PART I, SKETCH XIII: PARTICULAR ELECTION

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure….” (1 Peter 1.10, 11.)

Introduction. It is a hard thing, especially during election times, to leave our worldly thoughts outside the sanctuary. I will not have you put away thoughts of election altogether. As a matter of fact, let’s travel on this election train, but in a new direction. As for politics, use your vote wisely, may God help us, and may the result be for his glory. But now, to our points on Election, Particular Election. 

(1) Calling and Election. There are two important matters in Religion—secrets, both of them, to the world—but understood by those who have been made alive by divine grace. In the Scripture there is a general call, in the preaching of the gospel. And there is a special call, an effectual call, a call from death to life, from sins to righteousness, from loving the world to loving Christ. By the irresistible power of the Spirit this call goes to our hearts. The second matter is election. As without calling there is no salvation, so without election there is no calling. As many as are appointed to believe, have been so appointed from before all worlds. To dispute this is to deny the holy Scriptures. Are you an Episcopalian? This teaching is taught in your Articles. And it goes back from our day to Calvin to Augustine to Paul and to the Lord Jesus himself. Calling is put before election in the text because it is first to our experience. We see our election after we feel that we are called. It is worth while to know ourselves elect, for nothing in this world, election being from eternity to everlasting, can make man more happy and brave.

(2) Make your Calling and Election Sure. Make it sure to yourself. God is already sure. Full assurance is an excellent acquirement. Do not seek it in dreams, visions, and voices, etc. That is no sure ground. Full assurance of faith comes by diligence. Take care that your faith results from necessity, depending on Jesus Christ and him crucified. Plead with God for courage to trust in the face of trouble. Get knowledge of doctrine. It will confirm you. Get a system of theology out of the Bible. Then be moderate in life, heart, and thought, and patient in affliction. Pray much, and God will nerve you to endure. Be religious inwardly. Love all of Christ’s members. Be charitable to all. In proportion to such heavenly practice, so will your assurance be. And the only means to this assurance of your calling and election, is the witness of the Spirit with your own. There is a man who says he is elect. He gets drunk. Ah, you are elect, by the devil, sir; that is about your only election. Out with an election that lets you live in sin! Away with it! Away!

(3) The Apostle’s Reasons why you should make your Election Sure. Let me put a reason of my own in first. It will make you so happy! Happiness and faith are like Siamese twins. They flourish or decay together. Now Peter. First, it is the best thing in the world to prevent you from falling. Second, it will provide you an abundant entrance into heaven. It is the difference between being tugged into harbor, and coming in with the sail up and full of wind. If you have lived a consistent life of holiness, by adding virtues to virtues, then this abundant entrance will be yours. And if you have been the means of saving souls, this entrance will be ministered to you by these saints.

Selection from Conclusion. “There are some of you with whom this text has nothing to do. You can not make ‘your calling and election sure,’ for you have not been called; and you have no right to believe that you are elected, if you have never been called. To such of you, let me say, do not ask whether you are elected first, but ask whether you are called. And go to God’s house, and bend your knee in prayer; and may God, in his infinite mercy, call you!”

PART I, SKETCH XII: MERCY, OMNIPOTENCE, AND JUSTICE

“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1.3.)

Introduction. Men will misunderstand God, because men are fallen and flawed. Men especially misunderstand with regard to certain lights and shadows in God’s character, which are so marvelously blended in the perfection of his nature. Paul is noted for zeal, Peter for courage, John for love, because they were unbalanced men. But in Christ, characteristics are so perfectly blended that we do not note him for any one attribute, but are conscious of the harmonious diversity in his Personality. It is the same with God. The two clauses in my text seem to describe contrary attributes: mercy and justice. But because we are imperfect, we fail to see how they agree. 

(1) God is Slow to Anger. The sword of God’s justice is in its scabbard: not rusted in it—it can be easily withdrawn—but mercy holds it there. Why is God slow to anger? Because he never strikes without threatening first. Men give a word and a hit, sometimes the hit first and the word afterward. Not God. He preaches by Noah and by Jonah first. And he is even slow to threaten. He promises swiftly, threatens reluctantly. He did not send Jonah to Nineveh until Nineveh was foul with sin. He does not even threaten the sinner by his conscience until the sinner has often sinned. But best of all, when God threatens, he is slow to sentence the criminal! When Adam sinned, did God hurry up to sentence him? No. “The Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day.” And then, even when the sentence is signed, God is tardy to carry out justice. He will go down to Sodom to see for himself. And, ah! it just crossed my mind! There are some men, even now, who have sinned unto death. But God allows them their pleasures for awhile longer. If God were not slow to anger, this giant city would have already been annihilated! Our nightly vices cannot be equaled for evil. Wrath says, “Unsheath thyself, O sword!” Mercy puts her hand upon the hilt, and the sword rattles back again. “Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” God is slow to anger because he is good, but also because he is great. Only little things are easily stirred up.

(2) God is Slow to Anger because he is Great in Power. He that is great in power has power over himself.      The power that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. We bless God that the greatness of his power is a great reason of our protection. Ah, but the greatness of his power is also an assurance that he “will not at all acquit the wicked.” We feel much assured of this when the storms brew, do we not? Who stood to see the lofty tree sliced in half by the lighting flash? A swearer? Did he swear then? Did not his face go white?

(3) God will not at all Acquit the Wicked. This is his most terrible attribute, justice. Never once has God pardoned an unpunished sin. ‘What!’ you say. To prove it. First, the cloud of justice has fallen into that great reservoir of misery, the Saviour’s heart, to pardon us. Second, take a walk through history and see the judgments there. Third, every shriek and groan in hell is proof enough. Why will God not acquit the wicked? First, because he is good. Even an earthly judge will condemn a murderer out of love for a nation. Mercy, with her weeping eyes, looks more terribly grim even than justice, when she drops the white flag! Second, because justice demands punishment for sin. Must I pass through all the attributes of God to prove this? I think not. 

Selection from Conclusion. “My friend, man or woman, what is thy state? Canst thou look up to heaven and say, ‘Though I have sinned greatly I believe Christ was punished in my stead?’”

PART I, SKETCH XI: ELIJAH'S APPEAL TO THE UNDECIDED

“How long halt ye between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18.21.)

Introduction. It was a day to be remembered. The lone prophet of the Lord against the 450 priests of Baal. On this hill of Carmel we have three kinds of persons: the devoted servant of Jehovah; the decided servants of the evil one; and the undecided. Elijah addresses his sermon to this last and largest group. And so will I, because most of you are double-minded and undecided too.

(1) The Difference between the Worship of Baal and the Worship of Jehovah. This class of people thought they could worship two Gods. But Elijah informed them that these were two opinions that could not be combined. This class is with us today. Members of this class go to church and then go gambling. But my, serve one or the other, God or the world, already! A woman who fellowships but tattles also, this is the same thing again. A dishonest hypocrite is worse than an open sinner. Take your mask off. One opinion is better than two. Go one way or the other.

(2) The Amount of Time you have to choose between two Opinions. The argument from this crowd is, ‘I need more time to choose.’ But the drought had continued for over three years to convince them to turn to God! You who are trying to be Christian worldlings, how long will you halt between two opinions? You older persons, you young, you boys, you girls—how much time is enough for you? How many sermons and Sundays will you waste? How many plagues and deaths must happen all around to warn you to decide? You might just find yourself in eternity before you make up your mind. The will is bent for evil—that’s the problem.

(3) To Delay is Dumb. These people think that a claim of religion is better than nothing. When they are among the worldlings, they are secretly laughed at for being bad Christians; when among Christians, they are wondered at for being hypocrites. They do not fully enjoy the world; nor do they fully enjoy religion. They have the fears of religion without joy; and too much fear of sinning to truly enjoy the world. They are too good for the world; and too bad for church. Purgatory would be perfect for them, if it existed. Even the damned in hell will laugh at these people, for they will be punished without having gotten all their pleasure. 

(4) How it is known that People are Undecided. It is known by an undecided behavior. Know first, that all opinions cannot be right. Then choose an opinion and let your conduct back up it up. Keep your religious claim, or give it up. Choose Baal or God; faith or fun; holiness or filthiness.

(5) Why Decide? Not for happiness. No, like the prophet says, “If God be God follow him.” If you believe the devil is God, then go that way. Carry out your convictions. Never mind tradition and what others do. If the gospel is right, believe it; if not, give it up. 

(6) How Long will you Delay? Some have decided; others will hesitate between opinions until the fire of God’s Spirit decides them, or until the fire of eternal judgment.  

Selection from Conclusion. “I tell you that you must either be decided by the descent of the fire of his Spirit into your hearts now, or else in the day of judgment. O! which shall it be? O! that the prayer might be put up by the thousand lips that are here: ‘Lord, decide me now by the fire of thy Spirit; O! let thy Spirit descend into my heart.’”

PART I, SKETCH X: SWEET COMFORT FOR FEEBLE SAINTS

“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory” (Matthew 12.20.) 

Introduction. Babbling fame favors persons cast in a rough mold. Some she extols, exalts, and almost deifies. Others, whose virtues are greater, she is silent about. Fame loves Luther because he manfully defied the Pope of Rome. But you do not hear of the gentle-minded Melancthon, who maybe did as much for the Reformation as mighty Luther. No one says much about Jesus except his followers. He did not come to conquer, but to melt the rocky heart with ‘a still small voice.’ 

(1) Mortal Frailty. Excuse my fancy. But I say that the bruised reed is the convicted sinner, plowed up by the Holy Spirit. And the smoking flax is the backsliding Christian. By neglect of gracious means, and falling into sin, and the Spirit’s withdrawal, a burning light becomes a dim lamp. However, I shall treat these two metaphors together. First, our text applies to weak ones. The howling wind makes the bruised reed shake to and fro. God has his mighty Gideons. But the majority of his people are weak. They fall into temptation; they cannot sing nor pray. You are weak, are you? Blessed be God, this text is for you then. We have some persons here who boast of goodness, purity, and might. Take heed, moral man, when temptation comes, down you will go. Second, the text applies to worthless things. Can a man lean upon a bruised reed? Ah! no; it is of no service. Can the midnight traveler be lighted by the smoking flax? It is of no use. Ah! that is how you talk of yourselves. You cannot tell how Christ values you. You mothers who keep house and train children up in the Lord, you are doing as much for his name as the eloquent Apollos by his preaching. Jesus has something for the worthless ones. This is not to excuse lazy ones, those that can do but don’t. There is a whip for the ass, and they must have it sometimes. The text applies to offensive things. If the Spirit has humbled you, you are as offensive to your own souls and to God as the bruised reed would be among the pipes of Pan. I can imagine a man here, trembling that his crime will be divulged to heaven. Despair not! Jesus will not break the bruised reed. The bruised reed may yet be of some service. By divine workmanship it becomes of wondrous value. Christ will take the bruised reed and fit it in the pipes of heaven. We shall ask, ‘What was that sweet note heard there?’ One will answer, ‘It was a bruised reed.’ 

(2) Divine Compassion. Here is a poor bruised reed, a poor child of God under a sense of sin. You will not be driven to despair, but made to go to Jesus’ feet. If I were an Arminian, I would say that God will quench the backslider. Just go back to God, he will not put you out; Jesus Christ will be cautious to fan your tiny spark into a flame that will blaze up toward heaven. Saints who are bruised reeds and smoking flax are just as safe as those who are mighty for their Master. They are just as chosen, equally redeemed, purchased with as much precious blood, as much the children of God, and completely justified. Christ will not have any of his members taken away. He would be incomplete without his church. Looking at second causes, the salvation of great saints depends on saints unknown to our newspapers, bruised reeds and smoking flax. 

(3) Certain Victory. An earthly victory will cheer a dying warrior. Each feeble saint shall win the day. “They shall come with singing into Sion; as well the blind, and lame, and halt.”  

Selection from Conclusion. “Weak as thou art, God will temper the trial of thy weakness; he will make thy pain less, if thy strength be less; but thou shalt sing in heaven, “Victory, victory, victory!”

PART I, SKETCH IX: HARVEST TIME

“Is it not Wheat Harvest Today?” (1 Samuel 12.17.)

Introduction. I shall take these words as a motto. The world is a temple of truth to the enlightened mind. Flowers, what are they? They are the thoughts of God solidified. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter are four evangelists. What says spring? You are a seed; you will be buried to rise again. Summer speaks of the sun shining on the evil and the good. Winter points to the fruits we must store up in autumn against the day of wrath. We shall hear autumn’s message this morning. 

(1) The Harvest of the Field. Fields covered with corn ought to keep us mindful of God’s mercy. Ingratitude is a viper that nests in the heart of man. Only divine grace, by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, can slay it. Like the Christian full of years and heavy with fruit, heavy ears of corn bend toward the ground. God has given us barns full at home. Not one person can be uninterested in this matter. What happens to one member of society affects us all. You must attribute your daily mercies to God as if you lived from hand to mouth. Sometimes hand to mouth is a blessed way of living. “Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy waters shall be sure.”

(2) The Harvest of Every Christian. In one sense the Christian is the seed sown by God, which is to germinate, grow, ripen, and be harvested. In another sense, he is a sower. Sometimes Christians sow sins; but they never reap them; Christ does. But God will take your sin and make it bitter to your taste. Ah! the minister gets a joyful harvest, even in this world, when he sees souls converted. Some Christians persist in standing out in the field. They do not like to make a profession and join the church. Unless you are fit to be gathered into Christ’s little granary on earth, you have no right to anticipate being gathered into that greater granary in heaven. Every Christian has his harvest. You are accountable for your labor, not your success. So toil on still! However bad your children are, press toward the throne of grace, and you shall have a harvest. God turn their hearts! for bitter is the doom of that man who goes to hell over the road that is washed by his mother’s tears. You shall have a harvest, whatever you are doing. I trust you are all doing something. If you see no harvest in this world, you shall have one in heaven. Ah! if there could be grief in heaven, it would be the grief of Christians who have sown so very little.

(3) The Harvest of Christ. Christ sowed the world with tears, sighs, agony, and blood. At last he sowed himself in the ground as the seed of a glorious crop. He shall have his harvest. The everlasting predestination of the Almighty has settled it. Every converted soul is his reward. In the latter day, he shall reap armsful at a time. And there shall be a greater harvest when time shall be no more (Revelation 14.13.) An angel gathers the wicked. Christ reaps the Christian. 

(4) Three Sad Harvests. The first is the harvest of death. The wicked are ripe for hell when they die, while the saints are ready for glory. The second sad harvest is the one the wicked reaps on earth. Young man, go to the hospital and see what can be reaped by sins against the body. And it is a law of nature that a man can’t hurt his fellows without hurting himself. But he who touches God’s church will suffer the direst vengeance of all. The third sad harvest is Almighty wrath. Suppose a mighty giant comes and treads us under foot, that is the idea (Revelation 14.) 

Selection from Conclusion. “Let me speak to the children of God once more…Steep your seed in tears, and then put it into the ground, and you shall reap in joy. No bird can devour that seed.”

PART I, SKETCH VIII: CONFIRMING THE WITNESS OF CHRIST

“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you” (1 Corinthians 1.6.)

Introduction. The most gifted church is not always the healthiest. The Corinthian church was first-class. But it was one of the worst in all Greece. Gifts are no good, even evil, unless consecrated to the service of God. He who buries his ten talents may expect to be given over to the tormentor. We must judge men, not by their talents, but by the use they make of them. Some Corinthians could work miracles. Now the church needs no such support. Therefore God has left us without extraordinary gifts. But we must use the gifts we have to confirm the testimony of Christ Jesus. 

(1) The Testimony of Christ Jesus. That this world is fallen is the first truth in theology. God might justly have left the world to perish. But being full of mercy, he determined to send the Mediator to restore it, and save the elect of God. Beginning with Abel, God sent forth a priesthood of testifiers. Enoch walked with God, Moses climbed the steep sides of Sinai. During the times of the judges and kings, truth ran in a shallow stream. Next came a Nathan or Elijah, then the eloquent Isaiah and the soaring Ezekiel. Behind these came the minor prophets. God might deluge the world with water. But never would he extinguish the flame of testimony. The stream of man’s wickedness and of time may be crossed by stepping-stones of testimony, from Noah to Abraham to Moses, and so on. The last stepping-stone is Jesus Christ. John speaks of Christ as ‘the faithful witness’ (Revelation 1.5.) Now, then, I am not dishonoring my Master by calling him a ‘witness.’ He is the last witness, the greatest witness. Christ witnesses directly for himself. Jeremiah and Daniel spake only what God had revealed to them. Christ’s testimony was uniform. We cannot say that of any other, whether Noah, David, or Abraham. These were certainly good testifiers. But sin has left a plague-spot upon them all. Sin never contradicted Christ’s testimony. Further, Christ’s testimony was perfectly full. Other men gave testimony to parts of truth. There was more of God revealed by Christ than in the works of creation and in all the prophets. He testified to all God’s attributes: to God’s mercy by healing the lame; to his power by stilling the wind; to his justice by languishing on Cavalry. I bless God that there are so many denominations. We have different men to defend different kinds of truths. Christ defended and preached all. And mark, Christ’s testimony was final. He said finis to the canon of revelation. All who come after him are confirmers of his testimony. 

(2) The Testimony of Christ is to be Confirmed in You. The best confirmation of gospel truth is inside the Christian. I love ‘Paley’s Evidences.’ But I never need them for my own use. The witness inside me defies all infidelity. Says John Newton, life is too short to be spent reading contradictions of my religion. O, says the Christian, do not tell me there is no power in religion, for I have felt it. Otherwise, I would never have changed. Sometimes persons come asking me to confirm the truth outside of them. I cannot do that. I want them to have the truth confirmed in them. Try religion yourself, and you will see its power. O, it is a blessed thing to trust in the Lord. It is also our business to so live that we might be the means of confirming the truth in others. Wicked men do not read the Bible; they read Christians. With a careful eye they watch how they live. O, may you have grace to live in such a way that the world will find no fault in you.

Selection from Conclusion. “Now, my friends, to close…If you can die without fear, or repining, or remorse, knowing that you are forgiven—if you can die with the song of victory on your lips, and with the smile of joy upon your countenance, then you will confirm the witness of Christ.”

PART I, SKETCH VII: A VIEW OF GOD'S GLORY

“And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (Exodus 33.18.)

Introduction. Moses could not have asked for more. This is the highest elevation that faith ever gained. Did Moses not wonder at himself for asking so much? Where did such faith come from? It was by communion with God. Had Moses not received grace through communion and intercession, this petition might have been too large for him to carry to the throne. Do you want faith like this? Be much in secret prayer. Refer to verse 13 where Moses asked God to show him the way. He asked for a lesser favor before he requested greater. Build on your past petitions. Faith can scale the walls of heaven. She is a giant grace. Be like the beggars who don’t give up asking. 

(1) The Gracious Manifestation. It is likely that Moses, with all his knowledge of the Most High, had a vague idea that divinity might be seen. Subtler than the secret power of electricity is the existence we call a spirit. We could just as soon bind the winds with cords as to behold spirits with our eyes. No form passed before Moses. He looked from behind a covering and saw, not a person, but an attribute. What attribute will God show Moses? His justice? His holiness? His wrath? His power? Will he bring Moses’ sins to remembrance to show that he is omniscient? No; hear the still small voice—“I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” Ah! the goodness of God is God’s glory. Consider the goodness of God in creation. Who can tell it? The ravens peck food from his liberal hands. The fishes leap. Every insect is nourished by him. And while man lives and dies as a flower, the Lord does not forget him. And then, think of his sovereign goodness toward his chosen people. See your name in God’s book of predestinating, unchanging grace! Then come down to the time of redemption, and see your Saviour bleeding and agonizing. O my soul, there were drops of goodness before, but O, rivers now! God’s goodness is ‘past finding out.’ I would invoke all creation to be vocal in his praise. God’s goodness is not all that Moses saw. There was something more. God said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” There is sovereignty. God’s goodness without his sovereignty does not completely set forth his nature. God has the right to save any one in this chapel, or to crush all who are here. Put goodness and sovereignty together and see God’s glory. Sovereign grace is the glory of the gospel. 

(2) A Gracious Concealment. God said to Moses, “Thou canst not see my face and live.” Robert of Normandy lost his sight when his brother passed a red-hot copper bowl before his face. Some doctrines, if we understood them, would scorch our eyes out. The sinner can’t see God’s face while clothed in his own righteousness. He must be cast into the fire of hell. The saint can’t see God’s face and live, not because of moral disability, but because of physical inability. I wonder if even the saints in heaven see God. We can leave that till we get there. Certainly, no man on earth can see God’s face and live. All we can see are the ‘back parts’ of God. 

(3) The Gracious Shielding. Moses had to be put in the cleft of a rock before he could see God. O, my soul, enter into the hole in Jesus’ side. That is the cleft of the rock where you must abide and see God. Precious Christ! may I be found in thee when the world melts away! 

Selection from Conclusion. “There is an hour coming, when we must all, in a certain sense, see God. We must see him as a Judge…I pray God deliver you from hell…if you have no hiding-place, woe unto you. See you that cleft in the rock, see that cross, see that blood. There is security…only there.”