A Sermon Delivered On Thursday Evening, June 15, 1876, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. [Ps 147:2]
1. Does this not show us the great gentleness and infinite mercy of God? And as we know most about God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, should it not charm us to remember that when he came to earth he did not visit kings and princes, but he came to the humble and simple folk. He did not seek out Pharisees, wrapped up in their own supposed righteousness, but he sought out the guilty, for he said, “Those who are healthy have no need of the physician, but those who are sick.” The Son of man has come to seek and to save those who were lost. It would have seemed natural that our Lord Jesus, when he came here, should first of all, have addressed himself to the most respectable people he could find, and should have sent his message to the rabbis of Jerusalem, to the senators at Rome, to the philosophers of Greece; instead of which the common people heard him gladly, and he rejoiced in spirit while he said, “I thank you, oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.”
2. I think you may judge a man’s character by the people whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it he is ambitious and self-seeking; but when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he is not seeking himself, but that pure benevolence sways his heart. When I read in the text that the Lord gathers together the outcasts of Israel, and when I see that the text is truly applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ, because this is just what he did, I see another illustration of the gentleness of his heart, who said, “Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.” Be glad tonight, dear friends, that we gather around such a Saviour as this, from whom all pride and self-seeking are absent, and who coming down among us in gentleness and meekness, comes to gather those whom no man cares for — those who are judged to be worthless and irreclaimable. He comes to gather together the outcasts of Israel.
3. Applying this text to our Lord Jesus Christ we not only see his gentleness, but we also clearly see an illustration of his love for men, as men. If you seek only after rich men the suspicion arises, and it is more than a suspicion, that you rather seek their wealth than them. If you aim only at the benefit of wise men, it is probably true that it is their wisdom which attracts you, and not their manhood: but the Lord Jesus Christ did not love men because of any advantageous circumstances, or any commendable incidents of their condition: his love was for manhood. He loved his own chosen people as men, not as this or that among men. He has no respect for rank, nor care for wealth. A man is a man with Christ whether the “guinea’s stamp” [a] is there or not: he did not die for titles and dignities, but for men. Our Lord Jesus could truly say, “Not yours, but you.” Where Jesus Christ sees a man, though he is an outcast, an outlaw, one condemned by the law of his own country, he sees a human being there — a creature capable of awful sin and terrible misery, but yet, renewed by grace, capable of bringing wondrous glory to the Most High. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by gathering together the outcasts, indisputably proves that it is not the things which surround men, but the men themselves whom he cares for. He does not consider so much where a man is, but what he is; not what he has learned, or what he is thought of, or what he has done; but what he is. The man is the jewel, the immortal soul is the pearl of great price, which Jesus seeks as a merchantman seeks priceless pearls.
4. Another thing is also clear. If Jesus gathers together the outcasts of Israel, it proves his power over the hearts of men. There is a certain class of men who follow what is morally good because the Lord has given them a noble disposition. Thank God, he has in mercy been pleased to give some men a desire after what is beautiful and true. They, too, are merchantmen seeking priceless pearls, and it is not difficult, when the heart is brought into such a desirable state, for the excellence and beauty of Jesus Christ to attract it. But here is the tug of war: there are men still left in the guilt and filthiness of human nature who have no desire after what is good, but whose entire longings are after evil, only evil, and that continually. These have no more eye for anything that is high and noble than the swine has for the stars. The minister of Christ may appeal to them, but he will appeal in vain; and providence may warn them by the deaths of others, and by personal sickness, but they are not to be separated from the earth to which they are glued. Yet our Lord Jesus can gather together even these, the outcasts of Israel. Such is his power that he does not wait until he sees good desires in men, but he imparts those desires to those who do not have them. Such are the charms of his cross that blind eyes are made to see by its beauty; such is the music of his voice that deaf ears are opened by its music; such is the majesty of his life that the dead hear his voice, and those who hear are made to live. No basis of goodness is asked or expected from any man that Christ may come and act upon it; but he takes man in his ruin, and in the extremity of his depravity, and begins with him then and there. When the good Samaritan came to the wounded man, he did not wait for him to make the first move, or come a little towards him, but he came to him where he was, and poured into his wounds the oil and the wine: so the Lord comes where human nature is, and, bad as its condition is, he stoops to it, and he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Oh, this is a wonderful thing, that there should be attractions about the Lord Jesus Christ which can draw to him those whom nothing else that is good can possibly stir! You may preach virtue to the sinner; but he does not practically yield to its charms; you may preach to the drunkard, to the unchaste, to the immoral, the beauties and excellencies of honesty and of all the virtues and the graces, but little good will come of it; the result is infinitesimal. You may charm very wisely upon those subjects, but these deaf adders do not care for charming. We have heard of a divine who said that he had preached honesty until he did not have an honest person left in the parish, and preached on virtue until he did not know where Diogenes [b] with his lantern could find it. Nothing worth having, comes from preaching when Christ is not its theme. You may preach the law, and men will be frightened by it, but they will forget their fears; yet if Jesus Christ is preached he draws all men to him. The most wicked will listen to the news of him who is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him. The most obdurate have been known to weep when they have heard the story of his grief and of his love, the proudest have found themselves suddenly humbled at his feet, of which some of us are witnesses, for we marvelled to find the hardness and loftiness of our hearts suddenly removed by a sense of his goodness. I do not believe that we preachers have half enough, or a tenth enough, faith in Jesus Christ. If we could preach Jesus Christ to a company of convicted felons would we be wrong in hoping to see the larger part of them converted on the spot? If we only had faith enough to preach to them as we should, aiming directly, distinctly and believingly at their souls, might we not look for great results? We go so timidly, so doubtingly to work. We pray that God would save some out of our congregations, and that he would be pleased to bless the word here and there: but, such a splendid gospel as we have to preach should not be preached so, nor should we pray like that about it. When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness it was not with this prayer — “Lord, grant that one or two of those who are bitten by the serpent may look and live”; but Moses came out boldly with his serpent high upon the pole; he believed that thousands would look: they did look, and they lived. May we after the same manner proclaim Jesus who “gathers together the outcasts of Israel.”
5. Now, with this introduction, I would speak upon the text a little more particularly, and we shall observe with brevity, first, to whom the text applies, — “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” Secondly, we shall consider in what sense he may be said to gather them; and then, thirdly, what lesson this teaches us.
6. I. First, then, TO WHOM MAY THIS TEXT APPLY? — “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” It refers to several classes in different ways.
7. First, it is a fact that our
Lord Jesus gathered together some of the very poorest
and most despised among men, who might under some
respects be regarded as outcasts; and it is certain
that, to this day, the gospel comes in the largest
measure of power to the poor of this world. Often, too,
it comes with amazing power to those who are despised by
others, or are regarded as being of an inferior degree.
You know that at this time it is boastfully said by the
enemies of the gospel, that the culture, the brain, the
intellect, the education of England is all on the side
of scepticism. I am not sure about it. When people say
that they possess a good deal of brain, I am not certain
that their claim is correct, unless it is that as sheep
have a good deal of brain, and yet are not the wisest
animals in the world, so these gentlemen also are no
wiser than they should be. Concerning those gentlemen
who so evidently claim to be the cultured people, who
monopolize all the sweetness and the light, I am not
clear that they have all the modesty. It does seem to me
that if they talked in a lower key it would be as well;
and if they thought a little less of their own culture,
and granted a little more to other people, we might have
more faith in this wonderful “culture” of theirs. Some
of us have failed to see the deep thought and the
profound learning we were told to look for in the books
of the sceptical cultured mind, and therefore we are all
the less patient when we hear the perpetual bragging of
our foes. Still, let it stand so. We will not quarrel
with it. Suppose it to be so — that none except foolish
people embrace the old-fashioned faith — the Puritanism,
which they say is nearly dead — the old evangelism which
they ridicule as being exploded: so be it, that we are
an inferior order of people, with very little brain, and
all that. Well, we are not disheartened on that account,
because we find that it so happened in our Saviour’s
day, and has happened in all days since, that the wisdom
of the world has been at enmity with God; and it has
also turned out that the foolishness of God has been
wiser than men, and God has mastered human wisdom by the
foolishness of preaching. By that gospel which wise
men laughed at as being folly God has brought carnal
wisdom to naught. The Lord Jesus Christ looks with love
on those whom others look down upon with scorn.
He takes the fool, and makes him know
The wonders of his dying love,
To lay aspiring wisdom low,
And all our pride reprove.
8. I am thankful when I meet poor saints, and see what a grip humble men and women have on the promises of God. Labouring men, humble shepherds, and the like, have often been more distinguished for deep insight into the mysteries of grace than learned doctors of divinity. Where there has been little in the cupboard, and the provision on the table has been very meagre, there has been more enjoyment of the favour of God than among the great ones of the earth. They may regard those who still stand by the old-fashioned truth as being outcasts from the commonwealth of letters, and not worthy to be named among the cultured intellects of the age, but if the Lord will only gather us continually to his heart and refresh us with himself, we shall be well content. The text should be a source of joy for us if anyone of us happens to be extremely poor — so poor that even Christian men are so ungenerous as to give us the cold shoulder, or if we happen to be the despised ones of our family. Here and there, sad to say it, there will be in families a better one than the rest, less thought of than the others — a Joseph whom his brothers hate, because he loves his God. Well, you may become as a stranger to your mother’s children, and you may have no one to give you a good word, yet may you put this verse under your tongue as a sweet morsel — “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” Those who are lowest in the esteem of men are still remembered by the Lord.
9. The text may be applied very well to those who have made themselves outcasts by their wickedness and are deservedly cast out of society. May God grant that none of us may be or may have been among that number; but if I should be addressing any such at this time, I have a word for them. If there should be some such here tonight who do not often attend places of worship, but have dropped in from curiosity I may suppose your case to be that of one who has broken a mother’s heart and brought a father’s grey hairs to the grave with grief. You have lived such a life that your own brothers could scarcely be expected to acknowledge you. You have sinned, and sinned terribly. Man or woman — for a woman also becomes an outcast, she is too severely treated, is a general rule, and more often becomes an outcast than the man who deserves it more — if I address such, it is a great joy for me to know that our Lord Jesus Christ can save the most wicked of the wicked, the most fallen of the fallen, the most depraved of the depraved. If you have sunk so low that there is not much to choose from between you and a devil, and some men and women do get as low as that, yet Jesus Christ can lift you up. If your life story is such that it would be a pity it should ever be told, and most grievous that it should ever have been enacted, yet Jesus can wash all the stains of your life away, and save you, even you. Only one such may be present here tonight, but I make no apology for concentrating my whole thoughts upon one single person. I leave the ninety and nine to go after the one lost sheep, so that in the one lost one may be revealed the richness and freeness of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Come, then, outcast, come to your Redeemer and find pardon. “Though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as snow: though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.” Jesus is able to wash away every transgression from those who are steeped in guilt. Countless iniquities dissolve and disappear before the presence of his mighty love, for he, even Jesus, gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Is there no helper on earth? Yet there is one in heaven. Is there no friend below? Yet there is one above. Is there nothing that can now save you? Do you contemplate suicide? Restrain, restrain your hand, for Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost” — to the uttermost “those who come to God by him.” Let the prayer go up, “God be merciful to me a sinner”; and go your way with hope in your soul, for “he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.”
10. A third class of people consists of those who judge themselves to be outcasts, though concerning outward actions they certainly do not deserve the term. Many who have written about John Bunyan have been surprised at the description which he gives of his own life, for it does not appear that, with the sole exception of the use of blasphemous language, John Bunyan was one of the very worst of mankind; but he thought himself to be so. Now it often happens — I do not say always, but I think it is generally so — that when the Spirit of God comes with power to the conscience and awakens it, the man judges himself to be the very chief of sinners. You see, it may be that you have never gone into actual vice; you have never been a blasphemer or dishonest, you have, on the contrary, from the instructions of your childhood, been led into the path of right; and yet when you are awakened you may feel yourself to be the vilest of the vile. Everything that is lovely and of good report has been found in you, you do not know the time in which you would not have been shocked to hear a blasphemous word, and yet when the Holy Spirit arouses you, you will plead guilty among the very worst. I know that, in my own case, I had a horror of ungodliness, and yet when the Spirit of God came to me I felt myself to be far worse than the swearer or the drunkard, for this reason — that I knew that many who indulged in those public sins did so ignorantly, did so from the imitation of those in whose society they had been brought up; but as for me, with a godly parentage, with a mother’s prayers and tears, with light and knowledge, understanding the letter of the gospel, having read the Bible from my youth up, I felt that my sins were blacker than those of others, because I had sinned against light and knowledge. And you must have felt the same, I am persuaded; perhaps you are even now feeling it. You remember that night when you stifled conviction, when conscience had an earnest battle with you, and it seemed that you must yield to God and to his Christ; but you deliberately did violence to the inward principle, and resolved to go on in sin. Do you remember that? If you do, it will sting you as a serpent does now that you are under conviction of sin, and you will feel yourself to be the very chief of sinners on account of it, though no public sin may ever have stained your life. Well, I should not wonder, if such is your condition, that you also judge that there is no salvation for you — that God might save your mother, your brother, or your friend, but not you. You believe the blood of Jesus to be very precious, but you think it never will be applied to you. You heard the other day of the conversion of a friend, and you felt glad, but at the same time you thought, “Grace will never come to me.” When the preacher has exhorted his hearers to believe in Jesus Christ you have said, “Ah, but I — I cannot. I am in a condition in which that gospel cannot help me.” You think yourself an outcast. You feel that you deserve to be. You are not content to be so, but, at the same time, you could not blame the Lord if he left you to perish. You feel that your transgressions have been so great that if he should leave you out of his gracious plans, and grace should come to others and not to you, you could only bow your head in bitterest sorrow, and say, “You are just, oh God.” Now, listen, you who have condemned yourself. The Lord absolves you. You who have shut yourself out as an outcast, you shall be gathered; for whereas they call you an outcast, whom no man seeks after, you shall be called Hephzibah, for the Lord’s delight is in you. Only believe in Jesus Christ, and cast yourself upon him.
11. Outcasts of this kind are the people who most gladly welcome Christ. People who have nowhere else to go but to him — people so cast down, so full of sin, so everything except what they ought to be — these are the people to whom Christ is very precious. “Oh,” one says, “but I do not feel like that. I cannot feel my guilt as I should.” Very well, then, you are one of the outcasts among the outcasts: you do not think yourself to be even as good as they are. You are in your own esteem one of the worst outcasts of them all, because you lack even the feeling of your needs. You say, “I have a hard heart. I cannot see sin as others have seen it who have found Christ: I wish I could. I strike my chest and mourn that I cannot mourn, for if anything is felt it is only pain to find that I cannot feel. I seem made of hell-hardened steel which will not melt or break.” Well, I see what you are, but “such were some of us,” we also knew our insensitivity, and lamented that we could not lament. But he gathered us, and there stands the text, “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” If you do not have a broken heart, only Christ can give it to you. If you cannot come to him with it, come to him for it. If you cannot come to him wounded, come to him so that he may wound you and make you whole. You do not need to bring anything to Jesus. I would like to whisper in your ear just this — that those people who think themselves insensitive generally think so because they are more than usually sensitive; and those who think that they do not feel are usually those who feel the most. I do not think we are ever good judges of our own feelings in this matter. The day may come when, in looking back, you will say, “I did after all mourn over sin, when I thought that I did not; I had such a sense of how black it was, that I felt I was not mourning enough! even when I was deeply mourning.” Brother, you never will mourn enough. Enough! Would oceans full of tears be enough to mourn the guilt of sin? No, but, blessed be God, we are not asked to repent or to mourn up to a certain standard. Oh outcast soul, trust in Jesus, and he will save you.
12. I must not dwell, however, on this class, but proceed further to notice that there is another kind of people who are even more truly the outcasts of Israel, whom Jesus gathers. I mean the backsliders from the church — the outcasts of Israel who have been put out, and properly put out, for their unholy lives and inconsistent actions: those whom the church is obliged, alas, to look upon as diseased members who must be removed; sickly sheep who infect the flock, and who must be put away, lepers who must be excluded from the camp. Oh wanderer, banished from a church, there is a word in the gospel for you also, even to the backslider! The Lord calls back his wandering children. Though his church does right to put out those who dishonour his holy name, yet she would do wrong if she did not follow her Lord in saying, “Return, you backsliding children.” It is not easy to persuade one who has been a backslider to come back to his first love. The return journey is uphill, and flesh and blood do not assist us in it. Many new converts come, but the old wanderers remain outside, and sometimes they do this because they imagine they will not be welcome. But if you are sincerely repenting of the sin which has put you away from the church, the church of Christ will be glad to receive you; and if you are indeed the Lord’s believing one, though you have defiled yourself still he does not forget you. Still he earnestly remembers you, and he invites you to come in all your defilement and wash in his atoning blood; for the fountain that he has opened is not only for strangers, when they are at first brought near, but it is opened “for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” for those who know the Lord, so that they may be daily purged from their transgressions, and be cleansed from the filthiness of their backslidings. The Lord gathers together those who have been carried captive by their sins, and makes them once more to dwell in the land of uprightness, and he brings back to himself all his wandering sheep.
13. The expression of the text may certainly be applied to those also who have loved the Lord for years, but who have fallen into great depression of spirit. We happen, every now and then, to meet some of the best of God’s people who get into the Slough of Despond, and stay there for months on end — indeed, for years. There are believers who periodically take to despondency, as birds do to moulting, and when the fit is on them you cannot cheer or comfort them. Then they write bitter things against themselves, and call themselves all the ugly names in the dictionary, until they make us smile to hear them, because we know how mistaken they are. We are admiring their consistency, and they are mourning over their foolishness. We see their generosity towards the cause of God, and their devotion to everything that is good; yet they say there is nothing good in them. We know where they are, for we have been laid in iron ourselves, and held firmly in the very same stocks. What a mercy it is that, when you who love the Lord like this, sit down and commune with your despondencies — I mean you, Miss Much-Afraid, you, Mr. Ready-to-Halt, and you, Mr. Feeble-Mind, — my Lord does not leave you, nor judge you as you judge yourselves, but he is pleased to gather together in mercy those who think themselves to be outcasts in Israel.
14. Lastly, upon this point, there are some who become outcasts through their love for Christ, and of these the text is particularly true. I mean those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, until they are regarded as the offscouring of all things. Who among those who serve God faithfully has escaped the trial of cruel mockings? The names of those who are eminently useful are generally used as footballs for an ungodly world. The world is not worthy of them, and yet their enemies think they are hardly worthy to live in the world. We do not hear much about persecution nowadays, but in private life there is a world of it; the cold shoulder is given where once friendship was sought; harsh, cruel, cutting things are said where once admiration was expressed; and separations take place between close friends because of Christ. It is still true in the Christian’s case that a man’s foes are those of his own household. But if you should become an outcast upon the face of the earth for Christ’s sake, there is this for your comfort — “The Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” He makes pillars of the persecuted in his holy temple for ever. Blessed are those who are outcasts for Christ! Rich are those who are so honoured as to be permitted to become poor for him! Happy are those who have had this grace given to them to be permitted to lay life itself down for Jesus Christ’s sake!
15. II. Now a few words upon the second point — IN WHAT SENSE THE LORD JESUS GATHERS TOGETHER THESE OUTCASTS OF DIFFERENT CLASSES. Of course I should have to vary the explanation to suit each case, but since that would take a long time, let me say that the Lord Jesus has several ways of gathering together the outcasts.
16. He gathers them to hear the gospel. Preach Jesus Christ and they will come. Both outcast saints and outcast sinners will come to hear the charming sound of his blessed name. They cannot help it. Nothing draws like Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ next gathers them to himself. The parable of the wedding feast is repeated over again, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.” “Bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.” In this way the Lord Jesus Christ gathers multitudes where he is faithfully preached. He gathers all kinds of characters, and especially the odds and ends of society — the despised by men and the despised by themselves. He gathers them to himself. And oh, what a blessed gathering place that is where there is cleansing, for their filthiness, health for their disease, clothing for their nakedness, and all-sufficient supplies for their abundant needs. He gathers them to himself, which is to gather them to God — to gather them to blessedness and peace through reconciliation with the Father. “To him shall the gathering of the people be.”
17. When he has done that, he gathers them into the divine family. He takes the outcasts and makes them children of God — heirs with himself. He lifts them from the dunghill, and sets them among princes. He takes them from the swine trough, and puts the ring on their fingers and the shoes on their feet, and they sit down at the Father’s table to feast and to be glad. Jesus Christ, as the good Shepherd, gathers the lost sheep, the lame, the halt, the diseased, and feeds them, and makes them to lie down, and restores their souls, and finally leads them to the rich pastures of the glory land.
18. In due time the Lord gathers together the outcasts into his visible church. Just as David enrolled a company of men who were in debt, and discontented, so does Jesus Christ still gather the indebted ones and the malcontents and makes them his soldiers; and these are known as the church militant. Surely just as David did great exploits by those Pelethites and Cherethites, and Gittites, and strange men of foreign extraction whom he gathered to himself, so does Jesus of Nazareth do great things by those great sinners whom he greatly forgives — those hard-hearted ones whom he so strangely changes and makes to be the Old Guard of his army. Yes, he gathers them into his church, and he gathers them into his work. He uses the outcasts of Israel for his own glory.
19. And when he has done that, he gathers them into heaven. What a surprise it must be for any man to find himself in heaven, when he remembers where he once was; but for the outcast to remember the ale bench on which he sat and soaked himself in liquor until he degraded himself below the brute beast, and now to be cleansed in the Redeemer’s blood, and to sit among the angels — this will be surprising grace indeed. “Oh, to think,” one might well say, “that I who was once in lewd company, polluted and defiled, am now made to wear a crown, and sit at the Redeemer’s feet!” When we reach heaven, brethren, I do not suppose that we shall forget all the past; and sometimes it must burst in upon us as a strangely divine example of love that Christ should have brought us there, and set us among the peers of his realm. And yet he intends to do it; and you, Mrs. Much-Afraid — you will be there; and you who think “surely Satan will have me!” you will be there. You who are stumbling over every straw; you who seem stopped by every little gully in the road, and who imagine, “Surely, there is no grace in my heart,” and yet you are still holding on, “faint, yet pursuing”; you who touch the hem of Christ’s garment, but have such very little faith that you are afraid that you have none at all, you shall get up from that mourning and moaning, you shall rise from that despondency and distress; and among the sweetest music of heaven shall be your songs of gratitude and joy. “He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.”
20. III. Well, now, WHAT IS THE LESSON OF THIS? I think there are three lessons, and I will just hint at them.
21. One is this —
encouragement for those who are unworthy, or think
themselves so, to go to Jesus Christ tonight. I have
been trying to think of all I know, and I have lifted up
my heart to the Holy Spirit to guide me so that I may
cheer some discouraged one. It was my object last Sunday
night to comfort the broken-hearted, and I do not seem
to have got out of that vein yet. [See
Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1299, “Love’s Birth and Parentage”
1290] I believe there are some here whom God has
sent me after who really believe themselves to be out of
the region of hope. My dear friend, if God gathers
together the outcasts, why should he not gather you? And
if it is true that Jesus Christ does not look for
goodness, but that he only considers our sin and misery,
why should he not look upon you? May I urge you to go
and try my Master; and if you go to him, confessing your
unworthiness and trusting yourself with him, if he does
not save you I would like to know it, because you will
be the first person I have ever heard of that trusted
himself with Jesus and was rejected. It shall not be the
case, whatever your condition may be, however desperate
your state. You think your condition to be worse than I
have pictured it to be, and you imagine that I cannot
know anything about how bad you are. Well, I do not know
your special form of rebellion, but you are the very
person I mean for all that. I say, if you are as black
as hell, if you are as foul as the Stygian bog,
[c] if you have sinned until your sins cannot be
counted, and if your crimes be so heinous that infinite
wrath is their just desert, yet come and look at those
five wounds and to that sacred head once wounded, and at
that heart pierced with the spear. There is life in a
look at Jesus crucified. Will you try it? As surely as
God’s word is true, if you only glance at him who “died
the just for the unjust” you shall be brought to God and
reconciled, and that now — now — while sitting in
that seat, before even the last word of this sermon
shall be uttered: for whoever believes in him shall be
saved. Like “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have
eternal life.” Oh that you would believe on Jesus now.
We sometimes sing,
Venture on him: venture wholly.
Let no other trust intrude.
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.
But, sinner, it is not a gamble. As surely as ever you cast yourself upon him he will be sure to save you. I will not multiply words, but I would if I thought words would draw you. I pray the blessed and eternal Spirit sweetly to influence your minds, young people, tonight — and old people, too, and middle-aged people, too — that you may stop trying to do anything, or to be anything, in order to accomplish your own salvation, and know that it was all done when Jesus bled and died, all finished when he cried “It is finished”; and you only have to take believingly what he presents to you, and accept him as your all in all. May God help you to do it!
22. The second reflection is this. If Jesus Christ received some of us when we felt ourselves to be outcasts, how we ought to love him! It does us good to look back to the hole of the pit from where we were dug. We get to be very heady at times, my brethren. We are wonderfully big, are we not? Are we not experienced Christians now? Why, we have known the Lord these twenty-five years. Dear me, how important we are! And perhaps we are deacons of churches, or, at any rate, we have a class in the Sunday School, and we pray in the prayer meeting: considerable importance attaches to us, and we are high and mighty on that account. Ah! I have heard say of a man worth his thousands that once he did not have a shirt on his back, and if he remembered what he sprang from he would not carry his head so high. I do not see much in that, but I do see something in this — that if we remembered the time when we were dead in trespasses and sins, when we did not have a rag to cover us, when we were under God’s frown, and were heirs of wrath even as others — if we remembered our lost and ruined state by nature, I am sure that we would not lift our heads so very loftily, and want to have respect paid to us in the church, or think that God ought not to deal so very harshly with us, as if we had a reason to complain. Dear friends, let us remember what we used to be, and that will keep us low in our own esteem. But, oh, how it will fire us with zeal to remember from what a depth he has lifted us up. Did Jesus save such a wretch as I was? Then for him I would live and for him I would die. This ought to be the utterance of us all. We ought to live in that spirit. May God grant that we may!
23. Then, again, let us always feel that if the Lord Jesus Christ took us up when we were not worth having, we will never be ashamed to try and pick up others who are in a similar condition. We will not consider it any lowering of our dignity to go after the most fallen of all. We will consider that they are no worse than we were if we were viewed from a certain point, and we will therefore aim at their conversion, hope for it, and expect it. This lesson is particularly applicable to some Christians present here. Dear brothers and sisters, if you really feel yourselves to have been outcasts, and yet have been received into the divine family, and are now on the road to heaven, I ask you to pay every attention to any whom you meet who are now what you once were. If you meet anyone in great despair of soul, say, “Ah, I must be a comforter here, for I have gone through this; and I will never let this poor soul go until by God’s help I have cheered him.” If you meet someone who is a public sinner, perhaps you will have to say to yourself, “I was a public sinner too”; but if not, say, “My sins were more secret, but still they were as bad as his; and therefore I have hope for this poor soul, and will try to see whether he cannot be loved to Christ by me.” Note my expression — “loved to Christ,” for this is the power we must use — sinners are to be loved to Christ. The Holy Spirit uses the love of saints to bring poor sinners to know the love of Christ. Search after them, and do not let them perish. May God put this resolve into your soul — “If there is anything that I can do in the name of Jesus, and with the power of the Holy Spirit upon me, that might save that soul, it shall be done; and, if that soul dies lost, when I hear the funeral bell I will, God helping me, be able to say, ‘I did set Christ before that soul. I did plead with that conscience. I did seek to bring that sinner to Jesus.’ ”
24. The outcast, when converted, should seek after his brother outcasts. Young man, did you ever swear? Seek the conversion of swearers. Young man, have you been fond of the card table? Have you been a frequenter of low resorts of pleasure? Then addict yourself to looking after people of the same kind. George Whitfield says that after his own conversion his first concern was the conversion of those with whom he had taken pleasure in sin; and he had the privilege of seeing many of them brought to Christ. Have you been a man of business, and have you been associated in wrongdoing with others? Seek the salvation of those who were associated with you. It is a natural obligation which Christ imposes upon all of any special kind, that they should seek those of their own kind, and labour to bring them to repentance.
25. May God bless you, beloved.
We shall soon be in heaven. I can see some here tonight
who, owing to their age, cannot be long before they
enter the glory of Christ; and others of us who are
younger do not know, from feebleness of health, how long
it may be before we see the face of the Beloved. But we
would say of him tonight, what a blessed Saviour he is,
and what an infinity of love there must be in him ever
to have revealed himself to such as we are. Oh, when
shall we be near him, and worship him for ever and ever?
Make no tarrying, oh our Beloved!
[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Ps 147]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries —
Supplicating” 587]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 147”
147 @@ "(Song 2)"]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges,
Communion with Jesus — Condescending Love” 784]
[a] Guninea’s stamp: Words contained in a poem by Robert
Burns denoting an aristocrat. See Explorer "http://www.interlinear.info/mansaman.htm"
[b] Diogenes: The name of a celebrated Greek Cynic
philosopher, who according to tradition showed his
contempt for the amenities of life by living in a tub.
OED. He used to stroll about in full daylight with a
lamp; when asked what he was doing, he would answer, “I
am just looking for an honest man.” Diogenes looked for
a human being but reputedly found nothing but rascals
and scoundrels. See Explorer "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope"
[c] Stygian: Pertaining to the river Styx, or, in wider
sense, to the infernal regions of classical mythology.
OED.
The Christian, Contrite Cries
587 — Supplicating <8.7. />
1 Jesus, full of all compassion,
Hear thy humble suppliant’s cry:
Let me know thy great salvation:
See! I languish, faint, and die.
2 Guilty, but with heart relenting,
Overwhelm’d with helpless grief,
Prostrate at thy feet repenting,
Send, oh send me quick relief!
3 Whither should a wretch be flying,
But to him who comfort gives? —
Whither, from the dread of dying,
But to him who ever lives?
4 While I view thee, wounded, grieving,
Breathless on the cursed tree,
Fain I’d feel my heart believing
That thou suffer’dst thus for me.
5 Hear, then blessed Saviour, hear me;
My soul cleaveth to the dust;
Send the Comforter to cheer me;
Lo! in thee I put my trust.
6 On the word thy blood hath sealed
Hangs my everlasting all:
Let thy arm be now revealed;
Stay, oh stay me, lest I fall!
7 In the world of endless ruin,
Let it never, Lord, be said,
“Here’s a soul that perish’d suing
For the boasted Saviour’s aid!”
8 Saved — the deed shall spread new glory
Through the shining realms above!
Angels sing the pleasing story,
All enraptured with thy love!
Daniel Turner, 1787.
Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 147 (Song 1)
1 Oh praise the Lord, ‘tis sweet to raise
The grateful heart to God in praise;
When fallen raised, when lost restored,
Oh! it is a sweet to praise the Lord!
2 Great is his power, divine his skill,
His love diviner, greater still;
The sinner’s Friend, the mourner’s stay,
He sends no suppliant sad away.
3 The lions roar to him for bread,
The ravens by his hand are fed;
And shall his chosen flock despair?
Shall they mistrust their Shepherd’s care?
4 His church is precious in his sight;
He makes her glory his delight;
His treasures on her head are pour’d
Oh Zion’s children, praise the Lord.
Henry Francis Lyte, 1834.
Psalm 147 (Song 2)
1 Praise ye the Lord; ‘tis good to raise
Our hearts and voices in his praise:
His nature and his works invite
To make this duty our delight.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem,
And gathers nations to his name:
His mercy melts the stubborn soul,
And makes the broken spirit whole.
3 He form’d the stars, those heavenly flames;
He counts their numbers, calls their names:
His wisdom’s vast, and knows no bound,
A deep where all our thoughts are drown’d.
4 Great is our Lord, and great his might;
And all his glories infinite:
He crowns the meek, rewards the just,
And treads the wicked to the dust.
Isaac Watts, 1719.
The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus
784 — Condescending Love
1 Oh see how Jesus trust himself
Unto our childish love,
As though by his free ways with us
Our earnestness to prove!
2 His sacred name a common word
On earth he loves to hear;
There is no majesty in him
Which love may not come near.
3 The ligft of love is round his feet,
His paths are never dim!
And he comes nigh to us when we
Dare not come nigh to him.
4 Let us be simple with him, then,
Not backward, stiff, or cold,
As though our Bethlehem could be
What Sina was of old.
Frederick W. Faber, 1852.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/10/25/good-cheer-for-outcasts