PART I, SKETCH LXIX: THE CHAFF DRIVEN AWAY

“The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalm 1.4.)

Introduction. And who are the ungodly? Open sinners, blasphemers, criminals, atheists? Yes, but the ungodly the Psalmist especially intends to single out are those who, though not openly guilty, are guilty of putting on a mere show of religion. If you are not born again, not made right toward God, not forgiven, then the curses in the Bible, and the one in this text, belong to you. 

(1) A Fearful Negative. The words not so refer back to the previous verse. And so the ungodly are not like a tree planted. They are not pruned and cared for, but are like wild trees of the forest that have no Dresser. Yes, the ungodly are the subjects of God’s general providence, but not special. They are not specially watered and sheltered so that fruit is produced no matter what. The ungodly are not like a tree planted by the rivers of water. They have a casual thunder-cloud that passes over to drop a bit of rain, but no drinks from the fullness of Christ. When the temporary water they have dries up, what then? Only fire. The ungodly do not bring forth fruit in season. Many people imagine that they are in trouble only if they do wrong. But Meroz was cursed by God for not doing right (Judges 5.23.) Meroz would not fight for God. Are you a Meroz? Though you do not fight against God, you do nothing for him? You occupy a seat in church for years, but your inactivity shows you are not even converted. The ungodly man’s leaf shall wither. Rowland Hill was a tree that maintained green leaves till the end by preaching in old age. I have seen the ungodly spreading themselves like a green bay tree, and even envied them. But one day I passed by, and lo, there was not so much as a stump of them left. God had cursed their habitation. Christians have tribulation, yes. But whatever happens, yet their souls are prosperous. The ungodly, if he gets fat, it is for the slaughter.

(2) The Terrible Comparison. “The ungodly are like the chaff.” They are not even like a dead tree, which may be of some service. They are like what remains from the wheat at harvest, and is driven away by the wind. There is no sap of life, no fruit in chaff. A broken piece of pottery may be used by Job to scrape himself with. But chaff is good for nothing. If it is gathered at all, it is only for burning. The ungodly are like chaff. See then, your value, my hearers, if you fear not God. Maybe you think you are good for much, but God says you are good for nothing. 

(3) The Awful Prophecy. “They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Chaff and grain grow together. How nearly related are the ungodly to the righteous! Maybe you are an ungodly man who is the father of a godly child. You have been to that child what chaff is to wheat. You have been wrapped around it, and have nourished it and cherished it. Is it not awful that you have been so close, only to be separated everlastingly? And you church-goers who are ungodly, are you content to go from the songs of the saints to the shrieks of the doomed? My mother said to me once, after she had long prayed for me, “Ah, my son, if at the last great day you are condemned, remember your mother will say amen to your condemnation.” That really stung me! But does not the wheat say amen to the chaff being blown away? 

Selection from Conclusion. “Jesus Christ himself hath said it—‘he shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ You die, but die not…I beseech you, think of your destiny…The wind, and after the wind the whirlwind, and after the whirlwind the fire…forever…Is sin so luscious to you that you will burn in hell forever for it? Is Christ so hard a master that you will not love him?” 

PART I, SKETCH LXVIII: SIN IMMEASURABLE

“Who can understand his errors?” (Psalm 19.12.)

Introduction. What we know is small compared to what we do not know. He who has descended into the deepest mine must be aware that he has viewed just a part of the mere crust of this world. The astronomer will tell you that the grand clusters of unknown worlds exceed the little we can explore, as a mountain exceeds a grain of sand. In spiritual matters also, concerning God, Christ, the atonement, and sin, we have only begun to learn. “Who can understand his errors?” 

(1) Explaining the Question. “Who can understand his errors?” Any notion that we are without sin should discover to us that we indeed abound in it. Who knows how much a thing may be an error which we imagine to be a virtue? Who among us can tell how much sin is mingled with our goodness? Who is able to detect all the parts of an action so as to determine the proportion of right and wrong in our motive? We can detect the absolute black of sin. But the shades of evil are known by God. And who can understand the number of his errors? The mightiest mind cannot count those of a single day. Who can estimate the guilt of sin? since even a tiny one deserves God’s eternal displeasure? If one single sin remain unforgiven, God must cast his dearest from his presence. The aggravation of sin is such that a minister may be so conscious of his faults that he would give up the ministry if he dared. There is something about each one of us that makes our sins especially aggravating to God, like maybe you struck a deal with him that time you were in trouble, and then after he delivered you, you broke your promise. 

(2) Impressing the Question on the Heart. Before a man could understand his errors he must know several mysteries. First, he must know how much the fall has perverted his judgment and how vicious his nature has become. Until then, he cannot know how guilty he is. Most of our sins are hidden, like worms beneath the ground. Inspired tongues are unable to fully tell how vile man is. God even protects us from knowing all our wickedness to save us from becoming crazy. Second, he must know the law. The commandments look simple to obey, until we realize that they require obedience in act, word, and thought. The law of God is like a star, with brilliant points. But just approach it, and there is a body greater than the sun: “The commandment is exceeding broad.” Third, he must know the perfection of God. To get a full idea of how black sin is, we must know how bright God is. If we are spotted with sin as compared to an apostle, how spotted must we be beside our spotless God! Fourth, he must know about hell. Sin is best measured by the penalty it deserves: an eternity of indescribable agony. Fifth, he’d have to feel and endure the Almighty wrath that Jesus suffered for our sins.

(3) The Practical Application. What folly, then, to hope to save yourselves! Even your good works are evil. And even if you had committed no sins, then skipping the good you should have done is what men will be cast into the lake of fire for. Come, then, with your glory dragging in the mire, and confess. Do not wait until you feel guilty. You’ll never know nor feel how guilty you are. 

Selection from Conclusion. “It is every man’s solemn duty to trust Christ…Trust now in his precious blood…and you shall see his face in heaven…What if thy sins were greater than heaven’s breadth, yet Christ is greater than heaven…If thy sins were deeper than the bottomless hell, yet Christ’s atonement is deeper still…for Christ went to the end of punishment, and deeper thy sins can never plunge…God help thee to believe.”

PART I, SKETCH LXVII: A REVIVAL SERMON

“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper” (Amos 9.13.)

Introduction. God’s promises are not exhausted when they are fulfilled. They continue to overflow as we draw from them. Frequently you find a promise literally fulfilled that shall be fulfilled spiritually, the promise this way continuing to overflow. This is true of the promise before us. The land of Canaan has been a rich and fruitful one. It is barren now, but it will flow with milk and honey again, if once the severity of Turkish rule is removed. The soil is not barren. Neglect and robbers are to blame. But, my dear friends, though Palestine will again thrive, I take it this verse holds more fully a spiritual than an earthly promise. 

(1) A Great Promise of Spiritual Revival. One season, by reason of the abundant harvest, shall run into another: souls will be gathered into the Church like in Whitfield’s time. (This will by no means clear the ministers who have been content with dull routine.) The revival will have in it converts who grow in grace amazingly fast: the plowman shall overtake the harvester. This fruitfulness will come by increased activity: preachers during a revival may preach ten or twelve times in a week. There seems to be no fatigue in being greatly blessed. We are experiencing such beginnings of revival right now. Seed is bringing forth a twenty fold, thirty fold result, yet we hope for a hundred. Anglicans, Independents, Methodists, and Baptists are all busy. “The mountains shall drop sweet wine”—this means that conversions will happen in unusual places. I have seen this, Roman Catholics and military men crowding in to hear the Word from a Puritanic minister. Sailors, men supposed to be the least likely to be reached by the gospel, are calling me brother! Out of one whole crew just three are unconverted. An eyewitness told me, “I never heard such praying before—they pray with such power as only a sailor can pray.” And “the mountains shall drop sweet wine”—this means that some extraordinary sinners will become extraordinary saints, and even, as in John Newton’s case, extraordinary ministers. 

(2) What Doctrinal Lesson is Taught by Revival. When God promises to bless his Church and to save sinners, he does not add, if men are willing. Man has a free will, and God does not abuse it. He just bends it as with a mighty rushing wind, by his grace. God’s power is the doctrine of revival. It is God who causes the increase, whether gradually by slow degrees, or suddenly all at once. 

(3) An Incentive for Further Exertion. If God withholds the dew, we are not to withhold the plow. But what an incentive to further work, when we are having such success! It is time to invest in the Lord! Sow the seed everywhere. There is a wondrous harvest coming. But we must not be proud even of God’s power. All the more in time of revival, God desires to work through instruments. Now clouds of blessing have come to us from America. God sent them. It is our duty to bring down the rain. It’s already falling on some parts of our country. Pray! The Church has often been plagued by God because she did not make proper use of his favor. 

(4) A Word of Warning. In any revival of religion it is often those who are totally unconnected to a church that are brought to hear the gospel, and to repentance. But let me give a warning: It would be the hell of hells to have been in the midst of a revival and die unconverted.  

Selection from Conclusion. “Ah! man, thou mayest laugh thyself into hell, but thou canst not laugh thyself out of it…Give up thy sins.”

PART I, SKETCH LXVI: REMEMBER DEATH

“Oh that they were wise…that they would consider their latter end” (Deuteronomy 32.29.)

Introduction. Man tries hard to put reminders of death from his sight. Perhaps no subject so important is so little thought of. A celebrated author named Drelincourt wrote a valuable piece of work on Death, but it commanded no sale. Men would not trouble themselves with death’s cross-bones. The old Egyptians were wiser. Their custom at feast-time was to place a skeleton at the head of the table to remind them that there was an end of life. Our text tells us that we would be wise to consider our latter end. It would cool our fever for wealth, keep us from evil acts, and maybe set our thoughts on God and convince us to prepare ourselves to meet him. Let’s walk arm in arm with Death—that skeleton teacher. May the Holy Spirit bend our thoughts downward to the tomb. 

(1) Let us Consider Death. Why must I die! So wonderfully made by God, only to return to dust? To have dominion over the earth, and then to waste away? Death is a penalty. If Adam had remained sinless, our life would be endless. Sin is the mother of death! Adam has dug all our graves! Death is certain. Die I must! I may run like the deer, but the dogs of Death will get me yet. The Arabs tell us that there is a black camel upon which Death rides, and that must kneel at every man’s door. My time of Death is already appointed, and the means thereof. It is known to God, unknown to me. From the present spot I stand in, there is a straight path to my grave. A sliver of hair is thicker than our thread of life. Let us then prepare to meet our God. Dying is terrible. To joke about it is no laughing matter. This awful moment of dying is what hell is like, for the second Death is a continual dying. Death is a leaving all you have and all you love. On the other side there is glory and reunion for the believer in Christ, but blackness and howling for the unconverted. There is no chance of repenting after Death. 

(2) The Warnings Death has Given Us. Brothers and sisters, Death has invaded some of our families. It is a warning for us to prepare to meet God. A few weeks ago we were shocked to learn that this captain who had sailed through many a storm died in calm waters. Then we heard about a mill in America that fell over and killed hundreds. Then we heard of passengers on a train, fully at ease in conversation, suddenly snatched from time as the iron horse came off the track. This last week a judge was carried right from his court and whisked away to a greater judgment-seat. Death is doing marvels at home, abroad, and on the sea. O Death! will you never be still? But Death is closer to us than this. You talk of a rotten tooth: it is just part of a rotting man. This is Death presenting its warrant. But Death gives a more thundering sermon: fever, cholera, and still you carelessly live in sin. Death says, “Lord, let me slay him.” The Lord replies, “Spare him a little longer.” What will become of you when Death is finally allowed to let fly his arrow? 

(3) Picture Yourself as Dying. Imagine your last day has come. Loved ones are gathering around your bed. A relative pleads with you to receive his Redeemer. Your lips refuse to speak. You can’t move. Someone whispers, “Is he dead?” There is a hush in the room. What must your sensations be in that solemn moment! Your soul looses from your body. Maybe you are then brother to the angels, if you believed in and loved Jesus. Or maybe the doctor has made it easy for your unbelieving soul to be damned by drugging you to sleep. 

Selection from Conclusion. “The way of salvation is plain: ‘He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: he that believeth not, shall be damned.’”

PART I, SKETCH LXV: THE WAILING OF RISCA

“Suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment” (Jeremiah 4.20.)

Introduction. The crying prophet had a heavy heart when he spoke these words about his tents being ransacked. We can’t spare a moment of sympathy for griefs of the distant past today. There is a spot in South Wales, a favorite retreat of mine, where I worshiped and ministered too, which has just been spoiled very much. Oh! valley of Risca, I am like Jeremiah for you! The angel of death has overtaken some two hundred of your strongest men in the mine over there. Our little revival with you has been spoiled! Yes, this judgment speaks to us—there is a sorrowful lesson in each lost life.   

(1) Sudden Losses. Oh! how soon may God snap the ties of love! That is the world we live in. Our dear ones are loans to us from God. Love them, but hold them loosely. Thank God if your loved one is still with you. Treat the members of your family right and have no regrets. So love one another as if death will visit your home tomorrow. Tell your children, especially, about Christ. Work hard at it, tell them about death, even their own, and urge them to kneel down and pray. And when you hear your neighbor’s funeral bell, be guiltless concerning his destiny.

(2) Sudden Death. Death happened in the twinkle of an eye for these men. They did not expect it. There are a thousand gates of death for the rest of us. Satan would have us never mind about that. But God might not give us another tomorrow. Our days are not as many as the sands on the beach. Live for Christ then, and sincerely. Do not live so as to regret what little you did. Get more jewels for the crown of Jesus. You’ll never regret that. Do nothing, say nothing, think nothing, of which you might be ashamed if he appeared. Aim to die in the service of God. It seems, doesn’t it, that all men die but our own selves? But death is like a monster let loose in the city!—no, it’s worse! This monster called death is after each one of us! We must be thinking about it! If we visit the dying, that may help to impress us. I visited a lad once who was dying of alcohol poisoning. After he expired I went out in the streets, and all the bustle began right away to convince me that it was foolish to think about death. Oh, we must be careful of the trickery of activity! Maybe if we could see all who die, that would affect us more. 

(3) The Sudden Exchange at Death. When I think of death I almost long for it, to leave the Sabbath of work for that Sabbath of rest! The exchange will be so surprising. Then comes overwhelming joy, and gratitude to God! But what must the exchange be like for the unconverted man? “Good God,” he says, “I was in London last minute but now I’m in hell!” Have you ever seen someone die without a hope? I read about a woman on her death-bed who tried to repent.  But because of her former decision to live sinfully, she couldn’t. She prayed and fainted, prayed and fainted, and then with eyes bulging out of their sockets, she died with an awful look on her face, just as though she already felt the terrors of another world. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Now if such is the remorse of a spirit before it feels the wrath of God—if the first drops are sufficient thus to destroy all hope…what will the eternal hail be—what will the everlasting sleet of divine wrath be when once it is poured out? Sodom and Gomorrah! Why all their fiery hail from heaven shall be nothing compared with the eternal fire that must fall upon the sinner. Do you think I love to speak on such a theme as this? My soul trembles while I think of it…but it is needful that men may be awakened… I pray you think of these things…Oh that God would take up the work…’Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.’” 

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.”