‘Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.’ Philippians 2:14–16

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8–2:5

Christians are soldiers. If our soldiers were to take it into their heads that they never ought to be seen, a pretty pass things would come to; what were the soldiers worth when they shunned parade and dreaded battle? We want not men who dare not show themselves to friend or foe. Christians are runners too, and what sort of runners are men who run in the dark? Not so says the apostle; we are ‘compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,’ and therefore he bids us ‘lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.’ What! a running match and no spectators? Hail Emperor! The champion salutes thee! He prays thee to dismiss the spectators. You common herd, retire, or put your fingers to your eyes, here comes a runner who is so dainty that he cannot be looked at, a swift-footed runner who must be scrutinised by no vulgar eye or he will faint and lose the crown. ‘Ha! Ha!’ the mob laughs. ‘These are not the men to make a Roman holiday; these timid fools had better play with babes in the nursery; they are not fit to consort with men.’ What think you of Christians who must have the stadium cleared before they can enter the course. Rather, O sons of God, defy all onlookers. Crowd the seats and look on, angels, and men, and devils too, and see what you will. What matters it to the Christian, for he is looking unto Jesus, he runs not for you but for the reward, and whether you look or not, his zeal and earnestness are still the same, for Christ is in him and run he must, look on who will.

For meditation: How can others see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven, if we are ashamed to let our lights shine before them (Matthew 5:16)?

Sermon no. 472

28 September (1862)

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor.” Isaiah 9:6

Suggested Further Reading: Proverbs 8 (which was read earlier in the same service)

Tried child of God, your daughter is sick; your gold has melted in the fire; you are sick yourself, and your heart is sad. Christ counsels you, and he says, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, he will sustain thee; he will never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Young man, you that are seeking to be great in this world, Christ counsels you this morning. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” I shall never forget my early years. I was ambitious; I was seeking to go to college, to leave my poor people in the wilderness that I might become something great; and as I was walking that text came with power to my heart; “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” I suppose about forty pounds a year was the sum total of my income, and I was thinking how I should make both ends meet, and whether it would not be a great deal better for me to resign my charge and seek something for the bettering of myself, and so forth. But this text ran in my ears, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” “Lord,” said I, “I will follow thy counsel and not my own devices;” and I have never had cause to regret it. Always take the Lord for your guide, and you shall never go amiss. Backslider! You that have a name to live, and are dead, or nearly dead, Christ gives you counsel. “I counsel thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.” And sinner! You that are far from God, Christ gives you counsel. “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Depend on it, it is loving counsel. Take it.

For meditation: God has promised to guide his children and to keep an eye on them (Psalm 32:8). His guidance has a sure foundation and a great advantage over the thoughts and intentions of men (Psalm 33:10,11). We can seek his guidance right where we are; isn’t it strange that we can so often go to him last of all?

Sermon no. 215

26 September (1858)

“Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” Galatians 2:10

Suggested Further Reading: James 2:1-17

If you do not help the one that you see has the greatest need, I am afraid the love of God dwelleth not in you. It is a duty we owe to the poor of the Lord’s flock, and we reap many advantages we should not have if we had not to remember the poor. Now, allow me to press home this obligation: why should we remember the poor? I shall not urge it upon the ground of common philanthropy and charity; that were a too mean and low way of addressing Christian men, although even they perhaps might be benefited by it. I shall urge it in another way. “Remember the poor,” because they are your Lord’s brethren. What! Do you not feel, like David, that you would do anything for Jonathan’s sake? And if he hath some poor sick son, some Mephibosheth, lame in his feet, wilt thou not seat him at thy table, or give him a maintenance, if thou canst, seeing that Jonathan’s blood is in his veins? Remember, beloved, the blood of Jesus runs in the veins of poor saints; they are his relatives, they are his friends; and if that move thee not, remember, they are thy friends too. They are thy brethren if thou art a child of God; they are allied to thee; if they are sons of God, so art thou, and they are brethren of thine. What! Let thy brother starve? If thou canst, wilt thou not relieve thy brother’s necessity, not shield him from the cold, not ward off hunger, not provide for his needs? Oh! I know thou lovest Jesus; I know thou lovest the friends of Jesus, and I know thou lovest thine own family; and, therefore, thou wilt love thy poor brethren, wilt thou not? I know thou wilt; thou wilt relieve them.

For meditation: Do you discriminate against some of your brothers and sisters in Christ? Your heavenly Father doesn’t (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 6:9).

Sermon no. 99

24 September (Preached 25 September 1856)

“How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin.” Job 13:23

Suggested Further Reading: John 8:21-47

“Tell me how I can feel the need of my Saviour.” The first advice I give you is this: Particularise your sins. Do not say “I am a sinner;” it means nothing; everybody says that. But say this, “Am I a liar? Am I a thief? Am I a drunkard? Have I had impure thoughts? Have I committed unclean acts? Have I in my soul often rebelled against God? Am I often angry without a cause? Have I a bad temper? Am I covetous? Do I love this world better than the world to come? Do I neglect prayer? Do I neglect the great salvation?” Put these questions and you will soon convict yourself much more readily as being a sinner. I have heard of a hypocritical old monk who used to whine out, while he whipped his back as softly as he could, “Lord, I am a great sinner, as big a sinner as Judas;” and when someone said, “Yes that you are—you are like Judas, a vile old hypocrite,” then he would say, “No I am not.” Then he would go on again, “I am a great sinner.” Some one would say, “You are a great sinner, you broke the first commandment;” and then he would say, “No I have not.” Then when he would go on and say, “I am a great sinner,” some one would say, “Yes, you have broken the second commandment,” and he would say, “No I have not;” and the same with the third and the fourth, and so on right through. So it came to pass he had kept the whole ten according to his own account, and yet he went on crying he was a great sinner. The man was a hypocrite, for if he had not broken the commandments, how could he be a sinner at all? You will find it better not to dwell on your sins as a whole, but to pen them, count them over, and look at them individually, one by one.

For meditation: Christ did not die for a theoretical concept of sin, but for actual sins committed by practising sinners (Matthew 1:21; 26:28; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Galatians1:4; Hebrews 1:3; 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 1:5).

Sermon no. 336

23 September (1860)

“His name shall be called Wonderful.” Isaiah 9:6

Suggested Further Reading: Luke 1:26-35

It is just the simple name that he deserves. They that know him best will say that the word does not overstrain his merits, but rather falls infinitely short of his glorious deserving. His name is called Wonderful. And mark, it does not merely say, that God has given him the name of Wonderful—though that is implied; but “his name shall be called” so. It shall be; it is at this time called Wonderful by all his believing people, and it shall be. As long as the moon endures, there shall be found men, and angels, and glorified spirits, who shall always call him by his right name. “His name shall be called Wonderful.” I find that this name may bear two or three interpretations. The word is sometimes in Scripture translated “marvellous.” Jesus Christ may be called marvellous; and a learned German interpreter says, that without doubt, the meaning of miraculous is also wrapt up in it. Christ is the marvel of marvels, the miracle of miracles. “His name shall be called Miraculous,” for he is more than a man, he is God’s highest miracle. “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh.” It may also mean separated, or distinguished. And Jesus Christ may well be called this; for as Saul was distinguished from all men, being head and shoulders taller than they, so is Christ distinguished above all men; he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and in his character, and in his acts, he is infinitely separated from all comparison with any of the sons of men. “Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips.” He is “the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely.” “His name shall be called the Separated One,” the distinguished one, the noble one, set apart from the common race of mankind.

For meditation: It is not possible to exaggerate when we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ—the one who is to be called Saviour, Son and Sinless (Luke 1:31-35)—no less than “God with us” (Matthew 1:21-23).

Sermon no. 214

19 September (1858)

‘She said, I will go after my lovers … Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns … that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers … but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’ Hosea 2:5–7

Suggested Further Reading: Jeremiah 3:1–25

By the mouth of Jeremiah God speaks these words—‘Turn … for I am married unto you.’ I do not know anything which should make the backslider’s heart break like the doctrine of God’s immutable love to his people. Some say that if we preach that ‘whom once he loves he never leaves, but loves them to the end,’ it will be an inducement to man to sin. Well, I know man is very vile, and he can turn even love itself into a reason for sinning, but where there is as much as even one spark of grace, a man cannot do that. A child does not say, ‘I will offend my father because he loves me;’ it is not even in fallen nature generally, unless inspired by the devil to find motives for sin in God’s love, and certainly no backsliding child of God can say ‘I will continue in sin that grace may abound.’ They who do so show that they are reprobates, and their damnation is just. But the backslider, who is a child of God at the bottom, will, I think, feel no cord so strong to hold him back from sin as this. Backslider, I hope it will also be a golden chain to draw you to Christ. Jesus meets you, meets you this morning. You were excommunicated. You were driven out from among God’s people with shame, but Jesus meets you, and pointing to the wounds which he received in the house of his friends at your hands, he nevertheless says, ‘Turn … for I am married unto you.’ It is a relationship which you have broken, and it might legally be broken for ever if he willed it; but he does not will it, for he hates to put away. You are married to Jesus. Come back to your first husband, for he is your husband still!

For meditation: Backsliding is a real problem amongst God’s people (Hosea 11:7), but not incurable (Hosea 14:4). The remedy is to state the obvious—‘return unto the Lord’ (Hosea 6:1; 14:1).

Sermon no. 590

18 September (1864)