PART I, SKETCH XXIII: THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER

“Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler” (Psalm 91.3.)

Introduction. This verse speaks of the arch-enemy of souls, the great deceiver, Satan. Five hundred years ago, he put men to death for serving Christ. Now he is well-spoken; he attempts to persuade and beguile. He would link worldliness with religion, and thus make religion void. Whatever his tactics are, his object is to catch men in the net. If Satan does not attack as a roaring lion, he attacks by creeping up to bite our heel. He would weaken our grace and ruin our godliness with his poison.   

(1) The Snare of the Fowler Explained. The fowler uses secrecy; he covers his trap, or beguiles the bird into an uncovered one. The wicked man dashes into the net even when destruction stares him in the face. The Christian is taken by secrecy. If the devil comes with his horns visible, I will never let him in; but if he comes with his hat on as a respectable gentleman, he is admitted at once. The first drop of sin admits a torrent. Then there is a fearful end. Some unconverted men can indulge in gayeties without being led into sin; but the Christian cannot go there without ruining his piety. The fowler adapts his snare to the kind of bird he is after. Drink will work for one, lust for another. We might not be tempted to pride of riches, but we might be apt to boast of our kindness, which is the trap of pride in a different shape. The fowler adapts his snare to your pleasures. Your fairest pleasures will harbor your grossest sins. Cleopatra’s asp was introduced in a basket of flowers. Job was more careful of his sons when they were feasting. Let us be the same. Satan uses decoys. He chooses someone you respect. By the force of that example, you are led and snared. Choose the best friends you can; then follow them no further than they follow Christ. The fowler will go hawking. If he can’t get you to sin, he will send a hawk to bring you down. Keep above this hawk. If any slander you, do not come down to them. If you prosecute slander, it will be more believed than if you left it alone. The more dirt thrown on your character, the more it will glisten in the end. All the fowler’s arts may be at us at once. Let us gird ourselves in God’s omnipotence, and the Holy Spirit will keep us. 

(2) Deliverance from the Snare. Deliverance is often through trouble. We have often painted a fine picture, and have been walking backwards to destruction admiring it. Then sad providence takes our child away or buries our wife. If not for trouble, we had been destroyed. Many of you have been delivered from the snare by sorrows, woes, losses, and crosses. Courage is another means of deliverance. O! that was a noble escape made by Joseph when the mistress laid hold of his garment. Timing may be another means. By the Spirit’s influence, what you might have been snared with last week is not worth a moment’s thought today. God delivers his people even after they are caught. We know something about being caught in the cage. O backslider, be cast down, but do not despair; God says, “Return, O backsliding children; I will have mercy on you.” Then he promises, “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler.” 

(3) Deliverance is Certain. Scripture is precious because it is sure. What God has said he will do will be done. Christ has sworn that his sheep will be saved. The Holy Spirit vouches for it. If even one of them were to perish, the covenant would be void, and the Bible would be false. 

Selection from Conclusion. “If you are self-righteous, self-sufficient, ungodly, careless, worldly, there is no such promise for you; you are in the snare…and you shall perish, unless you repent.”

PART I, SKETCH XXII: THE LEAFLESS TREE

“But yet in it a tenth, and it shall return, and it shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof” (Isaiah 6.13.) 

Introduction. In spite of Isaiah’s holy, earnest reproofs, Israel would persevere in their sins. God would therefore waste and destroy the cities and their inhabitants. And though a tenth would be preserved, even this remnant would be nearly consumed. But as a tree that loses its leaves retains its substance, the remnant subjected to perils would survive, as well the land stripped of foliage.  

(1) Application to the Jews. The Jewish lineage is more noble than that of any knight. His pedigree can be traced back to Abraham, then back to Noah and then Adam. Our history is hidden in gloom. Theirs may be read from the start. Nebuchadnezzar nearly swept them away. Jerusalem was razed by Rome. But is the Jew conquered? He claims a dignity higher than ours; his history will be greater. When Messiah shall come again, he shall reign over his people most gloriously; the Jew will be afforded royal distinction. There is some mysterious preservative in a tree. The ‘remnant according to the election of grace’ keeps the Jew alive. There can always be found a Jew who loves Jesus. This holy seed is the substance of the nation. God has sworn kindness toward the Jews for their father’s sake. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love her.” The Jews will do more in this world for the kingdom than any of us have dreamed. 

(2) Application to the Church of Christ. The church may look dead. But she is preserved. There is a ‘chosen seed’ who are ‘the substance thereof.’ The church was in a leafless state last century. Then a revival broke out when six men were expelled from Oxford for praying, Bible-reading, and witnessing. Now the church is to a great degree barren again. True doctrine is scarce, zeal is rare, pulpit and pew have little energy. But the substance is in her. Some branches do not draw sap from the heart of the tree, and must be cut and burned. But the inward principle of the tree remains. And the life of a tree is not determined by the shape of the branches. The shape of a church is not its life, whether Presbyterian or Independent, whether more doctrine or less. The best men may be found in the worst churches! The oak without leaves retains a hidden life. It is the same with the church. Ministers are its arms and lips. But a man may be dumb and armless and yet live. Men and women who breathe out prayer, these are the substance. Has God made you holy by his Spirit, by the justifying righteousness of Christ, and by the application of his blood? If so, you are the substance of the church. You may tithe and still not be of the substance. Good men preserve the church by deriving life from Christ.

(3) Application to Individual Believers. The Arminian says that a Christian who loses his leaves is dead. When the wintry state came, faith slumbered; you doubted its existence, but it was there. Some Christians lose their leaves, not by doubts, but by sin. This is a tender topic. But it cannot be denied that some have been allowed, like David, to go into the blackest sins. O! horrid was the crime! Yet his substance was in him. How do I know? When Nathan rebuked him, David could have cut him in pieces like Manasseh did to Isaiah. But instead he bowed his head and wept before God. Poor backslider! I would not comfort you in your sins. But do you grieve over them? That is the bud that shows there is life within. Return! The Father longs to heal you.

Selection from Conclusion. “Why, man, the sin that does not damn a Christian, because Christ washes him in his blood, will damn you…O! that thou hadst life!…O! that thou wouldst now repent!” 

PART I, SKETCH XXI: A FAITHFUL FRIEND

“There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18.24.)

Introduction. He who would be happy must have friends. He who would be happy hereafter must find a friend in the world to come, in the person of God the Father. It is sweet to repose in some one; but O! how bitter to have that support snapped. Fidelity is absolutely necessary in a true friend. The world’s friendship is brittle. Solomon found no friend in the haunts of his unbridled pleasures, but in the pavilion of the Most High. We have read stories of valiant deeds done for love of brother. Yet, says Solomon, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” 

(1) Christ is a Friend that Sticks Closer than a Brother. You who have had him for a friend will agree. He loved you before all worlds, before the wing of angel flapped the unnavigated ether. He has been a certain friend in uncertain circumstances. You fell in Adam. Did he cease to love you? He became the second Adam to redeem you. You sinned in practice, and brought condemnation upon your head. Did he forsake you? He arrested you by grace, brought you to his feet, and forgave you. Others have been faithless. Has he? In your blackest hour, could you say so? Ask the bright ones before the throne. What do they say? Through the agonies of our expiring moments, he has been with us, ‘a friend that sticks closer than a brother.’  

(2) Why Christ Sticks Closer than a Brother. His goodness guarantees his fidelity. He does not flatter. He hazards a dislike by being honest. Has he not told you your faults right truly? Hasty friendships may soon run out of breath. Slow friendships last. His friendship has matured from the ages before you were born. O! his friendship is so old that it must last. Young lady, you acquired a dear friend last nite at the ballroom, did you? Will he be your friend when you are driven to beg bread? Give me a friend who was born in the wintertime, not in the hothouse of pleasure. Has Jesus not been with you in the house of mourning? Did you not find him in your hour of trouble? A friend who gave his heart’s blood for you will never forsake you. He sticks closer than a brother. Again, a friend acquired in folly is confederacy in vice. Such friendship is worthless. Jesus has chosen us, not blindly and rashly, but with judgment and prudence. A friendship of ignorance may suddenly die upon better acquaintance. Our Lord Jesus can discover nothing worse in us than he knew beforehand. He knew we would oftentimes rebel. He loved for his own sake. Surely he will stick closer than a brother. Yet again, friendship lies in deeds, not words. The world is a great house of sham. You write, ‘Yours very truly.’ It is a sham. You don’t mean it. Courtesies may be untruths. Christ does not say, ‘Dearly beloved’ simply. He hangs on the cross, and there we read ‘Dearly beloved’ in red letters. He gives himself for us, and then he gives himself to us. Such a friend sticks closer than a brother. Once more, friendship bought with pearls is not worth pebbles. Christ’s love was unpurchased love. You did not even promise to love him. Nothing can cause Christ to love us less. 

(3) A Lesson Drawn from the Doctrine. Lavater says that the degree of your friendships will be proportionate to that of your enemies, whether hot or cold. Because Christ sticks close to a Christian, the dog of hell will be at him with howlings. Satan’s roar is a proof of Christ’s love. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Remember, dear hearer, the love of men and women is very sweet; but all must pass away; and what will you do, if you have no wealth but the wealth that fadeth, and no love but the love which dies, when death shall come? O! to have the love of Christ!”

PART I, SKETCH XX: SECRET SINS

“Cleanse thou me from secret faults” (Psalm 19.12.)

Introduction. Self-righteousness arises partly from pride, but mainly from ignorance of the severity of God’s law. Let the law be revealed to a man, and his self-righteousness will become as a filthy rag in his sight. The Church of Rome once passed a decree that every true believer must confess all his sins once a year to a priest. How absurd! There are a vast mass of sins that only God can detect. “Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” But it is not the men who have sins unknown to themselves that I am after this morning. I am after the men who have sins they keep secret from their fellows.

(1) The Folly of Secret Sins. Pretender, you are nice to look at; your conduct is good and Christian-like. But do you judge the drunkard while you drink in secret? Whatever your sin, you are a fool to think you can hide it. The eye of God has seen your secret. Dig as deep as hell, and you’ll not find earth enough to cover your sin from God. What will you think on that day when God shall read out the story of your secret life to men and angels? Even the holiest man in this congregation would not like his secret thoughts known. Renounce this foolish hope of secrecy.

(2) The Misery of Secret Sins. A drunkard who admits his habit will be unspeakably miserable for worlds to come. Yet he has at least some peace until then for his honesty. But a man who pretends to be religious while he lives in sin is in continual agony of being caught. Better to be a sinner in the open than a hypocrite! A mere profession of religion is like dressing all up just to go to hell. Hypocrisy is a hard game to play at, for it is one deceiver against many observers. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Men will even tell their secret tales in their dreams. Secret sinner! if you want a foretaste of damnation, continue your secret sinning. A stag followed by hungry hounds with open mouths is far more happy than a man who is chased by his sins!

(3) The Solemn Guilt of Secret Sin. A sin is a sin, whether discovered by others or not. Robbing the till is a sin, even if no one finds out. I hold that secret sin is the worst kind because the man who commits it has Atheism in his heart. He is a practical Atheist. To conceal our sin from creatures and then sin in secret before God is to think more of man’s eye than God’s eye. This is to deny that God is God. Look your secret in the face, confess it, and may God give you grace.

(4) The Danger of Secret Sin. Private sin leads to public sin. You keep your little pet sin at home; but mark this, when the door is ajar the dog will be out in the street. And sin the first time, there are drops of sweat on the brow; next time there’s no sweat, only agitation; then just a sneaky look; and then you are a bold blasphemer. And you Christians, a little sin, like a little pebble in the shoe, will make your travel to heaven a weary one. Let us destroy all our little secret sins. 

(5) A Plea to Secret Sinners. The pleasures of this life are so intoxicating; but the joys of it so ensnaring. Will you have your sin and go to hell, or leave your sin and go to heaven? You may have temporary happiness, then overwhelming woe; or solid peace, and then everlasting joy. 

Selection from Conclusion. “’But,’ says one, ‘sir, I intend to be religious, but I do not hold with your strictness.’ I do not ask you to do so; I hope, however, you will hold with God’s strictness, and God’s strictness is ten thousand times greater than mine. You may say that I am puritanical in my preaching; God will be puritanical in judging…to be out of Christ is a dreadful thing.”

PART I, SKETCH XIX: THE SINNER'S REFUGE

“Then ye shall appoint you cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares (Numbers 35.11.)

Introduction. The principle of blood revenge is a deep-seated one in the eastern mind. The custom goes like this. When a man was murdered or killed by chance, his nearest relative must kill his killer. There are two things mentioned in Scripture that God never approved, but did not forbid. One is polygamy. The other is this matter of blood vengeance. But to prevent a man from being slain for killing someone by accident, God provided cities of refuge for him to flee into for security.   

(1) An Explanation. The city of refuge was not provided for the murderer. A murderer who fled there would be dragged out, tried, and given over to his avenger. Now here is a type. Sinner, the law of God is the blood avenger against you, for you have broken, or killed, God’s commandments. Now there were six cities of refuge. This is a type of Christ. He is everywhere, always at a convenient distance. Though the city of refuge was only for the innocent, and we are guilty, we may flee to Christ for safety. There we are provided for, and kept secure by divine appointment. The penalty for breaking the law cannot touch us there. In the old Jewish dispensation, if the man reached even to the outskirts of the city of refuge, that was enough. And it is enough for our salvation if we can barely touch the hem of Christ’s garment. “Faith as a grain of mustard seed” is enough. The way to the cities of refuge was kept clear by the elders. This is a picture of the road to Jesus and to heaven. Preachers keep the way open by pointing to Christ and declaring, “Believe and live!”—“Refuge, refuge, refuge!”

(2) An Exhortation. Picture a scene. A man is at work in a field. He accidentally strikes his companion dead with a tool. See the horror in his face! See the corpse lying at his feet! What next! He flies from the field, runs with all his might! He does not stop to kiss his kids or say bye to his wife. Soon the victim’s brother is after him! And then a posse! He is like an animal chased by hounds. See him speeding on for miles with veins bulging! And what! He finally sees the outskirts of the city, his pursuers right on his heels with knives and stones! He leaps over the border, exhausted almost to death, but rejoicing! The pursuers dare not touch him now! He has managed to leap into the kingdom of life! Sinner, this is a picture of you, except you are not innocent, but guilty. O! that God would give you grace to sense the danger you are in! The avenger of blood is after you! If you could see the sword of God’s law, you might quiver to death right where you are. If this avenger gets you, it will not be death merely, but eternal death. Do you know anything about damnation? Wrath? The undying worm? The bottomless pit? You cannot know how dreadful these things are. No, the drunkard still drinks; the swearer still swears, etc. Do not act so foolishly! How foolish to carelessly loiter when the city of refuge is ahead and the avenger of blood is behind! Do not say, “There is no city of refuge for me.” That is a sham despair. And make sure it is Christ you flee to, not the city of baptism or confirmation. Jesus’ blood, his wounds, his agonies, his sufferings, his death, these are the gates and walls of the city of salvation. By the terrors of the law, by the day of judgment, by the wrath to come, by the uncertainty of life, and by the nearness of death, this night flee to Christ!

Selection from Conclusion. “Not only doth the night come on; but, lo! the blood avenger is behind. Already he has slain his thousands. Let the shrieks of souls, already damned, come up in your ears….let the torments of hell amaze you. What! will you stop with such a sword behind you?”

PART I, SKETCH XVIII: THE ANXIOUS INQUIRER

“O that I knew where I might find him! (Job 23.3.)

Introduction. We will say nothing at this time about Job. We will take his words as the exclamation of a sinner who knows he’s lost because of sin, and who is looking for the Saviour. There are some who tell us that a man can, if he pleases, in one moment obtain peace from God and joy in the Holy Ghost. Such persons may have experienced it like that. But they are not competent to be judges of others. In many more cases the heart wounded by God finds no consolation by him for a long time after. It was like that for Bunyan. If such is your case, I have a sweet message for you.  

(1) Some Hopeful Signs in being a Seeker. First, the seeker has only one aim. The worldling wants fifty kinds of good, while the quickened sinner says, “These will never satisfy/Give me Christ or else I die.” If your one desire is to find Jesus to be washed from sin by his blood, you’re not far from the kingdom. It is a sign of the divine at work in you. Second, the seeker’s desire is intense. He does not say, “Yes, I’d like to be forgiven.” He says, “O that I might find him!” Is your groan from the heart? Or would you rather be forgiven while you go on in sin? Real emotion of the heart God will not despise. Third, the seeker admits his ignorance. People who think they know all about God know nothing. But the seeker says, “O that I knew!” The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our ignorance. A sense of ignorance is a very excellent sign of grace. Fourth, the seeker would find Christ anywhere. He’ll go to any church of any denomination of any rank of respectability, so long as he might find the Saviour there. I myself was obligated to go to a despised chapel to get saved. Do any of these signs apply to your seeking?

(2) Some Reasons why a Gracious God Delays an Answer. The first reason, to display his sovereignty. Ah, that is a word not often mentioned in pulpits. If God gave all men peace as soon as they asked for it, they would begin to think they had a right to it. And so God makes a delay between penitence and faith. Second, he may delay manifesting forgiving mercy to set the heart searching out some forgotten sin. God would then have that thing dragged out of its corner. Third, to make us more useful after. We must first suffer the things we preach before we can preach with effect. Fourth, it may be our ignorance of the way of salvation that is the cause of delay. The way of salvation is one of the hardest things for a sinner to grasp. “Do you mean I am to be saved purely through what another did?” he asks. He can hardly believe it. The gospel is wrapped up in one word, just as Luther and Calvin believed, ‘Substitution,’ Christ standing in man’s place. He takes on sin, and the sinner puts on his righteousness. The just has died for the unjust. 

(3) Some Advice to Seekers. First, go wherever Christ goes. Go to where Christ is preached, and go to the Bible. Second, cry after him mightily. If a sermon stirs you, pray over it. Cry out until Jesus comes to you. Next, think much about Jesus. Meditate on the course of his sufferings: his sweating in the garden, the cross lifted up, his joints out of their sockets, etc. Then pretty soon you’ll be asking, “Blessed Jesus, is your death not sufficient for me?” Awakened sinner, dare to trust Christ. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Fully rely upon what Christ did, as the way of salvation…But alas! for such of you as will go away and say, ‘The man has talked about salvation, but what matters it to us?’ Yes, go your way; you can afford to laugh to-day at God and his gospel; but…Death is after you, and will soon seize you…You will find it hard work to laugh at Christ then; you will find it dreadful work to scoff at religion then, in that day…Take warning, then, before death comes! take warning!”

PART I, SKETCH XVII: PRESUMPTUOUS SINS

“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19.13.)

Introduction. All sins are great sins. But it is wrong to suppose that because all sins will condemn us, that therefore one sin is not greater than another. Now the presumptuous sins of our text are just the chief of all sins. It is remarkable, that though an atonement was provided under the Jewish law for every kind of sin, there was this one exception: “But the soul that sinneth presumptuously shall have no atonement.” Now, under the Christian age, in the sacrifice of our blessed Lord, there is a great and precious atonement for presumptuous sins. Yet, presumptuous sinners, dying without pardon, must expect to receive a double portion of the wrath of God. 

(1) What is a Presumptuous Sin? First, when a man knows better, and sins anyway, that is presumptuous sinning. That is so, even if conscience be the only light he sins in spite of. But, O! how presumptuous to sin in spite of greater light! What if a mother with tearful eye has warned me first? Or a father with a steady look? And what of friends and religious education? And if you have heard of a sudden death, or have been very sick, then you have sinned against the voice of God, broken promises, and sinned presumptuously. Second, a man may sin in a moment of hot haste; but a deliberate sin, a planned sin, is a sin of high presumption. And so is any sin that is deliberately done habitually. Third, the sin I speak of is like the one by the man in Numbers who designed to gather sticks on the Sabbath, just to show his disrespect for God’s command. Many of you sin just like this today. It is a master-piece of wickedness. There are few that repent of it. Fourth, daring to think we are strong enough to go so far into sin and no farther, like when one goes into a casino—there is a kind of suicide in a sin like that. Or maybe you say, “In a little time I will get serious for religion.” You presume to live until that time? 

(2) Why is the Presumptuous Sin so Enormous? Simply because it is a sin against knowing better. It is the difference between unknowingly being involved in a bad thing, and fighting for the bad cause—or between stealing out of hunger, and stealing to mock the law—or between insulting a man carelessly, and setting out carefully to insult him. O! you that have sinned presumptuously—and who among us has not done so?—bow your heads in silence, confess your guilt, and then open your mouths, and cry, “Lord have mercy upon me, a presumptuous sinner.”

(3) The Appropriateness of this Prayer. “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.” Did David, the “man after God’s own heart” need to pray that? Yes, “Curb thy servant with thine overpowering grace.” The best of men may sin presumptuously. The highest saints may sin the lowest sins, unless kept by divine grace. You old experienced Christians, do not boast, you may trip yet, unless you pray the prayer. Hazael recoiled in horror at the prophecy that he would slay his master. But what did he do? The very next day he went and choked him to death! Think it not enough to hate sin, you may yet fall into it! Job might have said, “I will never curse the day of my birth.” But he lived to do it. If the best need this prayer, what about us?

Selection from Conclusion. “God’s Spirit has found some of you out…I thought when I was describing presumptuous sin that I saw here and there an eye that was suffused with tears…here and there a head that was bowed down…You have greatly sinned, and if God should blast you into perdition now, he would be just…Go home and confess…with cries and sighs…remember…a man who was a God. That man suffered for presumptuous sin.”