Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Luke: 17 LUK 7:50 A Gracious Dismissal
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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Luke: 17 LUK 7:50 A Gracious Dismissal
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Luke (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 17 LUK 7:50 A Gracious Dismissal
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A Gracious Dismissal
January 11th, 1891
by
C. H. SPURGEON
1834-1892
"And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."--
Luk_7:50.
The main part of my subject will be--that gracious dismissal, "Go in
peace." To her who had been so lately blest, the word "Go" sounded
mournfully; for she would fain have remained through life with her
pardoning Lord; but the added words "in peace" turned the wormwood
into honey--there was now peace for her who had been so long hunted
and harried by her sins. Rising from the feet she had washed with tears,
she went forth to keep her future footsteps such as those of a believing,
and therefore saved, woman ought to be.
We like a motto to begin the year with, and it has been useful to some
spirits to choose a motto with which to enter on a new course of life.
We climb the hill of enterprise, or dare the wave of trial, with an
inspiring word upon our lip. To certain young men a word has come in
life's early morning, wet with the dew of heaven and that word of their
day-dawn has kept with them. The echoes of that life-evoking word
have followed them long after it was spoken; amid strange scenes it has
come to them like a voice from the unseen. It has whispered to them
within the curtains of their dying bed: it has murmured consolation
amid Jordan's swelling waves. That first word of joy, and peace from
Jesus with which they began the new life came to them over again just
as they were melting away into the invisible land; so they began the
service of the Redeemer, and so he declared that their work was
finished. Perhaps that love-note will be their welcome at the very gates
of heaven.
Our Lord, in the instance before us, sent a penitent away from the chill
atmosphere of self-righteous cavilling, and thus relieved her of a
controversy for which she was not fitted; but I see more than that in this
benediction. It looks to me as if our divine Master, when he found this
poor sinner so full of love to him that she washed his feet with tears,
and wiped them with the hairs of her head, having by a parable
explained to the Pharisee the reason for the greatness of her love, then
said to her, "Go in peace"--meaning that word not only to be cheering
for the necessary purpose of the moment, but to go with her, and to
attend her all the rest of her life, until, when she came into the dark
valley, she should fear no evil, for she would still hear that sweet voice
saying, "Go in peace." What music to have heard! What music still to
hear!
Now, I would to God that the word which I shall speak at this time
might be honoured of the Lord to serve that sacred purpose to some
here present. May it be a life-word to certain of you! May it be to others
of us who have long known the Saviour a revival of our rest, and may
we get such a draught of peace from Jesus that we may never thirst
again! The lips of our divine Lord are a well-spring of delight; each
word is a chalice brimmed with sweetness. Imbibing this, we shall go
our way henceforth even to our journey's end, after the manner of the
hymn which we sang just now:--
"Calm in the hour of buoyant health,
Calm in my hour of pain;
Calm in my poverty or wealth,
Calm in my loss or gain;
"Calm me, my God, and keep me calm,
Soft resting on thy breast;
Soothe me with holy hymn and psalm,
And bid my spirit rest."
Oh, that our life may be as a sea of glass! May the sacred circle of our
fellowship be within the golden line of the peace of God! Thou who
didst bid us come to thee and rest, now bid us "go in peace."
I am going to say a little in my opening upon a delightful assurance
which constituted the reason why the woman went in peace: "Thy faith
hath saved thee"; or, as in the forty-eighth verse, "Thy sins are forgiven
thee." Upon the strength of the assurance that she was saved, she might
safely go in peace. When we have talked a little upon that subject, we
will then come to a considerate precept: the Saviour directed her, in the
moment of trial, to "go in peace." There was an assurance for her
comfort, and a precept for her guidance.
I. First, then, consider A DELIGHTFUL ASSURANCE. The ground
upon which the penitent woman might go in peace was that she had
been saved. The Saviour assured her: "Thy faith hath saved thee."
She was not saved otherwise than we are saved; but she received the
common salvation by like precious faith. The way of salvation to her
was faith in Christ: there is the same way for us, but she had what some
of you, no doubt, would greatly like to have: she had an assurance that
she was saved, from the Lord's own mouth. I think I hear some saying,
"I should go in peace, I am sure, if the Lord Jesus would but appear to
me, and speak and say with his own lips, `Thy faith hath saved thee'." It
is natural that you should think so; it must have been rapture to receive
a benediction from the mouth of our King, our Saviour. Yet, dear
friends, we must not hang our confidence upon a mere circumstance.
For a mere circumstance it is, whether Christ shall literally stand before
you in the flesh, and say, "Thy faith hath saved thee," or whether he
shall say it to you by the infallible record of his own Word. It does not
make much difference as to my faith in what my father says to me,
whether I meet the venerable man in the morning in my garden, and
there hear his voice, or whether I get a letter by post in his handwriting,
and he says to me upon that paper just what he would have said if I had
met him face to face. I do not require him always to come up the hill to
my house to tell me everything that he has to say: I should think myself
an idiot if I did. If I were to say, "My dear father, you have assured me
of your love by letter; but somehow, I cannot credit it unless you come
and look me in the face, and take my hand, and assure me of your good
will," surely, he would say to me, "My dear son, what ails you? You
must be out of your mind. I never knew you to be so childish before: my
handwriting has always been enough. I can hardly think you mean it
when you say that you cannot credit me unless I stand manifest before
your eyes, and with your ears you hear me speak." Now, what I would
not do to my earthly father, I certainly would not do to my heavenly
Saviour. I am perfectly satisfied myself to believe what he writes to me;
and if it be so written in his Book, it seems to me to be quite as true and
sure as if he had actually come from heaven, and had talked with me, or
had appeared to me in the visions of the night. Is not this the reasoning
of common-sense? Do you not at once agree with me?
"Well," you say, "we go with you there, dear sir; but, then he spoke that
word to her personally. We should never have any more doubts, but
should go in peace, if he said that word of assurance to us. You see, it is
not merely that Jesus himself spoke, and said, `Thy faith hath made
thee whole,' but he looked that way; he turned towards her, and she
knew that he referred to her. There was no mistaking to whom the
assurance was given. There were other people in the room, but he did
not say it to Simon; he did not say it to Peter; he did not say it to James
and John. She knew by the look of him that he meant it for her, and for
her alone, for she was the only person to go, and consequently the only
one to `go in peace.' Our Lord put it in the singular number, and said.
`Thy faith hath saved thee.' I want it to come home just so to me." Yes,
but I think that this is a little unreasonable, too; is it not? Because if my
father (to carry on my figure) were to speak to me, and to my brothers
and to my sisters, and were to say, "Dear children, I have loving
thoughts concerning you, and I have laid up in store for your needs," I
do not think that I should say to him by-and-by, "Now, father, do you
know that I did not believe you, or derive any pleasure from what you
said, because you spoke to others beside myself? I did not think your
statement of love could be true, because you included my brothers and
my sisters. You did not use the singular, but you put it in the plural; and
you spoke to all my brothers and sisters, as well as to myself; and
therefore I felt that I could not take any comfort out of your tender
assurances." I should be a most unreasonable kind of body if I were to
talk in that way; and my father would begin to think that his son was
qualifying for a lunatic asylum. If he did not attribute it to unkindness
of heart, he certainly would ascribe it to imbecility of head. Why,
surely, surely, if my father says the same to each one of his children as
he says to me, his words are all the more likely to be true, instead of
being less worthy of belief; and therefore I derive comfort from his
promises of love being put in the plural rather than in the singular.
Surely, it should not be less easy to believe that God would deal
graciously with me in company with thousands of others than that he
should pursue a solitary plan with me as the lone object of his love. Is it
not so?
"Ah, yes!" says one, "but you have not hit on it yet. I want to know that
I am one that is in that plural, and I want to know that I really am one
of those to whom Jesus speaks in his Word." My anxious friend, you
may know it; and you may know it most certainly. It is written, "He that
believeth on him hath everlasting life." It need never be a question
whether you believe in him or not; if you trust him, that is the gist of
the matter. You can readily ascertain whether you do really trust him,
or do not trust him. If you do trust him, you are his, and every promise
of his covenant is made to you. You have faith, and when the Lord lays
it down as a general statement that faith saves--the statement is
applicable to all the world, in every place, and in all time, until the
present age shall end, and men shall have passed into the fixed state of
retribution, where no gospel faith is preached. "Thy faith hath saved
thee": if thou hast faith at all--if thou believest that Jesus is the Christ--
thou art born of God. If thou canst say to the Lord Jesus,
"All my trust on thee is stayed,
All my help from thee I bring,"
that is faith, and Jesus testifies, "Thy faith hath saved thee." Now,
because the infallible Witness says this of all who have faith, I do not
think you ought to doubt it. It is true you do not hear his voice, because
he says it rather by the written Word than by word of mouth; but surely
this does not affect your faith. We believe a true man whether he writes
or speaks: indeed, if there be any choice, we prefer that which he has
deliberately put upon paper; for this remains when the sound of the
voice is clean gone. It is most profitable for us that we should read our
Lord's declaration over and over again, and put it in all sorts of shapes,
and see how it remains evermore faithful and true. It is more assuring
to you to find it in the volume of the Book than it would be if the
Saviour met you tonight, and said to you, "Thy sins are forgiven thee.
Thy faith hath saved thee." The record excels the voice. "No," say you,
"I cannot see that." Well now, Peter was with Christ on the Mount of
Transfiguration, and nothing could shake Peter's conviction that he had
been there in the midst of that heavenly glory; and yet, for all that, Peter
says, concerning the inspired Word, "We have a more sure Word of
testimony." He felt that even the memory of that vision, which he had
assuredly seen, did not always yield to him so much assurance as did
the abidingly inspired Word of God. You ought to feel the same. If I
were conscious tonight that, at some period of my life, I had seen the
Lord, and that he had spoken to me, the very spot of ground on which it
occurred would be exceedingly dear and sacred to my spirit; but I am
certain that when I grew depressed, when darkness rushed over my
soul, as it does sometimes, I should be sure to say to myself, "You never
saw anything of the kind. It was a delusion, a figment of imagination, a
delirium, and nothing more." But, beloved, when I get to this Book, and
see before me the sacred lines, I know that I am not deluded. There it
stands, "God so loved the world, that he gave his Only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." I am sure about that, and I am sure that I believe, and therefore I
am sure that I am saved. I like to put my finger right down on the
passage, and then say, "Lord, I know thou canst not lie. I have never
had a question about this being thy Book. Whatever other doubts have
plagued me, this has not. Thou hast so spoken it home to my soul, that I
am as assured that this is thy Book as I am assured of my own
existence; and, hence, thou has done better for the removal of my
doubts, and for the assurance of my soul's eternal salvation, by putting
thy promise in the Book, than if thou hadst thyself personally appeared
to me, and spoken with thine own voice." O my hearer, the written
Word is most sure! If thou believest, thou art saved as surely as thou art
alive. If thou believest, heaven and earth may pass away, but the Word
of the Lord shall stand fast for thee. "He that believeth in him hath
everlasting life." He has eternal life in present possession. Our Lord has
put it thus: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "He that
with his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh confession of him,
shall be saved." There are no "ifs" or "buts" about these words of
promise. Salvation is put as a present thing, and as an abiding thing,
but in every case as a certain thing; and why should we be worried and
worn about the matter? It is so, and let us take the comfort of the fact.
We must either throw away this Book by beginning to talk about
"degrees of inspiration" and all that foul rubbish, or else we are
logically bound to be sure of our hope, and to rejoice in it. I warrant
thee, O my hearer, that as long as thou standest fast by the belief that
this is a sure Word of testimony, thou wilt know that thou art saved! If
this Book be true, every believer in Jesus is as safe as Jesus himself. To
say, "I believe, but I am afraid I am not saved," is to say, only in a
roundabout way, that you do not believe at all; for, if you believe, then
you believe that God speaks the truth; and this is the testimony, that
"God hath given us eternal life, and that life is in his Son." This is the
testimony of the great Father, and the testimony of the eternal Spirit;
and we must not dare to doubt it. You may doubt whether you believe or
not; but given that you do really and unfeignedly put your trust in the
Lord Jesus, then, as effect follows cause, it is certain that the cause of
faith will be followed by its sure effect--salvation. "Thy faith hath saved
thee: go in peace." Do not worry any longer: go in peace. Have done
with questioning; end debate; go in peace. Go about your business, for
the work of salvation is done. You are a saved soul: go and rejoice in
finished salvation, and ask no more questions. "Wherefore criest thou
unto me?" said God to Moses, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that
they go forward." Wherefore do you question and doubt any longer? Go
forward to enjoy what God has prepared for you; and as you are saved
and justified in Christ, now seek sanctification, and all the other
blessings of the covenant of grace which lie before you in Christ Jesus
your Lord. The promise is sure; be sure that it is so, and in perfect rest
of soul enjoy the good which God provides you.
I think I have thus brought out as clearly as I can that delightful
assurance which is the ground of the command, "Go in peace."
II. We come, secondly, to hearken to A CONSIDERATE PRECEPT. Our
Lord, with wise tenderness, dismissed the beloved object of his pardoning
love, and bade her "Go in peace." May the Holy Spirit bless this to us!
This precept divides itself into two parts. There is, first, "Go," and then
there is "Go in peace."
There is "go." Now, in "go" there are two things: to go from and to go
to. Where was she to go from? First, she was to go from these
quibblers. Simon and the Pharisees are as full of objections as a swarm
of bees is full of stings. They say in their hearts one to another, "Who is
this that forgiveth sins also?" They have even dared to question the
character of the perfect One, and have hinted a suspicion of his purity
for allowing such a woman to come so near him, and to wash his feet
with her tears. Therefore the Saviour says to her, "Go." This was not a
happy place for a child-like love to linger in. Her soul would have been
among lions. Jesus seems to say, "Do not stay to be tormented by these
cavillers. Thy faith hath saved thee; go. You have gained a great
blessing; go home with it. Let these people argue with each other; you
have a rich prize, take it out of the reach of these pirates."
Oftentimes, I believe that the child of God would find it to be his
greatest wisdom, whenever he is in company that begins to assail his
Lord, or to denounce his faith, just to go about his business, and let the
scoffers have their scoffing to themselves. Some of us have thought it
our miserable duty to read certain books that have been brought out
against the truth, that we might be able to answer them; but it is a
perilous calling. The Lord have mercy upon us when we have to go
down into these sewers; for the process is not healthy!
"Oh," says a man, "but you must prove all things!" Yes, so I will; but if
one should set a joint of meat on his table, and it smelt rather high, I
would cut a slice and if I put one bit of it in my mouth, and found it far
gone, I should not feel it necessary to eat the whole round of beef to test
its sweetness. Some people seem to think that they must read a bad
book through; and they must go and hear a bad preacher often before
they can be sure of his quality. Why, you can judge many teachings in
five minutes! You say to yourself, "No, sir, no, no, no! this is good
meat--for dogs. Let them have it, but it is not good meat for me, and I
do not intend to poison myself with it." The Saviour does not tell the
woman, "Stop, now, and hear what Simon has got to say. Dear good
woman, you have been washing my feet with tears and here is a highly
intelligent gentleman, a Pharisee, who has a very learned prelection to
deliver; give him a fair hearing. You have to prove all things; therefore,
stop and hear him. And here are more gentlemen who object to my
pardoning your sins; and their objections are fetched from deep veins of
thought. Listen to them, and then I will meet their questions, and quiet
your mind." No; the Saviour says, "Go, go, go in peace. You have
peace: do not stop till you lose it. You have your comfort and joy: refuse
to be robbed of them." Why, if you were in a room, and you saw a
certain number of gentlemen of a suspicious character, and you had
your watch with you, you would not feel it necessary to stop and see
whether they were able to extract your watch from you, but you would
say to yourself, "No; I am best out of this company." We are safest out
of the society of those whose great object it is to rob us of our faith.
"Thy faith hath saved thee. Go home. Leave them. Go in peace."
I think that he meant, besides going away from the men, "Go away
from the publicity into which you have unwillingly stepped." If our
Saviour had been like some excellent people of the present day, he
would have said, "Stand before all these men, and tell your experience.
I shall require you to be at half-a-dozen meetings this week, and you
must speak at every one of them." A splendid woman, was she not, who
washed the Saviour's feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of
her head? She might have exhibited her eyes and her hair, and told
their gracious story. Who can tell but several would have been
impressed by the narrative? The Saviour said to the woman--so
excitable, for she was all that, as well as grateful--"Thy faith hath saved
thee: go in peace." As much as to say, "There are certain of your own
sex that you can speak to. You will find some poor fallen woman to
whom you can quietly tell of my pardoning grace. But yours is a case in
which the very beauty of your character will lie in the quietude of your
future life. `Thy faith hath saved thee.' That is enough for thee. Thou
hast come upon the stage of action by that splendid act of thy love; but
do not acquire the habit of winning publicity. Do not aspire to display
thyself in a bold and heroic attitude, but go in peace." He almost seems
to say, "Subside now into thy family. Take thy place with the rest of thy
sisters. Adorn by thy future purity my doctrine, and let all men see what
a change has been wrought in thee; for, mayhap, that very weakness of
thine, which made thee what thou wast as a sinner, may put thee in
danger even as a saint. Therefore I do not ask thee to tarry here, and
join my disciples, and follow me publicly through the streets, but thy
faith hath saved thee: go in peace."
I think that the Master taught a great deal of wisdom here, which some
of those who are leaders in the church of God would do well to copy.
Yea, I think that I shall go a little further, and say, that I think the
Saviour there and then dismissed her from that high ministry which, for
once in her life, she had carried out. She washed his feet with tears,
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. It was the action of a love
which had risen to a passion. It was an action such as shall be told for a
memorial of her everywhere; and we may well imitate her penitence,
and her heroic courage, as well as her love to Christ. But, at the same
time, we cannot always be doing heroic actions: life is mainly made up
of common deeds. It would not be possible to be always washing feet
with tears, nor to be always unbraiding tresses to use them as a towel.
The difficulty with some people is that they are always wanting to
practice the sublime. Alas! they often fail by just one step, and become
ridiculous. They are always straining after effect; and, hearing of what
has been done once, by one choice person, they must do it themselves,
and they must keep on doing it. O my sister! there may come a time
when you will have to speak for Christ, and speak openly before many;
but tomorrow you had better go home, and see to the children, and
make home happy for your husband. You will glorify Christ by darning
stockings, and mending the socks of the little ones, quite as surely as by
washing his feet with tears. You make a great mistake if you have not a
piety which will take you into domestic life--which will help you to
make the common drudgery of life a divine service. We want men that
can serve God with the axe and plane, or behind a counter, or by
driving a quill. These are the men we want; but there are many that
crave to vault at once into a conspicuous place, and perform an
astounding deed. Having done it once, they become unsettled all the rest
of their lives; and do not seem as if they ever could take to plainly
keeping the ten commandments, and walking in the steps of Jesus. I
wish that those who must flash and blaze would hear the Lord Jesus say
to them, "Go in peace." I mean any of you who really did distinguish
yourselves on one occasion, and deserved much praise from your
Christian friends. I fear lest you should pine for unusual and even
undesirable forms of service and become useless in the ordinary course
of life. Now, do not be spoiled for life by having been allowed in one
unusual deed, but hear the Master say, "Thy faith hath saved thee: go in
peace. Serve me in the daily avocations of life, and bring glory to my
name at home. Go from the strain of publicity to the gentler pressures
of family duty."
Do you not think that he even meant that she was now to cease from
that singular fellowship with him that she had enjoyed? She had been
very close to him; but she was, perhaps, never to be quite so near to him
again. In spirit she should be; but certainly not physically. It happens
that those who take to the contemplative life--and there is no life higher
than that--are apt to think that they must forget the practical life. But it
must not be so. We must do that which the Master bids us do, as well as
sit at his feet. I am tempted to tell a story which most of you must know
concerning the famous man of God, who, in his cell, thought he saw the
Lord Jesus, and under that persuasion he worshipped with rapt delight.
But just then the bell at the convent-gate rang, and it was his turn to
stand at the door, and deal out bread to the hungry. There was a little
battle in his mind as to which he should do--tarry with his Lord, or go
to hand out bread to the poor mendicants. At last, he felt that he must
do his duty even at the cost of the highest spiritual bliss. He went and
distributed the bread, and when he came back, to his great delight, the
vision was still there, and a voice said to him, "If thou hadst stayed, I
would have gone; but as thou hast gone, I have therefore stayed still to
commune with thee." The path of duty must be followed, and no
spiritual enjoyment can excuse us from it. Never offer one duty to God
stained with the blood of another. Balance your duties, and let not one
press out another. "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." Do not
think that thou needest to be all day long at thy Bible, or all the evening
at thy prayer. There is a time for everything. Let every holy work have
its place, that thy life may be a fair mosaic of brilliant colours, all set
according to the divine pattern, to make up a perfect character. "Thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace, and do the next thing, and the next,
without weariness."
That leads me to speak of what she was to go to. It seems to me that the
Saviour said, "Now go home. You have been a fallen woman: home is
the place for you. Go home to your mother and father, or other relatives.
Seek a home. Be domesticated. Attend to your own work. Whatever
your place is, go to it. Leaving daily duty was the source of your
temptation; return to walks of usefulness, and habits of order, and this
will be your safety. You will be less likely to be led away if you have to
work to occupy head, and heart, and hands."
Did he not mean, "Go now to your ordinary life-trial"? Do you think
yourself a very peculiar person--a sort of saint, that has to float in the
air, or live upon roses? Do not fancy such a thing. I have heard of the
Chinese, that they sell shoes with which you can walk on the clouds;
and I believe that some people must have bought a pair of these
remarkable articles; for their lives are spent in cloudland, walking as in
a dream, upon high stilts of fond imaginations. Do not think great
things of yourself. You are but a commonplace man or woman. Do such
duty as your fellow-Christians do, and do not think yourself a superior
person. The worst people in the world to work with are superior people.
Those are of no importance who think they are of great importance.
Poor creature! it is not the grace of God which turns your brain, but
your own silly conceit.
Go forth to your further service: "Go in peace. There are some to whom
you can tell of my love. Oh, how you will tell it! You that have washed
my feet with your tears, go and shower those tears over fallen ones like
yourself. Go, use those eyes, that you may look my love right into their
hearts as you are speaking to them. Go all your life in peace, and do for
me all that I shall put in your way to do for me." That is what I think
our Lord meant. Brethren, do not think of sitting here to enjoy
yourselves; but go off, and glorify your Redeemer's name. Go!
But then here is the point of it: he said "Go in peace." O my brethren, I
desire that all of us who love the Lord may go henceforth all the rest of
our life journey in peace. May pardoning love put us at peace
concerning all our sins! O pardoned one, thou lovest much, for thou
hast had much forgiven; let thy thoughts all run to love, and none to
fear. Fret not about the past--the dark, dishonorable past. The hand that
was pierced has blotted it all out. The great Lord has frankly forgiven
thee all thy debt. Let not that disturb thee any longer. Go in peace.
What a rest it is to be rid of the burden of sin, and to know of a
certainty, from the teaching of God's own word, that your sins are
forgiven you! This is peace which passeth all understanding.
Our Lord meant, next, "Go in peace" in reference to all the criticisms
of all these people who have looked at you. Do not mind them. Do not
trouble about them. What have they to do with you? It is enough for a
servant if his master accepts him: he need not mind what others have to
say about his service. Thy faith hath saved thee. Forget all the unkind
things they have said, and do not trouble thy heart about the cruel
speeches they may yet make. Go in peace, and be under no alarm as to
upbraiding tongues.
And then I think he meant, "Go in peace about what thou hast done." I
know the need of a word like that. I have preached the gospel: I have
thrown my whole soul into it; and after it is all over, I have felt bound
to chide myself that I did not do much better as to style, or spirit, or
length, or some other matter. Oh, but if the Master accepts it, one may
go in peace about it! This woman had done a very extraordinary thing
in washing Christ's feet with tears, and wiping them with the hairs of
her head; and when she got away, she might have said to herself, "I
wonder that I was so bold. Was I not immodestly conspicuous? How
could I have done it? How must I have looked when I was bathing his
feet? For me, too--such a sinner as I am--for me to have done it to the
blessed and holy One! I fear he must have felt vexed at my rudeness!"
Have you not sometimes done a brave thing for Christ, and then
afterwards felt just like that? "I was a bold minx," say you, "after all, to
push myself so forward." The good young man, who has just preached
for the first time, says, "Well, I got through it this time, but I will never
attempt it again, for I am sure that I am not fit for such holy work." So
the Master says to this woman, "Go in peace. I have accepted thee and
thy loving service. Do not trouble about what thou hast done. It is all
sweet to me, and has a rich perfume of thy great love. Never fret about
what you have done. You have done the right thing. Thy faith hath
saved thee. Go in peace." I want us to have just that kind of peace--
peace about what we have done for our Lord, even as we have peace
about sin forgiven, and peace about human criticisms.
"Go in peace." Oh, to possess, from this time forth, a holy quiet! We are
so apt to grow fretful. I know some good brethren who have a swollen
vein of suspicion about them, that bleeds every now and then, and pains
them greatly, and alarms other people. I know some sisters: they are
very good, but unreasonably fearful. They say that they are "nervous."
Perhaps that is the fact; and so I will say no more. But, oh, that we
could get them cured of this disease of the nerves! I would they could be
quieted! I admire the members of the Society of Friends for this virtue
beyond almost any other which they exhibit: they seem to be so steady,
self-contained, and equable. They are a little slow, perhaps; but then
they are very sure, and firm, and steadfast, and calm. We are some of us
too much in a hurry to go fast. If we were a little slower, we should be
quicker. If we left our affairs more entirely with God, our peace might
be like a river.
Yes, I would to God, dear friends, that we might feel henceforth a
constant joy. Why not? Nothing ought to trouble us, for we know that
all things work together for good. If we live by faith, nothing can
trouble us; for between here and heaven we shall keep company with
thee, thou Blessed One! And if the way thou takest be rough, the fact of
thy being with us shall make it smooth to us. We will travel merrily
with this as our march-music--"Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
Still, to come back to where I began, I dare say that the good woman
thought that she would like to speak a word for the Lord. When they
said that he could not forgive sin, would not she have liked to say, "But
he did forgive my sin, and he changed my nature. How dare you speak
thus?" But the Saviour said, "Go." She was not called to contend.
Thank God every child of God is not called to fight with the adversary:
those of us who are men of war from our youth up take no pleasure in
strife. We wish that, like this holy woman, we could be exempt from
this warfare. She might well rejoice in her escape from the sacred
conscription. Many a cuff and blow she thus avoided; and as her
Captain sent her off the field, she might go home right happily.
She might have lost the blessed frame of mind in which she then was,
and this would have been a real injury to her. She was sweetly wrapped
up in love, and there her Lord would have her abide. He seems to say,
"You are too precious to be battered and bruised in battle. Go--go in
peace. Dear soul, you are so full of love to me that I do not want you to
be worried with fighting, and contending, and controverting. Go in
peace." She would have done no good, I dare say, if she had ventured
into a fray for which she was so unfitted. If she had spoken, she would
have said something which the cruel Pharisees would have turned into a
jest. So he said to her, "Go in peace." Why should her feebleness give
them an occasion for unholy triumph? All true hearts are not fit for
fight. Besides, she had her Lord to be her Advocate, and there was no
need for her to speak. Therefore he said, "I can manage them without
your presence. Go in peace." When we may believingly leave a
difficulty with our Lord, it is faith's duty to go home quietly. No doubt,
by going in peace, she would be doing greater service than she would by
using her tongue upon these ungodly men. A quiet, happy life is often
the noblest witness that we can bear for Christ. Therefore I say to
everyone who loves the Lord, there are times when he will say to us,
"Do not enter into any of this conflict, and turmoil, and muddle. Thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace."
The last word I have to say is this. There are many poor souls who talk
about coming to Christ, who are not yet saved; and they are always
hearing about faith, and thinking of it, and yet they never do, in very
truth, believe. Now, do not hear nor debate any more about faith, but
believe. Trust Jesus Christ, and think no more about your own trusting.
Thou shalt think of it as a thing done, I mean, but not as a thing to be
done. God help thee now to believe in Jesus, and so pass over the bridge
of belief to the golden shore of Jesus himself!
Well, but I notice some say that they believe, but it is not believing,
because if it were believing, they would "go in peace." A person comes
to the bank with a cheque. He believes it to be honestly his, and the
signature to be correct. He puts it down on the counter, and the clerk
puts out the money. But see! The man does not take it! He stands and
loafs about; and the clerk looks at him, and wonders what he is at. At
last, when the person has been there long enough to wear the good
man's patience out, the clerk says, "Did you bring that cheque to have
the money?" "Yes, I handed it in." "Well, then, why do you not take the
money, and go about your business?" If he is a sensible man, he delays
no longer; nay, he would not have delayed so long. He takes the money,
and departs in peace. Now, dear soul, if thou hast a promise from God--
"He that believeth is not condemned," or "he that believeth hath
everlasting life"--dost thou believe? Then take the blessing, and go
about thy business. Do not keep on saying, "Perhaps it is so," and
"Perhaps it is not so." Do you believe that God speaks the truth? If so,
then take the promised blessing and enjoy it; for thou art a saved man.
"But I have been going to a place of worship for years, and I have been
believing in a sort of a way; but I have never dared to say that I was
saved." Then you are acting the part of an unbeliever. If you do not
know that you are saved, how dare you go to sleep tonight? How should
a man dare to eat his meals, and go about his business, and yet say, "I
do not know whether I am saved or not?" Thou mayest know it, and
thou oughtest to know it. If you believe, you are saved: if you doubt that
fact, you are rather an unbeliever than a believer. Take up your money,
and go home. "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Trust
Jesus! Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace.
The Lord help you truly to believe, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
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