GOD'S GREAT GIFT AND SURE TOKEN

by JOHN WARBURTON - Preached in London on Lord's day morning and evening, December 25th, 1842

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

What a blessed and precious truth this is for you who can do nothing, think nothing, desire nothing, and have nothing that is good except what God gives! What a mercy it is that you have nothing to do! "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" So you see it is all couched in it, all is tied in it, all is fastened in it, and all is complete in it.

I. The characters who are mentioned as, "us all."

II. The apostle tells us here that, "God spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all."

III. He tells us that with Him He freely gives us, "all things."

I. With respect to the persons included in the words, "us all," it is very evident that the apostle does not mean all Adam's posterity. It is very evident that all Adam's posterity have not all good things given to them. There are tens of thousands who are ignorant of God, who go on to fill up the measure of their iniquity, and who will be damned at last for their sin. The Lord has described the persons contained in this word, "us." He has set them forth in the Scriptures as His own nation, His people, His kingdom, His inheritance. Thus David says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD," (Ps. 33:12). There is a nation which God owns as His nation, and of which He is King and Lord. "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion," (Ps. 2:6). How striking is that petition of David, "Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people; O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thy inheritance," (Ps: 106:4,5). I do not think that David meant literally the kingdom of Israel; but God's peculiar people amongst them, a spiritual nation. The apostle Peter completely opens this up; as the mouth of God he says, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light," )1 Pet. 2:9).

Those mentioned by the apostle as, "us," are set forth as an holy nation. Not holy in their fallen nature; for there are no people on the face of the earth who are so sensible of their unworthiness as His holy nation. There are no people on the earth who groan, being burdened, as do this holy nation. None have such a hateful sense of their unworthiness, of their unholiness. Their cry is, from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot, we are nothing, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. We are altogether as an unclean thing. But they are an holy nation in the Lord. They are perfect through His comeliness, which He has put upon them.

What a blessed book is the Bible, when the Comforter who has sweetly penned it, opens it up to our souls, and blesses us, the, "us," of our text, with a sweet faith and an understanding heart, and leads us into the holiness of Christ, the perfection of beauty! Here Christ's people are all holy; here they stand as perfect as their God. "I in them, and thou in me; that we may be perfect in one," (John 17:23). This nation is a holy nation internally, in their hearts; not internally as to their fleshly natures. O no! I have been in the way six or seven and forty years. I thought I should get better as I proceeded. I wanted to live in peace more; I wanted to feel my mind more with God; I wanted to have the world more under my feet; I wanted to feel this cursed troop of iniquity put down and weakened. Instead of that, I think it gets, to my feelings, stronger and stronger. So that when I come to feel at times the depravity that is within, I stagger and say, "Can ever God dwell in such a heart as this?" But if there was not a holy kingdom in the heart, we should never come to hate this unholiness; neither I, nor you. Come, if your heart is, to your feeling, as black as the devil can make it; if it is rambling, at times, upon every forbidden object, and you grieve at it, and it is a burden to you, and you want God to deliver you from it, there is holiness in your heart, a holy kingdom of righteousness. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh;" and these two opposites cause that you cannot do the things that you would, (Gal. 5:17). But this holy nation has holy desires of living to God to His glory; so they are a holy nation. This is true of all contained in this word, "us."

The apostle says the Lord's people are a peculiar people. They are a nation with which no other nation is to be compared of all the nations on the face of the earth. They have a peculiar language. No nation is like them. They are loved with a peculiar love that has no beginning and no end. It has height; but there is no top to be found to it. It is a depth; but it has no bottom. When the child of God, one of these, "us," is sometimes sinking into such depths that he feels he must give all up; when he sinks, and sinks, and is afraid he is going into despair, it is not so; he is only sinking into the love that is beneath. He drops into the everlasting arms; and love raises him up, and gives him such a sweet testimony of everlasting mercy, that he hears the words: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. 31:3). Is not this love very peculiar? And has it not very peculiar effects when the soul feels it? He loves his God; he loves the ways of God; he loves the truth of God; he loves the people of God; he loves all that is of God; and he loves everything that is to the honour of God. So peculiar is this love, when this holy nation feels it, that it can bear any calumny, any insult, any reproach that can be offered. When love is treated with contempt, it returns kindness, and thus heaps fire upon the heads of the adversaries. It is such a peculiar love that no one can understand it but these who are here styled, "us;" these alone. If you have ever had a taste of it, ever had a sweet drop of it, it will bear you through every storm.

Sometimes God describes these persons. It is always best to have God's description. There is no need of a fine language of flesh and blood to set forth Scripture, for it sets itself forth. I have heard persons sometimes attempt to make a text of Scripture shine by their paraphrasing it; but, it is God's Word which makes us to shine, and God will have the honour and glory of opening it up Himself. The Lord has set forth these, "us," as His city. We say of such a person naturally that he is a citizen of such a city, as distinguished from others. We ask a man, Where do you come from? and he replies, "I am a citizen of such a city, there I was born, and there I dwell." Now, God tells us He has chosen Jerusalem the city of truth. God said of literal Jerusalem, the city in the land of Judaea, that it was the place where His name should be. "Jerusalem is a city compacted together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord." This was the case literally with the Jews. At stated times in the year they traveled up to Jerusalem from every part for their yearly feasts. God says in reference to these, the, "us," of our text: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people....Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her." Do not mutter; do not come as if you had nothing of importance to speak about to Jerusalem; "cry unto her;" and tell her, "that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received at the LORD'S hand double for all her sins," (Isa. 40:1,2). Now, what city was that which David spoke of when he said, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God?" (Ps. 46:4) And again, he says, "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God;" (Ps. 87:3) Isaiah refers to the same when he says, "And they shall call them the holy people, The redeemed of the LORD; and thou shalt be called, Sought out, a city not forsaken," (Isa. 62:12). The Lord Jesus tells us His people are a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid (Matt. 5:14); and the apostle opens it up, and sweetly clenches the grand truth that these, "us," are God's city, when he says that they are, "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," (Eph. 2:19).

So these blessed ones are citizens of God's city, fellow-citizens with the household of faith, citizens of the city where God the King reigns and rules. Aye, and what an immutable city it is! All the arts of the devil can never overthrow it, for God has walled it round with salvation. Its foundation is immutable; it is fixed upon a rock. The King eternal, immortal, invisible (1 Tim. 1:17), with all His glory, dwells in this city, and protects it on the right hand and on the left. What a mercy it is that you and I are amongst its citizens!

But again. God has described these included in this little word, "us," as His household; that is, as His own children. Here the word, "us," will particularly apply to a family. All the family were conceived in and brought forth out of one womb, that of the eternal covenant; and what a sweet and precious view this gives of this word, "us." The babes, the children, the young men, and the grown-up in the family, they are all contained in it. I am often brought into the spot of a little babe, when I cannot, dare not, say, "Father." But the little babes do belong to the family. If they cannot talk they can cry. When babes are cold or hungry, or in pain, they will cry; and when the parents hear them cry, everything must be put on one side to attend to them, to find out what is the matter. Though the child cannot say Father, yet it belongs to the, "us;" it is one of the family, and its complaint will be heard.

There may be some little babe here today. Let me ask you, would you not think those strange sorts of beings who would turn a baby out of doors merely because it could not talk? If you can only cry to God to save, confessing that you are a poor sinner, and cannot save yourself; if you can only cry to God to support you because you cannot support yourself; if you can only cry to God to lift up the light of His countenance upon you because you cannot live without it; He will own you by and by. It is God who must help the stammerer to speak plainly. No one can come and loose their tongues and teach them to cry, 'My Lord and my God,' but Himself. Poor Thomas! What a striking proof did he afford of this, when he told the disciples that he would not believe except he should see the print of the nails, and thrust his fingers into the Lord's side. Jesus came into the midst of them, and said to Thomas, "Come, Thomas, reach hither thy hand. Here are My hands, Thomas, and here is My side. Here is the place where the spear entered; come, try it, Thomas." "My Lord," exclaimed Thomas, "and my God!" (John 20:26-28). O! my friends, when the anointing, the holy unction comes in upon the soul, with what plainness of speech does the soul express itself!

These contained in this word, "us," are God's household. They are all born of God; they all live at the same table of God; they are all taught the same language; they are all clothed with the same clothing; they are all brought to have the same feelings; and all have the same teachings from God, and as a family they know each other's language. Thus the apostle tells us that they are of the household of God. And Isaiah says. "All thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children," (Isa. 54:13). Hereby they know each other. I do not say they are never deceived; but they know each other's language, and there is something of such a nature in it that if they have never seen each other's faces before, they can talk about the things of God to each other's hearts. They are of the same family, and talk about the same things.

II. But let us notice, in the second place, the kindness of God in freely giving His beloved Son for us. "He spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all! (Rom. 8:32). What grace, what boundless love, what mysteries of immortal glory are wrapped up in this gift! Can we wonder at the angelic host singing so melodiously in the air, that they astonished the shepherds with their grand music? I have thought sometimes I should have liked to have been there, to have heard it. But there will be still grander music, in heaven by and by. We are to sing with golden harps. Perhaps you say you cannot sing at all. Ah! If you can sing in your heart of the riches of God's grace, to the riches of His honour, you will sing upon a golden harp to the honour of the riches of His grace. The angels cry out in their song, "Glory to God in the highest." What is the highest? Why, was it not a great height to sing the glory of God in creation? The glory of God in stretching out the heavens as a curtain, in fixing the sun as the grand bridegroom in it; in planting the stars in their glorious lustre; the ten thousand million worlds which exceed all human knowledge to comprehend? Is not this the highest? O no! What then? Is not this glory to God in the highest, that God should speak particles of dust into man, that He should join particles of dust into a machine with eyes, nose, ears, hands, fingers, legs, and veins, so that it baffles the greatest men to open its deep mysteries? Was not this the highest praise of God? David praised God for this when he said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made; and that my soul knoweth right well," (Ps. 139:14). But the angels sang glory to God in the highest; the top, the grand immortal top of all glories, that are worthy of the glory of a God, even, "peace on earth, and good will towards men," (Lk. 2:14). Why, how can that be? In this Babe of Bethlehem which was laid in the manger was the Mighty God, equal with the Father. Oh! My friends, what a glory! What immortal grandeur and glory was wrapped up in this Babe! The infant who was carried by His mother as a babe, and swaddled and nursed, had the whole creation at His own disposal.

Here is the grand display of glory. In giving up His best beloved Son, every perfection of the divine nature meets and is glorified. We who are included in this word, "us," are saved with an everlasting salvation. Sin was completely abolished, and put an end to; the devil was conquered; death subdued; every particular of God's grand perfection shining with unsullied glory. It is, "glory to God in the highest," aye, and, "peace on earth and goodwill to men." What an immortal and blessed song it appears when we come to look at the grand work which He who was equal with the Father had to do, and for which He was given!

"He spared not his own Son." He spared him not? He inflicted all the punishment, the penalties, the wrath, the vengeance that was due to us upon Him, that we might be saved with an everlasting salvation. Here is the grand immortal glory; that as the Bondsman, though equal with the Father, and the brightness of the Father's glory, He suffered for our sins, as the apostle says, according to the Scriptures; and He sat down at the right hand of the Father, full of majesty and glory.

"He that spared not his own Son." If you come to look at Gethsemane's garden, He was not spared. There He was in an agony. He sweat great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Not for His own sin, my friends; but for the sins of His people, which the Father had willingly put upon Him, and the Son had willingly received. Blessed be His holy Name! He suffered the just for the unjust, and brought in an everlasting righteousness, wherein His church is complete for evermore in Him.

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all," so that the blessed ones He died for might be sheltered in Him, and delivered out of every probability and possibility of damnation, and brought him to God with joy and peace, and glorify Him for the riches of His grace. The apostle Paul says, "I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Now, the apostle does not like some, refer men to this man's opinion, and that man's opinion; but he says, "I delivered unto you first of all that which I received." What was received? Why, the truth of the atonement, of the death of Christ, and His completely finished work. "I received." How received? Why, he tells us when he is giving an account of the state he had formerly been in, of what a persecutor or the church of God he had been, how he hated the Lord Jesus Christ, how holy he thought he was. He says he had letters from the chief priests to go to Damascus, and there to bring judgment on all those that called on the name of the Lord Jesus. But as he came near Damascus, we read, suddenly there shined a light round about him, a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" He then tells us he was struck blind, and led into the city, and for three days and three nights he neither ate nor drank. Then God appears unto Ananias in a vision, and tells him to go to one of his poor servants, Saul of Tarsus, for says God, "Behold, he prayeth." Poor Ananias! He was flesh, and like us all, and he said, "Lord, I have heard that this man is an enemy, that he is persecuting Thy people, and that he has come here to take us all to prison." He was therefore afraid to go; but the Lord said unto him, "Go thy way; for his is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles." So Ananias goes, full of joy and full of peace; and, entering into the house, says, "Brother Saul," Brother! See how the feeling comes home, that he is one of the, "us," of our text. "God sends me to thee with a message. God has a work for thee to do." Divine power entered into the heart of Saul; he received the blood of Christ into his conscience. He had the testimony, not only in the Scriptures, but in his own heart. Then he arose from the earth, and ate and drank, and was baptized in the name of Christ.

So, the apostle Paul went to others with a message he had received when he testified of the sufferings of Christ, and that they had accomplished their grand end; that He gave Himself for us, died for us, and wrought out for us complete redemption. He did not go with the message without having the preciousness of it in his heart. What a difference there is between a man hearing of these things, and knowing them by experience! A man may bring forward text after text in support of his views, and the people may remain as cold as winter, his words having no more power on the people's hearts than they have upon the pews in which they are sitting. But it is very different if a man has been where Paul was, three days, and three nights, as it were, in the belly of hell. "Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men. He could testify that Christ had completed His grand work, for he had the testimony of it in his heart.

The apostle says, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Christ was not spared. He completed redemption; He suffered the just for the unjust; brought in eternal peace, and entered into the inheritance; and sits at the right hand of the Father. "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." What a mercy it is that we have a high priest who has entered into the heavens, who needs not, like the high priests of old, to offer his incense again and again; but has for ever put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself! And bless His dear name, He shall come the second time without sin unto salvation, and they that look for Him will surely come to enter into the sweetness and into the glory of His salvation.

Can a child of God be too much here? Says some soul, I only want to be once. If God would but indulge me once with a testimony that Christ died for me, I should be satisfied. You would be satisfied while God blessed you with the enjoyment of it; but when the enjoyment left you, and the devil came, and the storms rose up, you would want it again; and when you had it twice, you would want it a third time. I do really think I have had tokens of it hundreds of times within these forty years; and I confess to you I am as anxious for it as ever. I can never lose the feelings of Jonah when he said, "Yet will I look again unto thy holy temple." It is "once again," whenever the Lord's presence is withdrawn. Whenever we come into darkness and clouds, and temptations and fears, and deaths, it is, "Once again lift up the light of Thy countenance. Once again let me have the blessed knowledge that Thou hast died for me, and that Thy finished work is mine. Will God bless my soul with another testimony of it? O, that I may once again have the enjoyment of it in my heart!"

III. We are now to take notice of what the apostle next says, "How shall he not with him also freely give us all things." This naturally implies that as God has given His beloved Son to be the Bondsman, Head, King, and Brother, all things which are for the glory of God and the good of His people are centered in Christ. Yes, it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell with Him. But I apprehend that we are not to understand that by the all things being freely given unto them, His people will have all the things which they want. The children of God want things which God never gives them and never will give them. Moses wanted to go into the land of Canaan, and it appears that he had often requested that God would let him go into that godly land; but the Lord said to him, "Speak no more unto me of this matter." God would not give way to Moses' wants; but He blessed him with a sight of the land from off mount Pisgah. We find the prophet Samuel, that blessed man of God who was preserved so faithful, honest, and upright, we find that he, too, had wants which God wound not grant. He wanted Saul to be continued king, and wrestled and cried to the Lord, as it would seem, from his very heart; but it was not under the influence of the Spirit of God, it sprang from a natural, fleshly wish that Saul might be continued king. Whatever is desired of God under the influence of the Spirit of God will be granted; but the Spirit of God knows the mind of God, and His influences are always consistent with the will of God. The Lord said unto Samuel, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?" (1 Sam. 16:1).

Have you never wanted things which you have been denied? I have, many scores of times; for I have tried with all my might to persuade God to give me such and such things; but there are many things which I have wanted that I have never had to this day; but I never was denied the one thing needful.

The, "all things," which shall be freely given with Christ, are the things which are really needful, and which are beneficial and profitable, for the honour of God, and for our real good. Every temporal blessing that is really needful will be given. All our fleshly strivings, all our cuttings, and all our carvings, all our frettings and all our murmurings at our position in providence, never alter God's decrees, never move His statutes. There is neither adding to nor diminishing those things in providence which God has fixed for the good of His people and for His own glory. "Take no thought," said Christ, "for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." "Behold the fowls of the air." Look at those creatures; they are fed, they are provided for. "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things," (Matt. 6:32).

There may be a child of God in His presence this evening who is straitened in providence, and reason cannot comprehend what will be the end of it; but it shakes you to the very center. You see no prospect whatever that you will be brought through, or that you will have bread to eat and raiment to put on. Where are you looking for a prospect? Where are your eyes fixed? Say you, "I am looking to my circumstances; I am looking at the means I have, and to see how it will be possible for me to get through." I thought you were not looking at the right place. Why, the wise man's eyes are in his head. What a fool you must be to be looking at the clouds, looking at this and that prospect. Has not God said that your bread shall be given you and your water shall be sure? Has not God said that He will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and make crooked things straight, and rough places plain; that these things He will do for them, and not forsake them? God help you to come to Him and remind Him of His promise. He will not be offended with you. He says, "Let us plead together....that thou mayest be justified." It is God's blessed will that you should have every temporal blessing which it is needful for you to possess. Hear what God says by the apostle: "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's," (1 Cor. 3:21-23). So that every blessing, every shilling, every deliverance, every support, every mercy in providence. Whether it is for the body or the soul, is all yours; Christ is yours and you are His. Every blessing is in the Head for the use of the body, and all shall be communicated and given as we go on, agreeable to the will and word of God.

All things in providence are freely given by God, but how few there are who thank Him for His free gifts in providence! There are thousands and tens of thousands who are burning incense to their own net, and sacrificing to their own drag; ascribing it to their own diligence, wisdom, and wonderful abilities which they have above other people who are tried and upset. Who has given this wisdom, and these abilities? Why, it is God who has given them; and the children of God who are under the influence of the Holy Spirit can bless Him and thank Him for what He has given them, for the use of their senses, and for the provision which He has enabled them to make for their families. They have nothing to glory in, for it is all the free gift of God, and communicated by His sovereign will; but none know this but those who are taught of the Lord. No one can enter into this spiritually, nor be brought to thank God for it, nor be led with gratitude and thanksgiving to desire that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to the glory of God, but such as have God dwelling in them, and teaching and instructing them.

Prayer is another thing, which is freely given of God. It is the will and pleasure of the Lord that His people should be obedient to Him. It is not those who are only hearers of the word, but those who are doers of it that are accepted of God. It is not a man talking about the word and constantly hearing it with his ears, but it is the souls that are doers of the word; Christ said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21). It is God's pleasure that His people should be obedient, and it is His pleasure to give them this obedience; for there is no spiritual obedience but what is God's gift: flesh and blood cannot produce one atom of spirituality; it is not in its nature; flesh is flesh, and spirit is spirit. Therefore, the breath of prayer is all the inditing, operating, drawing, gift, and communication of the Holy Ghost, excluding entirely every other object. How few there are who believe this! Look at the thousands of professors of religion to go to prayer; there are no difficulties in their way. But one half of the prayers of professors of religion consist in telling God what He is (God knows what He is without their telling Him), speaking of His glory in His works, and spreading out their natural talents and abilities. Why, there is not a breath of spirituality in one out of twenty of them. The apostle says, "We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered," (Rom. 8:26).

God tells us prayer is a grace which comes from Himself: "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications," (Zech. 12:10). The house of David and God's spiritual Jerusalem can no more pour out their hearts unto God than they can create a world, till the Spirit of supplication is poured into their souls. O my friends, how can they, when their hearts are as hard as the nether millstone? Sometimes a child of God tries with all his might to come to the Lord in prayer to pour out his soul for the necessities which he feels he needs and to find his heart opened up to God; but he cannot get it, he cannot work it, he cannot produce it; he is so shut up in his soul that he cannot bring a single word feelingly out of his heart. Here is a proof that prayer is the gift of God.

It is God's pleasure that His people should pray for the blessings which He has promised them. Not that their prayers procure these blessings as a merit. No; but the Lord says, "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;" and again: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." "Watch and pray." The apostle says, "Pray without ceasing." Now this is a gift. The Lord does not require this of flesh and blood; He does not require it out of that from which it is impossible to bring it; but, in order that His child may act consistently with His blessed word and that they may have the sweetness of it in the way that He has appointed, God pours into their hearts the grace of supplication. He brings them into such troubles, and such straits, and into such a spot that the children of God can no more desist from praying to God than they can desist from drawing breath from moment to moment. When a soul is hedged in on the right hand and on the left, when all appearance of deliverance is gone, when difficulties arise, and he sinks into deep waters where there is no standing, then prayer will come forth! That is just the time to wrestle with God and to prove Him a prayer-hearing and answering God.

This was the case with Jacob. He divided his company, when he heard of Esau coming to meet him with four hundred men. When he had separated the flocks and the herds, and all the company, he retired to be alone with the Lord, and wrestled with a man till break of day, even the God Man, Christ Jesus the Lord. O what a wrestling prayer was that! God has promised that He will hear and answer the supplications of His people that come up to Him in the time of distress when every other help is gone; and the Spirit of supplication wrestles with God upon the ground of His promise. The angel said to Jacob, "Let me go, for the day breaketh;" and Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." O the blessed, sweet gift of the Spirit of God in giving this wrestling supplication to the soul!

I have had this wrestling at times, in reference to particular things, in such a way that I have felt as though my heart would break if God did not grant me my request. Yea, I told him so at one time, when I had been praying for weeks and weeks on account of my dear wife having fits. Through weakness of body and through wants and necessities she was afflicted with fits very severely. O the distraction that it brought into my mind! I went to the Lord again and again and again, and told Him that He could take them away; it was for Him to say the word; but none of my prayers seemed to be answered. Sometimes I had a hope that God would answer them, but when my wife had another fit, then the thought would come into my mind, "Where now are your prayers? You see plainly enough that there is either no God, or else your prayers are not the prayers of God's people; for instead of the disease abating, it increases;" and this sunk me down to the ground. Coming from a prayer-meeting one evening at about ten or eleven o'clock, I went into a large field. It was as dark as it could be. I went into the middle of the field where I thought no one would hear me, and fell down upon the ground with my burden, and there wrestled with God, and said, "Lord, Thou hast said; 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee.' I have called upon thee, and poured out my soul before thee." There I lay at the footstool of God. It appeared at last as if the Lord were going away, and I said, "O Lord, if it is Thy sovereign will, I can die upon this spot. If it is Thy will to take me, here I am; but to deny me my request is cutting my soul worse than death itself." I could take no denial; and at last the Lord whispered, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." I cried, and wept, and said, "Lord, then my poor dear wife shall have no more fits." He answered me with the words: "It is done as thou hast requested." I got up, leaped, praised, and thanked the Lord as a prayer-hearing and answering God. I was as sure in my soul that God had heard and answered me as I had ever felt in my life, and came home praising and thanking the Lord. My dear wife did not then know God; but He brought her to a knowledge of His truth some years after. When I reached home the poor thing was quite distracted to know what had become of me, for it was very late; and indeed I almost wonder that I got home at all, for when God answers the petitions of His people and gives them to feel the sweetness of His presence, it is no wonder if body and soul are transported with the glory, My wife said, "Dear me, I thought something had happened to you." I said, "And so there has, but bless the Lord, it is my God that has answered my prayer; I tell you what, you will never have any more fits." She said, "O I should be glad if that would be the case, but I am afraid it never will." "You will never have another fit," I replied, "for God has told me so." Eight and thirty years have passed by, and she has never had one to this day.

May God bless you with a spirit of prayer and of supplication. Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Tell the Lord your distresses, burdens, and griefs, for He alone can help and deliver; He will never turn a deaf ear to the cry of His afflicted people; He will prove a prayer-hearing and answering God. This is the gift of God, the gift of the Holy Ghost.

But again, another precious thing which is freely given to these us in Christ, is hope. What is to be done without hope? Why, in temporal things nothing can be done without hope. Wherever hope is gone there is nothing but destruction. Wherever hope appears to be cut off there is nothing but the invisible power of God can keep the man from sinking into black despair. It is the pleasure of God that His people should hope in Him. He has never deceived them; He has never done anything contrary to His blessed promise. He says, "Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and plenteous redemption." People say, "What an easy thing is that! Dear me, (say they), a man may lift up his head in hope; he ought not to be discouraged and despair. Hope in the mercy of God. Lift up your heart to the Lord and hang upon Him. Be cheerful; all will be well." God teaches His people that hope is a gift of the Spirit, a grace of the Spirit, and communicated by the Spirit, sweetly brought into the heart and exercised by the influence and operation of the Spirit. God teaches His children that they can no more raise their hearts to hope in times of trouble and in deep distress, than they can create a world; and therefore there are times and seasons when they cry out, "My hope and my strength is perished from the Lord;" yes, like Job they sometimes say, that their hope is removed like a tree.

Hope in God! One half of the professing world hope in themselves. Because they do their duty, are just and upright men, walk circumspectly, are charitable in their minds, and feel a disposition to do good to their fellow creatures: this is what they hope in, not in the mercy of God. Such characters as these know no need of the mercy of God, they have never been afraid of their deplorable and wretched state as sinners by nature, and therefore their hope is the hope of the hypocrite, and it will perish when they come into storms. But the hope which props up the Lord's people brings them to hang upon the promises, and to expect the precious truths of God to be communicated. It is a grace of the Holy Ghost, not the work of the flesh nor the product of human wisdom. All the experience which God's saints ever had cannot work up hope. If God withdraws His presence, withholds His communications, and leaves a Jeremiah to the devil and his own heart, it will sink him. I believe that the fruit of the Spirit of God dwelling in the heart will never be destroyed; but often when a child of God feels none of these in exercise, he begins to fear that he has not the grace of the Spirit, nor a grain of real hope in his heart. When he comes into these spots he knows that hope is the gift of God, and how his soul begs the Lord that He will bless him with a little hope, if it is but the least glimpse of hope to raise up his soul.

What a striking display has God given that it is not the work of man, but His own sovereign work to bring into exercise where Peter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (1 Pet. 1:3). Why, the Lord can do it in a moment; in the twinkling of an eye He can bring a precious promise into the heart, saying, "Fear not." Then hope rises up and sweetly cheers the soul, and says, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him." When this blessed hope rises up, it encourages the soul to wait quietly for the salvation of God. Now this is freely given, and God will give it. A child of God is now sunk into the borders of despair and despondency, but God begets him again to a lively hope, raises him out of his misery, and brings him to hang upon a promise keeping God. What a precious blessing is hope! How many times have I been propped up in dark, cloudy days and nights with the hope that God would bring me through, and a sweet assurance that His promise would hold fast for ever; for hope always speaks well of God, and encourages the heart to wait and watch for His promise, and not to dictate to Him when or in what way it shall come. Hope induces the soul to hang upon God, assured that His promise will be fulfilled in His own good time.

Another thing which God gives to His children is faith to trust Him and to believe in Him. He has never deceived His children yet; He has never been worse than His promise, but has ever appeared and provided for them both in providence and grace; for He has ever maintained His faithfullness. There is no ground for distrust in the promises of God; but it is not possible for flesh and blood to trust in Him. People who have abundance of prosperity and everything doing well with them, talk about trusting and leaving it with God. Why, they are looking and trusting to their prosperity, not to the Lord who sent it; they are trusting to what they have to lean upon, and to the nest which they have got in providence. To trust in God is to leave every other object but God Himself; it is taking body and soul, temporal and spiritual, and rolling it into His hands. When the soul is in the blessed exercise of faith, it looks not to flesh and blood, but eyes the promise, the power, the faithfullness, the immutability of God; and when thus trusting, the man can say from his heart, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines....and there shall be no herd in the stalls;" though everything should be completely dried up to flesh and blood, "yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation," (Hab. 3:17).

It is pleasing to God for His people to trust in Him; for faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit; and whatever is of the Holy Spirit is agreeable to the will of God. Faith is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. The child of God finds he cannot trust God for a single moment, except as the Lord gives him faith, and leads him to trust in Him; for he finds daily that it is not of works, but the free, sovereign gift of God. The Lord communicates it in the time of need. If there is any self righteous Pharisee here, he will never come again to hear old John. "Why," he will say, "this fellow does not let us have a bit, nor a rag, nor a tag." I tell you what, my friends, my rags and tags are all burnt up and gone to rack and ruin. I have not a bit of spirituality from day to day, but what is given to me by the Spirit of God. I find that I have no more power to believe now than ever I had; that I am no more able to bring up faith than I ever was. Nay, I think I am more tormented with unbelief now than ever I was in my life. Not in providential things, for God has brought me out of those great straits and difficulties, doubts and miseries which I once had; but the devil still gives me a shake now and then. O believer! If the Lord were to leave me in the devil's hands I should be as miserable in temporal things as I ever was in my life.

One day, about a month ago, I seemed to have a little boasting in my feelings I thought, "What a wonderful thing that now for two or three years I have had no conflict about temporal things." Then it came into my mind, "Suppose you were to be visited with a paralytic stroke; suppose your speech were to go and you could not preach; your people are all very poor, they could not keep you; then what would you do?" I said, "Well, I don't know." "Well then, suppose your people could not hear you preach, and that your preaching went all to rack and ruin, and was as dry as an old dry chip that has been baked in the oven; and your people would not hear you any longer." Thus the devil reasoned with me, till by-and-by I came to the Union Workhouse, and I began to tremble, for I thought I could never abide the Union, I could not bear to think of that. Upon the back of this a poor fellow came begging. He told me in conversation that he had been a minister preaching in such a place, but his infirmities were such he could preach no longer. That he had had something resembling a paralytic stroke I could tell by his talk; therefore he could not preach, and was obliged to go about for a little help. I gave the poor fellow something, for I thought if I should come into the same condition, it would be very acceptable to me. Here I sunk fathoms, until God came again and said, "Did ever I prove a barren wilderness unto you? Since I sent you out without a purse or scrip, have you lacked anything to the present moment?" I said, "No, Lord." And He said, "The cattle upon a thousand hills are mine, and the earth is mine, and the fullness thereof." Faith came into my soul, and I laid hold of the promises of God, feeling assured that my bread and my water should be given me, and that the Lord would feed me all my journey through. And this I found to be a gift, a sovereign gift; aye, and I blessed God for the gift. I did not bless old John, poor old wretch; but blessed God who had communicated it.

Love is another thing which is needful for God's children. What is religion without love? God tells us to love one another; and what is so pleasant, cheerful, and delightful as love? It is a blessing that makes rich, and adds no sorrow with it. But are there not times and seasons, when you cannot feel a grain of love, and when you feel no more love to God than to a beast, and no love to His people, nor to His Word? Yea, do you not find sometimes, to your grief and sorrow, that it is with reluctance that you even read the Word of God? Instead of feeling love to God and to His people, do you not find yourself sometimes hating, abusing, and treating God with contempt? Do you not find this rising up in your heart, and has not your soul sometimes been sunk fathoms with feelings of dreadful enmity and hatred in your heart against a good and gracious God? Has it not made you shudder? It has made me shudder a thousand times. I have felt such enmity rising up in my heart, that sometimes I have feared and believed that I was an apostate, and that God had given me up to a reprobate mind, for I thought a Christian never could feel such enmity rising up in his heart against God. I did not love this enmity; it was a grief to me, and my soul sank with sorrow under it; but I could not see that it was love to God in my heart which brought me to hate it. I wanted love shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost to put these things under my feet.

But there is no getting love; it is a self moving thing. The love of God moves, how it will and when it will; no man cultivates it. I have often heard people talk about cultivating the love of God. Why, is love barren? Does it want cultivating? Does it want to be improved? I can understand what it is for love to cultivate my soul and make it fruitful; but how I am to cultivate love, I neither know nor want to know. What I want is to have the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost. Hear what Paul says, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ," (2 Thess. 3:5). How can the Christian direct himself? How can he bring himself to this grand blessing? It is love which must come to him, if he is to feel its power in his heart. What a rich blessing it is when God communicates love to us! What a fruitful thing it is in the heart! How sweet and how blessed it makes the man in his temper, in his disposition, and in everything connected with him.

The Lord will give love in His own time, for it is the gift of God; it is not of works, but the sovereign gift of the Holy Spirit, and He will have the glory of it.

The Lord's people need wisdom, and this is God's gift. "Why," (say you), "you will make all to be the gift of God." I will. God will have it so, He has brought my soul to see that it is so. There is not a single blessing which is not the gift of God. Repentance, faith, hope, patience, humility, every one of these is the gift of God and communicated in His own time. He has blessed you and me with the communication of them to the present day.

There is one gift more, which God will give to those of us for who Christ died and rose again for their justification, entered into glory, and took possession of the inheritance. The Lord will give them the kingdom. He will give them immortal rest, and take them to be for ever with Him, to be like Him and see Him as He is. There is no uncertainty here. God shall give it to them; it is His free, sovereign gift. It is their Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. There is not one soul of the many millions for whom the Redeemer died, whom the Father has loved, and the Holy Spirit called, who shall not have this gift. They shall enter through much tribulation into the kingdom of God. Yes, they shall do it, they must do it, and (I would speak it with reverence), it is at the peril of Deity that they should not do it. How? His faithfulness would be proved nothing but falsehood, His omnipotence would be proved weakness, His omniscience would be proved ignorance, His justice would be sullied, His grand, immortal Deity would be upset. God has pledged His oath, yea, sworn by two immutable things, that they shall have strong consolation who have fled to Jesus for refuge. God has sworn that He will not lie unto Jacob, and He will not be a perjured Being. It is a disgrace to a human being to be perjured, to take an oath, and say, "In the sight of God so and so is truth," and then turn his back upon his oath! A perjured man is an awful character; and will God be perjured? O no. Poor soul, with all your difficulties, even though you are but as smoking flax, you shall come to the kingdom. If you are but a particle of dust in Zion's building, you are safe, the top-stone will cover you sweetly in, and you shall shout, "Grace, grace, unto it!" If you are but a lamb, you shall be carried in His bosom, and safely arrive home at last. And O, what a transporting eternity! There will be no jangling there; there will be no prejudice there one against another; there will be no backbiting there; there will be no telling tales there.

I used, in my younger days, to be so touchy, when anybody said anything about me. I have now found that the best way of matching all those who say disrespectful things, and have tales to tell, is to take no notice of them, but to live down scandal. This is the best kind of revenge. The best way is to act honestly in the sight of God, and to live down, like a Christian, every evil report. Let your tongues be still, and your mouths shut, and let your conduct make it manifest that the fear of God is in your hearts: "By their fruits ye shall know them." I hope the Lord will preserve you that are amongst these, "us all," wherever you are, that you may be enabled to walk circumspectly, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; and the glory shall be His for ever and ever.

What a sweet home it will be, where there shall be no sin, no guile, no hypocrisy, no fiery darts of the devil, no hidings of God's face, no dead, stupid heart, no family trials, no afflictions, no distress; but we shall be for ever in the presence of our covenant God, to behold His glory, to be like Him, to see Him as He is, and never, never to sin against Him to all eternity. It is the very element of the people of God to be where there is no sin; as the Psalmist said, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." Here will be the perfect satisfaction of the soul, a satisfaction which shall never end, but shall be eternal. The children of God shall have this as surely as God has promised it.

The Faithfulness of the Lord's Word

by JOHN WARBURTON - Preached at Founder's Hall Chapel, Lothbury, London on Tuesday evening, April 9th, 1844

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." (Numbers 11:23)

In this chapter we find Moses the servant of God, sorely oppressed with grief through the rebelliousness of the children of Israel. It appears they had been feeding for sometime on the manna which God in His tender mercy had sent to them; but they had got tired of it, calling it "light food," and now they begin to lust after flesh. Yes, they carried their rebellion so far as to wish that they had stopped in Egypt, and had never come into the wilderness to eat this light food. So that the heart of Moses was sorely grieved.

Then "Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the LORD, wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?" (it was not right to lay the blame upon God! However, the Lord is merciful and kind to His people) "and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness." (Num. 11:10-15) God was not so ready to take and kill Moses, as Moses was to ask the Lord to do it.

After this, the Lord in mercy tells His servant that He would put His Spirit upon seventy of the elders of Israel, in order that they might assist him in governing the people. How kind it was of the Lord to hear Moses, and grant him his request! For "it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease." But there were two others remaining that had the same Spirit resting upon them, and they prophesied in the camp; and it appears a young man came running to Moses and said, "Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp." Joshua his servant directly came forth, and desired that he might go and stop it. But Moses would not have it so; he says, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!" You see, Moses did not seem to be jealous like we poor creatures are!

Well, we find the Lord telling Moses that He would give the people plenty of flesh to eat, that they should have enough for their lusting. He says, "Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you." And I tell you, I never lusted after one thing or another but God generally gave me enough of it. If it were a worldly idol, in His own time He has ground it to pieces, and made me to drink it: and then sad work it has been for my soul. But Moses seems to be astonished how the people could have flesh to eat; he could not make out where the supply was to come from. Therefore we find him saying, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them?" Do you not see now, that even in Moses the servant of God, although the Lord had wrought so many miracles by him what a deal of fleshly reasoning there was. God having told him that Israel should eat flesh for a month, he begins now to enquire whether all the flocks and herds were to be slain to suffice them? Or whether all the fish of the sea were to be gathered together to satisfy their wants? But where was Moses looking? Was it to the covenant God of Israel who had divided the waters of the Red Sea, and made a way for His ransomed people to pass over? O no, he was looking merely to the creature. The Lord's people can only look up to God, as He is pleased to look upon and draw them up to Himself, whether it be Moses, Joshua, the prophets, or our own souls!

Then follow the words of our text, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." Here God proved His servant, and manifested forth His power and faithfullness, though Moses wondered how it were possible to come round, by fulfilling His promise to the uttermost, to the astonishment of His servant, and the glory of His own name.

It is the desire of my soul, if it be the will of God, so to be led in what I say, that it may be the means of comforting, strengthening, and encouraging the Lord's children in the various crosses and exercises which they are called to meet with in the wilderness.

Now, God's people, who have come up here tonight, are made sensible of their helplessness and misery, and are brought to know their need of His salvation. They are made to feel that they cannot do without the Lord Jesus Christ; they are continually enquiring and panting after Him, and they daily want to feel fresh testimonies and tokens of His grace. And how kindly and tenderly the Lord commissions His servants to speak to His people! He says, "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees: say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong." And, "Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people." So my desire is, as far as the Lord may be pleased to bless the word from my lips, to pick up those who have come here weary and heavy-laden, and speak to the comfort and encouragement of their needy souls.

1. It may be that God has opened the eyes of one or more present to see what you are as sinners before Him. The sins of your past life have been charged upon your conscience; it has been given you to see that you were going the broad road that leads to destruction; you have been brought to feel that everything under the sun is "vanity and vexation of spirit;" and feeling the burden of your sins, with the terrors of a guilty conscience in a broken law, the cry of your heart has been that of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Perhaps you are now looking back at the way in which you have lived, at the many transgressions you have committed, at the dreadful scenes you have been engaged in against God and His law: and under the accusations and buffetings of Satan a thousand fears have arisen, that surely there cannot be mercy for such a sinner, that God will never look with an eye of pity and tenderness on such a wretch who has gone to such awful lengths in sin and iniquity. Why, if grace has taken possession of your heart; if the life of God has entered and brought forth this cry, the Lord has spoken very kindly in His word respecting you. He says, "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Prov. 28:13)

Now, recollect this is one of God's "shalls;" and He will speak it home with power to your soul in His own time; for He is omnipotent in power, infinite in wisdom, immutable in holiness, and righteous in His judgments. He is full of mercy; pity, and compassion; He will never break His word, nor alter the thing that has gone out of His mouth. Therefore, if He has put a cry for mercy in your heart, it matters not to what lengths of sin you have gone, nor however desperate a servant you have been to the Devil; yea, though you may have been bold and valiant as a captain and ring-leader in his service, yet if God has dethroned the kingdom of darkness in your heart; if He has brought you to see and feel that everything under the sky is full of emptiness and nothingness; if your soul is now panting for the mercy of God, and you are seeking it through the precious blood of the Lamb, you shall see in the Lord's own time whether His hand is waxed short, and whether His word shall come to pass unto thee or not. You will find Him faithful to His word of promise; and He says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matt. 7:7) These blessed words come from the lips of Him who cannot lie.

I deeply sympathize with those dear souls who are under these feelings I have been attempting to describe. When God first brought me there, I would have given ten thousand worlds for any man to have said a word to encourage such a vile sinner as I felt myself to have been. I thought there never could be mercy for such a wretch as me. I felt assured I had sinned beyond the riches of God's grace; I had been such a vile swearer, drunkard, and sabbath-breakerand stealer too! For I once went into an orchard and stole fruit therefrom: and after this I was going again to steal fowls. But a very remarkable thing happened to prevent it. I went for this purpose with a brother-in-law, whom God quickened into spiritual life about twelve months after, but who had more tenderness of conscience and natural conviction than I had. Before we got to the hen-roost, and while we were planning that no one should see us, he said, 'I tell you what, John, if no one else does, God will.' 'There now,' I said, 'I wish you had never come; if you had not mentioned about God seeing us we could have done it very well; but this has shaken me to pieces.' 'Ah, John,' he said, 'the day of judgment is coming!' The Lord picked me up before him, and brought me first to His feet to cry for mercy.

If there be a sinner, who has just got his eyes opened to see his lost and ruined state, who feels that he cannot pray, nor knows how to utter a word before the great Jehovah who is so infinite in holiness and justice, while he is such a vile and polluted sinnerwho is so infinite in wisdom, while he is such an ignorant foolif, dear soul, you have not many words to utter, can you from the bottom of your heart say, "God be merciful to me a sinner?" That is the best prayer for you and me. God will not despise it; "He will regard the prayer of the destitute." (Ps. 102:17) And He says, in the words of the text, for your comfort and encouragement, "thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." Blessings on His name, you shall find Him to be a God, "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." In His own time, He will enrich your soul with a sweet and blessed enjoyment of His undertaking.

2. I believe the greatest number of God's children are cast down in their minds, and grievously perplexed at times respecting the reality of their repentance and faith, and the genuineness of their religion before God. One reason why I draw this inference is because there are many "fear nots" in the word of God; they come from God's mouth, and are not spoken at an uncertainty. There are some professors to whom the "fear nots" in God's word have no manner of use; for they never feel the bonds and fetters that the Lord's people do; neither do they appear to have any afflictions or bitters in their cup; consequently, as they have nothing to try and cast them down, so they need not these encouraging "fear nots" from God's blessed word.

There may be some here tonight, who are questioning whether the Lord has ever picked them up, and began the good work of grace in their souls, or whether their religion is only of the flesh, through the workings of natural conscience; so that they are full of anxiety to know whether they belong to the Lord's quickened family. I never find empty professors of religion, those great and high-flown six feet gentlemen who are full of their own wisdom and fleshly confidence, ever in anxiety to know whether the good work of grace was ever begun in their hearts. But, wherever the good seed of the word is sown, it is always in the heart that has been ploughed and harrowed. When the good seed is dropped into good ground, then there is honesty in that soul, and it is honest before God; so that he cannot come and grasp the promises as he please; he is not able to take hold of this and that passage and claim it as a child's portion. No, no; the poor soul wants God to claim him as His child and His portion; and he will come begging and crying to the Lord to give him some testimony of His favour, and speak home some promise with power, to satisfy the desires of his soul. There is true heart-work going on in such a sinner as this. He will say, 'Lord, give me a token to satisfy me I am not a hypocrite; give me to feel that Thou art mine, and I am Thine!" What, be a hypocrite, and yet have the good work of grace in the soul! Depend upon it, no hypocrite can ever come here! If you search all through the word of God you will not find any but the living family who come into this spot. Never, never.

'But then,' says the tried soul, 'Is not the Lord a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God? Yet I have been praying and beseeching for a long time past; I have been waiting at the pool of mercy for so many years; I have gone from one place to another, and have tried every means possible to come to some satisfaction that my heart is right in the sight of God, but I have many fears that I have neither part nor lot in the matter. I want to come where David was, and be enabled to say without a single doubt or fear, "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplications: because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." (Ps. 116:1,2) Well, have a little patience; God will work in His own way: He has waited for you a good many years, and now you must wait a little while for Him. 'But,' replies the soul, 'if the work were of God should I have such things rising up in my mind as I do? I feel as though I could not cry any more, but must give it all up, for it is no use to pray any longer.' Well then, give it up! But how is it that you do not give it up? 'O,' says the soul, 'I do not know; I am brought to this point that I cannot give it up. I seem to be a complete mystery to myself; for while I feel as though I should give up all my profession of religion, yet at the same time I cannot rest satisfied unless the Lord comes and bears witness to my conscience that He is mine, and I am his.' Well then, cheer up; wait a little longer; and in the Lord's own time He will give you the desires of your heart.

What does the Lord say to His dear people by His servant Isaiah? "Fear thou not, for I am with thee." 'But,' says the poor child of God, 'to whom are these words addressed? Are they spoken to the soul that is fearing? To the soul that is doubting? To the soul that cannot lay claim to God?' Yes, the Lord lays claim to His people, though they cannot lay claim to Him until He manifests that claim. 'Ah,' he replies, 'I cannot believe the Lord is with such a vile and polluted sinner as I am? No matter for that; God has said that He is with you; and you shall prove it at the appointed time. "Be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isa. 41:10) What! After the Lord has declared He is "thy God," and that He will "strengthen and help thee," do you think that He will ever let you sink into dismay, or prove a hypocrite or an apostate at last? O no; He will never let you come here. He says, "Fear not; behold your God will come, even God with a recompense, he will come and save you." (Isa. 35:4) He will come, arise for your help, deliver you from your doubts and fears, and from the cruel workings of unbelief and the Devil; He will lead you into the right way; and by His gracious presence save and deliver you.

Now this is one of God's wills and shalls; and "thou shalt see now whether his word shall come to pass unto thee or not." Blessed soul, you are in union and oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ: for if He had not have taken possession of your soul, He never would have given your hungerings, thirstings, and pantings of heart after Himself; never would you have asked it of yourself, or have been brought to this spot, to question everything else but what God has wrought in you, if you were not one of those whom He has redeemed. Blessed be His name, "he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." (Isa. 40:29) So God has settled the matter, that poor stammering, hobbling, fearing, doubting, hungering and thirsting souls shall be satisfied in His own good time. "The vision is for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." (Habak. 2:3)

3. There may be some here this evening who may have come up with a 'may be' or 'a peradventure' for the last time, just to make one more trial of the mercy of God. Perhaps the Devil has been whispering in your minds, 'There is no hope for such a one as you; you had better be your own executioner, cut off your own life, and know the worst of it at once.' But "do thyself no harm" all is right; and in a little time you shall find it so. The poor harassed soul says, 'I fear I am totally lost! I have tried my prayers and tears, my vows and resolutions, and have found them altogether useless; I have been from chapel to chapel but all in vain. I have striven to serve God with all my might; and for that purpose I have sat up late at night and rose early in the morning: but now I am brought to see that God would be just in damning me, but I cannot see how He can be just in saving me.' Stop, stop, do not be in a hurry; the Lord will evidence His own work in your heart, and He is not in a hurry; and He will bring you to see that He is as just in your salvation through a crucified Jesus, as He would be in your damnation for your many and aggravated sins!

'Ah,' replies the soul, 'but I have gone to such lengths of iniquity; the sore is still running in my heart and conscience, and does not the word of God declare that "he will not at all acquit the wicked?" (Nahum 1:3) This keeps following me up so that I fear I am a reprobate just like Esau, and that my end will be like his. He cried for a blessing, and sought it carefully with tears; but he was rejected, and so I fear it will be with me. I see that it is only those that are elected that shall be saved, and I fear I am one of the non-elect, and that God is just in damning me. 'Ah,' says the poor tried soul, 'I envy horses, beasts, dogs, and everything else that is not possessed of a soul like me; for I have to appear before God to receive the things done in my body. I am lost! Surely there cannot be mercy for such a one as I? My cry has been again and again, "O LORD, let the sighing of the prisoner come up before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to death." (Ps. 79:11) But the Lord turns a deaf ear to my cries and tears; and tells me, because He called, and I refused; and because I set at nought His counsel, and would have none of His reproofs, therefore He laughs now at my calamity, and mocks now that my fears have overtaken me!'

Come, come, dear soul, cheer up; there is hope for you yet. You have just come to the door of mercy; for this is the very way to come to God's salvation through the door of damnation. There is no coming to the blood of the Son of God for salvation, but through condemnation in the conscience. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Cor. 3:6) Wherever this is felt, such are brought to the place of the stopping of mouths; to lay low in the dust, if so be there may be hope; and to cry earnestly for mercy at the foot of the cross. Now, let us hear whether God has said anything concerning you, or not; and if He has, it is of no consequence what men or devils may say to the contrary. Nay, even if some who are Christians doubt whether it is the work of God, it is no matter; the Lord will come in His own time, and convince you it is His blessed work in your soul; and when He does, He will bring you to a point about it. Is it not said, "The LORD doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds?" (Ps. 147:2,3) Now you are an outcast; cast out of the world; cast out of yourself, and feel nothing but your wretchedness; cast out of your own righteousness, and find nothing but filthy rags; cast out of all your refuges of lies, and brought to see there is no hope for you but in the mercy of God; cast out of conscience, feeling it full of guilt, and telling you you have merited eternal death. And thus feeling cast out of everything, you know not what to do, nor whither to flee. There is only one spot left that will take in such destitute, undone, lost and ruined wretches as these. And where is that? It is in the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Lamb of God," who has died for His people, by bearing their sins in His body on the tree, by being made a curse for them, by working out and bringing in an everlasting righteousness for their justification, and by opening up a fountain for the washing away of sin and uncleanness in His own most precious blood. May the Holy Ghost bring you to this sacred spot, the cross of the Son of God; and there to cry out, "Lord, save me; or I perish!" I believe God brings all such exercised souls as these there at last. Hear what the Lord says, "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as snow; though red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1:18)

'But where,' says the soul, 'can I find it?' It is in the "fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. 13:1) It is "the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin." (1 John 1:7) 'Yes,' replies the soul, 'but is it for me? I want to know that it is for me by feeling a blessed application of it to my heart and conscience.' And so you shall have the desire of your soul granted in God's own good time. Hear what the Lord has said, and left on record for your encouragement, "And it shall come to pass that day (for there is an appointed time in which God has promised His Zion happy liberty) that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." (Isa. 27:13) It is not said, 'they may come,' 'they shall have an opportunity to come,' 'they are exhorted to come if they please,' or 'they have an offer to come;' but they "shall come," and have happy sweetness and gospel liberty given to them to know God as their covenant God and Father; and be brought at length to say, "I have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." (Eph. 1:7) Thus you shall know the truth of this promise in the text, "Is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not."

Though for more than twenty years I have been preaching, I never felt satisfied in the work unless the Lord is pleased to give me some particular sweetness in it; I always feel so fearful and naturally timid without that. I have often wished that I might open up some of the great mysteries of the gospel, and unfold dark and hidden parts of truth, and explain obscure parables; and bring forth the riches of great wisdom and understanding. But whenever I have tried this I have always found myself shut up and confused. Of late I feel more satisfied in simply telling out what the Lord is pleased to bring to my mind, and to leave it with Him to bless it and make what use of it He will. I believe God's ministers have different gifts given them to qualify them for their work, and that each have their particular labour to perform, some in one way, and some in another. But I believe the Holy Spirit blesses my ministry, by giving me a different part of the work to perform from that of most others. It falls to my lot to labour at the dunghill; and that, you know, is no pleasant spot. I would much rather be talking about the King, be privileged to go to court, and see Him in His beauty, than be employed in my part of the work. But when I am favoured with the light of His countenance, and privileged to hear Jesus whisper, "Fear not, I am with thee" and "I am thine, and thou art mine," (John 17:10) I am quite satisfied; all is well; and then I am content to be whatever the Lord is pleased to make me.

4. There may be some in the presence of God tonight who are doing business in deep waters; who not only know the plague of their own hearts, the wretchedness and vileness of their evil nature, and the enmity of their carnal minds; but they have also to mourn and lament over their insensibility, stupidity and want of feeling. This so staggers them at times, that their souls tremble within them, and they are brought to this standto fear that after all their profession will prove nothing but hypocrisy at last; for sometimes they find so much devilism, such anger and passion, and such carnal workings in their mind, that they cannot think it possible they are children of God; so that they cry out, "Can ever God dwell here?" While mourning over these dismal feelings, they say, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24) And with Job, they utter forth their lamentations, saying, "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls;" (Job 30:29) or with David, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness, I am like an owl of the desert: I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop." (Ps. 102:6,7) 'Can such a wretch as I look up to God for mercy. It seems nothing but awful presumption.'

No, no, there can be no presumption in crying out for mercy. 'But ah,' he replies, 'I have gone beyond every one else; none of the Lord's people can have so much sin and misery as I have felt in my heart. Mine iniquities are so great, they overwhelm me; and sometimes I am afraid they will burst forth afresh and bring me to open shame; so that I cannot find words to express my baseness before the Lord. But still, there are some moments, blessed by His name, in which I would not change my state with any man in the world; when the mercy, love, blood, and righteousness of a three-one Jehovah is revealed to my soul; and then my joy is so full that "my cup runneth over." O how good it is to enjoy this feast; it is very sweet to be here, it is indeed; and it is what you and I love. Then we can say with David, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." (Ps. 23:6) At such moments as these, when we can enter into the presence-chamber of the King, the Devil and our unbelief soon rise up and flee away. When my God brings me here, and I am able to enjoy His blessed smiles and love-tokens, the Devil and my corruptions are not able to stir at all: the sun is up, the sky is clear, and all the beasts of the forest have gone to their dens; the road is now so free that not one dares to approach while the Master is present. But as soon as He is gone, darkness and gloom come on again, and doubts and fears return with it.

It is quite different with some people; they can always be in the light; they can enjoy the smiles of God's countenance, whether He shines on them or not; it is all the same to them whatever their circumstances may be. But David knew something of the difference; he says, "Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" So that when the light of the Lord's countenance is withdrawn, what a change then takes place in the scene. Sometimes enmity, carnality, pride, presumption, the world and all its cares, will rush into the soul like a crowd; so there appears to be only light enough to see the swarms of devils within, and just life enough to cry to God for mercy. Ah, I have known something of what it is to be in this horrible pit; I have said, 'Can I dare to call upon the Lord for mercy?' While I have been praying that these feelings might be kept down, and not rise up, I have feared lest I should presume on the goodness and bounty of God. At last I have come and said, 'O Lord, Thou knowest me altogether; Thou knowest what a wretch I am; if there can be an instance of Thy shewing mercy to one so base, do shew it to me.'

'O,' says one, 'do not bring in any of your ifs.' When the Lord gives me to feel the light of His countenance, then I am full of 'shalls;' when I can feel my feet on the rock, then I can feel at home; when the south wind blows, it is full of fragrance and sweetness. But when the wind turns round to the north, I feel all my wretchedness and misery return, and I sink down into barrenness and hardness, with but little softening of soul: and I cannot pray feelingly with a heart as hard as stone. I cannot do without a religion of feeling; and I would not give a grain for any man's profession who is without it; I want neither his religion nor his company. But when such a passage as this has been applied with power, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and have said, 'Lord, if I have been too presuming in tender mercy look over and forgive it.' When the Lord gives a sweet breaking into such a word as this, what a comfort it is! How the humbled soul will confess his sin, and again and again experience a lift; so that he will say at last, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God."

Well then, "What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were, the company of two armies." If you are here, you shall surely find the truth of the promise in the text, "Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."

5. There may be some child of God here who is quite shut up in a way of providence. All expectation is closed on the right hand and the left; with every future prospect so dark and cloudy, that he cannot see how it is possible to be extricated out of his difficulties. Has not the Lord said, Thy bread shall be given, and thy water shall be sure? (Isa. 33:16) Is it not written, "He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee?" (Job 5:19) Has He not said, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills?" (Ps. 50:10) Is not all the gold and silver His? Has He not said too, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them?" (Isa. 42:16)

'Ah,' says the soul, 'this is very true, these are the Lord's people; but I am such a peevish, fretful, repining creature, that it cannot be for me. Sometimes I am so deeply cut up, because of my crosses and troubles, that I feel as though I could bear them no longer.' The cross is what the Lord is pleased to make it. If He make the weight of a feather to be a cross, it will be as heavy to your soul as one that weighs fifty pounds at another time, when you have more strength and grace given to bear it; and this God will teach you, to cure you of looking anywhere else but to Himself to sustain you under thy cross. That great and infinite Being, "who comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance;" (Isa. 40:12) nothing is beneath His notice every particle of sand is present before Him, every blast of wind is in the hollow of His fist; and every creature, from the highest to the least, is under His supreme direction. He gives to the lion his nature; and He marks out the path of all the fowls of heaven. He that does all these things, appoints every trouble in your path that through which you have already come, and that through which you will yet have to pass. But in so leading you He will mortify your pride, and bring you to see that His arm shall be made bare for your deliverance; and that He is faithful to His truth and promise; as His word declares, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Num. 23:19) The Lord help thee to be quiet under the cross; to be still, and know that He is God.

I speak from experience; for never was there a more kicking and plunging soul than mine. O what a cause have I to love the Lord from the bottom of my heart. He has been so kind and tender to me, when I have been in such destitute and miserable circumstances, and when I could not in any way help myself. But alas, when things were more comfortable with me in providence, and God has been pleased to try and cross me in other ways, such has been the pride, enmity, and risings up of my wicked heart, that I could scarcely bear myself. How have I found at such a time the truth of the Apostle's words, "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Rom. 8:7) 'Well,' say you, 'how could you think of going to the Lord after this again?' Why, I thought it was all over with me; that I had committed the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost, for which there is no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor yet in that which is to come. Here I sunk fathoms deep; I found there was no help for me; that all my ability to help myself was like trusting to a broken reed; and that I could not pour out my soul in prayer to God. Nevertheless the Lord brought me up again, after He had humbled me in the dust of death, by sealing home His forgiving mercy to my heart. These are troubles that bring a man into sore affliction and distress; and it is only God Himself that can deliver out of them. But when all is straight again and the soul is quiet, how it will praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy to him! When I was brought low by these afflictions, I saw that I deserved ten thousand times more chastisements than came upon me; so that I said, 'Do with me, Lord, what Thou wilt. If it is for Thy glory, cut up all the plans that gratify my flesh, and mold and fashion me according to Thy blessed will.' So that when I am quiet and in my right mind, everything is as it should becrooked things are made straight, rough places plain, and the Lord alone is exalted. We feel then that His arm is not shortened that it cannot save; and while we are brought to receive all the mercy, we are made willing to give Him all the glory.

6. There may be some in the presence of God who are greatly terrified and cast down with the fears of death. They are much dismayed in their minds, fearing that when death overtakes them they shall not be found among the Lord's saved people. But it is written for their comfort, "forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:14,15) The Lord speaks kindly to His people and says, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32) "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Col. 3:3,4) Hear His blessed language! "Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." (John 17:24) Yea, He says, "I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:3)

What! Jesus be in glory without His Bride? The husband without the wife? The body without the head? Can "the eye say unto the hand, I have no need of thee? Or the head to the feet, I have no need of you?" (1 Cor. 12:21) Bless His dear name, if you are only a little toe in the body, Christ the head will take care of you, and bring you up to glory; for the whole of His elect body constitutes one "perfect man," without any difference of superiority. What then! Shall the Husband of the Church be satisfied in being at home without having His wife with Him? The Everlasting Father" content without having His beloved children to surround His table? The glorious Captain of salvation rest satisfied without having His warriors with Him to share the spoils of victory, who have fought their way through hosts of hell? No, no, it is His highest happiness to have His people with Him; nay, the very honour and glory of His crown hangs upon His bringing them safely home. The Father gave them to Jesus to be redeemed; He says, "thine they were, and thou gavest them me." (John 17:6) He has engaged to bring them all into the realms of everlasting bliss and blessedness. But O, when the last vessel of mercy is safely landed what a scene of triumphant glory will open to view what a glorious shout will be heard when Jesus shall say, "Here am I, and the children which thou hast given me!" (Heb. 2:13) O what a blessed state to be in for ever at home!

Lift up your heads, then, ye poor and needy, tried, tempted, and discouraged followers of Jesus. The Lord has made a way for you through all the hosts of your enemies. He has overcome every foe, spoiled principalities and powers, and has entered in before you into the holiest of all as the great Forerunner. There is nothing now that can stop you from entering into His blessed presence, and dwelling with Him in uninterrupted bliss and glory for evermore!

THE LOVINGKINDNESS OF GOD

by JOHN WARBURTON - Preached at Gower Street Chapel, London on Lord's day evening, April 8th, 1855

"O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee." (Psalm 36:10)

I. Here we see the lovingkindness of God the Father in the choice of His people, that it originated in His sovereign, discriminating love, and that this love was so strong and enduring that it is from everlasting to everlasting upon those on whom it is fixed. We notice also the lovingkindness of God the Father, in providing and preparing all blessings in His beloved Son, for the supplying, the supporting, the refreshing, the delivering, and reviving of His people in their journey in this wilderness below; that there is not one blessing, for body or soul, but comes freely from God as a sovereign gift. We notice, in the third place, that the lovingkindness of God the Father is revealed in the Scriptures; that He has there revealed Himself; and that He has provided and prepared an home for His dear people, when all their tribulations, and griefs, and sorrows are ended; that they shall never have one more than He has appointed, and never one less; that all is fixed, and certain, and sure; and that He will bring them at last through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of God. My friends, this is lovingkindness!

II. We may now take notice of the lovingkindness of the Son of God co-equal with the Father, "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." (Heb. 1:3)

1. O what wondrous, glorious lovingkindness shines forth in the Son of God in doing the work for His peoplein finishing and completing the work for His people. Are there works to be done? Yes; never will any mortal enter heaven that does not enter there by God's work, as well as by grace. "O," say you, "I thought you folks would never talk about good works entering into heaven." O yes, we do! Heaven receives good works and heaven approves of good works; but not works that are good in the eyes of flesh and blood. The very law of God requires good works; and it is utterly impossible for a just God to smile upon a sinful creature without them. God is a just God; He cannot acquit the guilty." (Num. 14:18) What lovingkindness, then, was it in the Son of God in condescending, out of mere sovereign, free, divine pleasure and love, to enter into covenant, and there to engage to come and be responsible for the sinner; to stand in his stead; to be his head, his bondsman; to take all debts upon Himself, and clothe him with His own righteousness! Is not this lovingkindness, my friends? Did anything in our nature move the Son of God to come and manifest such lovingkindness as this? No, no; it is of His own sovereign, divine grace; and therefore it was certified of Him in prophecy, "Offerings and burnt offerings thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me; and lo, I come to do thy will, O God." (Ps. 40:6-8; Heb. 10:5-7) Here is lovingkindness stepping forward to come and do the work that we had neither the will nor the power to do, but which He, out of sovereign, discriminating grace, engaged to do. And therefore He comes in the form of a man; and the apostle says, that "he was made sin for us, who knew no sin," (2 Cor. 5:21) having all the sins of His chosen imputed to His charge."

Shall you and I ever fathom the depths, or comprehend the height and breadth, or have an adequate idea of the glory and the length of this lovingkindness? It is the love of Christ which is beyond words ever to express and hearts ever to feel. He comes, and is born of a virgin; and here He is, as a child born and a son given. He bore the transgressions of His people, bore them all upon the tree, suffered the just for the unjust. (1 Pet. 3:18) The justice of God had no pity upon His cries and groans; for He had engaged to be the Bondsman and Surety, bound himself by covenant bonds, and this not with reluctance, but with pleasure and delight, for He said His delight was with the sons of men. (Prov. 8:31) The apostle sums it all up when He says, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God." (Heb. 12:2) It was His delight to do completely the work for His people, that love, justice, and righteousness, and every perfection of Deity might meet together in perfect harmony. O what lovingkindness is this! You are not saved because of your good deeds, nor for any good works that you can do, but because of the lovingkindness of the Son of God, in performing and completing the work. And it is done in such a way, that neither law, nor justice, nor righteousness, nor sin, nor men, nor devils, nor death, nor hell, nor all put together, can break or destroy it! It is out of the reach of them all; and therefore has He told us that "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, and shall never be ashamed nor confounded, world without end." (Isa. 45:17) "Yea," says Paul, "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10:14) Therefore, He was called Jesus, because He should save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) The law honoured in Him, justice is satisfied; and therefore it can be sweetly said, "Deliver them from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom, saith the Lord." (Job 33:24)

It is lovingkindness and tender mercy in the Son of God, in doing the work for His people, in going before them, in saving them from hell, from sin, from the law, from divine justice; so that the Father is now well pleased in Him, and can say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (Matt. 17:5) The apostle says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Rom. 8:33,34) He ever liveth to make intercession for all who come unto God by Him; and no one can come to God aright in any other name. (Heb. 7:25; Acts 4:12) God teaches them that there is no other name, and no other way; therefore they are brought into this way by God's blessed Spirit, and receive all the blessings that are treasured up in Jesus Christ the Lord.

2. The Son of God not only saves His people from law and justice, and from going down to the pit, but He saves them from all their enemies. He has conquered them all. There is not a single one that can ever molest the child of God, that He has not met and battled with as their Head. He has gone before them; He has led the way; He has "borne their griefs and carried their sorrows." (Isa. 53:4) There is not a temptation of the devil that He has not gone through and overcome; He has had all his fiery darts and all his blasphemous suggestions hurled at Him; but Satan could not find a place for them to enter in.

Some child of God here may be tempted with blasphemous suggestions, and is drawing the conclusion that he must be nothing but a reprobate. He is afraid he has sinned against the Holy Ghosthe is so tempted to blaspheme the Spirit of God; God seems to have given him up entirely, and he feels as if he must blaspheme Him. O poor soul! But can you do it? "O," says the soul, "I am afraid I shall!" But have you done it yet? Does not your soul burn against it and ache over it? Is not your soul crying to God to deliver you from it? It is the devil that is pouring these awful blasphemies against the Spirit, and not your soul; and the devil will have the punishment of it for ever.

Do not look then upon the temptations of Satan as a sign of being given up; the Son of God Himself was tempted in all points like unto His brethren, (Heb. 4:15) that He might succour those that are tempted. You hate the suggestion, and are trying to oppose it; it is not your own will and your own soul that is making it; it is sin and the devil dwelling in your heart. And here what God says: "No temptation shall happen to thee but what is common to man; and he will with the temptation make a way of escape." (1 Cor. 10:13) Now, the Lord has done His work; He has conquered Satantrampled upon himand His brethren shall trample upon him too; but they must have the same trials, in the measure that they can bear them; for He says they must be baptized with the same baptism that He was baptized with, and partake of the same sufferings. Therefore there is a time when they shall be delivered, as there was a time when the Son of God was delivered. He was forty days and forty nights under the conflict; but He conquered at last, and was brought forth into Judea with tidings of joy and peace.

3. The Son of God has grappled with death. He has gone with all the sins of the church to face death; the sting of death entered into His heart, and He drew it out again; and now death is a friend to the child of God, for the Saviour has conquered "death, and him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb. 2:14) All this was done in lovingkindness! And He has ascended up on high, having finished the work, conquered every foe, satisfied every particle of the demands of justice; He has gone there, and is now surrounded with glorious majesty. He went up as a conqueror, with the sound of the trumpet; as it is said, "God went up with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet." "Open ye the gates, and let the King of Glory come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord mighty in battle," (Isa. 26:2; Ps. 24:8) that has conquered all His foes, redeemed His church, satisfied every perfection of Deity. Child of God; He is thy Head; and thou, virtually united with Him, went up with Him virtually into glory. You ascend up on high, and are there virtually seated with Him, until He brings you home at last, one glorious man, perfect in Christ Jesus the Lord. What lovingkindness! O, would to God this sweet blessing were fully revealed in every contrite heart, and that the Comforter would bring the light, and power, and glory of it into our souls!

III. The lovingkindness of the Holy Ghost is equal with the lovingkindness of the Father and the Son; for He, the Father, and the Son, are one God. Some people wonder, my dear friends, how this can be; but we have nothing at all to do with the hows; it is what God reveals that we have to do with. The children of God prove by the testimony of their consciences, that what God reveals is true: "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one."

1. What lovingkindness then in God the Holy Ghost, in revealing Christ to us, in taking of the things of God, and bringing them home to souls. It is as much the work of God to do this as the creation of the animal and vegetable world was the work of God. It is as much the work of God to reveal in the heart of His chosen these grand truths in all their power as ever it was for God to speak us into being; for His chosen in a state of nature are dead, like the rest of the world. They have no more feeling or desire for spiritual blessings than the four-footed beasts. They are "dead in trespasses and sins;" and nothing short of the lovingkindness of God the Holy Ghost can quicken them or bring them to life.

The apostle gives this testimony concerning the elect, in the declaration he makes to the church at Ephesus: "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world....the children of disobedience....and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved." (Eph. 2:1-5,8) Now, can any mortal ever overthrow this? What ground is there for argument and disputing? It is the work of the Holy Ghost, and that from His lovingkindness and sovereign pleasure. While the Father set His love upon His chosen, and the Son of God accomplished and completed the work of redemption for them, and honoured every perfection of Deity, the Holy Ghost, one with the Father and the Son, engaged to bring them to Him "in the day of his power," (Ps. 110:3) and all through sovereign, discriminating mercy and lovingkindness.

Now, are there not a good many of us here this evening that are living witnesses of this? Tell me, you that know anything about it, was there anything in you that merited God's kindness towards you, in stopping you in your mad career of sin, and saving you from going to hell? "No," says the soul; "of all wretches I think I was the worst; and had it not been for God's sovereign, discriminating grace, I had now been in the very state I was in, or else in hell, lifting up my eyes." It is all of His sovereign, discriminating grace; and every child of God that has this quickening life in his heart acknowledges this, and gives testimony to it that it was God that opened his eyes and stopped him in his mad career.

2. The lovingkindness of the Spirit of God has also been manifested in stripping the believer of his own righteousness. None can strip themselves of their own righteousness. Even the poor child of God, in all his troubles, let him have lived years and years, and proved his righteousness to have been nothing but filthy rags, yet he has got the working of it in his nature and thinks that he ought to do this and that and the other, and that it would be better for him, and that God would be more pleased and favoured by it. A just God is never pleased but in His beloved Son, who has done the work for His dear people, and completed it, and perfected it. He can only delight in them in His Son; and if they are in Him, they are one with the Father and the Son, and made perfect in one. But when the Holy Spirit comes and reveals to the child of God what God's righteous law demands, brings it home to his soul, reveals it to his heart, and gives him to understand that the law looks at the very thoughts and intents of the heart, and that the very "thought of foolishness is sin," and merits damnation for ever and ever,that law, he sees, is good and righteous; and he is brought to see that it demands nothing but what is right. Here then he is condemned, his mouth shut, and he is brought to feel that God is just in the sentence of damnation upon his soul, so that he can acquit Him of any unrighteousness, and can testify that "the law is just, holy, and good." (Rom. 7:12)

Now the Spirit of God breaks into his heart a real confession, and a real sighing and groaning unto the Lord Jesus Christ for deliverance, and gives him to see that there is no one but the Son of God that can relieve him. This is the work of the Spirit of God in the heart, in showing him that "there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost, in His blessed lovingkindness, sometimes gives the soul a little encouragement; a little light breaks into the heart; he learns that Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost; and he is lost, and so was Saul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene, and Manasseh, and thousands besides, and He saved them. There is such a plea put into his heart, that he cries, "O Lord, have mercy upon me! O bless me with a sense of pardoning love, do but speak to me, and tell me that Thou hast died for me, and hast finished salvation for me." The Holy Spirit then brings the soul to feel that His lovingkindness is teaching it to leave all the world, all professors, all the opinions of men, and all the books of men, and to come with wrestling, cries, tears, and prayers, unto Christ for salvation; and that there is no power upon earth that has anything to do with it but God and the soul itself.

Do you know anything of such teaching as this? This is what David was taught; this is what Paul was taught; this is what God's people of old were taught; and this is what God teaches His people now. For there never was a soul that came to Christ yet that was not drawn by the Father, never one that learned His glory and beauty that had not been to the school of the law to learn what his misery was, and to bring him to see his lost condition; for who can ever bless a physician, but the man that seemed at the point of death? Who can ever be thankful for water, but the man that is dried up and nearly killed with thirst? Who can ever prize bread and food, but the man that is hungry, and given it all up for lost for want of provisions? The lovingkindness of the blessed Spirit of God is seen then in stripping them.

3. But, there is the lovingkindness of the Holy Spirit manifested in the heart by the work of the law on the conscience of a child of God. It is fitting him for the lovingkindess; it will be made known manifestedly when he is brought to feel that there is nothing but damnation for him, and to fall down and cry to the Son of God to save him as an act of grace. If He condemn him, he feels that it is an act of justice, and down he falls; he throws himself on the Son of God, sink or swim, damned or saved; and there is no condemnation at the feet of the Son of God; for this is the work of the Holy Spirit, His lovingkindness. No human teaching can ever teach this. O no; it is the Spirit's teaching, and none can come and admire the blessed Redeemer but he to whom the Spirit reveals Him. "No man can call him Lord," his Lord, "my Lord, and my God," but by the Holy Ghost.

The testimony of the Spirit is necessary to give testimony to the heart of the blood, the righteousness, the beauty, and the glory of the Son of God, and to reveal Him in the Soul. The apostle says, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heart, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6) Ah! What lovingkindness comes into the heart of a condemned sinner! When the Lord brought it first into my heart, I got out of the town as soon as ever I could into the fields, through a long wood; and the singing of the birds and the rustling of the leaves of the trees, the hills and the valleys, all seemed to be speaking of His glory; and I said, "Is this my God, my King, my Lord, that hath blotted out my transgressions like a cloud?" I thought He was going to send me to hell; and instead of this He has brought me up out of the depths of the pit, and raised me up from a beggar on a dunghill to sit amongst the princes of His people, to inherit everlasting glory. Ah! What lovingkindness! Blessings, blessings be upon Him!

4. There is the lovingkindness of the Spirit, in reviving,in teaching, in correcting, in reproving, in blessing the believer's soul with fresh light, fresh strength, fresh support, to guide and direct him through the wilderness over Jordan, and take him safe home to glory. His lovingkindness is in it; His delight is in it; His glory is in it. Therefore their souls are His temple, His house, His dwelling-place, His rest, and here He dwells; for He says where He has begun a good work He will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:6) Nobody who knows these things can help worshipping the Holy Ghost as God. There is the Father who is God, the Son who is God, and the Holy Ghost who is God; yet are there not three Gods, but one God. And here is the mysterythe mystery that wisdom can never find out; but faith believes it, and love embraces it; and we have proved it in our hearts, and are daily proving it, for every revival is of the Spirit of God.

IV. Notice by way of conclusion David's prayer. "O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee." I do not think David means that there is any danger of the lovingkindness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost not continuing. I do not think that David had a single idea of this in his prayer; but humanly speaking, it might appear as if he meant that the continuance of the lovingkindness might depend upon certain conditions, such as the creature performing his duty, and doing what he ought to do. But it was nothing of the kind. David's petition appears to me to mean simply this, or something comprehended in this: Continue thy lovingkindness in its visits to my soul, that I may have the visiting of thy lovingkindness unto my heart, to renew my soul again and again. For David, as well as every child of God, knew that the experience of God's people is not all sunshine and not all prosperity, and not all health, but that there is darkness, and night, and adversity, and wounds, and tribulations.

No, it is not all sunshine; the blessed Sun of Righteousness is sometimes hid behind the clouds, and darkness seizes the child of God; confusion of heart sometimes lays hold of him, and he begins to question what his religion is, how it began, what were the testimonies he had, and to fear that what seemed to be the work of the Spirit of God might be nothing but the work of the flesh; and his soul sinks, and his heart is sometimes so distracted that he falls down before God. But he is honest; his is an honest and upright heart, which is the work of grace; and when he seems stripped of every comfort, he falls down before His God, and says, "Lord, search me; search me and try me; I do not know what I am, I am so confused; I cannot tell whether my religion is the work of God, or whether I am only one of the stony-ground hearers. Here I am." And that soul cannot stir a hair's breadth till God moves him; neither can he look back to raise an Ebenezer unless the light of the Spirit of God brings it to his remembrance; but he cries to the Lord, and says, "Ah! Grant me another token for good, another revival of Thy lovingkindness in my heart! Oh! Continue the visits of Thy lovingkindness! I have no hope in myself, nor hope in man; give me another testimony of Thy lovingkindness; renew my soul, and bring me up again out of the depths, that I may have another testimony that Thy lovingkindness is still resting upon me."

It is now going on for sixty years since I first felt the lovingkindness of God, in delivering my soul from the curse of the law, and I have been muddling on ever since, and scores and hundreds of times have had the sweet testimony of lovingkindness in my heart, reviving me again and again. Yet I am as poor a creature as any one, and am as much shaken as ever when God withdraws His lovingkindness, and leaves poor old John and the devil by themselves. I tremble in my soul then, and I can but come again and again with my old tale; and God never wants anything else but old tales. And what are they? "God be merciful to me, a sinner." "Lord, teach me; Lord, instruct me; Lord, strengthen me! O give me just another testimony; give me just one more!"

I have often thought of Jonah, whether he carried it on to the day of his death; but when he sinks down into the belly of hell, he cries out, "Yet will I look again towards thy holy temple." The children of God in all their sinkings, will be looking for the lovingkindness of the Lord again the same lovingkindness that set them at liberty before, and brought peace and joy to them before. Some professors of religion, when they come to hear such things as these preached, say, "O dear me! What! Will folks run to hear that fellow? He has no variety about him." What sort of variety does a hungry man want? Why, some good food that he has tasted before, and proved and relished. What sort of variety does a thirsty man want? Why, the same water from the same spring that he has tried before. What sort of variety does the poor tired and fatigued man want? Why, his bed to rest upon that he has proved again and again. What sort of variety does a man want that is bowed down with a burden upon his back, and is faint and sinking? Why, he wants his burden removed again. These are the varieties that God's people that know God want. All the professors of religion, with all their judgment, and all their wisdom, and all their talk, and all their memory of Scripture, if they have nothing of this, depend upon it, there is no proof of the powerful teachings of the Spirit of God in their hearts. David says, "They that have no changes, fear not God."

God bless the few hints that have been delivered, for His name's sake.

THE RIGHTEOUS GLAD IN THE LORD

by JOHN WARBURTON - Preached at Eden Street Chapel, London on Lord's day, April 21st, 1844

"The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory." (Psalm 64:10)

I. In what way is a man made righteous before God? I answer; he is not made so by any good works proceeding from himself, by his prayers, duties, and obedience, or by his faith and love to the Lord. God has made him righteous in His own way; and He has revealed it in the word of His grace. There we find that He has in sovereign mercy and discriminating grace, imputed to and laid upon the beloved Surety all the sin and transgression of His chosen inheritance, and transferred to them all the obedience, righteousness, and holiness of His beloved Son, placing it to their account as their justification; and here it is that they are exclusively righteous before God. "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," (1 Cor. 1:30). So nothing belonging to the poor soul can be his righteousness before God; it is not his humility and prayers, nor his love and faith, and communion with God that makes him so. Neither can his fretfulness, peevishness, unbelief, nor all the devilish workings of his heart ever shake or alter it.

What a blessing is this! If you and I are among the righteous, it is because we are made so in Christ. The Apostle says, (and it is such a comfort to our souls, because it admits of no contradiction, neither sin nor Satan can overthrow it), He was, "made sin for us, who knew no sin; that," it almost makes me afraid to utter the words, they are full of such grandeur and immortal glory, and shine like a diamond set with all manner of beauty, "we might be made the righteousness of God in him," (2 Cor. 5:21). Come, poor child of God, who are cast down by looking at your wanderings of heart, carnality, and daily failings, and who perhaps have come here full of confusion, feeling yourself a helpless and wretched creature, with your head hanging down like a bulrush, look up to Jesus, He is the blessed head for the righteous, the perfect center of all glory and beauty! Look at the perfect work of Christ, He is, "the Lord our Righteousness!" "Ye are complete in him!" Nowhere else you see; the church is, "accepted in the Beloved;' and here it is she stands righteous in the sight of God! Now do you want to know when this took place? I cannot tell you: there is no date but what God Himself has put to it, and that is from eternity. Past, present and to come are all present with Him; He knew from everlasting all that should ever come to pass. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world," (Eph. 1:3,4).

Again, those that are righteous before God are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," (Rom. 3:24). They are justified, and completely acquitted in Him, so that no just charge can be brought against them. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us," (Rom. 8:33,34). So that those who are righteous before God are made so in Christ. They are a part of His mystical body, in union with the head; and all that Jesus is and has as the Head is imputed to and put upon them, the body, and here it is they stand everlastingly righteous before God. I know and am sure that when the soul is brought to know that he is righteous