Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCharles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Genesis: 10 GEN 24:5-8 No Compromise
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Genesis (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 10 GEN 24:5-8 No Compromise
Other Subjects in this Topic:
No Compromise
October 7th, 1888
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the
woman will not be willing to follow me unto this
land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the
land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said
unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son
thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took
me from my father's house, and from the land of my
kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware
unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this
land; he shall send his angel before thee, and
thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
And if the woman will not be willing to follow
thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath:
only bring not my son thither again."-- Gen_24:5-8.
Genesis is both the book of beginnings and the book of
dispensations. You know what use Paul makes of Sarah
and Hagar, of Esau and Jacob, and the like. Genesis is,
all through, a book instructing the reader in the
dispensations of God towards man. Paul saith, in a
certain place, "which things are an allegory," by which
he did not mean that they were not literal facts, but
that, being literal facts, they might also be used
instructively as an allegory. So may I say of this
chapter. It records what actually was said and done;
but at the same time, it bears within it allegorical
instruction with regard to heavenly things. The true
minister of Christ is like this Eleazar of Damascus; he
is sent to find a wife for his Master's son. His great
desire is, that many shall be presented unto Christ in
the day of his appearing, as the bride, the Lamb's
wife.
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started,
communed with his master; and this is a lesson to us,
who go on our Lord's errands. Let us, before we engage
in actual service, see the Master's face, talk with
him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to
our minds. Before we get to work, let us know what we
are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from
our Lord's own mouth what he expects us to do, and how
far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you,
my fellow-servants, never to go forth to plead with men
for God until you have first pleaded with God for men.
Do not attempt to deliver a message which you have not
first of all yourself received by his Holy Spirit. Come
out of the chamber of fellowship with God into the
pulpit of ministry among men, and there will be a
freshness and a power about you which none shall be
able to resist. Abraham's servant spoke and acted as
one who felt bound to do exactly what his master bade
him, and to say what his master told him; hence his one
anxiety was to know the essence and measure of his
commission. During his converse with his master he
mentioned one little point about which there might be a
hitch; and his master soon removed the difficulty from
his mind. It is about that hitch, which has occurred
lately on a very large scale, and has upset a good many
of my Master's servants, that I am going to speak this
morning: may God grant that it may be to the benefit of
his church at large!
I. Beginning our sermon, we will ask you, first, to
THINK OF THE SERVANT'S JOYFUL BUT WEIGHTY ERRAND. It
was a joyful errand: the bells of marriage were ringing
around him. The marriage of the heir should be a joyful
event. It was an honourable thing for the servant to be
entrusted with the finding of a wife for his master's
son. Yet it was every way a most responsible business,
by no means easy of accomplishment. Blunders might very
readily occur before he was aware of it; and he needed
to have all his wits about him, and something more than
his wits, too, for so delicate a matter. He had to
journey far, over lands without track or road; he had
to seek out a family which he did not know, and to find
out of that family a woman whom he did not know, who
nevertheless should be the right person to be the wife
of his master's son: all this was a great service.
The work this man undertook was a business upon which
his master's heart was set. Isaac was now forty years
old, and had shown no sign of marrying. He was of a
quiet, gentle spirit, and needed a more active spirit
to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him of
the solace of his life, which he had found in his
mother, and had, no doubt, made him desire tender
companionship. Abraham himself was old, and well
stricken in years; and he very naturally wished to see
the promise beginning to be fulfilled, that in Isaac
should his seed be called. Therefore, with great
anxiety, which is indicated by his making his servant
swear an oath of a most solemn kind, he gave him the
commission to go to the old family abode in
Mesopotamia, and seek for Isaac a bride from thence.
Although that family was not all that could be desired,
yet it was the best he knew of; and as some heavenly
light lingered there, he hoped to find in that place
the best wife for his son. The business was, however, a
serious one which he committed to his servant. My
brethren, this is nothing compared with the weight
which hangs on the true minister of Christ. All the
Great Father's heart is set on giving to Christ a
church which shall be his beloved for ever. Jesus must
not be alone: his church must be his dear companion.
The Father would find a bride for the great Bridegroom,
a recompense for the Redeemer, a solace for the
Saviour: therefore he lays it upon all whom he calls to
tell out the gospel, that we should seek souls for
Jesus, and never rest till hearts are wedded to the Son
of God. Oh, for grace to carry out this commission!
This message was the more weighty because of the person
for whom the spouse was sought. Isaac was an
extraordinary personage; indeed, to the servant he was
unique. He was a man born according to promise, not
after the flesh, but by the power of God; and you know
how in Christ, and in all that are one with Christ, the
life comes by the promise and the power of God, and
springeth not of man. Isaac was himself the fulfillment
of promise, and the heir of the promise. Infinitely
glorious is our Lord Jesus as the Son of man! Who shall
declare his generation? Where shall be found a helpmeet
for him? a soul fit to be espoused unto him? Isaac had
been sacrificed; he had been laid upon the altar, and
although he did not actually die, his father's hand had
unsheathed the knife wherewith to slay him. Abraham in
spirit had offered up his son; and you know who he is
of whom we preach, and for whom we preach, even Jesus,
who has laid down his life a sacrifice for sinners. He
has been presented as a whole burnt-offering unto God.
Oh! by the wounds, and by the bloody sweat, I ask you
where shall we find a heart fit to be wedded to him?
How shall we find men and women who can worthily
recompense love so amazing, so divine, as that of him
who died the death of the cross? Isaac had also been,
in a figure, raised from the dead. To his father he was
"as good as dead," as said the apostle; and he was
given back to him from the dead. But our blessed Lord
has actually risen from an actual death, and stands
before us this day as the Conqueror of death, and the
Spoiler of the grave. Who shall be joined to this
Conqueror? Who is fit to dwell in glory with this
glorious One? One would have thought that every heart
would aspire to such happiness, and leap in prospect of
such peerless honour, and that none would shrink back
except through a sense of great unworthiness. Alas! it
is not so, though so it ought to be.
What a weighty errand have we to fulfil to find those
who shall be linked for ever in holy union with the
Heir of the promise, even the sacrificed and risen One!
Isaac was everything to Abraham. Abraham would have
said to Isaac, "All that I have is thine." So is it
true of our blessed Lord, whom he hath made Heir of all
things; by whom also he made the worlds, that "it
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell." What a dignity will be put upon any of you who
are married to Christ! To what a height of eminence
will you be uplifted by becoming one with Jesus! O
preacher, what a work hast thou to do to-day, to find
out those to whom thou shalt give the bracelet, and
upon whose face thou shalt hang the jewel! To whom
shall I say, "Wilt thou give thy heart to my Lord! Wilt
thou have Jesus to be thy confidence, thy salvation,
thine all in all? Art thou willing to become his that
he may be thine?"
Said I not truly that it was a joyful, but a weighty
errand, when you think what she must be to whom his
master's son should be espoused? She must, at least, be
willing and beautiful. In the day of God's power,
hearts are made willing. There can be no marriage to
Jesus without a heart of love. Where shall we find this
willing heart? Only where the grace of God has wrought
it. Ah, then, I see how I may find beauty, too, among
the sons of men! Marred as our nature is by sin, only
the Holy Spirit can impart that beauty of holiness
which will enable the Lord Jesus to see comeliness in
his chosen. Alas! in our hearts there is an aversion to
Christ, and an unwillingness to accept of him, and at
the same time a terrible unfitness and unworthiness!
The Spirit of God implants a love which is of heavenly
origin, and renews the heart by a regeneration from
above; and then we seek to be one with Jesus, but not
till then. See, then, how our errand calls for the help
of God himself.
Think what she will become who is to be married to
Isaac? She is to be his delight; his loving friend and
companion. She is to be partner of all his wealth; and
specially is she to be a partaker in the great covenant
promise, which was peculiarly entailed upon Abraham and
his family. When a sinner comes to Christ, what does
Christ make of him? His delight is in him: he communes
with him; he hears his prayer, he accepts his praise;
he works in him and with him, and glorifies himself in
him. He makes the believing man joint-heir with himself
of all that he has, and introduces him into the
covenant treasure-house, wherein the riches and glory
of God are stored up for his chosen. Ah, dear friends!
it is a very small business in the esteem of some to
preach the gospel; and yet, if God is with us, ours is
more than angels' service. In a humble way you are
telling of Jesus to your boys and girls in your
classes; and some will despise you as "only Sunday-
school teachers"; but your work has a spiritual weight
about it unknown to conclaves of senators, and absent
from the counsels of emperors. Upon what you say,
death, and hell, and worlds unknown are hanging. You
are working out the destinies of immortal spirits,
turning souls from ruin to glory, from sin to holiness.
"'Tis not a work of small import
Your loving care demands;
But what might fill an angel's heart,
And filled the Saviour's hands."
In carrying out his commission, this servant must spare
no exertion. It would be required of him to journey to
a great distance, having a general indication of
direction, but not knowing the way. He must have divine
guidance and protection. When he reached the place, he
must exercise great common-sense, and at the same time
a trustful dependence upon the goodness and wisdom of
God. It would be a wonder of wonders if he ever met the
chosen woman, and only the Lord could bring it to pass.
He had all the care and the faith required. We have
read the story of how he journeyed, and prayed, and
pleaded. We should have cried, "Who is sufficient for
these things?" but we see that the Lord Jehovah made
him sufficient, and his mission was happily carried
out. How can we put ourselves into the right position
to get at sinners, and win them for Jesus? How can we
learn to speak the right words? How shall we suit our
teaching to the condition of their hearts? How shall we
adapt ourselves to their feelings, their prejudices,
their sorrows, and their temptations? Brethren, we who
preach the gospel continually may well cry, "If thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." To
seek for pearls at the bottom of the sea is child's
play compared with seeking for souls in this wicked
London. If God be not with us, we may look our eyes
out, and wear our tongues away in vain. Only as the
Almighty God shall lead, and guide, and influence, and
inspire, can we perform our solemn trust; only by
divine help shall we joyfully come back, bringing with
us the chosen of the Lord. We are the Bridegroom's
friends, and we rejoice greatly in his joy, but we sigh
and cry till we have found the chosen hearts in whom he
will delight, whom he shall raise to sit with him upon
his throne.
II. Secondly, I would have you CONSIDER THE REASONABLE
FEAR WHICH IS MENTIONED. Abraham's servant said,
"Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow
me unto this land." This is a very serious, grave, and
common difficulty. If the woman be not willing, nothing
can be done; force and fraud are out of the question;
there must be a true will, or there can be no marriage
in this instance. Here was the difficulty: here was a
will to be dealt with. Ah, my brethren! this is our
difficulty still. Let me describe this difficulty in
detail as it appeared to the servant, and appears to
us.
She may not believe my report, or be impressed by it.
When I come to her, and tell her that I am sent by
Abraham, she may look me in the face, and say, "There
be many deceivers nowadays." If I tell her that my
master's son is surpassingly beautiful and rich, and
that he would fain take her to himself, she may answer,
"Strange tales and romances are common in these days;
but the prudent do not quit their homes." Brethren, in
our case this is a sad fact. The great evangelical
prophet cried of old, "Who hath believed our report?"
We also cry in the same words. Men care not for the
report of God's great love to the rebellious sons of
men. They do not believe that the infinitely glorious
Lord is seeking the love of poor, insignificant man,
and to win it has laid down his life. Calvary, with its
wealth of mercy, grief, love, and merit, is
disregarded. Indeed, we tell a wonderful story, and it
may well seem too good to be true; but it is sad indeed
that the multitude of men go their ways after trifles,
and count these grand realities to be but dreams. I am
bowed down with dismay that my Lord's great love, which
led him even to die for men, should hardly be thought
worthy of your hearing, much less of your believing.
Here is a heavenly marriage, and right royal nuptials
placed within your reach; but with a sneer you turn
aside, and prefer the witcheries of sin.
There was another difficulty: she was expected to feel
a love to one she had never seen. She had only newly
heard that there was such a person as Isaac, but yet
she must love him enough to leave her kindred, and go
to a distant land. This could only be because she
recognized the will of Jehovah in the matter. Ah, my
dear hearers! all that we tell you is concerning things
not seen as yet; and here is our difficulty. You have
eyes, and you want to see everything; you have hands,
and you want to handle everything; but there is one
whom you cannot see as yet, who has won our love
because of what we believe concerning him. We can truly
say of him, "Whom having not seen, we love: in whom,
though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I know that
you answer our request thus: "You demand too much of us
when you ask us to love a Christ we have never seen." I
can only answer, "It is even so: we do ask more of you
than we expect to receive." Unless God the Holy Ghost
shall work a miracle of grace upon your hearts, you
will not be persuaded by us to quit your old
associations, and join yourselves to our beloved Lord.
And yet, if you did come to him, and love him, he would
more than content you; for you would find in him rest
unto your souls, and a peace which passeth all
understanding.
Abraham's servant may have thought: She may refuse to
make so great a change as to quit Mesopotamia for
Canaan. She had been born and bred away there in a
settled country, and all her associations were with her
father's house; and to marry Isaac she must tear
herself away. So, too, you cannot have Jesus, and have
the world too: you must break with sin to be joined to
Jesus. You must come away from the licentious world,
the fashionable world, the scientific world, and from
the (so-called) religious world. If you become a
Christian, you must quit old habits, old motives, old
ambitions, old pleasures, old boasts, old modes of
thought. All things must become new. You must leave the
things you have loved, and seek many of those things
which you have hitherto despised. There must come to
you as great a change as if you had died, and were made
over again. You answer, "Must I endure all this for One
whom I have never seen, and for an inheritance on which
I have never set my foot?" It is even so. Although I am
grieved that you turn away, I am not in the least
surprised, for it is not given to many to see him who
is invisible, or to choose the strait and narrow way
which leadeth unto life. The man or woman who will
follow God's messenger to be married to so strange a
Bridegroom is a rare bird.
Moreover, it might be a great difficulty to Rebekah, if
she had had any difficulties at all, to think that she
must henceforth lead a pilgrim life. She would quit
house and farm for tent and gipsy life. Abraham and
Isaac found no city to dwell in, but wandered from
place to place, dwelling alone, sojourners with God.
Their outward mode of life was typical of the way of
faith, by which men live in the world, and are not of
it. To all intents and purposes Abraham and Isaac were
out of the world, and lived on its surface without
lasting connection with it. They were the Lord's men,
and the Lord was their possession. He set himself apart
for them, and they were set apart for him. Rebekah
might well have said, "That will never do for me. I
cannot outlaw myself. I cannot quit the comforts of a
settled abode to ramble over the fields wherever the
flocks may require me to roam." It does not strike the
most of mankind that it would be a good thing to be in
the world, and yet not to be of it. They are no
strangers in the world, they long to be admitted more
fully into its "society." They are not aliens here with
their treasures in heaven, they long to have a good
round sum on earth, and find their heaven in enjoying
it themselves, and enriching their families. Earthworms
as they are, the earth contents them. If any man
becomes unworldly, and makes spiritual things his one
object, they despise him as a dreamy enthusiast. Many
men think that the things of religion are merely meant
to be read of, and to be preached about; but that to
live for them would be to spend a dreamy, unpractical
existence. Yet the spiritual is, after all, the only
real: the material is in deepest truth the visionary
and unsubstantial. Still, when people turn away because
of the hardness of holy warfare, and the spirituality
of the believing life, we are not astonished, for we
hardly hoped it could be otherwise. Unless the Lord
renews the heart, men will always prefer the bird-in-
the-hand of this life to the bird-in-the-bush of the
life to come.
Moreover, it might be that the woman might not care for
the covenant of promise. If she had no regard for
Jehovah and his revealed will, she was not likely to go
with the man, and enter upon marriage with Isaac. He
was the Heir of the promises, the inheritor of the
covenant privileges which the Lord by oath had
promised. His chosen would become the mother of that
chosen seed in whom God had ordained to bless the world
throughout all the ages, even the Messiah, the seed of
the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head.
Peradventure the woman might not see the value of the
covenant, nor appreciate the glory of the promise. The
things we have to preach of, such as life everlasting,
union with Christ, resurrection from the dead, reigning
with him for ever and ever, seem to the dull hearts of
men to be as idle tales. Tell them of a high interest
for their money, of large estates to be had for a
venture, or of honours to be readily gained, and
inventions to be found out, they open all their eyes
and their ears, for here is something worth knowing;
but the things of God, eternal, immortal, boundless --
these are of no importance to them. They could not be
induced to go from Ur to Canaan for such trifles as
eternal life, and heaven, and God.
So you see our difficulty. Many disbelieve altogether,
and others cavil and object. A greater number will not
even listen to our story; and of those who do listen,
most are careless, and others dally with it, and
postpone the serious consideration. Alas! we speak to
unwilling ears.
III. In the third place, I would ENLARGE UPON HIS VERY
NATURAL SUGGESTION. This prudent steward said,
"Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow
me unto this land: Must I needs bring thy son again
unto the land from whence thou camest?" If she will not
come to Isaac, shall Isaac go down to her? This is the
suggestion of the present hour: if the world will not
come to Jesus, shall Jesus tone down his teachings to
the world? In other words, if the world will not rise
to the church, shall not the church go down to the
world? Instead of bidding men to be converted, and come
out from among sinners, and be separate from them, let
us join with the ungodly world, enter into union with
it, and so pervade it with our influence by allowing it
to influence us. Let us have a Christian world.
To this end let us revise our doctrines. Some are old-
fashioned, grim, severe, unpopular; let us drop them
out. Use the old phrases so as to please the
obstinately orthodox, but give them new meanings so as
to win philosophical infidels, who are prowling around.
Pare off the edges of unpleasant truths, and moderate
the dogmatic tone of infallible revelation: say that
Abraham and Moses made mistakes, and that the books
which have been so long had in reverence are full of
errors. Undermine the old faith, and bring in the new
doubt; for the times are altered, and the spirit of the
age suggests the abandonment of everything that is too
severely righteous, and too surely of God.
The deceitful adulteration of doctrine is attended by a
falsification of experience. Men are now told that they
were born good, or were made so by their infant
baptism, and so that great sentence, "Ye must be born
again," is deprived of its force. Repentance is
ignored, faith is a drug in the market as compared with
"honest doubt," and mourning for sin and communion with
God are dispensed with, to make way for entertainments,
and Socialism, and politics of varying shades. A new
creature in Christ Jesus is looked upon as a sour
invention of bigoted Puritans. It is true, with the
same breath they extol Oliver Cromwell; but then 1888
is not 1648. What was good and great three hundred
years ago is mere cant to-day. That is what "modern
thought" is telling us; and under its guidance all
religion is being toned down. Spiritual religion is
despised, and a fashionable morality is set up in its
place. Do yourself up tidily on Sunday; behave
yourself; and above all, believe everything except what
you read in the Bible, and you will be all right. Be
fashionable, and think with those who profess to be
scientific--this is the first and great commandment of
the modern school; and the second is like unto it--do
not be singular, but be as worldly as your neighbours.
Thus is Isaac going down into Padan-aram: thus is the
church going down to the world.
Men seem to say--It is of no use going on in the old
way, fetching out one here and another there from the
great mass. We want a quicker way. To wait till people
are born again, and become followers of Christ, is a
long process: let us abolish the separation between the
regenerate and unregenerate. Come into the church, all
of you, converted or unconverted. You have good wishes
and good resolutions; that will do: don't trouble about
more. It is true you do not believe the gospel, but
neither do we. You believe something or other. Come
along; if you do not believe anything, no matter; your
"honest doubt" is better by far than faith. "But," say
you, "nobody talks so." Possibly they do not use the
same words, but this is the real meaning of the present-
day religion; this is the drift of the times. I can
justify the broadest statement I have made by the
action or by the speech of certain ministers, who are
treacherously betraying our holy religion under
pretence of adapting it to this progressive age. The
new plan is to assimilate the church to the world, and
so include a larger area within its bounds. By semi-
dramatic performances they make houses of prayer to
approximate to the theatre; they turn their services
into musical displays, and their sermons into political
harangues or philosophical essays--in fact, they
exchange the temple for the theatre, and turn the
ministers of God into actors, whose business it is to
amuse men. Is it not so, that the Lord's-day is
becoming more and more a day of recreation or of
idleness, and the Lord's house either a joss-house full
of idols, or a political club, where there is more
enthusiasm for a party than zeal for God? Ah me! the
hedges are broken down, the walls are levelled, and to
many there is henceforth, no church except as a portion
of the world, no God except as an unknowable force by
which the laws of nature work.
This, then, is the proposal. In order to win the world,
the Lord Jesus must conform himself, his people, and
his Word to the world. I will not dwell any longer on
so loathsome a proposal.
IV. In the fourth place, NOTICE HIS MASTER'S OUTSPOKEN,
BELIEVING REPUDIATION OF THE PROPOSAL. He says, shortly
and sharply, "Beware thou that thou bring not my son
thither again." The Lord Jesus Christ heads that grand
emigration party which has come right out from the
world. Addressing his disciples, he says, "Ye are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world." We are
not of the world by birth, not of the world in life,
not of the world in object, not of the world in spirit,
not of the world in any respect whatever. Jesus, and
those who are in him, constitute a new race. The
proposal to go back to the world is abhorrent to our
best instincts; yea, deadly to our noblest life. A
voice from heaven cries, "Bring not my son thither
again." Let not the people whom the Lord brought up out
of Egypt return to the house of bondage; but let their
children come out, and be separate, and the Lord
Jehovah will be a Father unto them.
Notice how Abraham states the question. In effect, he
argues it thus: this would be to forego the divine
order. "For," says Abraham, "the Lord God of heaven
took me from my father's house, and from the land of my
kindred." What, then, if he brought Abraham out, is
Isaac to return? This cannot be. Hitherto the way of
God with his church has been to sever a people from the
world to be his elect--a people formed for himself, who
shall show forth his praise. Beloved, God's plan is not
altered. He will still go on calling those whom he did
predestinate. Do not let us fly in the teeth of that
fact, and suppose that we can save men on a more
wholesale scale by ignoring the distinction between the
dead in sin and the living in Zion. If God had meant to
bless the family at Padan-aram by letting his chosen
ones dwell among them, why did he call Abraham out at
all? If Isaac may do good by dwelling there, why did
Abraham leave? If there is no need of a separate church
now, what have we been at throughout all these ages?
Has the martyr's blood been shed out of mere folly?
Have confessors and reformers been mad when contending
for doctrines which, it would seem, are of no great
account? Brethren, there are two seeds--the seed of the
woman, and the seed of the serpent--and the difference
will be maintained even to the end; neither must we
ignore the distinction to please men.
For Isaac to go down to Nahor's house for a wife would
be placing God second to a wife. Abraham begins at once
with a reference to Jehovah, "the God of heaven"; for
Jehovah was everything to him, and to Isaac also. Isaac
would never renounce his walk with the living God that
he might find a wife. Yet this apostasy is common
enough nowadays. Men and women who profess godliness
will quit what they profess to believe in order to get
richer wives or husbands for themselves or their
children. This mercenary conduct is without excuse.
"Better society" is the cry--meaning more wealth and
fashion. To the true man God is first--yea, all in all;
but God is placed at the fag-end, and everything else
is put before him by the base professor. In the name of
God I call upon you who are faithful to God and to his
truth, to stand fast, whatever you lose, and turn not
aside, whatever you might gain. Count the reproach of
Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
We want Abraham's spirit within us, and we shall have
that when we have Abraham's faith.
Abraham felt that this would be to renounce the
covenant promise. See how he puts it: "The God that
took me from my father's house sware unto me, saying,
Unto thy seed will I give this land." Are they, then,
to leave the land, and go back to the place from which
the Lord had called them? Brethren, we also are heirs
of the promise of things not seen as yet. For the sake
of this we walk by faith, and hence we become separate
from those around us. We dwell among men as Abraham
dwelt among the Canaanites; but we are of a distinct
race: we are born with a new birth, live under
different laws, and act from different motives. If we
go back to the ways of worldlings, and are numbered
with them, we have renounced the covenant of our God,
the promise is no longer ours, and the eternal heritage
is in other hands. Do you not know this? The moment the
church says, "I will be as the world," she has doomed
herself with the world. When the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair, and took them
wives of all which they chose, then the flood came, and
swept them all away. So will it again happen should the
world take the church into its arms: then shall come
some overwhelming judgment, and, it may be, a deluge of
devouring fire. The covenant promise and the covenant
heritage are no longer ours if we go down to the world
and quit our sojourning with the Lord.
Besides, dear friends, no good can come of trying to
conform to the world. Suppose the servant's policy
could have been adopted, and Isaac had gone down to
Nahor's house, what would have been the motive? To
spare Rebekah the pain of separating from her friends
and the trouble of travelling. If those things could
have kept her back, what would she have been worth to
Isaac? The test of separation was wholesome, and by no
means ought it to be omitted. She is a poor wife who
would not take a journey to reach her husband. And all
the converts that the church will ever make by
softening down its doctrine, and by becoming worldly,
will not be worth one bad farthing a gross. When we get
them, the next question will be, "How can we get rid of
them?" They would be of no earthly use to us. It
swelled the number of Israelites when they came out of
Egypt that a great number of the lower order of
Egyptians came out with them. Yes, but that mixed
multitude became the plague of Israel in the
wilderness, and we read that "the mixt multitude fell a
lusting." The Israelites were bad enough, but it was
the mixed multitude that always led the way in
murmuring. Why is there such spiritual death to-day?
Why is false doctrine so rampant in the churches? It is
because we have ungodly people in the church and in the
ministry. Eagerness for numbers, and especially
eagerness to include respectable people, has
adulterated many churches, and made them lax in
doctrine and practice, and fond of silly amusements.
These are the people who despise a prayer-meeting, but
rush to see "living waxworks" in their schoolrooms. God
save us from converts who are made by lowering the
standard, and tarnishing the spiritual glory of the
church! No, no; if Isaac is to have a wife worthy of
him, she will come away from Laban and the rest, and
she will not mind a journey on camel-back. True
converts are never daunted by truth or holiness--these,
in fact, are the things which charm them.
Besides, Abraham felt that there could be no reason for
taking Isaac down there, for the Lord would assuredly
find him a wife. Abraham said, "He shall send his angel
before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son
from thence." Are you afraid that preaching the gospel
will not win souls? Are you despondent as to success in
God's way? Is this why you pine for clever oratory? Is
this why you must have music, and architecture, and
flowers, and millinery? After all, is it by might and
by power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so
in the opinion of many. Brethren beloved, there are
many things which I might allow to other worshippers
which I have denied myself in conducting the worship of
this congregation. I have long worked out before your
very eyes the experiment of the unaided attractiveness
of the gospel of Jesus. Our service is severely plain.
No man ever comes hither to gratify his eye with art,
or his ear with music. I have set before you, these
many years, nothing but Christ crucified, and the
simplicity of the gospel; yet where will you find such
a crowd as this gathered together this morning? Where
will you find such a multitude as this meeting, Sabbath
after Sabbath, for five-and-thirty years? I have shown
you nothing but the cross, the cross without the
flowers of oratory, the cross without the blue lights
of superstition or excitement, the cross without
diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross without the
buttresses of a boastful science. It is abundantly
sufficient to attract men first to itself, and
afterwards to eternal life! In this house we have
proved successfully, these many years, this great
truth, that the gospel plainly preached will gain an
audience, convert sinners, and build up and sustain a
church. We beseech the people of God to mark that there
is no need to try doubtful expedients and questionable
methods. God will save by the gospel still: only let it
be the gospel in its purity. This grand old sword will
cleave a man's chine, and split a rock in halves. How
is it that it does so little of its old conquering
work? I will tell you. Do you see this scabbard of
artistic work, so wonderfully elaborated? Full many
keep the sword in this scabbard, and therefore its edge
never gets to its work. Pull off that scabbard. Fling
that fine sheath to Hades, and then see how, in the
Lord's hands, that glorious two-handed sword will mow
down fields of men as mowers level the grass with their
scythes. There is no need to go down to Egypt for help.
To invite the devil to help Christ is shameful. Please
God, we shall see prosperity yet, when the church of
God is resolved never to seek it except in God's own
way.
V. And now, fifthly, observe HIS RIGHTEOUS ABSOLUTION
OF HIS SERVANT. "If the woman will not be willing to
follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my
oath: only bring not my son thither again."
When we lie a-dying, if we have faithfully preached the
gospel, our conscience will not accuse us for having
kept closely to it: we shall not mourn that we did not
play the fool or the politician in order to increase
our congregation. Oh, no! our Master will give us full
absolution, even if few be gathered in, so long as we
have been true to him. "If the woman will not be
willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from
this my oath; only bring not my son thither again." Do
not try the dodges which debase religion. Keep to the
simple gospel; and if the people are not converted by
it, you will be clear. My dear hearers, how much I long
to see you saved! But I would not belie my Lord, even
to win your souls, if they could be so won. The true
servant of God is responsible for diligence and
faithfulness; but he is not responsible for success or
non-success. Results are in God's hands. If that dear
child in your class is not converted, yet if you have
set before him the gospel of Jesus Christ with loving,
prayerful earnestness, you shall not be without your
reward. If I preach from my very soul the grand truth
that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will save my
hearers, and if I persuade and entreat them to believe
in Jesus unto eternal life; if they will not do so,
their blood will lie upon their own heads. When I go
back to my Master, if I have faithfully told out his
message of free grace and dying love, I shall be clear.
I have often prayed that I might be able to say at the
last what George Fox could so truly say: "I am clear, I
am clear!" It is my highest ambition to be clear of the
blood of all men. I have preached God's truth, so far
as I know it, and I have not been ashamed of its
peculiarities. That I might not stultify my testimony I
have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith,
and even from those who associate with them. What more
can I do to be honest with you? If, after all, men will
not have Christ, and his gospel, and his rule, it is
their own concern. If Rebekah had not come to Isaac she
would have lost her place in the holy line. My beloved
hearer, will you have Jesus Christ or not? He has come
into the world to save sinners, and he casts out none.
Will you accept him? Will you trust him? "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Will you
believe him? Will you be baptized into his name? If so,
salvation is yours; but if not, he himself hath said
it, "He that believeth not shall be damned." Oh, do not
expose yourselves to that damnation! Or, if you are set
upon it; then, when the great white throne shall be
seen in yonder skies, and the day of wrath has come, do
me the justice to acknowledge that I bade you flee to
Jesus, and that I did not amuse you with novel
theories. I have brought neither flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, nor any other kind of music to
please your ears, but I have set Christ crucified
before you, and bidden you believe and live. If you
refuse to accept the substitution of Christ, you have
refused your own mercies. Clear me in that day of all
complicity with the novel inventions of deluded men. As
for my Lord, I pray of him grace to be faithful to the
end, both to his truth, and to your souls. Amen.
Provided by:
Bible Bulletin Board
internet: hyperlink
modem: 609-324-9187
Box 318
Columbus, NJ 08022
....online since 1986