The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ the strength of a giant, you could not wrestle with the Most High. What will you do when he shall tear you in pieces, and there shall be no one to deliver you? What will you do when he shall fire off his ten great guns at you? The first commandment shall say, ‘Crush him; he has broken me!’ The second shall say, ‘Damn him; he has broken me!’ The third shall say, ‘A curse upon him; he has broken me!’ And so shall they all let fly upon you; and you without a shelter, without a place to flee to, and without a hope.” Ah! you have not forgotten the days when no hymn seemed suitable to you but the one that began,

      Stoop down my soul that used to rise,

      Converse awhile with death;

      Think how a gasping mortal lies,

      And pants away his breath.

      Or else,

      That awful day shall surely come,

      The ’pointed hour makes haste,

      When I must stand before my Judge,

      And pass the solemn test.

      Indeed, that was why the law was sent — to convict us of sin, to make us shake and shiver before God. Oh! you who are self-righteous, let me speak to you this morning with just a word or two of terrible and burning earnestness. Remember, sirs, the day is coming when a crowd more vast than this shall be assembled on the plains of earth; when on a great white throne the Saviour, Judge of men, shall sit. Now, he is come; the book is opened; the glory of heaven is displayed, rich with triumphant love, and burning with unquenchable vengeance; ten thousand angels are on either hand; and you are standing to be tried. Now, self-righteous man, tell me now that you went to church three times a day! Come, man, tell me now that you kept all the commandments! Tell me now that you are not guilty! Come before him with a receipt of your mint, and your anise, and your cummin! Come along with you! Where are you? Oh, you are fleeing. You are crying, “Rocks hide us; mountains fall on us.” What are you after, man? Why, you were so fair on earth that no one dared to speak to you; you were so good and so comely; why do you run away? Come, man, pluck up courage; come before your Maker; tell him that you were honest, sober, excellent, and that you deserve to be saved! Why do you delay to repeat of your boastings? Out with it — come, say it! No, you will not. I see you still fleeing, with shrieks, away from your Maker’s presence. There will be no one found to stand before him, then, in their own righteousness. But look! look! look! I see a man coming forward out of that motley throng; he marches forward with a steady step, and with a smiling eye. What! is there any man found who shall dare to approach the dread tribunal of God? What! is there one who dares to stand before his Maker? Yes, there is one; he comes forward, and he cries, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Do you not shudder? Will not the mountains of wrath swallow him? Will not God launch that dreadful thunderbolt against him? No; listen while he confidently proceeds: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ that died; yes, rather, that has risen again.” And I see the right hand of God outstretched — “Come, you blessed, enter the kingdom prepared for you.” Now is fulfilled the verse which you once sweetly sang: —

      Bold shall I stand in that great day,

      For who ought to my charge shall lay?

      While, through your blood, absolv’d I am

      From sin’s tremendous curse and shame.

      8. IV. And now, my dear friends, I am afraid of wearying you; therefore, let me briefly hint at one other thought. “What purpose then does the law serve?” It was sent into the world to show the value of a Saviour. Just as foils set off jewels, and as dark spots make bright tints more bright, so does the law make Christ appear the fairer and more heavenly. I hear the law of God curse, but how harsh is its voice. Jesus says, “Come to me”; oh, what music! all the more musical after the discord of the law. I see the law condemns; I behold Christ obeying it. Oh! how ponderous that price — when I know how weighty was the demand! I read the commandments, and I find them strict and awfully severe — oh! how holy must Christ have been to obey all these for me! Nothing makes me value my Saviour more than seeing the law condemn me. When I know this law stands in my way, and like a flaming cherubim will not let me enter paradise, then I can tell how sweetly precious must Jesus Christ’s righteousness be, which is a passport to heaven, and gives me grace to enter there.

      9. V. And, lastly, “What purpose then does the law serve?” It was sent into the world to keep Christian men from self-righteousness. Christian men — do they ever get self-righteous? Yes, that they do. The best Christian man in the world will find it hard work to keep himself from boasting, and from being self-righteous. John Knox on his deathbed was attacked with self-righteousness. The last night of his life on earth, he slept some hours together, during which he uttered many deep and heavy moans. Being asked why he moaned so deeply, he replied, “I have during my life sustained many assaults of Satan; but at present he has assaulted me most fearfully, and put forth all his strength to make an end of me at once. The cunning Serpent has laboured to persuade me, that I have merited heaven and eternal blessedness by the faithful discharge of my ministry. But blessed be God, who has enabled me to quench this fiery dart, by suggesting to me such passages as these: ‘What do you have that you have not received?’ and, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ ” Yes, and each of us have felt the same. I have often felt myself rather amused at some of my brethren, who have come to me, and said, “I trust the Lord will keep you humble,” when they themselves were not only as proud as they were high, but a few inches more. They have been most sincere in prayer that I should be humble, unwittingly nursing their own pride by their own imaginary reputation for humility. I have long since given up entreating people to be humble, because it naturally tends to make them proud. A man is apt to say, “Dear me, these people are afraid I shall be proud; I must have something to be proud of.” Then we say to ourselves, “I will not let them see it”; and we try to keep our pride down, but after all, are as proud as Lucifer within. I find that the proudest and most self-righteous people are those who do nothing at all, and have no shadow of pretence for any opinion of their own goodness. The old truth in the book of Job is true now. You know in the beginning of the book of Job it is said, “The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were feeding beside them.” That is generally the way in this world. The oxen are ploughing in the church — we have some who are labouring hard for Christ — and the asses are feeding beside them, on the finest livings and the fattest of the land. These are the people who have so much to say about self-righteousness. What do they do? They do not do enough to earn a living, and yet they think they are going to earn heaven. They sit down and fold their hands, and yet they are so reverently righteous, because truly they sometimes dole out a little in charity. They do nothing, and yet boast of self-righteousness. And with Christian people it is the same. If God makes you laborious, and keeps you constantly engaged in his service, you are less likely to be proud of our self-righteousness than you are if you do nothing. But at all times there is a natural tendency to it. Therefore, God has written the law, that when we read it we may see our faults; that when we look into it, as into a mirror, we may see the impurities in our flesh, and have reason to abhor ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, and still cry to Jesus for mercy. Use the law in this fashion, and in no other.

      10. And now, one says, “Sir, are there any here that you have been preaching at?” Yes; I like to preach at people. I do not believe it is of any avail to preach to people; preach right into them and right at them. I find in every circle a class, who say, in plain English, “Well, I am as good a father as is to be found in the parish; I am a good tradesman; I pay twenty shillings to the pound; I am no Sir John Dean Paul; {a} I go to church, or I go to chapel, and that is more than everyone else does; I pay my subscriptions — I subscribe to the infirmary; I say my prayers; therefore, I believe I stand as good a chance of heaven as anyone else in the world.” I do believe СКАЧАТЬ