." Ah, I cannot imitate the expressive language of their grief.
There were often many tears and there was the voice of grief which
made itself audible in piercing cries. "O God, how long shall this
bondage last?" They sat them down and begged for death–and
sought it as if they were seeking for hidden treasure, for the life of
a slave in Egypt was intolerable to them. And, often, the sigh and
the cry were merged into a groan, for we read, "God heard their
groaning."
Is that how it has been going on with you, my Brother? You used
to sigh a good deal. Sometimes people noticed that you were very
absent-minded and that you seemed to have some sorrow upon
your spirit which you could not express. Now you have gone
further than that, for you have begun to cry and in prayer to God,
you pour out your very soul! Perhaps–and that is the worst plight of
all–you feel that you cannot pray. You do not seem to be able to
offer what you regard as a real prayer. You can only weep–yes, and
perhaps you cannot even weep–and so you sigh and groan because
you cannot pray. You are troubled because you cannot be troubled
enough. And that is the worst kind of trouble that there is in the
world! There are none so brokenhearted as those that are
brokenhearted because they are not brokenhearted! I have
reminded you that the Israelites groaned and that "God heard their
groaning." Ah, from the very bottom of their heart came up their
groaning! It was no mere heaving of a sigh. It was no mere
utterance of a cry. But all day long it was groaning, groaning,
groaning–each breath seemed to be yet another sorrowful groan!
I hope that many of you will find the Savior before you know
much about this terrible groaning, but it was not so with me. I
became so full of groans that I understood what Job meant when he
said, "My soul chooses strangling and death rather than my life." It
would be better never to live than to live forever under conviction
of sin, for the arrows of God drink up the very fountains of our life,
pour fire into the blood and make us feel as if a thousand deaths
were preferable to living under an awful sense of God's wrath!
Perhaps I am speaking to some who, even when they fall asleep,
are startled by dreams concerning the Day of Judgment, the sound
of the archangel's trumpet and the setting up of the Great White
Throne. And when they wake and go out to their business, they
make strange blunders–and all day long they are like men walking
as in a dream.
Still, dear Friends, if that is your experience, I am heartily glad of
it, for it is to me a sign of better days coming! Looking down upon
Egypt, the angels must have been glad when they heard the sighs
and cries and groans of Israel. "Why," you ask, "how is that?"
Because the angels would say to themselves, "God's greatest
difficulty is overcome! He wanted to incline these people to come
out of Egypt and now they long to come out–so they will be willing
to accept the leader whom God will send to them and, with music
and dancing, they will come forth when Moses brings them out of
the iron furnace and the house of bondage." Those of us who were,
only a little while ago, in the house of bondage, rejoice that we
have been set free from it! And we are praying that you who are
still in it and are beginning to feel what a horrible place it is, may
not stay there long. May tomorrow's sun not see you there, but may
you escape at once from that terrible captivity!
That, then, is the first head–a cry of misery.
II. The second is a very blessed one, THE GOD OF PITY. Let me
read part of the text again. "They cried, and their cry came up unto
God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and
God remembered His Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God
had respect unto them."
Here, then, is the poor sinner's hope–not at all in himself, but
wholly in God! Note the gradations here with regard to God's pity
for these people. First, " their cry came up unto God." When it rose
up sharp, shrill and intense, it burstthrough the gates of Heaven and
"came up unto God." Not that He does not really hear everything,
but, speaking after the manner of men, when it was a mere sigh, it
did not reach Him. But when it got to be a cry and deepened into a
groan, then it came up before Him and He seemed to stop and say,
"What is that? It is the cry of the seed of Abraham in Egypt." Oh,
poor Soul, when your cry comes up from the depths of your very
soul, then God will stop and say, "What is that? It is the cry of a
man in misery. It is the voice of a soul that is in bondage under
sin." "Their cry came up unto God."
Notice, next, for it is a step further–"and God heard their
groaning." Do you know what that means? There are some people
who seem to hear things, but the sounds pass through their ears and
there the matter ends. But if you go to visit a sick woman and you
sit down, and she tells you all about her ailments and about her
poverty, she is cheered because you listen to her kindly and
because you are willing to hear her even if you cannot help her–but
it does help her even to tell her sad story. Well now, God heard
Israel's crying and groaning. He heard them not merely as men
hear a sound and take no notice of it, but He seemed to stand still
and listen to the sighs, and groans, and cries of His people. Sinner,
tell God your misery even now and He will hear your story! He is
willing to listen, even, to that sad and wretched tale of yours about
your multiplied transgressions, your hardness of heart, your
rejections of Christ. Tell Him all, for He will hear it. Tell him what
it is you need–what large mercy–what great forgiveness! Just lay
your whole case before Him. Do not hesitate for a single moment!
He will hear it, He will be attentive to the voice of your cry. Oh,
what comfort there is for you in this Truth of God if you can but
grasp it! Dear Christians, pray that some poor sinners may grasp it
even now! Pray that they may lay hold upon the sweet thought that
God is hearing the sighs and cries of the penitent souls in our
midst!
God's pity went further than that, for we read, next, that having
heard their groaning, " God remembered His Covenant." I wish I
knew how to preach upon that 24 th verse–"God remembered His
Covenant." He looked on the childrenof Israel and He did not
remember their sins–their practically becoming Egyptians, their
loving Egypt and Egypt'sidols–but He remembered His friend,
Abraham. He remembered Isaac. He remembered Jacob whom He
loved, and He remembered how He had promised to bless them and
to make them a blessing. And not because of any merit in the
Israelites, themselves, but for the sake of those whom He had loved
and honored, and for the sake of the Covenant which He had made
with them, He said, "I will break the power of Pharaoh, and I will
bless My people; I will bring them out of bondage, and set them at
liberty." Sinner, if God were to look on you to all eternity, He could
not see anything in you but what He is bound to punish! But when
He looks on His dear Son whom He loves, and remembers how He
lived and loved, and bled and died, and made atonement for the
guilty. And when He remembers His Covenant with His
WellBeloved, He says, "I will bless these people whom I gave unto
Him by an Everlasting Covenant. I promised that He would see of
the travail of His soul and so He shall. I will break the power of sin
and I will set these captives free to the praise of the glory of My
Grace. And they shall be accepted in the Beloved." It is a great
blessing that although God cannot see any reason for mercy in us,
He can see the best of all reasons for mercy in the Covenant of His
Grace and in His dear Son with whom He made it! "God
remembered His Covenant." Do not forget it, dear Friends, but
think much upon the Covenant ordered in all things and sure, and
upon all the blessings that are to come to you through that
Covenant.
God did still more for His people. " And God looked upon the
children of Israel." He had given them His ear. He hadgiven them
His memory. Now He gives them His eyes. He stood still and He
looked upon them in pity and in love. And it is further said, "And
God had respect unto them." The margin renders it, "God knew
them," which is the true meaningof the original. He looked upon a
man and He said, "That is one of My children." He looked upon
another and He said, "Yes, Egyptian though he is in dress, he is one
of my Israelites." He looked upon others and He said, "I know
them. I know their sorrows, I know their sins, I know their
weaknesses. And I will surely deliver them." Oh, that these lips
could utter language in which I might fitly tell you how God looks
upon you, my dear brokenhearted fellow sinner–how He looks
upon you, my poor troubled Friend who cannot break loose from
sin, but feels like a bull in a net and cannot get free from it! I tell
you that He is looking upon you in love and pity and that He knows
your condition and is ready to help you! I will close my discourse
by telling you what He has done to help you and, oh, may He give
you Grace to lay hold of it, that you may find liberty this very hour!
III. The last point is THE INSTRUMENT OF DELIVERANCE.
God's power was quite sufficient to bring the people of Israel out
of bondage, but He chose to deliver them by means of human
instrumentality. God works for men by men, so He raised up
Moses, and it was through Moses that the children of Israel were
delivered. Now, for you, dear Captive, God has raised up a Prophet
like unto Moses. One who is infinitely greater than Moses has
come to deliver you!
First, remember that Jesus, the Savior of men, is a Man like
ourselves. This ought to encourage you to come to Him.Full of
grief and broken down under a sense of sin, you dare not approach
an absolute God–it would not be right that you should attempt to
come to Him without a Mediator. But you may come to the one
Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, for He can
fully sympathize with you! He is able to have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for He, Himself, in
the days of His flesh, was compassed with infirmity. Well did Dr.
Watts sing–
"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find.
The holy, just, and sacred Three
Are terrors to my mind!
My hope, my joy begins!
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His Grace removes my sins!"
Jesus Christ is a Man–therefore come boldly to Him, even as
Israel might come to Moses! And Jesus is clothed withDivine
authority and powerJesus is actually Divine! Jesus is God! Oh,
come, poor trembling Sinner, and trust your case in His hands,
because nothing ever fails that He undertakes! He can break the
power of the Pharaoh of your sins and set you free! Yes, even now
He can bring you forth out of Egypt with the silver and gold of His
abounding Grace. Only trust Him and follow Him, and be obedient
to His commands, and all will be well with you.
This Moses, being a man, yet clothed with Divine authority, gave
himself entirely up to the people. He was such a lover of Israel that
he lived entirely for the people and once, you will remember, he
even said, as he pleaded for them, "Oh, this people have sinned a
great sin, and have made them gods of gold! Yet now, if You will
forgive their sin–and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book
which You have written." Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom it is our joy
to preach, was really made a curse for us. He actually stood in the
sinner's place and bore the penalty of the sinner's guilt. Therefore,
oh, trust Him! Perhaps I may be the means of leading some poor
sinner to end his delaying and now to commit his spirit into the
hand of the faithful Creator and Redeemer who died for him. And,
dear Friend, if you will but trust Jesus with yourself, you shall be
saved at once! I hope you are willing to come out of Egypt. If you
are, you may do so. Christ has broken all the power of sin and He is
willing, now, to set you free if you will but trust Him and give
yourself up, once and for all, entirely to His power!
Lastly, Moses did bring the people out, every one of them. He left
not a little babe in Egypt. No, not so much as a sheep or a goat
remained there. He said, "There shall not a hoof be left behind." All
that belonged to Israel went marching out when Moses led the way.
And God's elect and Christ's redeemed shall all come out of the
Egypt of sin. Pharaoh's power–the devil's power–cannot hold the
very least of them in captivity! No, not even a bone of one of God's
children shall be left in the grasp of death and the devil! They shall
die and their bones shall be put into the sepulcher, but not the least
atom of one of God's own chosen ones shall be left in the power of
death! They shall come again from the hand ofthe enemy.
Yet remember, O you Sinners, that I do not urge you to trust
Christ as though He cringed at your feet and could not have honor
and glory if you did not welcome Him as your Savior! If you will
not come to Him. If you will turn your backs on Him, I shall only
say of you, "You believe not because you are not of His sheep, as
He said unto you." It is not for Christ's sake, but for your own sake
that I plead with you! Oh, that you would come to Him and trust
Him! Weary of self, and weary of sin, and hopeless of self-
salvation, come and lay yourselves at Jesus' feet, even at the feet of
Him whom God has "exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and
a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" He
has laid help upon One who is mighty! He has exalted One chosen
out of the people! Therefore, come and trust Him even now, and
you shall be saved! May God grant repentance and faith to this
whole congregation for Jesus' sake! Amen.
Ex 3:6; Heb 11:16 • The Two Pivots
ERMON 2633
The Two Pivots
"I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
Exodus 3:6
YOU remember, dear Friends, that Paul is writing to the Hebrews
concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he says, "God is not
ashamed to be called their God." Then, when you turn back to our
text in Exodus, you find that God was called their God at the
burning bush and, oftentimes, on other occasions, He is called the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. We must
not forget that at the time when God appeared to Moses, in the
desert, in the bush that burned, but was not consumed, the
condition of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was very
terrible. They were slaves to the Egyptians. They were an
oppressed and downtrodden race. Their male children were taken
from them and cast into the river. They were entirely in Pharaoh's
hands. They were a degraded people, as all slaves gradually
become, and they were unable, of themselves, to rise out of that
degradation. Yet, at that very time, God was not ashamed to be
called their God! There, with Israel in bondage, Jehovah, whose
name is the great I AM–a name which makes all Heaven bright
with ineffable Glory–did not disdain to say to Moses, "I am the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." I do not
wonder that the Apostle should note it as a remarkable thing, that
He was not ashamed to be called their God!
I have been looking into this text very earnestly and trying to find
out exactly what was the meaning of the Holy Spirit in it, and I
think I have discovered a clue in two words which it contains. First,
"Therefore." " Therefore God isnot ashamed to be called their
God"–and next, "for." " For He has prepared for them a city." As a
door hangs upontwo hinges, so my golden text turns upon these
two pivots–"therefore" and, "for."
I shall ask you to keep your Bibles open at the 11 th of Hebrews,
that you may see, first, "THEREFORE." Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called the God of His people. Look at the 18 th
verse–"These all died in faith, not havingreceived the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth" and so on. "Therefore God is not ashamed to
be called their God."
To begin with, then, the Lord was not ashamed to be called His
people's God because they had faith in Him. Youread here of
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob–and then Paul says, "These all died
in faith." If a man believes in God, trusts Him–believes that His
promise is true and that He will keep it–believes that God's
command is right and, therefore, ought to be obeyed–God is never
ashamed to be called that man's God. He is not the God of
unbelievers, for they act contrary to His will. They set up their own
will in opposition to His–many of them even doubt His existence,
they deny His power, they distrust His love–and, therefore, He is
not called their God. But when a man comes to trust God and
toaccept His Word, from that moment God sees in that man the
works of His Grace which are very precious in His eyes, and He is
not ashamed to be called that man's God.
Notice that it is said, "These all died in faith," so that they did not
believe in God for a little while and then become unbelievers, but,
throughout the whole of their lives, from the moment when they
were called by God's Grace, they continued to believe Him–they
trusted Him till they came to their graves–so that this epitaph is
written over the mausoleum where they all lie asleep, "These all
died in faith." Ah, my beloved Brothers and Sisters, it is very easy
to say, "I believe," and to get very enthusiastic over the notion that
we have believed. But so to believe as to persevere to the end–this
is the faith which will save the soul! "He that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved." The faith that many waters cannot
drown and the fiercest fires cannot burn–the faith that plods on
throughout a long and weary life–the faith that labors on, doing
whatever service God appoints it. The faith that waits patiently,
expecting the time when every promise of God shall be fulfilled to
the letter when its hour has come–that is the faith which, if it is in a
man, makes him such a man that God is not ashamed to be called
his God! I put it to every one of you, have you a faith that will hold
on and hold out–not a faith that starts with a fine spurt, but a faith
that runs from the starting place to the goal? Some of you, I know,
have believed in God these twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years.
Just before I came to this service, I stood by the bedside of a dear
Brother who is the nearest to Job of any man I ever saw, for he is
covered from head to foot with blisters–I might almost say,
"wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores"–and yet he is as happy
as anyone among us, joyful and cheerful as he talks about the time
when he shall be "with Christ, which is far better."
Oh, that is the faith we want! "These all died in faith," "therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God." He is not the God of
apostates, for He has said, "If any man draws back, My soul shall
have no pleasure in him." If he has put his hand to the plow and
looks back, he is not worthy of the Kingdom of God. It is the man
who steadily and perseveringly, resting in his God and believing
Him against all that may be said by God's foes, holds on until he
sees the King in His beauty in the land which is very far off. Of
such a man it may be truly said that God is not ashamed to be
called his God!
Now let us come back to the Scripture. We cannot do better than
keep close to it, for our text is only to be understood by the context.
Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture. The locks of Scripture
are only to be opened with the keys of Scripture! There is no lock
in the whole Bible which God meant us to open without a key to fit
it somewhere in the Bible–and we are to search for it until we find
it. Now read on in the 18 th verse, "These all died in faith, not
havingreceived the promises." That is to say, the things that God
promised them in their mortal life,and they did not always expect
that He would do so. They were a waiting people. God loves those
who are like Himself. Iam not now speaking of His love of
benevolence, for with that love He loved us even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, but I am speaking of the love of
complacency which makes Him not ashamed to be called our God.
In that sense, God loves those who are like Himself–and God is a
waiting God–He is never in a hurry. How wondrous is the leisure of
the Eternal!
When He is coming to help His people, He is quick, indeed! "He
rode upon a cherub, and did fly, yes, He did fly upon the wings of
the wind." But, oftentimes, He waits and tarries till some men
count it slackness. But He does not reckon time as we do. With
God, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
So, being a waiting God, He loves a waiting people. He loves a
man who can take the promise and say, "I believe it. It may never
be fulfilled to me in this life, but I do not need that it should be. I
am perfectly willing that it should be fulfilled when God intends
that it should be." Abraham saw Christ's day afar off, but he never
saw Christ–yet he rejoiced in the promise of which he did not
receive the fulfillment! Isaac did not see Christ except in a vision
of the things that were long afterwards to come to pass. Jacob did
not hear that joyful sound, which–
"Kings and Prophets waited for,
And sought, but never found."
But they were perfectly willing to wait and God was not ashamed
to be called the God of such a waiting people!
You remember Mr. Bunyan's description of the two children,
Passion and Patience? Passion would have his best things now, and
he had them. But he soon spoiled them, misused them and abused
them. But Patience would have his best things last and, as Bunyan
very prettily says, "There is nothing to come after the last."
Therefore, when Patience got his best things, they lasted on forever
and forever. God, loves not the passion, but He loves the patience.
"The husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has
long patience for it." And I would gladly imitate him. "My Soul,
wait only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." The worldly
man lives in the present, but that is a poor way of living, worthy
only of the beasts that perish.
Look on the sheep and bullocks in the pasture–what kind of life is
theirs? They also live in the present. If they have grass enough for
today, they are perfectly satisfied. The butcher's knife has no
terrors for them and neither do they, in the cold of winter, look
forward to the bright days of summer. They cannot look before
them and God loves not men who are like the beasts of the field!
He is ashamed to be called their God. But He loves the man who
gets to live in eternity, for God Himself lives there! To God there is
no past, present, or future–He sees all at a single glance. And when
a man comes to feel that he is not living simply in today which will
so soon end, but that he is living in the eternity which will never
end. When he is rejoicing in the Covenant, "ordered in all things,
and sure," made from before the foundation of the world–when a
man feels that he is living in the future as well as the present, that
his vast estates are on the other side of Jordan, that his chief joy is
up there where Christ sits at the right hand of God, and that his own
heart has gone up there where his treasure is, for "where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also"–when the affection is set,
not upon things below, but upon things above–that is the man
whom God loves because he has learned how to live in God's
atmosphere, in God's own eternity! He has risen above the
beggarly elements of time and space. He is not circumscribed by
Almanacs, days, months and years–his thoughts range right away
from that glorious declaration, "I have loved you with an
everlasting love," to those endless, dateless periods when the
everlasting love of God will still be the constant delight of His
people!
I see, then, why it is written that "God, is not ashamed to be
called their God," because they are content to live without having
received the promises, but to keep on patiently waiting with a holy,
joyful confidence, till the hour of God's gracious purpose shall
arrive and the promise shall be fulfilled.
Now read on in the 18 th verse, and see whether this description
fits yourself, dear Friend. "But having seen them afaroff." So they
were a far-seeing people. God, you know, sees everything. And He
loves people who can see afar off. Thegods of the heathen have
eyes, but they see not. And the Psalmist says, "They that make
them are like unto them." So they that worship a blind god are a
blind people! But they that worship a seeing God are, themselves,
made to see, for they are numbered with the pure in heart who shall
see God! It is a grand thing when a man can see infinitely further
than these poor eyes can carry, far beyond the range of the