PART I, SKETCH LXIV: WEAK HANDS AND FEEBLE KNEES

“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees” (Isaiah 35.3.)

Introduction. In all flocks there must be weak and wounded sheep. If we ourselves have a lion-like spirit, let us never be as the king of beasts toward them. Do not say, as some do, “Ah, if such a person is foolish enough to be so sensitive, let him be.” O speak not so, but deal tenderly with the timid ones. This text especially commands the minister to deal tenderly. Many afflictions and tendencies of body and mind are not removed at conversion. And so among God’s best servants are those who always look to the dark side of every providence. I shall now speak to these persons. 

(1) Hands and Knees are Very Important in getting to Heaven. The root of fear lies in the heart. But the effects of fear are most easily seen in the hands and knees. Hands hang down; knees tremble. So by fear the hands of action grow weak, and the knees of prayer tremble. The Christian life is a life of work and service. But how to pull enemy walls down with trembling hands? How to carry a burden with a weak knee? There is much loss without strength. We would plead the promise, but the hand refuses to clutch it with an iron grasp. Bunyan reminds us that there are hills on our pilgrimage to heaven so steep that they must be climbed on our hands and knees. 

(2) The Ill Effect of Weak Hands and Knees. The ill effect is a stunted progress in the divine life. Some of you must acknowledge that you do not know much more about Christ than you did six years ago. Maybe you even know less. You have neglected prayer; not believed in promises; not trusted God enough. We are dwarfs, content with the small height we have reached. There is no reason for not standing as tall as Luther, or Calvin, or Henry Martin. Up! Christian, up! Another ill effect is that less good is done by us for the good of the world. The plow of divine grace must go through all the continents! Weak hands and feeble knees can’t handle this plow! If we had the strong knees of the apostles, and the mighty hands of the ancient martyrs, nothing could stand against us. Woe unto Rome and its castles once the children of God become strong! Let the fire of prayer begin in the pew, and will not the pulpit catch the flame? The whole church is weak at this time. A third ill effect is that Christ is dishonored. When the believer bows in prayer with a feeble knee, asking but believing weakly, he dishonors his Lord.

(3) Certain Causes of Weak Hands and Feeble Knees. One cause is being new-born. But God would not overdrive his lambs. Only seek to grow in grace by sucking on the milk of the word. A more frequent cause is starvation. There are some ministries by which you get no understanding of the doctrines of God at all, all year through! For example, some ministers believe in final perseverance, but persevere in keeping quiet about it. And all the while they yell, “Do this, do that!” And so church creatures are expected to live on a whip instead of corn. Feed God’s children with the old-fashioned doctrines that Owen, Charnock, and Goodwin preached, and then they’ll go to work. Only never forget, Christ’s soldiers always win their battles on their knees. The praying legion is the thundering legion. Prayer can move the arm that moves the world. We must not be lazy about it. Our prayers become stronger through use. 

Selection from Conclusion. “What a lazy corporation the church of Christ is!…Do not think it is enough to get good; do good…visit the sick, help the poor, teach the ignorant, succor the distressed; and in all these ways you will find that God will bless you, and your hands shall become strong, and your knees shall not totter.”

PART I, SKETCH LXIII: SATAN'S BANQUET

“The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine…then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now” (John 2.9, 10.)

Introduction. ‘The good wine first, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse.’ This is the rule with men. Judas presents the dish of fair speech and kindness; then Judas the thief betrays his Master: ‘that which is worse.’ This morning I will introduce you to two houses of feasting.

(1) The Devil’s House. (I) At the first table sit the profligate. First, the governor of the feast brings in the wine cup of pleasure. The young man intends only to sip. But how the drink makes his blood tingle! He drinks deeper. He drinks till his brain begins to reel. He drinks with the harlot and sups with the lustful. Now the subtle governor brings another cup, not so sparkling, the cup of satiety. ‘What more can I do?’ says the man. ‘I have tried every cup of pleasure.’ Many of you are the jaded horses of the fiend of lust. You have gone the round, and like the blind horse at the mill, round you must go again. Next, the fiend bears a black goblet, the third course. The drink is like lava in your bowels! And the last cup, the grave, leads from disease to damnation. Profligate! be not so careless at your cups! Shun the house of sin and folly! (II) At the next table sit the self-righteous. Satan draws a curtain between this table and the first, lest these sanctimonious hypocrites guess what company they are in. First, Satan brings the wine of self-satisfaction. Around the brim you may see the bubbles of pride. Sin as other men do? Not you. If you are not saved, you ought to be, you think. Even many of God’s children admire you. Satan brings a second cup, which, sometimes, he does not like to serve, the cup of discontent. Now comes a shaking in the heart. But wait, there is the third cup, that of dismay at the discovery of your lost condition. Death is close behind you, and forces you onward, and you discover what it is to perish by your attempt to save yourself through your own good works. And your last course must be the same as that of the profligate, the wine-cup of the wrath of God. Put away your high looks. Humble yourselves under God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. (III) The table of worldliness. More great men sit at this table than at any other. ‘Well,’ says one, ‘I dislike the profligate. And I don’t care for religion. I like to know whether the funds rise or fall.’ Satan tells him to get rich quick. This is the first cup. But then mark the next draught, the care of money that sits upon his heart. After this comes the cup of avarice. I do not wonder that God abhors this man. Mammon builds its palace on his heart. You give him a drink, but his thirst increases. ‘More, more, more!’ His final course is to perish. (IV) In the secluded corner, a table for secret sinners. The first cup, how sweet! the cup of secret sin. Then comes the cup of an uneasy fear. He dreads being found out. At last the discovery comes—what a cup! The man who led religious meetings is unmasked, if not here, then at the bar of God. 

(2) The Saviour’s House. (I) His table of outward providences. The first course may include affliction, sorrow, and poverty, like it happened in the olden time for God’s people. After this the cup of consolation arrives. And the best wine comes last, when death leads to immortality. (II) The table of inward experience. First, the cup of conviction. But soon after the cup of forgiving love, filled with the rich crimson of his precious blood. And the best wine is the glory that follows grace. (III) The table of communion. First, the cup of sufferings, for we must suffer with him; then the cup of labor, for we must labor after souls; after that he will give us the cup of his anticipated honors. 

Selection from Conclusion. “O! Christian! thou shalt soon see the King in his beauty.” 

PART I, SKETCH LXII: THE VANGUARD AND THE REREWARD OF THE CHURCH

“The LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward” (Isaiah 52.12.)

Introduction. The church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army, yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace. The spirit of war is at the extreme opposite point to the spirit of the gospel, but truth must be a warring thing. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies. Truth that is friends with error must be suspected of being false. Even so, a church that does not distinguish herself from things unholy must be a false church. The children of God in this world live in enemy territory. The church must always be armed, and always fighting. Our comfort is, that Jehovah God is at the front and at the rear, securing it from defeat. 

(1) The Whole Church is an Army. Remember that a large part of our host is standing upon the hills of glory, while members at the rear are not all in existence yet. The rearguard will be brought up in that day when the last vessel of mercy is full to the brim with grace. Now cast your eyes to the front and see this great truth: “Jehovah shall go before you.” Have you never heard of the eternal counsel and of the everlasting covenant? Before there were any creatures, God in Three Persons settled it that men should be redeemed. Yes, the gospel is older than the aged mountains. And God has gone before the church from the day it left Paradise until now. Floods have gathered round her, but she safely floats in Jehovah’s ark. How can we account for the triumphs of the church? God has gone before her! She has marched right through blood and flames! The time of persecution is the age of heroes. Why? Because God goes on before and provides stores of grace for stores of trouble. Now to the sweet part of the text, “The God of Israel will be your rereward.” This means that God ‘gathers up’ all the stragglers. Heretics and trials to come do not worry me, then. Can you imagine the church of God as completed? She will leave the earth in a world of flames when God gathers up the last of her members! 

(2) Two Troubles: the Future and the Past. We have had our mercies. But we have had years of trouble too. Do you tremble to go forward? Be encouraged! Your future has been marked out in the great orders of predestination. Your troubles have been weighed in the scales of God’s love. You are not a child of chance. If you were allowed to map out your own future, would you? God has gone before your future journey in the preparations of his providence. Old wines of grace are waiting for you to feast on. Jehovah has gone before you in the incarnation of Christ. Jesus has borne your future troubles; was tempted as you shall be; has felt infinitely more sorrows than you ever will. Going before, he has conquered every foe. Cheer up, faint-hearted warrior! Do you dread sin? He nailed it to the cross! Death? He has been the death of Death! Hell? You shall never go there! You may march safely on. Maybe it is the past that troubles you. Beloved, study the titles in our text. The LORD: Jehovah, full of knowledge and power, he goes before you. But it is the God of Israel: the Covenant God of forgiveness who takes up the rear, picking up all your old sins and casting them behind his back. Don’t ever be cast down because of past sin! 

Selection from Conclusion. “And now, are there any here to-day whose hearts God hath touched, who desire to join this great army? Have I one here who has been enlisted in the black army of the devil, and has long been fighting his way against God and against right? I pray that he may be compelled this day to ground his arms, and surrender at discretion of God. Sinner, if the Lord inclines thine heart this day to yield up thyself to him, the past shall all be blotted out…As for thy innumerable sins, leave them to Christ, he will make short work of them; by his blood he will slay them all.”

PART I, SKETCH LXI: THE CHRISTIAN'S HEAVINESS AND REJOICING

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations” (1 Peter 1.6.) 

Introduction. This verse to a worldly man looks amazingly like a contradiction. Even to a Christian, it is a paradox. Can there be in the same heart great rejoicing, and yet a temporary heaviness? Certainly there can! This is far from being the greatest paradox of the Christian life. Not only is the Christian’s condition a paradox. He is a paradox himself: corrupt and yet purified, mortal and yet immortal, fallen yet exalted far above principalities and powers. 

(1) The Christian’s Heaviness. I never understood this verse until a day or two ago. Commentaries, I’m afraid, have got it wrong. And notice that your friends often say by quoting this verse when you are in trouble, “There is a need for this affliction.” That is a correct scriptural statement. But it comes not out of this text at all. This text says something better. Not only is there a need for the temptation, but for the heaviness in it. Imagine a man of strong faith. He is slandered, or endures persecution, or maybe even gets condemned to death for the gospel, and you say to him, “There is a need for it all. The blood of the martyrs must be the seed of the church.” And suppose that he agrees with you, is unmoved by the slander, rejoices for persecution, and even kisses the stake he is to be burned on. Seek to have faith and love like that man! But our text is not for him. It is for a feebler grade of Christian who needs to go through a season of heaviness and weeping. I myself am such a man. Why is heaviness necessary? Our Lord and Saviour passed through much heaviness. We must too if we would be like him. Sometimes we are given to suffer heaviness to keep our pride down or to bring us thirsting after our Lord. And there are lessons that cannot be learned any other way but through heaviness. Some sights in the valley cannot be seen from on top of the Alps! Men will never become great in divinity until they become great in suffering. “Ah!” says Luther, “affliction is the best book in my library.” Finally, heaviness is necessary to anyone who would afterwards comfort others. A great many Christians could come by more sympathy by a journey through a furnace! God makes his sons of thunder anywhere; but his sons of consolation he makes in the fire. 

(2) The Christian’s Great Rejoicing. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice.” What is the cause of this rejoicing? In this passage the apostle is speaking of election. To be “elect according to the foreknowledge of God,” when meditated upon, can cause any infirmity to be as nothing. He is speaking also of “the blood of Jesus.” All my guilt and sin taken away, and shall I not greatly rejoice? Shall my depression cause me to break my harp, or shall it just hang on the willows for awhile? But the great cheering comfort from the apostle concerns our inheritance. Tell a dying Christian about the milk and the honey and the Lamb, and see his eyes light up! And the reason chiefly intended here for our rejoicing is in the 15th verse. We are kept by the power of God! I don’t know what a man does in affliction who does not believe this doctrine. What would we do in the day of darkness if left to keep ourselves? The Lord shall keep us safe through anything!

Selection from Conclusion. “There are some of you here to whom this precious passage has not a word to say. Our heaviness, O worldling, ‘our heaviness is but for a season.’ Your heaviness is to come; and it shall be a heaviness intolerable, because hopelessly everlasting…I beseech you, look at this matter. Search and see…whether it be well for you to venture into an eternal state as you are; and may God give you grace, that you may feel your need of a Saviour.” 

PART I, SKETCH LX: OUR DECLINE FROM FIRST LOVE

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2.4.)

Introduction. It is a great thing to have as much said about us as Jesus praised the church at Ephesus for. Not only had this church works (and some of you do not even have that), but something called labor. Could the Lord Jesus say of you, “I know thy labor?” No. He might say, “I know thy loitering.” And how few of us could be commended for our patience, our continual labor? This church had borne persecutions, difficulties, hardships, embarrassments, and discouragements, but always continued faithful. This church hated evil doctrine and sin, and loved truth and pure practice. I trust that some of us can say the same. But I cannot say as much of myself as Jesus complimented Ephesus for. And I pray that I may return to my first love, and that you may return with me. 

(1) What was our First Love? I am sure that you can recall that first bright spot in your history, that happy hour when the Lord appeared, bleeding on his cross! “I am thy salvation,” he said. I could have easily been a martyr for him then! It is this first love that you and I must confess we have in some measure lost. Some new Christians used to walk five miles to stand in line for two hours just for a chance to get into this church! Now their love is cool enough. Some of you used to be so ridiculously in love that you did a commandment at the first sight of it! What about now? Once you could sing all day long! Now you grumble at the minister. I acknowledge that I could sometimes have held fellowship with Christ, but instead was focusing upon a preacher’s faulty style or grammar. Some of the actions we performed as young Christians, were they not just a little wild? Maybe the little in your pocket was all that you had, yet you gladly gave it to some poor saint. May the Lord deliver us from living on the past! What if the sun decided not to shine anymore on account of all the shining it already did? When we have left our first works, we have lost our first love. When first love departs, we think ten minutes of prayer will do instead of an hour; and that a verse or two will do instead of a portion. In the beginning, some of you could not even take a walk without praying. How about now?

 (2) Where did we Lose our First Love? Have you not lost it in the world? A godly man says, “I have a chance of doing more business, but I will not because I must keep up my business with heaven.” And have you not lost your first love by being too much with worldly people? Seek to have godly friends. And have you maybe forgotten how much you owe to Christ? You and I may get to talking about being saints. But we need often to recall the pit we were dug out of in order to be led, by thankfulness, back to our first love. And is it not easy to do a great deal for Christ instead of living a great deal with him? The planet Mercury, because of where it is, is in a boiling heat, and spins around the sun in rapid orbits. Even so, the heart that is near Jesus must be full of his love. But search your heart, and find out just why you have lost your first love. 

(3) Let’s get our First Love Back. How happy was David before he lost his first love! But after David’s lustful eye fixed upon Bathsheba, it was one long string of afflictions! When love declines, purity declines too. Watch yourself! Unless you are a bastard, the Father will give you the rod if your love cools! Let it never be said of us, “Ah, that church is quite as sleepy as any other.”

Selection from Conclusion. “May not this question arise in our hearts—Was I ever a child of God at all?…may it not have been that I only thought I had love to Christ, and never had it, for if I really had love to Christ should I be as I now am?”

PART I, SKETCH LIX: THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD

“Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6.9.)

Introduction. I doubt that our Saviour intended this prayer just to be repeated each day as a religious exercise. And I believe this prayer was never intended for everyone. Jesus taught this prayer to his disciples. It is for those who are truly converted. In the lips of the ungodly it is entirely out of place. I earnestly ask you to never pray Our Father which art in heaven unless you can say it in honesty and in truth. Do not offer God the language of the hypocrite. This prayer is a model by which disciples may fashion their prayers. Let it be our chief prayer, but let us also cry to God in whatever way we can.

(1) The Double Relationship Implied in the Text. Here is sonship. Some say that God is man’s Father through creation. But being created by God does not argue that he is your Father. The angels were made by him, but we read, “Unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son?” No, God is man’s Father through adoption and the new birth. Now, this relationship involves love. God loves his children as a father pities his child on a sickbed. He does not discipline except by his great love and deep wisdom. And, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” And we, the chosen favorites of Heaven, shall we not love him back? If he is our Father, let us note his commands that we should obey. But the child of God never obeys to get to heaven or to avoid hell. He has been accepted to God by Jesus Christ, apart from works. He acts out of pure love and gratitude. Now, is a father no longer a father to a son who becomes a lunatic? And was not the prodigal still a son when he was among the harlots? Nothing can divide us from the Father’s heart. David was the son of God, but not more the son of God than you. Consider your privileges then, “This world is ours, and worlds to come/Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home.” Next, besides our sonship, we have brotherhood. It does not say my Father, but our Father. Then it seems there are a great many in the family! When you pray, remember God’s elect ones, paid for by Christ, but not yet called from the caves and dens of Satan. And those who differ with us in doctrine, put them in your prayer too, and also the poor who are rich in faith, and your brethren across the sea. Then be on your feet what you are on your knees. Help the needy; cheer up the sick; and comfort the sad ones.

(2) The Spirit of Adoption. The Fatherhood is recognized by the childship of the child. Unless you are a child, you cannot know what the spirit of adoption is like. You don’t know what it’s like to have the Father steer your ship across the waves of the world. May God himself bring you to know him! May he lead you to the cross of Christ!

(3) A Double Argument. First, I do not come to pray to God as my Judge, or my King, or even my Preserver—because then God may reply, “You are a lawbreaker,” or “you are a rebellious subject,” or “I have preserved you, but still you rebelled against me.” But if I come to God our Father, he will regard me. No matter how childish my language, he will get the meaning. He will not despise my prayer, then. Second, I do not come as a beggar to a stranger when I come to God. Do I not, almost without asking, sit down and eat all I desire? A Father must relieve his children! Has your father treated you badly lately? Give me a father that is angry with my sins!

Selection from Conclusion. “Go away with that upon your mind, and rejoice. But if you love not God and fear him not, go home, I beseech you, to confess your sins, and to seek mercy through the blood of Christ; and may this sermon be made useful in bringing you into the family of Christ.” 

PART I, SKETCH LVII: "AS THY DAYS, SO SHALL THY STRENGTH BE"

“As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33.25.)

Introduction. Beloved, it seems a sad thing that every day must die and be followed by a night. But if it were not for nights, we would never have considered the work of God’s fingers: the moon and the stars. Likewise, our sin and ruined condition has been made the means of revealing the excellences of God’s character. Without trouble, we never could have had the promise, As thy days, so shall thy strength be. We do not love the nights, but we do love the stars; we do not love weakness, but we do bless God for the promise that upholds us in our weakness. 

(1) Self-weakness Hinted at in the Text. A self-sufficient man can no more understand this promise than a coal-miner can understand Greek. A sense of weakness is what is needed. Have you never been overcome with horror at your weakness to fulfill a duty to God? I have learned my own weakness right here in the pulpit. But we prove our weakness more visibly by suffering. Women suffer well. Ah! people of God, it is one thing to look at the doctor’s knife, quite another to feel it. Another thing which proves our weakness is progress. Just try and live a life of sacrifice like Henry Martyn did, and you will soon find your own weakness. Pray to love the Lord more, and he may answer by making you feel the hidden evils of your heart, and it will be as though you love him less than you did before you prayed! Temptation too, will prove your weakness. A strong tree that resisted many frosts one day gets stretched upon the ground by a howling wind. I have seen many professing Christians break just like that by the wind of temptation. You think you’re strong enough to resist this or that sin? Satan knows you better than you do. He can find out your Achilles heel, just as the Philistines found out Samson’s. 

(2) The Great Promise. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” God’s promise is well guaranteed. If God can feed the burning furnace of the sun, he can supply your strength. Do not think for a moment that the Creator has out-promised himself. But his promise is a limited one. What! Yes, it does not say, as thy desires are, but as thy days are. To have more strength than you need might be like having more manna than you can eat. And so it breeds worms and begins to stink. And it does not say, as thy fears are. Some people must have a factory out behind the house where they manufacture fears. Maybe you are sick and are praying for grace to die smoothly. But why should God give dying grace now if he intends for you to live awhile? When your cup gets empty, then God will fill it. God does not give extra strength just for you to put into storage. Next, it does not say, as thy weeks or months shall be. Why should you get Monday’s grace on Sunday? Get a week’s grace all at once, and maybe the devil will get a good deal of it. As in Job’s case, your strength will grow as your troubles grow. The bed of grace is never shorter than a man can stretch himself upon it. If you were called to be as brave as Luther was, even so your strength would be. And this promise of God adjusts to circumstances that fly at us. As thy days: and so there is given a shield for an arrow. Finally, this promise is long enough that it will outlive you. You shall, after death, have strength to bear even the brightness of the Most High! 

(3) The Lesson Drawn. Christians, whether young or bashful, why do you fear? Your days shall never be more troublesome than your strength shall be full of deliverance.

Selection from Conclusion. “And as for you that have not God to be yours…your days shall become heavier, but your strength shall become lighter…all your hopes shall die, and your fears shall live.”