“My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Psalm 62:5

Suggested Further Reading: Proverbs 3:1-8

We must mark God’s providence leading us; and then let us go. But he that goes before providence will be very glad to run back again. Take your trouble, whatever it is, to the throne of the most High and on your knees put up the prayer, “Lord, direct me.” You will not go wrong. But do not do as some do. Many a person comes to me and says, “I want your advice, sir; as my minister, perhaps you could tell me what I ought to do.” Sometimes it is about their getting married. Why, they have made up their minds before they ask me, they know that; and then they come to ask my advice. “Do you think that such and such a thing would be prudent, sir? Do you think I should change my position in life?” And so on. Now, first of all, I like to know, “Have you made your mind up?” In most cases they have—and I fear you serve God the same. We make up our mind what we are going to do, and then we go down on our knees, and say, “Lord, show me what I ought to do;” and then we follow out our intention and say, “I asked God’s direction.” My dear friend, you did ask it, but you did not follow it; you followed your own. You liked God’s direction so long as it pointed the way you wish to go; but if God’s direction led the contrary to what you considered your own interest, it might have been a very long while before you had carried it out. But if we in truth seek God’s guidance for us, we shall not go wrong, I know.

For meditation: We sometimes get it into our heads that God should do whatever we want, rather than the opposite. If we call him our Master, we should seek to play the part of his followers (Mark 10:35-40).

Sermon no. 144

2 August (1857)

“But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Romans 10:20,21

Suggested Further Reading: Matthew 26:20-25

I see in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions to his own will, in a great measure. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act, that there was no control of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and if, on the other hand, I declare that God so overrules all things, as that man is not free enough to be responsible, I am driven at once into Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth springs.

For meditation: The Bible does not tell us everything; nor does it give a full explanation of what it does tell us. But it tells us more than enough to give us a sound foundation for our faith and obedience (Deuteronomy 29:29; John 20:30,31).

Sermon no. 207

1 August (1858)

“And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.” Judges 4:22

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 12:1-4

Rest not content till the blood of your enemy stains the ground, until he is crushed, and dead, and slain. Oh, sinner, I beseech you, never be content until grace reign in your heart, and sin is altogether subdued. Indeed, this is what every renewed soul longs for, and must long for, nor will it rest satisfied until all this shall be accomplished. There was a time when some of us thought we would slay our sins. We wanted to put them to death, and we thought we would drown them in floods of penitence. There was a time, too, when we thought we would starve our sins; we thought we would keep out of temptation, and not go and pander to our lusts, and then they would die; and some of us can recollect when we gagged our lusts, when we pinioned their arms, and put their feet in the stocks, and then thought that would deliver us. But brethren, all our ways of putting sin to death were not sufficient; we found the monster still alive, insatiate for his prey. We might rout his hired ruffians, but the monster was still our conqueror. We might put to flight our habits, but the nature of sin was still in us, and we could not overcome it. Yet did we groan and cry daily, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” It is a cry to which we are accustomed even at this day, and which we shall never cease to utter, till we can say of our sins, “They are gone,” and of the very nature of sin, that it has been extinguished, and that we are pure and holy even as when the first Adam came from his Maker’s hands.

For meditation: We should never underestimate the power of sin, but we can never overestimate the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to conquer sin. Sin may remain, but it need not reign (Romans 6:12).

Sermon no. 337

30 July (Preached 29 July 1860)

Suggested Reading: Job 38:22-30

We went up the Mer de Glace on mules. I had the great satisfaction of hearing three or four avalanches come rolling down like thunder. In descending, I was alone and in front, I sat down and mused, but I soon sprang up, for I thought the avalanche was coming right on me, there was such a tremendous noise and rushing. We crossed many places where the snow, in rushing down from the top, had swept away every tree and every stone, and left nothing but the stumps of the trees, and a kind of slide from the top of the mountain to the very valley. What extraordinary works of God there are to be seen here! We have no idea of what God is. As I went among these valleys, I felt like a little creeping insect, wondering what the world could be, but having no idea of its greatness. I sank lower and lower, and growing smaller and smaller, while my soul kept crying out “Great God, how infinite art thou! What worthless worms are we!”

For meditation: (Spurgeon): If you cannot travel, remember this sweet verse:-

“But in his looks a glory stands,

The noblest labour of thine hands;”

Get a view of Christ, and you have seen more than mountains, cascades, and valleys, and seas can ever show you. Thunders may bring their sublimest uproar, and lightnings their awful glory; earth may give its beauty, and stars their brightness; but all these put together can never rival HIM;

“God in the person of his Son,

Has all his mightiest works outdone.”

Part of nos. 331-332

23 July

Suggested Reading: 3 John: 5-11

We believe in what are called the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic; but we do not regard those five points as being barbed shafts which we are to push into the bowels of Christendom. We look upon them as being five great lamps which help to illuminate the cross, or rather five bright emanations springing from the glorious covenant of our Triune God, and illustrating the great doctrine of Jesus crucified. Against all comers, especially against all lovers of Arminianism, we defend and maintain pure gospel truth. At the same time I can make this public declaration, that I am no Antinomian. I do not belong to the sect of those who are afraid to invite the sinner to Christ. I warn him, I invite him, I exhort him. Hence, then, I have reproach on either hand. Inconsistency is urged by some, as if anything that God commanded could be inconsistent. I will glory in such inconsistency even to the end. I bind myself precisely to no form of doctrine. I love those five points as being the angles of the gospel, but then I love the centre between the angles better still. Moreover, we are Baptists, and we cannot swerve from this matter of discipline, nor can we make our church half-and-half in that matter. The witness of our church must be one and indivisible. We must have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. And yet dear to our hearts is that great article of the Nicene Creed, the “Communion of Saints.” I do not believe in the communion of Episcopalians. I do not believe in the communion of Baptists. I dare not sit with them exclusively. I think I should be almost strict communicant enough not to sit with them at all, because I should say, “This is not the communion of saints, it is the communion of Baptists.” Whosoever loves the Lord Jesus Christ in verity and truth has a hearty welcome, and is not only permitted, but invited to communion with the Church of Christ.

For meditation: What binds you to others in fellowship? Oneness in the great fundamentals of the Gospel? Or a man-made grouping? The first would make you like Spurgeon, the second can easily lead to the extremes of unequal ecumenism or schism.

Part of nos. 268-70

Suggested Reading: Acts 9:17-22

The Infidel’s Sermon to the Pirates

(Arranger’s summary of tract—A rich unbeliever sailed in ignorance with pirates, who spared his life after mistaking him for a priest. Later when pressed to preach to them, he was given words which melted their hearts and converted him.)

How marvellous the providence of God, and the sovereignty of his grace! Who is he that has stepped beyond the range of Almighty love? Or has sinned too much to be forgiven? Reader! Are you an infidel? What would you do in a similar situation? What other doctrine than that of Scripture would benefit pirates? Certainly not your own. What would you like to teach your own children? Certainly not your own sentiments. You feel that you would not wish your own offspring blaspheming God. Moreover, forgive us, if we declare our opinion that you know that there is a God, though with your lips you deny him. Think, we implore you, of your Maker, and of his Son, the Saviour; and may eternal love bring even you to the Redeemer.

The Actress

(Arranger’s summary of tract: A converted actress renounced her profession. Persuaded to give one final performance, she was unable to sing her entrance song and could only substitute the hymn that had first proclaimed God’s mercy to her. The audience ridiculed her, but some considered their ways. She later married a gospel minister.)

Perhaps, dear reader, you are a great transgressor, then you fear there is no forgiveness for you; let this remove your fears. You may be the vilest creature out of hell, and yet grace can make you as pure as the angels in heaven. God would be just should he damn you, but he can be just and yet save you. Do you feel that the Lord has a right over you to do as he pleases? Do you feel that you have no claim upon him? Then, rejoice, for Jesus Christ has borne your guilt, and carried your sorrows, and you shall assuredly be saved. You are a sinner in the true sense of that word, then remember Jesus came to save sinners, and you among the rest, if you know yourself to be a sinner.

For meditation: God often saves the very people we would write off!

Part of nos. 81-82

15 July