PART I, SKETCH LI: GOD, THE ALL-SEEING ONE

“Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts…of men?” (Proverbs 15.11.)

Introduction. You have often smiled at the ignorance of heathens who bow themselves before gods of wood and stone, for these gods can neither see nor hear. Your God can both see and hear. But in nine cases out of ten, the doctrine of Divine Omniscience, although received and believed, has no practical effect upon our lives at all. May God drive some of your practical atheism out of you. 

(1) A Great Fact Declared. ‘Hell and destruction are before the Lord.’ (I) The word translated ‘hell’ may be translated ‘death,’ or the state of departed spirits. About death we know very little. God understands all its secrets. The many who have died alone, amid dreary forests, frozen seas, and devouring snowstorms—they and their sepulchres, are known to God. You cannot tell where Adam’s tomb is. God knows, for death and Hades are open before the Lord. Not only this, but God knows the history of men’s bodies. The infidel has often asked, ‘How can the body of man be restored, when it may have been eaten by the cannibal?’ We do not think it necessary to resurrection that God should track every atom. But it is within his range to do this and to rebuild every body. As the body, so the soul, when separated from it, is before the Lord. ‘His soul has fled,’ we say. Can we form even a conjecture of what the flying of that soul may be? The Most High could reveal to us the condition of every man that is dead, whether he be in the sunlight of his Master’s countenance, or plunged into hell to wait in dreary woe the awful trial. (II) The word ‘destruction’ signifies ‘hell,’ or the place of the damned. That land of terror is unknown. The groans and shrieks of hell are not to be heard here. But they are known to God; yea, it is his look that makes hell what it is. His eyes, full of fury, flash the lightnings that scathe his enemies, who see that fearful vision of the Most High. Hell itself is naked before his vision. 

(2) A Great Fact Inferred. ‘How much more then the hearts of the children of men.’ (I) Why? With one glance God sees death and hell—their bottomless depths and their boundless miseries. Surely he can behold all the actions of the little thing called man’s heart. Death is an ancient monarch. He preyed on mighty creatures long before Adam was here. How old, too, is Hell!—old as the first sin. Hell was digged when Satan led the third part of the angels astray. We are creatures of a day, and know nothing. (II) How? How well does God understand man? He searches the heart. No partial search, like that of Laban, when he went into Rachel’s tent to look for his idols. God looks into the camel’s furniture, and all. God also tries the reins. The goldsmith examines his gold, and says, ‘I don’t understand this gold yet: I must try it.’ He thrusts it into a furnace to find out what there is of dross, and what of gold. Now, God knows to the very carat what we are made of—how much of hypocrisy, how much of truth. God is also said to weigh the heart. He puts his own Word in the scale and the heart in the other. He knows whether we have grace in the heart, which makes us good weight. Might not God say of many of you, “Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting”? (III) What? What does God see in man’s heart? He sees all the heart’s imaginations. The heart is full of every thing that is hideous once it begins to make carnival and revelry concerning sin. God sees the heart’s devices. Perhaps you have determined to curse God. He knows it. And he knows the resolves of the heart, how you resolved to repent but quit as soon as you were beyond the temporary danger. (IV) When? He beholds all our motions when we think they are hidden. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Swearer! could you swear if you could see God’s eye looking at you?”

PART I, SKETCH L: THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN

“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15.20.) 

Introduction. Brethren, who is it that gives a fair representation of God? The Arminian slanders God (though unintentionally) by teaching that he may promise what he never performs, that he may give men eternal life, but that these men may perish. On the other hand, those who hear the Calvinistic preacher are apt to misinterpret God. They imagine that God is very easily moved to wrath, but not so easily induced to love. O that we could unlearn these fallacies, and believe God to be what he is!  

(1) The Position. The man who is ‘a great way off’ has already renounced his sins, and is seeking after Christ to obtain eternal life. The Pharisee is not intended by the description, for he is more than a great way off, as far from God as light from darkness. He has never learned to confess his sin, and is able to feed on the husks. He hopes to save himself by good works. The man who is a great way off is very near the kingdom, for he knows his need and he seeks a Saviour. He is a great way off in his apprehensions. You recollect how you neglected God’s Book and rejected his invitations. Now your sins astonish you. You feel that God would be just in destroying you. Conscience tells you that the most darling sins must be renounced if you would enter the kingdom of God. You know that reformation from sin is one of the first-fruits of grace. But you find that you cannot purge your house of all your lustful pleasures, nor renounce completely the company of the ungodly. You are crying out, ‘Oh, how great is my distance from God! Lord, bring me near.’ You feel that you must believe in him who died upon the cross for your sins. You have searched the Scriptures to find a promise to rest on. You have pleaded for a sign of mercy. May the Holy Spirit repeat the words of the text in your ear!

(2) The Peculiar Troubles. After a life of ease, the Prodigal, by his own vice, is plunged into poverty and labor. He sets about returning to his father. ‘Will my father receive me? Will I be led away by the demon again before I get there? Will I die and stand before God before I receive my father’s blessing?’ Such thoughts cross the mind of the one who seeks Christ and mourns to feel his distance from him. Other men think they shall live for ever, but men convinced of sin, and who seek a Saviour, are afraid they shall not live another moment. The Christian has fancied that his next step might precipitate him into eternal doom. The mass of us need to be startled with the thought of death. How few of you indulge that thought! Do you never think of standing before the Judge? But as for you who feel your distance from Christ, you shall never die until you have found him. You fear that your convictions will pass away, that you will wander farther from God and forget him. Is your prayer about this earnest? Then today the Father falls upon your neck and weeps for joy. “Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven.” 

(3) How the Troubles were Met. ‘The Father saw him.’ Sinner, let this be your consolation, that God sees you when you begin to repent. He saw you pray, groan, and cry. He rejoiced to see the first seeds of grace in your heart. ‘He had compassion on him.’ He felt pity for his poor son. Inasmuch as he has brought you to feel your sin against him and to desire reconciliation, there is no wrath in his heart, only sorrow that you have brought yourself into a state of sin and woe. 

Selection from Conclusion. “’He ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him’…if you this day are seeking him aright through Christ, the day shall come when the kiss of full assurance shall be on your lip.”

PART I, SKETCH XLIX: THE TWO TALENTS

“He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things….” (Matthew 25.22, 23.) 

Introduction. Have you wealth, or influence? Whatever be your position and gifts, they are lent to you from on high. No man has anything of his own except his sins. God has put us into his estates, and he has said, “Occupy till I come.” Even the man who hid his talent in the earth was ahead of those who deny their obligations to God and who spend their time and powers in rebellion against him. 

(1) God has Made some Men with Few Talents. One successful man supposes that if everyone were as industrious and persevering as himself, everyone would necessarily be as successful. But even in our birth there is a difference. We ought to avoid saying harsh things of those very men to whom God will afterwards say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ Why has God not given to all men similar talents? Next to love, God is the most fond of displaying his sovereignty. Hence it is, that he gives salvation to some and not to others. Most men quarrel with God’s sovereign right. But the thing that you complain of in God is the very thing that you love in yourselves, for every man likes to feel that he has a right to do with his own as he pleases. Oh! for a spirit that bows always before the sovereignty of God. Again, God gives to one five, and to another two talents because the Creator loves variety. If order is heaven’s first law, surely variety is the second. All the stars do not shine with the same brilliance. No two faces are exactly alike. Should minds be alike? Should souls all be cast in the same fashion? For variety’s sake, one man will be a renowned David, another will be his unknown armor-bearer. But there is a deeper reason why some men are given few talents. There are many small spheres to be filled. Does God intend a woman to be a quiet trainer of her own family? Would it not disturb and injure her if he made her a poetess whose gifts might electrify a nation? What’s more, the greatness of God’s grace in saving souls is often displayed through men with two talents. 

(2) A Few Talents must be Accounted for. Maybe you think that the day of judgment will pass you by because you have been no murderer, no prince among sinners like Napoleon was. But your guilt will be exceedingly increased by the fact that your talent was little, and therefore easy to make use of, and yet you did nothing with it. Remember, your connection with churches will avail you nothing; it is your personal doings that you will be called to account for. ‘Well,’ says one, ‘if I look at my life in the bulk, I am not very much ashamed. But those little items are the troublesome part of the account.’ You had an hour to spare the other day—what did you do? And God will look at the pence sins as well as the pound iniquities. All must be brought against us, and an exact account given. And remember, in the last place, that every person, whether courtier or slave, will be tried without reference to station. Nothing can bias our Judge, apart from the evidence. How solemn the trial, especially if we have no blood of Christ to plead!  

(3) Two Talents, if Rightly Used, will be no Injury to Us. There is many a humble village pastor who uses all the little ability he has for the good of his flock of fifty or so. Do you imagine that his entry into heaven shall be less triumphant than that of Calvin or Luther?  

Selection from Conclusion. “Ah! if there be degrees in glory, they will not be distributed according to our talents, but according to our faithfulness in using them.” 

PART I, SKETCH XLVIII: A TIME OF FINDING FOR LOST SHEEP

“I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick…but I will destroy the fat and the strong….” (Ezekiel 34.16.)

Introduction. It is a great mercy that God never leaves his church. Even if, as some affirm, there were no Divine interpositions in the works of Providence, we know that there are some every moment in the works of grace. We have direct experimental evidence of it. God speaks in his wrath to the evil shepherds, yet he mingles his threats with pity for those he elsewhere calls ‘the flock of slaughter.’ If the Lord did not interfere in his church continually, the church would cease to exist. If the doctrines of his holy word had been left to man’s teaching, the church would have no truth left. 

(1) Four Features of One Character. (I) ‘That which was lost.’ A man is never lost until he is devoid of all strength. The mariner who has fallen overboard is not lost so long as he clings to that floating piece of timber. So long as you rely on one particle of good works for your redemption, you are under the curse and ban of the law and are not brought to the covenant-plan of mercy. When you can say that God’s will must conquer your own, rejoice! for then God writes you saved. A man is not thoroughly lost until he has come to his wit’s end. Have you come to your wit’s end trying to quit that lust in order to be saved? Are you now locked up in Despair’s castle? Then I recommend the sure promise: Christ came to seek the lost. A man is not lost until the door of hope is shut. Tell the sick man that his case is terminal, and he will cherish the thought that he may yet rally. But the poor sinner, when lost, sees no reason to hope that Christ will have mercy on him. Hear this: Christ came to save you. If you are lost in yourself, you are saved in Christ. Know this, you giddy ones, your damnation draws near. But you who are sighing and groaning because you think your case hopeless, I tell you, your case is hopeful. A lost man beholds the gate of hell opened. Did you ever think that hell might be preferred to your condition? Christ has come to save such as you. But you reply, ‘I am beyond all hope; I cannot believe what you say.’ God’s almighty eye can see to the bottom of your pit. Believe now, and you will be comforted now, for the time of faith is the time of comfort. (II) ‘That which was driven away’: Some could tell you of looking into the well of living water, but getting no drink. Unbelief has driven many a sinner away from Christ just when he was coming. Some preachers preach a gospel so mixed up with the doings of man that poor souls are driven away. But God has said, ‘I will bring again that which was driven away.’ (III, IV) ‘That which was broken’ and ‘that which was sick.’ These are those who have been broken and made sick by being driven away. They are broken by the Holy Spirit and made sick by sin. Is this you? Almost ready to take your life? Does God’s ‘I will’ stand for nothing? ‘I will bind up that which was broken.’

(2) Descriptions of Four Characters. ‘That which was lost’ is the awakened sinner who knows that in Adam he is lost and that by his own sins he is ruined. ‘That which was driven away’ refers to the backslider. Come back, prodigal, come back, the Father’s breast heaves with love for you. Next, the ‘broken’ one. The child of God is often broken by trouble, affliction, the enemy, or inbred sin. Broken one, rejoice, God says, ‘I will heal thee.’ Lastly, the ‘sick’ ones. There are many such among the Lord’s people. Their faith may be weak; their prayers may not be fervent. Ho! despairing soul, if you have all four maladies, you shall have all four promises!

Selection from Conclusion. “But as for such of you as are ‘fat and strong’…If ye are so whole that ye need not the physician, hoot him not while he goes to attend upon those who feel their danger.” 

PART I, SKETCH XLVII: THE GRACIOUS LIPS OF JESUS

“Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psalm 45.2.)

Introduction. The poets of Scripture never mention the person of Jesus Christ without falling into rhapsodies at once. Their love scarcely knows how to find language to express itself. 

(1) The Plenitude of his Grace. Doctrine dropped like rain from the prophets of old. But when Jesus spoke, grace poured from his lips, for all grace was given him. Imagination cannot conceive words more majestic in goodness, more tender in sympathy, more full of honey than the gracious words that proceeded out of the lips of Jesus Christ. With him is plenteous grace. 

(2) The Nature of this Grace. Adam was created with inherent grace, yet he had too little to preserve the uprightness of his character. Ours was spoiled by Adam. Jesus had grace born into him. He was begotten of the Holy Spirit, made of a pure virgin. His body was without pollution; his soul was impeccable. Also, his manhood derived grace from his Godhood. And when Jesus Christ spoke, God the Holy Spirit assisted him; the Spirit was given to him without measure. Jesus Christ, as a preacher, was not as successful as Peter or Paul. Yet Jesus’ words were so full of the Spirit’s quickening power that all conversions are in his name and by his word. 

(3) In what Offices Jesus Christ Proves that ‘Grace is Poured into his Lips.’ First, our Saviour is the eternal Surety of the covenant. Respecting salvation, God must be the justifier of the ungodly, and yet remain just. So someone must stand responsible for their obedience and suffer whatever penalties they incur. The Son promised to be that substitute; the Father then swore on his own name that all for whom the Son would atone should be delivered from death and hell. That covenant was spoken in eternity. When Jesus spake into his Father’s ear, the salvation of all saints was secure. Was not grace poured into those lips! Second, he is the greatest of all prophets and teachers. There was some grace on the lips of Moses, for the gospel was couched in the law of Levitical ceremonies. But no learning has in it such depths of wisdom as the wisdom of Christ. Interpret everything by his light. Third, he was the most eloquent of all preachers. His was pathos which could break the stony heart. “Never man spake like this man.” He had no need to ask attention, for ‘grace was poured into his lips.’ Fourth, he is the faithful Promiser. Turn to this promise: “When thou passest through the rivers I will be with thee.” Or this one: “No man shall pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Fifth, he is the wooer and winner of his people’s hearts. Ah! Christian, do you not remember how sweetly he told you of your sinnership, and with the next word made known your redemption? O! is he not filled with grace as he wins the hearts of his people? Sixth, he is the comfort of all his people. When he draws near to comfort his people, the thickest darkness becomes a blaze of meridian splendor, for ‘grace is poured into his lips.’ Seventh, he is the great Intercessor. He stands before his Father’s throne, points to his breast, and shows his bleeding hands. Our prayers are broken; Jesus gives to the Father his emended edition. Eighth, he is the Counselor. When we stand before the judgment bar of God, Satan will gather evidences of our guilt. Jesus will say, ‘My client pleads guilty; but I have a full pardon signed by God’s own hand, purchased by my own blood.’ Oh! righteous Advocate, ‘grace is poured into thy lips’! Ninth, he is the great Judge of all at last. “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” You would not wish to hear those gracious lips utter such a sentence as that to you.

Selection from Conclusion. “Only believe in his name, thou sinner…Wilt thou put thy trust in him?” 

PART I, SKETCH XLVI: THE GOOD SHEPHERD

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23.1.)

Introduction. This sounds like a song because what comes from the heart always has melody in it. As ‘truth is stranger than fiction,’ the truth David spake is more sweet than fancy could have sported with. David could remember his tender care for the lambs. Now he makes use of that figure. 

(1) Some Preliminaries. ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.’ Before we can say these words, we must feel and acknowledge that we resemble sheep. We shall be conscious of our folly. A sheep is one of the most unwise of creatures. It will leave a fat pasture to wander in a barren one; it will find out many ways but not the right way; it would wander through a wood and right into the wolf’s jaws. No man can trust providence till he distrusts himself. If you are brought to confess that you are a silly sheep, I hope you will be able to say, ‘The Lord is my shepherd: he is enough for me.’ A sheep is not only foolish, but dependent. If you turn him loose, he will, unlike the horse, soon come to ruin. Do we perceive the necessity for our dependence on God? We sometimes fancy that we can do a little. But we cannot be independent of one another, much less of God. The Christian realizes the blessedness of his dependence. Some of you know you are sheep by reason of your frequent wanderings. It is something to feel our wanderings, for if we feel ourselves to have wandered, we shall certainly be brought back. People talk about free-will Christians coming back to Jesus of themselves. I intend to believe them when they find a free-will sheep bleating at his master’s door to be taken in again. You will not find such a thing.

(2) A Sweet Assurance. If every person here would rise up and say, ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ I feel convinced that for many it would be the solemn utterance of an untruth. How, then, does a man come to know the Lord is his shepherd? If he has been brought from the haunts of evil or stopped in a mad career of vice, and has been reclaimed by the power of Jehovah Jesus, he knows by experience that the Lord is his shepherd. Further, he knows it by the interposition of Heaven. You were sunk into poverty, maybe, and deserted by friends and acquaintances, and your prayers went unanswered; but then you were delivered in a marvelous way that was foreign to your wishes. The people of God are a tried people. But how can you tell the Lord is your shepherd if you have not been tried in the great deeps? Because he has fed you day by day in a good pasture. I can prove that the Lord is my shepherd by his keeping me in the grassy field. Do not get despising the little ones because they have not had as many trials as you have. 

(3) A Holy Confidence. Poor unbelief says, ‘I am wanting in both spirituals and temporals; and I shall want.’ David’s faith is rather preferable to your unbelief. Maybe you want more faith, love, and holiness. Most of God’s answers to our letters come down in black envelopes; yet mark you, they will come. “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Some insist that our text applies to temporal matters. But it does not say, ‘The Lord is your shepherd, and you shall not come down in society.’ He is my shepherd; I shall not really want that which is absolutely necessary. ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.’ Beloved, if we could trade this promise for a world of gold, we would not. Do not give me ready money now; give me a checkbook, and let me draw what I need out of the riches of God’s fullness in Christ Jesus. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Oh! it is enough to make men long for religion if it were only for that sweet placidity and calm of mind which it giveth here below.” 

PART I, SKETCH XLV: PARDON AND JUSTIFICATION

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered ” (Psalm 32.1.)

Introduction. We tend to pronounce our neighbor’s lot happier than our own. But if we could penetrate the hearts of men, we would find few of them bearing the name of ‘blessed’; indeed, none are blessed except those who are forgiven and have their sins covered. These are blessed of heaven for time and eternity. All others are not blessed, but cursed. Jehovah has said it and will manifest it.

(1) The Blessing cannot be Bought. No one can purchase the pardon of sin. If we tried, we could only offer to God what he already owns. A sinner might seek to reform his life to atone for the follies of the past. But God is so inflexibly just that he will never forgive the sinner without having exacted the punishment for his sin. The sinner might cry and lament to get his past sins forgiven. But there is no atonement in tears or repentance. If you could deserve forgiveness by your penitence, you would have a claim upon God, and there would be no mercy in giving you what you claim. What, then, can be done? Justice says, ‘A stroke for every sin.’ The convicted sinner knows and feels that God in justice must punish him. There must be an atonement in order to obtain pardon. The Scripture says that man must die. So no angel can bear man’s punishment. And no man is able to. Where shall we find the substitute? Looking up, I see on the throne of God a man who once was slain! But he is a God. ‘I had to die—the just for the unjust,’ he says. Do I see his blood mark on the writ of my pardon? It would be well for you, Christian, if you often reviewed this mercy, if you would stand at Calvary and see him dying. Then you would count yourself blessed indeed. This blessing of justification is instantaneous. The moment God gives me faith, I am justified. Suppose a physician could make you well in an instant. Even so with Christ. A sinner may be freed from guilt and damning power instantly. And the sweetness of this blessing is that it is irreversible. Once pardoned, we can never be condemned. If Christ paid the penalty for our sin, God can never again exact the debt. 

(2) The Blessing Brings Everything Else with it. When I know I am pardoned, I can say all things are mine. The covenant from eternity is mine! What Christ did on the cross is mine! Present Providence is mine! Afflictions are mine to sanctify me. All the promises are mine. Judgment day is mine! I fear it not. I dread it not. The river of death is mine, that I may leave the dust of earth! The resurrection is mine! All things in heaven are mine! For I am pardoned! What mercy!

(3) The Blessed Effects. Some of you have never had any real, satisfactory peace. Did you have peace when you thought the angel of death had come? You had no peace, and you have no peace now. Some of you are at war with the Omnipotent. Peace with God is like the tranquility at the bottom of the sea, where the seashells rest undisturbed. There may be billows on the surface of a Christian’s soul, but inside his heart there is a ‘peace that passeth understanding.’ He is willing and prepared to die. Are you? Justification also gives joy. Peace is the flowing of the brook; joy is the dash of the rapids when the brook bursts its banks. Who cares about trials and troubles then? The hour we feel ourselves delivered is like a fragment from eternity cut off and given us. We seem to drink of the very wine that saints in glory quaff! What can we desire more?  

Selection from Conclusion. “How many such blessed men and women are there here to-night?…What ground have you for your hope? You know we cannot hope unless we have some grounds. We may wish, but we cannot hope. What are your grounds? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?”