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.” 

PART I, SKETCH VI: THE SIN OF UNBELIEF

“And that lord answered the man of God…behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof” (2 Kings 7. 19.)

Introduction. One wise man may deliver a whole city. There was one righteous man in the city of Samaria—Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was extinct in the court. The king was a sinner of the blackest dye. The people of Samaria had gone astray from Jehovah. A prophecy of cannibalism was fulfilled in the streets (Deuteronomy 28.56-58.) For Elisha’s sake, the Lord sent the promise of food. But the lord on whom the king leaned did not believe the promise. Whereupon God pronounced his doom. And Providence fulfilled the pronouncement. He saw but did not enjoy.

(1) The Sin. Either the man questioned God’s truthfulness or doubted his power. Unbelief has more phases than the moon and more colors than the chameleon. Unbelief will lead the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him, or to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept him. But infidelity, deism, and atheism are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Some professing Christians do not even believe unbelief is a sin. Oh! sirs, believe me, could you roll all sins into one mass, they would not equal the sin of unbelief. The damning sin of sinners is that they do not believe on Christ. The word declares unbelief to be a sin. “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the Son of God.” This is the monarch sin, the masterpiece of Satan, the chief work of the devil. Unbelief is the parent of all iniquity. The fall of man is very much owing to it. “Yea, hath God said?”—this insinuated the doubt. Curiosity and the other sins followed. Unbelief has sharpened the knife of suicide. It has mixed many a cup of poison. Unbelief became a deicide, and murdered Jesus. It is the egg of all crime, the seed of every offence. Everything that is evil and vile is couched in unbelief. Unbelief in the Christian, though pardoned, is especially heinous. I would always fulfill the precept if I always believed the promise. Unbelief fosters sin. Is it nothing to you that Jesus died? Then there is unbelief between you and the cross. Only when the Holy Spirit strikes at unbelief will sinners come to trust in Jesus. Unbelief disables a man. Morality is a good thing. But your own goodness will never get you to heaven. Virtues without faith are whitewashed sins. Peter once walked on waves. Faith was his lifejacket; it kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Faith fosters every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of prayers have been strangled in infancy by unbelief. Many a man would have been a missionary; but he had unbelief. Make a giant unbelieving, and he becomes a dwarf. Unbelief has been severely punished. By faith Noah escaped the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned. Unbelief caused the Jews to murder Christ. It aims a blow at divinity. Unbelief is the damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died: the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is no mercy for anyone dying in unbelief.

(2) The Punishment. “Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” That is the doom of unbelievers. As for Christians who turn their heads from the dish prepared for them, they will have some affliction; they will be made to eat by means of bitters in their mouths. They will be put in prison until their appetite returns. The majority of our congregations come just to see. A great work is going on in this chapel, but some of you do not know anything about it. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival, and of the outpourings of God’s grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved…Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends in heaven and ourselves lost…If you are lost, it will be because you believed not on Christ.” 

PART I, SKETCH V: ELECTION

“…God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation….” (2 Thessalonians 2.13, 14.)

Introduction. This text all by itself is enough to prove that God has made an ancient choice. In many pulpits it is regarded as a great sin to preach on election. But God has revealed this truth for a purpose. I ask that you lay aside any intolerance you might have, and hear what the Scripture says. Do not be ashamed to learn, and to give up old views. And if, after you have heard my sermon, and after you have prayed about it, you still can’t see this doctrine in the Bible, then you may reject it.

(1) Where the Doctrine is Found. Any Anglican will find it in the Articles of his church. It says there that God has, from eternity, decided to deliver from curse and damnation, those whom he has chosen. The Waldensian Creed teaches the same, and that God’s choice depends not on foreseen virtues. This is no new doctrine. This is not just Calvinism. History points to confessor after confessor of this teaching. The contrary teaching has been more rare. Our own Baptist Confession teaches election. But the important thing is, that election is in the Bible. If the Bible calls people elect, then there must be an election. Just look into Mark 13 and Luke 18. And the words appointed and my sheep teach election too. Election is taught in Colossians and Titus, and by Peter and John. The doctrine was loved in those days. And we love it especially when it is hated. Jesus himself says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15.16.) Look at Acts 13, and into Romans 9 and you will see it for sure. Shall we cut it out of the Bible if we do not like it? If it is in the Bible, we must bow down and accept it. 

(2) Election is Absolute. What I mean is, election is absolutely independent of us. If men cannot be justified by deeds, then neither can election depend on them. And if faith is God’s gift, it is nonsense to say that our faith caused God to elect. “He will have mercy on whom he will.” 

(3) Election is Eternal. We could never travel back to the beginning of eternity. Yet from then, before comets wandered and angels flew, God chose his people. Just run over these thoughts.

(4) Election is Personal. Some say that God has chosen nations, not persons. But if election were a crime, choosing nations would be more criminal than choosing persons, because nations are made up of multitudes of persons. If you argue that God has chosen the Jews, I argue back that God has chosen that Jew, and that Jew, and that Jew. God chooses persons. Election is personal. 

(5) Election Produces Good Results. God chooses persons to holiness and faith. O beloved! never think that you are elect unless you are holy. And never think that you are chosen unless you believe in Christ. God’s Election does not free you from Responsibility. Don’t imagine that because you are elect you may believe and live as you please. If you are destroyed, it will be your own fault.

(6) Election’s Tendencies. It tends to humble us. How can we be proud if God loved us before we existed? He who is proud of his election is not elect. It tends to make us fearless and bold. So what if the whole world is against you, as long as you are chosen by the Almighty? It tends to make us holy. Shall I sin, an elect person says, after God has chosen me? Sin after such love? 

Selection from Conclusion. “What though there is an allotted number, yet it is true that all who seek belong to that number. Go thou and seek…come as a guilty sinner to Jesus.”