Isaiah 51:2-3
“Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.”
“For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
The second verse contains my actual text. It is the argument by which faith
is led to look for the blessings promised in the third verse.
It is habitual with some persons to spy out the dark side of every question
or fact: they fix their eyes upon the "waste places," and they study them
till they know every ruin, and are familiar with the dragons and the owls.
They sigh most dolorously that the former times were better than these, and
that we have fallen upon most degenerate days. They speak of "shooting
Niagara," and of all sorts of frightful things. I am afraid that a measure of
this tendency to write bitter things dwells in almost all of us at this
present season, for certain discouraging facts which cannot be ignored are
pressing heavily upon men's spirits. The habit of looking continually towards
the wildernesses is injurious because it greatly discourages; and anything
that discourages an earnest worker is a serious leakage for his strength.
Perhaps a worse result than honest discouragement comes of depressing views,
for they often afford an apology for indifference and inaction. The smallest
peg suffices to hang an excuse upon when we are anxious to escape from the
stern service of faith. "I pray thee have me excused," is a request which was
supported in the parable by the flimsiest of pretences, and discouragement
makes one of the same sort. The sluggard's argument is on this wise,-"I will
not attempt the work, for it is far too heavy for my poor strength. I fear
the times are ill adapted to any special effort; indeed, I am not quite
certain that success will ever attend the general work." It is therefore a
dreadful thing when the Christian church begins to be discouraged, and means
must be used to stay the evil. Such means we would use this day. Lo, we lift
the standard of the divine promise. "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,"
sounds out like a silver trumpet in the front of the host. Be encouraged, O
ye of the faint heart; there are no more difficulties now than there were of
old. The cause is no more in jeopardy than it was a thousand years ago. The
result, the end, the consummation of all things is absolutely certain: it is
in his hand who cannot fail, therefore be of good courage, and in waiting
upon the Lord renew your strength.
Remember, ye that are cast down, that there are other voices besides those of
the bittern and owl from the "waste places." My text has near to it twice,
nay, three times, "HEARKEN TO ME." You have listened long enough to dreary
suggestions from within, to gloomy prophecies from desponding friends, to the
taunts of foes, and to the horrible whisperings of Satan: now hearken to him
who promises to make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden
of the Lord.
O ye whose eyes are quick to discover evil, there are other sights in the
world besides waste places and deserts, and hence my text hath near to it
twice over the exhortation, "LOOK"-"Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn";
"Look unto Abraham your father." Why should your eyes for ever ache over
desolations? Probably you have seen as much in the wilderness as you are ever
likely to see there. It does not take long to discover all the treasures and
comforts of the burning sand; you have probably discovered them all by now.
As for the discomforts and wants of the desert, you are perhaps as well
acquainted with them as you need to be. Gaze no longer at the thirsty land
and the burning sky; turn your eye where the finger of the Lord points by his
word. If we enquire what it is that the Lord would have us observe, he
answers, "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you"; for
there we may find comfort. O for the presence of the Holy Spirit, that the
word may be full of the dew of heaven to refresh our souls.
I. We shall first look towards Abraham that we may see in him THE ORIGINAL OF
GOD'S ANCIENT PEOPLE, the foundation stone, as it were, of the dispensation
by which God blessed the former ages. In Judah was God known, his name was
great in Israel: let us look to the rock whence Israel and Judah were hewn.
We observe, first, that the founder of God's first people was called out of a
heathen family. "Your fathers," says Joshua, "dwelt on the other side of the
flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and they served other
gods." Abraham, the founder of the great system in which God was pleased to
reveal himself for so long a time, and to whose seed the oracles of God were
committed, was a dweller in Ur of the Chaldees, the city of the moon-god. We
cannot tell to what extent he was actually engrossed in the superstition of
his fathers, but it is certain that the family was years afterwards tainted
with idolatry; for in Jacob's day the teraph was still venerated, and Rachel
stole her father's images. Abraham, therefore, was called out from the place
of his birth, and from the household to which he belonged, that in a
separated condition, as a worshipper of the one God, he might keep the truth
alive in the world. Recollect, then, that the first man from whom sprang that
wondrous nation which God hath not even yet cast away was originally himself
an idolater, and had to be called out of his sinful state by effectual grace.
Why, then, might not the Lord, if the cause of truth were this day reduced to
its utmost extremity, again raise up a church out of one man? If an almost
universal apostasy should hide the divine light, could he not kindle a torch
among the heathen, and by its light illuminate the earth again? He could call
out another Abraham, and bless him and increase him, and achieve the whole of
his eternal purposes if all of us should sleep in the dust, and the visibly
organised church of to-day should pass away as the snow of winter at the
advent of spring. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is he not able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham? As to anything like discouragement,
it ought to vanish at the thought that not only out of your Sunday-schools,
your colleges, and your pulpits can God raise up leaders for his church, but
he can find them in the very centre of heathenism. Where Satan's seat is,
even there can the Lord raise up advocates for his cause. The thick darkness
of superstition shall not prevent the chosen one from seeing the light,
neither shall the bondage of sin hold back the captive from finding freedom
and proclaiming it to others.
"Ah," you say, "but men are not called now, as Abraham was, by miraculous
calls from heaven." I reply,-The statement may be true; but God's visible
means of calling men are now so many that there can seldom be need of
miracle. The Lord can by his Spirit make one of the millions of Bibles
scattered over the world to be as powerful a means of call as though he had
sent an angel from heaven; yea, a solitary leaf of a printed tract, if wafted
by the wind, or carried by the wave, may be borne where God shall bless it to
the calling forth of a champion ordained of old to do great exploits. Where
ordinary means are so plentiful wisdom resorts not to signs and wonders.
Miracles were of admirable use while they were necessary; but now that they
are no longer required the prudence of God forbids an extravagant display of
the supernatural. Now that the word of God is scattered "thick as leaves in
Valambrosa" everywhere by willing and ready hands, what need can there be of
voices of the day or visions of the night? The same Spirit who called Abraham
by a supernatural voice can call others by the word of truth. Instead of
regarding it as a prodigy that a man should be unexpectedly called out from
among the heathen I look for it, and shall not be surprised to hear that in
the remoter provinces of China, or in the centre of Thibet, or in the
recesses of Africa men have been raised up to found churches for our Lord
Jesus. God can through the printed page or by hints and rumours passed from
hand to hand convey enough instruction to call out more Abrahams and bless
them, and increase his kingdom by them. "Omnipotence hath servants
everywhere." Let us never dream that the God of Abraham is short of means for
calling out chosen men to build up his church. Surely Christian people should
never doubt the power of God to raise up lights in dark places when we
remember that the greatest preacher of the gospel, namely, the apostle Paul,
was drafted into the army of Christ from the ranks of his direst foes. The
proud Pharisee, a fanatic of the fanatics, embittered against Christ, and
persecuting his people, became the earnest advocate of Christ Jesus.
Aforetime his breath was threatening and slaughter, yet on the road to
Damascus he was conquered and transformed. As a lion roareth over his prey,
so did Paul rejoice that the saints in Damascus were now in his power; but
the Lord struck him down, and turned the lion to a lamb, and henceforth where
sin abounded grace did much more abound. First in the ranks of Christian
heroes stands the man who called himself the chief of sinners because he
persecuted the church of God. My brethren, as Luther came from among the
monks, so out of Rome, yea, from the Vatican itself, can God, if he wills,
call another Luther. The darkness of the times cannot forbid it, for God is
Light. The weakness of the church cannot hinder it, for all power belongeth
unto God. There may not be among us to-day one whom God will so greatly
honour as to make him a spiritual father of nations; but there may be such a
one in the courts of Whitechapel or in the rookeries of St. Giles. The
Christ, who was himself called the Galilean, despises no place or people. Our
king is not particular as to the mine from which he digs his gold. The great
seeker of precious souls full often finds his purest pearls in the deepest
and the blackest waters. Take this, then, for encouragement, ye who tremble
for the ark of God: he can build up a spiritual house for himself out of dark
quarries, and find cedars for his temple in forests untraversed by the feet
of missionaries.
"Ah," say you, "but Abraham was naturally a man of noble mould. Where do you
find such a princely spirit as his?" I answer, Who made him? He that made him
can make another like him. There is a grace of God which goes before what we
are accustomed to call saving grace: I mean a grace of God which, in the
creating of the nature, makes it a fit instrument for the grace which is
after to be bestowed. By such sovereign favour one man is from his birth
endowed with a superior mind and character, being adorned, even as a natural
man, with much that is excellent in its own order. How often do you see among
certain men of the world a generosity, honesty, open-heartedness, and
nobility of disposition which are not grace, but which mark men out as fit to
be leaders in all that is good when grace calls them into the divine service?
The Lord can just as soon make a man after the type of Abraham as after any
other type; and doubtless he has such in store even now, to whom his call
will yet come. We may expect to see men of strong convictions converted into
believers who "stagger not at the promise through unbelief." From among
priests and pagans we may hope that the Lord will raise up pillars for his
church. Is not this hope encouraged in your breasts as you "Look unto Abraham
your father, and unto Sarah that bare you"?
Look again and observe that Abraham was but one man. Do not be startled at
the sound which seems to have such terrors for certain brethren. I have heard
the cant of those who object to a "one-man ministry," a ministry to which all
the while they usually submit in their own meetings; but to my ear there is
music, and not terror, in the term "a one-man ministry." I bless God that all
my hope of salvation hangs upon the divine ministry of the One Man. Is not
Christ, as the servant of God, the very pattern of all ministries which are
of God? Working out the Father's eternal purpose by a life which was
necessarily unique in many points, he trod the wine-press alone; in this,
however, he causes many of his people to have fellowship with him, even as in
the case of Paul, who says, "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all
men forsook me." I am bold also to say that the Lord has as a rule wrought
more nobly by one man than by bands and corporations of men. He in whose seed
all nations are blessed was but one. "I called him," saith he, "alone, and
blessed him, and increased him." Nor is this a solitary instance. When the
earth was utterly corrupt God conserved the race by a solitary preacher of
righteousness, who prepared an ark for the saving of his house. See how one
Joseph saved whole nations from famine, and one Moses brought out a race from
bondage. Who was there to keep Israel right when Moses fell on sleep but the
one man Joshua? What were the prosperous times in the era of the Judges but
days when one man was to the front as a leader? When all the rest hid away in
dens and caves, some Barak or Gideon, or Jephthah, or Samson came boldly
forward and delivered Israel. One man, standing like a figure at the head of
many ciphers, soon headed victorious thousands, through faith in God. What
was there but one man in the days of David? The Philistines had still
triumphed over the land if the one lad had not brought back Goliath's head,
and if the one man had not again and again smitten the uncircumcised in the
name of the Lord. Beloved, if we should ever be reduced, as we shall not be,
to one man, yet by one man will God preserve his church, and work out his
great purposes. I hope we shall never go into our chamber, and shut to the
door, and cry with Elias, "I only am left, and they seek my life!" No, my
brother, there are more faithful men in this world than you. The Lord has yet
reserved to himself his thousands that have not bowed the knee to Baal. We
are this day, not one man, but many, and we all desire to live for the glory
of God, and for the spread of his gospel; but if our hosts were so diminished
that we could be numbered by a little child upon his fingers, still there
would be no excuse for dismay, for the God of Abraham still liveth, even he
who created a people to his praise by one man, of whom he says, "I called him
alone, and blessed him, and increased him."
Think, my brethren, of the power for good or evil which may be enshrined in a
single human life. What mischievous results may come of one man! One sinner
destroyeth much good, and if there were but one person left who had knowledge
of the ways of vice and the words of blasphemy that one man would suffice to
infect the race with his abominations. If evil be so mighty, is not good with
God in it quite as powerful? We may rightly measure quantities in reference
to many things, but with others it is absurd. It would be ridiculous to
measure the power of fire by the quantity which burns on pour hearth. Give us
fit materials and a single match, and you shall see what fire can do. If
ordinary fire, that may so readily be extinguished, is thus powerful, who
shall venture to measure the power of the fire from heaven, which neither men
nor devils can quench, the fire which fell at Pentecost, and burns among us
still. Ye carry fire, ye servants of God; ye work with a heaven-sent force of
boundless energy. Why, therefore, should you despair? If all the lights in
the world were put out except a solitary lamp, there is enough fire in one
wick to kindle all the lamps in the universe. What inch of ground remains for
despair to stand upon?
Furthermore, we are bound to notice that this one man was a lone man. He had
not only to do the work of God, but he had nobody to help him. "I called him
alone." True, he was attended by Lot-a poor miserable lot he was, costing his
noble uncle more trouble than he ever brought him profit. How little did he
maintain or adorn the righteousness which, nevertheless, had saved him; true
type of many a feeble professor in these days. Abraham was not backed by any
society when he crossed the Euphrates and afterwards traversed the desert to
sojourn in Canaan as a pilgrim and a stranger. If ever man was fairly cut
adrift and cast upon the Lord it was the great father of the faithful. He
certainly found no patronage in his onward course save the all-sufficient
patronage of the Lord his God. When he came near to kings it was a source of
trouble to him; it led to contention, and once to war; or else he felt bound
to refuse their offers of gifts, and say as he did to the king of Sodom, "I
will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and I will not take
anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.
"That same boastful sentence might be uttered by the State concerning some
churches that I know of, but not concerning us: may God preserve us, my
brethren, from every desire to come under obligations to earthly
sovereignties, lest, becoming indebted to them, we should be bound to render
suit and service at their bidding, such service being already due to "another
king, one Jesus."
Abraham had no prestige of parentage, rank, or title. If you had looked at
the stately patriarch when he trod the plains of Mamre you would have seen
about him a presence, a calm dignity, a truly regal manner; but that came to
him solely through his faith in God and his communion with heaven. Abraham
was distinguished from other men only by the grace of God. What grander
difference can there be than that which is established by the existence of
faith in the heart? Thus Abraham was in the fullest sense a lone man,
unsupported by any of those outward distinctions which enable some men to do
more than others.
The fulfilment of his calling rested on his loneliness; for he must get away
from his kindred, and wander up and down with his flocks, even as the church
of God now does, dwelling in a strange land, and feeding her flock apart.
When he was alone God blessed Abraham,-"I called him alone, and blessed him,
and increased him." The blessing did not come to him in Charran while he
still had some connection with the old stock; he was not yet become
thoroughly nonconformist, but held in some small degree to the old house at
home, and till the last link was snapped the blessing could not come. And
now, my brother, if in the town or district where you live you seem to lose
all your helpers; if they die one by one, and it seems as if nobody would be
left to you; if even the prayer-meeting fails for want of earnest, pleading
men, still persevere, for it is the lone man that God will bless. "He setteth
the solitary in families." In your present forlorn condition you are learning
sympathy with that lone man in Gethsemane, with that lone man upon the cross,
who there vanquished all your foes. Remember that your enemies are thus
beaten before you encounter them, and therefore you may readily overcome
through the blood of the Lamb. Oh, be not afraid. Thus saith the Lord-"I
called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." Grasp that, ye that
dwell remote from human sympathy. Oh that our missionaries abroad may feel
the rich comfort of this fact; for they full often, like lone sentinels, keep
watch with eyes that long to see a friend. They are separated from
intercourse with brethren, they miss the friendships which tend to comfort
and confirm, but it is God that calls them alone, and he will bless them and
increase them. The purer churches of to-day, standing alone as they do,
because they dare not make unholy alliances with any,-standing alone, I say,
in simple trust in the living Lord-ought not to be afraid with any amazement,
but attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.
Once more, I cannot help asking your attention to the fact that Abraham was
not only a man called from heathendom, one man, and a lone man; but he was a
man who had to be stripped yet further. The blessing was-"Surely blessing I
will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee," but the manifest
fulfilment of it was not by-and-by. As we have already seen, he must come
away from his kindred and his father's house, and he must dwell in Palestine
till the promised seed was born. But how long he waited for the expected
heir! Twenty, yes, almost thirty years rolled away, and the man Abraham was
ninety years old and nine. He is very old; and yet he is to be blessed with a
son. He must number the full tale of a hundred years before Isaac can be
born. This promised child was to be according to promise, and therefore it
could not be born till nature was recognised as spent. As for Sarah-it was
not possible that she should become a mother at her advanced age, and yet it
must be so, for God had said it.
The believing pair had waited on till in an evil hour Sarah suggested a
desperate attempt to fulfil the promise, in which she still firmly believed.
That artifice broke down; it was a part of the divine plan that it should do
so. The covenant promise was not to the seed after the flesh. When that
scheme had been set aside, the Lord in his own time fulfilled his word.
Joy! joy! in the house of Abraham and Sarah. What a feast there was that
Isaac was born, filling the house with laughter. But he must die! "Get thee
up," said God, "and take thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and
offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell
thee of." The grand old man will do it. He will get up early in the morning,
and the father and the son will journey together silently; for the aged heart
is too full to talk. He believes God, and is sure that even if he should
actually slay his son at God's command the promise would somehow be kept.
Abraham could not tell how, but it was no business of his to tell how; he was
fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform. God had
said to him "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," and he believed that God
could raise Isaac from the dead, or in some other way achieve the promise.
Thus he grasped the resurrection. He laid hold on a truth which was deeper
than he knew of: by his faith he realised resurrection for Isaac though as
yet the Lord Jesus had not shown the way by his own rising from the dead.
What a stripping Abraham had endured! Who can describe what would have been
the wretchedness of that aged parent if it had not been for his faith! Men
intensely love the children of their old age. See how a grandchild is fondled
by his grandsire, and thus must Isaac have been loved of Abraham and yet he
must die by his father's own hand. Oh, most miserable among the miserable
must he have been who stood there on Mount Moriah, called to such a duty, his
heart breaking while his soul obeyed. Such, doubtless, would have been the
case had not faith been his stay. Look, then, to Abraham your father, and say
is he not the greatest of men, the grandest human representative of the great
Father God himself, who in the fullness of time spared not his own Son, but
freely delivered him up for us all? Likest to God among mortal men art thou
Abraham, and therefore well mightest thou be his friend! In thy trial brought
to such a stripping we may yet envy thee as we hear the Lord saying, "Now
know I that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son from me." Now, if in all these trials Abraham was yet blessed, and
God's purposes were accomplished in him, can we not believe that the same God
can work by us also, despite our downcastings and humiliations? When we are
utterly broken and crushed may not the Lord's strength be made perfect in our
weakness? Let us not question the promise because of our personal deadness
and inability, but believe God without wavering, for he hath said, "My grace
is sufficient for thee."
Now, brothers and sisters, here is the sum and substance of this first head
of my discourse: in looking to the rock whence we are hewn, we have to see
the Lord working the greatest results from apparently inadequate causes. This
teaches us to cease from calculating means, possibilities, and probabilities,
for we have to deal with God, with whom all things are possible. Almighty God
can assuredly do whatever he says he will do. Who is to hinder him? Let the
voice ring out over all the earth, and let it be heard in hell itself-who
shall stay the arm of God when he wills to achieve a thing? He fears no
opposition, and he needs no help. Of what did he make the world? With whom
took he counsel? Who instructed him? And, if all the things that are have
been spoken into existence by God alone, by his mere word, can he not yet
build up his church, even if on her earthly side there should seem to be no
material with which to raise her walls? Consider creation and remark what God
hath wrought. See how all the millions of mankind have sprung from a single
pair, because God blessed them in the beginning. But I must not multiply
illustrations from nature or from history, for they rise spontaneously before
your own minds. Refresh your faith by a reference to our own island history.
If you would firmly believe in the conversion of the heathen remember what
your fathers were when bloody rites were performed in the oak woods or amid
the huge monoliths of Stonehenge. The Druidic system was as cruel and
degrading as any that now curses a savage people; but the heralds of Jesus
conquered. Where are the gods of the Druids now? Who reverences the golden
sickle and the sacred oak? The thing is gone, as though it never had been.
Why, then, should not other evil idolatries pass away? Look again at the
triumph of Protestantism in this country. What was it at first? A thing
utterly despised and hunted down. The stakes of Smithfield cannot be
forgotten by those who dwell so near the spot. Yet, despite all, the gospel
of God triumphed, and rood, and pyx, and image were broken in contempt. Let
the days of the Puritans, the palmy days when God was known in England, tell
how thoroughly Bible truth won the victory. Why not again? Why not
everywhere? If you desire another illustration, look at our own body of
Christians? History has hitherto been written by our enemies, who never would
have kept a single fact about us upon the record if they could have helped
it, and yet it leaks out every now and then that certain poor people called
Anabaptists were brought up for condemnation. From the days of Henry II. to
those of Elizabeth we hear of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all
men for the truth's sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women,
with their garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the
cold, and anon of others who were burnt at Newington for the crime of
Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known of, these horrible
Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the "one Lord,
one faith, and one baptism." No sooner did the visible church begin to depart
from the gospel than these men arose to keep fast by the good old way. The
priests and monks wished for peace and slumber, but there was always a
Baptist or a Lollard tickling men's ears with holy Scripture, and calling
their attention to the errors of the times. They were a poor, persecuted
tribe. The halter was thought to be too good for them. At times ill-written
history would have us think that they died out, so well had the wolf done his
work on the sheep. Yet here we are, blessed and multiplied; and Newington
sees other scenes from Sabbath to Sabbath. As I think of your numbers and
efforts, I can only say in wonder-What a growth! As I think of the multitudes
of our brethren in America, I may well say, What hath God wrought? Our
history forbids discouragement. Never cause more hopeless once; none more
hopeful to-day! It matters little what may yet happen, the cause is safe.
What if all our Baptist organisations expire! What if but one man should be
left faithful to the old banner, our Captain would yet triumph gloriously,
for he saveth not by many nor by few. Though all else faileth, the Lord shall
reign for ever and ever. This is the lesson which, I pray, we may all of us
learn, and then, by faith, go forth to act upon it.
II. With great brevity, I shall dwell for a moment upon the second point,
namely-THE MAIN CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS CHOSEN MAN. The text says, "Look unto
Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you," and it must mean,-
consider him and see what he was, that you may learn from him. You perceive
at once that his grand characteristic was his faith. In this faith many other
most brilliant qualities are comprehended, but his faith lay at the bottom of
all. Here is his epitaph:-"Abraham believed God." That was a mainspring of
all his acts, the glory of his life, "Abraham believed God." The men that God
will work by, whatever else they have not, must have faith in God. Though it
is to be desired that the believer should have every mental and moral
qualification, yet it is astounding how, if there be real faith, a multitude
of imperfections are swallowed up, and the man is still a power. I would
mention Samson as an extreme case. He was the feeblest of men, and the least
fitted to be a judge in Israel; but oh, what faith! And what wonders it
achieved! A thousand men! He is like a child in his belief that God is with
him. He never calculates at all; it is all the same to him whether there are
a thousand or one. He flings himself upon the host, and has slain them before
we can realise the deadly odds. A sword; no, he has no sword: an old jawbone
of an ass is quite enough for an arm which God strengthens. See how he smites
them, hip and thigh, till they lie in heaps before him. I do not suppose that
it would have signified to Samson if there had been a million Philistines:
with a thousand to one, a man is so thoroughly outnumbered that numbers cease
to count. Here was an impossibility before him, and what could be worse.
Brethren, when you do get off your feet, and must swim, you may as well have
fifty fathoms of water beneath you as not, for you can but drown. In the case
of faith, drowning is out of the question, and swimming is good in deep
water, for there is no fear of striking against a rock. Faith glories in
difficulties and infirmities, because the power of God doth rest upon her. If
the work is barely possible to her strength faith hardly likes it; but she
gets into her sphere when in trials far beyond human strength she laughs at
impossibility, and cries, "It shall be done."
Abraham's faith was such that it led him to obedience. He was called to go
out, and he went, not knowing whither he went. His faith through grace led
him to perseverance; for once in God's way he did not leave it, but still
abode a sojourner with God. His faith led him to expectancy; he looked for
the promised seed, and not only for an Isaac but for the Messiah. So clear
was the vision of his expectancy that before his eyes Christ was set forth,
visibly. Did not the Saviour, who knew all things, say, "Abraham saw my day;
he saw it, and was glad"?
The like faith also dwelt in the breast of Sarah; and, as we are told in the
text to look to Sarah as well as Abraham, let us not fail to do so. The faith
of Sarah was not little when she left home with her husband; forsaking her
kith and kin from love to God, and to him whom she called "lord." She acted
as if she had said to the great patriarch, "Where thou goest I will go; where
thou dwellest I will dwell, for thy God is my God." Nor did the trial of her
faith end with the moving, she had to take up with tent-life and all its
inconveniences. It is the woman that knows the discomfort of domestic life
under such circumstances. We never hear that she complained for a moment,
though the cold of winter and the heat of summer are neither of them warded
off by a tent. How readily she entertained her husband's guests. Though they
might drop in at most unseasonable hours, or call her to bake bread in the
heat of the day, she was glad to welcome strangers, for like her husband she
was given to hospitality. I saw you smile, dear friends, when I mentioned
domestic matters; but to me it is the solemnity of faith that men and women
can not only pray and sing, but can put up with household discomforts out of
obedience to God. Certain people look upon faith as a fine, airy, sentimental
thing with which to roam among the stars, anticipate millenniums, and enjoy
yourself in lofty contemplation. I believe far more in a faith which, whether
it eats or drinks, does all to the glory of God; faith which like Sarah
dwells in the tent and works there; faith which is cheerful over a scanty
meal and drives away the fear of want; faith which can come down in life from
the mansion to the cottage, if providence so decrees. From Abraham's
comfortable home at Ur to his gipsy wanderings in Palestine the change must
have been great, but Abraham may not have felt it one half as much as Sarah,
for men can rough it and live out of doors, but the housewife knows all about
it, and great was her Faith that she never raised a question about the
propriety of her husband's course of life: and though she laughed when she
was told that she should bear a son, yet remember that in the eleventh of
Hebrews it is written-"Through faith also Sarah herself received strength."
She was the mother of Isaac, not in the power of the flesh, but through the
energy of faith, therefore look at her as the text bids you.
Christian men and Christian women, mark well this fact-that the
characteristic of the person whom God will bless is that he believes and acts
upon his belief. Without faith it is impossible to please God; but the man of
faith is God's man. And why is this? I answer, because faith is the only
faculty of our spirit which can grasp God's ideal. The greatest man, without
faith, cannot tread in the divine footsteps. The ideas of God are as high
above us as the heavens are above the earth: and therefore it is not by any
fancied vastness of our feeble minds that we can ever rise into fellowship
with God. Faith in the sight of God's thought whispers to herself-"I cannot
understand this great thing, nor need I wish to do so. What is my
understanding? Perhaps I trust to it too much already. I am called to do what
God bids me, without knowing why, and I am glad it is so, for now I can
worship him by bowing before his sovereign will." There is a capacity about
faith for grasping divine promises and purposes, a width, a breadth, a
height, a depth, which can hold the infinite truth as no other power can do.
Love alone can rival it, for it embraces the infinite God himself. With the
far-reaching plans and promises of God faith alone is fit to deal; carnal
reason is altogether out of the lists.
Faith, too, has a great power of reception, and therein lies much of her
adaptation to the divine purpose. Self-confidence, courage, resolution, cool
reasoning, whatever else they are good at, are bad at humbly receiving. Those
vessels which are full already are of no use as receivers; but faith presents
her emptiness to God, and opens her mouth that God may fill it. Mercy needs
not a jewel, but a casket into which to put her gems, and faith is exactly
what she wants.
Then, again, faith always uses the strength that God gives her. Pride would
vapour with it, and doubt would evaporate it; but faith is practical, and
economically uses the talent entrusted to her. Faith has already spent all
her own strength, and she so yearns to achieve her purposes that she uses all
the power that God will lend her. Faith eats her manna and leaves not a
morsel for worms to breed in.
Faith, too, can wait the Lord's time and place. When faith is weak men are in
a dreadful hurry, but strong faith does not judge the Lord to be slack
concerning his promise. As God achieves his purpose with infinite leisure, he
loves a faith that is patient and looks not for its reward this day or the
next. "He that believeth shall not make haste": that is to say, he shall not
be ashamed or confounded by present trials so as to rush upon unbelieving
actions. Faith leaves times and seasons with God to whom they belong.
God loveth faith and blesseth it too, because it giveth him all the glory.
The true believer will not allow a trace of self-glory to linger on his
hands. "Where is boasting then?" was a question once asked in the house of
faith, and the searchers examined every nook and corner in every chamber to
find it, but they found it not. Then they said to faith, "Where is boasting?"
She answered, "I shut him out." "It is excluded," shut out, and the door
fastened in its face. You do not believe God if you boast of what you are
doing: least of all do you believe if you pride yourself in your faith, for
faith is not mistrustful of her God but of herself. Faith looks to God to
keep her alive as well as to fulfil the promise that he has made to her. This
then is the kind of faith which was characteristic of Abraham, and the
question is, have we got it? Have we so much of it that God can largely bless
us? The comfort is that, if we have it not, the author of faith can give it
to us, and if we have it in scant measure he can increase our faith.
Is not this a solid reason why you and I should take heart? You who do not
believe that missions will succeed; you who readily become discouraged and
discourage others; I beg you go home and seek more faith. We cannot go down
to the battle with such soldiers as you; you do but encumber the host. The
men that lapped are the only ones that Gideon will take to war. Send the
fearful ones to the rear and let them take care of the baggage, so that when
the battle is won they may have a share of the spoil, according to David's
law. For actual service and warfare we must have men of faith. Cromwell found
that when his men came dressed in all sorts of suits and colours they were
apt to injure one another in the melee, and so he put them all in uniform.
The uniform of the Prince Immanuel is faith: no man may call himself a
soldier of the cross who hath it not. This is the victory which overcometh
the world, even your faith. Brother ministers, let us take heed lest we be
found qualified for our ministry in all respects except this one. You have
learning, eloquence, industry, honesty, but do you so believe in God as to
expect his word to act divinely on men's hearts. Do you preach believingly?
Do you pray believingly? I leave the question with you.
III. I have shown you, dear friends, that God effected his purpose, and
raised up a chosen nation out of one man, whose chief characteristic was his
faith: and now I want you to notice OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THAT ONE MAN. I dwelt
upon that while reading the chapter (Romans 4.) There is a relation between
us and Abraham even as Paul assures us in the epistle to the Galatians, "Know
ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham." Something, surely, is expected of the children of such a man as
Abraham. O, for shame, thou unbelieving one! Is Abraham thy father? Art thou
one of the faithful seed? Great mountains are often succeeded by low valleys.
Perhaps that is the case with you; but it should not be so. The natural seed
were cut off because they had no faith, let not those who are grafted in,
think to do without it. It is by faith that you are a son at all. You
disprove your pedigree if you tolerate unbelief. Oh! let nobody find fault
with Abraham through you, and surely they may do so if they find you
staggering. That staggering is a shocking business: staggering at God's
promises is terrible. Abraham staggered not at the promise through unbelief.
May we never dishonour the right noble grace of faith, but so believe that
all men may know Abraham's God to be our God. O for abounding spiritual life,
for the God of Abraham is not the God of the dead but of the living; and we
can only live unto God by faith.
Brethren, because we are the seed of Abraham, the apostle declares that the
blessing of Abraham has come upon us also. I pray that all the friends and
labourers in our Missionary Society may grasp the blessing of Abraham. What
is it? It is a covenant favour that belongs to all who are the servants of
God by faith. Here is the substance of it: "Surely blessing, I will bless
thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee." That is the grand old
covenant promise and it belongs to the church. Note that the blessing is
attended with multiplying. Some friends are afraid of statistics which
represent the increase of the churches; I am far more afraid of those
statistics which will show that we do not increase as we could wish. The
blessing of the church is the increase of the church. The two go together:
"Blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee." How
much are Christians to be multiplied in the world? At the present moment we
do not seem to be increasing as fast as the population. I am afraid that the
number of converted persons relatively to the population is scarcely as great
as it was thirty years ago; we long to be multiplied at a very different rate
from this-and we shall be if we have faith in our God. Hear ye the covenant
word: "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed." These are lines from the covenant,
which is sure to all the seed and can never be broken. We have been called
and blessed, and it is of necessity that we increase also. We are bound to
increase; we are destined to overrun the nations; the Hittites, the Hivites,
the Amorites, of Popery, Mahometanism, and Idolatry are in the land, but
their false systems are utterly to perish. Jesus at the head of his people
shall drive them out-I mean not the men, but their evil beliefs. They may
take notice to quit, for he is coming before whom all men must bow. O that
ere he himself shall appear his spiritual presence in the midst of his church
might suffice for victory, that all mankind might call him blessed. We are
bound to increase, till the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
for us, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Upon the church
in her vigour shall yet descend the blessings of the tribes of Joseph. "His
glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns
of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the
earth." The success of truth is the battle of the Lord, and the increase of
his church is according to his own promise, therefore in quietness we may
possess our souls.
IV. Last of all consider for a minute OUR POSITION BEFORE ABRAHAM'S GOD. Do
not let anything that I have said about Abraham for a moment take your mind
off from the Lord himself, because the pith of it all lies here,-"I called
him alone." Look to Abraham, but only as to the rock from which the Lord
quarried his people:" your main thought must be Jehovah himself. "I, I called
him alone, and blessed him." "I the Lord do all these things." Look unto the
everlasting God who doeth great wonders, and stay yourselves upon him.
Let us joyfully recollect that the Lord our God has not changed, nay, not in
one jot or tittle. He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." There is
so far a change in the revelation of him, that it is brighter now in the
person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than it could have been through
seer and vision; but that should be a motive for increased faith. "His arm is
not shortened that he cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot
hear." This God of Abraham is still almighty, and still in the midst of the
covenanted ones. If the ages that have passed over his awful brow could
wrinkle it and his strength could decay, then might we also decline in our
confidence; but it is not so. He fainteth not, neither is weary. Our
behaviour towards him, therefore, should resemble that of Abraham; and
especially, representing, as we do many of us, the churches of Jesus Christ
as ministers or deacons, we must never dishonour the Lord by unbelief. Doubt
everything but God. Let God be true and every man a liar. This the
everlasting decree which none can change,-Christ must reign; he shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied; the kings of the earth must
bow before him. Do not doubt it, for God hath sworn by his own life that all
flesh shall see his glory. Here is the grand argument for strong faith.
Notice next that the covenant of God has not changed. God hath not recalled
his words, nor taken a pen and struck out his promises from the record. Read
the covenant words, and write them upon the doorposts of your mission-house,
"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This is the
covenant with the one spiritual seed of Abraham, that is the marrow of it,
and it has never been revoked. As I have said before, we read it now in
clearer light, and understand better the fullness of its provisions, but the
covenant is not disannulled. Let us go to God with any one promise of it, and
we can say to him, "This is thy promise in Christ Jesus; and thou hast not
spoken in secret in a dark place and withdrawn thy word and said to the seed
of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain." Such pleading will prevail. He will never
run back from his word. Has he said, and will he not do it? Therefore let us
cry, "Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to
hope."
But there is this also to be added, that this work which we desire the Lord
to do is in some respects even less than that which he has done with Abraham.
What ask we? Not that he should begin with one man to build up a nation, or
create a church? No, but that Zion being builded, he should comfort her, and
cause her waste places to rejoice. The field is the world, and the seed is
ready for the sowing. The gospel is in the hands of those who have the best
means of spreading it. Everything is ready for its ultimate triumph. The
train is laid; we only need the heavenly fire to touch it, and the deed is
accomplished. O that the work of the Lord may be speedily done; that the Lord
may carry on his work of righteousness and make a short work in the earth. I
say that if God has done this greater thing, if he has excavated a nation
from the quarry of Abraham, we may well expect the self-same God to keep his
covenant, to multiply his church, and build her up after the similitude of a
palace. The time to favour Zion, even the set time, has come. Beside that; we
have been already visited by God as Abraham had not been when first he was
called. Abraham had not known the Lord till he called him, but our Sion is
familiar with God, for she is the city of the great king. He dwelleth in our
midst by his Holy Spirit, and holy hymn and prayer rise every day from the
multitudes that fear him. The Lord hath redeemed, and justified, and saved
his people, and surely we may look to him to refresh and revive his heritage.
What marvellous things hath God done on the face of the earth since Abraham's
days!-the stupendous marvel of incarnation, the height and depth of which
none of us can measure; the wondrous work of redemption, the highest,
grandest, divinest achievement of the Deity-all this is done; what may we not
expect after this? You know more of God than Abraham could know; I beseech
you then, trust him, at least up to the level of the patriarch. How shall we
forge an excuse if we do not? What can excuse us if we distrust so glorious a
God.
Brethren, it remains for me only to add this practical word. Let us throw
ourselves more and more upon our God. If you have any work appointed you of
the Lord, and it is within the compass of your strength, shame upon you if
you do not perform it at once; but if it be beyond you, herein will God be
glorified if you do it by his power. If there remaineth no might, wit, or
wisdom in you, if you are deeply conscious of your weakness you are by this
experience made the more fit to be used of the Lord, for when we are weak
then are we strong. If you have confidence in God all things are possible to
him that believeth. Oh, when will the church cast herself upon her God as men
throw themselves into the stream when they mean to swim? They seek no longer
for foothold, their foot leaves the spot whereon it rested, and they throw
themselves trustfully upon the wave. The everlasting ocean of love and power
is ready to upbear us: we shall swim gallantly to shore if we will but trust
this blessed sea of love.
Let us begin to believe God and then let us act in daily life as if we
believed him. The just shall live by faith. Some people have a faith which is
for show, a Sunday faith, faith that cannot bear the wear and tear of every
day life; varnished and gilded, but with no pure metal in it. The faith of
Abraham could lead strings of camels and flocks of sheep away from Haran to
Canaan. His was the faith which could drive the tent-pin into a foreign soil,
or roll up the canvas and seek another unknown halting place. The faith of
Abraham is a faith that saith to wayfaring men, "Turn in, and I will get you
a little water and wash your feet." It is a practical, active, living, week-
day, everyday faith. I will speak very broadly and plainly, and say we need a
bread-and-cheese faith, that is to say, a faith which believes that God who
feeds the ravens will send us our daily bread; a faith which believes that
the heavenly Father who clothes the lilies will much more clothe his
children; the faith that can believe God about the things that are actually
around it, and that does not live in the region of fiction. See how God
blessed Abraham with flocks and herds, and everything temporal as well as
spiritual, because he walked in reference to these things along the line of
faith; gave Lot his choice of pasturage, refused the offer of the king of
Sodom, and resolutely paid the children of Heth the full price for the cave
and the field. If we walk by faith in business life God may not in every case
bless us with abundance of temporal mercies, but assuredly we shall be
blessed. He may send us adversity, and poverty, but in these things faith is
more than conqueror, glorying in tribulations also.
In the Lord's work of evangelising the world you must have a downright,
practical faith; not a faith that will sing when the organ begins to play,
and then be so busy fumbling the hymn paper as to forget the collection: not
the faith of those who boast of Carey, and Marshman, and Knibb, but whose own
names never appear in the subscription list for a single shilling: not a
faith which sings-
"Fly abroad thou mighty Gospel."
but never lends a bit of down to make a feather for its wings.
Let us hear the scripture, as it says, "Hearken! "If you have faith as a
grain of mustard seed, "Hearken!" for you may hear the Sabbath bells ringing
in the everlasting peace, and angel songs welcoming the reign of grace over
all nations. Let the ears of deaf unbelief be unstopped, for the whole earth
echoes with the praises of the Lord. Say not that the day is distant.
Hearken! Let faith be the listener, and she will hear across the ages which
divide us from the gladsome period. Then shall you listen all day and all
night long for many a year, but never hear the roll of drum or roar of
cannon. Hearken! Ye shall hear from the islands of the sea, and from the once
benighted continents, psalms and hymns, and holy songs, ascending unto the
one Jehovah and to his Christ. Hearken! for ears were never gladdened with
sweeter music.
Then look! till you see the temples of false gods crumbling into dust. See
how the shrines are tottering, and the idols breaking as though smitten with
a rod of iron. Mohammed's crescent wanes, never to wax again; and she, of the
Seven Hills, is hated of the kings, and they burn her with fire. "Come,
behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth!
"Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. They fall! They
fall! They are as the slain. The day breaketh, and the shadows flee away. O
ye watchers that look for the dawning, fall not asleep through sorrowful
weariness. The morning cometh. It shall not tarry. Do you doubt it? Know ye
not that the Lord reigneth? Is he not the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle. "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." If you
doubt it, dissolve your Missionary Society, and do not pretend to do a work
in which you have no faith; but if you believe in the triumph of God's work,
and that you are called to it, behave worthily to so divine an enterprise.
God do so to you as you deal with him in this matter. Amen.
https://www.biblebb.com/
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento