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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from 1 Kings (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 01 - 1KI 2:30 The Horns of the Altar
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The Horns of the Altar
March 23, 1884
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"And he said, Nay; but I will die here."- 1Ki_2:30
We must tell you the story. Solomon was to be the king after David, but his
elder brother, Adonijah, was preferred by Joab, the captain of the host, and
by Abiathar, the priest; and, therefore, they got together, and tried to
steal a march upon dying David, and set up Adonijah. They utterly failed in
this; and when Solomn came to the throne Adonijah was afraid for his life,
and fled to the horns of the altar at the tabernacle for shelter. Solomn
permitted him to find sanctuary there, and forgave him his offence, and said
that if he proved himself a worthy man he should live without further
molestation. But very soon he began plotting again, and sought to undermine
Solomon now that their venerable father was dead. It became therefore
necessary, especially according to oriental ideas, for Solomn to strike a
heavy blow; and he determined to begin with Joab-the bottom of all the
mischief, who, though he had not followed after Absalom in David's time, was
now following after Adonijah. No sooner had the king determined upon this,
than Joab, conscience-stricken, begin to look to himself and fly. Read the
twenty-eighth verse. "Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after
Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the
tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar." I suppose
that he thought that, as Adonijah had done this successfully before, Joab
might repeat it, and have some hope for his life. Of course. he had no right
to enter into the holy place, and lay hold on the horns of the altar; but
being driven to desperation, he knew not what else to do. He was a man of
hoary head, who had thirty or more years before committed two atrocious
murders, and now they came home to him. He did not know where to fly except
he fled to the horns of an altar, which he had very seldom approached before.
As far as we can judge, he had shown little respect to religion during his
lifetime. He was a rough man of war, and cared little enough about God, or
the tabernacle, or the priests, or the altar; but when he was in danger, he
fled to that which he had avoided, and sought to make a refuge of that which
he had neglected. He was not the only man that had done the same. Perhaps
there are some here who before long will be trying to escape from impending
woe by like means.
Now, I want you to notice that when Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord,
and took hold of the horns of the altar, it was of no use to him. "And it was
told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord; and,
behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomn sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
saying, Go, fall upon him. And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord and
said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will
die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus saith Joab,
and thus he answered me. And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and
fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood,
which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. And the Lord shall
return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men, more righteous and
better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing
thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and
Amasa, the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Their blood shall
therefore return upon the head of Joab. So Benaiah the son of Jehoida went
up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in
the wilderness."
I have two lessons I am anxious to teach at this time. The first is derived
from the fact that Joab found no benefit of sanctuary even though he laid
hold of the horns of the altar of God's house, from which I gather this
lesson-that outward ordinances will avail nothing. Before the living God, who
is greater and wiser than Solomn, it will be of no avail to any man to lay
hold upon the horns of the altar. But, secondly, there is an altar-a
spiritual altar-whereof if a man do but lay hold upon the horns, and say,
"Nay; but I will die here," he shall never die; but he shall be safe against
the sword of justice for ever; for the Lord has appointed an altar in the
person of his own dear Son, Jesus Christ, where there shall be shelter for
the very vilest of sinners if they do but come and lay hold thereon.
I. To begin, then, first, OUTWARD ORDINANCES AVAIL NOT. The laying hold upon
the literal horns of an altar, which can be handled, availed not Joab. There
are many-oh, how many still!-that are hoping to be saved, because they lay
hold, as they think, upon the horns of the sacraments. Men of unhallowed
life, nevertheless, come to the sacramental table, looking for a blessing. Do
they not know that they pollute it? Do they not know that they are committing
a high sin, and a great misdemeanour against God, by coming amongst his
people, where they have no right to be? And yet they think that by committing
this atrocity they are securing to themselves safety. How common it is to
find in this city, when an irreligious man is dying, that someone will say,
"Oh, he is all right; for a clergyman has been, and given him the sacrament."
I often marvel how men calling themselves the servants of God can dare thus
to profane the ordinance of the Lord. Did he ever intend the blessed memorial
of the Lord's supper to be a kind of superstitious vialicum, a something upon
which ungodly men may depend in their last hour, as if it could put away sin.
I do not one half so much blame the poor ignorant and superstitious persons
who seek after the sacrament in their dying hours, as I do the men who ought
to know better, but who pander to what is as downright a superstition as
anything that ever came from the church of Rome, or, for the matter of that,
from the fetish worship of the most deluded African tribe. Do they conceive
that grace comes to men by bits of bread and drops of wine? These things are
meant to put us in memory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as far as they do
that, and quicken our thoughts of him, they are useful to us; but there is no
wizardry or witchcraft linked with these two emblems, so they convey as form
of grace. If you do rely upon such things, I can only say that this error is
all of a piece: it is a superstition which begins with, "In my baptism,
wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of
the kingdom of heaven"; which statement is altogether false; and then it
continues the delusion by prostituting an ordinance meant for the living
child of God, and giving it to the ungodly, the ignorant, and the
superstitious, as though it could make them meet for entering heaven. I
charge you, as before the Lord, cleanse yourselves of this superstition.
There is no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and you
might as well trust in your sins as in sacraments. In fact, the sacraments
become sins to men who trust in them, for those men sin against the
ordinances of the Lord by putting them where they never ought to be, and
making an Antichrist of them, so as to push Christ out of his place with
their baptisms and their masses. If you died with the sacramental bread in
your mouths, ye will lost unless your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Your hands, which are superstitiously laid upon the altar's horns,
might as well be placed upon your weapons of rebellion. Outward emblems can
do you no good whatsoever if you remain unspiritual. Without faith in Christ,
even the ordinances of God become things to condemn you. If ye eat and drink
unworthily ye eat and drink condemnation to yourselves, not discerning the
Lord's body; and, if this be true, how dare any unconverted, unbelieving man
put his trust in the outward ordinance of which he has no right to partake?
There are others who put their trust in religious observances of sundry
kinds. Their visible altar-horn is something which they believe to be very
proper and right, and which, indeed, may be so if wisely used, for the thing
is good if used lawfully; but it will be their ruin if it be put out of its
own place. For instance, there are, doubtless, some who think that they are
all right because they frequent sermons. They delight to be found hearing the
gospel. Now, in this you do well, for, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God"; but, if you suppose that the mere hearing of a sermon
with the outward ear can save you, you suppose what is untrue, and you build
the house of your hope on sand. "Oh, sir, I have sat to hear the true gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ these many years." Yes, and these many years you
have rejected it. The kingdom of God has come nigh unto you, but I fear it
will work your damnation through your unbelief; for it will be a savour of
death unto you. I fear that in the last great day it shall be seen that I
have ministered unto some of you to your hurt. It will not be laid to my
charge, but to yours, if I have been faithful in the declaration of the word.
Oh, may God grant that no man or woman among you may ever put the slightest
faith in the mere hearing of the word! Except ye receive it by faith ye
deceive your own souls; if ye are hearers only, what good can come of it?
"Oh, but," says another, "I attend prayer meetings." I admit that it is not
every hypocrite that will regularly come to prayer-meetings, but there are
some that do; and, though you are so fond of prayer-meetings, yet, my dear
friend, unless it can be said of you, "Behold he prayeth," you need not make
sure of safety. Your being found in the place where prayer is wont to be made
may be no true sign of grace. "Ay, but I do more than that, for I have
prayers in my own house." Yes, and very proper , too. I would that all did
the same; I am grieved that any should neglect the ordinance of family
prayer. But yet, if you think that the reading of a form of prayer in your
household, or even the use of extempore prayer, is a thing to be relied upon
for salvation, you do greatly err. "He that believeth in him hath everlasting
life", but he that believes not in the Lord Jesus Christ does but offer
unbelieving prayer to God; and what is that but a vain sacrifice which he
cannot accept? Oh, do not rely upon the habit of outward worship, or you will
lean on a bulrush!
"But I regularly read a chapter," says one. I am extremely glad you do, and
God bless that chapter to you! I would that all were in the habit of reading
right thought the Bible regularly, and endeavouring to understand it; but, if
you trust in your Bible-readings as a ground of salvation, you are resting
upon a mere soap-bubble which will burst under your weight. Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, producing in the soul a change of heart, a new birth unto God,
this is what is wanted; and, apart from that, all the Bible reading you ever
practice can do you no good whatsoever. "Ye must be born again. Ye must be
born again"; and if they be not this inward change, then vain is all outward
observance. You may wash a corpse, you may clothe that corpse in the purest
white shroud that was ever woven, but when all is done it does not live; and
what are all the outward devotions of a carnal man but dead things which
bring no life with them to men dead in sin?
Some are foolish enough to put their confidence in ministers. It would seem
to me to be the maddest thing in all the world for anybody to have confidence
in me as to helping him in his salvation; and I trust that nobody is such a
fool. I cannot even save myself; what can I do for others? Do not come to me
with "Give us of your oil," for I have not enough for myself, except as I
keep on begging a supply. When I look at the priests in whom some trust,
especially such as I have seen abroad, they may be very fine fellows, but I
would not trust some of them with a half-crown, let alone my soul. The very
look of most priests makes me wonder how they manage to secure power over
people's minds. They may know a great deal, but they do not look as if they
were overdone with wit. I would as soon trust my soul in the hands of a gipsy
with a red cloak as I would with the best-ordained priest or bishop that ever
lived. There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and
he who sets up another is an enemy of souls. There is but one who can be
trusted with our soul affairs, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and woe to us if
we put our confidence in men! Ordained or unordained, shaven or unshorn, they
cannot help us. Yet I know that people do trust in ministers most foolishly.
I remember years ago being at three o'clock in the morning in a house now
pulled down, which stood not far from the London Bridge railway-station. A
gentleman of considerable means had spent the Sunday at Brighton, had come
home, and had been taken with cholera on a sudden, and nothing would do him,
when he was in the pangs of death, but he must send for me. I went, not
knowing what was required of me. But when I got there what could I do? There
was a little consciousness left to the man, and I spoke to him of Jesus. I
asked if he had a Bible. The people of the house searched high and low, but
there was no such thing to be found. The mind was soon too beclouded for
further comprehension, and as I came away I asked, "Has he ever gone to a
place of worship?" No, never-never cared for such a thing; but as soon as he
was ill, then, "Oh, send for Mr. Spurgeon!" He must come, and nobody else:
and there I stood, and what could I do? There died in the City of London, not
long ago, a tradesman of much wealth; and when he came to die, though I had
never seen the man in my life before, he importunately asked for me. I could
not go. My brother went to see him, and, after setting before him the way of
salvation, he enquired, "What made you wish to see my brother?" "Well," he
said, "you know whenever I have a doctor I always like to get the best; and
when I employ a lawyer I like a man who is high in the profession. Money is
no object. I want the best possible help." Ah me! I shuddered at being so
regarded. The best help he could get! That best is nothing-less than nothing,
and vanity. What can we do for you, dear hearts, if you will not have our
Saviour? We can stand and weep over you, and break our hearts to think that
you reject him; but what can we do? Oh, if we could let you into heaven, if
we could renew your hearts, how joyfully would we perform the miracle; but we
claim no such power, no such influence! Go you to Christ, and lay hold upon
the true altar-horn; but do not be so foolish as to put confidence in us or
in any other ministers.
"Ah, well," says one, "I am free of that. I am a professor of religion, and
have been a member of a church now these twenty years." You may be a member
of a church fifty years, but you will be damned at last unless you are a
member of Christ. It matters not though you are a church-officer, a deacon,
an elder, a pastor, a bishop, or even Archbishop of Canterbury, or an
apostle, you will perish as surely as Judas, who betrayed his Master with a
kiss, unless your heart is right with God. I pray you, put no confidence in
your profession. Unless you have Christ in your heart, a profession is but a
painted pageantry for a soul to go to hell in. As a corpse is drawn to the
grave by horses adorned with nodding plumes, so may you find in an outward
profession a pompous way of being lost. God save us from that!
"No," says one, " but I do not trust in mere profession. I have great
reliance upon orthodoxy. I will have sound doctrine." That is right, friend,
I would have all men value the truth. "My confidence is in my sound
doctrine." That is not mine, friend, and I hope that it will not be yours
long, for many lost souls have firmly believed orthodox doctrine. In fact, I
question whether any one is more orthodox than the devil, for the devils
believe and tremble. Satan is no skeptic; he has too much knowledge for that.
Devils believe and tremble, and yet they are devils still. Put no confidence
in the mere fact that you hold to an orthodox faith, for a dead orthodoxy
soon corrupts. You must have faith in Christ, or else this altar-horn of a
correct creed, on which you lay your hand, will bring you no salvation.
I will not enlarge upon this topic. Whatever you depend upon apart from the
blood and righteousness of Christ, away with it! Away with it! If you are
even depending upon your own repentance, and your faith, away with them! If
you are looking to your own prayers or alms, I can only cry again,-Away with
them! Nothing but the blood of Jesus; nothing but the atoning sacrifice; but,
if you come and lay your hand upon that, blessed shall you be.
II. That assurance is the second part of our discourse, on which I will speak
briefly. COMING TO THE SPIRITUAL ALTAR, AND LAYING OUR HAND UPON IT, WILL
SAVE US.
Now, notice first, the act itself. Joab came within the tabernacle. So, poor
soul, come and hide yourself in Christ. Joab took hold of the horns, the
projecting corners of the altar, and he would not let go. Come, trembling
sinners, and take hold on Christ Jesus.
"My faith doth lay her hand
On that dear head of thine;
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin."
Lean with your hand of faith upon your Lord, and say, "This Christ is mine. I
accept it as the gift of God to me, unworthy though I be."
When that is done, a fierce demand may be made upon you. The enemy will
probably cry, "Come forth! Come forth!" The self-righteous will say, "What
right has a sinner as you to trust Christ? Come forth!" Mind you say to them,
"Nay, but I will die here." Your sins and your guilty conscience will cry to
you, "Come forth! Come forth! You must not lay hold of Christ. See what you
have been, and what you are, and what you are likely to be." Answer to these
voices, "Nay, but I will die here. I will never give up my hold of Christ."
Satan will come, and he will howl out, "Come forth! What right have you with
the Lord Jesus Christ? You cannot think that he came to save such a lost one
as you are." Do not listen to him. As often as he howls at you, only say to
yourself, "Nay, but I will die here." I pray God that every sinner here may
be brought to this desperate resolve, "If I perish, I will perish trusting in
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. If I must die, I will die here."
For certain, we shall die anywhere else. If we trust in any but Jesus, we
must perish. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid." "Without
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." "He that believeth on him is
not condemned: but he that believeth not,"-whatever else he trusts to,-"is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-
begotten Son of God." Make, then, this desperate resolve-
If I must die, here will I die,
Here at the cross I bide;
To whom or whither should I fly?
Where else can I confide?
Say to all those who call you away, "Nay, but I will die here"; for nobody
ever did perish trusting in Jesus. There has not been through all these
centuries a single instance of a soul being cast away that came all guilty
and hell-deserving, and took Christ to be its salvation. If you perish, you
will then be the first that perished with his hand laid upon Christ. His love
and power can never fail a sinner's confidence. Wherefore, may God the Holy
Spirit lead you to resolve, "If I must die, I will die here." Listen to me,
soul, whoever thou mayest be out of the crowd, man or women, whatever thy
life may have been, even though it should have been that of a harlot or a
thief, a drunkard or a profligate, if thou wilt now believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, thou shalt be saved; for, if not, then God himself will have missed
his greatest design. What did he give Jesus for but to save sinners? What did
he lay sin upon Jesus for, but that he might take it off the sinner, and let
him go free, and be pardoned? If, then, Christ fails, God's grandest
expedient has broken down. That method by which the Lord resolved to show
what his almighty grace can do has proved to be a failure if a believing
sinner is not saved. Dost thou think that such a thing can ever be? It is
blasphemy to think that Jehovah can be defeated. He that believes in Christ
shall be saved; nay, he is saved.
If thou art not saved believing in Christ, then Christ himself is
dishonoured. Oh, let them once know, down in the dark abode of fallen
spirits, that a man has trusted in Christ and yet has not been saved, I tell
you that they will make such exultation over Christ as Philistia made over
Samson when his eyes were put out. They would feel that they had defeated the
Prince of Glory. They would trample on his blood, and ridicule his claim to
be the Savour of men. If any soul can truly say hereafter, "I went to Christ,
and he refused me," then Christ does not speak the truth when he says, "Him
that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." Then he has changed his nature,
foregone his word, and foresworn himself. But that also can never be.
Wherefore, dear heart, cling to Jesus, and say still, "If I die, I will die
here."
Moreover, if thou canst perish trusting in Christ thou wilt discourage all
the saints of God; for if Christ can break his promise to one, then why not
to another? If one promise fails, why not all the promises? If the blood has
lost its power, how can any of us ever hope to enter heaven? I say it will
breed great discouragement in the hearts of all people if this be true; for
what a wet blanket would e throne over all thy fellow-sinners! If they are
coming to Christ, they will start back, and say, "What is the good of it?
Here is one that came to Jesus, and he did not save him. He trusted in the
precious blood, and yet his sin was laid to his charge." If one fails, why
not the rest? I must give up preaching the gospel when once I hear of a man
trusting Jesus and not being saved; for I should be afraid to speak with
boldness, as I now do.
If one poor soul that puts his trust in Christ should be cast away it would
spoil heaven itself. What security is there for glorified spirits that their
splendours shall endure except the promise of a faithful, covenant-keeping
God? If, then, looking down from their celestial seats, they behold the great
Father breaking his promise, and the Son of God unable to save those for whom
he died, then will they say, "We will lay our harps aside, and put our palms
away, for we, too, after all, may perish." See, then, O man, heaven and
earth, ay, God and his Christ, as to their credit and their glory, do stand
and fall with the salvation of every believing sinner. If I were in your
stead tonight, I think that I should bless God to have this matter put so
plainly to me. I know that years ago, when I was under a sense of sin, if I
had heard even such a poor sermon as this I should have jumped for joy at it,
and would have ventured upon Christ at once. Come, poor soul; come at once.
You have heard the gospel long enough; now obey it. You have heard about
Christ long enough; now trust in him. You have been invited and entreated,
and pleaded with; now yield to his grace. Yield to joy and peace by trusting
in him who will give you both of these as soon as you have rested in him.
Look! sinner, look! A look out of thyself will save thee. Look away from all
thy works, and prayers, and tears, and feelings, and church-goings, and
chapel-goings, and sacraments, and ministers. Look alone to Jesus. Look at
once to him who on the bloody tree made expiation, and who bids thee look,
and thou shalt live.
God make this present hour to be the period of thy new birth. I pray it, and
so do his people. The Lord hearken to our intercessions, for Christ's sake.
Amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, NJ, USA 08022
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